In the Senate:
The Appropriations Subcommittee on Education meets at 9:00 am today in 412 Knott Building. The following higher ed bills are included in the meeting notice:
- CS/SB 1076 by Education / Legg—Education - this wide-ranging curriculum bill known as CAPE or the Career and Professional Education Act (SB 1076), would change requirements for the criteria for certain college degree and graduate degree programs, allowing certain degree programs to be designated as high demand. The bill also would change the high school graduation requirements to include financial literacy, among other changes. (Wednesday, 9 a.m., 412 Knott Building, The Capitol.)
In the House:
The House Education and Workforce Subcommittee meets from 9 to 11 p.m. today in 102 HOB. The following higher ed bills are included in the meeting notice:
- CS/HB 399 — Florida College System Institution Police Officers
Special Section: U.S. News & World Report’s 2014 edition of Best Graduate Schools is out!
Rankings were released at 12:01 a.m. EST, Tuesday, March 12. The Best Graduate Schools 2014 guidebook will be available on April 9.
U.S. News Releases 2014 Best Graduate Schools Rankings
US News and World Report
…The U.S. News 2014 Best Graduate Schools rankings, released today, can help students sort through the myriad options available to them. The rankings evaluate programs in business, law, medicine, engineering, and education—including specialties within each discipline. This year’s updated rankings also include graduate programs in the social sciences and humanities and library and information studies…
Full Methodologies are available at: www.usnews.com/gradmeth
Let the press releases and web site re-badging commence ! ! !
State University System
Rick Scott’s “Finish in Four” tuition bill passes Senate committee
Tampa Bay Times
A higher education proposal pushed by Gov. Rick Scott – freezing tuition for incoming state university students — sailed through the Senate’s Education Committee today along with several other closely watched measures. If SB 920 becomes law, in-state students who enroll in a state university and maintain a full-time schedule would be guaranteed that their tuition and fees would not change for four years. Scott is pushing his “Finish in Four” plan as a way to control costs for families and encourage students to finish degrees in a timely fashion. The change could cost universities as much as $75 million in lost revenue, according to a staff analysis of the bill.
Frustration, disbelief after ‘gentle giant’ shot dead by Boca Raton police
Sun-Sentinel
Friends and family of a 20-year-old Florida Atlantic University rugby player shot dead by Boca Raton police officers were still in a state of shock and disbelief Tuesday. Adam Christian Donohue, they said, is nothing like the man portrayed in police and media reports since the Friday night shooting…
FSU Graduate Programs Rank Among Nation’s Best
WCTV
Florida State University’s graduate programs in library and information studies, criminology, public affairs, education and law are among the best graduate and professional programs in the nation, according to new rankings in U.S. News & World Report’s 2014 edition of “Best Graduate Schools” published today.
UCF early childhood education program suspension still being debated
Central Florida Future
The contentious decision on whether or not to suspend the UCF early childhood education program, which was to be voted on today, was tabled due to shortage of information provided to the deciding committee…
UF business grad school ranked 15th
Gainesville Sun
The University of Florida’s graduate business school is ranked in the top 15 among U.S. public schools, according to U.S. News and World Report. The Hough Graduate School of Business ranked 15th among public schools in the 2014 edition of Best Graduate Schools, released Tuesday, jumping four places from last year’s ranking. The graduate business school ranked 36th overall among public and private institutions — up eight spots from last year.
University of Florida best in state in most graduate programs, report says
South Florida Business Journal
…In graduate business programs, UF was ranked 36, ahead of the University of Miami at 91. The top position was a tie between Harvard University and Stanford University. However, No. 4 Northwestern University has an MBA program in Miami…
State College System
Free help Saturday for applying for financial aid at Broward College
Sun-Sentinel
Find out how to get money for college Saturday. In a free session, Broward College staffers will help prospective and current students fill out financial aid applications from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the A. Hugh Adams Central Campus…
Community Happenings 3-13
Destin Log
Northwest Florida State College will host a free Disability and Community Expo from 2-6:30 p.m. March 14 in the Student Services Center – 1st Floor at NWFSC Niceville. Local agencies specializing in disability assistance will be on site to conduct lectures, answer questions and provide hands-on adaptive technology demonstrations…
St. Petersburg College helping students with disabilities find jobs
Tampabay.com
Finding a job in today’s market is tough for just about anyone. For the disabled, it approaches the impossible: Nationally, only 21 percent of adults with disabilities are employed, and at St. Petersburg College, only 12 percent of disabled graduates in 2009 found work…
Independent Colleges and Universities
Stetson University honored for community service
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Stetson University’s Bonner Scholars and Leaders Program: provides 60 students with scholarships in exchange for their commitment to at least eight hours of community-based work each week.
Yip Yap: Noted and Quoted FLHE Voices from Around the Web
FAMU presidential applicant list has very few names that deserve to be taken seriously
Blog: Rattler Nation
The list of FAMU presidential applicants released earlier this week is an embarrassment to the school. It barely has any candidates who are remotely qualified to lead a research university. FAMU is classified as a “Doctoral Research University” (DRU) by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. That accomplishment resulted from hard work to build FAMU’s doctoral programs and is constantly under attack…
Bergstein makes news: Does FAU have an anti-Semitism problem?
