University System News:
www.savannahnow.com
Editorial: GSU’s Nickel looks to turn jeers into cheers
http://www.savannahnow.com/opinion/20180705/editorial-gsus-nickel-looks-to-turn-jeers-into-cheers
Shelley Nickel remembers well her chilly welcome to what was then known as Armstrong State University. Eighteen short months ago, about 150 students, faculty and staff showered the woman then known as the University System of Georgia’s “consolidation czar” with boos during an on-campus public meeting. They saw Nickel as the face of a hostile takeover — the merger of Armstrong with Georgia Southern. The jeering drew a rebuke from Armstrong’s president at the time, Linda Bleicken, and a succinct lecture about hospitality. Now, Nickel leads the Armstrong campus as Georgia Southern’s interim president. And she’s determined to change attitudes about the future of the Armstrong-GSU consolidation. Asked her priorities, she ticks off two points: solidify the consolidation of the campuses and implement the academic regional plan. And the answer doesn’t vary depending on audience; she listed the same goals in an interview with the Statesboro Herald as she did with one of our reporters and the editorial board. “We must be invested in looking forward,” Nickel said in an interview at the Savannah Morning News’ office last week. “We have two distinct entities and we must figure out how best they fit together. One plus one equals three, not two, in this case.”
www.myajc.com
Georgia colleges returning to liberal arts
By Eric Stirgus – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The mother and son made the three-hour trip from Greenville, S.C., to Milledgeville on a recent Friday morning to see the college campus the young man will soon call home.
Georgia College & State University’s selling points included friendly employees and a scenic campus, said Sylvia Grieco and her son, Alex, 18. But there was something else mom said was important that the school offered: a liberal arts education that “can prepare him for the real world.” The mother said she knew some people who excelled academically in college but “couldn’t get a job because they didn’t know how to interview.” There are indications that liberal arts education nationally — through which students learn about the arts, humanities and sciences and get degrees in those fields — is in trouble. Many educators nationwide have debated the future of liberal arts colleges and education as dozens of schools have closed or merged in recent years, bowing to the increased demand of students and parents in search of specialized college educations in higher-paying business and technological industries. In Georgia, however, several colleges and education leaders have recently vowed to increase their liberal arts offerings, saying the skills students learn in the courses — how to think critically, write clearly and ask good questions — more than adequately prepare graduates for any career. University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley in April outlined the importance of liberal arts education in the 325,000-student system. Six USG institutions, including Georgia College, are involved in a national effort to link skills through liberal arts curriculum to the demands of a global job market.
www.bizjournals.com
UGA releases Top 25 employers list
By Dave Williams – Staff Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Twenty-five companies hired 760 graduates of The University of Georgia’s Class of 2017, according to UGA’s annual Career Outcomes Survey. Of those 760 grads, 87 percent remained in Georgia. “UGA students are equipped with skills that translate well into the workplace,” said Hayley Johnson, a UGA alumna now working as a recruiter for Georgia-Pacific, one of the top 25 employers of UGA grads. “The university provides companies with unique opportunities to engage with students and provide them with career opportunities.” Here is a list of the top 25 employers of UGA’s 2017 graduates, in alphabetical order:
www.savannahnow.com
Students learn coding through music at Georgia Tech Savannah camp
By Ann Meyer
Students and teachers alike can learn to code this summer by making music with a free program developed by experts at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. EarSketch, available at Earsketch.gatech.edu, is a web-based program anyone with a computer can use at home, said Jason Freeman, a professor in the School of Music at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. “We think we have a great thing that can meet the needs of computing education in the U.S.,” said Freeman, who has been working on designing EarSketch and rolling it out to schools since 2011. “We started at one summer camp with four or five teachers,” Freeman said. “Now it’s in use by 15,000 to 20,000 students a month.” A total of about 250,000 people have used EarSketch so far, and Freeman expects those numbers to grow rapidly as more teachers are trained on how to use the program in their classrooms. Georgia Tech Savannah is using EarSketch in its Full STEAM Ahead! summer program for children ages 6 to 12.
www.myajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Georgia Tech track stars give kids with jailed parents a running start
This is a lovely and inspiring column by a recent Georgia Tech grad. Preston J. Smith volunteered to coach Atlanta kids in a program for children with an incarcerated parent, and learned a lot about struggle and determination.
By Preston J. Smith
For the last four years, I was fortunate enough to compete on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket’s track and field team as a triple jumper, traveling the east coast with my team and training daily on the Georgia Tech track. Pulling off a great triple jump is exhilarating: first the running approach to jump, then its three phases, and finally the landing. “Landing the jump” is a magical feeling, almost as if you are flying through the air. I felt the same exhilaration coaching children in one of Atlanta’s oldest historically black neighborhoods through an organization called Foreverfamily, which provides love and support to children with an incarcerated parent. Becoming part of the children’s support network was one of the most meaningful experiences I had in college.
Higher Education News:
www.diverseeducation.com
Experts: Affirmative Action May Feel Riskier Now for Colleges
by LaMont Jones
Colleges and universities committed to using race as one of many considerations in creating a diverse student body are likely to be a lot more concerned about the risks now that the White House has announced a rollback of guidelines issued by the prior administration. That’s the prediction of some education experts as institutions continue to react to the announcement Tuesday that the Trump administration is rescinding policy guidelines issued under the Obama administration that were intended to help schools understand how to promote diversity while complying with the most Supreme Court rulings regarding affirmative action. “The signal that it sends to colleges and universities is to be afraid to do what’s right in your admissions policies, or we may come for you or make it difficult by scrutinizing you,” said Maya Wiley, Henry Cohen Professor of Public and Urban Policy and Senior Vice President for Social Justice at The New School. “It tells schools to be afraid of creating diverse and therefore high academically performing environments in college for students.” And that, she said, creates a chilling effect on diversity efforts in the admissions process.