University System News:
www.wabe.org
Georgia Leaders Celebrate Lottery, HOPE Scholarship Anniversaries At Capitol
https://www.wabe.org/georgia-leaders-celebrate-lottery-hope-scholarship-anniversaries-at-capitol/
EMMA HURT
Georgia leaders marked the 25th anniversary of the lottery at the State Capitol Wednesday. They also celebrated the HOPE Scholarship and the Pre-K program, which are funded by the lottery. Gov. Nathan Deal readily reminded the crowd that he was skeptical of the Georgia Lottery at first. He was a State Senator in 1992, when he and other lawmakers had to decide whether to put the issue up for a referendum. “The religious community was very, very much opposed to gambling,” he said. “And that was the label that was placed on the lottery. I wrestled with the issue, as did I think many people in the General Assembly.” In the end, he voted for the lottery referendum, and Georgia voters approved it. The merit-based HOPE scholarship began the next year. “I’m glad that my skepticism was proved to be wrong. I’m glad I gave the people of Georgia the chance to be the real deciding factor,” he said. “Those objections that people like me had at the beginning were proved to be misfounded.”
www.ajc.com
Georgia teacher says HOPE, pre-k program helped her reach new heights
By Eric Stirgus
Georgia high school social studies teacher Lindsay McMichael is a vocal proponent of the state’s HOPE Scholarship and pre-kindergarten programs for a good reason. She participated in both as a 4-year-old growing up in Columbus and as a student at the University of Georgia. McMichael was one of the speakers at a ceremony Wednesday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the programs. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution caught up with McMichael after the event.
www.myajc.com
Atlanta college getting accounting help amid staff vacancies
By Eric Stirgus
Atlanta Metropolitan State College has been getting assistance in recent months from the University System of Georgia and another college to help manage its financial paperwork, officials told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A report last year by the state’s Department of Audits and Accounts found numerous problems, such as the inability to provide financial records for how it collected about $2.7 million from some individuals or businesses, that the college said largely stemmed from staff turnover including a vacancy in its controller position. The AJC first reported on those problems last year. College officials said they are still dealing with some staffing issues and have been meanwhile getting assistance from the University System and Dalton State College. “The System office is assisting AMSC with continuing to correct those findings, which includes assistance from Dalton State College. This arrangement is about taking advantage of System resources,” the college said in a statement Wednesday.
www.myajc.com
Kennesaw State gets $1M grant for Hispanic, black STEM students
By Ben Brasch – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For the next five years, Kennesaw State University will have $200,000 more a year to make make black and Hispanic nerds more successful.
The Maryland-based Howard Hughes Medical Institute announced Wednesday it has given KSU a $1 million grant for those STEM — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — students. It was one of the 33 institutions chosen from 594 across the country and was the only one in Georgia. The HHMI initiative seeks to help underrepresented ethnic minorities, first-generation college students or working adults with families.
www.daily-tribune.com
GHC offers way for students to get leg up on required math courses
BY DONNA HARRIS
A math boot camp might not be the typical idea of summer fun, but it could help students get a jump-start on their college math requirements. Georgia Highlands College’s new STEMFIT math boot camp aims to help incoming high school dual-enrollment students and college freshmen get ahead by preparing them to start at a collegiate mathematic level of pre-calculus or higher. Sponsored by the GHC Center for STEM Learning and a University System of Georgia STEM Initiative grant, the science, technology, engineering and mathematics camp will take place July 16-20 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to noon on Friday at the college’s Cartersville campus. The pilot program is free for any incoming GHC students who qualified to take the Math 1111 — college algebra — exemption exam by scoring 550 or higher on the SAT (or 28.5 or higher on the new SAT) or 22 or higher on the ACT math section. Melanie Largin, dean of the division of mathematics and computer science, said the camp will refresh students’ college algebra skills and improve their chances of passing the exemption test so they can start in Math 1113 — pre-calculus.
www.thebrunswicknews.com
Teachers complete science workshops through college partnership
By LAUREN MCDONALD
Some lucky Glynn County teachers have gone back to school for the past two weeks. Nearly 25 elementary school teachers from Glynn County Schools signed on to participate in science education workshops at College of Coastal Georgia, funded by the Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) grant program. The workshop began May 11 and ends today. CCGA instructors Dave Stasek, an associate professor of biology, and Liz Brabson, a lecturer of geology, taught the workshop this year. …The MSP program offers grants that aim to provide teachers with additional education through partnerships between state education agencies, institutions of higher education, high-need local education agencies and schools to increase the academic achievement of students in mathematics and science.
