University System News:
www.savannahnow.com
Committee OKs plan to end Armstrong athletics, sets sights on new university mission
http://savannahnow.com/news/2017-03-24/committee-oks-plan-end-armstrong-athletics-sets-sights-new-university-mission
By Dash Coleman
A plan to bring Armstrong State University’s sports program to a halt was formally approved Friday by a committee tasked with consolidating the Savannah school with the larger Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. No members of the committee raised objections to the recommendation, which was put forward more than two weeks ago by a subgroup studying how to handle athletics going forward. …One item that does need to be approved directly by the board, though, is the consolidated university’s mission statement. Drafts of a new mission statement have been read by faculty senates from both schools, prompting feedback and recommendations to change the language. The proposal was a combination of Armstrong’s succinct mission statement and Georgia Southern’s lengthier one, both of which can be seen on the schools’ websites. While both essentially have the same mission — provide quality education and benefit the community — there was some concern raised by Armstrong that the draft was verbose and too closely resembled the wording of Georgia Southern’s current statement. Armstrong Provost Robert Smith said he worried that could contribute to community perception that the smaller school is being absorbed by, rather than consolidated with, the larger one. “A whole new university deserves an entirely new mission statement,” Smith said at the meeting. Hebert said he did not feel comfortable moving forward with a vote on the mission statement without another round of edits and review, and said that a new draft would likely be provided to each schools’ faculty senates before their April 3 and four meetings.
www.insidehighered.com
Are Mergers in Pennsylvania Higher Ed’s Future?
Politics, geography and history all prevent the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education from following Georgia’s consolidation path.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/03/27/mergers-havent-been-part-pennsylvania-public-higher-eds-past-might-future-be?utm_source=eGaMorning&utm_campaign=8ebae4140e-eGaMorning-3_27_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_54a77f93dd-8ebae4140e-86731974
By Rick Seltzer
Students at Cheyney University hear a lot of speculation these days. “We might have to merge, or we might get shut down,” said Sharell Reddin, a junior at the historically black university about 20 miles west of Philadelphia. “We don’t like that idea at all.” Merging would take away Cheyney’s integrity as the oldest historically black college or university in the country, said Reddin, 21, a business management major and president of the university’s Student Government Association. And she believes the rumors of consolidation are hurting Cheyney’s ability to recruit students for the future. That would be a critical blow to a deeply indebted public university whose enrollment has plunged over the last decade and that has been the center of legal battles, scandals and neglect. Cheyney faces many issues, but its most immediate would seem to be with the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. …The situation would seem to be ripe for a massive realignment, perhaps including closures or mergers between institutions. Other states have attempted mergers that have saved money or better aligned their higher education systems with students — most notably Georgia, which has lapped all other states with a five-round consolidation tear that has combined 14 institutions into seven since 2011 and currently has leaders attempting to fold four more into two institutions. …Georgia’s consolidation undertaking seems almost simple by comparison. Employees in the University System of Georgia are not unionized, and while the system is different from the Technical College System of Georgia and does not cover the Georgia Military College junior college, it still has more of a monopoly over public higher ed than PASSHE. In the 1970s it created some of the universities that were consolidated — a stark contrast to PASSHE universities’ independent histories, some of which stretch back to the early 1800s. Further, Georgia does not exhibit the same political divisions as Pennsylvania, and system leaders did not need legislative approval to complete their consolidations.
www.ajc.com
Georgia Tech alumni increasing efforts to raise scholarship funds for black students
http://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/georgia-tech-alumni-increasing-efforts-raise-scholarship-funds-for-black-students/kmETOEDcf5ZWdvpEFbqpqM/
Eric Stirgus
The Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization has started a year-long campaign to increase the number of its scholarships for black students. The organization has scheduled a Leaders & Legends event on Sat., April 8 to recognize accomplished alumni, students, staff and faculty. …The endowment currently provides $35,000 in scholarships. Tech has tried to increase the percentage of African-American students on its campus, which is currently about 7 percent.
www.wtoc.com
ASU students see the world through study abroad
http://www.wtoc.com/story/34994211/asu-students-see-the-world-through-study-abroad
By Re-Essa Buckels, Reporter
Eight Albany State University students are getting the chance to study abroad. Students will travel to Japan, Belize, India and South Africa over the summer because they received the Gillman International Scholarship. The program is sponsored by the U-S Department of State to give disadvantaged students a taste of the global economy. ASU staff say it will be key to achieving the school’s globalization initiative.
