University System News:
The Augusta Chronicle
Deal dedicates second phase for Georgia Cyber Center
Deal dedicates second phase for Georgia Cyber Center
By Tom Corwin
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal cut the ribbon Thursday on the Shaffer MacCartney Building, the second phase of the $100 million Georgia Cyber Center. On a campus that now bears his name, in a building he pushed for a little more than a year ago, Gov. Nathan Deal dedicated Thursday night the second building at the Georgia Cyber Center in what he hopes will be “a facility that will have longterm generational effects.” The 165,000-square foot Shaffer MacCartney Building is a mirror image of the Hull McKnight Building that opened in July, and is named for Michael Shaffer, executive vice president for strategic partnerships and economic development at Augusta University and a former aide to Deal, and Teresa MacCartney, the state’s Chief Financial Officer and director of Deal’s Office of Planning and Budget. The two are known more for work behind the scenes than in the spotlight – Shaffer joked that it was his first and last time at a podium – and got emotional as they thanked family members and spoke warmly of their time with Deal, with MacCartney calling it “a labor of love for me” to serve with him. But rather than a legacy, they see the future in the building that bears their names.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia Gwinnett College president leaving
By Dave Williams – Staff Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) President Stanley C. “Stas” Preczewski is leaving to head Riverside Military Academy, a private school for boys in grades 7 through 12 in Gainesville, Ga. Preczewski has served as president of the college in Lawrenceville, Ga., since 2014. ‘He’s overseen the growth of Georgia’s youngest state institution to an enrollment of more than 12,500 and helped ensure GGC’s integral role in the community,” said Steve Wrigley, chancellor of the University System of Georgia. “I wish him success in his future plans.”
See also:
Union Recorder
Georgia Gwinnett College President Stas Preczewski retiring
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Interim president picked for Georgia Gwinnett College
By Eric Stirgus
Mary Beth Walker, the associate provost for strategic initiatives and Innovation at Georgia State University, will be interim president of Georgia Gwinnett College, officials announced Thursday. Walker will take the helm, effective Saturday. The current president, Stanley C. “Stas” Preczewski, is leaving to lead Riverside Military Academy. His last day is Friday. …At Georgia State, Walker has been involved in efforts to prepare a more diverse pool of undergraduate students for graduate and professional school, University System of Georgia officials said. She’s also been engaged in efforts to encourage student entrepreneurship across student majors.
Gwinnett Daily Post
GGC President Stas Preczewski leaving Friday; college names Dr. Mary Beth Walker interim president
By Isabel Hughes
Georgia Gwinnett College has named an interim president in light of current President Stas Preczewski’s recent announcement that his last day at the school is Friday. On Thursday, the college named Georgia State University’s Dr. Mary Beth Walker to the position, which will take effect Saturday. Preczewski, who has served as president of GGC since 2014, announced in September that he would retire at the end of the school year, though that date was recently bumped up, the college said. He is leaving GGC to lead Riverside Military Academy.
WRBL
Finalist named for president of Georgia Southern University
By: Connor Hackling
University System of Georgia officials have announced the sole finalist for president of Georgia Southern University. University of West Georgia President Kyle Marrero will replace former GSU president Jaimie Hebert. The university system’s chancellor and its Board of Regents chairman said Wednesday that Marrero was the finalist for the job at the college in Statesboro. Chancellor Steve Wrigley and Board Chairman Don Waters say Marrero’s accomplishments since becoming president of the school in Carrollton in 2013 include overseeing record enrollment growth. Marrero says he’s thrilled for the new opportunity.
See also:
Savannah Morning News
Georgia Southern announces sole finalist for university president
The Macon Telegraph
Finalist named for president of Georgia Southern University
WSB-tv
Finalist named for president of Georgia Southern University
The Augusta Chronicle
Finalist named for president of Georgia Southern University
Houston Chronicle
Finalist named for president of Georgia Southern University
The Brunswick News
Dual enrollment ‘thriving’ at College of Coastal Georgia
By LAUREN MCDONALD
Most juniors and seniors in high school do not bring their parents along for the first day of school. Their first day of college, however, is a different matter entirely. That’s why many local high school students who are participating in the dual enrollment program this spring could be spotted on the College of Coastal Georgia’s campus Wednesday walking alongside their moms and dads as they got a feel for the college before classes start next week. Coastal Georgia hosted an orientation program for the more than 100 high school students participating in dual enrollment for the first time this semester, which is the largest enrollment group the college has had for the spring semester so far. About 430 students total are signed on for dual enrollment this year. “The dual enrollment program at the College of Coastal Georgia is thriving, and we’re happy that you are a part and we are happy that your sons and daughters are going to be with us this semester,” said Linell Bailey, dual enrollment academic advisor at the college, during an orientation event Wednesday evening.
