State University System
Investigation into alleged FAMU sorority hazing ends with no charges filed
Tallahassee.com
A Leon County Sheriff’s Office investigation into alleged hazing at an off-campus Florida A&M University sorority gathering has ended with no charges filed. Nine students affiliated with Delta Sigma Theta sorority were suspended following the incident in February, which was reported to the university through its StopHazingAtFAMU.com website.
FAU gets grant to teach personal finance
Sun-Sentinel
Florida Atlantic University will be instructing teachers how to pass on good financial management: The College of Business received $5,000 from State Farm to provide financial literacy programming to local educators, FAU has announced…
Florida Gulf Coast might be the best story in the NCAA Tournament
The Star-Ledger – NJ.com
That school would become Florida Gulf Coast University, which is now the No. 15 seed in the East Regional. It will face Big East power Georgetown in Wells Fargo Center tonight.
Florida Poly future unclear, Weatherford says
Tampa Bay Times
So perhaps JD Alexander should be worried that his dream of a 12th university in Polk County will get dashed. A day after the Florida Senate excised the $22 million for the yet-to-be-built Florida Polytechnic from its education budget, House Speaker Will Weatherford said he’s open to reevaluating whether it belongs in the state university system…
Florida Poly promises in jeopardy, new turmoil arising?
WTSP 10 News
As Florida Polytechnic University‘s small staff and Board of Trustees continue to develop their plans for the state’s 12th university, unintended consequences of the controversial bill that created the school could force it to ask for more money.
UCF looking for consultant to optimize resources
Orlando Business Journal
The University of Central Florida is looking for a consultant to put “fresh eyes” on the school’s allocation of resources…
UCF trustees to discuss campus safety
WESH Orlando
Just three days after a student plotted a shooting spree on the University of Central Florida campus and took his own life, school leaders discussed safety on campus.
3 fraternities at University of Central Florida suspended
WKMG Orlando
Lambda Chi Alpha, Sigma Chi, Alpha Epsilon Pi suspended. Local 6 has confirmed three fraternities at the University of Central Florida have been suspended amid hazing violations.
USF news: New master’s degree program in the works, parking and housing fees to increase
Tampa Bay Times
A new master’s degree program is in the works at the University of South Florida. The university’s Board of Trustees voted Thursday to approve the implementation of a Masters of Physician Assistant Studies at the Morsani College of Medicine to launch in 2015, a 24-month clinical master’s program with 90 credit hours…
STEM grant offers students IT exam voucher
The Voyager
Graduating seniors in the information technology field can jazz up their resumes, increase their job prospects and save a few bucks thanks to a free IT exam voucher program. The program allows University of West Florida seniors who will graduate from select IT and computer engineering degree tracks this semester to take one of 10 software certification exams for free.
State College System
Daytona State votes for smoking ban
Daytona Beach News-Journal
The Daytona State College board is moving toward making its campuses nearly tobacco free, but will survey students first.
Referendum Would Give Miami Dade College A Half-Cent Tax
WLRN
…Committees in both the Senate and the House debated yesterday whether to give this massive institution of learning a chance at collecting a new tax. If the bills pass, here’s how the referendum would work: The county would levy a surtax of up to a half penny for the benefit of Miami Dade College students. A plan would be set up to use the proceeds to help fund student scholarships; financial aid; expansion of academic and workforce training programs; teaching enhancements; facilities renovation, maintenance and improvements; and more…
Suggest a new name for Pasco Hernando Community College
Bay News 9
Pasco - HernandoCommunity College wants to hear your suggestion for a new name. The college needs to upgrade its name if it adds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program and a Bachelor of Applied Science degree program.
Learning Lab offers lessons to visitors
Pensacola News Journal
Pensacola State College and WSRE unveiled a new Learning Lab and Imagination Station at the Pensacola Maritime Park stadium this morning…
Independent Colleges and Universities
New Ave Maria community looks to attract families
Naples Daily News
CC Devco is buying out the interests of Ave Maria University and Tom Monaghan, the founder of the town and the university, in a chunk of undeveloped land south and east of the town center…
Yip Yap: Noted and Quoted FLHE Voices from Around the State
Editorial: Surprise decision sets FAMU back
Sun-Sentinel
The announcement surprised many, including fellow board members, who thought the school would be well on its way to choosing a replacement for Larry Robinson, FAMU’s interim president. “The search is suspended until we get through some of the critical …
FSCJ’s interim president exudes quiet confidence
Florida Times-Union
Willis Holcombe has the quiet confidence of someone who has earned his retirement. He doesn’t have to be here in Jacksonville, cleaning up a college and putting it in shape for a new president. Holcombe, the former president of Broward College and then chancellor of the Florida College System, is on a special mission as interim president of Florida State College at Jacksonville. He came to the Times-Union editorial board Wednesday for a candid 90-minute discussion about the state of FSCJ…
Editorial: Promising new chapter at USF St. Petersburg
Tampa Bay Times
The hiring this week of a new chancellor for the University of South Florida St. Petersburg opens a new chapter at an evolving campus with even more potential. Language scholar Sophia Wisniewska will be the first competitively selected leader since the campus achieved individual accreditation seven years ago, and she comes with significant experience in running similar institutions. USF president Judy Genshaft has chosen well…
Together, Science and Art Can Provide Answers in Search for Truth
Huffington Post – College
As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of UCF this year, we are reminded that the core benefit of an upper-level education is the opportunity to pursue and obtain insight and knowledge over blindness and ignorance…UCF Forum columnist Carla Poindexter is an associate professor of fine art at the University of Central Florida.
