State University System
To Steer Students Toward Jobs, Florida May Cut Tuition for Select Majors
New York Times
Rick Scott, businessman turned politician, campaigned for governor in 2010 with promises to run Florida like a successful business — more efficiency, lower costs, less hand-wringing and measurable results. He meant higher education, too, but until recently that meant mostly shrinking budgets. Now, looking for more value on the remaining dollars, Governor Scott and Republican lawmakers are prodding Florida’s 12 state universities to find ways to steer students toward majors that are in demand in the job market. The message from Tallahassee could not be blunter: Give us engineers, scientists, health care specialists and technology experts. Do not worry so much about historians, philosophers, anthropologists and English majors…
More STEM degrees may not equal more jobs
Miami Herald
Science, technology, engineering and math — the fields collectively known as STEM — are all the rage these days. Florida state leaders are so eager for more STEM students that they may even create discounted college tuition for students who pursue those fields. In an economy that is still struggling to regain its footing, boosting STEM is seen by many as a path to jobs. Except … what if it isn’t? As STEM has become an education buzzword in recent years, a steady stream of research has emerged that challenges the notion of STEM as an economic elixir. In some STEM careers, the employment picture is downright lousy. “Record Unemployment Among Chemists in 2011,” screamed the March headline in Science magazine’s Careers Blog. A headline from June: “What We Need is More Jobs for Scientists.”…
Professors pan idea to vary tuition based on students’ majors
Orlando Sentinel
Public university professors statewide are speaking out against a set of higher-education reforms that the Florida lawmakers will consider during the next legislative session. Many have focused their ire on the most controversial recommendation made by a task force created by Gov. Rick Scott: to start charging tuition based on majors. To attract more students to high-demand, high-wage fields that state leaders think will help boost Florida’s economy, the task force is recommending that public universities charge less for courses in those areas…
FAMU-FSU College of Engineering celebrates 30 years
Tallahassee.com
It’s neither silver nor golden. As anniversaries go, 30 rarely rates as special. So you’ll have to forgive the folks at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering if they are going out of their way to cut ribbons and cakes throughout the 2012-13 academic year. Not only is their school the first — and believed to be only — joint engineering program of its kind in the nation between a historically black university and a major research institution, it also has a new dean at the helm for the first time in almost two decades, Yaw Yeboah.
FAU to keep some classes in downtown Fort Lauderdale
Sun-Sentinel
Fort Lauderdale doesn’t have to bid farewell to Florida Atlantic University just yet, as the university plans to maintain a presence at its downtown tower. After proposing in April to shut the campus down by July 2013, FAU now says some of its programs, including architecture and masters of business, will stay put. So will about 300 of its 700 students. The FAU sign is expected to stay on the building as well. But the school still plans to shift the focus of its Broward County programs to Davie, which has about 6,000 students and is the university’s second largest after Boca Raton. Several Fort Lauderdale programs, including graphic design and multimedia studies, will move to Davie during the summer, with Broward College taking over the space…
FSU tops list of most efficient universities
Tallahassee.com
One of Eric Barron’s frequent points of emphasis is Florida State’s ability to make maximum use of a dollar. FSU’s president has pointed repeatedly in recent months to the latest national rankings, which saw FSU climb to 97th place (from 101st) in the country among all public and private universities, while slipping from 204th to 212th in funding. Barron’s message received a noteworthy endorsement this week as US News listed FSU atop its latest list of universities that operate most efficiently, spending $17,731 per student — almost three grand less than No. 2 Brigham Young University ($20,441).
Trustees OK $10 million going toward renovating O’Dome
Gainesville Sun
The University of Florida is contributing $10 million toward the renovation of the O’Connell Center, but the project won’t be done until four times that amount is raised. UF trustees approved the contribution Friday to a project that is planned to include a new entrance, club space and all-new seating…
Early morning armed robbery reported on campus
Gainesville Sun
The University of Florida Police Department is investigating an armed robbery that took place early Sunday. The victim reported that at about 4:08 a.m. he was working in the Graham Hall convenience store, The Oasis, when a man approached him brandishing a knife and demanding cash.