GrowingGeorgia
Construction Underway on Carlton Renovation Project at ABAC
With a rhythmic pounding which enveloped the immediate area with a chalky dust, the gigantic jack hammer made short work of the well-worn concrete steps in the middle of the campus at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. A massive front-end loader quickly loaded the debris into a waiting dump truck. And the rehabilitation of the Carlton Center at ABAC was underway. “If the weather holds, we should move right along,” ABAC Capital Planning Director Melvin Merrill said. “The building will look quite different when the renovation is completed.” The Fiscal Year 2019 budget for the State of Georgia includes $17.7 million in funding for the renovation of the Carlton Center and the construction of a Fine Arts Building on the campus. ABAC received $1.6 million in design funds for the Fine Arts Building and the Carlton renovation in the FY 18 state budget. To complete the $21.4 million project, ABAC President David Bridges is hoping for $2.1 million in funding for equipment for the two buildings in the FY 20 state budget.
11alive
Georgia Gwinnett College could soon have a theater to call its own
Now that Lawrenceville has approved the LPAC expansion, Geogria Gwinnett College hopes to partner with the Aurora Theatre and Arts Center on new space.
Author: Sade Hurst
Georgia Gwinnett College, is among the many celebrating the approval of the new Lawrenceville Performing Arts Center. “I think the sky is the limit and we’re going to do many great things,” Jaclyn Faircloth said. Faircloth is an Assistant Professor of Theater at GGC. She was one of the many LPAC supporters at Monday night’s city council meeting. Right now the college has a partnership with the Aurora Theatre. The Aurora Theatre host a GGC night for students, also GGC puts on its own productions there as well. “We have three classroom scheduled in the expansion. But we can’t do that without the Board of Regents,” Laurel Holland, Interim Dean of Liberal Arts. In order host classes at LPAC, GGC must get the approval of the Board of Regents.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UGA leads nation in helping entrepreneurs make dreams a reality
By Craig Lucie, Local | WSBTV
A program at the University of Georgia is helping entrepreneurs and the state’s economy. Leaders at UGA said talented university researchers have good ideas, but not necessarily the tools to start a business. The University’s Innovation Gateway program is getting those ideas out of the lab and into the hands of consumers who need them most. …The Association of University Technology just ranked UGA No. 1 out of 193 US institutions for bringing commercial products to market. According to UGA three out of four university-affiliated startups stay in Georgia, creating $130 million in state job growth. They create $10.5 million in licensing revenue and more than 175 companies have been created based on the UGA’s research. Eberhart says one of the university’s most substantial benefits impacts the state’s biggest moneymaker, agriculture.
Inside Higher Ed
The advent of online education was a classic Clayton Christensen disrupter. That was a quarter of a century ago. Now the disrupter is becoming disrupted.
By Ray Schroeder
Harvard professor Clayton Christensen described disruptive innovation as “a process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves up market, eventually displacing established competitors.” That’s just what started in the early to mid-1990s for online learning and continued until today. Colleges and universities efficiently reached new, underserved markets by virtually bringing the university to the student. The trend continues with overall college enrollment in the U.S. dropping for a fourth year, while the online portion of that enrollment continues to rise. But something else is coming into play — in a very large way!… A number of players and factors are changing the field. Georgia Institute of Technology calls it “at-scale” learning; others call it the “mega-university” — whatever you call it, this is the advent of the very large, 100,000-plus-student-scale online provider. Coursera, edX, Udacity and FutureLearn (U.K.) are among the largest providers.
Athens Banner-Herald
Details emerge on new UGA football project
By Marc Weiszer
Georgia is setting in motion plans for its next big football facility project. The school has posted on its athletics website under “current renovations” that it is seeking responses from “design-build firms” for design and preconstruction services for a renovation and expansion to the Butts-Mehre building that is expected to include a new football facility. The Athens Banner-Herald reported in August that Georgia was exploring an upgrade to its football facilities that could include, among other things, more office space and a larger weight room. Georgia could construct a new building on the site of the current upper practice turf field adjacent to the $30.2 indoor practice facility that opened in 2017. “There is limited room to expand the facility and the Design-Builder will need to design to expand and renovate in a multi-phase approach while keeping (UGA Athletic Association) groups operational, minimizing disruptions to the football program, and maintaining a safe environment for all building and field occupants,” am online document says. The Athletic Association is seeking firms to respond by Feb. 11. An athletic board meeting will be held later in the month when information about the project is expected to be shared.
