University System News:
The Brunswick News
Brunswick High grad wins national ROTC scholarship
By Lauren Mcdonald
Gabriel Beckum first saw the kind of man he hopes to be reflected in his high school ROTC instructors. Beckum took part in both the Navy and Army ROTC programs at Brunswick High School, and his experience in the programs inspired him to pursue a career in the U.S. Army. But first, he hoped to earn his college degree. He applied for ROTC scholarships to help him achieve this goal. Beckum, who graduated from Brunswick High in May, was honored Monday at the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders summer conference for recently winning a four-year Army ROTC national scholarship, which provides nearly $60,000 for his college education. …Beckum is now a freshman computer science major at Georgia Southern University. He plans to finish college as an officer with the rank of second lieutenant and make the Army his career. The four-year scholarship, along with his HOPE scholarship, is funding most of his education, Beckum said.
KSU The Sentinel
Students ignite the flame of their futures
Nigel Wright
Getting acclimated with a new school is often deemed an overwhelming task, but with the help of Kennesaw State’s Ignition program, newly-admitted students are welcomed with open arms and thoughtfully guided through the process. By means of small group facilitation, Ignition leaders take students on campus tours, assist with registration, help students make connections and answer any questions they may have along the way. Before becoming an Ignition leader, sophomore entrepreneurship major Ryan Bebber was a member of Freshman Parliament, Engaged Owl Leaders and the Barbell Club Team. Knowing he was once a quiet student, the job of Ignition leader seemed interesting to Bebber as it offered the opportunity of escaping his comfort zone and working on his leadership abilities.
Emanuel County Live
EGSC students visit AU nursing and medical schools
by HARLEY STRICKLAND
On Friday March 29, 2019, Dr. John Cadle, East Georgia State College Associate Professor of Biology and co-faculty advisor of the Pre-Professional Student Club; John Smoyer, EGSC Assistant Professor of Biology; and a group of EGSC students from the EGSC’s Swainsboro, Statesboro, and Augusta campuses visited the nursing and medical school at Augusta University in Augusta, Ga. This trip was organized by the EGSC Pre-Professional Student Club. The goal from this club is to provide an out-of-class experience where students who are interested in pursuing a career in the medical field can come together to share their enthusiasm and learn about the different types of jobs in the medical field. “The EGSC Pre-Professional Student Club is a new asset for students who want to go into the medical field,” explained Dr. David Chevalier, Chair of the Biology Program at EGSC. “Club activities such as this visit to Augusta University will increase the competitiveness of our students and better prepare them to be admitted to professional schools.”
KSU The Sentinel
OPINION: Tuition raise is not worth it for students
This Fall semester, students will be greeted with a tuition bill slightly higher than they have seen before — $68 more for in-state students and $200 more for out-of-state students, according to a budget statement by the University System of Georgia. In the moment it may seem minor, but over the course of four years, a student pays $544 more than before, or a whopping $1,600 for out-of-state students. The state-wide 2.5 percent tuition increase for public universities across Georgia is not worth the cost for students. USG Chancellor Steve Wrigley claims that the increase supports a “balance of quality and affordability” in schools, however, the money does not seem to be going directly towards the students. Instead, according to an article by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the increase is largely being used to fund top faculty members in addition to recruiting new ones.
The Tech Advocate
WHY HASN’T ONLINE LEARNING MADE HIGHER EDUCATION MORE AFFORDABLE?
BY MATTHEW LYNCH
The benefits of online higher education programs have been touted since they started to become widely available about more than a decade ago. There are no buildings to maintain and there is less staff required. These were two of the arguments given as to why online education would be much cheaper than traditional higher education. However, as more and more universities have started offering degree and certificate programs online, the promise of lower tuition has not been fulfilled. … As previously mentioned, there are universities striving to make online education as affordable as possible. One shining example is Georgia Tech, which is a highly ranked public university.
Albany Herald
ASU hosts young Haitian entrepreneurs
By Rachel Lord
Ronald Cetoute, the international student and scholar advisor/designated school official at Albany State University, who is of Haitian descent, started a Business, Entrepreneurship, Leadership Initiative with the goal of creating a program that would help young Haitian entrepreneurs grow and learn. The entrepreneurs would then be able to take their newly acquired knowledge back to Haiti and help their communities. “One of the reasons we created the program is because we saw an opportunity for those entrepreneurs in Haiti to be exposed to the business skillsets that are here available in the U.S.,” Cetoute said. “(We want them) to be able to take some of that knowledge and pour it back into the country, so they can actually build sustainable companies in Haiti and grow them.
Americus Times-Recorder
Who says research can’t be fun?
By Beth Alston
Who says research can’t be fun? Alexandria Cajuste, a junior at Georgia Southwestern State University majoring in long-term care management, knows that it can be. Working as a summer intern with the Sumter County Extension Office, University of Georgia (UGA) Cooperative Extension Service, Cajuste held a session recently to gather information for a study she’s undertaking. She’s interning with Mitzi Parker, family and consumer science agent. Parker told the Times-Recorder that Cajuste had been working with Dr. Jennifer Cox of UGA, and had been charged with doing the research on some existing recipes. Recipes were prepared for adult and youth audiences in four districts. “Our goal is to reach 100 people,” she said, “50 youth and 50 adults.”
