University System News:
www.gwinnettdailypost.com
Search committee for the next Georgia Gwinnett College president named
By Trevor McNaboe
The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia has named the two committees required by Regents’ policy to conduct a national search for the next president of Georgia Gwinnett College on Wednesday. Current GGC President Stanley C. “Stas” Preczewski announced in September his plans to retire effective May 2019. Preczewski has served as president of GGC since 2014. The two committees are the university’s Presidential Search and Screen Committee and the Board of Regents’ Special Committee. “The presidential search committee has great representation from our Georgia Gwinnett College stakeholders, including faculty, staff, students, alumni, the foundation and the local community,” Chancellor Steve Wrigley said. “I thank the committee members in advance for their time and willingness to lead the search process.”
www.albanyherald.com
ABAC School of Nursing unveils mission statement
New mission statement keeps faculty, students ‘current’
From Staff Reports
TIFTON — The School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College unveiled its new mission statement in a recent ceremony in the college’s Health Sciences building. Dr. Jaibun Earp, dean of the ABAC School of Nursing and Health Sciences, said in a news release the adjusted mission is meant to reflect the current goals of the school. “From time to time, it is important that we examine our mission to assure productivity,” Earp said. Earp said the new mission statement — To deliver excellent nursing education by engaging, teaching, coaching and mentoring that prepares graduates to care for and to promote healthy clients, families and communities — keeps faculty and students in the school current with the times.
www.ajc.com
Georgia State freshman’s class has record grade-point average
By Eric Stirgus
Georgia State University’s freshman class had the best high school grades of any incoming class since the university began tracking such data. This semester’s first-year students had a 3.5 grade-point average, officials said in its annual report released Wednesday of the freshman class. Average SAT scores for incoming students have increased by 20 points, to about 1100. It’s also the largest freshman class. More than 4,600 first-year students enrolled at the university’s Atlanta campus, an increase of 700 students. Georgia State’s Perimeter College campuses are welcoming 3,200 new freshmen, an increase of 300 over the fall of 2017.
www.wctv.tv
VSU students pack meals for those in need
https://www.wctv.tv/content/news/VSU-students-pack-meals-for-those-in-need-499210421.html
By: Emma Wheeler | WCTV Eyewitness News
VALDOSTA, Ga. (WCTV) — Students at Valdosta State University spent the day filling boxes to fill stomachs. On Wednesday, VSU’s African-American Male Initiative packed meal boxes at Second Harvest of South Georgia. African-American Male Initiative is a statewide program through the Georgia University System which aims to encourage African-American males to pursue higher education and put academics first in order to succeed. Organizers said giving back with events like this help instill leadership in its members.
www.mdjonline.com
KSU professor emeritus receives GHRAC award
MDJ Staff
Executive vice chancellor Tristan Denley and Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council (GHRAC) chair P. Toby Graham presented the GHRAC Lifetime Achievement Award to retired Kennesaw State University professor Dr. Thomas A. “Tom” Scott for his outstanding career in teaching and scholarship. The 16th annual GHRAC Archives Awards ceremony at the Georgia Archives was held on Oct. 16. The GHRAC Awards recognize outstanding efforts in archives and records work in Georgia. Dr. Scott is professor emeritus of History and campus historian at KSU from which he retired in 2011, after 43 years of teaching. At that time, he was the director of the KSU Oral History Program and co-director of the Center for Regional History and Culture. He was the recipient of the Kennesaw State College Distinguished Teaching Award in 1994, and the KSU Foundation Distinguished Professor Award in 2008. In 2004, he received the Governor’s Award in the Humanities.
www.ajc.com
Professor angry over university’s handling of extra credit for Abrams’ rally
By Zachary Hansen, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Clayton State University associate professor told AJC.com Wednesday that she felt pressured by a colleague to offer students extra credit if they attended a campaign event for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Andrea Allen, an associate professor of criminal justice, also said the college is unfairly singling her out despite several other staff members offering the same extra credit. She said Josh Meddaugh, associate professor and coordinator of political science and associate chair of the social studies department, asked her several times before she agreed to send the email offering extra credit to her students. She said at least five other professors in her department made similar offers to students. “I ended up saying yes, because (Meddaugh) is doing it, so I figured it was not a big deal,” Allen said. “Several other people were also offering it, so I was thinking, ‘What could be the problem?’” AJC.com tried to reach Meddaugh for comment but has not heard back from him. …Allen said offering extra credit wasn’t a mistake, since she would’ve offered the credit regardless of the political party or the event. However, she said her email had a poorly chosen word that became misconstrued as political endorsement. “In my email, I incorrectly used the word ‘they’ (would like a really big turnout). I was referring to the student Social Sciences Society (which hosted the rally) — not the Abrams’ campaign,” Allen said. She said the initial statement Clayton State sent out regarding the incident falsely presented her as a left-leaning academic. She also said it was sent before she got to see it.
www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Georgia wins annual moot court competition
Competition was before the annual Georgia-Florida football game.
