University System News:
Athens Banner-Herald
Millions for UGA construction proposed, but budget cuts loom
By Lee Shearer
The University of Georgia would get about $60.5 million for construction and construction-related projects under a proposed 2020-21 budget for the University System of Georgia. But UGA will also have to shave millions of dollars from its operating budget under Gov. Brian Kemp’s reduction orders. Kemp ordered state agencies to reduce their fiscal year 2020 spending budgets — the fiscal year that began this July 1 — by 4 percent, then submit proposed 2020-21 budgets shaving expenditures by 6 percent over this year’s budget. University System of Georgia officials showed a proposed budget for next year to members of the state Board of Regents’ monthly meeting in Atlanta on Tuesday, including a capital spending request of $255 million for new buildings, renovations and the like across the University System of Georgia. The University of Georgia would get at least a fourth of that amount. UGA also stands to get a large share of the university system’s $70 million proposed spending on major repair and rehabilitation.
The Red & Black
Board of Regents approves $4.4 million Spring Street Building project for UGA
Luke Guillory | Contributor
The University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents approved a $4.4 million renovation of the Spring Street Building located in downtown Athens on Sept. 10. The new space will support entrepreneurship, experiential learning and industry engagement. This announcement comes a year after President Jere Morehead created a 16-person team to research the initial strategy for the university’s “Innovation District” initiative, according to a UGA news release. The new Spring Street Building will serve as the next development of the initiative, which began with the Studio 225 project on West Broad Street. The Innovation District is designed to enhance the university’s economic impact while expanding the state’s ability to compete in the “knowledge-based economy,” according to the Board of Regents.
Savannah Morning News
LISTEN: The Commute, Sept. 11: Dr. Brooks Keel on the Medical College of Georgia’s new initiative
Dr. Brooks Keel helped Georgia Southern University elevate its profile a decade ago. Now he’s doing the same as the president of Augusta University and the Medical College of Georgia. Keel joins The Commute podcast to talk about new programs at his school, such as those connected to cybersecurity, as well as an initiative at the Medical College of Georgia meant to curb Georgia’s physician shortage. The Commute is presented by National Office Systems.
WTOC
Georgia Southern ROTC honors 9/11 first responders
By Dal Cannady
Hundreds of Georgia Southern students gathered Wednesday morning before dawn to honor the first responders of September 11. For the ROTC cadets, Sept. 11 started early, and with a reminder of the sacrifice of others. Nearly 300 cadets went up and down the bleachers of Paulson Stadium until they had climbed the nearly 2,000 steps the firefighters covered inside the Trade Center towers. …Cantrall came up with the idea as a way to honor the heroes. Their commander says it reinforces their mantra of service and sacrifice.
WGAU Radio
UGA LAW SCHOOL EXTENDS PROGRAM FOR VETERANS
By: Tim Bryant
The University of Georgia says its law school is, for a second straight year, providing financial aid to every veteran who accepts an offer of admission. It’s a guarantee known as the “Butler Commitment.” The law school says all of the veterans now enrolled in UGA’s Juris Doctor program are getting some form of scholarship aid from the school.
WFXL
ABAC offers free hunter education course in October
by FOX 31 Staff
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College is offering up a free hunters education course as part of a new statewide initiative. The class, scheduled for October 7 and 8, is open to would-be or returning hunters that are at least 10 years old. “Participants will learn firearm anatomy and safety, tree stand safety, the history of wildlife conservation in the United States, wildlife identification, and other important subjects,” Dr. Vanessa Lane said.
Savannah CEO
Georgia Southern to Host STEMFest ‘19 on Statesboro Campus September 21st
Staff Report From Savannah CEO
On Sept. 21, Georgia Southern University will host STEMFest ’19, complete with activities for the entire family. The event is free and open to the public. STEMFest ‘19 will be held on the Statesboro Campus in the Nessmith-Lane Center, located at 847 Plant Drive, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and will provide exploration stations with hands-on STEM learning activities for elementary, middle and high school-aged children. “This year we are excited for STEMFest to be a collaboration of the College of Science and Mathematics, College of Engineering and Computing and the College of Education (COE),” explained Kania Greer, Ed.D., COE’s Institute for Interdisciplinary STEM Education (i2STEMe) coordinator. “The support of these colleges as well as from the University’s Provost Office, is a testament to the importance of STEM involvement and education in southeast Georgia and the role this annual event plays in introducing pre-K through 12 students and their families to STEM experiences.” The goal of STEMFest is to host an interactive event that gets pre-K through 12 students and their parents excited about STEM education.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Family of Georgia Tech student killed by police files lawsuit
By Eric Stirgus and Christian Boone
Scout Schultz’s parents allege wrongful death
The family of a Georgia Tech student shot and killed by a campus police officer two years ago this month filed a wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday against the school, the officer and the state’s Board of Regents. The lawsuit says the officer, Tyler Beck, was improperly trained and used excessive force when he fatally wounded Scout Schultz, 21, near the student’s dorm on Sept. 16, 2017. Schultz had previously sought mental health counseling from Georgia Tech and with professionals off campus. The lawsuit also says Georgia Tech and the University System of Georgia failed to properly accommodate students having a mental health crisis.
