University System News:
Athens CEO
Inaugural Student Tour of Georgia Highlights UGA’s Reach
Kelly Simmons
Twenty-five University of Georgia undergraduate students got a firsthand look at how UGA is making a difference in Georgia communities during the inaugural Student Tour of Georgia over spring break. It was UGA’s first such tour organized specifically for students and was based on the popular New Faculty Tour, sponsored by UGA Public Service and Outreach, which introduces about 40 new faculty to the state each August. PSO and the Division of Student Affairs coordinated the Student Tour of Georgia, which was sponsored by the Office of the President. A primary goal of the tour was to help students better understand the land-grant and sea-grant missions of the university and how the University of Georgia fulfills those missions by helping to create stronger, healthier and more secure communities.
WJCL
New Pilot Program at Georgia Southern introduces new technology
Dave Williams
Georgia Southern University is doing its part to make learning a bit easier for some of its students. A new program it hopes will help brighten their future. When Georgia Southern University consolidated last year with Armstrong State, suddenly one campus became three and that could cause some logistic problems. But thanks to a new pilot program some of those problems are no more. Since the spring semester began after Christmas break, a new pilot program has been introduced that allows for new site synchronous classrooms using state of the art cameras.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC On Campus: Students visit for major conferences, FVSU indictments
By Eric Stirgus
Thousands of college students and higher education leaders are visiting the Atlanta region this week for various industry conferences. Sorry in advance about the pollen. Here’s a little more about those events and other happenings at some Georgia colleges and universities as part of this week’s AJC On Campus.
Kennesaw State hosts major research conference It might be difficult finding a vacant hotel room in some parts of Cobb County later this week. About 4,000 students and researchers are visiting Kennesaw State University starting Thursday for the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. University officials say it will be the largest event ever held there. …AJC investigates KSU’s questionable research ties with firm The Consumer Credit Research Foundation, a group run by a payday loan industry backer, gave Kennesaw State University $30,000 a few years ago to do a paper that concluded borrowers who take out a long string of payday loans fare better than those who don’t. The research surprised many since payday loans are considered so hazardous to borrowers that they’re banned within state lines. …She’s hired The Georgia Board of Regents voted Friday to make Jann Luciana Joseph the next president of Georgia Gwinnett College. …Fort Valley State University team wins innovation prize A team of Fort Valley State University students came up with a pretty good idea that helped them win a recent competition against other Georgia students. A retractable extension cord located in a wall socket. The Fort Valley team won the first Georgia Inventure Prize Competition, hosted by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. …Fort Valley State indictments A former Fort Valley State University official and six men, some with prominent positions in the area, were indicted Friday by Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prostitution and pimping. …Georgia State’s big grant The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded Georgia State University a $3.75 million grant to address health disparities affecting America’s refugee and migrant communities. The GSU center, which will be based at the university’s Perimeter College campus in the city of Clarkston – fondly known as the “Ellis Island of the South.”
Booneville Democrat
Enhanced internships to open doors for UAFS education majors
Thanks to a collaborative partnership between the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith and Fort Smith Public Schools, UAFS School of Education interns will have an opportunity unlike any other in the state: to participate in an intensive, year-long paid internship. This competitive program will allow interns to be fully immersed in a year of teaching while still being supported by School of Education faculty and internship supervisors. Interns selected for this enhanced internship program will also have the unique opportunity to spend the year learning from a dedicated and highly qualified mentor within the school system who will guide and assist them through classroom management, parent relationships and navigating the education system. …While developing this program at UAFS, Riley explored other successful enhanced internship programs throughout the country. At the University of West Georgia, 33 of 34 interns who completed the year-long internship remained employed after five years. Studies cited by the University Council for Educational Administration note that approximately 16 percent of teachers leave their school each year, and 19- 30 percent of all teachers leave the profession completely before their fifth year, making UWG’s five-year retention rates notable.
