University System News:
Marietta Daily Journal
Q&A: Gov. Brian Kemp talks budget cuts, education and other legislative priorities
By Aleks Gilbert
Q: Lawmakers of both parties tell us the state budget will be the biggest issue before this session, principally because of your proposed cuts of 4% to 6%. With Georgia’s economy booming, why the need to make those cuts now?
A: Well, the state budget is always the biggest issue of the session, it doesn’t matter if it’s this year or not. … Our economy’s growing, we have a great economy in our state, we’ve got the lowest unemployment we’ve ever had in the state, we have the highest number of people working right now. So it’s almost counterintuitive, in some ways, but we’re just not having as many people coming into the workforce because we’re basically at full employment. So it’s very important for us to continue producing that educated workforce, which is a priority of mine.
Q: While fiscal conservatives rejoice at cutting back any government fat, Sen. Lindsey Tippins (R-west Cobb) suggests cuts would be unnecessary if the state didn’t have so many tax loopholes for special interests, Exhibit A being the film industry. Do you believe the current tax break for the film industry is too generous compared to other states’ and needs to be revisited?
WGAU
By: Clark Leonard
Eighteen cadets from the University of North Georgia (UNG) have been ranked in the top 20 percent of the nation among more than 5,000 Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) cadets assessed by U.S. Army Cadet Command. Cadets are ranked on the national Order of Merit List (OML) by achieving superior grade-point averages, strong performance in the Army Combat Fitness Test, and proving their worth as exceptional leaders in their college ROTC training. The UNG cadets ranked in the top 20 percent in the nation, which earns them the designation of Distinguished Military Graduate (DMG), are: John Belser III, Eric Carbone, Alejandro Davila, Jacob Drobney, Isaiah Fleck, Jarrett Hutchens, Cody Kendrix, Dylan Lanting, Jacob Mizell, Tristan Moran, William Norman, John Perry IV, William Scaggs III, Jericho Searcy, Brandon Thurmond, Micaela Tierce, James Warren, and Parrish West.
Albany CEO
Albany State to Rename Two Buildings after Influential Administrator, Family
Staff Report
Albany State University (ASU) will pay tribute to a legendary administrator and an iconic family with the renaming of two buildings on campus. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents approved a University recommendation to name the East Campus Student Center as the C.W. Grant Student Union and the Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Complex as the Jones Brothers Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Complex. “At all institutions, there are reminders of individuals who left an everlasting mark,” said ASU President Marion Fedrick. “It is both a privilege and an honor to recognize Dr. C.W. Grant and the Jones family for their commitment to the institution. They are true examples of those who have lived out excellence.” Dean Grant, as he was affectionately known, served as the Vice President of Student Affairs at ASU for 30 years. The Golden Ram community mourned his passing in late September.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
State of Georgia names three design firms finalists for new $50M UGA residence hall
By David Allison – Editor, Atlanta Business Chronicle
The state of Georgia said Monday its recommended three Atlanta firms as finalists to design a new $50 million residence hall at The University of Georgia. The firms in ranked order are 1) Beck Architecture Georgia LLC/The Beck Group, Atlanta, 2) Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates Inc. Architects, and 3) Collins Cooper Carusi Architects Inc. Twenty firms applied for the project, which will have an estimated design fee of $2.9 million. Construction is anticipated to begin in January 2021 with completion by June 2022. The Board of Regents is scheduled to vote at its Jan. 8 meeting on whether to approve the three firms as finalists. If approved, the state would negotiate with the top-ranked firm to award the project. Construction of the 525-bed residence hall is anticipated to begin in January 2021 with completion by June 2022.
The Citizen
UGA to team with Pinewood Forest for advanced degree in film and media production
By Ben Nelms
The University of Georgia (UGA) is teaming with Pinewood Forest and the Ga. Film Academy to introduce a Master of Fine Arts in Film, Television and Media program, with degree work to take place in Athens and Fayetteville. The University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and Franklin College of Arts and Sciences have aligned with Pinewood Forest and the Georgia Film Academy, located at the adjacent Pinewood Production Centre, to create a Master of Fine Arts in Film, Television and Digital Media program. The program is the first of its kind in Georgia, with students taking classes in an academic setting during the first year and producing projects in a major studio setting during the second year, according to UGA.