WSAV
Mom calls for motorcycle safety after death of Georgia Southern Police officer son
by: Alex Bozarjian
News 3 is learning more about the death of a Georgia Southern Police officer. Tristan Clemmons was off duty when a car slammed into his motorcycle on Interstate 16 last week. He died Sunday at the age of 23. With tears in her eyes, his mother described him as a young man passionate about helping others. She said he died doing what he loved, riding his motorcycle, but she hopes his death won’t be in vain. “Please, for Tristan, watch out for all motorcycle riders,” said Elizabeth Clemmons. …According to new information from Georgia State Patrol (GSP), Tristan was hit by a car making a U-turn from the right-hand lane across a center turn lane. Georgia Southern Police tweeted Sunday that Clemmons did not survive his injuries. Now, his family is using the tragedy to encourage drivers to be careful when sharing the road with those on two wheels.
WGAU Radio
UGA BREAKS GROUND ON VET MED FACILITY IN TIFTON
By: Tim Bryant
The University of Georgia has broken ground on a new Veterinary Medicine facility on its campus in Tifton. UGA says it will be 9,000 square foot space for routine and specialized animal medical procedures.
From the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine…
The UGA College of Veterinary Medicine broke ground on a new facility on their campus in Tifton, Georgia recently. The UGA Tifton Farm Animal Veterinary Medical Center will improve the CVM’s ability to serve Georgia’s animal agricultural industries and will strengthen the South Georgia region overall. The 9,000-square-foot facility will feature space for the clinicians in Tifton to perform both routine and specialized food animal medical procedures in a controlled and safe environment thanks to the availability of a large hydraulic tilt chute and enclosed treatment room. In addition, this facility will help bring access to advanced reproductive technologies such as in-vitro fertilization procedures to smaller producers who may not have had access to these technologies in the past.
Tifton Gazette
New UGA scientist will study soil makeup on Tifton campus
By Clint Thompson
Georgia feels like home for Ghana-native soil scientist Henry Sintim, and that’s what drew him to the University of Georgia Tifton campus. Sintim joined the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences on Aug. 1 as an assistant professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. His area of expertise lies in studying the makeup of the soil and the nutrients that are vital to row crop production, specifically corn, cotton, peanuts and soybeans. Sintim will be based at UGA-Tifton. …His primary role will be to develop a research program on ways to reduce the loss of nutrients in row crop production and to investigate new biological products designed to enhance nutrient uptake and efficiency in plants. Sintim plans to take a sustainable systems approach that will improve soil’s overall long-term health.
WLTZ
Lady Cougars Move to Second in National Poll
After a 2-0 start to the season, the Columbus State University women’s soccer team jumped two spots in the United Soccer Coaches association poll to the second position. Grand Valley State still holds the number one ranking after winning a pair of matches over the opening weekend. CSU did, however, leapfrog over third-ranked UC San Diego this week while Central Missouri entered the top-five at the fourth position. Bloomsburg remains fifth for the second consecutive week. It is the highest ranking for Columbus State since Sept. 13, 2016 when the Lady Cougars were the top-ranked team in the country.
Atlanta Magazine
The men’s and women’s tennis teams have earned a combined 11 NAIA championships in just seven years
By Donnell Suggs
Chase Hodges, the first tennis coach Georgia Gwinnett College has ever had, is clearly comfortable in the environment he helped build. “We’ll play anybody, anytime, anywhere!” he yells as we began a tour of the facility, a former country club less than a mile away from the main buildings of the Lawrenceville campus that boasts 12 courts, three of which are clay. A former player at North Carolina State and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Hodges left coaching at Georgia State seven years ago to start Georgia Gwinnett’s tennis program. “Seven years, that’s kind of a sleeping giant in regards to what we have done here,” he says. “I honestly feel like we are one of the best programs in all of college tennis, regardless the division.” He’s not wrong. The Grizzlies’s record is nothing short of impressive, particularly for such a young program: 11 NAIA national titles—five for the women’s team and six for the men’s.
