USG eclips for April 24, 2019

University System News:

 

Atlanta Business Chronicle

Kennesaw State president expands her female-dominated leadership team

By Eric Mandel  – Digital Producer , Atlanta Business Chronicle

Women will soon hold the top four leadership positions in Georgia’s third-largest university as Tricia Chastain moves into an executive role at Kennesaw State University. Kennesaw State President Pamela Whitten said Tuesday she picked Chastain to be vice president of administration, effective May 6. Chastain currently serves as executive vice chancellor of administration with the University System of Georgia. Chastain will report directly to Whitten and becomes the eighth female of the president’s 12-member leadership team. “Tricia is immensely qualified to serve in this role and brings a truly unique skillset to Kennesaw State,” Whitten said in a news release. “She has a demonstrated track record as an exceptional leader, an impeccable reputation, and, most importantly, a deeply held passion for helping students.”

 

Athens CEO

UGA Partnership with Georgia High Schools Helps Students Lead and Succeed

Charlie Bauder

A Walton County high school is seeing increased student involvement and higher graduation rates since adopting a University of Georgia youth leadership program into its curriculum. Walnut Grove High School in Loganville in 2015 implemented the Youth Leadership in Action program, designed by the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development at UGA, a division of Public Service and Outreach. So far, 300 students have completed the curriculum, and many have gone on to serve on committees and boards that make decisions for the school. Since the leadership curriculum was adopted by the school, graduation rates have risen from 78.3% (2013-14) to 86.2% (2016-17), which is well above the state average of 81.6%.

 

Union Recorder

Sandra Dunagan Deal Center for Early Language and Literacy announces grant awardees

The Sandra Dunagan Deal Center for Early Language and Literacy at Georgia College recently awarded the first “Research Grant Initiative for Coaching Practices in Early Language and Literacy.” The initiative provides University System of Georgia institutions and state agencies with funds to conduct research on early language and literacy programs for children birth to 8 years old. The projects must incorporate a coaching approach and be backed by the science of implementation. Each organization received $50,000 for their projects, which run from June 1, 2019 through May 31, 2020. This year’s awardees announced in March 2019 are:

 

WTVM

CSU accepting submissions for new $10,000 literary prize

By Alex Jones

Do you have a book, collection of short stories, memoirs or essays you have yet to publish? Then, you could be the first-ever winner of an inaugural award from Columbus State University. The recipient of the Donald L. Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence will receive a $10,000 award and will be offered a publishing contact with DLJ Books, a new publishing imprint being established at CSU. The award was created through an endowment from Columbus author and entrepreneur, as well as the namesake of the prize, Donald L. Jordan.

 

WGAU Radio

UGA SAYS PHARMACY SCHOOL HAS SET RECORD

By: Tim Bryant

UGA says a record-setting number of students graduating from the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy Doctor of Pharmacy program this spring matched with post-education residencies across the country. 56 of the 78 UGA Pharmacy students who sought post-graduate residency matches received successful notifications. That’s a 72 percent match rate, compared to the national average of 61%. “Our successful match rate speaks volumes to the outstanding pharmacy education that is delivered by the faculty of our college,” says Pharmacy College dean Kelly Smith. “Beyond the classroom, we provide future pharmacists with superior experiential learning curriculum in clinics, hospitals, and many other community and health care settings as well. I couldn’t be prouder of this accomplishment. To be in the top 10 nationwide is phenomenal.”

 

Albany Herald

Student works on display at ABAC art show

From staff reports

Twelve students at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College will display their art in the spring student art show from 4 to 6 p.m. today in Bowen Hall 121 on the ABAC campus.

 

Savannah Tribune

2019 Georgia Southern Alumni Association Awards Honor Service, Achievement

By Savannah Tribune

The 2019 Georgia Southern University Alumni Association Awards were presented Saturday, April 13, to eight distinguished alumni at the Nessmith- Lane Center on the Statesboro Campus. The 2019 recipients are: …The Georgia Southern University Alumni Awards program was launched in 2019, building off of the alumni awards programs that existed separately for decades at Georgia Southern and Armstrong State University. The Georgia Southern Alumni Association fosters relationships with alumni and friends through programs that promote the growth, progress and welfare of the University.