Emanuel County Live
EGSC FESA program named most affordable in the country
by HARLEY STRICKLAND
In a list recently published by Bachelors Degree Center, East Georgia State College ranked number one in affordable Fire Science Degree Bachelor Programs for 2019. The list, published each year, helps prospective bachelor degree students find the best educational program most suited to their financial, educational and personal situation. EGSC’s Fire and Emergency Services Administration program offers both an associate and bachelor degree track The bachelor degree track is completely online and offers challenging coursework in fire and emergency services administration, leadership, budgeting, ethics and professional development to prepare students for a leadership role in the administration and management of an emergency services organization.
WALB
4th HBCU forum set for Tuesday
By Damon Arnold
Albany State University alumni and community leaders will get together Tuesday to continue their fight against Senate Bill 270. That bill would merge three historically black college and universities (HBCU) into one. There are three areas of concentration for Tuesday’s forum:
Financial Investment and fundraising
Housing and student services/quality of life
Student retention.
This will be the fourth HBCU forum that stems from Senate Bill 270.
Gwinnett Daily Post
A.I.I. honors Georgia Gwinnett College trio with season-ending awards
From Staff Reports
The Association of Independent Institutions recognized administrators, student-athletes, coaches and teams within the conference for outstanding achievements during the 2018-19 athletic season on Monday. Georgia Gwinnett College had three Association of Independent Institutions award winners: Darin Wilson as Athletics Director of the Year, James Williams as Athletic Trainer of the Year and Dale Long as Sports Information Director of the Year. Wilson and Williams are repeat award winners, while Long completed his second year at GGC. Long also serves as the A.I.I.’s sports information director.
WJCL
Georgia Southern continues long time tradition with A Summer Celebration
Dave Williams
With the thermometer reaching well into the 90’s and feeling like 100 degrees, folks are looking for any relief they can from the heat. Georgia Southern University is doing just that and continuing an over 70 year long tradition in the process. There are many ways to cool off from the typical Southeast Georgia summer heat, but you’ll find few better, than a little bit of watermelon, and fresh fruit. And of course, Leopold’s Ice Cream. That’s what you’ll find the next three days at all three Georgia Southern campuses during its Summer Celebration, that began Monday at the Armstrong campus. “Come out here and enjoy some time with us and that’s where we get to have this fellowship and opportunity where as human beings,” said Dr.Kyle Marrero, President, Ga. Southern University. “We interact and see the value of knowing each other and how we need each other.” This summer celebration is the first one for new Georgia Southern President Dr. Kyle Marrero who took over back in April. It’s not, however, new to the university, it began back in 1948 by then president Zach Henderson who was looking for a way to provide a cool treat to those still on campus during the hot summer months.
The Red & Black
UGA invests $2 million in lighting and security enhancements
Francisco Guzman | News Editor
The University of Georgia announced it will invest about $2 million over the next two years in lighting and security enhancements to improve campus safety on June 11. Improvements will begin this summer, with the first phase focusing on “LED lighting upgrades and improvements,” and light fixtures replaced along the most heavily used pedestrian corridors on Herty Drive, East Green Street and Hooper Street. “These improvements will replace old fixtures with energy-saving light-emitting diode, or LED, technology,” Vice President for Finance and Administration Ryan Nesbit said in a news release. …“The new fixtures will increase the amount of illumination generated by each individual light, thus deterring crime while also providing the added benefit of reduced energy consumption,” Nesbit said.
Atlanta Daily World
Morehouse School of Medicine and Georgia Tech Team Up for Health Technology Startup Development
The Georgia Institute of Technology and Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) announced the launch of a new initiative that will support MSM’s commercialization efforts to create health technology (HealthTech) startups. The effort brings the Institute’s globally recognized technology incubator — the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) — to the MSM campus, ranked the No. 1 medical school in the nation in fulfilling its social mission and the top ranking historically black college or university for producing patents (2009-2019).
The Philadelphia Citizen
Drexel’s Metro Finance Lab director on how universities can and should be a moral leader in building equitable, inclusive, successful cities
BY BRUCE KATZ
As this century proceeds, universities will need to work harder for the cities where they are located. The resurgence of cities and metropolitan areas as the central organizing unit of the global economy has not generated shared prosperity. … Universities like Carnegie Mellon, Georgia Tech and MIT are doing that by using their strategic locations in downtowns and midtowns to provide the platform for naturally occurring innovation districts, often spurring the co-location of corporations, university assets, start-ups, scale-ups and amenities.
