State University System

FAMU Hosts Anti-Bullying Workshop
WCTV
Fifteen aspiring young teen journalists from Florida, Georgia and Alabama have completed a multimedia workshop at Florida A&M University’s (FAMU) School of Journalism and Graphic Communication with a special focus on tackling bullying.

Harbor Branch in Fort Pierce seeks hair samples from people who eat fish from …
TCPalm
To assess human mercury exposure, Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute is conducting a study of individuals, particularly anglers, along the Indian River Lagoon. The research will help provide an understanding of how fish consumption influences mercury exposure in humans…

Moorings helps FAU Harbor Branch protect lagoon’s wild dolphins
TCPalm
The Moorings Club in Vero Beach is the first waterfront community on the Treasure Coast to sponsor the “Protect Wild Dolphins” Dock Sign Program, an effort by Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University to protect Indian River Lagoon (IRL) dolphins through education…

Human-Powerd Sub Sets Speed Record
Discovery News
The Olympics may be in London, but in Gosport, some 80 miles away on the south coast of England, another international competition unfolded for the fastest human-powered submarine.  The inaugural European International Submarine Races (eISR) were held on June 25-39 at Qinetiq, the former Royal Navy’s testing facility in Gosport… The Talon 1, from Florida Atlantic University, came in second place…

Jewish Museum of Florida, FIU create partnership
MiamiHerald.com
Florida International University — which already oversees the Wolfsonian-FIU museum — is taking the reins of another Miami Beach museum as well, as university officials announced Monday that FIU will now take over the Jewish Museum of Florida …

Governor Rick Scott begins interviewing Florida Polytechnic University trustee candidates
WTSP 10 News
Governor Rick Scott has started interviewing candidates for his six Board of Trustee appointments at the newly-created Florida Polytechnic University. The 10 News Investigators learned the governor spent 70 minutes on Wednesday, June 27 interviewing seven applicants, according to documents obtained through public records requests…

UF students get a head start on college life in Summer B
Gainesville Sun
Tyler Shelton had about a month of vacation after graduating from high school, enough to spend a little time at the beach before getting started at the University of Florida. The 18-year-old Lakeland native is among nearly 2,400 incoming freshmen beginning at UF during the summer, with about 4,000 more freshmen coming in the fall. As classes resumed Monday with the start of the Summer B semester, Shelton said he’s looking forward to getting a head start before a crush of students comes in the fall…

Bear spotted near University of South Florida campus
MyFox Tampa Bay
Authorities were tracking a Florida black bear that was spotted Tuesday morning at the University of South Florida, and the search ended nearly three miles south in a tree…

USF students go behind the scenes at a funeral home
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Professor Kathy Black peppers each startled student enrolled in her University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee class with a single question on the first day: “How old will you be when you die, and what are you going to die of?” Halfway through the course, shaking them up again, she schedules a field trip to a local funeral home, including a tour of the embalming room…

State College System

Astronaut who got start at Pensacola State College killed in accident
Pensacola Business Journal
The Pensacola State College alumnus was the pilot of Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2008 and commander of Discovery in 2010… In 1983, he earned an associate’s degree in engineering from PSC, then known as Pensacola Junior College…Poindexter remains one of PSC’s most distinguished alumni, said PSC president Ed Meadows. “Alan Poindexter was very important to this school,” Meadows said. “He was one of the most successful graduates of our college, so we mourn for him and his family.”

Independent Colleges and Universities

It’s Your Business: Shamrock Bank hosts ‘meet & greet’ at Ave Maria
Naples Daily News
Plans are to open the new banking center in time to welcome the students back to Ave Maria University.

Branch: St. Augustine pressure helped to pass Civil Rights Act
St. Augustine Record
Attending were some of the 150 students at R.J. Murray High School who in 1963 left classes and walked downtown to hold the city’s first mass sit-in at the restaurant in the Ponce de Leon Hotel, which is now Flagler College’s dining hall.

