University System News:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
How Some Colleges Are Helping Freshmen Find Their Academic Focus
By Alexander C. Kafka
…But at many colleges, that wandering approach is going out of style. In a closely watched move starting this fall, as part of a multipronged student-success strategy, the entire University System of Georgia is asking incoming freshmen to declare, if not a major, then at least an “academic focus area” — more generically called a meta-major — before they even set foot on campus. Flitting from subject to subject before alighting reluctantly on a major during junior year? That is discouraged. But the undecideds needn’t worry. The meta-major model is designed through intensive advising to help them find their academic interests, to enroll them in classes that will help them explore subjects they might like, and to develop study skills they’ll need regardless of their chosen field. Still, the new system is designed to get them in a fairly well-defined academic track as soon as possible. “We’re not saying pick a career today,” explains Tristan Denley, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and chief academic officer of the Georgia system. Instead, the idea is for students to find momentum and get going in the areas they’re passionate about “before choice paralysis kicks in.” The meta-major model, he says, “provides them that initial identity, that initial direction.” The Georgia system last fall had 50,612 entering freshmen and 328,712 students overall, so the sheer scale of the meta-major experiment there is drawing attention from college leaders nationwide. Denley and his team are also highly respected data analysts, so experts are eagerly awaiting the Georgia results.
Flagpole
UGA Advises First-Year Students to Take More Credit-Hours
By Ashlyn Webb
The University System of Georgia is raising the bar for the Class of 2023. Beginning this fall, all incoming freshmen are now advised to take 15 hours, instead of the previously advised 13 or less. In addition, students are no longer allowed to be undecided majors. This is all part of the USG’s “Momentum Year” initiative. Several states have adopted components of the Momentum Year, such as requiring students to choose a focus area or take a certain number of hours, but USG Vice Chancellor for Communications Jen Ryan says this initiative is the first of its kind nationwide. Since 2011, 21% more Georgia students are earning their degree, while enrollment numbers have only increased by 2%, USG Chancellor Steve Wrigley said at UGA’s Biennial Institute, a training session for state legislators, in November. “More students are graduating, and it’s costing [the state of Georgia] less,” he said.
WTOC
Georgia Southern University President Dr. Kyle Marrero welcomes new semester
Mid-Morning Live
Georgia Southern University President Dr. Kyle Marrero welcomes new semester
WRBL
Georgia Southwestern University welcomes a new class of freshman
By Anjelicia Bruton
Students are moving into their college dorms in Sumter County as they prepare for their first day of classes. Georgia Southwestern University welcomed over 400 freshman this morning. Student athletes and members of other organizations helped students and their parents unpack their cars and start decorating their rooms. 20 of the students moving in today will be part of a new four year leadership program endorsed by former president Jimmy Carter. Program director, Lynda Purvis, says the students who were selected for the program all received scholarships and she expects these students to be prominent leaders in the community and to evoke social change.
WALB
Volunteers help Georgia Southwestern freshmen move-in
“I wanted to keep that tradition going for these freshmen”
By Bobby Poitevint
Incoming students in Americus got a taste of campus life on Tuesday. Hundreds of Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) freshmen moved into their new dorms. They were helped by hundreds of volunteers. Alli Keener is a senior who volunteered on moving day and said it’s was going great. … Many volunteers helped move cars full of everything from refrigerators to TVs for the incoming freshmen. The rising temperatures didn’t stop several local organizations from also lending a helping hand.
Growing Georgia
From Backpacks to BBQ Sauce at ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture Country Store
From backpacks to Georgia made barbecue sauces, the Country Store at the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Georgia Museum of Agriculture has products for the new school year or your back-yard barbecue. A new school year comes with new teachers, clothes, shoes, and supplies. Are you looking for a new backpack or that perfect lunch box for your little one? The Country Store has a nice selection of both to fit your little learner’s style.
Emanuel County Live
EGSC students see success through FESA program
by HARLEY STRICKLAND
East Georgia State College is the only college in the state of Georgia to offer a bachelor’s degree in Fire and Emergency Services Administration (FESA), and students are already seeing the benefits of the program. Since the bachelor’s program began in Spring of 2016, five people have graduated with the degree. EGSC’s Fire and Emergency Services Administration program offers both an associate and bachelor’s degree track. The bachelor’s 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.
