University System News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Finalist announced to lead University of West Georgia
By Eric Stirgus
Georgia officials announced Monday an educator leading a university in South Carolina is the finalist to be the next president of the University of West Georgia. Brendan Kelly, the chancellor of the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg, S.C., has emerged as the top candidate for the West Georgia position, officials said. Kelly will visit the university before the Georgia Board of Regents votes on whether to appoint him to the job.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
University System of Georgia names finalist for president of University of West Georgia
By David Allison
The University System of Georgia on Monday named Brendan Kelly, currently chancellor of the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg, S.C., as the finalist to become the new president of the University of West Georgia.
Spartanburg Herald Journal
USC Upstate’s Kelly named U. of West Georgia finalist
By Bob Montgomery
University of South Carolina Upstate Chancellor Brendan Kelly has been named sole finalist for president of the University of West Georgia, the University System of Georgia announced Monday. He would replace interim University of West Georgia President Michael Crafton, who announced his resignation in November.
WABE
By Candace Wheeler
02:35: Macmillan Publishers recently announced the company is drastically restricting the sales of its e-books to one per library system. Rose Scott recently visited the Toco Hill-Avis G. Williams Library for a conversation with Director of the DeKalb County Library System Alison Weissinger and state librarian Julie Walker about how this decision will impact local library systems here in Georgia.
19:47: What services are available to help those currently incarcerated people re-entering society? And what role can education play in larger efforts towards criminal justice reform? Rose Scott recently discussed all of this with Georgia State University’s Dr. Peter Lindsay and Dr. Andy Rogers, co-founders and co-coordinators of the Georgia State University Prison Education Program.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Neurosurgery resident claims gender bias in Augusta University suit
By Eric Stirgus
A former participant in Augusta University’s neurosurgery residency program has filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the school and state officials, saying she was singled out to take multiple, random drug tests and eventually forced from the program because she is a woman.
WTOC
New historical marker will commemorate Armstrong State University’s history
The Georgia Historical Society and Georgia Southern University are dedicating a new historical marker to commemorate the history of Armstrong State University. The historical marker covers Armstrong State University’s history from its beginning as a two-year college through the 2017 consolidation with Georgia Southern University.
The Augusta Chronicle
As Georgia revises math standards, some push for big changes
By Jeff Amy, The Associated Press
As Georgia reviews what public school students learn in math, the first step will almost certainly be a strong cry for change — but it remains unclear how much that will influence the outcome. Gov. Brian Kemp and state Superintendent Richard Woods kicked off the process earlier this month with the meeting of a citizen review committee to which they appointed a number of prominent critics of the Common Core State Standards. A report from the citizens review committee, compiled by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, is scheduled to be published later this month.
Higher Education News:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
A Cash-Strapped University Bet on Student Success — and Grew
By Kelly Field
When the University of Rhode Island hit a first-year retention record this year, Dean Libutti, a vice provost, drove to Allie’s Donuts, a North Kingstown institution, and ordered a doughnut cake in the shape of an 86. Technically, the retention rate was 85.9, but that would require an extra doughnut digit and decimal, and URI is a frugal place, still recovering from the severe budget cuts it sustained during the Great Recession. In the decade since state appropriators slashed its budget by $26 million over three years, the university has increased its enrollment by 9 percent, raised its on-time graduation rate by double digits, and cut its racial-achievement gap in half. Those gains have translated into millions of dollars in tuition revenue that the university has used to hire dozens of new faculty members.
Inside Higher Ed
By Doug Lederman
The Education Department’s annual release of data about postsecondary enrollments is a font of information — and we’ve already mined it for an article about the continuing (but slowing) rise in online enrollments in 2018. The proportion of all enrolled college students who took at least one online class continued to rise, edging up to 34.7 percent in fall 2018 from 33.1 percent the previous year. The rate of increase appears to be slowing ever so slightly, although online education remains the main driver of growth in postsecondary enrollments.