University System News:
www.valdostadailytimes.com
Exempt open documents can be released
Public records belong to the public. That’s what state law says. And that is what the state’s Supreme Court said in a strongly worded decision that went even further to say government officials can release public records exempted from the Open Records Act, if they so choose. The high court has agreed with open government advocates who have argued that Georgia public records laws allow for certain documents to be withheld but do not require it. The Georgia First Amendment Foundation is applauding the recent decision and rightly so. Richard Griffiths is the president of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation. Following the decision Griffiths said, “The justices’ unanimous decision makes clear the Georgia Supreme Court continues to be strongly committed to the value of open records. The open records law places no restrictions on public entities that want to be open and transparent, providing the best information to the public.” So, what does that mean? Among other things it means that when local officials refuse to release a document to the public it is a choice they are making. Even if the document is exempted from the Open Records Act, public officials can still release it, if they choose to do so. The strong statement from the state’s high court came as the result of a complicated legal battle between the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and Campaign for Accountability and a group known as the Consumer Credit Research Foundation.
www.myajc.com
Opinion: Students lobbying for Atlanta as ideal home of Amazon HQ2
By Anshuman Parikh , Ellen Shi , Georgia Kossoff , Grace Cleland and and Sanjay Velappan
Dear Amazon:
We are writing to you on behalf of the over 600 students from 12 universities across Georgia who are excited and prepared to welcome Amazon’s HQ2 to Atlanta. We are Emory University students who came together to launch the #WhyAtlanta campaign because we believe Atlanta is the best location for your HQ2. We know that after multiple rounds of city visits you have collected a tremendous amount of data, analyzed countless offer proposals, and have met with each city’s government, corporate, and education leaders. However, we want to shed light on the perspective of your future workforce – students. We asked college students across the state of Georgia to join us in sharing our voice in your HQ2 selection process. From our perspective, this is #WhyAtlanta. Atlanta is in a formative growth period. This growth is dynamic, influenced not only by traditional institutions but also by the people who experience it directly. As students ourselves we are taking charge in shaping the direction of our home. Our love for Atlanta transcends traditional city loyalty; we are not only proud of our city, we are also personally invested in driving it forward. This mindset is what sparked the #WhyAtlanta campaign, a student-driven initiative that highlights young adult perspectives in Atlanta through a video contest and survey. Over 600 students from Georgia Tech, UGA, Emory, The Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Southern University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, Oglethorpe University, the University of North Georgia, Kennesaw State University and Mercer University joined us in this movement.
www.law.com
Georgia Cyber Center, Touting Partnerships Across Sectors, To Open in Augusta
The new $100 million facility is slated to open its first building on July 10.
By Gabrielle Orum Hernández
Georgia’s cybersecurity resources are set to get a major boost this week, as the Hull McKnight Georgia Cyber Center for Innovation and Training prepares to open its doors on July 10. The $100 million cybersecurity research and development center will sit within Augusta University’s Riverfront Campus and reflects a communal partnership between Augusta University, Augusta Technical College, the University System of Georgia’s research institutions, the City of Augusta, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and Georgia Department of Defense, among others. The new facility boasts two new buildings, including a “cyber range” for incident response training, a secure briefing area, and a startup accelerator space for cybersecurity-focused companies. The facility, spearheaded by Gov. Nathan Deal at the urging of a pair of Augusta businessmen, is intended to strengthen Georgia’s global reputation as a hub of cybersecurity innovation while adding to the state and nation’s cyber workforce.
www.abqjournal.com
Editorial: Abdallah served UNM well
https://www.abqjournal.com/1193350/abdallah-served-unm-well.html
By Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board
For University of New Mexico Provost Chaouki Abdallah and his family, it’s an amazing opportunity. For members of the UNM and Albuquerque communities – and for New Mexico as a whole – the news Abdallah is leaving UNM is bittersweet given all that he has contributed to the university during his roughly 30-year career at the institution. Abdallah will be leaving to become executive vice president for research at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Abdallah’s alma mater. In that job, he will direct Georgia Tech’s $824 million research program. He came to UNM as an assistant professor in electrical engineering in 1988 and eventually became the chair of the department. He was named provost and executive vice president for academic affairs in 2011.
