November 7, 2008

Universities Offer Insights on Real Estate Crisis 
Metro Atlanta real estate leaders see a long road to stabilizing the area's housing market, according to a survey by Georgia State University's real estate department. Nearly three quarters of industry professionals polled don't expect stability in local residential real estate for two years or more. Almost all said the $700 billion financial rescue package will help.

To help deal with the rising number of vacant and abandoned properties from the nation's mortgage foreclosure crisis, the federal government should also play a critical role in local land banking programs, says a new Brookings Institute paper by an Emory University law professor. Read the paper >

Mark Becker is Georgia State's New President
Atlanta will welcome Mark P. Becker in January as the new president of Georgia State University. Becker, currently the University of South Carolina's provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, will follow Carl V. Patton, who will retire from the post after 16 years. Becker has an academic background in public health, biostatistics and mathematics. He has held leadership posts at the University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota. More >

Discovering New Ways to Teach Science
Georgia State University and the University of Georgia have won National Institutes of Health grants to develop innovative new ways to teach science to K-12 students. Georgia State will teach school children about DNA through its Bio-Bus program with a three-year, $760,000 NIH grant. UGA will use a 5-year, $1.3 million grant to translate techniques it has used in veterinary classes into 3D animated biology lessons for high school students. The goal: encourage scientific curiosity and entice more students to choose careers in science. 

Election Day '08 on Campus Atlanta
Morehouse College cancelled classes to help get out the vote. And Spelman College hosted an election results party  for 500 students, faculty and alumni of the Atlanta University Center (Spelman, Morehouse, Clark Atlanta, Morehouse School of Medicine and the Interdenominational Theological Center). National attention was focused on the event, including a live broadcast from MSNBC and attendance by civil rights leaders such as Joseph Lowry and entertainers such as Young Jeezy and Fonzworth Bentley.

Around the Atlanta region, students engaged the electoral process this election season. Agnes Scott held a mock election (Obama by a landslide). At University of West Georgia, a student success mentoring program connected freshmen with voter registration drives and debate- and election-night gatherings on campus.  More >

Tech's Band: 100 and Marching on Manhattan
As it celebrates its 100th anniversary, the Georgia Institute of Technology's marching band will be one of only two college bands invited to perform at this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. More > 



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Photo credits: Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Spelman College, University of Georgia, University of West Georgia.