University System News:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Kemp signs record budget with $3,000 raises for Georgia teachers
By James Salzer
The $3,000 pay raises that teachers were promised in January became official Friday, when Gov. Brian Kemp signed a record budget for the upcoming fiscal year in Camilla. Kemp approved the budget during a South Georgia tour, where he held bill signing events and was to attend an anti-gang roundtable discussion. The budget for fiscal 2020, which takes effect July 1, includes about $27.5 billion in state spending and $53 billion overall, once federal dollars and other money are included. …The new budget also includes a 2 percent raise for 70,000-80,000 state employees who have been even less likely than teachers to get increases over the past decade.
News9
Sachin Shailendra to Speak at Georgia Highlands College Commencement
SG Contracting president looks to inspire 2019 graduates with personal story
Sachin Shailendra, president of Atlanta-based general contracting and construction management company SG Contracting Inc., will be the 2019 commencement speaker at Georgia Highlands College graduation ceremony on May 11 at The Forum River Center in Rome, Ga. Nearly 1,000 students are set to receive their diplomas and to hear Shailendra’s inspiring story of entrepreneurship. A member of the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents and chair of the University System of Georgia Foundation, Shailendra is a sought-after speaker for his inspiring message about his family heritage, roots in Atlanta at Woodward Academy and Georgia Tech, and success leading his own construction company to millions of dollars in revenue before he turned 40. Shailendra was named to Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “Forty under Forty” and Atlanta Magazine’s “New Guard” as part of the “55 Most Powerful People” issue.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After a lifetime of learning, Atlanta woman earns college degree at 93
By Eric Stirgus
Joyce Lowenstein had an unconventional, yet remarkable, path to receiving her bachelor’s degree Thursday from Georgia State University. Her pursuit began in 1943. It was interrupted for nearly 70 years with being a wife, a mother, spoiling her great-grandchildren and working as an antiques dealer and interior designer. In 2012, Lowenstein felt she needed to complete one unfinished task. She went back to school to get an art history degree. The seven-year quest included some ailments and a foggy memory at some points. Lowenstein turned 93 in April. “I wanted to get my degree and it took time,” Lowenstein said during an interview this week on the balcony of her Midtown Atlanta home. “It feels good. Very happy,” she said after the ceremony. “I don’t have to do any more essays.” Georgia State University President Mark Becker commended Lowenstein for her “perseverance” in his remarks during Thursday’s commencement ceremony. Lowenstein received a standing ovation when she walked across the stage when each graduate’s name was called.
On Common Ground News
UGA students’ restoration project brightens Olde Town Conyers
Valerie Morgan
The Pointe in Olde Town Conyers has colorful new signs, thanks to students enrolled in the University of Georgia’s Lamar Dodd School of Art. The students worked with the Conyers-Rockdale Council for the Arts, in partnership with the city of Conyers, to restore vintage signs on the building at 939 Railroad Street. The students worked on the project as part of UGAs “Color the World Bright” program. The Pointe, built in 1925, was formerly a locally-owned furniture warehouse, a mill owned by the Georgia Railroad, an antiques store, and has been the home of the bar/tavern, The Pointe, since 2007. Three sides of the building’s exterior feature Coca-Cola advertisements along with Walker-Owens Furniture signage, the name of the former furniture warehouse. Students of Professor Joseph Norman restored the “ghost signs” after previously completing similar projects in Madison and Greensboro, Georgia.
AccessWDUN
UNG gas leak caused by construction crew, gas line being repaired
By Rebecca Hubbard Reporter/Anchor
Repairs are being made to a damaged gas line that prompted a brief closure of part of the University of North Georgia campus in Dahlonega Thursday afternoon. UNG officials said in an email statement the line was damaged around 5 p.m. by a crew doing construction work on the back of Gaillard Hall, a residence hall on campus. Since there was a resulting gas leak, the area was cordoned off, but there was no evacuation because no students were on campus. Faculty and staff were alerted to avoid the area.
The Hill
10 years in and the economic recovery keeps chugging along
BY DENNIS P. LOCKHART, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR
This summer the U.S. economy will achieve a noteworthy milestone: 10 years of growth. According to official GDP reports, our economy has been expanding since the summer of 2009. The pace of growth was quite modest for several years after 2009 but has recently picked up. Barring a sharp downturn, the expansion will very likely set the record for the longest in U.S. history. *Dennis P. Lockhart served as the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta from 2007-2017. He is currently a professor of practice at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech.
