University System News:

 

Savannah Morning News

Georgia Southern’s new president envisions regional growth

By Ann Meyer

Georgia Southern University’s new President Kyle Marrero called himself a “people person” Monday at a media event and assured stakeholders he would be a president for both Statesboro and Savannah campuses. Marrero said since the consolidation of Georgia Southern and the former Armstrong University, students haven’t understood the strengths of the combined university, in part because the leadership has changed so often. “Four presidents in the last three years. That does create instability. That can be disruptive,” he said. “For me coming in, what they’ll know is I’m a people person.” Marrero called it a critical time for the university and said, “We’re all looking in essence for where Georgia Southern is going.” Marrero is optimistic about what the university can become, despite the enrollment declines since 2012 that have prompted a “redirection” for the next fiscal year with departments asked to cut 10 percent from their budgets.

 

Statesboro Herald

Marrero seeks to complete GS strategy and enrollment plans in first 90 days

Graduation format to be reviewed – after May’s ceremonies

AL HACKLE

In his first 90 days as Georgia Southern University’s president, Dr. Kyle Marrero wants to help complete the university’s strategic plan and develop master plans for enrollment growth and marketing, he told reporters Monday. Monday was Marrero’s first day as president of the university, which has more than 26,000 students on residential campuses in Statesboro and Savannah, at a commuter campus in Hinesville and online. He walked through the Statesboro campus, meeting students, and gave a brief media conference in the lobby of the Marvin Pittman Administration Building before going to Savannah for similar activities on the Armstrong campus. “First off, our strategic plan, which the university has started on, the institutional strategic plan, is critical,” he said. “It’s the direction, it’s the vision, it’s the way in which we measure success for the next five or six years.”

 

WSAV

Change is on the horizon at Georgia Southern University

The university welcomed new president Dr. Kyle Marrero to campus Monday

By:  Khalil Maycock

Change is on the horizon for Georgia Southern University. That’s because Monday, Dr. Kyle Marrero officially kicked off his duties as the university’s 14th president. As Dr. Kyle Marrero drove into work Monday, he was greeted by a crowd of people and applause. Marrero spent the day meeting students, faculty, and staff. He said right now he’s adjusting to the new atmosphere, but he plans to start working very soon. One of the first things he plans to work on with other school leaders is the university’s strategic plan. It’s a plan that helps the school form a vision for the future and measure success for the next five to six years. Included in this strategic plan, is a method to help improve student enrollment, which has decreased a bit in recent years.

 

WJCL

Georgia Southern University begins new chapter with new leadership

Dr. Kyle Marrero takes over as 14th president of GSU

Georgia Southern University officially welcomed a new president Monday: Dr. Kyle Marrero. Signs, handshakes and smiles greeted Marrero, now the 14th president of Georgia Southern University. He’s taking over at a time where there’s a lot of growth and success, a year after GSU completed the merger with Armstrong State University and created 142 degree programs and nine colleges. …Marrero makes the third leader in almost three years. Dr. Jaimie Hebert held a two year term navigating the university through the merger. He announced his resignation in 2018, and Dr. Shelly Nickel took over on an interim basis for the last ten months. “We’re just looking for a president who’s very consistent,” said Micheal Kyser, a GSU student. Student’s say it’s been a challenge having several presidents, and Marrero says he understands the concern.

 

Tifton Gazette

Prospective students can tour ABAC campus Apr. 6

Prospective students and their families can take a springtime stroll across the beautifully landscaped campus of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College at Stallion Day on April 6.  During their visit, they can learn more about the college and what it has to offer.  They can also take part in various events ranging from a rodeo to a circus-themed tailgate party. During this recruitment day event, high school students from all over the state and surrounding states come together to tour the college and see how ABAC can be a door to their futures.  There is no charge for visiting students.

 

Growing America

ABAC Student Kylie Bruce Receives Top National Award

Kylie Bruce, a sophomore at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, received the top prize at the recent American Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Ranchers Collegiate Discussion Meet in Milwaukee, Wis. Bruce competed against 34 other students and came home with first place honors and a $3,000 scholarship from event sponsor CHS Foundation. An agricultural education and poultry science major from Franklin County, Bruce will receive her associate of science degree from ABAC on May 9. The Collegiate Discussion Meet is designed to replicate a committee meeting where each participant is expected to have an active discussion on a variety of agricultural topics. Participants are judged on their ability to exchange ideas and information on the topic and find answers or solutions related to it.

 

Valdosta Daily Times

VSU competes in business competition

A pair of Valdosta State University students will compete in the inaugural Georgia InVenture Prize competition, a statewide invention and business contest in Atlanta. Christopher Powell and Bradley Henry, pre-engineering majors at VSU, will present PowellTech, an electronics startup they founded in October 2018 that transforms how televisions integrate into existing home décor, university officials said. Their creation will be judged against inventions and business solutions from teams representing 18 other colleges and universities across the state.  Teams that advance to the final round will present their work to judges and audience members during a live event that will air on Georgia Public Broadcasting, 7 p.m. Thursday, April 4. Powell and Henry have been guided in the development of their startup company by staff and faculty from the Harley Langdale Jr. College of Business Administration.

