USG eclips for June 6, 2019

University System News:

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

LOCAL UPDATE: Finalist named for Georgia Tech president’s job

By Eric Stirgus

State officials announced Thursday that George Mason University president Angel Cabrera is the finalist to be the next president of Georgia Tech. Cabrera has been president of George Mason, located in Fairfax, Va., since 2012. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in cognitive psychology at Georgia Tech —which he attended as a Fulbright Scholar. He’s also been chairman of the Georgia Tech Advisory Board. Cabrera’s wife, Beth, and son, Alex, are Georgia Tech graduates.

Atlanta Business Chronicle

State picks next president of Georgia Tech

By Eric Mandel  – Digital Producer

The leader of George Mason University is set to become the next president of Georgia Tech. The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia on Thursday named Ángel Cabrera as the sole finalist for the Georgia Tech presidency. Cabrera is currently president of George Mason University, a renowned research institution and the largest public university in Virginia. He is the first Spanish-born president of an American university. …The Board of Regents said it will take final action on the selection at a “future meeting” following the required five business days. The next scheduled meeting is set for Aug. 8.

The Washington Post

George Mason’s president is finalist to lead Georgia Tech

Ángel Cabrera has led the public university in Northern Virginia since 2012.

By Nick Anderson

Ángel Cabrera, president of George Mason University for the past seven years, has been named the finalist to become the next president of Georgia Tech, Georgia education officials said Thursday. Cabrera has steered Virginia’s largest public university since July 2012, seeking to elevate George Mason’s stature as a research institution that serves a broad spectrum of students. He has also dealt with controversies over issues such as how the university can maintain academic independence when it accepts gifts associated with donors including the prominent conservative businessman Charles Koch. The governing Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia announced the selection of Cabrera as finalist for the Georgia Tech position, pending final action in coming days.

The Chronicle of Higher Education

George Mason University’s President Is Sole Finalist for Georgia Tech Leadership

By Lindsay Ellis

If chosen for the new gig, this college president would navigate familiar territory: Moving a campus forward after previously signed contracts sparked outrage. Ángel Cabrera, George Mason University’s president, has been named the sole finalist for the Georgia Institute of Technology presidency one year after the Atlanta powerhouse began reckoning with an ethics scandal that pushed out several administrators. …At George Mason, Cabrera faced backlash from the faculty and alumni after the university released contracts from between 2003 and 2011 that showed that the Koch Foundation had the ability to choose faculty members funded by its money and influence their work.

nurse.org

Top 10 Nursing Schools in Georgia

The first step to becoming a nurse is getting an education, and the school where you earn your degree in nursing is going to have a big impact on your future nursing career.

Whether you’re looking to study in the South or are a local taking advantage of lower tuition, there are plenty of great nursing schools in Georgia. Each Georgia nursing school adheres to Georgia’s standards for nursing, so earning an education in Georgia is an excellent way to end up with a nursing job in the state. …Nursing students should factor both benefits and cost. While some schools seem more attractive at first glance, what matters, in the end, is whether you received your degree and are able to get a job. That being said, in-state students will have more choices and lower costs, so they can be a bit more choosy. Now, let’s jump into our choices for the Top 10 nursing schools in Georgia.

Georgia Southwestern State University

Georgia State University

Augusta University

University of West Georgia

Columbus State University

Kennesaw State University

Georgia College & State University

Georgia Southern University

The George-Anne

Additional site synchronous classrooms to be added on Georgia Southern campuses

By McClain Baxley

Georgia Southern University introduced site synchronous classrooms across its three campuses this spring and 12 more classrooms are set to be featured with this technology for fall 2019 semester. These classrooms are equipped with state of the art technology that allows in-person classes taking place on one campus to be broadcast to another campus, both visually and audibly. The installation of these 12 classrooms will take place this summer and should be ready to use for fall classes.

Middle Georgia CEO

Jones Family Foundation Gift to Expand Middle Georgia State University Flight Training in Macon

Middle Georgia State University’s flight education program at the Macon Downtown Airport is getting two additional airplanes thanks to the generosity of the Charles H. Jones Family Foundation.

The foundation’s $800,000 gift will allow Middle Georgia State University (MGA) to purchase two single-engine Piper Archers, as well as two replacement engines, and put them into service as of spring 2020.  The new aircraft will allow twice as many student pilots to pursue their flight education bachelor’s degree program at Macon Downtown Airport – increasing the number of MGA Aviation students at the facility from 60 to 120.  With agreements in place with several regional and national air carriers, the University’s flight students graduate with pathways into high-demand, high-paying jobs in Georgia’s fastest-growing industry.

13WMAZ

MGA’s two new aircraft to double Macon aviation program enrollment

The school was gifted two new Piper Archer planes that will allow its enrollment to go from 60 student pilots to 120 in their Macon program

Author: Pepper Baker

Middle Georgia State’s aviation program gives opportunities to students like Ty Templeton, who’s wanted to be a pilot ever since he was a young boy. “My dad used to take me and my brother up to the cell phone lot at Hartsfield-Jackson and just watch planes take off constantly and constantly. That kind of manifested into me just having a love for flying,” he said. School of Aviation Dean Adon Clark says the new aircraft will double the amount of spots they have in their bachelor’s program, going from 60 student pilots to 120. “It’ll be brand new Piper Archers with a state of the art glass cockpit, G-1000 cockpit, couple of engines which is huge for our program here in Macon,” Clark said.

