University System News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
New Ga. Tech president says he has homework to do before taking office
By Eric Stirgus
Ángel Cabrera, Georgia Tech’s incoming president, visited the campus Friday and like any wise student, he said he needs to do some homework on challenges facing the school before he takes office in September. The Georgia Board of Regents voted Thursday to hire Cabrera, who had been president of George Mason University since July 2012. The outgoing Georgia Tech president, G.P. “Bud” Peterson announced plans in January to retire. Cabrera, 51, told reporters he needs time to familiarize himself with Tech’s affairs, such as the university’s ethics policies and practices, before committing to any new improvements or initiatives. Several top administrators have resigned or been fired in the last year for various ethics violations. “We have to do our homework, so I am trying to understand the issue,” he said.
The Washington Post
Georgia Tech graduate voted to be school’s next president
By Associated Press
A graduate of Georgia Tech has been named its next president. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the Georgia Board of Regents voted Thursday to hire Ángel Cabrera to lead the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he earned his master’s and doctoral degrees. Cabrera is to start in his new post by Sept. 15. …Some students say they opposed Cabrera’s hiring because they believe the selection process was not transparent. State officials announced last week that Cabrera was the only finalist for the job. The terms of Cabrera’s contract were not immediately available.
Marietta Daily Journal
Teen donates item to UGA library in honor of grandfather Buddy Mitchell
By Doug Walker
Father’s Day weekend took on special meaning for Liam Mitchell, 13, who made a special trip to Athens to make a donation to the Special Collections Library at University of Georgia Library to honor the legacy of his grandfather, former Rome City Commission Chairman Martin H. “Buddy” Mitchell. Liam, whose father David Mitchell is a member of the Rome Area Heritage Foundation board of directors and founder of the M.H. Mitchell Foundation, took a ball and chain, used to restrain prisoners decades ago, to Athens for display in a special exhibit. …The teenager also carried a plastic bin full of material related to a distant relative, Jule Carnes Mitchell Jr. who was killed in action in the Pacific during WWII. David Mitchell said the material will become part of a new exhibit that he is working with the library to develop that will have a regional theme which he hopes will generate additional discussion related to various complexities of the South and the importance of public service.
The Red & Black
UGA collaborates with GSU on child welfare workforce education
Foster Steinbeck | Staff Writer
Starting in the fall, the University of Georgia School of Social Work, Georgia State University School of Social Work, and the Georgia Division of Family and Child Services will collaborate in efforts to increase Georgia’s capacity to deliver high-quality child welfare services. For the next four years, the two universities and state agency will evaluate the health of the child welfare agency and create a leadership training program for DFCS employees. UGA and GSU will provide tuition stipends for DFCS staff who wish to earn a master’s degree in social work.
Augusta Chronicle
Editorial: A partnership worth pursuing
The opening began poorly. June 3 marked the first day University Hospital and Augusta University Medical Center enacted a partnership, announced in January, on outpatient cancer services. The long-term goal is to boost AU’s Georgia Cancer Center into a much-coveted nationally recognized status. On June 3, AUMC oncologists began co-managing University Medical Oncology outpatient services, while University Hospital patients stayed under the care of their physicians. Crowded waiting rooms. Longer patient waits. Medical professionals had to grapple awkwardly with differing systems of electronic medical records. Enacting this new partnership was a hard first step, but in the long run a good first step. However, it just didn’t appear properly planned for. Hopefully much was learned, and after subsequent meetings last week, those opening-day problems are being addressed. In combining different work cultures, perhaps the problems were not entirely unexpected. Even though AU and University Hospital physically are next-door neighbors in the city’s medical district, in other ways they could not be further apart. That wasn’t always the case. University Hospital originally was City Hospital when founded in 1818, and became the teaching hospital for the Medical Academy of Georgia and later the Medical College of Georgia, when MCG was founded in 1828. In 1915, City and Lamar hospitals combined into one, and the new hospital was named University to recognize its longstanding clinical relationship with MCG.
Savannah CEO
Georgia Tech-Savannah Introduces New Project Management Certificate
Staff Report From Savannah CEO
Registration is now open for the new Project Management Certificate at Georgia Tech-Savannah. The certificate is designed for professionals who oversee projects or want to sharpen their project management skills. “We are thrilled to offer these new courses to the Coastal Georgia region,” said Diane Lee, Executive Director of Georgia Tech-Savannah. “The courses will equip professionals, in a variety of fields, who oversee projects or want to sharpen their project management skills.”