www.athensceo.com
Governor Honors UGA’s Certified Public Manager Graduates
Staff Report From Athens CEO
Gov. Nathan Deal knows that effective government stewardship helps Georgia remain America’s top state for doing business. Deal emphasized his commitment to good governance in his address to 29 state and local leaders who graduated from the University of Georgia’s Certified Public Manager program on June 28. Deal encouraged the graduates—managers from 12 state agencies and two municipal police departments—to practice the elements of superior leadership. “To be a good leader, it takes hard work, surrounding yourself with talented people and the ability to listen. I congratulate all of you for being part of this program, and I congratulate you further in wanting to make yourselves better leaders,” Deal said. UGA’s Certified Public Manager program, with 300 hours of curriculum, helps state and local government managers enhance their leadership skills through in-class learning, independent study and a capstone project that addresses an issue affecting their individual agencies. …Participants earn nationally recognized certification. …The June 28 graduation ceremony recognized the first class that included a mix of state and local government managers. The Georgia Certified Public Manager curriculum is accredited by the National Certified Public Manager Consortium and is provided exclusively by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government. …UGA President Jere W. Morehead said the Certified Public Manager program exemplifies the university’s commitment to public service.
www.ajc.com
Race is not only factor colleges count in seeking diversity
By Maureen Downey, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Many people cheered the news last week that the Trump White House reversed Obama-era policies designed to foster greater racial diversity on America’s college campuses, contending students should only be admitted on academic merit. They wouldn’t necessarily applaud the outcome if academics became the sole criteria: overwhelmingly female campuses… While people want the admission process to operate as a meritocracy, Tobias pointed out in an interview it is not, noting the extra weights given for athletics, geography, legacy and a host of other factors. As an AJC investigation revealed a few years ago, the 2014 freshman class at Georgia Tech had an average SAT score of 1445. However, for incoming football players, the average SAT was 420 points below the class as a whole. Gaps were also found among athletes at the University of Georgia, Georgia State and Georgia Southern.
www.athensceo.com
UGA Summer Program Empowers Foster Care Youth to Pursue Higher Education
Staff Report From Athens CEO
Nyeelah Inniss had a clear goal to attend college after graduating from high school, but as a teenager in foster care, she did not understand the full extent of the college application process. “I knew I wanted to attend college, but in foster care, almost everything is done or decided for you, so I assumed that my case worker would tell me what to do and when I needed to do it, which was not the case,” Innis said.
College Bound program
That all changed in 2012 when she attended College Bound, a summer program at the University of Georgia’s J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, designed to expose high school students in foster care to the college experience. The program is one of four in Georgia and three more in other states that are funded by the nsoro Educational Foundation, which helps provide post-secondary education to youth in foster care. “The College Bound program exposed me to the entire college process and made me stop and think about the steps I needed to take to attend college,” Inniss said. “It gave me the skills, knowledge and direction to advocate for my educational needs and make college a reality.” Through College Bound, the teenagers are able to envision themselves in college, said David Meyers, a Fanning faculty member and College Bound coordinator.
www.times-georgian.com
Engineering can be fun at WGTC’s LEGO Robotics Camp
BY LAURA CAMPER
On Friday morning, campers at West Georgia Technical College’s LEGO Robotics Camp, gathered around a painted black circle on the floor and watched as two remote controlled robots battled to flip, damage or remove the other from the circle. As one team’s robot broke the arm off another, winning the match, an excited camper from the winning team jumped up to talk about the team’s strategy. The team members were testing a theory, said 12-year-old Owen Payne. “We reversed the gears,” he said. “Instead of making it super fast with a 1-6 ratio; we made it super slow with a 6-1. Makes it way harder to push back; makes it a lot easier to control. So it was slow and steady.” Payne was one of almost two dozen campers who attended the LEGO camp last week, one of 12 summer programs created to strengthen science, technology, engineering and math skills for students. The University of West Georgia will host the camps in July, said Cathy Fontenot of the Department of Georgia Youth Science and Tech Center at the University of West Georgia’s College of Education.