The Red & Black

Russian Flagship Program receives sizable student scholarships

Sarah Henry | Contributor

The Russian Domestic Undergraduate Flagship program received a scholarship worth $100,000 from the Institute of International Education and the National Security Education Program to fund study abroad operations. The Flagship program awards $5,000 to University of Georgia students studying abroad over the summer and $15,000 for students studying year round at any program-approved, Russian-speaking country. 11 other scholarships, both internal and external, awarded another $50,000 to university students in the program including the Boren Scholarships and Project GO for ROTC students.

Diverse Issues in Higher Education

Georgia Universities, Family Services Agency Partner on Child Welfare

by LaMont Jones

The schools of social work at the University of Georgia and Georgia State University and the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services are teaming up for the next four years in an initiative aimed at boosting the state’s capacity to provide high-quality child welfare services. Their collaboration – one of eight proposals nationwide chosen by the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) – will involve evaluating the agency and creating a leadership training program for its employees. “This new initiative is exciting because it builds on our existing work and expands it into the area of leadership workforce development and data-driven change,” said Dr. Anna Scheyett, social work dean and professor at UGA.

WRBL

Remembering D-Day: The Man Who Won the War

The Man Who Won the War is the third episode in WRBL.com’s second Digital Exclusive series “Remembering D-Day,” which was made to honor our veterans and pay tribute to the sacrifices and struggles of the Allies during World War II. Anchor Teresa Whitaker is joined by Columbus State University’s Dr. Dan Crosswell, the Col. Richard R. Hallock Distinguished University Chair in Military History. Dr. Crosswell gives us a unique look at the efforts and leadership that helped the Allies win the war, and focuses on General George Marshall.

WLTZ

Immelman Set to Coach in Arnold Palmer Cup

By Scott Carpenter

This weekend, Columbus State University Director of Golf, Mark Immelman, will be in Arkansas to head up the coaching staff for the 2019 Arnold Palmer Cup International Team. The Arnold Palmer Cup hosts the best U.S. and international collegiate golfers competing on co-ed teams over June 7-9.

Higher Education News:

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ONLY ON AJC: Georgia college invites elderly to retire on campus

By Matt Kempner

Classes are optional for hundreds of seniors expected to transfer to the serene campus of Berry College next summer. And, when they settle in, they plan to never leave. But cut them some slack: The seniors in question are in their 70s and 80s.The private liberal arts institution, which has about 2,000 mostly traditional-age college students, is leasing land on its Rome campus to a nonprofit for a retirement complex now under construction. The college also provided seed funding for the complex, which will offer independent and assisted living housing, as well as a nursing care facility. It’s apparently a first for a Georgia college, but not for higher education nationally. Somewhat similar communities have sprouted in many states across the country to serve an aging population seeking long-term housing alternatives and enriching lifestyles. Metro Atlanta alone is expected to have about 600,000 more people over the age of 69 by 2040.

Liberty Street Economics

In our last post, we showed that the cost of college has increased sharply in recent years due to the rising opportunity cost of attending school and the steady rise in tuition. This steep increase in the cost of college has once again raised questions about whether college is “worth it.” In this post, we weigh the economic benefits of a bachelor’s degree against the costs to estimate the return to college, providing an update to our 2014 study. We find that the average rate of return for a bachelor’s degree has edged down slightly in recent years due to rising costs, but remains high at around 14 percent, easily surpassing the threshold for a good investment. Thus, while the rising cost of college appears to have eroded the value of a bachelor’s degree somewhat, college remains a good investment for most people.

Inside Higher Ed

Trump Administration Restricts Fetal Tissue Research

Decision is a win for anti-abortion groups. But academic organizations say it will add unnecessary new hurdles for scientists and slow breakthroughs in vaccines and other medical research.

By Andrew Kreighbaum

The Trump administration on Wednesday said it would bar scientists at federal agencies from pursuing research using fetal tissue and add new hurdles for researchers on college campuses to renew funding for research using the materials. It also said it would drop a contract with the University of California, San Francisco, to research HIV infection using the tissue. Funding of other nongovernmental research labs is unaffected by the decision. But the announcement is a clear win for anti-abortion groups that had pushed the Trump administration for months to restrict scientific work conducted with fetal tissue from elective abortions. It also puts researchers at universities on notice that they could face more hurdles down the road getting federal support for such work.

The New York Times

Trump Administration Sharply Curtails Fetal Tissue Medical Research

By Abby Goodnough

The Trump administration announced Wednesday that the federal government would sharply curtail federal spending on medical research that uses tissue from aborted fetuses, mainly by ending fetal-tissue research within the National Institutes of Health. The move goes a long way toward fulfilling a top goal of anti-abortion groups that have lobbied hard for it; it is just the latest in a string of decisions that have pleased such groups. But scientists say the tissue is crucial for studies that benefit millions of patients. Besides ending N.I.H. research, the Department of Health and Human Services said it would immediately cancel a $2 million-a-year contract with the University of California, San Francisco, for research involving fetal tissue from abortions; the contract started in 2013. Other university research projects would be subject to case-by-case review.