University System News:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Election results will change Georgia education
By Eric Stirgus
Georgia voters made their choices at the polls this month and it could mean changes for higher education in the state. A new governor will take office in January, and there’ll be key changes in how higher education legislation is shaped in the Georgia Legislature. Earl Ehrhart, described by some as the 20th member of the state Board of Regents, decided not to run for re-election to the state House of Representatives. Fran Millar, the Republican chair of the state Senate’s Higher Education Committee, lost his re-election bid to Sally Harrell, a Democrat. We reached out to some folks who closely watch higher education issues to get their thoughts about what to expect.
The Albany Herald
University System of Georgia signs cybersecurity pact
U.S. Department of Labor will join USG in training for rapidly developing field
From Staff Reports
The University System of Georgia and the U.S. Department of Labor entered a new collaboration that aims to increase the number of skilled workers who pursue a career in cybersecurity. The two organizations jointly signed the Registered Apprenticeship Standards in Cybersecurity. The agreement marks the first time a public four-year university system and the Labor Department have partnered to implement standards that will guide USG institutions and the Georgia FinTech Academy as they increase the availability of apprenticeships that specialize in the cybersecurity field. The agreement comes as the USG has continued to do extensive analysis on the fast-growing financial technology (fintech) business environment in Georgia.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Jolt: Georgia’s runoff for secretary of state gets nasty
By Greg Bluestein Tamar Hallerman
Welcome back to Jen Talaber Ryan, the former top spokeswoman to Gov. Nathan Deal who starts a job with the University System of Georgia on Monday after a few months of maternity leave. Ryan helped shape the governor’s message during his re-election campaign and his second term,including navigating national attention with Deal’s veto of the “religious liberty” measure and campus gun bill.
Forsyth County News
UNG enrollment growth increases student body to near 20,000
From staff reports
At the close of the 2018 fall semester, the University of North Georgia (UNG) has announced record numbers of enrolled students, boasting a student body that has reached 19,722 students. According to a press release from the university, over the last semester the UNG student body has grown by 5 percent, inching towards an enrollment of 20,000 students. The release states that UNG’s growth is one of the highest in Georgia, third behind to Middle Georgia State University and Georgia Institute of Technology who had growth rates of 6.3 and 11.4 percent respectively. “Our increasing enrollment and the demand for our programs reflect UNG’s consistent national recognition as one of the best values in higher education, as well as the commitment of our faculty and staff to educational excellence,” UNG President Bonita C. Jacobs stated in the release. “From dual enrollment to graduate programs, UNG is attracting highly qualified and extremely talented students at all levels.” According to the release with 8,160 students, the UNG Gainesville Campus had the highest enrollment of UNG’s five campuses for fall 2018.
Savannah Morning News
Georgia Southern to narrow list of university president candidates
By Ann Meyer ameyer@savannahnow.com
The search for a new president of Georgia Southern University is expected to yield a “short list” of candidates by the end of the month. “The committee is very pleased with both the number and quality of the applications. We’ll continue reviewing these until our meeting at the end of this month to create a short list to interview in person,” said Dustin Anderson, president of the search committee, in an emailed response to questions. Anderson, a professor of literature at the College of Arts and Humanities and president of the university’s faculty senate, said previously the search would be confidential, so it’s unlikely the university will release the names of the short list of candidates. …At informal listening sessions with students and faculty held on Sept. 11, Anderson stressed the importance of a president who could bring together the university spread across three campuses. At a listening session where several committee members questioned the decision to keep the search closed, Anderson said a search where candidates’ names are not released to the public encourages sitting presidents and administrators from other universities and internal candidates from Georgia Southern to apply who otherwise might be reluctant to.
WTOC
Search for next GSU president could soon move to next phase
STATESBORO, GA (WTOC) – The search for a new president for Georgia Southern University could move to the next phase by the end of this month. The chairman of the search committee says they would likely complete a list by then of interviewees from the pool of applicants they’ve received. He says they’ve been impressed with the quantity and quality of applicants they’ve seen under their confidential search. “We’re undergoing the application review. We’ll go ahead and begin our first round of interviews after we finish those selections,” said Dr. Dustin Anderson, Committee Chair.
