State University System
Panel seeks solution to soaring tuition
Sun-Sentinel
A Blue Ribbon Task Force plans this month to begin looking at ways state universities can offer – and pay for — top notch education. Its recommendations can’t come too soon for cash-stripped families. Tuition is expected to rise 15 percent for the fourth year in a row at Florida’s public universities…
Fictional progam created at FAMU to funnel money for two state senators’ wishes
Florida Times-Union
Over the past three years, Florida A&M has been used as what the university has called a “pass through” to send millions in taxpayer dollars to nonprofit groups with close ties to two term-limited state senators. The money was secured by Jacksonville Republican Stephen Wise and Orlando Democrat Gary Siplin during final budget negotiations and did not go through the normal appropriations process…
FAMU president says band will return
Tallahassee.com
Florida A&M University‘s president said Friday that the hazing death of a marching band member is tragic, but promised its alumni association in Carolina that the celebrated band would return. James Ammons said this week that he would keep the Marching 100 off the field in the 2012-13 academic year while the university institutes strong anti-hazing measures. Ammons spoke to Florida A&M‘s National Alumni Association at a gathering in Charlotte…
FAU off-campus student housing could spur new district, activity
Sun-Sentinel
The former Monier Lifetile factory, at 135 NW 20th St., is slated to become University Park, a four-story, 599-bed housing complex for Florida Atlantic University students. City leaders are hoping a deserted tile factory will be the hub that brings new, bustling life into one of the city’s industrial corridors. In spite of objections from city staff members and Florida Atlantic University officials, the former Monier Lifetile factory, 135 NW 20th St., is slated to become University Park, a four-story, 599-bed student-housing complex before the end of 2015.
FAU remains committed to the Treasure Coast
TCPalm
When Florida Atlantic University (FAU) announced plans to move its programs from the Treasure Coast campus it shares with Indian River State College (IRSC) in St. Lucie West, the open lines of communication between …
Gator Band is London-bound
Gainesville Sun
The University of Florida Gator Marching Band has a rigorous practice schedule during football season, marching and playing for up to seven hours a week. But one practice last year ended differently, when Jay Watkins, associate director of bands at UF and Gator Band Director, announced that after months of auditioning, the Gator Band had been invited to perform at the Summer Olympics in London on July 23-31…
Touring South Florida’s Renovated Sun Dome
Big East Coast Bias (blog)
Last year the school opened the Muma Center, a modern basketball practice facility directly connected to the Sun Dome. Now renovations on the Sun Dome are complete and fans were able to tour it for the first time. Here are a few photo from my tour and a few comments…
Funeral on Tuesday for driver who crashed into bay
Tbo.com
A funeral Mass will be held Tuesday for Michael Agana, the 19-year-old who died after his car crashed through the Bayshore Boulevard balustrade into Hillsborough Bay…He was an engineering major at the University of South Florida and a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
State College System
Grads put feet on the street in job search
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Daytona State College, for example, also reports a survey of 2009/2010 graduates showing 80 percent of those polled have their first full-time job within three months.
Edison candidate’s ties to college questioned
Fox 4
New questions about one of the four finalists looking to be the next president of Edison State College. Some faculty and students worry one of the candidate’s ties to the college will just bring more of the same drama…
Fired Edison VP writes critical letter to SACS
Fox 4
Another former vice president at Edison State College is filing a formal complaint about how the school is run. Dr. Steve Atkins sent a detailed 50-page letter to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, or SACS, …
Edison State College presidential search committee picks 5 finalists
The News-Press
The search committee has chosen five individuals to advance as finalists for Edison State College president: Jeffery Allbritten, Eugene Giovannini, Peggy Kennedy, Eric McKeithan and Joseph Sarnovsky. The finalists will arrive on campus shortly after Memorial Day for tours, then interview with the full Board of Trustees on June 1. Dates have yet to be finalized.
Student stranded by hit and run driver
Wink News
An Edison State College student had a run of bad luck when she blew a tire while driving on Interstate 75. She parked her car just north of Alico Road. And before she got back with a new tire, her car was smashed by a hit and run driver.
Invest in the community’s goals
MiamiHerald.com
At Miami Dade College, new courses in areas like hospitality have been developed in response to the report to provide the kind of graduates needed in the local workforce.
