University System News:
www.onlineathens.con
VIDEO: Renovated Russell Hall rededicated at UGA
The University of Georgia now has room for nearly 1,000 more students this fall.
http://www.onlineathens.com/news/20180802/video-renovated-russell-hall-rededicated-at-uga
By Lee Shearer
UGA President Jere Morehead and other university officials filled the lobby of 960-bed Russell Hall Wednesday morning to rededicate the 51-year-old Baxter Street high-rise residence hall, which has been home to tens of thousands of UGA first-year students after opening in 1967. Russell was empty of students last year, though, as workers with Atlanta’s Juneau Construction gave the building an overhaul budgeted at about $44.5 million, all from surplus funds generated by UGA auxiliary services such as housing, meal services, parking and the UGA golf course. The university staged a ceremonial ribbon-cutting, then gave tours for the crowd of about 100 UGA officials, members of the contracting and architecture firms involved, and others.
www.jbhe.com
Albany State University Announces a Restructuring of Its Academic Colleges
Albany State University, the historically Black educational institution in Georgia, has announced a restructuring of its academic units. The university will now have three academic colleges instead of five. The new College of Professional Studies will include the former College of Business and the College of Education. The new College of Arts and Sciences will house the former College of Arts and Humanities and the College of Sciences and Technology. The third academic unit will be the Darton College of Health Professions.
www.ajc.com
Back to school dates for metro Atlanta college students
By Eric Stirgus
The laptop sales are the tell-tale sign: it’s almost time for college students to go back to school. College students, though, don’t have to return as early the region’s high school students. For some, the first day of school is July 30. Here are the scheduled start dates for some of metro Atlanta’s largest four-year colleges and universities. (We included the University of Georgia since it’s the state’s flagship public university.)
…Atlanta Metropolitan State College – Aug. 20 …Clayton State University – Aug. 11 …Georgia Gwinnett College – Aug. 13; Georgia State University – Aug. 20; Georgia Tech – Aug. 20; Kennesaw State University – Aug. 13 …University of Georgia – Aug. 13
www.accesswdun.com
UNG’S Upward Bound immerses Hall, Gilmer high schoolers in college life
By AccessWDUN Staff
While some high school students spent their summer working at a job, vacationing with family or hanging out with friends, 60 rising sophomores through seniors from Hall and Gilmer counties immersed themselves in the college life at the University of North Georgia. The summer experience is part of the Upward Bound program, a federally funded grant designed to help promising low-income, first-generation high school students prepare for and be successful in college. During the school year, students receive weekly tutoring sessions, ACT and college preparation sessions, career exploration, cultural experiences, and college visits. But during the summer, the students got the full college experience. …Academics in the science, technology, engineering, and math-filled the students’ mornings, as well as English and a foreign language. Some of the instructors were UNG alumni as well as high school teachers, including Brandon Forrest, a chemistry teacher at Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville. “I love it,” he said between his chemistry and biology classes in the Health and Natural Sciences building on UNG’s Dahlonega Campus. “I would like to have more time with them and do more labs to reinforce the different concepts.”
www.griffindailynews.com
Local high school students spend their summer in UGA Young Scholars Program
By Ashley Biles UGA-Griffin
For high school students interested in agriculture, food and environmental sciences, the University of Georgia offers the opportunity to have hands-on learning with world-renowned research scientists through the Young Scholars Program. YSP is a six-week long paid summer internship organized by the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences which hopes to broaden students interests in various fields of study. Students can apply to be part of the program at three UGA campuses — Athens, Griffin and Tifton. While in the program, students are assigned to work with a researcher and their staff on campus. They learn about the research that is ongoing in that department, how to use lab equipment and work in the field, as well as completing their own research project under the guidance of their mentor. On the UGA Griffin Campus, students spend Fridays with fellow young scholars where they attend site visits of many departments, participate in college and career related workshops and play interactive games to give them a chance to know each other.