State College System
Times-Union pledges even more watchdog reporting
Florida Times-Union
Most of this year, following tips from a number of people, we have had a team of reporters demanding public records and closely examining management and financial issues at Florida State College at Jacksonville…
Workers go back to school to keep up with technology
Palm Beach Post
…For decades, Palm Beach State College has offered continuing education courses to help people update their business skills. But it ramped up the programs in 2009 as the Great Recession left longtime workers and new graduates jobless. At the same time, enrollment in the college’s non-credit enrichment courses geared toward retirees plummeted as budgets tightened or people were forced to go back to work…
SFSC health students receive scholarships from Florida Blue
News-Sun
A select group of students in South Florida State College‘s Allied Health program were recently awarded scholarships from Florida Blue. The recipients are currently enrolled in SFSCís Nursing, Dental Education, Radiography, and Emergency Medical Services programs…
Independent Colleges and Universities
Flagler graduation is Saturday
St. Augustine Record
Flagler College will hold its fall commencement ceremony Saturday with approximately 160 students receiving diplomas at the 9 a.m. ceremonies slated for the Flagler College Gymnasium…
Public policy center at PBAU named for LeMieux
MiamiHerald.com
A college’s new public policy center is being named for former Sen. George LeMieux. Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach announced the establishment of The LeMieux Center for Public Policy on Friday. The center will host a lecture series and other programs giving students a chance to engage with politicians, journalists, authors and academics. It also will include an independent study program in which fellows will work directly with LeMieux on a research project…
Palm Beach Atlantic announces LeMieux Center for Public Policy
Palm Beach Post
George LeMieux and Palm Beach Atlantic University president William Fleming today announced the creation of the LeMieux Center for Public Policy. LeMieux, who served in the Senate for 16 months from 2009 to 2010, said the center at the private West Palm Beach university will be broken into three phases…
Palm Beach Atlantic University to add LeMieux public policy center
Sun-Sentinel
George LeMieux served in the U.S. Senate during a brief but historical time in U.S. history, which included two wars, a recession and the passage of Obamacare. On Friday, he announced that the papers from his 16 months in office will be kept at Palm Beach Atlantic University, a small Christian school that will also house a new public policy center in his name. LeMieux, who also held high profile jobs under former Gov. and Attorney General Charlie Crist, served in the U.S. Senate for Florida from 2009 to 2010, filling out the last 16 months of former U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez’s term.
George LeMieux to Bring Political Experience to Palm Beach Atlantic
Sunshine State News
Former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, who was chief of staff to former Gov. Charlie Crist and had attempted a return to the federal office this past summer, will now bring his political knowledge to Palm Beach Atlantic University. LeMieux and the interdenominational Christian university in West Palm Beach announced Friday the creation of the LeMieux Center for Public Policy.
Palm Beach Atlantic University names public policy center for former Sen. LeMieux
The Republic
A college’s new public policy center is being named for former Sen. George LeMieux. Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach announced the establishment of The LeMieux Center for Public Policy on Friday…
Univ. of Miami is Nation’s No. 2 Business School for Executive Education For …
Hispanically Speaking News
The executive education program at the University of Miami School of Business Administration has been ranked as the No. 2 U.S. executive education program for Latin America by America Economia magazine.
Yip Yap: Noted and Quoted FLHE Voices from Around the State
Editorial: Virtual State U
Gainesville Sun
In a column published on Friday, former Gov. Jeb Bush makes a case for the virtual university. ”Online education holds the promise for universities to not only shrink their deficits but also extend their programs to a vast number of students, all at significantly lower costs,” he writes. No argument here. The University of Florida is already offering online degree programs to nearly 7,000 students, and UF’s ability to build upon that virtual education platform is almost limitless. That is, of course, unless politics gets in the way…
Editorial: Taking aim
Gainesville Sun
What Florida’s state university presidents proposed to Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature on Wednesday was less a deal than a plea. If the Legislature will partially restore lost funding for higher education, the presidents won’t ask for a tuition increase this coming year. On the heels of nearly half a dozen years of budget cuts — including $300 million this year alone — the presidents are asking for an increase of $118 million next year; hardly a king’s ransom…
What we think: Stop cuts to university funding, freeze tuition
Orlando Sentinel
After relentlessly raising tuition by double digits for the past four or five years, Florida’s public universities have offered state lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott a deal. The universities will hold the line on tuition next year in return for another $118 million in state funding. It’s too good a deal to pass up. As universities were hiking tuition, lawmakers were slashing their state funding almost 40 percent. Dollars doled out by the Legislature used to finance three-quarters of a student’s university education in Florida. Now they cover less than half the tab at most schools.