Independent College and University System
Ave Maria University considers cutting student health plans
Naples Daily News
After suing the federal government over the contraceptive mandate included in new health care regulations, Ave Maria University is now considering dropping health insurance coverage for students. The school may not be alone in its concerns. A student health insurance provision outlined as part of the Affordable Care Act requires benefit caps be at least $100,000 next year and five times that the following year — meaning increased premiums could be reality for students on other campuses as well…
More private colleges offering tuition discounts
MiamiHerald.com
At Barry University in Miami Shores, where nine in 10 students receive financial aid, school officials have frozen tuition for the first time in two decades. “We’re keeping tuition for the undergraduate students exactly the same as last year …
More than 500 graduate from Eckerd College
Tampabay.com
In her speech to students graduating Sunday from Eckerd College, oceanographer and aquanaut Sylvia Earle sounded a wish of exploration…
Car crashes into Flagler College fence
St. Augustine Record
A man was cited for careless driving and arrested on a DUI charge after crashing into a fence outside of Flagler College, according to court records and a St. Augustine Police Department report. Thursday around 10 pm David Michael Murray, 51, …
Southwest Florida business briefs: May 20, 2012
Naples Daily News
Hodges University (www.hodges.edu) received four awards, including two gold awards, in Higher Education Marketing Report’s annual Educational Advertising …
Stetson University focuses on business for solo lawyers
Tampa Bay Business Journal
More lawyers are opting to set up solo or small practices as big firm layoffs and hiring freezes create a dismal job outlook…
Yip Yap: Noted and Quoted FLHE Voices from Around the State
State universities: ‘Rapidly declining’
Sun-Sentinel
Senior Editorial Writer Douglas C. Lyons recently sat down with former Florida Gov. Bob Graham for this Q &A. Q. What’s your take on the state of the state university system? Rapidly declining. The university system today is operating at less than $4,000 per student on inflation adjusted dollars from what it had 20 years ago. The university system has dramatically increased the cost of higher education to students. At the same time there has been a decline in the total resources – state, federal and student to support a quality higher education experience…
Earth to Legislature: Stop ignoring student-debt threat
Orlando Sentinel
Lawmakers even passed a bill to remove the 15 percent tuition cap for the University of Florida and Florida State University, and eventually for other state universities. Gov. Rick Scott, to his credit, vetoed the bill. Scott and higher-education …
Our Opinion: Football’s future
Tallahassee.com
You thought college football was about traditional rivalries, X’s and O’s and game-winning field goals? Oh, you silly fan. College football is all about money, which is why rumors that Florida State University might switch athletic conferences has been front-page news this week in Tallahassee…
FAMU accountability gap
Bradenton Herald
Florida A&M University‘s trustees missed their cue this week. Meeting Monday with President James Ammons, trustees had the opportunity — the obligation — to hold him accountable for the scandal engulfing the university and its signature program, the Marching 100 band, since November’s beating death of drum major Robert Champion…
Step up, FAMU trustees
Palm Beach Post (blog)
FAMU President James Ammons just suspended the Marching 100 for at least another year. None of these actions, though, addresses the fact that FAMU administrators ignored band hazing or were ignorant when they should have been aware. FAMU suffers from a …
Dobson: Alumni consider FAMU’s challenges
Tallahassee.com
By this morning, the Florida A&M University National Alumni Association will have concluded its annual meeting in Charlotte, N.C. Tommy Mitchell, association president, said the gathering is a time for FAMU alumni to get updates on the university and its programs and to hear from President James H. Ammons. It’s also collection time, as alumni chapters around the country make their contributions that go toward scholarships…
Letter: Loss of the Florida Atlantic University extension a sign of problems with education in Port St. Lucie
TCPalm
The loss of the Florida Atlantic University extension in St. Lucie West is truly an embarrassment for Port St. Lucie. It signifies that either there are not students in this city who are choosing to go to college, or worse, that there are not enough students who qualify to get into college: another confirmation of the poor reputation of our city…Jill Dienemann, Port St. Lucie
Gerald Ensley: There’s a special beauty at FSU
Tallahassee.com
How many times have you heard it? It’s not the buildings but the people that make a place special. And in the case of Florida State University, it’s the beautiful people. A survey last week ranked FSU as the No. 4 most beautiful campus in America, which surprised some of us — until we saw the calculations…
Tom Monaghan talks about giving away fortune, new hamburger joint and getting …
Detroit Free Press
He devoted himself to Catholic education, most prominently by founding Ave Maria University, now based near Naples, Fla., where he spends much of his time these days raising money for the school…
Loss of nest egg leads businessman to energizing new venture
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Changes in retirement plans and the increase in medical costs are making it more and more difficult for people to retire when they wanted or expected, said Ned Harper, director of the Small Business Development Center at Daytona State College.
