State University System
Florida universities plan to expand online degree programs
Orlando Sentinel
The State University System is investigating ways to expand online education as a way to help more Floridians earn college degrees. A committee of the Board of Governors, which oversees Florida’s public universities, met Monday to discuss boosting the number of bachelor’s and graduate degrees that students can complete almost exclusively through online classes. While the group did not make a decision, it did shy away from one of the most controversial ideas on the table — creating a new, fully-online university. Some education leaders had spoken out against the idea, but some committee members also got sticker shock when they learned that it could cost an estimated $65 million to $70 million…
Florida’s 13th Public University May Be Online Only
StateImpact Florida
Does Florida need a 13th public university that would be devoted solely to online learning? The Florida Board of Governors (BOG), which oversees the state university system, is looking into it at a meeting today in Davie. The 2012 Florida Legislature provided funds to the BOG to hire a consulting firm that would study the state’s postsecondary, online education system.
Shabbat for 500 at University of Central Florida
Chabad.org (blog)
The Chabad Jewish Student Group at the University of Central Florida hosted their first ever “Shabbat 500” dinner last month, bringing together more than 500 students from diverse campus social clubs and Jewish backgrounds for an evening that included Shabbat services, lectures on Jewish topics and the traditional Friday night dinner…
Texas pumas save Florida panthers from extinction
Gainesville Sun
A new study says breeding with Texas pumas has so far saved the Florida panther from extinction. The study by University of Florida scientists was published Monday in the Journal of Animal Ecology. Wildlife officials imported eight female pumas in hopes they would mate with native panthers in 1995…
USFSM College of Business maintains accreditation
Bizjournals.com (blog)
The University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee‘s College of Business recently finalized its fifth-year maintenance of accreditation report for the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business…
State College System
13th Grade: What Florida Colleges Are Doing To Help More Students Complete Remedial Courses
StateImpact Florida
…Florida is poised to become the nation’s petri dish for new approaches to the remedial education problem. That’s partly because the problem is so pronounced here. Some 54 percent of Florida students who went from high school to a community or state college required remedial work in at least one subject. The national average for first-time students needing remediation is 40 percent…
Brevard Community College renamed to Eastern Florida State College
Orlando Business Journal
The Brevard Community College board of trustees on Monday voted unanimously to change the school’s name to Eastern Florida State College.
(Don’t) put a cork in it! JA of South Florida host food and wine event
Sun-Sentinel
Junior Achievement (JA) of South Florida will host the third annual “JA World Uncorked! presented by Southern Wine & Spirits of Florida” on Jan. 19 at JA World Huizenga Center at Broward College, located in Coconut Creek…
Independent Colleges and Universities
St. Thomas University’s GRACE program prepares teachers for …
Ultimate Montrose
St. Thomas University‘s Gulf Region Academy for Catholic Educators program invites educators to apply for its next cohort group beginning June 2013. The deadline to apply is Friday, Feb. 1. The GRACE program allows newly-employed educators to teach in Catholic schools while earning a master of education degree at St. Thomas University, according to the GRACE website…
Yip Yap: Noted and Quoted FLHE Voices from Around the Web
The News Service of Florida is reporting that Rep. Jimmie Smith, R-Inverness has pulled HB35, filed last week, which would have required Bright Futures scholarship recipients to return the money if they dropped out or moved to another state…
Billy Bob Thornton and Andie MacDowell to visit Ringling College
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Actress Andie MacDowell will be the first Hollywood visitor in the fourth season of the Ringling College of Art and Design’s Digital Filmmaking Studio Lab. Others scheduled to participate in the fourth season of the program that brings film artists and experts to Sarasota to work with RCAD students include Billy Bob Thornton and Forest Whitaker. The latter is making a return trip following his participation in 2012…
Releases and Web Stories
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools – Commission on Colleges placed the official December 2012 Accreditation Actions document on its website yesterday. You may view the document below:
FLORIDA GULF COAST UNIVERSITY COMMENCEMENT GRADUATES LIST Fall and Summer 2012
Naples Daily News
Commencement Ceremonies were held on Saturday, Dec. 15, 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. in Alico Arena. COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Ana Elizabeth Abella, Isabel Abrams, Kendra Ann Aceto, Courtney Elizabeth Acevedo, Daniel Yaw Adjei, Kevin Donald Aley, Deirdra Marie Aliperti, Brendon Joseph Allen, Viridiana Allen, Samantha Alley…
Affirmative action in admissions discussed at Stetson University’s Annual National Conference on Law and Higher Education in Orlando
Sacramento Bee
GULFPORT, Fla., Dec. 18, 2012 – /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – Stetson University College of Law presents the 34th Annual National Conference on Law and Higher Education on Feb. 14-20, 2013, in Orlando, Fla. The weeklong program, led by national legal and higher education experts, will include sessions about helping students thrive in college, achieving drug free schools, compliance with Title IX and college safety.
UF/IFAS study: Though manatee population has grown, low diversity still a risk
University of Florida
A new research study gauging the outlook for the Florida manatee shows that it’s a case of great news and not-so-great news. The Florida’s manatee population has grown so much in the last decade that the graceful creatures may soon find themselves reclassified by wildlife management officials from endangered to merely threatened. But while a research team from the University of Florida and the U.S. Geological Survey found that the manatee’s numbers have grown, they say the study’s results suggest that their outlook remains risky…
Founding Father: A Tribute to Sam M. Gibbons — 1920-2012
University of South Florida
In December 1954, as Sam Gibbons sipped coffee with fellow Hillsborough County state representative James Moody at Maas Brothers in downtown Tampa, few would have guessed that their meeting would eventually lead to Gibbons’ label “Father of USF.” The two men had met to look over materials for the upcoming legislative session. In particular, they were concerned about higher education in the state. At the time, just three state universities — the University of Florida in Gainesville and Florida State University and Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University in Tallahassee — served the needs of a combined 36,000 students from Pensacola to Key West. The Florida Board of Control, which oversaw higher education in the state at the time, projected a 350 percent increase in enrollment over the next 20 years. The state needed an expanded system of community colleges and universities near population centers. Gibbons wanted a university in the Tampa Bay area…
Charter Fellows - University of South Florida
University of South Florida
Five faculty members from the University of South Florida have been named a Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Election to NAI Fellow status is a high professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society…
Tracking Deadly Fungus - University of South Florida
University of South Florida
New research from University of South Florida biologists has found the deadly chytrid fungus, which is implicated in the decline of frog populations worldwide and was thought to only infect amphibians, can also infect crayfish. The research from USF biologists Taegan McMahon and Jason Rohr was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.