www.chronicle.com
Hey, Alexa, Should We Bring Virtual Assistants to Campus? These Colleges Gave Them a Shot
By Lindsay Ellis
Research universities are squeezing an extra roommate into residence halls: Amazon’s Alexa. The Georgia Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, and Arizona State University last year provided students with Echo Dots, puck-shaped, voice-activated devices programmed to answer campus-specific questions about meal plans and business hours for campus buildings. Some of these Echo Dots, programmed by n-Powered, a Boston-based start-up, can relay individual students’ data, including financial aid and grades. The company’s founders installed 60 of the virtual-assistant devices at Northeastern this past spring. Call it a next-level chatbot, a natural extension of existing smartphone apps, or even a way to demonstrate technological prowess in a crowded student-recruitment market. Believers say that the use of the technology will only expand, and that lessons from the first year of student use across the country can instruct future adopters.
www.splc.org
Searching in secret: Hiring administrators is becoming less open and harder to cover
http://www.splc.org/article/2018/08/secret-admin-searches
By Monica Kast
When universities and colleges begin the process of hiring a new administrator, they often keep the names of candidates confidential until the very end. Universities say keeping the search closed protects the current jobs of candidates, which makes qualified candidates more likely to apply. These closed searches are often met with backlash from the campus communities, who say they want to know more about who is applying and who is selected to lead their institution. Searches for high school administrators are often closed for similar reasons — administrators from surrounding districts are more likely to apply if they know their name will be kept secret.
…A SAGA AT KENNESAW STATE
In the space of just two years, Kennesaw State University, a public institution in Georgia, has rotated through five presidents, including two interim presidents. In May of 2016, Dan Papp resigned after 10 years as president and an interim president was named. Then, in October 2016, Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens was named the next president of Kennesaw State University.
www.myajc.com
Torpy at Large: Ga. Tech’s long, hard road to finding ethics
By Bill Torpy – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What a long, strange ethical trip it’s been for the Ramblin’ Wreck. Ten years ago this month, I sat in a federal courtroom and watched a Georgia Tech employee get sentenced for stealing $316,000 with her university P-card. Her theft was audacious and prodigious, purchasing 3,800 separate items including a popcorn machine, a wide-screen TV, robotic vacuums, a treadmill, a metal detector and Auburn University football tickets. Donna Gamble got 32 months in prison. Outside court, Jimmy Berry, her attorney, shrugged when asked why. “People get away with things and they mushroom,” he ventured. “She did it a few times, there were no checks and balances at the school and it took off from there.” The next year, in 2009, Tech employee Michelle Harris got 10 years from a Fulton County judge for pilfering $170,000 with her P-card. The university vowed it would tighten up. But in 2013, an audit found three more Techies abusing their cards. Later on, there were even more, including three who were slapped in handcuffs. They were smart guys with good jobs and worked at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, the school’s research arm where all sorts of cool and practical science occurs. The estimated fraud of these geniuses topped $1.5 million, enough to fill a classroom with robots.
www.myajc.com
Lax oversight allowed high-paid Georgia Tech officials to misuse tax money
By Johnny Edwards and Ty Tagami – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For years, high-ranking Georgia Tech officials earning six-figure salaries used their positions to line their pockets, internal investigations have found. With little or no accountability, three misused taxpayer funds and exploited relationships with vendors. There were parties in a football suite, courtesy of a bookstore vendor. Golf outings during work hours. Routine meals and after-hours drinking billed to taxpayers. A fourth official went on jaunts to China to shill products for a vendor whose board of directors he sat on, and he charged the school for his travel expenses. He also steered a Tech contract to the company and pressured employees to use its services. Those are findings from a Tech internal audit and a review by The University System of Georgia, both prompted by complaints from employees. All four men are now out of their jobs. They may face more serious repercussions. The reports noted violations of state laws, and the University System has referred the cases to Attorney General Chris Carr’s office. A spokeswoman for Carr told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday that the office is reviewing the reports to determine “appropriate next steps.” The findings come on the heels of the ouster of a Georgia Tech Research Institute administrator in a controversy over possible misspending of funds for employee morale.