BizPac Review
I was interviewed on March 11 by WPTV in West Palm Beach about a video I recently put together calling attention to Students for Justice in Palestine’s hate rallies on the Florida Atlantic University campus. The group falsely labels Israel as a pitiless terrorist state and places children’s body bags splattered with fake blood around campus to symbolize Israeli brutality.
Editorial: FAU should make GEO donation records available promptly
Palm Beach Post
We might not learn everything about Florida Atlantic University’s $6 million football stadium naming rights deal from the university’s records. Almost certainly, though, we would learn more than what FAU has said, which is nothing. This week, first the American Civil Liberties Union and then The Palm Beach Post asked for all records related to the donation from The GEO Group, which was announced Feb. 19. Because the company has a controversial record of running prisons and detention centers, the deal has drawn much criticism. FAU has responded with talking points. President Mary Jane Saunders stuck to them during a Feb. 25 meeting with students, at which she said, “This is a done deal.”…
Bright: Major Leaders and Students to Converge at FIU for Education for a Better America Initiative
Huffington Post
…EBA and NAN have partnered with Florida International University (FIU) and Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) to host a Higher Education Awareness, Dropout Prevention, and Health Initiative aimed at addressing these needs in South Florida on May 10, 2013 from 7:30am to 1:30pm. It will be held at FIU, one of the nation’s largest universities with an enrollment of 50,000 students, and is part of a nationwide endeavor by EBA to increase the pursuit of post-secondary education, increase civic engagement, prevent school dropouts, increase financial literacy, and promote health and wellness across the country…
Otto: Why Our State Needs Florida Polytechnic University
Florida Voices
Contentious public debate over the creation of Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland and recent news coverage leave little room for productive discourse regarding the merits of the state’s newest public university…Cliff Otto is president of Saddle Creek Corp. and co-chairman of Florida Poly Vision, Inc., a group of community and business leaders from all over Polk County and surrounding communities created to support the success of Florida Polytechnic University. Florida Poly Vision, Inc. can be contacted at chairmen@bascomllc.com.
Guest blog: UT delegates explore Dubai business ecosystem
Tampa Bay Business Journal (blog)
Sunday is a workday in the United Arab Emirates. Sunday, March 10, a group of 28 university and Tampa Bay area business executives visited the Dubai International Financial Centre, which provides a supportive and secure environment for a variety of companies — more than 900 — to develop their businesses. The visitors are part of the University of Tampa’s Sykes College of Business Global Access Partnership which is in Dubai this week. The partnership is a travel program designed to provide a platform for its university community partners to experience …
Boca Area High School Student Wins $70000 Scholarship
BocaNewsNow.com
Sunny Sharma, President of Digital Media Arts College said, “It’s a wonderful event that provides opportunities to the top artistic students around. The talent this year was impressive, which makes Christina’s work simply amazing. We look forward to watching her art grow on our campus.”
Sentinel wins national award for FAMU hazing stories
Orlando Sentinel
The Orlando Sentinel has earned a first-place award from the Education Writers Association of America for a series of stories about the hazing death of Florida A&M University drum major Robert Champion. Denise-Marie Ordway, Jeff Kunerth, Steve Hudak and David Breen won in the Single-Topic News, Series or Feature category. According to the judges: “This is a riveting and revelatory series that has made a huge difference and led to changes in how FAMU operates…
Student Sends Wi-Fi Users to Porn
Daily Beast
Students and staff at Florida State University Panama City got the surprise of their lives last week when all Web traffic was redirected to a video of an acrobatic penis. Benjamin Blouin, a student at the school, wanted to make a point about the dangers of an open Wi-Fi network, so he hacked into the system and rerouted everyone who accessed it to the legendary shock website Meatspin.com. (Replace “meat” with “penis” and you may get some idea of what awaits at that URL.) Much to Blouin’s satisfaction, the university has since required a login and password to access its Wi-Fi network…
Florida State Student Faces Felony Charges for Redirecting School’s Wifi Users …
Gawker
A now-former computer engineering student at Florida State University Panama City has reportedly admitted to “hacking” the school’s wireless Internet network, causing all users to be automatically redirected to the infamous shock website meatspin.com. Officers arrested 26-year-old Benjamin Blouin and charged him with felony offenses against computer users over the “hack,” which took place on March 1…
Tom Corr wins Indian River State College entrepreneur award
Vero Beach Press-Journal (subscription)
When he started his first maintenance business at the age of 17, Tom Corr has no idea how far his entrepreneurial spirit would take him. Now, 40 years later, Corr, 57, still embodies the innovation, drive and persistence he exhibited as a teenager in New Jersey. To recognize his role as the president and chief executive officer of the George E. Warren Corporation, Corr will receive the 2013 Dan K. Richardson Entrepreneurship Program’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Indian River State College at a dinner Tuesday…
‘Faces of HIV’ exhibit opens Wednesday at Miami-Dade College
MiamiHerald.com
Anthony Johnson is HIV positive. The diagnosis 18 years ago was the first chapter of an arduous journey that has taken him from being hopeless — and at one point homeless — to being empowered, a volunteer now working to help others live fully with the virus. Johnson’s portrait – exuding an expression that seems to say look without judging — is part of a small, mobile exhibit on the campuses of Miami Dade College this week…
Warning: Giant blood-seeking insects coming (maybe)
Daytona Beach News-Journal
According to University of Florida entomologist Phil Kaufman, we should experience the insects after the next rainy season or tropical storm. Gallinippers, as Psorophora ciliata are more usually called, flourished after Tropical Storm Debby last year and laid eggs in damp areas. The eggs lie dormant until things get wet again. Then you get a new batch of mosquitoes. ”I wouldn’t be surprised, given the numbers we saw last year,” he said. “When we hit the rainy cycle, we may see that again.”
