University System News:
www.onlineathens.com
UGA enrollment up again, reaches nearly 39K
http://www.onlineathens.com/news/20181108/uga-enrollment-up-again-reaches-nearly-39k
By Lee Shearer
The University of Georgia’s enrollment once again grew sharply this year, adding enough students to fill one of the university’s high-rise Baxter Street dormitories. UGA’s official fall semester enrollment is 38,652, up by 1,046 students and 2.8 percent over fall semester 2017, according to statistics released by the University System of Georgia this week. UGA has grown by more than 4,000 students since 2013, nearly 12 percent. UGA’s student body is also gradually becoming less white, even though the percentage of African American students actually declined slightly from 2017 to 2018. Black students made up 8.3 percent of the student body, down from 8.5 percent in fall 2017. UGA’s largest non-white group is the Asian category, at 10.2 percent, while Hispanic students in fall 2018 account for 5.5 percent of the student body. White non-Hispanic students are still the largest group by far at 67.5 percent, but a decade ago white students were 76.6 percent of the UGA student body. UGA’s growth raises the possibility of a housing crunch at the university next year, when UGA officials plan to close one of those large Baxter Street residence halls, 950-bed Brumby Hall, for renovations.
www.diverseeducation.com
Joint M.D./MBA Program Prepares Students for the Business of Medicine
https://diverseeducation.com/article/131484/
by Tiffany Pennamon
An innovative partnership between Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) and Georgia Institute of Technology’s Scheller College of Business will equip medical students with a “unique blend of skills” to successfully care for patients and manage the business operations of a medical practice. The five-year, joint M.D./MBA program allows students to complete their business degree in one year while still enrolled in MSM’s M.D. program. Students graduating from the program have the opportunity to pursue careers at the intersections of healthcare, entrepreneurship and technology. “In today’s health care environment, being a great physician is not just about understanding medicine and patient care — it is increasingly important to have an understanding of the overall health care industry along with an ability to facilitate innovative thinking, demonstrate strong leadership and incorporate critical problem solving skills,” said Dr. Maryam Alavi, dean of the Scheller College of Business by email.
www.jbhe.com
Honors or Awards for Five Black Scholars From the Academic World
https://www.jbhe.com/2018/11/honors-or-awards-for-five-black-scholars-from-the-academic-world/
Tequila Harris, associate professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has received the L. E. Scriven Young Investigator Award from the International Society of Coating Science and Technology. The award recognizes outstanding sustained achievements or one-time breakthroughs in the field of continuous liquid-film coating.
www.mdjonline.com
Student creates app for Sandy Springs Conservancy
Bill Baldowski
What started out as a classroom project in 2015 for then-Mount Vernon Presbyterian School sophomore Aidan Brady has become a guide to city parks for longtime Sandy Springs residents as well as new residents and visitors. The Sandy Springs Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving greenspace and recreation areas in the city, has unveiled a new mobile application, or app, developed by Brady, now a 21-year-old junior at Georgia Tech majoring in computer science. It showcases Sandy Springs’ public parks, trails and greenspace areas.
www.wsav.com
Georgia Southern’s Student Government Association passes diversity and inclusion resolution
By: Khalil Maycock
STATESBORO, Ga. (WSAV)- The Student Government Association at Georgia Southern University has passed a diversity and inclusion resolution. The resolution calls for an enhanced diversity curriculum. It was presented to university officials by SGA senator Keyshawn Housey. Housey said the resolution comes after an African American student received a text containing the N-word this summer, and a professor was recorded on a cell phone saying the same word in October of this year. He added he’s glad SGA passed the resolution because it calls for all Georgia Southern students to experience some type of diversity curriculum. ” We need to be serious when it comes to promoting diversity and inclusion. we have so many people here from so many backgrounds all over the world. And, if we see ourselves to be the future, future global citizens, then we need training in our classrooms,” Housey said. Since presenting the resolution, Housey said he has heard from university officials about implementing a diversity course or module into the curriculum. …”It may make it a bit more elongated because the process would be a little more difficult because they[the university] have to go through a Board of Regents to make it really official,” Housey said.