www.myajc.com
Is this the year Georgia legalizes guns on college campuses?
http://www.myajc.com/news/state–regional-govt–politics/this-the-year-georgia-legalizes-guns-college-campuses/djMbnT0Fc8uFiv1QyiJryK/
By Kristina Torres and Michelle Baruchman – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia Legislature for the fifth year in a row is considering a measure that would allow college students to carry concealed weapons on public campuses across the state. Last year’s legislation got as far as Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk before being dispatched with a veto. Now proponents think they are nearing the finish line, as opponents continue to rally against an idea they say would create an unsafe environment for students and faculty … Advocates have cited crimes on those campuses, including robberies at Georgia Tech and inside Georgia State’s library, as reasons to allow guns on campus. The latest federal data show a drop-off in on-campus aggravated assaults at Georgia State between 2014 and 2015, for example, while robberies and burglaries increased during that same period. At the same time, the University System has increased security, including hiring more campus police officers and paying for technology such as camera surveillance systems. Several students at both campuses said they had noticed. “I know personally I would feel much less safe if students were allowed to carry guns,” said Paula Ruiz, a Georgia Tech freshman from Woodstock. “It would not increase the safety of students on campus at all. The Georgia Tech Police Department does a great job of keeping us all safe.”
www.accesswdun.com
Campus guns, income tax proposals await action in final days
http://accesswdun.com/article/2017/3/517066
By The Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — Legislation affecting Georgia’s college campuses, taxes and fledgling medical marijuana program awaits action as lawmakers enter the session’s final two days. The General Assembly convenes for 40 legislative days each year, and bills tend to pile up toward the end. Lawmakers already passed a state budget, the only measure members are constitutionally required to approve each year. But lawmakers have dozens of other priorities that they’re hoping to move to Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk before adjourning for the year on Thursday. Here’s a look at some of the items expected to dominate the session’s final days: GUNS ON CAMPUS … ‘SANCTUARY’ CAMPUS
www.myajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Opinion: Senate listened to student survivors of sexual assault; House mocked them.
http://getschooled.blog.myajc.com/2017/03/26/opinion-senate-listened-to-student-survivors-of-sexual-assault-house-mocked-them/
Sexual assault survivor and law student Grace Starling helped lead the fight against state Rep. Earl Ehrhart’s campus rape bill, which passed the House but failed to advance in a wary Senate. Starling says she learned a lot about politics and power in the process and shares those lessons in a guest column today. Ehrhart said the bill was necessary because efforts by Georgia colleges and universities to adhere to federal law have upended the college careers and prospects of young men falsely accused of sexual assault. “Our system is littered with destroyed lives of Georgia citizens,” Ehrhart told the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday. “I can point to about 30 cases of young men falsely accused and their lives turned upside down.” …Starling and other survivors argued that Ehrhart’s bill would lead to fewer victims coming forward. By Grace Starling …Based on these comments said about me or to me, you might assume I was on a playground and not in the Georgia Capitol. You’d be wrong. According to state Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, and supporters of his ill-conceived campus rape bill, I am a spoiled child who doesn’t know how to behave. Actually, I’m a 23-year-old law student and sexual assault survivor who doesn’t scare easy and stands up to bullies, including Ehrhart. Since Jan. 26, I’ve been at the Capitol almost every day fighting against his legislation, which would make it more difficult for rape victims to come forward.
www.mdjonline.com
Ehrhart: Effort on campus rape bill still going forward
http://www.mdjonline.com/news/ehrhart-effort-on-campus-rape-bill-still-going-forward/article_58f63a00-11c2-11e7-8c18-9b7fbbd3d1e8.html
Jon Gargis
The mother of a former Georgia Tech student says her son, wrongly accused of sexual assault, had been “casually and quickly expelled” by a college official who served as investigator, prosecutor, judge and accuser’s adviser. Though she says her son’s case was settled in court, she and her husband were forced to sell investment property they had saved for retirement in order to pay legal fees and other bills associated with his expulsion … Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, says he has many files of mothers who have come to him distraught over the current process involving those accused of sexual assault, including the parent of a young man from Kennesaw who was found not guilty of the crime after a 16-month process … Ehrhart last year filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights … While waiting for that case to move forward, he’s seeking an overhaul of colleges’ procedures in investigating sexual assaults in his House Bill 51, which would require that no student be subject to any interim discipline, suspension or expulsion from school for any violation of their college’s code of conduct without being provided a hearing that grants them due process.
