State University System
Florida lawmakers want to weed out education laws
Tampa Bay Times
…Some higher education laws also are likely to be axed, including the 2011 legislation requiring students to submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid to be eligible for a Bright Futures scholarship. University financial aid officers said the law led to “a significant increase in the workload due to the need to process approximately 30,000 additional student FAFSA applications,” according to a Senate analysis…
FAMU Releases schedule to select new president
WTXL ABC 27
Plans to finalize the process of choosing Florida A&M University‘s 11th president are underway…
FAMU Concert Choir off suspension, hazing allegations “unfounded”
WTXL ABC 27
The Florida A&M University Concert Choir is no longer suspended, according to school officials. The choir was under investigation after a claim members engaged in verbal and physical hazing. A school spokeswoman says the university has made changes to enforce its zero tolerance policy against hazing, but the allegations against the choir were “unfounded.”
UF showcases huge growth in local tech firms
Gainesville Sun
How much of an economic engine is the University of Florida? Over the past 12 years, 140 companies were created to sell UF research inventions, including a record 15 last year. Within the past six months alone, two of those — AxoGen and Applied Genetic Technologies Corp. — received nearly $60 million in financing. Another, Pasteuria Bioscience, sold to Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta for more than $100 million. All are based in Progress Corporate Park in the city of Alachua. Since the UF Innovation Hub business incubator opened less than two years ago, 25 tenant companies have created 200 jobs…
Change in direction planned at USF communications school
Tampabay.com
The University of South Florida‘s School of Mass Communications went through a shakeup over spring break, bringing a change in leadership, a sharper focus on digital technology and plans to take a “fresh look” at the campus newspaper and television station.
State College System
Brevard Community College’s Cocoa campus on lockdown
Florida Today
Raw video: BCC campus on lockdown: Brevard Community College’s Cocoa campus was put on lockdown on Thursday, March 14, 2013 after a staff member overheard a student make a threat to shoot someone in the library. A merger with another school on campus also could be on the horizon.
Brevard Community College Cocoa campus lockdown lifted
WKMG Orlando
The lockdown of a Brevard Community College campus was lifted on Thursday after police arrested an unarmed suspect accused of making threats.
No application fee for St. Pete College next week
Tampa Bay Times
Would-be students can apply to St. Petersburg College without paying that pesky $40 application fee next week, but of course, there’s a catch: Applicants must attend one of four open house events at campuses throughout Pinellas County.
St. Petersburg police arrest 19 in Williams Park drug sweep
Tampabay.com
Foster said he and other city leaders will meet in the coming weeks with representatives from St.Petersburg College to discuss student activities that could be held in the park. He also hopes to lure food trucks along Third Street N.
Independent Colleges and Universities
Rollins College announces poetry contest for Central Florida high school students
Orlando Sentinel
According to a press release, “In recognition of National Poetry Month, Rollins College in association with two-time U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins will present a poetry contest for Central Florida high school students.
University of Miami Tissue Bank announces recall over testing procedures
Bradenton Herald
For the first time in its more than 40-year history, the University of Miami Tissue Bank has announced a tissue recall, citing past problems with its hepatitis testing procedures…
For-Profit and Career Colleges
Yip Yap: Noted and Quoted FLHE Voices from Around the Web
Former Pinellas school board member, Gilzean, appointed to FAMU board
Tampabay.com
Glenton Gilzean Jr. was considered a controversial pick when Gov. Rick Scott selected him to fill an empty seat on the Pinellas School Board last year. Many complained the governor could have chosen a more established community leader to replace the late Lew Williams. Now, Scott has appointed Gilzean to an even higher profile position: the Florida A&M University Board of Trustees. His term was scheduled to begin Thursday and end Jan. 6, 2018, providing the Florida Senate signs off. Scott declined to reappoint trustee Charles Langston to another term. He also passed over four other applicants. Among them: FAMU alumnus Keith Clickscales, a former ESPN executive who helped launchVibe magazine, and attorney Daryl Parks, a former FAMU student body president who served as a trustee until Scott replaced him in 2011.
Rouson ‘disappointed’ in Scott selection to FAMU board
Tampa Bay Times
State Rep. Darryl Rouson, a St. Petersburg Democrat who expressed concern when Gilzean joined the Pinellas board, said he was “a little dissapointed” to hear he had been selected as a FAMU trustee. ”The governor has the authority to appoint who he wants,” Rouson said. “Our community in St. Petersburg has certainly spoken in terms of who we want on school board in Pinellas.”
FAMU applicants include 3 ex-HBCU presidents who received “no confidence” votes from their faculties
Blog: Rattler Nation
The 11th president of FAMU will be responsible for leading the process of getting the university off its current probationary status with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). It isn’t possible for the administration to do that alone. The president must be a team-player who can work with faculty members in order to accomplish this goal. But FAMU’s presidential applicant list has three ex-leaders of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) who have troubled records when it comes to faculty relations. They all received “no confidence” votes from HBCU faculty senates.