Online Classes Cut Costs, But Do They Dilute Brands?
WBUR
Many other schools share the concern and wonder if the technology will live up to its hype.  Rollins College in Florida was one of the early pioneers of online learning. It’s one of 16 Southern schools using technology to share courses and professors…

Yip Yap: Noted and Quoted FLHE Voices from Around the State

University burdened by dwindling middle class
The Oracle
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average American middle class household earned $49,445 in 2010. This median number is flanked on both sides by extreme wealth and extreme poverty — a division that is reflected in the distribution of students at USF and one that leads to an increased financial burden on universities.

Hooper: Florida’s shortsighted measures could devalue university degrees
Tampa Bay Times
People joke that USF stands for “U Stay Forever” and UCF stands for “U Can’t Finish.” Yet, the Legislature seems to be buying into the insinuation that students take nonsense classes and hang around campus instead of employing a focused, four-year march.

Eskamani & Eskamani: Florida Students’ Message to Politicians: We Are Watching and We Vote
Huffington Post
As residents of “the swing area of the swing state” of Florida, and recent college graduates, we’ve got a message for Congress: Florida students are watching, and we vote.

Mafirisu: We Need Economic Democracy on Campuses in Miami and Across the Nation
Huffington Post
…At Florida International University in Miami, the current student government violated the university constitution during the election process, successfully petitioned against a new election, and then voted in favor of a 15 percent tuition increase (the maximum allowed by the state) after campaigning for months that they would vote against all tuition increases…

Nocera: Filling the Skills Gap
New York Times
…Most notably, it is about to begin operating at Miami Dade College, which has a staggering 174,000 students. Its president, Eduardo Padrón, says that 90 percent of its students are minorities, 40 percent live in poverty and 60 percent require remedial education. Many are enrolled in four-year baccalaureate programs; though it remains primarily a community college, in recent years, it has begun offering four-year degrees.  But most are not.  They are looking to earn a certificate or an associate degree and acquire a skill that will lead to a good job…

FAU Names New Athletic Director
WBFS
Florida Atlantic University finished off a busy year in the athletic department Monday when the school hired Patrick Chun as the school’s new athletic director…

Patrick Chun hired as Florida Atlantic athletic director
WPBF West Palm Beach
Chun, 37, comes to FAU from Ohio State, where he was the executive associate athletics director for external relations. At FAU, he replaces Craig Angelos, whose contract was not renewed in March…

Florida Atlantic University names Patrick Chun athletic director
WPTV
Florida Atlantic has hired Patrick Chun as its new athletic director, announcing the move Monday. Chun comes to FAU from Ohio State, where he was the executive associate athletics director for external relation. At FAU, he replaces Craig Angelos, whose contract was not renewed in March.

John Carnaghi Named New Administrator at FSU
WCTV
Florida State University Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration John Carnaghi has announced the appointment of Ohio Wesleyan University administrator Eric S. Algoe as Associate Vice President for Administration at Florida State. As Associate Vice President, he will assist with the development and implementation of programs that have a university-wide impact. Algoe, who will begin on Aug. 20, will manage a budget in excess of $30 million annually…In his new position, Algoe will oversee administration of Human Resources, Purchasing, Environmental Health and Safety, Public Safety, Business Services, the Employee Assistance Program and the University Business Administrator program. Additional responsibilities include oversight of all external contracts for Florida State as well as transportation services, postal services, the Seminole Golf Course and the FSUCard.

3rd day of Cristian Fernandez suppression hearing to include one-time state expert
Florida Times-Union
Prosecutors could face an uphill battle convincing Cooper not to throw out any confessions, said Wayne Logan, a professor of law at Florida State University. “The fact that you’ve got what seems to be a state expert witness saying this young man didn’t have the wherewithal to understand what was at stake when he decided to talk to police renders the confession suspect in terms of its admissibility in court,” Logan said.

