University System News:
www.times-georgian.com
‘Leaps of faith’: First-generation college students to graduate UWG
Colton Campbell/For the Times-Georgian
When Taylor Smith was 13 years old, his father told him he wanted his son to use his brain, not his body, to be successful. Smith’s father, a tradesman since he was 18 years old, had regular issues with his back and hands. Unfortunately, because of a tragic accident in 2008, Smith’s father won’t be in attendance at the University of West Georgia’s spring commencement ceremony in which his son will become the first person in his family to receive a college degree.
www.mdjonline.com
MAKING HIS MARK
Kennesaw State professor ranked as No. 1 physicist by INSPIRE database
Staff reports
For fans of the CBS hit “The Big Bang Theory” Nikolaos Kidonakis is their real-life Sheldon. Unlike the fictional Caltech scientist, however, this Kennesaw State University theoretical particle physics professor (and genuine Caltech grad) has gained international recognition by CERN physicists in their newly released “Biblioranking fundamental physics.” Kidonakis is ranked as the No. 1 physicist, since 2010, in fundamental physics in a worldwide comprehensive study by CERN physicists who use the open-source INSPIRE bibliographic database to rank papers and physicists around the world. CERN stands for the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. In addition to Kidonakis, Marco Guzzi, who joined Kennesaw State last year as assistant professor of theoretical particle physics, is a co-author on a paper that has been ranked No. 8 as a top-referred paper among all papers with fewer than 10 authors since 2010.
www.athensceo.com
UGA Launches PharmD/MBA Dual Degree Program
Staff Report From Athens CEO
A new dual degree program will allow University of Georgia graduate students to earn an MBA and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree in five years. The PharmD/MBA Program provides pharmacy students with the expertise needed to meet the technological, scientific and research demands of the healthcare industry as well as the business skills necessary for professional advancement and success.
www.savannahbusinessjournal.com
May 7 – Georgia Tech-Savannah Celebrates Coding Boot Camp Graduates with High Tech Demo Day May 17
Georgia Tech-Savannah’s innovative Coding Boot Camp program will host a demo day for graduating students to show off their work to area employers on Thursday, May 17, 2018, from 5 – 7 p.m. Area business leaders, specifically those looking to hire web developers, are encouraged to attend. The event is free, but RSVP is required. “Our program caters to those who are already working but want to create additional value for their skill set,” said Diane Lee, executive director of Georgia Tech-Savannah. “More businesses are looking to hire in-house developers. A coding certificate from Georgia Tech will make a resume stand out or can be used as a bargaining chip when it’s time to discuss a pay raise.” For 24 weeks, the third class of area professionals has learned everything from the basics of coding, algorithms and data structure, to intensive training in Javascript, Node.js, HTML, CSS, jQuery, and C# while creating a body of work for their fledgling portfolio. Graduates of the program receive a certificate in Fullstack Web Development from Georgia Tech Professional Education, currently the only university-backed boot camp in the State of Georgia.
www.wtol.com
ASU’s interim assistant police chief hired at Fort Valley State
http://www.wtol.com/story/38142755/asu-interim-police-chief-hired-at-fort-valley-state
By Kristen Pozar Keeter, Digital Content Manager
ALBANY, GA (WALB) -Albany State University’s interim assistant police chief has been hired as Fort Valley State University’s chief of police. Anita Allen has served in many different roles at ASU which include police captain, sexual assault investigator, internal affairs investigator, training director, dispatcher supervisor and public information officer. “Incoming Chief Allen will help Fort Valley State University become a national model in student-centered policing,” said Dr. Paul Jones, president of Fort Valley State University. “She will move us forward in our progression as a campus where every student, faculty member, staff member, or visitor feels safe at all times and where students feel that they have allies in the Police Department who are here to support their growth as scholars, professionals, and citizens.”
www.tiftonceo.com
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation Honors ABAC for King Hall Project
Staff Report From Tifton CEO
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation recently presented Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College with the “Excellence in Rehabilitation” award for the renovation of King Hall, a building constructed in 1939. “We didn’t make any major changes to the building’s original architectural design or structure,” Melvin Merrill, director of capital planning for ABAC, said. “However, we did have to design and build an interior elevator to make the building ADA accessible. All mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems were replaced throughout King Hall to adhere to today’s building standards.” The “Excellence in Rehabilitation” award recognizes a project that makes compatible use of a building through repair, alteration, or additions while preserving features of the property that convey its historic value.
www.bizjournals.com
Georgia State moving forward with ‘state-of-the-art’, 200,000-square-foot event center
By David Allison – Editor, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Georgia State University is moving forward with plans to build a state-of-the-art, 200,000-square-foot event center in downtown Atlanta. The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia is seeking to hire a firm to provide program management services for the project, which has an estimated total budget of $79.2 million, including an estimated construction cost of $61 million. The Board of Regents hopes to select finalists by early June and interview them in early July. The new facility will be located on the corner of Fulton Street and Capitol Avenue. “The GSU Convocation Center will bring increased focus on academic and ancillary programs through hosting national and international events on campus in Downtown Atlanta,” the Board of Regents says. “Economic impact of a state of the art venue for national and international events has immense potential. The Center will provide a national and international stage upon which GSU can share the social, academic and research programs and offerings of the institution.”
