Several area colleges and universities in recent days unveiled plans to respond to their enrollment growth in different ways, such as new buildings, academic programs or scholarship initiatives.
Here are some details about those plans, along with some changes on the leadership front at Clayton State University and Morris Brown College. Additionally, we look at some concerns being raised on ACT and SAT scores in this edition of AJC On Campus.
Clayton State’s new leader
Credit: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We recently caught up with T. Ramon Stuart, who became Clayton State University’s president on July 1, after Tim Hynes retired. Stuart is the university’s first Black president. Read our Q&A with him here.
Kennesaw State’s record summer enrollment
It is not a quiet summer at Kennesaw State University. More than 20,000 students are taking courses there this summer, its largest such enrollment in its history. KSU said its graduate program enrollment is up 9%. The university’s interim president, Kathy Schwaig, attributed the increase to more students taking summer courses to graduate on time.
KSU has had similar fall enrollment increases in recent years. It reported more than 40,000 students last fall, the second-highest enrollment in the state, next to Georgia State University.
Emory’s graduate student housing plans
Speaking of graduate student growth, Emory University on Friday submitted plans to state officials to build a 1,000-bed housing development on its main campus in Druid Hills for graduate and professional students. University officials say more graduate students want to live near the campus. Read more here.
Georgia Piedmont Technical College’s residential construction program
Georgia Piedmont Technical College announced Monday it is starting this fall an academic program it says is the first of its kind in the nation. The college, which has its main campus in Clarkston, is beginning an online Residential Building Design Technology program.
Georgia’s job market has seen growth in the demand for new residential technicians, say those involved in creating the program, and there are fewer designers. The degree requires 11 courses, which will include guest lectures by residential design industry professionals.
Company offers grants to Georgia Piedmont
Georgia Piedmont Technical College will receive $95,000 a year over the next five years from Johnson Controls as part of the company’s grant initiative to support academic programs at 10 community and technical colleges across the nation.
The grants support the expansion of associate degree and certificate programs in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), fire and security and digital building automation systems, the company said in an announcement Tuesday. Johnson Controls, a building products, technologies, software, and services company, said a core objective of the program is to help students from underserved communities.
“Just as smart, healthy buildings are critical to our well-being, well-educated and trained technicians are crucial to keeping our environments operating safely and efficiently. As a leader in the building industry for over a century, Johnson Controls is honored to share our expertise with the country’s leading community colleges,” said Grady Crosby, the company’s vice president of public affairs and chief diversity officer.
AP exam score results coming too late?
Several college admissions officers voiced their dismay this past weekend when the College Board announced the scores for AP exams taken in May will be released starting July 21 and the scores for exams taken in early June will be available by Aug. 16.
Admissions officers, like Georgia Tech’s Rick Clark, say that’s too late to process the results and put them on student records for the fall semester.
Groups ask U.S. News to drop ACT/SAT scores from rankings methodology
Speaking of exams, a growing list of higher education advocates, officials and organizations, including the National Association of College Admissions Counselors, want U.S. News & World Report to drop ACT & SAT scores from its methodology to determine its widely-read annual college rankings lists. College administrators in Georgia pay very, very close attention to the rankings and brag about them to prospective students.
Those pushing for the change say the scores are an ineffective way to measure a student’s academic ability, particularly amid the challenges many students have faced during the coronavirus pandemic. The University System of Georgia and many private universities in the state last year waived the tests for students applying to the schools due to uncertainty about the scheduling of SAT/ACT testing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The system, though, is requiring the scores for students applying for Spring 2022 and subsequent semesters.
New America, a progressive-leaning research organization, posted an open letter to the news outlet Monday asking it not to include the scores in its methodology. U.S. News declined comment, Inside Higher Ed reported Tuesday.
University System’s group moving slowly on renaming work
Last week marked one year since a group created to review whether any University System of Georgia buildings should be renamed. The group held its last public meeting in September and has made no changes, frustrating some activists. Here’s our report about it.
Congressman pushes for $100 million for HBCU scholarships
Credit: Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com
Credit: Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com
U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta, announced last week he’s introduced legislation to make the 1890s Land Grant African American Colleges and Universities’ Student Scholarships program permanent with a $100 million increase. Nearly 20 colleges and universities would be eligible for the program, including Fort Valley State University, near Macon. The scholarships were started with $80 million through the 2018 Farm Bill to encourage students to complete degrees in the food and agricultural sciences and related fields.
Scott is chairman of the House of Representatives’ agricultural committee.
UGA gets $1 million for poultry institute
The R. Harold and Patsy Harrison Foundation last week pledged $1 million toward the construction of a new Poultry Science Building on the University of Georgia’s Athens campus. We recently told you about the plans for that building and other ongoing projects on the Athens campus. Read about them all here.
Becker scholarships
A group of Georgia State University donors and the Georgia State Foundation have endowed a fund to award full-tuition scholarships to select rising juniors and seniors “who demonstrate financial need and exhibit talent for community involvement and innovation,” the school announced last week.
The scholarships are being named after Mark Becker, who is leaving Georgia State in August after 12 years as president. The state’s Board of Regents has hired M. Brian Blake to replace Becker.
Georgia State has more than 53,000 students, the largest enrollment in the state. About two-thirds of its students who graduated last year borrowed money to help pay their tuition, which is higher than the average percentage of borrowers in the University System’s three other research institutions: Augusta University, Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia.
One of Becker’s main goals at Georgia State has been to reduce the financial burden on students. The university’s work on that front has drawn interest from educators across the nation.
Morris Brown College’s leadership moves
Atlanta-based Morris Brown College announced some decisions about its leadership in recent days.
The historically Black college, which is trying to regain its accreditation, on Monday announced a contract extension for its president, Kevin James, through June 2025.
The college’s board last week announced it has hired Anthony B. Johnson, most recently the interim vice president for academic affairs and chief academic officer at Philander Smith College as Morris Brown’s provost and chief academic officer.
Clark Atlanta’s soul man
When James Patterson plays music, people listen. Patterson, who has performed with jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, has been sharing his vast musical knowledge with Clark Atlanta University students for decades. Patterson, 85, said in a recent AJC interview he’ll continue to do so “until the creator says ‘enough.’ " Read more about him here.
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