Donal O’Shea Starts Work As New College’s Fifth President
Patch.com
There’s a new guy running the show at New College of Florida. Dr. Donal O’Shea officially began his post as New College of Florida’s fifth president on July 1, following the retirement of Dr. Gordon E. “Mike” Michalson Jr. Before coming to New College, O’Shea was the dean of faculty and vice president for academic affairs at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass…

A deadly weekend in Central Florida
Orlando Sentinel
While the rash of violence is concerning, it doesn’t necessarily mean more danger is in store for the region, said University of Central Florida sociology professor Jay Corzine. ”Generally speaking, every city will get one or two weekends during the year when the number of homicides are significantly higher than the rest of the year,” Corzine said. “The bottom line is, unless there is a continual uptick, it doesn’t mean much of anything.” The summer months of June and July, along with December, often see a rise in killings each year. The month that traditionally has the fewest slayings is February, Corzine said.

‘A pretty tomato comes at a cost in flavor’
Canton Repository
“What this paper shows is that a pretty tomato comes at a cost in flavor,” said Harry Klee, a University of Florida horticulturalist not involved in the study…

Professor: Voter purge is ‘harassment,’ ‘waste of time’
WOKV
“A waste of time and money” That’s what University of Florida political science professor Daniel Smith calls Governor Rick Scott’s so-called purging of Florida’s voter rolls of potential non-U.S. citizens. “What the supervisors found out was that most of these folks were actually legitimate citizens who should be able to cast a ballot,” Smith said. Smith received data he requested through Chris Cate, the spokesman for Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner.

50 Hottest American Olympians
Bleacher Report
T’erea Brown out of the University of Miami has been one of the most successful female hurdlers in the U.S. over the last three years. After winning a number of collegiate titles, Brown qualified for her first Olympics at the 2012 trials…

Older people with asthma run greater risks
MiamiHerald.com
“Older people tend to have a lot of other medical problems,” says Dr. Timothy Scialla, assistant professor in the pulmonary medicine and critical care department in the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami.

Miami trustees OK operating budget
Oxford Press
President Dr. David Hodge related an amusing anecdote from a recent visit by University of Miami (Fla.) President Dr. Donna Shalala, a 1962 graduate of Western College for Women, during Alumni Weekend. Hodge said a former University of Miami president once sent a note to Miami University asking that the school please change its name “because we were getting in their way.” Hodge added with a smile that Shalala told him she “will find that letter and write a new letter, withdrawing that request.”

1 in 4 couples share HPV strains
Fox News
“HPV is very infectious,” said study researcher Alan Nyitray, of the H. Lee Mofitt Cancer Center and Research Institute at the University of South Florida. “When a couple comes together…they’re going to share their HPV microbiota very, very quickly.”

Releases and Web Stories

Researchers Discover Novel Mechanism and Potential Link Responsible for …
Newswise (press release)
Newswise — Using an in vitro cell model of Huntington’s disease (HD), researchers at Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine have discovered a novel mechanism and potential link between mutant huntingtin, cell loss and cell death or apoptosis in the brain, which is responsible for the devastating effects of this disease. Apoptosis has been proposed as one of the mechanisms leading to neuronal death in HD.

FIU, Jewish Museum of Florida create historic partnership
MarketWatch (press release)
MIAMI, July 2, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — The Jewish Museum of Florida, a historical museum located on Miami Beach, has become part of the FIU family through a gift that will create a unique partnership. The Museum will now be known as the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU (JMOF-FIU).

Genes may play role in educational achievement, study finds
EurekAlert (press release)
“Being able to show that specific genes are related in any way to academic achievement is a big step forward in understanding the developmental pathways among young people,” said the study’s lead author, Kevin Beaver, PhD, a professor at the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University…

IRSC seeking faculty in information technology, digital media
TCPalm
Both full- and part-time faculty positions are open in the Advanced Technology Department at Indian River State College with emphasis on information technology, security management, graphic design and digital media…