WTVM
CSU professor writing on new season of Netflix’s ‘Dear White People’
By Alex Jones
A Columbus State University professor is one of the newest writers on the new season of the Netflix series “Dear White People.” Netflix describes “Dear White People” as “students of color [navigating] the daily slights and slippery politics of life at an Ivy League college that’s not nearly as ‘post-racial’ as it thinks.” In addition to being an assistant professor of creative writing at CSU, Natalia Temesgen has been writing stage plays for the last ten years. Her plays have been shown in New York, New Jersey, and Columbus. This is Temesgen’s first time writing for television.
Digital Munition
Cyber Spies Are Quietly Boosting Hawaii’s High Tech Economy
Overgrown pineapple fields in central Oahu might seem an unlikely high-tech spot.
But every day, around the clock, a huge team, including some of the nation’s top cyber experts, works there to decode messages from foreign communications systems — wireless phones, satellites, the internet — and create programs to sift through mountains of data for information signaling threats to U.S. national security. …The NSA’s Hawaii operation is one of only four so-called cryptologic centers in the U.S. Another center, in Augusta, Georgia, focuses on the Middle East and Africa. A cryptologic center in Texas monitors Latin America. And a Colorado center near Denver has a global mission. There’s also the NSA’s headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. But there’s a difference between those places on the mainland and Hawaii. In other instances, locales have leveraged the NSA crypto centers into even more jobs and a bigger cyber presence. Northrup Grumman has built a 7,700-square foot cyber security center in San Antonio, for instance. And in Georgia, there’s the new, $100 million Georgia Cyber Center, plus the U.S. Army’s cyber command. Another example is Maryland, home of what some are calling a budding cyber tech city.
Savannah Morning News
Free and discounted apparel to UGA football recruits brings $10,000 fine, other disciplinary action
By Marc Weiszer
Georgia football recruits received discounted or free school apparel three times between March 2017 and January 2019, according to an NCAA violations summary obtained by the Athens Banner-Herald on Friday, Jan. 3, in an open records request. The school self-imposed an assortment of penalties and the NCAA hit the school with a $10,000 fine. It also reduced its official visits by four for this recruiting cycle, took away three weeks of unofficial visits, reduced its evaluation days by nine this coming spring and three this past fall and stopped recruiting the unnamed recruits involved. The school also won’t recruit any prospects at one of the schools involved for two years. Georgia did not identify the recruits or staff members involved and would not say how many recruits were involved. The school reorganized its football staff after the violations.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Positive Picture for State Higher Ed Funding
All but three states reported year-over-year increases in funding for public higher education, annual survey of state financing finds.
By Elizabeth Redden
An annual survey of state funding for higher education released today documents modest continued increases in funding across most states. Initially approved state appropriations grew by 5 percent in fiscal 2020 compared to the year before, representing the eighth straight year of annual increases and the largest annual percentage increase since fiscal year 2015, according to the annual Grapevine survey, a joint project of the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University and the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO).
See also:
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Spending on Higher Education Keeps Rising, but at ‘Modest Levels’ for Most States
Inside Higher Ed
Outstanding Student Loan Portfolio Now Tops $1.5 Trillion
By Scott Jaschik
The outstanding portfolio on federal student loans is now $1.51 trillion, according to data released by the Education Department on Friday.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Why Higher Ed’s Promise Remains Unfulfilled
By KARIN FISCHER
For generations of Americans, higher education was a ladder — study hard and you could climb into the middle class. A college degree helped guarantee a good job and financial security. And the value went beyond dollars and cents — graduates were more likely to own their own homes, raise children in two-parent families, and live longer, healthier lives. They still are. Today, though, the ladder is rickety. Some of the rungs are missing; others are splintered and weak. Too often people can’t gain even the first toehold. And if they do, they can easily lose their footing, leaving them saddled with student debt but no degree. For those from wealthy families who start near the ladder’s top, the ascent is surer, but for the many who must begin at the bottom, it can be tough to scramble up. “The only thing that mitigates intergenerational poverty is higher education,” says Danette Howard, senior vice president at the Lumina Foundation, which supports expanded college access. “But you have to get it.”