Athens Banner-Herald
Groundbreaking for ISTEM Building set for Tuesday
By Emily Pateuk
The University of Georgia will break ground on the new Interdisciplinary Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Research Building at 2 p.m. Tuesday. The groundbreaking marks the beginning of the construction of the ISTEM Research Building, which will house engineering, chemistry and related disciplines to promote collaborations between students, faculty and researchers. The $65 million facility is made possible by $39.4 million in state support. It is strategically located on UGA’s South Campus near other buildings that house STEM researchers and will promote interdisciplinary research to address the needs of industry and government agencies. It will also enhance the state of Georgia’s economic development. “The new ISTEM Research Building provides an exciting opportunity to take the collaborative strengths of UGA to a whole new level,” said Rawad Saleh, assistant professor of engineering at UGA. “It will be home for a new interdisciplinary energy and air pollution research group. Having our laboratories co-located in the Interdisciplinary STEM Building will be a major contributor to the success of our collaborative research.”
The Tifton Gazetete
Annual Manna Drop feeds storm victims, disabled, and other hungry families
By Dalton Spangler
TIFTON — At 4:30 a.m. on a Saturday, the first car rolled up to the gates of Charles Spencer Elementary School. Peggy Cooper turned off the engine and bundled herself up with blankets. Her family was determined to be the first of 399 other families fed that day. The sixth annual Manna Drop took place Nov. 17 at Charles Spencer, where bags of food were given to families for an early Thanksgiving. The project this year was led by five Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College students who organized and raised the funds for the event. Those students were Cheyenne Colson, Jonathan Kroner, Landon Rowe, Lane Riley and Loren Lindler. A total of $9,000 went towards the event this year. Every bag contained a five-pound ham, a box of cornbread mix, two pounds of rice, green beans, corn and other can goods donated by food drives in the community. ABAC’s Baptist Collegiate Ministries volunteered to distribute the food.
11Alive
A growing business: UGA students selling Christmas trees to pay off tuition
With a new location and more students pitching in, their business is expanding as the money rolls in.
Author: Nick Sturdivant
Two University of Georgia students are not only feeling the Christmas spirit but an entrepreneurial one as well. The college sophomores are in Atlanta selling Christmas trees to pay for school. So, it makes perfect sense that they’ve named the business “Trees for Tuition.” This is the third year that 20-year-old Calder Johnson and 19-year-old Jack Faught decided to sell trees. And they’ve expanded their operation to include more students.
The Albany Herald
UGA doctoral candidate researches Chinese agriculture economics
Zhongyuan Liu traveled to China to learn more about Chinese agriculture economics for this doctoral thesis
By Denise Horton
As part of his doctoral thesis project, University of Georgia doctoral candidate in agricultural economics Zhongyuan Liu went directly to the source to understand the impact of rural land reforms in China. Liu used funding provided by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Office of Global Programs Graduate International Travel Award to interview farmers, village leaders and officers in a land reform office in the Wujin district of Jiangsu province in China.
The Albany Herald
GSW receives highway safety grant
Georgia Southwestern State University will use funds for safe driving programs
From Staff Reports
AMERICUS — To address young adult driver crashes, injuries and fatalities, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety is partnering with colleges and universities throughout the state to implement its Georgia Young Adult Program. The GOHS provided Georgia Southwestern State University with a $15,355 grant to help the college participate in the program. “The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety is committed to changing the tragic trend of young adult driver deaths in Georgia,” GOHS Director Harris Blackwood said in a news release. “We’re here to make changes, and I believe the students at Georgia Southwestern State University can help us achieve the goal of lowering driver, crash, injury and fatality rates statewide. Who better to address the challenges and dangers facing young adults than their peers? I’m confident these students can convince their peers to be safer, more conscientious drivers.”
Inside Higher Ed
Imagining an Apple Store for Online Degrees
Georgia Tech moves forward with plans to create storefronts for its online education programs, joining a growing number of institutions offering hybrid online learning experiences.
By Lindsay McKenzie
Georgia Institute of Technology is considering creating brick-and-mortar “storefronts” for prospective and current students to sample its course offerings, listen to lectures and network. The effort is part of Georgia Tech’s plans to make its online degrees and professional education certificates more appealing to the nontraditional students of tomorrow, who the institution predicts will expect “flexible learning experiences.” “We know that students are happy with the online delivery, but we have found that they still have the desire, and in many cases the need, to connect physically with us,” said Rafael Bras, the university’s provost. Georgia Tech administrators published an ambitious report earlier this year exploring how the university might evolve to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student population in the next 20 years. The report included a proposal to build a “distributed worldwide presence” through the creation of spaces called Georgia Tech atriums.