Savannah Morning News
Google business workshop scheduled
The University of Georgia Small Business Development Center in Savannah and the UGA SBDC at Georgia Southern University are presenting a workshop entitled “Reach Customers Online with Google” from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on July 9 in Statesboro, July 16 in Pooler and July 23 in Vidalia. Participants in the class will be able to verify their Google Business Page during the session,. For more information and to register, visit georgiasbdc.org and click on the “training” tab.
Albany Herald
Howard to host third ‘We Love Our HBCU’ meeting
By Carlton Fletcher carlton.fletcher
ALBANY — There are some who say Albany City Commissioner Jon Howard and others are needlessly keeping the conversation going about state Sen. Lester Jackson’s plan to push legislation (Senate Bill 278) that would separate Georgia’s three public historically black colleges and universities from the University System of Georgia. That hasn’t stopped Howard. “We have to remain steadfast,” Howard said as he and Albany State University adjunct professor H. Tia Juana Malone announced the third of a series of “We Love Our HBCU” meetings Tuesday at the Albany Law Enforcement Center at 201 W. Oglethorpe Blvd. “We have to keep our eyes focused; we can’t afford to sit back and say, ‘It probably won’t happen.’ “It’s imperative that we keep the students at these three institutions (Albany State, Fort Valley State and Savannah State universities) involved. They are our future leaders, and it is up to them to make sure that we preserve the tradition of our HBCUs.” Howard said he had a face-to-face conversation with Jackson, and despite the outcry over the plan that would place the state’s three public HBCUs under the guidance of a board primarily appointed by the state’s governor, the Savannah senator indicated he planned to bring his proposed bill up in an Urban Affairs Subcommittee in the 2020 Legislative Session.
The Red & Black
UGA police blotter: Sign stolen from President’s House, computer theft, tree falls on poultry shed
Hunter Riggall | Managing Editor
A white sign on the front entrance gate of the University of Georgia President’s House was reported stolen on June 3. According to a University of Georgia police report, the sign, estimated to be worth $350, was reported missing by a UGA Security Guard when she reported to work at 4 p.m. Officers estimated the sign went missing between midnight and 4 p.m. on June 3. A small portion of the sign was still attached to the gate, indicating damage when it was removed, according to the report. Security told police that no security cameras “covered this area of the property, and that this area is hard to see from the guard building.” …Approximately $5,900 worth of computer equipment was reported stolen from UGA’s Institute for Disaster Management on May 21. According to a UGAPD report, an employee was doing yearly inventory for the building, located on Bowstrom Road, when she noticed four computers were missing. The employee told police the computers were last accounted for on April 30, 2018.
Augusta CEO
Staff Report From Georgia CEO
Confidence levels in the business conditions of the Georgia economy remain high and participants think most upcoming challenges are related to business growth, according to a recent survey of Georgia CEO readers working in the state of Georgia. The Business Confidence Survey is prepared for Georgia CEO by the Center for Business Analytics and Economic Research (CBAER), a subdivision of the Business Innovation Group (BIG) at Georgia Southern University. A convenience sampling technique is used in the survey, and respondents are asked to rate their concerns over upcoming or ongoing issues that may affect the growth and profitability of Georgia businesses. …BIG and CBAER are components of the Parker College of Business at Georgia Southern University.
Becker’s Hospital Review
Augusta University Health System restructures top post in face of $24M net loss
Anuja Vaidya
University health is merging the leadership of the health system with its flagship facility, Augusta University Medical Center, according to The Augusta Chronicle. Per the restructuring, Augusta University President Brooks Keel will no longer serve as CEO of the health system, which is facing a net loss of $24 million in fiscal year 2019. The CEO of Augusta University Medical Center, a role currently held by Phillip Coule, MD, will serve as CEO of the health system as well. Additionally, the new health system CEO role will include the responsibilities of Augusta University’s executive vice president of health affairs. Dr. Coule, who is the interim CEO of Augusta University Medical Center, will oversee the health system and take on the duties of the executive vice president of health affairs until the organization names a permanent successor to Lee Ann Liska, who resigned June 6.
Drug News.In
Better Communication, Education Encourages Blood Donation Among Minorities
Better communication and community education are essential for increasing levels of blood donation among minorities, reports a new study. Nursing associate professor Regena Spratling in the Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions at Georgia State and her colleagues in the Georgia Southern University School of Public Health conducted the first systematic literature review of research on barriers and facilitators among minorities with blood donations. ‘Medical mistrust and lack of explanation by healthcare providers is a significant barrier to blood donation among minorities. Better education by healthcare providers can reduce the barrier.’