University of Florida Study shows that Spiders may have driven the Evolution …
Science World Report
“Everything we observe out there has been blamed on birds: aposematic coloration, mimicry and various defensive patterns like eyespots,” said study author Andrei Sourakov, a collection coordinator at the Florida Museum of Natural History’s McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity on the UF campus. “It’s a big step in general and a big leap of faith to realize that a creature as tiny as a jumping spider, whose brain and life span are really small compared to birds, can actually be partially responsible for the great diversity of patterns that evolved out there among Lepidoptera and other insects.”
Plagiarism, illegal funds alleged in student government election
Tampa Bay Times
The president of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg‘s student government won re-election only to be disqualified for campaign violations, the university’s newspaper reports. Mark Lombardi-Nelson and his running-mate, student Senate chair Christina Hegedus, were cited for using famous quotations on Facebook without attribution; not removing flyers after being asked; using student activity funds for campaign materials; and disregarding guidelines for T-shirts and flyers, according to an article in The Crow’s Nest…
Tension grows between Valencia College’s president and trustee chairwoman
Orlando Sentinel
It’s hard not to notice the tension growing between Valencia College President Sandy Shugart and the chairwoman of the college’s board of trustees, Bertica Cabrera Morris. At the last board meeting in February, both raised their voices during what became a heated conversation over when Valencia should pursue a study related to minority and women business owners in the Orlando region. Earlier in the meeting, they also had disagreed on whether the college needed to hire a lobbyist to pursue federal funding in Washington. Shugart became frustrated, saying: ”This level of micro-management is really beginning to bug me.”
Releases and Web Stories
Palm Beach Atlantic University Earns Place on National Honor Roll for Community Service
Press Release
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. – Palm Beach Atlantic University was named to the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. This designation is the highest honor a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement. “Palm Beach Atlantic has a long history of service-learning and believes strongly in preparing our graduates to be active leaders and participants in an ever changing world,” said President William M. B. Fleming, Jr. “We’re honored to receive this prestigious award – and owe much of it to the students themselves. They’re the energy driving our commitment and they’re the ones who make it all happen.”
Hough Graduate School of Business ranks in top 15 among U.S. publics
University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Hough Graduate School of Business at the Warrington College of Business Administration ranked 15th among U.S. public business schools in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools 2014” edition released Tuesday. The UF MBA Traditional Program at the Hough Graduate School of Business improved four places to achieve its No. 15 ranking among U.S. publics, and climbed eight spots to 36th overall among both public and private institutions. UF MBA was ranked 24th overall and 15th among U.S. publics for their Part-Time programs, which include the Professional Two-Year, Professional One-Year and the Professional MBA in South Florida.
Researchers identify gene that allows corn to grow in poor conditions
University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Approximately 30 percent of the world’s total land is too acidic to support crop production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, a solution may lie in a strand of corn that is able to grow successfully in acidic soil, thanks to a genetic variation recently identified with help from the University of Florida Genetics Institute.
UF panel to talk about startups that sold for more than $100 million
University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Fourteen early-stage technology companies will present Thursday at “A Celebration of Innovation,” the University of Florida’s seventh annual technology showcase…
Lecture honors UF Brain Institute founder, features glucose’s role in preventing…
University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A sweet remedy could be just the thing to reduce memory loss in older adults. Glucose produced via a burst of hormones after an exciting or emotional experience could help us better remember what we need to, and lead to new therapies to prevent memory loss, according to research being presented this week at the University of Florida.
University of Miami student awarded grant by the Mohamed bin Zayed Species …
EurekAlert (press release)
MIAMI – March 12, 2013 – University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science graduate student Erica Towle was awarded a grant to study Acropora cervicornis, or staghorn corals, by the Mohamed bin Zayed Conservation Fund…
Fintech Nurtures New Generation of USF Student Entrepreneurs
PR Web (press release)
The Best Business of the Year winner is once again proudly sponsoring the 5th annual Fintech Business Plan Competition at the University of South Florida (USF).