www.ajc.com
Senate maneuver tries to get HOPE priority into law
http://www.ajc.com/news/state–regional-education/senate-maneuver-tries-get-hope-priority-into-law/wwe9Tr7uFfqNkcVgmLCIUP/
Ty Tagami
The Georgia Senate tried a legislative maneuver Friday to get one of their priorities into law. Senate Bill 5 squeezes the Georgia Lottery to produce more proceeds for education programs like the HOPE Scholarship. The bill wasn’t moving in the House of Representatives, so senators attached the legislation as an amendment to House Bill 222, a House priority.
www.gainesvilletimes.com
Debt burden varies for UNG students
School ranks as a Kiplinger best value, but many still pile up loans
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/122613/
By Hailey Van Parys
The University of North Georgia was one of only three public universities in Georgia picked for being the best value on Kiplinger’s Personal Finance list. UNG was one of the 300 best values among the nation’s colleges and universities for 2017, communications director Sylvia Carson said. These rankings reflect academic quality and affordability. Some students, like film major Luke Pilgrim and organizational leadership major Ashley Hardee, graduated without taking out a loan. Neither owe a cent and have careers in the field they wanted to be in. They are not among the majority. Nationally, 68 percent of students borrow money to pay for college, Carson said. One of them is Courtney Brooks, who has had to take out loans since her first semester.
www.huffingtonpost.com
When Are College Admissions Decisions Released?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/when-are-college-admissions-decisions-released_us_58d3d530e4b062043ad4b065
Chase Staub, Contributor
Refresh, refresh, refresh! If you are like thousands of other high school seniors at this time, you are repeatedly clicking refresh waiting for your college admissions decisions. Fortunately, the wait is almost over! April 1st is the last day for colleges to release their admissions decisions. Many colleges, however, release decisions weeks prior to this date. For example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Chicago (UChicago), and California Institute of Technology (CalTech), and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) are among the colleges with earlier release dates. The Ivy League, and many other colleges, will be releasing decisions closer to April 1st.
www.finance.yahoo.com
Universities Getting the Most Money from the Federal Government
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/universities-getting-most-money-federal-182701619.html
Evan Comen, Michael B. Sauter, Samuel Stebbins and Thomas C. Frohlich
The cost of a higher education — which can often help fund world-class research, academic instruction, and state-of-the-art athletic facilities — is infamously high in the United States. Tuition and fees at U.S. universities have increased substantially over the past decade. Largely because of financial aid and other benefits, however, the amount paid out of pocket by students has remained relatively stable over that time. Many public universities in the United States rely heavily on private funding sources such as tuition payments and gains on endowment assets. Still, the federal government allocates billions of dollars each year to thousands of universities in the form of research and development grants and contracts, as well as financial aid to undergraduates through the Federal Pell Grant Program… Funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services comprised the largest share of federal grants of any federal agency in 16 of the 20 universities. The principal funding source of the remaining four institutions — Johns Hopkins University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — is the Department of Defense.
www.middlegeorgiaceo.com
CGTC and FVSU to Sign Engineering Articulation Agreement
http://middlegeorgiaceo.com/news/2017/03/cgtc-and-fvsu-sign-engineering-articulation-agreement/
Staff Report From Middle Georgia CEO
Central Georgia Technical College president, Dr. Ivan H. Allen, and Fort Valley State University president, Dr. Paul Jones, will meet Wednesday, March 22 to create educational pathways for students by signing multiple credit course transfer agreements, including an agreement for Engineering. The signing is scheduled for 2 p.m. at CGTC’s Warner Robins campus, located at 80 Cohen Walker Drive, in the Roy H. “Sonny” Watson Health Sciences Building boardroom. Marked as the first-ever, local two- to four-year articulation agreement in Engineering, this newly developed pathway serves to advance higher education in the central Georgia area. Through this agreement, Associate of Applied Science graduates from CGTC’s Engineering Technology program will be able to transfer credits to FVSU’s Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering, giving students multiple pathways to achieve educational goals. CGTC also provides pre-engineering coursework to qualified high school students through its Move on When Ready (dual enrollment) program.