Adam Donohue: LSD may have been behind fatal police shooting of FAU student
WPBF
LSD may have played a part in the shooting death of a college student by a police officer, WPBF 25 News has learned. Florida Atlantic University student Adam Donohue was shot and killed by a Boca Raton officer Friday.
Judge denies college student’s self-defense bid in killing of South Miami man
MiamiHerald.com
A former Miami Dade College student who stabbed a South Miami man to death lost his bid for immunity under Florida’s self-defense law. A judge on Thursday ruled that James Arauz, 23, did not act in self-defense when he stabbed Vincent Pravata in October 2009. Arauz claimed that Pravata, who acted as a mentor and had penned a letter of recommendation for an internship, made sexual advances and chased him around the man’s house…
Gainesville mayor’s race candidates hold final forum at Santa Fe College
WUFT
About 20 people attended the forum, which was hosted by Santa Fe College’s CIED (Center for Innovation and Economic Development) and sponsored by the Democracy Commitment at SF, which is part of a nationwide initiative to promote civic engagement … All six candidates were present: Ed Braddy, Scherwin Henry, Pete Johnson, Mayor Craig Lowe, Donald Shepherd Sr. and Paul Venzke.
The First Amendment Foundation’s third annual Sunshine Summit takes place 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at St. Petersburg College‘s Seminole Campus in the Dennis L. Jones Library Conference Center, 9200 113th St N., Seminole. Noted Florida author, columnist and political commentator Diane Roberts is keynote speaker, and FAF President Barbara Petersen will discuss working together to reform Florida’s open government laws. More information about the free event can be found here.
UCF, Miami Ad grad Kristina Krkljus behind new viral Pepsi ad that’s gotten 7 million Youtube views
WPBF
Kristina Krkljus was the art director on the “Test Drive” ad that’s gotten nearly 7 million views since Tuesday. ”I have no idea why everyone likes it so much,” a modest Krkljus told only WPBF.com on Thursday. “I think it’s just because people want to be entertained.” Krkljus, an Orlando native, attended Saint Cloud High School, the University of Central Florida and the prestigious Miami Ad School.
Finalist to be USF St. Pete’s leader drops out
Tampabay.com (blog)
One of three finalists to be chancellor of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg accepted a job offer in Texas after weeks of radio silence from USFSP, he told Gradebook. ”I hadn’t heard from them so I thought they were no longer interested,” Ronald Brown, the current provost of Wayne State University, said in a phone interview. It’s unclear if someone else has been offered the top job at St. Pete. Of the remaining two finalists, one said Thursday he hadn’t heard anything from the university, either. But the third candidate, Penn State Brandywhine Chancellor Sophia Wisniewska, declined an interview Wednesday evening after initially agreeing to one on Monday.
Releases and Web Stories
Sunshine Cleaning Systems Lands Pressure Cleaning Contract for Florida State University’s Doak Campbell Stadium
Marketwire (press release)
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL and TALLAHASSEE, FL–(Marketwire – March 14, 2013) - Sunshine Cleaning Systems, a privately held integrated cleaning company with locations throughout Florida and North Carolina, announced that it has secured a three-year contract to handle the pressure cleaning of Florida State University‘s Doak Campbell Stadium — home of ‘Noles football.
Nova Southeastern University Actively Fundraising for Armenian Genocide Studies
The Armenian Mirror-Spectator
Armenian Studies is a small field, with a small number of academic specialists. The number of academic specialists on the Armenian Genocide is even smaller, and there are very few positions for them at universities in the United States. While this situation is unlikely to change drastically, occasionally efforts are made to initiate new academic programs and positions. Nova Southeastern University appears on the verge of making such an effort, if sufficient support and funding are found…
Student starts website to protest gay blood ban
Seminole State College
Seminole State College of Florida nursing student Blake Lynch wanted to give blood to honor a fellow student with sickle cell anemia. However, when he went to donate, he was turned away because of a decades-old FDA policy that bans gay men from giving blood. To raise awareness, Lynch, 21, of Lake Mary, has created banned4life.org, a website that includes an online petition and other information about the policy.
UF researcher describes new 5-million-year-old saber-toothed cat from Florida
University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A University of Florida researcher has described a new genus and species of extinct saber-toothed cat from Polk County, Fla., based on additional fossil acquisitions of the animal over the last 25 years…
UF & Shands one of first facilities approved to use drug-coated stent for peripheral artery disease
University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — UF&Shands, the University of Florida’s Academic Health Center, is one of 12 institutions nationwide initially approved to implant a new device for treatment of peripheral artery disease. The Zilver PTX Drug-Eluting Vascular Stent is drug-coated and designed to help an artery in the upper leg called the superficial femoral artery stay open and unblocked from plaque, which can cause severe narrowing of the artery in peripheral artery disease. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the device in November for use in patients with the disease, and the manufacturer selected Shands at UF, which was involved in clinical trials of the stent, to receive some of the first stents manufactured for public use. UF vascular surgeons implanted UF&Shands’ first non-trial Zilver PTX stent in February.
National Academy of Inventors and NCET2 sign Memorandum of Understanding
News – USF Research & Innovation
TAMPA, Fla.–The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and the National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer (NCET2) have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to promote innovation and entrepreneurship.