Higher Education News:
Brookings
Top 6 trends in higher education
Emal Dusst and Rebecca Winthrop
Around the world, tuition at universities is rising at a much faster rate than inflation and challenging students’ return on investment. Reduced government funding and higher operating costs are driving the need for change at universities. The mismatch in employer needs and employee skills is leaving over seven million jobs unfilled in the U.S. These trends are opening the way for new approaches in higher education. Innovations in how post-secondary education are delivered, financed, and recognized are driven by a range of actors—from large public universities like Arizona State University to elite private institutions like MIT to the many relatively new education companies entering the sector like Make School, Coursera, and Trilogy Education. But to understand why these new approaches are emerging, we need to first look at what is driving them.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Is This Higher Education’s Golden Age?
Pessimism reigns. But American universities have never been stronger.
By Steven Brint for The Chronicle Review
American universities appear to be in deep trouble. Consider a few recent headlines: in The Atlantic: “The Pillaging of America’s State Universities” and “The Broken Promise of Higher Education”; in The New York Review of Books: “Our Universities: The Outrageous Reality” and “The Hi-Tech Mess of Higher Education.” The Chronicle, too, has contributed to the pervasive negativity: “An Era of Neglect,” “Higher Education Is Drowning in BS,” “The Slow Death of the University.” Scholars have joined the joyless chorus. For many of them, American universities have transformed themselves into market-oriented enterprises, barely different from corporations: They charge exorbitant fees, effectively excluding students from the bottom half of the socioeconomic hierarchy; they shortchange students’ educational experiences by obsessing over the bottom line; they have created a caste system with low-paid adjuncts doing most of the teaching. In the scramble for dollars, these critics assert, universities have forsaken their social and cultural responsibilities.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Report Examines Improving Higher Ed Access for Veterans
by Lois Elfman
A new report outlines ways to increase the number of military veterans attending the most selective institutions in the U.S. Ithaka S+R, a not-for-profit research organization that works to advance knowledge and improve teaching and learning, released the report titled, “Enrolling More Veterans at High-Graduation-Rate Colleges and Universities.” According to the report, only one in 10 veterans that utilizes his or her GI Bill benefits enrolls in an institutions with graduation rates above 70 percent. Of nearly 900,000 veterans using their post-9/11 GI Bill and/or Yellow Ribbon funds, only 722 undergraduates are enrolled in the country’s top 36 most selective, non-profit colleges.
Inside Higher Ed
Worries Grow About Outsourcing of College Degrees
Proposal to lift cap on college programs offered through unaccredited entities stirs concerns about giving companies back door to federal student aid.
By Andrew Kreighbaum
Dozens of colleges, including many with widely known brands, outsource parts of degree programs to other institutions or private companies. Under federal rules, colleges can offer degree programs in which up to 50 percent of instruction is outsourced, including through unaccredited entities. A proposal from the Education Department would remove that cap entirely, potentially allowing colleges to completely outsource curriculum and instruction for degree programs. That possibility is alarming consumer advocates who worry it will give low-quality operators backdoor access to federal student aid money. Amy Laitinen, director for higher education at New America’s education policy program, said it would basically allow colleges to rent out their names to third-party companies while pulling in federal aid.
Inside Higher Ed
Global Higher Ed in Changing Times
Panelists at Inside Higher Ed-organized event discuss international student recruitment and keeping their institutions global amid political headwinds and public skepticism of internationalization activities.
By Elizabeth Redden
How can colleges seize control of their international strategies at a time when international student enrollments are falling at many American colleges and when federal immigration policies and public attitudes may be working against institutions’ internationalization goals? “We used to talk very clearly about this internationalization imperative” as if global involvement was an irresistible or unavoidable force, Kevin Kinser, head of the education policy studies department at Pennsylvania State University, said at an Inside Higher Ed-organized event, Global Higher Ed in Changing Times, Tuesday. “There are a lot of people who disagree with that assumption, that presumption.” “I’m an optimist going through a very pessimistic phase right now,” Kinser continued. “I’m not sure the idea of internationalization resonates with as broad a population as I thought.” One theme that emerged Tuesday was the growing divide between haves and have-nots as international student enrollments have fallen at some institutions and increased at others. Peggy Blumenthal, senior counselor to the president at the Institute of International Education, presented data from the latest annual Open Doors report that found a 6.6 percent decline in new international students at American colleges in fall 2017.