www.washingtonpost.com
The future of college education: Students for life, computer advisers and campuses everywhere
By Jeffrey J. Selingo
Predictions about higher education’s future often result in two very different visions about what is next for colleges and universities. In one camp: those who paint a rosy picture of an economy that will continue to demand higher levels of education for an increasing share of the workforce. In the other: those who believe fewer people will enroll in college as tuition costs spiral out of control and alternatives to the traditional degree emerge… One university thinking about those new models is the Georgia Institute of Technology. In 2015, Georgia Tech formed a commission on the future of higher education, and its 48 members were asked to imagine what a public research institution might look like in 2040. (I joined the group as an adviser, along with Wayne Clough, president emeritus of Georgia Tech and former secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.) The commission’s task was audacious, and I must admit that at first, I was skeptical. In two decades of writing about higher education, I had seen many colleges develop extensive plans that ended up collecting dust on a bookshelf. What interested me about Georgia Tech’s attempt was its lengthy time horizon.
www.bizjournals.com
Atlanta region gets failing score on Child Well-Being Index
By Maria Saporta – Contributing Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia Tech and Delta (2nd article down)
Delta Air Lines will be the first participant in the corporate sustainability program of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business at Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business. The center, founded in 2013, launched the program to deepen ties between Georgia Tech and select corporations that demonstrate commitment to environmental and social sustainability. “Our mission aligns everything we do with two primary outcomes: integrating sustainability into business education and practice and facilitating innovation in business through sustainability-inspired ideas,” said Michael Oxman, the center’s managing director. “This new program capitalizes on the Center’s strengths as a catalyst and connector to the business community.” The corporate engagement initiative will have guest lectures, joint research and workshops on sustainability topics and trends. Delta’s engagement will also support undergraduate and MBA experiential learning opportunities, such as internships and research. Steve Tochilin, Delta’s general manager of environmental sustainability, said the airline is looking forward to working with the center to develop “even more sustainable business practices” and to help advance sustainable business education and research at Georgia Tech.
www.bizjournals.com
Kennesaw State alum picked as CEO of investment consulting firm
By Eric Mandel – Digital Producer , Atlanta Business Chronicle
Consequent Capital Management has a new Chief Executive Officer. The Board of Directors for the Atlanta-based investment consulting firm picked John C. Robinson to serve as its CEO, according to a news release. Earl Robinson, the company’s founder who had also formerly served as CEO, is not listed on the company’s website as a board manager or team member. Atlanta Business Chronicle has reached out for comment. John Robinson, who holds a Masters of Business Administration from Kennesaw State University, has more than 21 years of global institutional financial services, most recently as a senior managing consultant at PFM Asset Management LLC.
www.bizjournals.com
Atlanta hosting SEC Football Media Days for first time
By Dave Williams – Staff Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
It’s not the Super Bowl, Final Four or College Football Playoff National Championship in terms of economic impact, but hosting SEC Football Media Days this month for the first time ever is another notch in Atlanta’s belt as a sports capital. The annual event, usually held in the Birmingham, Ala., area, will take place July 16-19 at the College Football Hall of Fame. The adjacent Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center will serve as the host hotel. “The Hall of Fame was relocated to Atlanta, the capital of college football, for events just like this and we are perfectly situated in the center of all the activity,” College Football Hall of Fame CEO Dennis Adamovich said. “We are grateful to the SEC for allowing us the opportunity to host such an important event.” “Atlanta’s position as the capital of college football is reinforced by the number of high-profile events we host annually,” added William Pate, president and CEO of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB). “SEC Football Media Days is a wonderful addition to the portfolio.” The four-day event will feature press conferences by each of the SEC’s 14 head football coaches as they prepare to open pre-season camp ahead of the 2018 season. Georgia Bulldogs Coach Kirby Smart will address the media on July 17, the second day of the event.