University System News:
www.wtxl.com
Bainbridge State College holds first graduation ceremony since being merged
155 students at Bainbridge State College walked across the stage at their annual graduation ceremony on Wednesday. This is the first graduation since Bainbridge State College consolidated with Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC). In January, the two rural colleges merged after the university system of Georgia set out some goals for the state.
www.wabe.org
Closer Look: Author Jesmyn Ward; Emory, Spelman and Ga. Tech Join American Talent Initiative; And More
EMILIA BROCK
Thursday on “Closer Look with Rose Scott”: 2:14: Emory, Georgia Tech and Spelman have all joined the national American Talent Initiative, which is committed to the collective goal of enrolling 50,000 additional talented, low- and moderate-income students at colleges and universities with strong graduation rates by 2025. What strategies are in development to achieve this goal? We speak with John Leach, assistant vice provost and director of financial aid for Emory University; Rick Clark, director of undergraduate admission for Georgia Tech; and Ingrid Hayes, vice president for enrollment management at Spelman College.
www.walb.com
ASU applies for grant for mental health programs
http://www.walb.com/story/38164591/asu-applies-for-grant-for-mental-health-programs
By Asia Wilson, Reporter
Albany State University staff are working to bring awareness and put an end to poor mental health in college students. The “We are One Initiative” has been established for years, but now it’s working to save more lives by applying for a $300,000 grant. Previously the initiative had this grant from 2013 to 2016. Since 2017 until now, it has been operating on a $10,000 grant and is now looking to apply for more funds that will last for the next three years. Right now, the university is partnering with Phoebe, ASPIRE and other organizations to help meet students’ mental health needs immediately. …The grant funds would provide students with mental health and substance abuse screenings, workshops and a series of other prevention events.
www.bizjournals.com
Georgia congressman’s amendment seeks cyber institutes
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2018/05/10/georgia-congressmans-amendment-seeks-cyber.html
By Dave Williams – Staff Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Each of the nation’s six senior military colleges – including the University of North Georgia – could receive a cyber institute under an amendment to the annual defense authorization bill before Congress. An amendment authorizing the secretary of defense to establish cyber institutes at a half-dozen campuses across the country is contained in a $717 billion authorization bill that cleared the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday. The provision is sponsored by a Georgia congressman, Rep. Jody Hice, R-Greensboro. A second Hice-backed amendment instructs the Pentagon to present a strategic plan to leverage and expand current partnerships with industry and academia on cyber education.
www.ajc.com
UGA student arrested for allegedly stealing Roquan Smith’s jerseys
By Alexis Stevens, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Police have arrested a 20-year-old man accused of stealing items that belonged to former University of Georgia football star Roquan Smith. Landyn Shane Durham, a UGA student, was charged with two counts of entering auto and surrendered late Thursday, according to Officer Epifanio Rodriguez with Athens-Clarke County police. Durham was released early Friday after posting $22,200 bond, jail records showed. Over the weekend, several items were taken from Smith’s vehicle, including his helmet and jerseys from the Rose Bowl and the national championship game, police said. Headphones, watches, sunglasses and Nike shoes were also reportedly stolen. During the investigation, detectives learned of a second theft Saturday morning at The Mack apartment deck, Rodriguez said. A second vehicle, which was also unlocked, belonged to UGA lacrosse player Austin Eiseman and also had items taken from it, including his jersey for the club team, police said. Durham is accused of stealing items from both athletes’ cars.
www.fox28media.com
FOX 28 Special Report: How safe is Savannah State University?
http://fox28media.com/news/local/fox-28-special-report-how-safe-is-savannah-state-university
BY ROBERT CATANESE
Fox28’s Robert Catanese dug through 600 pages of calls and paperwork from Savannah State University that show calls on campus for rape, armed robbery, murder and aggravated assault. So how safe is the campus? It depends on who you ask. The Vice President of Business and Finance, who is in charge of campus safety and security, says one thing. But an attorney who has successfully sued the school and represented two rape victims and the family of a murderer student has another story. We also hear from university president Dr. Cheryl Dozier and a student who claims he was expelled from SSU for speaking out about campus safety.
Higher Education News:
www.washingtonpost.com
What ails education? ‘An absence of vision, a failure of will and politics’
By Arne Duncan and Margaret Spellings
We have long benefited from a broad coalition that has advanced bold action to improve America’s education system. That coalition has waned. It’s time to rebuild it. Today, education is blessed with bipartisan agreement on what works, and cursed with bipartisan complacency at every level on taking action. Both sides recognize the need to balance strong federal accountability with local innovation; to support high standards for teachers; and to encourage choice and diversity while keeping public schools as the core focus of national policy.
www.chronicle.com
How Colleges Can Help STEM Students Think More Broadly
https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Colleges-Can-Help-STEM/243376
By Beckie Supiano
The STEM disciplines are higher education’s golden child. Even as politicians and the public express skepticism about college in general and fields like French literature and art history in particular, they are bullish on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM is seen as practical, necessary — as a key way to advance national interests and for students to land a well-paying job. The STEM brand is so ascendant that disciplines like economics are arguing their way into the category. In that context, a report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine this week is rather striking: It argues that colleges should integrate the study of STEMM (the second M is for medicine) with the arts and humanities.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Colleges-Can-Help-STEM/243376
www.wsj.com
Trump Administration Considers Rolling Back College Regulations
The Education Department says relaxing some rules governing higher education would spur innovation; consumer advocates warn it could hurt pupils
By Michelle Hackman
The Trump administration is signaling that it plans to undo several rules governing higher education and student aid during the next year, a move the officials say will lead to more innovation but that consumer advocates warn could harm students. The Education Department flagged its plans in a regulatory filing this week, saying it would target rules on subjects such as the credit hour—a unit measuring how much students accomplish in class—and the process by which colleges receive recognition that qualifies their students to get federal aid. The moves go beyond previously stated plans to roll back two Obama-era regulations cracking down on for-profit colleges. The department plans as early as this month to rewrite both of those rules, which set earnings standards for for-profit schools’ graduates and create a process for students failed by those schools to have their debt forgiven by the government.
www.apnews.com
Big jump in job program for foreign graduates of US colleges
By Maria Danilova
A program that allows foreign students to stay in the United States for temporary employment after graduation has expanded significantly over a dozen years as technical companies stepped up hiring of science and engineering majors, according to a report released Thursday. The study by Pew Research Center in Washington comes as colleges and universities across the country struggle with falling enrollment by foreign students amid the Trump administration’s anti-immigration rhetoric and policies.