AFCEA
Georgia Tech Research Corp. is Developing Vector Sensors for the Office of Naval Research
Georgia Tech Research Corp., Atlanta, Georgia, is awarded an $8,138,096 cost reimbursement contract for development of vector sensors and arrays for deep and shallow water applications. Work will be performed at the contractor’s facility in Atlanta, Georgia, and is expected to be completed March 31, 2024. Fiscal year 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $332,401 will be obligated at the time of award. No funds will expire at end of current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under long range broad agency announcement (BAA) N00014-18-S-B001 for science and technology projects for advancement and improvement of Navy and Marine Corps operations. Proposals will be received throughout the year under the long range BAA; therefore, the number of proposals received in response to the solicitation is unknown.
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The United Nations and the future of warfare
By Ariel Conn
Lethal autonomous weapons. When I mention this phrase to most people who are unfamiliar with this type of weapon, their immediate response is almost always repulsion. This is usually followed by the question: Like drones? No. Drones are controlled remotely by a person, and they cannot launch an attack against a human target on their own–the person in control has to make that decision. Lethal autonomous weapons, as the name implies, are weapons that could kill people autonomously. These are weapons that could select and attack a target, without someone overseeing the decision-making process—ready to abort an attack if it looked like something had gone wrong. Then there’s the human bias toward trusting a machine in emergency settings. In one study at Georgia Tech, students were taking a test alone in a room, when a fire alarm went off. The students had the choice of leaving through a clearly marked exit that was right by them, or following a robot that was guiding them away from the exit. Almost every student followed the robot, away from the safe exit.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Students With Debt Value High-Paying Jobs Over Satisfaction
By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
Researchers have found that individuals with higher amounts of student debt tend to take jobs that pay more but they enjoy less. In their report, Mi Luo, an assistant professor of economics at Emory University, and Simon Mongey, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago, analyzed the amount of students’ debt and their job satisfaction. They discovered that for every $10,000 added to students’ debt, students would seek about $2,100 more in their base pay one year after graduation.
Inside Higher Ed
HBCUs’ Latest Salvo in Feud With Regional Accreditor
By Andrew Kreighbaum
The United Negro College Fund released a white paper Thursday that details grievances of historically black colleges with their primary regional accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on the States. The paper argues that there is too much uncertainty in the SACS peer-review process, that the process lacks transparency, that the accreditor has failed to evaluate its own standards and that its standards do not reflect the diversity or mission of colleges.
Harvard Business Review
What the Job Market Looks Like for Today’s College Graduates
By Jed Kolko
The latest crop of college graduates is entering the labor force. And, as always, the graduates will do relatively well. The unemployment rate is persistently lower and earnings are persistently higher for those with a college degree than for those without one. For new graduates, the state of the labor market has notable career implications beyond getting a first job. People who graduate into a strong labor market will earn more throughout their careers than those who graduate during a recession. And when recession eventually does hit, people with college degrees are more protected; during economic downturns, people without a college degree are at greater risk of unemployment.
Inside Higher Ed
Dragging a President Into Court
A federal judge is commanding the University of Michigan’s chief executive to appear in his courtroom to speak on a sexual assault lawsuit and the institution’s policies, a move that experts say is extremely unusual.
By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
A federal judge has demanded that the University of Michigan’s president appear in his courtroom to address a lawsuit by a student accused of sexual assault. The order, a highly unusual step, underscores the increased national attention around campus rape investigations and fairness for accused students in the court system. Experts said that they expect judges and lawyers to employ similar legal strategies in the future. “This is a highly unusual case,” said Laura Dunn, a lawyer and founder of advocacy group SurvJustice. Michigan officials argued Mark Schlissel, the president, should not have to attend a hearing in June, saying that such duties have historically been delegated to other administrators, that Schlissel is not primarily responsible for the university’s sexual assault rules and that his time was better spent running the state’s flagship institution. The judge, Arthur J. Tarnow, disagreed. “Yes, he can delegate,” Tarnow said in a conference call on May 1 with Deborah Gordon, the lawyer representing the accused student, and Josh Richards, the university’s counsel. A transcript of the conference call was included in court documents. “Obviously, with such a large institution, there are all sorts of delegations made. But I don’t think he would characterize himself as a figurehead. And I think he would, and I would agree, that the person down the line in charge of discipline or however it’s structured knows more about the day-to-day operation and so on. But that person reports to the president, and the president will be here.”