 

The Tifton Gazette

ABAC rodeo claims top prize from Professional Cowboys Association

The annual Gee Haw Whoa Back Rodeo at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College has been named the Best $750 Rodeo of 2018 by the Professional Cowboys Association.

Niki Vanderslice, president of the ABAC Alumni Association, accepted the award on behalf of ABAC and its alumni. Nearly 2,000 spectators attended this year’s rodeo, which was held during the Homecoming 2019 weekend.

 

Savannah Business Journal

FEATURE: Sen. Lester Jackson Authors White Paper on “The Case for Strengthening And Growing Georgia’s HBCUs

By Lou Phelps, Coastal Empire News

Sen. Lester Jackson, III, of Savannah has released a white paper today in which he makes the case for why he has authored a bill to be taken up next year in the Georgia General Assembly to create a separate state college system for Georgia’s three historically, predominately black colleges and universities, known in the academic world as “HBCUs.” Jackson begins with outlining his own family’s long educational relationship with many of Georgia’s HCBU’s, and then reviews his research on the dramatic funding challenges Savannah State University, Albany State University, and Fort Valley State University have faced for many years.   The Senator is alleging inadequate representation of HBCU’s on the state’s Board of Regents;  a lack of comparable funding per student with the state’s other universities;  and insufficient support by Board of Regents trustees in helping Georgia’s HBCU’s to build their endowment funds.

 

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Black higher-ed and a brewing debate over reparations

Political Insider

By Jim Galloway

Lester Jackson, a full-time Savannah dentist and part-time state senator, is sticking his neck out in a major way. Three weeks ago, on the penultimate day of the 2019 session of the General Assembly, Jackson filed a bill that would remove all three public, historically black universities from the oversight of the state Board of Regents. Under Senate Bill 278, Albany State, Fort Valley State, and Savannah State, representing a total of some 13,000 students, would become the Georgia Agricultural and Mechanical University System. Jackson thinks the survival of the three schools is at stake. Savannah State suffered a nearly 8% drop in enrollment last fall. Twenty-six non-tenured faculty members were marked for lay-offs. Savannah State’s budget was reduced to $107 million this year, down from $121 million the year before. …“We would become our own advocates, working directly with the General Assembly and directly with the governor’s office – instead of going through a third party,” Jackson said. “We would have the ability to ask for a law school, a pharmacy school, a veterinarian school. That will not just attract students but give us our own identity and our own self-worth.” That third party mentioned by Jackson, of course, is the state Board of Regents, which maintains tight control over the University System’s $2.4 billion annual budget – mostly free of legislative interference.

 

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Top Georgia Tech official violated ethics rules, state report says

By Eric Stirgus

A top Georgia Tech administrator violated ethics rules when he directed business to a vendor based on a relationship with the vendor’s sales representative that was at one point romantic, according to a report released Tuesday afternoon by state officials. More than $5 million in information technology equipment was purchased by the university in deals Mark Hoeting and his subordinates negotiated with the unnamed sales representative, the report by University System of Georgia investigators concluded. Hoeting resigned Tuesday afternoon from his position as chief information officer and vice president for information technology at Georgia Tech, according to information on the school’s website.

 

equities

Change in Leadership Announced for Information Technology

Georgia Institute of Technology issued the following news:

Mark Hoeting has resigned his position as chief information officer and vice president for Information Technology at Georgia Tech, effective April 23, 2019. The University System of Georgia (USG), in concert with Georgia Tech, conducted a thorough investigation into a potential conflict of interest after an anonymous report to the University System of Georgia’s ethics line. The investigation found Hoeting had violated USG and Georgia Tech conflict of interest policies in the way business was conducted with a sales representative with whom he had a personal relationship. Georgia Tech collaborated with the USG to finalize the investigation. …Jim Fortner, the interim executive vice president for Administration and Finance, will be working to name new leadership in the near future.