11Alive
Georgia Tech grad becomes U.S. Army’s highest-ranking officer
Gen. James C. McConville replaces Gen. Mark A. Milley, who was confirmed in July as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Author: Jason Braverman
A Georgia Tech graduate is the new Chief of Staff for the U.S. Army, the department’s highest-ranking officer. Gen. James C. McConville replaces Gen. Mark A. Milley, who was confirmed in July as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. McConville is a native of Quincy, Massachusetts, and a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. He holds a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and was a National Security Fellow at Harvard University in 2002.
Griffin Daily News
UGA-Griffin Professors honored by International Association for Food Protection
By Sharon Dowdy
Two University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences food scientists have been presented awards of excellence from the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP). Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus Larry Beuchat and Professor Francisco Diez were recognized at the association’s annual meeting held in July in Louisville, Kentucky.
Patch
7 Georgia Schools On Princeton Review’s ‘Best 385’ List
The new Princeton Review list of the 385 best colleges for 2020 was released in August and includes seven schools in Georgia.
By Deb Belt, Patch Staff
The Princeton Review has released its annual list of the 385 best colleges, which includes seven schools in Georgia. Along with the list of the best 385 colleges, the Princeton Review ranks colleges in categories like academics and administration, politics, quality of life and more. … Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta: Ranked 7th in Best Health Services. Ranked 14th in Best Athletic Facilities. Ranked 18th in Best College Radio Station.
The Georgia colleges on the overall best 385 schools list are: …University of Georgia, Athens, No individual category rankings
Fast Company
Dasani’s new water vending machine is BYOB (bring your own bottle)
As part of a plan to reduce its plastic waste footprint, bottled water giant Dasani is rolling out a new way to pay to hydrate yourself: a machine that dispenses water (or seltzer), but only if you already have a bottle.
By Adele Peters
Coke launched its bottled water brand, Dasani, 20 years ago. It’s now the bestselling bottled water in the U.S. at a time when bottled water is also the country’s best-selling beverage. The industry sells billions of bottles in a year—and it knows that most of those bottles aren’t recycled. … The company has already tested a handful of the PureFill stations at college campuses, beginning with a pilot at Georgia Institute of Technology, where students can use an app to get free filtered water or pay a small fee for sparkling or flavored water.
Albany Herald
UGA scientists search for ways to control pathogens on wheat berries
By Sharon Dowdy
Consumers have long been warned against the hazards of eating raw cookie dough. As more cases of foodborne illness are linked to contaminated wheat flour, University of Georgia food safety experts are touting the risk in a louder, more forceful voice, while searching for ways to eliminate foodborne pathogens on wheat products. In wheat-related cases, the common carriers of the pathogens are cookie dough, cake batter and raw wheat flour. The most recent outbreak started in May and was linked to wheat flour contaminated with E. coli 026 bacteria. Three brands of contaminated all-purpose flour were found at grocery stores in eight states, to date. So far, 21 cases of E. coli 026 infections have been reported.
WTOC
Blue-green algae causes scare amongst pet owners
By Sean Evans
Pets encountering blue-green algae can have deadly consequences. The algae isn’t actually algae at all. It’s a naturally-occurring bacteria in the water. Researchers have known about its harmful effects since the 1800′s. …Payton Ricci says with the recent heat, she had thought about taking her two-year-old Australian cattle dog named Foster for a swim, but after learning about the potential danger that could be lurking in the water, she’s going to pass. …To get a better idea of why blue-green algae is so harmful, WTOC spoke with a professor and microbiologist at the University of Georgia – Skidaway Institute of Oceanography. “They’re often quite easy to spot because they often color the water bright green,” said Marc Frischer with the University of Georgia – Skidaway Institute of Oceanography. Marc Frischer explains while the heat can be too much for some kinds of bacteria on the water, blue-green algae does just fine, giving it a competitive advantage to thrive in fresh and saltwater environments. Anything that comes into contact with the bacteria’s toxins can fall victim.
Higher Education News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia House Speaker: Start work now on state budget after governor orders cuts
By James Salzer
Summer break’s over for budget writers in the Georgia House. House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, on Tuesday announced that his chamber’s appropriations committee will hold rare fall hearings on the state budget ahead of the 2020 legislative session. He did so about a week after Gov. Brian Kemp’s administration sent a memo to state agencies telling them to offer 4% cuts to their budgets this year and 6 percent in fiscal 2021, which begins next July 1. Kemp wants to cut the budget to give him the money he needs to meet his top priorities, including more teacher pay raises. Ralston and House leaders decided they didn’t want to wait until the 2020 session to deal with what is being proposed.