Harvard-educated George J. Hagerty named Beacon College president
Orlando Sentinel
Harvard-educated George J. Hagerty, who has vast experience at the university level, today was named president of Beacon College, the nation’s …
Florida Atlantic Univ. student claims he was suspended for not stomping on Jesus
Yahoo! News (blog)
A student at Florida Atlantic University has charged that his professor in intercultural communications class told the whole class to write the name JESUS in bold letters on a piece of paper, then drop the papers and stomp all over them…Junior Ryan Rotela, a devout Mormon, is the student making the charge. “Anytime you stomp on something it shows that you believe that something has no value,” he told the South Florida CBS affiliate. “So if you were to stomp on the word Jesus, it says that the word has no value.” Some students stomped; others, including Rotela, didn’t. He said he told the instructor, Deandre Poole, that the assignment offended his religious convictions.
$405,000 NSF Grant Funds Florida Tech Professor to Investigate Last Ice Age’s Megafauna Extinction
HeraldOnline.com
A National Science Foundation grant of $405,000 will fund Mark Bush and biological sciences graduate students on summer field research explorations to Brazil, Peru, and Panama over the next three years. Their megafauna extinction research will explore the cause of the largest recent mass extinction of large mammals.
Report: FSU athletes involved in shooting
Yahoo Sports
Two Florida State University track athletes were arrested for discharging a firearm within city limits. Josh Mance, a silver medalist in the 2012 Olympic Games in the 4×400 relay, and 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference freshman of the year Stephen Newbold are facing charges related to the incident. Newbold is charged with discharging the weapon. They were immediately suspended by Florida State pending athletic department review…
Palm Beach Atlantic University pleased as Gergen lecture launches LeMieux Center for Public Policy series
Palm Beach Post
Much of the evening was consumed with gloomy talk about mounting national debt and partisan gridlock, but former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux and Palm Beach Atlantic University officials were beaming Thursday. The new LeMieux Center for Public Policy kicked off its lecture series Thursday night with about 400 people filling the school’s DeSantis Family Chapel to listen to David Gergen, the Harvard professor and CNN political analyst who has been an adviser to four presidents.
State College of Florida welcomes new president
Bradenton Herald
The State College of Florida hosted a welcome reception Thursday for their new president, Carol Probstfeld. Probstfeld is SCF’s sixth president and succeeds Dr. Lars Hafner, whose exit last October came after several months of arguments with trustees over the cost of construction projects for the school.
UCF board member questions dorm security
WFTV Orlando
Trustee and central Florida hotel and resort mogul Harris Rosen openly challenged UCF leaders to improve safety inside campus dorms. “This is more personal for me because my son lives in that tower,” said Rosen. Rosen’s son lives in the same campus tower where police body cameras showed James Seevakumaran dead inside his room early Monday morning…
Releases and Web Stories
Brevard Community College Announces Bachelor Degrees in General Business …
SBWire (press release)
Cocoa, FL — (SBWIRE) — 03/21/2013 – Brevard Community College (BCC) is excited to announce their new Bachelor’s Degrees in General Business Management and Health Care Management with the inaugural program opening in the Fall of 2013.
Fitch Rates Florida Gulf Coast University Financing Corp. Housing Project Revs …
The Herald | HeraldOnline.com
NEW YORK — Fitch Ratings assigns an ‘A+’ rating to approximately $30 million of capital improvement revenue bonds, series 2013 A (housing project) issued by the Florida Gulf Coast University Financing Corporation (the corporation) on behalf of Florida …
Law students win National Moot Court awards
Stetson University Today
Stetson University College of Law students won the National Professional Responsibility Moot Court Competition on March 17 in Indianapolis, Ind. Stetson students also won all six of the possible awards, sweeping the competition…
Harn offers ways to experience art to people with limited or no sight
University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Visitors to the Harn Museum of Art can discover art through senses other than sight from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. MindSight, an initiative of the Gator Lions Club, is held annually and offers an opportunity for individuals who have limited or no sight to experience art through touch.
UF fossil bird study on extinction patterns could help today’s conservation efforts
University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A new University of Florida study of nearly 5,000 Haiti bird fossils shows contrary to a commonly held theory, human arrival 6,000 years ago didn’t cause the island’s birds to die simultaneously. Although many birds perished or became displaced during a mass extinction event following the first arrival of humans to the Caribbean islands, fossil evidence shows some species were more resilient than others.
Florida Agbioscience industries growing, helping region’s economy, new report says
University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Agbioscience boomed in Florida between 2000 and 2010, with related research and development expenditures in the Sunshine State growing 134 percent during that time, according to a new report. Battelle, a global research and development organization, released a study Tuesday that shows agriculture, forestry and fisheries production in a 13-state region of the southeastern U.S. plus Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands generates $240 billion in regional economic activity and supports more than 2.2 million jobs, with labor income totaling $62 billion.
Campaign launched to urge students to seek help for mental wellness
University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida’s Counseling and Wellness Center and GatorWell Health Promotion Services have launched the UFlourish Social Marketing Campaign…
Guest lecturer to talk about court’s decision on health care legislation
University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Georgetown University Professor Randy Barnett is the Florida Law Review’s 32nd Annual Dunwody Distinguished Lecturer in Law. Barnett, the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at the Georgetown University Law Center, will discuss the recent United States Supreme Court decision upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at 10 a.m. Friday in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center. The event is free and open to the public.