 

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia Appeals Court considers case challenging campus gun law

By Maya T. Prabhu

A group of Georgia professors will await a state appeals court’s decision to determine whether they can challenge a state law that allows licensed gun owners to carry weapons on some parts of public college campuses. Lawyers for the professors told members of the Georgia Court of Appeals on Tuesday that the campus gun law is unconstitutional because it infringes on the state Board of Regents’ ability to set its own policies. A decision on whether the case will proceed in the court system is expected by November. Six professors at schools in the University System of Georgia are suing former Gov. Nathan Deal, Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr, saying the 2017 law violates the separation of powers provision established in the state’s constitution.

 

 

Higher Education News:

 

The Chronicle of Higher Education

What’s Really Behind Employers’ Interest in Education?

I’m Goldie Blumenstyk, a senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education covering innovation in and around academe. Here’s what I’m thinking about this week.

Is there more than self-interest behind employers’ interest in education?

Employers aren’t shy when it comes to complaining about colleges’ faults in preparing students for the workplace. Isn’t that more than a little tiresome sometimes? The lack of specificity. The nostalgia for the days when college grads supposedly showed up at their first jobs fully ready to tackle their assignments. And when did all of this become the job of colleges? Don’t employers have some responsibility, too? I wrestled with these issues in writing the new Chronicle report, “Career Ready Education: Beyond the Skills Gap, Tools and Tactics for an Evolving Economy.” Even if I weren’t the author, I would tell you that this report is a really useful guide for understanding and responding to the changing landscape of hiring and credentials, with practical advice for college leaders and employers alike on how to collaborate on programs, services, and even facilities that will improve students’ employability. My bottom line: Colleges can make these adaptations without becoming overly reactive or reductive. And they need to.

 

Inside Higher Ed

Study Finds U.S. Loans Don’t Inflate Professional School Tuition

Researcher concludes that increase in Grad PLUS loans did not drive up the price of medical and business schools or increase debt burden of those who enrolled.

By Doug Lederman

The “Bennett hypothesis” — the subject of much debate among think tank analysts and higher ed researchers and in these pages — holds that increases in federal financial aid give colleges and universities subsidies that “blithely” allow them to raise their tuitions. (The eponym for the hypothesis, then education secretary William J. Bennett, had a way with words.) The belief that this is so continues to influence federal policy makers with a small-government point of view — including members of the Trump administration who have cited it as justification for proposals to constrain certain student loan programs. Most of the research examining the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of the Bennett hypothesis has focused on loans for undergraduates. But Robert Kelchen, an assistant professor of higher education at Seton Hall University, this week followed up a 2017 study on law schools with one exploring the impact of federal Grad PLUS loans on tuition rates and debt levels in two expensive forms of professional education: medical schools and business schools.

 

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

New report: Record wage gap between teachers and other college grads

Get Schooled with Maureen Downey

Georgia teachers earned 25.4% less in weekly wages than similar professionals in 2018

The Economic Policy Institute issued an analysis today that found teachers were paid 21.4% less in 2018 in weekly wages than similar college graduates after accounting for education, experience, and other factors. A nonpartisan think tank, EPI describes the percent by which public school teachers are paid less than other college-educated workers as the “teacher wage and compensation penalty.” The report said the penalty reached a record high in 2018. The analysis finds the Georgia gap is even larger than the national average; in Georgia, the pay gap between teachers and similar college graduates last year was 25.4% — which gave us the 9th largest gap in the country.

 

The Chronicle of Higher Education

3 Takeaways From a New Survey on Administrative Pay

By Audrey Williams June

The College and University Professional Association for Human Resources released a report on Wednesday on its annual survey of higher-education administrators, a group that includes college presidents, senior institutional administrators, and academic deans at all levels. Here are three takeaways: Administrators got bigger pay raises than faculty members did in 2018-19. …