www.albanyceo.com
‘Nick Smarr and Jody Smith Memorial Building’ Naming Ceremony April 27th at Georgia Southwestern
http://albanyceo.com/news/2017/03/nick-smarr-and-jody-smith-memorial-building-naming-ceremony-april-27th-georgia-southwestern/
Staff Report From Savannah CEO
In February, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved a proposal from Georgia Southwestern State University Interim President Charles Patterson to rename the University’s Public Safety building the “Nicholas Smarr and Jody Smith Memorial Building.” A dedication ceremony will be held Thursday, April 27 at 11 a.m. directly outside the building entrance.
www.globalatlanta.com
Korean Social Sciences College Named After Former Georgia Tech Prof John Endicott
Korean Social Sciences College Named After Former Georgia Tech Prof John Endicott
PHIL BOLTON
Since he joined the faculty of the Georgia Institute of Technology, John E. Endicott has had a sixth sense for innovation in his career and in his life, which took him from Atlanta to become president of a Korean university where on March 2 the university named a new building and a new school of social sciences after him. Not surprisingly, Woosong University’s SoLBridge International School of Business, where he serves as vice-chancellor, located in Daejeon, South Korea provides an interdisciplinary program of international studies “with business and innovations in mind” The new building, the John E. Endicott Center and the new school, the Endicott College of International Studies, which will be housed in the center, is to add social science courses to the offerings of Woosong University. Dr. Endicott told Global Atlanta in an email that he anticipates the new college will “prosper as the 4th Industrial Revolution will require that we train our grads in the broadest way possible so alternative futures are possible in an uncertain world.”
www.times-herald.com
UWG-Newnan to ‘activate’ former dorms
http://times-herald.com/news/2017/03/uwg-newnan-planning-activation-of-former-dorms-other-space
By REBECCA LEFTWICH
What once was a dormitory for nurses is among unused space at the old Newnan Hospital that soon will be transformed into multi-functional, flexible educational space and office suites. The University of West Georgia-Newnan recently unveiled plans to invest proceeds from the sale of its Shenandoah property into what officials are calling the “activation” of nearly 24,000 square feet of shelled-in space, including the three-story former dorm. It’s a continuation of the collaboration between Newnan and the university, which has resulted in the repurposing of one of the city’s historically significant structures to meet the area’s changing needs, according to UWG President Kyle Marrero. Coweta County, the city of Newnan and the Newnan Hospital Foundation – the board that remained in place after the former hospital closed – combined resources for the initial renovation phase of the UWG-Newnan campus, which opened in fall 2015.
www.globalatlanta.com
Former NATO Commander Breedlove Puts Georgia Tech Training Toward Containing Russia
Former NATO Commander Breedlove Puts Georgia Tech Training Toward Containing Russia
Phil Bolton
By returning to the Georgia Institute of Technology as a distinguished professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs last year, Gen. Philip Breedlove completes a full circle in a career that includes his service as NATO‘s Supreme Allied Commander Europe and the U.S. European Command Commander. A 1977 civil engineering graduate from Georgia Tech, Mr. Breedlove also has earned two master’s degrees, one in national security studies from the National War College, and another in aeronautical technology from Arizona State University, and commanded all US and Allied troops in Afghanistan and Kosovo in addition to all NATO operations across Europe and the Mediterranean… When asked by a student publication on a 2015 visit to the campus about how his undergraduate studies prepared him for his career, he replied, “While working toward my civil engineering degree at Tech, I learned how to solve problems in a methodical and deliberate way. Although I never did become a practicing civil engineer, I use those problem-solving skills every day.”
