University System News:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC On Campus: HOPE on lawmakers’ minds; professor becomes babysitter
By Eric Stirgus
…Hopes for a new scholarship funding stream Could Georgia have a new revenue stream for the HOPE Scholarship? Gov. Brian Kemp’s spokesman signaled last week his boss won’t stand in the way of a constitutional amendment that would let voters decide whether to allow casinos in Georgia, with the money used for the popular lottery-funded HOPE scholarship.
HOPE eligibility changes Speaking of HOPE, the state House of Representatives Higher Education committee on Friday tweaked House Bill 218, which would allow Georgia college students to receive the HOPE Scholarship as many as 10 years, instead of the current seven years.
Zell Miller Scholarship changes More students could be eligible for one of the state’s most sought-after scholarships if Senate Bill 161 gets to Gov. Kemp’s desk. The Georgia Senate’s Higher Education committee on Thursday voted unanimously for a plan that would add an extra 0.5 to the grade point average of students taking Advanced Placement, dual credit or International Baccalaureate courses for grades ranging from an A to a D.
Trump’s threat President Donald Trump hasn’t talked much about colleges since he’s been in office, but that might change. Trump vowed in a speech Saturday to the Conservative Political Action Conference he’ll sign an executive order requiring colleges and universities to support speech rights on campus in order to be eligible for federal research dollars. Georgia’s colleges get more than $1 billion annually in federal research money.
The number of the week: $340,984 Kennesaw State University students raised $340,984 for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta during a 12-hour dance marathon on Saturday, March 2, 2019. The student group that organized the event, Miracle at KSU, has raised more than $1 million for the hospital since the group started 11 years ago, KSU officials said. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED.
That’s how much money Kennesaw State University students raised during a 12-hour dance marathon on campus Saturday for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta through Miracle at Kennesaw, a student group.
Tifton CEO
ABAC Named a Military Friendly College
Staff Report From Tifton CEO
Making an academic decision after time in the armed forces of the United States can often be difficult but with Military Friendly Schools, that transition can often be accomplished without mountains of red tape. That’s why Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College has been named a Military Friendly School and a Best Value Institution by Victory Media. To qualify for the award, Victory Media takes into consideration academic policies and compliance, admissions and orientation, culture and commitment, financial aid and assistance, graduation and career, and military student support and retention. The standards employed at ABAC exceed the Military Friendly® standard in each category.
WJCL
Defining the vision: Georgia Southern wants your input this week on the school’s new mission
By Kevin Solomon
Georgia Southern University’s Strategic Planning Committee is hosting sessions this week on its mission and vision. They’re designed to get feedback from the community to shape the school’s new mission and vision statements, values, and goals. The first two meetings are at GSU’s Liberty Campus in Hinesville. Those sessions are Tuesday at 2 p.m. & 4:30 p.m at Classroom 105. The next sessions are at Georgia Southern’s Statesboro Campus at the Russell Union. They’re Wednesday, March 6 at 10:10 a.m. & 12:20 p.m. The university is holding a third set of sessions on Thursday, March 7 at the Armstrong Campus in Savannah. They’re at 11 a.m. & 12:30 p.m. at the Armstrong Center in Room 106.
Albany Herald
FVSU conference focuses on agriculture, disaster preparedness
Goal of annual conference is to prepare Georgians for future disasters
From Staff Reports
In 2018, Hurricane Michael ripped into the Peach State, leaving a price tag of more than $1 billion in damages to homeowners and farmers. To educate the public about natural disasters and agriculture, personnel from Fort Valley State University’s Cooperative Extension Program will host the 42nd Farm, Home and Ministers’ Conference. The 2019 theme is “Agriculture & Natural Disasters: Are We Prepared?” The event will take place from 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. March 14 at the C.W. Pettigrew Farm and Community Life Center located on FVSU’s campus. Representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources and Conservation Service, FVSU’s Cooperative Extension Program, Middle Georgia Community Food Banks and the Twiggs County Emergency Management Agency will make presentations.
Connect Savannah
Georgia Southern plans events to celebrate International Women’s Day
By Rachael Flora
…“International Women’s Day is a great time to pause and reflect, to pay homage to all the activists around the world who have challenged oppression in all of its forms, specifically fighting against systems of power that structure the world in terms of race, class, nationality, and sexuality, as well as gender,” says Jane Rago, director of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Program at the Armstrong campus of Georgia Southern University. The WGS program will partner with Feminist United, Planned Parenthood and Generation Action to hold a Read-In on the Armstrong and Statesboro campuses on Friday, Mar. 8. “For International Women’s Day on campus, we’re doing a solidarity thing between the Armstrong campus and the Statesboro campus,” says Nolan. “We’re going to have volunteers—students, faculty or staff—to read either research they have that relates to women or creative work like poems or short stories that they wish to share.” …”It’s important that the University’s strategic planning process is as inclusive as possible, giving community members, alumni and other external stakeholders the opportunity to get involved.”
Higher Education News:
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
UNCF Issues First Ever State of HBCUs Address, Launches HBCU Congressional Honor Roll
by Tiffany Pennamon
WASHINGTON — Institutional leaders, elected officials, advocates and other supporters of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were in attendance Tuesday for the United Negro College Fund’s (UNCF) inaugural State of the HBCU Address, which put forth a comprehensive legislative agenda for Congressional members to further support HBCUs and their capacity to be engines of socioeconomic mobility for the students they serve. During the address, UNCF president and CEO Dr. Michael L. Lomax called on federal policymakers to make significant investments in HBCU infrastructure and innovation, reform financial aid and evaluate regional accreditors’ treatment of HBCUs. UNCF also released its new Congressional Honor Roll, a list that currently recognizes 59 members of Congress who go above and beyond in their policymaking and support for HBCU success.
Inside Higher Ed
New study of NIH funding says women over all get smaller grants than men, even when controlling for research potential. The findings have implications for their long-term success in academic science.
By Colleen Flaherty
“Publish or perish” is a law of academe. In the sciences, that law might as well be, “Get funding or perish.” And funding is harder and harder to get, with federal research dollars on the decline. Yet in this Darwinian climate, it’s not exactly survival of the fittest, according to new research that says women get smaller grants than men. The study, published in JAMA, looks at National Institutes of Health grants from 2006 to 2017. Female first-time principal investigators received a median grant of $126,615, across all grant and institution types during that period. First-time male grantees, meanwhile, got $165,721. The difference is just about $40,000 — arguably enough to make or break a project, or a career. While some comparisons of grants by scientists’ genders don’t take into account that some scholars are more senior or have more of an impact, this study controlled for numerous factors. It also compared only people who received their first grants and were thus at similar points in their careers.