Forbes
Massive Startup Growth In The 2020s Will Be In Middle America — Not Silicon Valley
Bijan Khosravi Contributor
Silicon Valley is synonymous with startup success. For the past three decades, money, resources and talent flocked to San Jose, San Francisco and the surrounding valley, making it a veritable haven for new companies. Unfortunately, this success has come with a cost. It created a large divide between the “haves” and the “have nots” in the region. As the cost of living grew sky high, the number of people who could comfortably afford to live in the valley shrunk. Poverty and hours long commutes became the reality for the majority. … Atlanta is one of the top “rising stars” for startups in the U.S. The energy of its burgeoning startup scene has spilled out to other areas of the state, including Columbus and Savannah. An ecosystem of universities, incubators and major companies has spread jobs and talent beyond the heart of the city. ATDC and the Atlanta Tech Village, along with new startup centers TechSquare Labs, WeWork and Techstars, support the creation of early stage companies and help them grow. Georgia Tech, meanwhile, cranks out talent to fill jobs.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
The company will abandon its traditional textbook publishing model in favor of a digital-first strategy. Print books will still be available, but students will be encouraged to rent rather than buy.
By Lindsay McKenzie
Pearson, like many publishers in higher education, has long signaled its intent to move from print textbooks to digital courseware. But today the company went farther than anyone else — announcing that all of its 1,500 U.S. titles will become “digital first.” From now on, instead of publishing new editions of print textbooks every few years, the publisher will focus its energy on its digital course materials. These digital materials will be updated on an ongoing basis — reflecting new research developments, technology breakthroughs and the latest pedagogical trends. Print versions of the materials will still be widely available to rent, but students will be discouraged from buying them with relatively high pricing and limited availability.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
New Survey Finds College Students Lack Financial Literacy
by Sarah Wood
Today’s college students are feeling unprepared to manage their finances and have already accumulated high amounts of debt, according to a recent survey by EVERFI. The report, titled “Money Matters on Campus” which was sponsored by AIG Retirement Services, focused on students’ financial experience and knowledge. It included 30,000 college student participants from 440 institutions in 45 states. The survey found that six in 10 students have taken or intend to take loans out to cover their tuition bills. However, only 65 percent actually plan to pay off those loans on time and in full. Ray Martinez, co-founder and president of EVERFI’s Financial Education and Conduct and Culture divisions, believes that many families remain unaware of the full cost of attending college. This results in students needing to take out loans because they were unprepared financially.
Inside Higher Ed
Stagnant Wage Growth for New College Graduates
By Paul Fain
Students who graduated from college in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree earned an average starting salary of $50,944 per year, according to the latest version of an annual survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). That overall average is almost $500 more than last year’s average of $50,516 for new graduates, the nonprofit group said. And the 2018 figure is up just 1.4 percent from the 2015 average of $50,219.
Inside Higher Ed
Higher Ed Groups Ask Lawmakers to Prioritize Graduate Education
By Andrew Kreighbaum
A coalition of higher ed groups asked key Senate and House lawmakers in a letter Monday to make graduate students a priority in a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. The letter went to Senator Lamar Alexander, the GOP chairman of the Senate education committee, and ranking Democratic senator Patty Murray as well as Representative Bobby Scott, chairman of the House education committee, and ranking Republican representative Virginia Foxx. It noted recent decisions by Congress that have made graduate education more expensive, including elimination of in-school interest subsidies for grad students and higher origination fees on Grad PLUS loans. Lawmakers also removed graduate eligibility for the Perkins Loan program before its expiration in 2017. “This trend is unacceptable and economically self-defeating for our nation as we look to globally compete with the most innovative and skilled work force,” the groups wrote.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
What Does It Mean to Be an Efficient University?
By Alina Tugend
Paul Friga wants universities to become more efficient, and he says he can help. For $25,000 to $75,000 (depending on size), universities can join the Academic Benchmarking Consortium (ABC Insights), provide their spending data to its researchers, and find out how their administrative costs line up with their peers’. So far 32 colleges and universities have signed up to be a part of the consortium. “It used to be more resources per person was viewed as a positive, but to what end?” said Friga, chief strategy officer of the company, which he co-founded five years ago. He is also a clinical associate professor in the business school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In an era of diminishing state support and rising tuition, calls for higher education to be more efficient have become routine. But the goal isn’t new. It dates back at least to 1910, when Morris Cooke wrote a report to the Carnegie Foundation called “Academic and Industrial Efficiency.”
Inside Higher Ed
Hackers Demand $2 Million From Monroe
College’s IT system was attacked by hackers demanding $2 million in Bitcoin. Experts warn that other institutions are vulnerable to similar attacks.
By Lindsay McKenzie
A cyberattack disabled many of Monroe College’s technology systems and platforms last week. Students and faculty and staff members were locked out of the college’s website, learning management system and email, with hackers demanding payment of around $2 million in Bitcoin to restore access.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Alaska Lawmakers Fail to Avert Sweeping Cuts to the University System. Here’s What Happens Next.
By Sarah Brown and Katherine Mangan
The University of Alaska’s Board of Regents has $135 million to cut, and on Monday its members will consider a few options for how to do it. One would involve handing a scalpel — or, some would argue, a chain saw — to each of the system’s three universities to designate its own cuts. Another would involve shuttering regional campuses, which the president described as “a radical, vertical amputation.” Or the three universities, which currently offer a broad range of programs, could focus more narrowly on a few core programs, such as fisheries, engineering, or nursing, with each institution serving as a “lead campus” for particular disciplines.