by: Max Marbut Associate Editor
Before the University of Georgia’s student-athletes defeated the University of Florida on the gridiron Saturday, UGA’s law students prevailed in the other traditional competition of the annual weekend in Jacksonville: The 38th annual Hulsey/Gambrell Moot Court Competition. Two third-year law students from each school argued a theoretical appellate case involving First Amendment free speech and 14th Amendment due process issues before a panel of five federal judges. After deliberations by the panel, the arguments by Jennifer Cotton and Miles Skedsvold from Georgia were deemed superior over those of Savannah Clifton and Brooke Taylor from the University of Florida.
www.vsuspectator.com
New study gives VSU failing mark on catering to black students
If Valdosta State University received a report card on how it caters to its black students, which it did, it would’ve received three “As” and an “F.” Its equity index average, 2.75, is the highest in the state, but it’s failing grade reveals an issue black students are beginning to discover. Five weeks ago, the University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center put together “Black Students at Public Colleges and Universities: A 50-State Report Card” reporting on “the status of these students at every four-year, non-specialized, public postsecondary institution in the nation.” Georgia received an average equity score of 2.16 percent, lying in the mid-range of the U.S.’s equity scores. Out of its 17 public institutions, VSU ranked within the top 10 in three of the four categories used in the study: Representation, Gender and Completion Equity. Under representation equity, VSU received an “A” with a 37.8 percent in black student representation, a 36.2 percent in black 18-24-year-old population and a 1.6 percent difference. For gender equity, VSU received a “B” with 62.1 percent women and 37.9 percent men in its black population, and a 5.8 percent national difference. In completion equity, VSU received an “A” with a 35.4 percent black student graduation rate. This is a negative 2.4 difference from the overall graduation rate, 37.8 percent. Though it may seem VSU is on a relatively good front, it failed with an “F” in the final category: Black Student-to-Black Faculty ratio.
www.bizjournals.com
Georgia Tech, Airbus launch aircraft design center
By Mark Meltzer – Executive Editor, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Airbus and Georgia Tech have opened a new center to design aircraft, the website Aerospace Technology reports. A group of 30 Georgia Tech researchers, doctoral students and Airbus experts will work at the Airbus/Georgia Tech Center, the website reports. “This collaboration between Airbus and our Aerospace Systems Design Lab provides a unique opportunity for our students and faculty to work on research projects that are defining the next generation aircraft,” Georgia Tech Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering chair Mark Costello said.
www.onlineathens.com
Imagination Squared asks UGA, Athens to express their resilience
By Beth Gavrilles
A small bunch of dried white flowers rests against a backdrop of explosive color atop a 5-inch square of wood. Another square bears a close-up view of a stack of delicate teacups rendered in acrylic paint. And on a third, the word “Beyond” is spelled out in gold glitter across a painted background that conjures a blue sky with puffy white clouds. Apart from their shape and size, these objects could hardly be more different, yet each is an expression of the concept of resilience. Along with 300 others, they are part of Imagination Squared, an ongoing participatory project taking place at the University of Georgia and throughout the Athens community this fall. Imagination Squared was conceived and organized by artist Christina Foard, a student in the Master of Fine Arts program in the UGA Lamar Dodd School of Art. Designed to incite community conversations on a common theme, it is supported with funding from the Odum School of Ecology, Office of Sustainability and Willson Center for Humanities and Arts at UGA, as well as the Athens Area Arts Council.
www.savannahnow.com
‘There are babies everywhere’: Octopus at Aquarium at Skidaway comes with surprises inside
By Mary Landers
Until about a week ago, the UGA Marine Education Center and Aquarium at Skidaway housed one octopus. A single, solitary cephalopod. Octavius, as she was named by a social media poll, was a curious showoff, putting a tentacle or eight up to the glass to investigate visitors peering into her tank. About a month ago, though, the octopus slowed down and retreated into a rock cave in the corner of her tank. She was barely visible there and rarely ventured out to play with her toys. Then last Tuesday as Aquarium Curator Devin Dumont began to clean her tank he figured out what was going on. “I noticed this cloud of moving dots and I realized, ‘Oh my God, she had babies. There are babies. There are babies everywhere.’ And a sort of panic ensued,” he said. “I immediately started scooping them out and putting them in buckets and there were just buckets and buckets and buckets full of tiny octopi.” Overnight the aquarium went from having one octopus to having tens of thousands of them. And that number keeps growing as more eggs hatch each day.
Higher Education News:
www.insidehighered.com
Don’t Panic About GDPR, Colleges Are Told
Many U.S. higher education institutions are still grappling with how to comply with European Union data-privacy rules, but so far none have come under scrutiny.
By Lindsay McKenzie
DENVER — American colleges and universities that have yet to figure out a plan to comply with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation still have time to act, attendees at Educause’s annual conference heard Wednesday. Speaking at a conference session called GDPR: Where Are We Now? Esteban Morin, a lawyer at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, told university IT leaders to “not panic” if they are just starting to develop a plan to ensure their institution is compliant with the E.U. data protection and privacy rules. The GDPR went into effect on May 25 this year, but many higher ed institutions (and companies) are still at the beginning of their compliance journeys, said Morin. “There’s been a lot of confusion,” he said. “We know the GDPR has been incredibly overwhelming.” Organizations in the U.S., including colleges and universities, are subject to GDPR if they handle data relating to people in Europe. Failure to comply with the rules can result in deep fines. But so far enforcement of the rules by data protection authorities in E.U. member states is yet to ramp up, said Morin.