www.albanyherald.com
ASU, Chamber panel discuss state of health care education
Bringing health care personnel to underserved southwest Georgia panel goal
By Jada Haynes
ALBANY — Various community leaders met at Albany State University’s West Campus Wednesday to discuss the health care education of southwest Georgia’s health care workers. Laura Calhoun represented the Southwest Georgia Area Health Education Center (AHEC), interim President Marion Fedrick spoke on behalf of Albany State University, Dr. Doug Patten represented the Medical College of Georgia’s Southwest Campus, Stephanie Phan spoke for the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy’s Southwest Campus and Tracy St. Amant spoke on behalf of Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. Albany Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Barbara Rivera Holmes acted as the moderator for the panel.
www.georgia.growingamerica.com
Dr. David Bridges Begins 13th Year as ABAC President
http://georgia.growingamerica.com/news/2018/06/dr-david-bridges-begins-13th-year-abac-president
Dr. David Bridges has never let superstition stand in the way of progress. When he begins his 13th year as president of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College on July 1, that will not change. “I know hotels don’t have 13 floors because some people are superstitious,” Bridges, the longest serving president in the University System of Georgia (USG), said. “But you can’t stop the clock at 12. We have much more to accomplish at ABAC.” Since he became the 10th president in the history of ABAC on July 1, 2006, Bridges has kept ABAC on the cutting edge of accomplishments, most notably by trumpeting the charge for bachelor’s degrees at an institution which offered only associate degrees for 75 years.
www.wtoc.com
Jack Stallings, legendary Georgia Southern baseball coach dies at 87
By WTOC StaffCONNECT
STATESBORO, GA (WTOC) – Legendary Georgia Southern University baseball coach, Jack Stallings, has died at the age of 87. Stallings is the winningest baseball coach in GSU history with 859 wins. The No. 1 jersey is retired in Stallings’ honor. The field at J.I. Clements Stadium was named after Stallings on Feb. 19, 2005,
Higher Education News:
www.jbhe.com
New Report Shows HBCUs Are Preparing Their Students for Success in Life After College
A new report from the American Council on Education finds that the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities as well as other minority serving institutions of higher education “play an integral role in the education of students from low-income families and communities of color where educational attainment is disproportionately low and income mobility can be stagnant.” The report found that nearly one of every four students enrolled at HBCUs and other predominantly Black educational institutions were from families in the lowest income quintile. This is more than three times the rate for non-minority serving institutions. Yet some 20 percent of graduates of HBCUs moved from the lowest two income quintiles to the top two income quintiles. This is more than double the rate of non-minority serving institutions.
www.chronicle.com
Trump Wants to Drastically Alter the Education Dept. Here’s What You Need to Know.
By Sarah Brown
A U.S. Department of Education and the Workforce? That’s what the Trump administration envisions in its new 132-page framework for merging the Education and Labor Departments, as part of a broader overhaul of the federal government. The departments, officials wrote in the proposal, “share a common goal of preparing Americans for success in a globally competitive world through family-sustaining careers. However, the two departments operate in silos, inhibiting the federal government’s ability to address the skill needs of the American people in a coordinated manner.” Higher-education programs would fall under a new office called “American Workforce and Higher Education Administration,” which would be “charged with ensuring that American workers possess the skills necessary to succeed in the workforce.” Federal education programs used to be housed under a broader Health, Education, and Welfare unit. When Jimmy Carter’s administration pushed for the creation of a separate Education Department, the idea was to raise the national profile of education and assert a greater federal role in the activities of schools and colleges.
www.diverfseeducation.com
Merging Education, Labor Departments Likely to Impact Higher Ed
by LaMont Jones
The White House announced plans Thursday morning to combine the federal education and labor departments, creating a Department of Education and the Workforce. Although no specific details were provided regarding the proposed merger, which would need Congressional approval, it is part of the Trump administration’s larger goal of reorganizing the federal government in hopes of reducing its massive size and increasing efficiency. Some academics described potential positive and negative implications for higher education, adding that the announcement was not a surprise. “Trump has had a consistent message about limiting the size of government, and this is consistent with what he has announced he would like to accomplish,” said Dr. Beth Strobel, president of Webster University. “There’s a lot to be considered here.” Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos released a statement shortly after the announcement, urging Congress to work with the president to make the proposal a reality and noting that Trump “campaigned and won with his promise to reduce the federal footprint in education and to make the federal government more efficient and effective.”