Higher Education News:
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
SREB Establishes Dual Enrollment Initiative to Address Inequity, Affordability Concerns
by Sarah Wood
Under the Southern Regional Education Board’s (SREB) new initiative, a panel of universities, agencies and legislatures will discuss student inequity and financial concerns within dual enrollment programs. The initiative will address college affordability, provide quality educational experiences for students from all backgrounds and help states meet their educational attainment and workforce goals. Last week, at their first meeting, members emphasized equity as their main concern since dual enrollment opportunities are often unaffordable for low-income high school students.
Inside Higher Ed
Flagships Fail on Financial Equity
Most public flagship universities are failing to meet the financial needs of low- and middle-income students, a report finds, and are overly subsidizing wealthier students.
By Madeline St. Amour
Only the relatively wealthiest students can afford to attend most public flagship institutions, according to a new report released last week by the Institute for Higher Education Policy. The report found that only six of 50 state flagships meet an affordability benchmark for low-income students (see graphic, below). Mamie Voight, vice president of policy research at IHEP and a co-author of the report, said public institutions funded by taxpayers should better serve low-income students, a demographic that’s growing in overall college enrollments. Flagship universities often have high graduation rates and good post-college outcomes for students, Voight said, making them a good vehicle for social mobility. But flagships “are not following through on that promise,” she said, because they aren’t providing affordable, accessible education for low- and middle-income students. This results in some students taking out large loans, working long hours while attending school and facing difficulty covering basic needs such as food, all of which can lead to poorer outcomes for the students. Other students may opt for a less expensive college with fewer supports, or forgo college altogether.
Inside Higher Ed
Colleges try to combat the sexual assaults that spike at the start of each academic year, but experts say many officials don’t give students sufficient training to protect themselves or vulnerable peers.
By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
Jess Davidson remembers when the young woman leading her first-year college orientation in 2012 slipped her a sticky note On it was a list of fraternities she instructed Davidson, who is now executive director of End Rape on Campus, a national survivor advocacy organization, to avoid. The fraternity chapters on this list were the most likely to throw parties on campus, particularly in the first few weeks of the academic year when women are most at risk for sexual assault. In hushed tones, the orientation leader told Davidson to pass on the note to other female students. This clandestine warning was likely not the best method for teaching young women about the phenomenon on college campuses known nationally as “the Red Zone,” the first six to eight weeks of the semester when more sexual assaults take place than at any other time in the year. First-year female students who are often still in their late teens and have not yet developed a social network on campus are most likely to be victimized during this time. While many colleges have programs that educate students about the Red Zone and how to avoid it, some institutions offer ineffective, “fluffy” programs that oversimplify the issue and fail to address the underlying culture that facilitates sexual violence on campus.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
U.S. Border Agents Are Seeking Social-Media Data on International Students
By Karin Fischer
Hello, everyone! I’m Karin Fischer, a longtime international-education reporter. Here’s some recommended reading:
Border Officials Seek Social-Media Information
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to collect social-media handles of travelers, including students, to the United States. In a notice of a proposed rule published in the Federal Register, the department says such information is needed to validate applicants’ identity and to determine whether they pose a law-enforcement or national-security risk. While this is the first official announcement of a change in policy, in practice, international students returning to American campuses in recent weeks have reported that border officers have searched their phones, computers, and other electronic devices, and appear to have scrutinized their communications and social-media profiles. The public has until November 4 to comment on the proposed change.
Inside Higher Ed
Will Transparency Ward Off Regulation?
Online program management companies are feeling the heat. 2U, the sector’s most visible player, hopes releasing significant data about finances and outcomes will make help make their case.
By Doug Lederman
The dozens of companies that work with colleges to deliver academic programs at a distance — frequently referred to as “online program management” providers, or OPMs — have taken their lumps recently. A highly critical article last spring characterized the companies as part of a “capitalist takeover” of higher education and blamed them for the high price of online education; lawmakers in California, reflecting growing political concern about the role of for-profit companies, considered bills to restrict their operations before deferring or softening them last month; and the industry’s largest player, 2U, lost almost two-thirds of its market value when it acknowledged that investors’ expectations for its growth were badly inflated (which seemed to surprise no one except those investors). As the most visible company in the space — and the only publicly traded one — 2U is often in critics’ bull’s-eye, to the dismay of Christopher (Chip) Paucek, its chief executive officer. “Anybody that wants to go after the space at all, we’re who they talk about, even though we’re an excellent actor,” he said.