Athens CEO
Summer Open Houses Highlight Sustainable Agriculture Research at UGA
Merritt Melancon
The University of Georgia is a hub for research that will shape farms tomorrow, and northeast Georgians will get a sneak peek at the future of farming at two farm tour open houses this month. At the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ Durham Horticulture Farm and J. Phil Campbell Sr. Research and Education Center, it’s a tradition to open the gates each summer and show off the research being conducted at each farm. Read More..
Saporta Report
Georgia’s threat of hurricanes this season eased by distant weather, UGA reports
By David Pendered
The threat of hurricanes landing in Georgia this season is reduced by the persistence of an El Niño in the Pacific Ocean, according to a report released Friday by a climatologist at the University of Georgia – who also observed that the downpours this months have reduced the extent of drought in the state. The forecast must be a relief to those in Georgia who await money for hurricane recovery Congress approved this month – eight months after Hurricane Michael made landfall. They still have no idea when the money will arrive in their communities. Regarding hurricanes in Georgia and the Southeast, UGA climatologist Pam Knox observed in her report:
Higher Education News:
Washington Examiner
Broke colleges and universities must innovate or perish
by Rakesh Kumar
Higher education is in the middle of a crisis. After a long period of sustained growth in enrollment, colleges are now reporting a decline for the eighth year in a row. Similarly, the total number of colleges in operation has fallen for four straight years. Of the private colleges that survive, at least 25% are running budget deficits. The college premium (the bump in salary from a college degree) has stagnated. Meanwhile, public confidence in the value of a college education is at an all-time low. What went wrong? After all, just a few years ago, enrollments were booming and new colleges emerging everywhere. There are several explanations. First, declining birth rates mean that the pool of high school students considering college is getting smaller, and unsurprisingly, enrollment has suffered. Second, a relatively strong labor market means that fewer adults are going back to school. Third, while college is still plenty expensive, social and political pressure has dramatically slowed down the growth rate of tuition — and fewer tuition increases, coupled with reduced enrollment, have put many colleges on the path toward financial insolvency. .
NPR
Paying For College: What To Know Before You Go
Cory Turner
Don’t let college anxiety rush you into a financial mistake that could haunt you for years. This Life Kit episode lays out the do’s and don’ts of paying for college so that you don’t have to mortgage your future before you get there. Here’s what to remember: Consider the money-saving power of living at home and attending community college for two years before transferring to a more expensive, four-year college. But be proactive, making sure that every credit counts. Many community college students say they have transfer plans, but few do it successfully. Don’t let a school’s high price deter you — you may only have to pay a fraction of the advertised cost. Then again, beware of indirect costs, like books and transportation, that rarely show up in the sticker price.
Inside Higher Ed
The Public’s Support for (and Doubts About) Higher Ed
Survey of likely 2020 voters shows they view colleges favorably but increasingly question whether they’re delivering on promises. It also suggests a disconnect between priorities of politicians and the public.
By Doug Lederman
Nuance is a good thing, and it tends to help improve our understanding of complex issues and public policy questions. Unfortunately, our political discourse and, increasingly, news media coverage seem less and less inclined to traffic in it. Take some of the key issues in postsecondary education right now. Most political speeches or media coverage would leave you with the impression that Americans believe college degrees aren’t worth the money, that Democrats overwhelmingly support free college as the answer to the college affordability problem, and that Republicans don’t care about holding colleges and universities (especially for-profit ones) accountable. Turns out none of those things are really true — or at least that the public’s true attitudes are much more nuanced than that.
Forbes
New Evidence For The Broad Benefits Of Higher Education
Michael T. Nietzel, Contributor
Americans with a college education report they are happier, healthier and enjoying a higher quality of life than respondents with a high school education or less. That’s one of the main takeaways from the recently released results of the 2018 General Social Survey (GSS). Begun by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center (NORC) in 1972, the GSS is now conducted biennially, based on lengthy personal interviews with a nationally representative sample of thousands of adults. The GSS is highly regarded and heavily used by social scientists as a measure of what Americans think about a host of contemporary economic, social and personal issues such as quality of life, race relations, the environment, gender, marriage, politics and civil liberties. Because the results can be stratified by personal characteristics of the respondents, it’s possible to examine how age, race, social class, education and respondents’ beliefs about themselves and their families relate to their views on various social and economic topics.