Editorial: Drop idea of a referendum on Palm Beach State campus
Palm Beach Post
Some Loxahatchee Groves residents aren’t happy about plans for Palm Beach State College’s branch campus. Town council members were aware of the worries that the campus would bring more development to the rural town. But they saw the benefits of a much-needed local branch, and approved it in a definitive 4-1 vote. Now that permissions have been granted and PBSC has paid $4.5 million for land on the corner of Southern Boulevard and B Road, dissenters are mounting a last-minute campaign to overturn the decision. Their plan: a March referendum to let residents decide whether to nix the campus…
Editorial: $10000 College Degree: Rick Scott’s Conceit
The Ledger
Gov. Rick Scott has come up with a $10,000 Degree Challenge for state colleges in the Florida system. It calls for four-year colleges — an outgrowth of what were community colleges — to offer bachelor’s degrees with a four-year cost of $10,000. The mean cost of a four-year Florida state-college degree in the 2011-2012 school year was more than $13,000. That arbitrary decrease of more than 23 percent — with no offer of additional state funding or assistance of any sort — reveals the challenge to be nothing more than a politically cynical trick.
Guest Opinion: College education ensures an engaged, informed citizenry
The News-Press
It would be an understatement to say that the cost of a college education continues to outpace the consumer price index and has for many years now. Public institutions have seen drastic cuts in funding resulting in students and their families bearing more of the total cost of a college education through increased tuition and fees. For example, in the State University System of Florida, for the first time, tuition and fees will comprise more than 50 percent of the total funding per full-time student in the 2012-13 academic year…Dr. Wilson G. Bradshaw is president of Florida Gulf Coast University.
Bush & Best: Online courses can end higher education’s financial crisis
Palm Beach Post
Numerous articles and commentaries from inside and outside of academia are raising the alarm that American public higher education faces an unprecedented financial crisis. For years, state legislatures have been disinvesting in public colleges and universities. The result: rising debt, deferred maintenance for aging facilities, reductions in programs and course offerings, dismissals, elimination of many student and faculty services, and loss of talented faculty — many of whom haven’t received raises in years — to private universities…Jeb Bush was governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Randy Best is founder and chairman of Academic Partnerships, a company that designs online courses.
Dobson: FAMU makes strides in science research
Tallahassee.com
…I was prompted to pull out those clips after reading a news feature in the Democrat last week about a professor from Florida A&M University getting a patent for research he’s conducted that could have a major impact on health care down the road. I’m referring to Marlon Thomas. Thomas, a bio-engineer by training and professor in FAMU’s College of Agriculture and Food Sciences, has spent the past six years researching a process that quickly identifies bacteria by using chemical dyes, according to the story. His work has earned him a patent from the United States government. His research is focused on identifying food bacteria and ultimately leading to more effective diagnosis in treating patients suffering bacterial infections.
Howard: No Mistakes at the Lake – Lake Nona and Florida’s High-tech Future
Florida Trend
From the get-go, what has distinguished the “Medical City” development in the Lake Nona area of Orlando is its scope. Even with the resources of Joe Lewis’ Tavistock Corp., it was no easy feat to bring together, on one site, so many powerful institutions: The Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, the newly opened Nemours Children’s Hospital, the University of Central Florida’s College of Medicine, a University of Florida research and academic center, an M.D. Anderson research operation and a new Orlando VA Medical Center, which will be the largest VA hospital in the country.
Schultz: Scott is the ‘challenge’ for higher education in Florida
Palm Beach Post
The people who run Florida’s public colleges and universities didn’t cut $300 million from this year’s higher education budget. The people who run Florida’s public colleges and universities didn’t approved an unneeded 12th university, which will drain money from the other, underfinanced 11. Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature did those things. But to hear Gov. Scott, he’s not the problem with Florida’s public colleges and universities. The problem is the people who run Florida’s public colleges and universities.