SWFL mother and son graduate high school together
Wink News
Catherine [Rice] is already pursuing her college education at Edison State College. She hopes to become a social worker upon graduation. Her son, Chris [Rice], also plans to enroll at Edison State College soon…
Writing ability declines but still crucial for success
Sun-Sentinel
“Let’s say 25 percent of students who leave a college are struggling at basic level with grammar and organization,” said Jeffrey Galin, director of Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Excellence in Writing…
Brevard’s jobless rate tumbles to a three-year low
Florida Today
Mike Slotkin, an economics professor at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, said Brevard’s declining unemployment rate and job growth should be the start of a positive economic trend.
Florida Tech professor lands $257000 grant to study coral
Florida Today
Robert van Woesik, a biologist at Florida Institute of Technology, has won a $257000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the potential contagiousness of coral diseases…
Former Miami-Dade Manager Burgess teaching at FIU
MiamiHerald.com
George Burgess, the former Miami-Dade county manager, has a new job title: professor. Burgess was hired in February as a visiting instructor at Florida International University. That’s in addition to his day job as chief operations officer of Fort Lauderdale-based law firm Becker & Poliakoff, a position he landed some three months after he resigned from the county — a day after the recall of former Mayor Carlos Alvarez…
Mowing down seagrass meadows will cut loose carbon
New Scientist
If the seagrass dies, all of that could be released into the environment, says marine ecologist and study author James Fourqurean from Florida International University in Miami, US…
Many black voters unhappy with Obama over same-sex marriage
Sun-Sentinel
“When you divide the country into Anglos, Hispanic and black, the most hostile to gay marriage by far are black people,” said Kevin Hill, a Florida International University political scientist who pored over two decades’ worth of polling data in recent days. He said that reflects religious influence, not race. “It doesn’t have anything to do with being black. It has to do with being an evangelical Christian. Black people are overwhelmingly evangelical Christians,” said Hill…
Rick Knabb, Ph.D., selected to lead NOAA’s National Hurricane Center
WIFR
NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., today announced Rick Knabb, Ph.D., as the next director of NOAA’s National Hurricane Center in Miami. Knabb will start his duties on June 4…The National Hurricane Center is co-located with the National Weather Service Miami-South Florida forecast office on the campus of Florida International University…
California may finally land ‘best beach’
OCRegister
Dr. Beach is actually Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, director of the Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida International University…
Sarasota tourism officials aim for more mileage from Dr. Beach’s No. 1 ranking
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Each year, just before Memorial Day, a new No. 1 is announced by “Dr. Beach,” Stephen Leatherman, a coastal science professor at Florida International University in Miami. This year, local tourism officials have to wonder about the lingering effect of Siesta Beach’s international fame…
New Generation Coined ‘Just-In-Time’ Users
The Ledger
Chris Fenner, chairman of Florida Southern College’s Communications department, said the new generation of technology users expects to be able to access …
JU president’s life: A testament to the power of education
Florida Times-Union
Kerry Romesburg, now president of Jacksonville University, grew up in South Phoenix, on the wrong side of the riverbed. It was poor, working-class, riddled with gangs and violence, with a high school ringed by razor wire…
Around the region for May 19, 2012
Gainesville Sun
Rick Scott announced Friday that he was reappointing two Gainesville residents to the Santa Fe College District Board of Trustees. Scott announced that he was reappointing Robert C. Hudson and George “Tom” Mallini to the board. The appointments are subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.
Researcher loses top prize, gains investors’ attention
Orlando Sentinel
Count biotech researcher and entrepreneur Qun Huo among the winningest losers of the recent high-technology business competition known as the Cade Museum Prize. The University of Central Florida chemist and founder of Nano Discovery Inc. was chosen as the second runner-up earlier this month in the Gainesville-based contest, named after researcher Robert Cade, who led the University of Florida research team that created Gatorade…
Small-business director: Lack of capital still hindering start-ups
Orlando Sentinel
CFB: What’s the goal of National Small Business Week? To give tributes to small businesses. A lot of people say small businesses are a kind of economic engine of our community and, especially in this economy, more than two-thirds of net jobs are coming from small businesses. So definitely National Small Business Week is to give recognition to small businesses… Eunice Choi, director of the Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida.
