University System News:
Stars and Stripes
Senior military colleges aim to fill gaps in cyber skills for the Defense Department
By Rose L. Thayer
Examples of an expanding cyber force within the Defense Department are all around. The Marine Corps established a new specialty field in October to better defend its computer-based systems and the Air Force added 244 new cyber officers in 2018, a nearly 10 percent increase from the previous year. Increasingly, the military services are focusing on cybersecurity, in part based on information from the Department of Homeland Security citing the potential of a cyberattack exceeding the threat of a physical one. …To better prepare for the growing cyber threat, the military needs a workforce capable of preventing, detecting and mitigating attacks, Robert Behler, the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation, wrote in the report. While it can be challenging to draw competent workers from higher-paying private sector jobs, he suggested the Pentagon increase its employment by better funding the college-to-career pipeline. …The law goes on to prioritize programs at the nation’s six senior military colleges because of their large foothold in commissioning officers. Together, these schools commission about 900 military officers each year – about 12 percent of annual ROTC commissions. The University of North Georgia, Texas A&M University, The Citadel, Virginia Tech, Virginia Military Institute and Norwich University make up the nation’s six senior military colleges, as designated by meeting specific requirements of the Title 10 U.S. Code in their ROTC programs.
Douglas Now
SGSC RAISES OVER $20,000 AT GOLF TOURNAMENT
South Georgia State College students will reap the benefits from the first annual “Birdies for Bucks” Golf Classic held February 8, 2019, at the Okefenokee Country Club in Blackshear. “Birdies for Bucks” was created by the James M. Dye Foundation on South Georgia State College’s Waycross Campus to support SGSC’s Gap Funding Project. The project provides grants to students on SGSC’s Waycross Campus who experience financial limitations after all financial aid options have been exhausted. The event raised over $20,000 and will enable the Dye Foundation to put financial resources in place so that future students have the opportunity to realize their academic dreams.
Tifton CEO
Elliott Donates Solar Powered Charging Bench to ABAC Campus
Staff Report From Tifton CEO
Solar technology hits the grounds at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College with a new bench that will allow students to charge their phones and enjoy the beautiful South Georgia weather. Students have Bill Elliott to thank for the generous donation that was given in memory of his wife, Julia Ann Simpson Elliott. “Julia Ann had a dream to be a teacher,” Elliott said. “She came to ABAC in 1962 and 1963, and then went to the University of Georgia to study home economics.” Ms. Elliott went on to teach home economics in Florida and Georgia for several years. After his wife passed away in 2010, Elliott decided to invest his time in promoting solar technology. To honor his wife, he wanted to give back to the campus that she loved.
WGAU Radio
UGA ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAM CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY
By: Tim Bryant
Today marks the start of three days of activities marking the 50th anniversary of the University of Georgia’s Adult Education Program.
On Common Ground News
GSU Perimeter Campus to host college fair March 1
Local students and their parents are invited to attend the upcoming Probe College Fair featuring recruiters from more than 50 colleges and universities from across the country. The fair will be held March 1, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Georgia State University’s Perimeter Campus, 3251 Panthersville Road, Decatur. College recruiters will be on site to discuss admissions, financial aid, student life, and other issues.
Savannah Business Journal
Georgia Southern hosts 30th annual National Youth-At-Risk Conference
Savannah Business Journal Staff Report
More than 120 training sessions are coming to Savannah as the Georgia Southern University College of Education hosts the 30th annual National Youth-At-Risk Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel March 3 through 6. The conference brings together over 1,200 professionals in education, social work, law enforcement, counseling and other child and family advocacy fields from around the country for quality, relevant training to better serve youth placed at risk.
Statesboro Herald
Recyclemania hits Georgia Southern
University one of 200 competing nationwide against each other
Brendan Ward
Herald Intern
The Center for Sustainability at Georgia Southern University is competing in Recyclemania, an international recycling competition in which universities compete to recycle the most trash during an eight-week period.