Wired
NO, REALLY! YOUR STARTUP DOESN’T HAVE TO BE IN THE BAY AREA
(Q&A between Alexis Ohanian, the founder of Reddit, and Jewel Burks, founder of Partpic) … AP: Jewel, you’re based in Atlanta. To what extent do you feel like that’s an advantage or a disadvantage? JB: When I was fund-raising for Partpic, a lot of people told me that I would have to move my company to San Francisco to be successful. But I was pretty hardheaded: I lived here before when I worked at Google, and I knew that it wasn’t where I wanted to be. For what I was building, for the companies that would be my customers, for the talent that I wanted to attract out of Georgia Tech … everything was telling me that Atlanta was the place to build the business. It was the right decision, because we were able to go way further with a small amount of capital. I’m able to get engineering talent for so much cheaper … We were part of a program at Georgia Tech called the Advanced Technology Development Center.
SaportaReport
Georgia Tech hosting series of talks on redesigning cities to meet needs of 21st century
By David Pendered
A series of talks on redesigning cities, their systems and policies, to meet the needs of the 21st century promises to explore topics that are on the table today in metro Atlanta. The series of six talks begin Dec. 4 and continues through April at Georgia Tech. The concept calls for a presentation of a topic followed by a conversation between two top experts on the topic, according to a statement released by Ellen Dunham-Jones, a Tech professor who directs the master of science in urban design degree. She is overseeing the series of talks. The series is supported by Mike and Jenny Messner, founders of the Speedwell Foundation, through the Georgia Tech School of Architecture … The Dec. 4 event is titled, “Redesigning cities with autonomous vehicles.” … This talk has direct implications on a study of Chamblee that Dunham-Jones now is leading. Chamblee was one of four winners Tech’s first Georgia Smart Communities Challenge. The recipients received a $50,000 grant from Tech, which matched locally raised funding, and $25,000 in researcher support from Tech.
Higher Education News:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
APS considers $11.9M academy for college, career training
By Vanessa McCray, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta Public Schools could create an $11.9 million academy to prepare high schoolers for college and the workforce as Georgia pushes schools to create opportunities for students to learn job skills. The college and career academy would be paid for with sales-tax revenue and a $3 million grant from the Technical College System of Georgia, according to district documents. …The academy would allow APS to offer students more training for different careers, such as carpentry, construction, aviation and medical fields.
U.S. News & World Report
Selective Public Colleges Admit Black and Latino Students at Lower Rates
Diverting minority students from selective public colleges sets off a chain of events that lessens their chances of ever graduating, a new report says.
By Lauren Camera, Education Reporter
Among Institutions of higher education, public universities are supposed to lead the charge in providing access to students of color, whose college-going numbers – though on the rise – have never matched those of white students. But a new report that shines a spotlight on inequities within public systems finds that the most selective colleges among them may as well be elite private schools when it comes to admitting black and Latino students. White students occupy almost two-thirds, or 64 percent, of the seats in selective public colleges even though they account for a little more than half, or 54 percent, of the college-age population in the U.S. Meanwhile, blacks and Latino students account for 36 percent of the college-age population, but only 19 percent are enrolled in selective public universities. Those are just some of the top-line findings included in “Our Separate & Unequal Public Colleges,” a report released last week by researchers at Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.
The Washington Post
They served their country. Why aren’t elite colleges serving them better?
By Brian Mockenhaupt
… Many state universities and community colleges have large veteran populations and robust programs to recruit veterans and help them adjust to college life. But at the nation’s most selective schools, where most students follow the traditional pipeline from high school to a degree within four years — and from which many go on to leadership roles in government and industry — veterans like Fendler are an anomaly. Though America’s top institutions are trying to increase this population — which brings not only a distinctive perspective on the world but also, collectively, millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded GI Bill benefits — veterans still make up well under 1 percent of undergraduates on most of these campuses. That’s out of about 1 million veterans and their family members enrolled in higher education under the GI Bill, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.