www.ledger-enquirer.com
NASA chooses Georgia Tech for solar system research
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/education/article140898123.html
BY LARRY GIERER
NASA has chosen Georgia Tech for its new solar system research project. According to a report by Renay San Miguel on the school’s website, Tech researchers led by professor Thomas Orlando, will team with those from Notre Dame, University of California-Davis, John Hopkins University, Jackson State, University of Central Florida and Florida Space Institute to study how to protect astronauts from radiation. Teams from Italy and Germany will work with the Tech researchers. Orlando says in the report that the project is an important step in the well-established relationship between NASA and Georgia Tech, and it also validates Tech’s interdisciplinary approach in solving big science projects. The name of the Tech team is REVEALS, which stands for radiation effect on volatiles and exploration of asteroids and lunar services.
www.ajc.com
Comcast to open tech incubator at SunTrust Park
http://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt–politics/comcast-open-tech-incubator-suntrust-park/PAO38JNW319YenaItP5sVN/
Leon Stafford The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cable giant Comcast is getting in on the action to find the next big thing in Atlanta tech. The Philadelphia-based company is launching a technology incubator at its new offices in The Battery at Cobb County’s SunTrust Park. “The Farm Startup Accelerator,” as the project will be known, will help identify and nurture tech entrepreneurs who are creating the innovations of tomorrow… Supporting tech startups is big among Fortune 500 companies as consumers increasingly use the Web and mobile devices like phones and tablets for goods and services. Home Depot, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Chick-fil-A and elevator manufacturer ThyssenKrupp have invested recently in tech startups or opened offices dedicated to innovation at place such as Georgia Tech.
www.chronicle.augusta.com
Cancer Research Building extension to be more than just physical connector
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/2017-03-26/cancer-research-building-extension-be-more-just-physical-connector
By Tom Corwin Staff Writer
A large steel girder now welded against the side of the M. Bert Storey Cancer Research Building stretches across Laney-Walker Boulevard toward the Georgia Cancer Center outpatient building, where it will one day help connect them, providing both functional and symbolic links. The three-story connector between the buildings, and a five-story extension of the Research Building parallel to Laney-Walker, are starting to round into form at Augusta University as crews work to finish the $62.5 million project expected to be completed in just over a year. Workers last week welded one of the beams that will support the connector a couple of stories above the street, and link the research and clinical sides. “Always the problem in medicine is the basic science people never talk to the clinicians, so here’s about as close as you can get,” said Dr. David Hess, the interim dean for the Medical College of Georgia. “You don’t have to go outdoors any more,” he said. “That is symbolic, but also real.” The connectors will have offices and provide access for collaboration, but more important is the 72,000-square-foot addition to the research building, which will include 6,000 square feet of renovated space in the current building.
www.oakridgetoday.com
Tennessee higher education leaders met to help transfer students succeed
http://oakridgetoday.com/tag/tennessee-transfer-summit/
BY ALYSSA JANSSEN
Public and private university officials, whose work serves as a key to the success of Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam’s Drive to 55 initiative, met in February to collect more tools for growing the number of college-educated Tennesseans. More than 130 transfer counselors, registrars, and advising directors from Tennessee’s public and private colleges and universities met in Murfreesboro on February 22-23 for the 2017 Tennessee Transfer Summit. Attendees heard from transfer expert Janet Marling. Marling is vice president for student affairs at the University of North Georgia and executive director of the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students. She gave the keynote address on resolving obstacles to transfer student success.
Higher Education News:
www.diverseeducation.com
TRIO Advocates Say Budget Proposal Cuts to Core
http://diverseeducation.com/article/94196/?utm_campaign=DIV1703%20DAILY%20NEWSLETTER%20MAR27&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua
by Reginald Stuart
When President Trump issued his budget plan for the government’s next fiscal year, his proposed cuts in education programs hit close to home for thousands of people across the nation who count federal assistance as key to their ability to go to and complete college. The budget plan, which ignited protests from the higher education community, is set for close and intense Congressional attention in the coming weeks, now that discussion and debate over repeal of the national health care law has been set aside for the moment by Trump and other national leaders. Trump’s plan would reduce funding for the widely respected TRIO program, an umbrella for grant programs including Upward Bound and Student Support Services that specifically support early intervention and support for poor and first generation students. The proposed cut is seen by TRIO advocates as a mean-spirited blow against what they say is a proven lifeline to opportunity from poverty. TRIO is among federal assistance programs they feel could greatly help Trump fulfill his promise to help uplift the poorest and least off of Americans.