www.publicnow.com
Research Center Receives Grant To Study Impact Of Later-Age College Degrees
http://www.publicnow.com/view/6E6A63272F0CA7D36DF1943017421D9E2B37168A
ATLANTA-The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to the Center for State and Local Finance (CSLF) at Georgia State University to evaluate the impact of college degrees received at a later age on wages, employment stability and retirement income. Although the benefits of a college education are well-documented, most of that research centers on students who enter college soon after high school. There is little research pointing to outcomes for those receiving a bachelor’s degree at a later age, particularly for people over 50. The CSLF study will examine this specific population, looking closely at whether later-age degrees result in job opportunities with higher wages and increased retention in the workforce beyond the traditional retirement age of 65. Data from the University System of Georgia and Georgia Department of Labor will be analyzed. The results will not only provide new insights on college education for older adults, but it will also help inform new policy initiatives in higher education and labor as the number of older workers continues to rise.
www.athensceo.com
Carl Vinson Institute Helps State Agency Battle Georgia’s Opioid Abuse Epidemic
Roger Nielsen
Steve Spivey was so impressed by what he learned at a recent educational conference on Georgia’s opioid epidemic that he began recruiting the instructors to lead training sessions he envisions holding throughout the state. Many of Spivey’s colleagues were equally fired up by speakers at the Opioid Learning Collaborative in Cartersville, one of three conferences the Carl Vinson Institute of Government coordinated to help the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities tackle Georgia’s opioid crisis. …“The Institute played a key role in organizing a way for front-line service providers to learn more about this deadly epidemic and exchange ideas and wisdom,” said Institute Director Laura Meadows. “It’s the kind of outreach that’s integral to the Institute’s mission of applying UGA’s resources to address a critical issue.”
www.onlineathens.com
UGA researchers travel Down Under to collect seeds
http://www.onlineathens.com/news/20180509/uga-researchers-travel-down-under-to-collect-seeds
By Sharon Dowdy
University of Georgia horticulturists Rachel Itle and Dario Chavez recently spent a busy two weeks in Australia collecting seeds from wild raspberries and peaches to bring back to the UGA Griffin campus. They will use this collection of seeds from Australia to breed new varieties of raspberries and peaches specifically for the Southeast. As scientists in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Itle and Chavez research Georgia-grown fruit. Itle works with blueberries and Chavez focuses on peaches. They traveled to Queensland, Australia, in South Wales on international travel grants provided by the CAES Office of Global Programs.
www.americaninno.com
10 Atlanta FinTech Companies That Have Raised More Than $1 Million
By Madison Hogan
As FinTech South 2018 is underway at Mercedes-Benz stadium Tuesday, we at Atlanta Inno decided to take a look at how much “transaction alley” has grown. According to a recent report from the Technology Association of Georgia and Georgia Tech, there are more than 38,000 fintech specialists in the state alone. The top 10 Georgia-based fintech companies generate around $72 billion in annual revenue and nearly two-thirds of the total volume of purchase transactions in the country, close to 57.7 billion, are processed by Georgia-based companies. At least 120 fintech firms are headquartered, or have significant presence, in the state, according to the report; six of the 10 largest U.S. payment processing firms are Georgia-based.
www.apnews.com
Georgia governor vetoes cybercrime legislation
https://apnews.com/91600ab506c7480cb0621d77669e40e0
By Ben Nadler
Georgia’s governor has vetoed a bill that would have criminalized unauthorized computer access after receiving blowback from the state’s booming cybersecurity industry. The bill, vetoed by Republican Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday, would have made it a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail to intentionally access a computer or network without authorization. The proposal passed the Georgia legislature in March amid the final chaotic hours of the legislative session… The state has more than 150 cybersecurity firms as well as information security institutes at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Augusta University and Kennesaw State.
Higher Education News:
www.theconversation.com
Why graduation rates lag for low-income college students
https://theconversation.com/why-graduation-rates-lag-for-low-income-college-students-96182
As college students nationwide prepare for graduation, a new analysis has shown that just under half of all those who receive Pell Grants – the federal government’s main form of direct financial aid for low-income students – finish their four-year degree programs on time. The federal government considers “on time” being six years for a four-year degree. The maximum federal Pell Grant program award for the current school year is US$5,920. Next school year, the award will rise to $6,095. So, why are so many low-income college students not completing their degrees within this time frame? The question is an important one because last year the federal government spent $26.9 billion dollars on Pell Grants. It’s also important because Pell Grant recipients can expect to earn substantially higher salaries if they complete their degrees.
www.chronicle.com
How Colleges Can Help STEM Students Think More Broadly
By Beckie Supiano
The STEM disciplines are higher education’s golden child. Even as politicians and the public express skepticism about college in general and fields like French literature and art history in particular, they are bullish on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM is seen as practical, necessary — as a key way to advance national interests and for students to land a well-paying job. The STEM brand is so ascendant that disciplines like economics are arguing their way into the category. In that context, a report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine this week is rather striking: It argues that colleges should integrate the study of STEMM (the second M is for medicine) with the arts and humanities.The report, “The Integration of the Humanities and Arts With Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Higher Education: Branches From the Same Tree,” was written by a committee including representatives of industry as well as academe. Both groups, the report says, agree that graduates will need a broad set of skills that transcend any individual discipline. Cultivating those skills, it says, “requires exposure to multiple fields, practice to build employability skills, and experience with communication and collaboration.”