WABE
More And More, Colleges Open Their Doors To Transfer Students
Martha Dalton
Colleges and universities are starting to accept — and recruit — more transfer students. About 30,000 students transfer into Georgia’s university system each year, according to the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students. Nationally, roughly 1 in 3 college students is a transfer, and an increasing number of them are coming from two-year schools. …A recent study from the U.S. Government Accountability Office shows, on average, transfer students lose 43 percent of their course credits. “That credit loss then leads to extended time to degree. It looks at potentially increasing the cost for education both to the students and, honestly, to the taxpayers,” says Janet Marling, executive director of the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students located at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega. Dr. Cheree Williams is the vice president of academic affairs at Georgia Piedmont Technical College. She says even though several TCSG credits transfer to the University System of Georgia, school advisers help students map out their classes to make sure they’re on the right track. “It’s kind of identifying that if I say I’m going to go to Georgia State, what does Georgia State require?” Williams says. “If I say I want to go to UNG, what does UNG require? Although they are part of the university system, they may have different requirements in regards to competitive admission.”
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Tech hires Fortner to coach women’s basketball
By Ken Sugiura
Georgia Tech hired former Auburn coach Nell Fortner as its new coach for women’s basketball. The school made the announcement Tuesday. Fortner replaces MaChelle Joseph, who was fired after an investigation into allegations of misconduct found that players said that she was emotionally, verbally and mentally abusive. Joseph has denied the charges. Fortner, 60, brings a wide variety of experiences to the job, although she last coached in the 2011-12 season, at Auburn.
Higher Education News:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
In Many States, Higher Education Has Been Left Behind Since the Recession
By Eric Kelderman
In 11 states, higher-education appropriations have not recovered at all from the worst years of the Great Recession, according to an annual report released on Tuesday by the association of State Higher Education Executive Officers. Nationally, said the 2018 “State Higher Education Finance” report, state appropriations per student remained essentially flat from the 2017 to 2018 fiscal years. “Following five straight years of growth in state support, there was nearly no national change in state and local per-student support for higher education after adjusting for inflation,” the study found. Tuition revenue, which had risen in all but two of the past 25 years, also remained flat compared with the previous fiscal year, the report said. State spending on student financial aid increased by nearly 9 percent, the fourth consecutive increase, according to the study. But the impact of the recession still casts a long shadow on state appropriations for higher education, the report noted: “Ten years out from the start of the Great Recession, per-student higher education appropriations in the U.S. have only halfway recovered.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education
3 Things a Faculty-Pay Survey Shows About Academic Jobs
By Audrey Williams June
In its annual faculty-compensation survey, released on Wednesday, the American Association of University Professors provides a snapshot of the earning power of full-time and part-time faculty members. The long and short of it: Pay raises were modest, faculty buying power has eroded, and many different factors are rolled into faculty pay. But the data, from nearly 1,000 two- and four-year colleges, also tell us three things about the academic workplace: Professors’ paychecks are still squeezed by the effects of inflation. In the 2018-19 academic year, full-time faculty members earned an average of 2 percent more than they did in the prior academic year. Yet for the third year in a row, the rise in the cost of living — 1.9 percent — ate away at their modest salary gains. Of course, rank and institution played roles in faculty pay. For example, at doctoral institutions, full professors earned an average salary of nearly $154,000 a year. By comparison, assistant professors at the same institutions made almost $88,000.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Revenue From Online Ed Is On the Rise. So Is the Competition, Moody’s Says.
By Terry Nguyen
As universities continue to cope with the long-term financial fallout of the Great Recession, many of them are increasingly turning to online programs to survive. That’s one implication of a recent report by Moody’s Investors Service. Online-focused private institutions like Western Governors University and Southern New Hampshire University have expanded their online offerings, enrolling thousands of students looking for a convenient and inexpensive college degree. The University of Massachusetts system is among the most recent public institutions to stake out a similar strategy. This trend of growth and investment in online education will lead to intensified competition and changing key players, the report says. For an industry previously dominated by for-profit institutions and a handful of private nonprofits, the landscape is shifting quickly. The report predicts that colleges will try to differentiate their online degrees in areas like branding, tuition costs, and quality of education. Competition among companies providing these services — online program managers, or OPMs — will also increase as the industry becomes more saturated.