Albany Herald
ASU student named Mary Ellen Pleasant Entrepreneur Fellow
From Staff Reports
Albany State University student Markia Brown joins the inaugural cohort of fellows in the Mary Ellen Pleasant Entrepreneur Fellowship program. The program is a partnership between the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions and the minority-owned recruitment marketing platform, The Whether. Brown joins 24 other scholars from historically black colleges and universities around the country. The MEPE Fellowship aims to increase future entrepreneurs from HBCUs and is part of a $775,000 Innovations in Career Advising grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Daily Citizen-News
History professor shares how black colleges helped shape American democracy
By Shaka L. Cobb
During a time when black America was “under attack,” churches burned, ministers were assassinated and businesses struggled to survive, black colleges and universities remained untouched, said Jelani Favors, an assistant professor of history at Clayton State University. “No one was burning down black colleges or assassinating presidents,” Favors said. Favors said many people believed Historically Black Colleges and Universities, commonly referred to as HBCUs, were the “white architects of black education.” Historically black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. There are 101 public and private schools, including North Carolina A&T State University, where Favors earned a bachelor’s degree in history. Favors spoke on the topic “A Charge to Keep: How Black Colleges Ignited the Civil Rights Movement and Transformed American Democracy” as part of the fourth annual Black History Month Speaker Series at Dalton State College. The Office of Academic Affairs and the Dalton State Foundation sponsored the event.
Macon Telegraph
How colleges are preserving slave records, an emotional part of Georgia’s black history
BY LAURA CORLEY
Georgia College’s Ina Dillard Russell Library recently received a $12,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Common Heritage Program to help ensure “that our collection of local history is inclusive and reflective of a multitude of experiences . . . particularly for the African-American community” interim library director Shaundra Walker said. Enslaved people were only referred to by their first names and described often only by the color of their skin in all 1800s property records, making it a challenge to trace ancestry. On Saturday, Shanee Murrain, assistant professor and archivist for the University of West Georgia, will present best practices for handling materials that are old and fragile. …Later this summer, the grant will pay for mobile scanning stations set up around town so residents can go and have their documents digitized at no cost. Participants will have a choice on whether they want to share their family memories with the digital collection at Georgia College, which is part of the Digital Library of Georgia and the Digital Public Library of America.
Higher Education News:
Edscoop
New national education network to share adaptive learning resources
Written by Betsy Foresman
A root cause of college dropouts is the high failure rate in foundational courses, prompting a new initiative, announced Wednesday, aimed at creating a national network for education groups to collaborate on adaptive learning solutions. Every Learner Everywhere, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is supported by 12 higher education and digital learning groups in Texas, Ohio, and Florida, which have collaborated to offer high-quality support to colleges and universities seeking to leverage data-driven algorithms for the personalized learning of its students.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Does Higher Ed Need to Rediscover Generosity?
By Scott Carlson
Hi. I’m not Goldie Blumenstyk, who usually writes this newsletter. Subscribe here. I’m Scott Carlson, also a senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education, covering the business of higher education. Here’s what I’m thinking about this week: Does higher ed need to rediscover generosity? This week I caught up with Kathleen Fitzpatrick, a professor of English at Michigan State University, an influential digital-humanities scholar, and the author of Generous Thinking: A Radical Approach to Saving the University. At the heart of her book is … well, heart. Academics are fond of intellectual combat, and one’s ability to dissect, deconstruct, and even destroy ideas can make one’s reputation. But what are the casualties of that competitive, combative orientation? Fitzpatrick advocates a reorientation of academe toward something more positive, more collaborative. Higher education is fractured by competition — or, in worse cases, infighting — that limits the sector’s impact on the communities universities were built to support, drives institutions’ attention inward, and undermines public support.
Inside Higher Ed
Who Controls Confucius Institutes?
Two new government reports look at questions of Chinese government control over Confucius Institutes hosted by U.S. campuses.
By Elizabeth Redden
China has directly provided more than $158 million to U.S. universities to host Confucius Institutes since 2006, according to a report from the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released in advance of a hearing on China’s impact on the U.S. educational system scheduled for this morning. More than 90 U.S. universities host the CIs, which supporters say offer critical resources for foreign language learning at a time when such resources are hard to find. But they have not been uncontroversial. At least 10 U.S. universities have moved to close their Confucius Institutes over the past year as scrutiny of the Chinese government-funded centers for language and cultural education has intensified and lawmakers from across the political spectrum have raised concerns about Chinese influence over American higher education.