Manatee County’s unemployment rate for April is down but so is workforce
Bradenton Herald
Sean Snaith, economist and director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness, said it is hard to quantify the exact cause for fewer job seekers…
Flagler, Volusia jobless rates hit 3 1/2 -year low
Daytona Beach News-Journal
University of Central Florida Economist Sean Snaith said that given the labor force decreases, the good news of falling unemployment doesn’t seem so good. “You want to see unemployment fall, but you don’t want to see it fall because people give up hope …
Florida unemployment falls to 8.7 percent, but …
Tampabay.com
“The state of the labor market is not as good… as the press release (on unemployment) might suggest,” University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith said…
Tampa area added 12600 jobs in April
Tbo.com
“Some of the percentage decline is exaggerated because the shrinking of the labor force in total,” said Sean Snaith, an economics professor at the University of Central Florida. “Payrolls were basically flat, or contracting…
Weekly Roundup: A Numbers Game for Jobs, Schools
WCTV
“Having the unemployment rate fall because people have given up looking for a job is not an improvement,” University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith said…
Researchers find fossil of a turtle that was size of a Smart car
Los Angeles Times
The specimen was found in 2005 in the mine in Colombia’s Cerrejon formation by Edwin Cadena, now a graduate student at North Carolina State University. He and his colleagues from the University of Florida and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute reported in the Journal of Systematic Paleontology that the turtle’s skull measures 24 centimeters (9.5 inches) long, about the size of a regulation football…
Because of declining flows, Silver Springs no longer king
Ocala
If our environmental stewards take action to reduce groundwater pumping, they have an opportunity to reverse an environmental disaster. Robert L. Knight, Ph.D., is the director of the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute at the University of Florida…
First Coast housing purchases increasing, jobless figure dropping, says UNF …
Florida Times-Union (blog)
University of North Florida economist Paul Mason said a compilation of economic indicators and the consumer price index shows the economic environment is showing positive trends. Mason said Friday that housing purchases and prices are up, …
Pain doctor’s troubles prompt new policy at USF
Tampabay.com
In 2008, Dr. Gerard Dileo got in trouble with the Louisiana Board of Medical Examiners. Investigators said he was prescribing pain pills without fully examining his patients. In some cases, he used scripts created before patients even turned up in the office. Yet, he still kept working as an obstetrician/gynecologist and assistant professor at the University of South Florida…
Are Outsiders Good for ‘Laboratories of Democracy’?
Education Week News (blog)
For Sherman Dorn, a professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa, the answer is clear. States have increasingly ceded their roles as laboratories of democracy, and have turned over policymaking and ideological energy to the U.S. government or other advocates…
Grim FCAT scores are blamed on state
Tbo.com
“I think the lesson here is that accountability systems always depend on administrators of the system managing to avoid politically unacceptable levels of failure,” said Sherman Dorn, a University of South Florida professor.
FRIDAY’S CUP: When memes attack
Gulf Coast Business Review
When Richard Gitlin, an accomplished entrepreneur and professor in the College of Engineering at the University of South Florida, invented DSL he probably didn’t anticipate the changes it would bring…
Campaigns, issue groups spend millions on Orlando TV
Orlando Sentinel
The same is happening in Tampa – the other end of the politically famous ” I-4 corridor,” said University of South Florida political scientist Susan MacManus. “They’re burning through money like somebody who just won the lottery,” she said…
Out of state congressional donations on the rise
WUFT
Florida’s 89.1, WUFT-FM’s Chip Skambis spoke with University of South Florida Political Science Professor Susan MacManus about how these sorts of donations will impact this coming up election season…
Sand sculptures rise from Pensacola Beach at Fiesta of Five Flags event
Pensacola Business Journal
James Fox teaches a summer beach sports class at the University of West Florida. He added sand sculpting to the curriculum. “I just like art,” he said. “We just like to get out and do something different.”…
Releases and Web Stories
University of Miami Names New Members to Its Board of Trustees
MarketWatch (press release)
CORAL GABLES, Fla., May 18, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — The University of Miami has announced that alumnus Joseph J. “Joe” Echevarria Jr. has joined its Board of Trustees. Echevarria, who serves as Chief Executive Officer of Deloitte LLP, is an alumnus of …
USF Library, Other Areas, Slated for Improvements
University of South Florida
(May 18, 2012) — The University of South Florida map is changing again, with major upgrades of the USF Library and surrounding spaces heading a list of projects to improve the academic experience for students, capitalize on recent infrastructure …