Inside Higher Ed
Moody’s Maintains Negative Outlook for Higher Ed
By Rick Seltzer
The higher education sector will be stabilized for the next 12 months by state funding and investment returns, even as hypercompetition and an intense focus on affordability limit revenue growth, according to a midyear evaluation published Monday by Moody’s Investors Service. Moody’s kept in place a negative outlook for the sector. In December, the ratings agency assigned higher education a negative outlook for the second straight year. As many as a fifth of colleges and universities grew their reserves faster than the rate of inflation during the just-closed 2019 fiscal year, Moody’s estimated. But more experienced declines.
Inside Higher Ed
The ‘Public Charge’ Rule and Higher Ed
Trump administration says new regulation will ensure that immigrants are self-sufficient, but higher ed groups are concerned about impacts on legal immigrants and international students.
By Elizabeth Redden
The Trump administration published a final rule Monday making it harder for immigrants who have received certain public benefits such as food stamps, most forms of Medicaid and housing assistance to obtain permanent resident status. The rules outline criteria the Department of Homeland Security will use in denying applications for admission to the United States or adjustments of immigration status for individuals who are already living here and are deemed “likely to become a public charge” in the future. Opponents of the rule say it constitutes an attempt to circumvent Congress to reduce legal immigration levels by providing expansive new grounds on which DHS and consular officials at the Department of State can deny applications for immigration petitions and visas, respectively. Higher ed experts and college administrators say the rule could have a chilling effect on immigrant students accessing benefits for which they’re eligible and could deter foreign students from coming to study here.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Holifield Works to Advance Interests of HBCUs Within Trump Administration
by Jamal Watson
When Johnathan M. Holifield talks about future opportunities for HBCUs, he inevitably finds a way to bridge the past to the present, even as he looks toward the future. For Holifield, the executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, these storied institutions are national treasures that can undoubtedly attract continued investment because of their competitive edge and assets. “We preserve national treasures,” says Holifield, sitting inside his office located in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building — home to the headquarters of several high-profile Trump administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence. “However, we invest in assets, things that we believe will offer a return, that will grow over time. Our institutions are both national treasures and competitive assets.”
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
New Partnership Funds Textbooks for 1,000 HBCU Students
by Sara Weissman
The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) has partnered with Cengage, an education and technology company, to provide 1,000 students from historically Black colleges and universities with free access to digital textbooks for a semester. Students chosen by UNCF will get subscriptions to Cengage Unlimited, which comes with test preparation resources, study guides and more than 22,000 eBooks. …The partnership comes after a study by Morning Consult on behalf of Cengage found that 52 percent of African-American students said buying textbooks has a big impact on their finances, and 60 percent reported not buying mandatory course materials. Textbook costs were the second-largest source of stress for students overall, after paying tuition. “For 75 years, our motto ‘A mind is a terrible thing to waste, but a wonderful thing to invest in,’ has remained at the forefront of everything we do,” said Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of UNCF. “We must continue to invest our time and money in better futures for young people around the country.”
Inside Higher Ed
Lawyers’ Group Disagrees on College Model of ‘Affirmative Consent’
The American Bar Association wanted to change the definition of consent in criminal sexual assault cases that closely mirrors the definition used by college and universities — but criticism from due process advocates blocked the move.
By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
Many colleges and universities across the country have promoted the concept of “affirmative consent” on their campuses for several years now. These institutions openly encourage their students to receive a clearly articulated “yes” response, in words or actions, before proceeding with sexual activity. The American Bar Association, the influential group representing the legal profession, this week was due to vote on a resolution that would urge state governments and court systems to adopt the same definition of consent in criminal sexual assault cases.
Inside Higher Ed
NCAA Won’t Require Athletes’ Agents to Have 4-Year Degrees
By Doug Lederman
The National Collegiate Athletic Association has abandoned a proposal that would have required agents who represent college athletes to have a bachelor’s degree, after the idea came under fire from critics including the Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang. USA Today reported on the association’s about-face, which will now require agents only to be in good standing with the National Basketball Players Association. The NCAA rule was seen as specifically singling out the agent who represented LeBron James and Anthony Davis, although the NCAA denied that was the case.
Inside Higher Ed
No, Half of Young Americans Don’t Believe College Is Unnecessary
Headlines about a recent survey of millennials about college and student debt suggest many rethink getting a degree. We explore the actual numbers.