www.globalatlanta.com
Georgia Tech Scholar Applies Computer Science to Economic Development
PHIL BOLTON
Dr. Michael Best‘s latest initiative at the Georgia Institute of Technology is to launch a Center for Computing and Society that will continue his work applying computer science to international development As a member of Georgia Tech’s faculties of both the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the School of Interactive Computing, he is well placed to develop the center to continue the work he did the past three years for the United Nations in China‘s special administrative region of Macau. While on leave from Georgia Tech, he was founding director of the United National University Institute of Computing and Society where he launched programs focused on improving gender equality in technology, strove to free sex workers from abuse and to better the working lives of U.N. peacekeepers in Africa and elsewhere.
www.mdjonline.com
KSU names executive director for institutional research
MDJ Staff 20 hrs ago
Kennesaw State University announced that it has appointed Mark Byrd as executive director for institutional research, effective Dec. 3. Byrd brings more than 20 years’ experience in higher education research, analysis and planning, most recently as assistant vice president for institutional research and analysis at Wayne State University. …He will oversee KSU’s Office of Institutional Research, which collects, analyzes, interprets and reports data and information to support the university’s planning, policy making, decision making and assessment. The office is the central source of official institutional information such as census data to report to the U.S. Department of Education and University System of Georgia.
www.wgauradio.com
GIFT WILL FUND NEW CONSTRUCTION AT BOTANICAL GARDEN
By: Tim Bryant
The University of Georgia says a $1 million gift from the Callaway Foundation will fund a new visitor entrance to the State Botanical Garden, enhancing access to the galleries, classrooms, collections and displays. The new entrance for the facility on South Milledge Avenue will be an official gateway to the Garden will include an elevator. “The Callaway Foundation is pleased to be a part of this effort to improve the experience for visitors to the garden,” said Speer Burdette, president of the Callaway Foundation Inc. “Mrs. Callaway loved flowers and plants, and especially the State Botanical Garden of Georgia. Her wish would be that every Georgian could experience the beauty of the garden and discover the many ways it benefits the state, through education and conservation.”
www.ajc.com
Who is Robyn Crittenden, Georgia’s new secretary of state?
By Mark Niesse
Georgia’s interim secretary of state is Robyn Crittenden, an attorney who for three years has led the state government’s largest agency, the Department of Human Services. Crittenden is the first African-American woman to serve as a statewide constitutional officer in Georgia history. Gov. Nathan Deal appointed Crittenden on Thursday after Secretary of State Brian Kemp resigned, saying he’s beginning the transition to the governor’s office. Incomplete election results showed Kemp, a Republican, held the lead over Democrat Stacey Abrams. …She has served as general counsel at Morehouse College, chief operating officer for the Georgia Student Finance Commission, assistant vice chancellor for legal affairs for the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and assistant county attorney in DeKalb County.
Higher Education News:
www.hechingerreport.org
How the Georgia governor’s race could influence college access there
Report finds Georgia’s public system has two tiers, limiting access for lower-income students
https://hechingerreport.org/how-the-georgia-governors-race-could-influence-college-access-there/
by MEREDITH KOLODNER
The governor’s race in Georgia was among the most closely watched on Election Day, and although education got drowned out by other campaign issues, whoever wins will have a big impact on the state’s university system – and new research shows how. The state’s governor has more influence than most on how affordable both public and private universities can be, because of the budget process and state aid program there. A report released two weeks before the election portrays two Georgia university systems, split along racial and class lines. It also finds that the state’s universities and colleges are among the least affordable in the nation. And Georgia’s financial aid program “persistently gives the majority of its financial breaks to affluent families – with fewer opportunities for Blacks, Hispanics, and the poor,” according to the report from the University of Pennsylvania’s graduate school of education.
www.washingtonpost.com
How poverty and race affect who goes to college — in 5 charts
By Valerie Strauss
A recent federal analysis found the following: *More than 14 percent of the nation’s high school students, or about 1.8 million teenagers, attend schools where at least three-quarters live in poverty. *Most of these 1.8 million pupils are students of color. *High schools with concentrated poverty are less likely than low-poverty schools to offer coursework that students need to get into four-year colleges and succeed. This was part of a report written and released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office at the request of Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (Va.), the top Democrat on the House Education Committee.