 

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Two former Tech players challenge MaChelle Joseph’s statement that she was not abusive

By Ken Sugiura

Two former Georgia Tech women’s basketball players have publicly challenged former coach MaChelle Joseph’s assertions that she had never verbally or emotionally abused her players. One, Niesha Butler, said that Joseph was not only physically and emotionally abusive, but also sexually harassed her. In a Facebook post Saturday, former player Mallorie Winn said that Joseph was “manipulative, vindictive, and emotionally turbulent. “Their statements followed the release of Joseph’s response to the independent investigation that led to her dismissal last Tuesday. In the report produced by the investigation — which was prompted by team members coming forward with concerns about mistreatment — players described her as a bully who was emotionally, mentally and verbally abusive. None of the 13 team members say she trusted Joseph.

 

Atlanta Business Chronicle

Georgia Tech students mount successful rocket test at Spaceport Camden

By Dave Williams  – Staff Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle

Students at Georgia Tech successfully tested an eight-foot solid-fuel rocket during the weekend at a planned commercial spaceport in southeastern Georgia. “It went great!” Alton “A.J.” Schultheis, an aerospace engineering major at Tech and the mission operations manager, said Monday. “We were able to run through all our flight operations successfully, recover the vehicle and get the data.” While the students have yet to process all of the data from Saturday’s test flight at Spaceport Camden, the motor burned for 3.5 seconds and the rocket flew to about 8,000 feet, both within the range of what was anticipated. Specifically, the launch tested the rocket’s subsonic roll control capabilities and gave the students a better idea of the payloads the vehicle can handle, Schultheis said. Beyond the specifics, applying lessons learned in the classroom to reality was beneficial, he said.

 

The Chronicle of Higher Education

If There Is a Free-Speech ‘Crisis’ on Campus, PEN America Says, Lawmakers Are Making It Worse

By Katherine Mangan

Free speech is being tested on college campuses by rising numbers of hate crimes and deepening racial tensions, according to a report released today by PEN America, a human-rights association of writers and editors. But the Trump administration’s warnings of a “crisis” overstate the problem, it says, and risk further polarizing colleges. The 100-page report, “Chasm in the Classroom: Campus Free Speech in a Divided America,” finds that threats to speech are coming from both the right and the left. Lawmakers at state and federal levels are, in many cases, making the problem worse by raising “politicized and one-sided alarms over the state of free speech” on campuses, it says. The association examined 100 speech-related controversies that have broken out in recent years. Often, the authors found, the battles reflected tensions between free speech and the goals of equality and inclusion. …The Trump administration has filed statements of interest in five free-speech-related lawsuits, against the University of California at Berkeley, Los Angeles Pierce College, Georgia Gwinnett College, the University of Michigan, and the University of Iowa. Panuccio warned that more challenges would be coming. Efforts to legislate free-speech protection represent to many an unwelcome intrusion into colleges’ affairs. But campuses aren’t the only places where these battles are being waged.

 

 

Higher Education News:

 

Diverse Issues in Higher Education

Purpose First Strategy Helps Students Make Informed College, Career Choices

by Monica Levitan

College-bound students often make decisions about a major without a clear understanding of how those majors align with career options, which can cause them to accumulate excess credits, extend amount of time to degree attainment or even drop out completely. That’s the findings from a new report by Complete College America (CCA), which outlines the components of its strategy Purpose First that helps students look at their options, make informed decisions on a major and achieve goals toward on-time graduation. The report also provides results from a three-year demonstration project done in support with Strada Education Network. Purpose First has always been a part of CCA’s prescriptive set of guidelines for the guided pathways movement, said Dr. Dhanfu E. Elston, vice president of strategy at CCA. The strategy aims to provide a “missing link” between career choice, guided pathways and first-year momentum.

 

The Chronicle of Higher Education

For Students on the Quarter System, Landing a Summer Internship Can Bring Complications

By Terry Nguyen

Krista Keplinger made it through one round of interviews recently for a summer internship at a local radio station when she disclosed a minor detail: She couldn’t start work until mid-June, when her academic year ended. A junior at the University of California at Davis, Keplinger had never applied for a media internship before. She never expected her schedule to be a problem. While the recruiters said they were interested in her as an applicant, they insisted she start in May. And when Keplinger told them that wasn’t possible, she was immediately withdrawn from consideration. “Normally,” she said, “that station hires people from Sacramento State University, which is on the semester system, so I think they want all their interns to start at the same time.” Davis is on the quarter system, which splits the academic year into four 10-week quarters, the last of which ends in June. (Colleges on the semester system typically use two 15-week terms.) When her academic calendar sank her internship prospects, Keplinger felt unqualified for other roles in media, she said. The roughly one-month difference between when the two calendars end can appear insignificant, but some students say it puts needless obstacles in their search for summer internship, and even places them behind the curve for a post-graduation job. While most did not turn down available opportunities, they described to The Chronicle a myriad of complications. …Only about 5 percent of four-year colleges and universities, many of them public institutions, operate on the quarter system. So frustrations like those are far from the norm in higher education. Career advisers at quarter-system institutions say the problems are actually minor.