By Doug Lederman
The headline is the sort that could send a chill down the spine of college and university administrators. “Half of Young Americans Say College Is No Longer Necessary,” blared The New York Post, slightly shortening the title of a Marketwatch article that was also picked up by numerous newspapers and radio stations around the country. The article summarized a Harris survey of more than 3,000 Americans about college-going, supported by TD Ameritrade, the brokerage firm. Trouble is, that’s not at all what the survey found. Don’t get us wrong: the survey’s true results suggest some real doubts on the part of former, current and prospective students (and parents) about the value of higher education, reflecting other signs of public doubts. Most of the concerns are financial.
Inside Higher Ed
Study: College Presidents Prioritizing Student Mental Health
As cases of student anxiety and depression skyrocket, top university officials are focusing more on these issues, according to a new report.
By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
With college students reporting problems with anxiety and depression more than ever before, and suicides now a big problem on campuses, university presidents are responding accordingly. More than 80 percent of top university executives say that mental health is more of a priority on campus than it was three years ago, according to a new report released today by the American Council on Education.
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
Two New Studies Probe College Students’ Mental Health
by Lois Elfman
A report issued this week by Barnes & Noble College noted that mental health and stress issues have become increasingly prevalent among students on college campuses, but only a portion of those impacted utilize the counseling and support services offered. At the same time, the American Council on Education (ACE) issued a report indicating concern among college presidents about the mental health and well-being of students. Together they highlight a greater focus on growing mental health and wellness trends among college students, from depression to suicide.
Inside Higher Ed
Concerns About Monitoring of Chinese Students and Scholars
By Elizabeth Redden
Higher education associations and groups promoting free speech on campus released a statement today in response to reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has advised research universities to monitor students and scholars from Chinese state-affiliated research institutions. “This is an area where the government must tread carefully,” says the statement from Pen America, the American Association of University Professors, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and 19 other groups. “If there are articulable concerns about specific individuals because of their activities and affiliations, those should be pursued without regard to the individual’s country of origin. Disclosure requirements, information sharing and export control enforcement all offer powerful means to protect against intellectual property theft and espionage without resorting to tactics that cast suspicion on potentially hundreds of thousands of students and scholars. Federal agencies need to clarify and specify their concerns, and ensure that their efforts do not trample on individual rights nor on the principle of free and open academic inquiry and exchange.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Amid Backlash, Alaska Governor Relents on Draconian Cuts for University System
By Katherine Mangan
[Updated (8/13/2019, 9:24 p.m) with comments from the University of Alaska system president and the chair of the university’s Faculty Alliance]Faced with growing outrage over budget cuts that threatened to permanently weaken the University of Alaska system, Gov. Michael J. Dunleavy announced on Tuesday that he had agreed with the university to reduce the cuts from $135 million to $70 million and to spread them out over three years instead of one. Dunleavy insisted the move wasn’t related to a growing recall effort prompted by the more than $400 million in statewide cuts he imposed by vetoing sections of the 2020 budget passed by state lawmakers. Tuesday’s announcement came shortly after the Republican governor reversed course on cuts for both early education and senior-citizen benefits. “Part of the budget process is you have to listen to Alaskans,” Dunleavy said in a news conference broadcast on Facebook. “You have to listen to the people your budgets are impacting.”
Inside Higher Ed
The state’s governor and university officials strike a deal that will cut funding by $70 million over three years instead of a whopping $136 million immediately.
By Doug Lederman
Alaska’s governor and officials of the University of Alaska system announced an agreement Tuesday that will blunt — but not avert — a budget crisis that had in recent weeks become a national symbol of the defunding of public higher education. Under the agreement, the university system will see its state allocation for the 2020 fiscal year that began July 1 cut by $25 million, with another $45 million total sliced from the state allocation over the two years that follow. While $70 million over three years is a large excision from operating budget support totaling $327 million, it looked like a net positive to Jim Johnsen, the university system’s president, given the $135 million cut that Governor Michael J. Dunleavy had imposed with a swipe of his veto pen in late June. “This agreement, worked out following a number of budget discussions by the Board of Regents, provides a clear, gradual multiyear funding glide path,” John Davies, chair of the university’s Board of Regents, said in a prepared statement. “Most importantly, the supplemental operating budget provides much more certainty and confidence for our students, staff, faculty and the communities we serve.”