Michael Dauphinais Named AMU VP of Academic Affairs
The Ave Herald
Michael Dauphinais, who has served for a year as Ave Maria University’s interim VP of Academic Affairs, has been appointed outright to the position…
Business newsmakers: BCC professor named outstanding teacher
Florida Today
Debbie McClinton, professor at Brevard Community College, has been named the Orlando Section American Chemical Society’s 2012 Outstanding Two-Year College Teacher…
Naples’ ZIP 34112 a zilch for college graduate job seekers
The News-Press
The worst place for a worker with a college education to find a job in Florida is the Naples ZIP code of 34112, according to U.S. Census data released Thursday. “There are large areas of residential components for that particular ZIP code so that does not surprise me in the least,” said Teresa Morgenstern, spokeswoman for Edison State College, which has a Collier County campus…
UVa-Wise names first woman chancellor
The Daily Progress
The Florida college official named the University of Virginia’s College at Wise’s first female chancellor Friday said her passion for the liberal arts and experience helping a young college grow ultimately drew her to the Wise campus. Donna Price Henry, 52, succeeds David J. Prior, who died unexpectedly in February after serving for seven years as the college’s leader…Since 2005, Henry has served as dean of the Florida Gulf Coast University College of Arts and Sciences in Fort Myers, Fla., where she was a founding faculty member. The institution has experienced aggressive growth since it began classes in 1997 and now has about 12,000 undergraduates enrolled…
Image of the Day: NASA Captures Earthly Anti-Matter Explosions (VIDEO)
The Daily Galaxy (blog)
“What’s new here is that the same electron avalanche likely responsible for the gamma-ray emission also produces the VLF radio bursts, and this gives us a new window into understanding this phenomenon,” Joseph Dwyer, a physics professor at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Fla., and a member of the study team.
Officials bringing missing kids back to Brevard today
Florida Today
Police and Florida Department of Children and Families investigators became concerned for the family’s well being after a report that the parents made a suicide pact to kill themselves and their children if autism treatment for Kristin didn’t work or became too expensive. They were last seen at The Scott Center for Autism Treatment at Florida Institute of Technology one week ago and may have evaded law enforcement by telling officials they were staying at a different hotel…James Firth, 43, Mai Dang Firth, 31, and the children were found at the home of an acquaintance in Newark, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay area about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Police said a series of tips led them to the family, and James and Mai Firth were cooperative with Newark police and turned over the children pursuant to a court order.
College president reflects on tour
KeysNews.com
He came. He listened. Then he left with a better understanding of where Monroe County residents want Florida Keys Community College to go. College President and CEO Jonathan Gueverra in October and November conducted a “listening tour” through the Keys, to take in ideas to help formulate the institution’s 2013-16 Strategic Plan. The sessions took place Oct. 23 in Key Largo, Nov. 6 in Marathon, and Nov. 13 in Key West and were, in the words of Gueverra, “very, very involved events.” ”We had at least a dozen individuals at each of these meetings,” Gueverra said. “There were city officials, people from the chambers of commerce, students, teachers, general managers. In some cases people were asking us to do things we aren’t doing. Sometimes they asked us about things we are already doing.”
FSCJ: Willis Holcombe, former Florida College System chancellor, accepts interim president job
Florida Times-Union (blog)
Willis Holcombe, the retired chancellor of the state College System, has accepted the interim presidency at Florida State College at Jacksonville, the institution announced Friday. The FSCJ Board of Trustees on Tuesday unanimously agreed to offer Holcombe the position. Holcombe and the college are negotiating his contract, which should come up for a vote at the Jan. 8 trustees meeting,according to a news release.
Campus notes
Tallahassee Democrat
Two Florida State University biology professors — Gregory Erickson and David Houle — recently received one of the top honors in the scientific world: elevation to the rank of fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Election as a fellow of the AAAS is an honor bestowed upon association members by their peers. Fellows are recognized for meritorious efforts to advance science or its applications. Erickson is one of the world’s foremost authorities on vertebrate paleontology and has published nearly 100 scientific articles on the subject. Houle is a highly regarded evolutionary biologist trained in genetics.
Son to spend 40 years in prison for helping his father murder Nova …
Palm Beach Post
Spared the death penalty after taking part in the brutal home-invasion murder of a Nova Southeastern University professor two years ago, Randy H. Tundidor, 24, was sentenced Friday in a Broward courtroom to 40 years in prison.
Palm Beach attorney gets nod for PBA award
Palm Beach Post
Brian P. Burns chairman of BF Enterprises is the recipient of this year’s American Free Enterprise Award from Palm Beach Atlantic University…
Publix leader, Stetson trustee emeritus Mark Hollis dies at 78
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Mark C. Hollis, retired president of Publix Super Markets Inc. and Stetson University trustee emeritus, died early Friday morning at Lakeland Regional Medical Center, according to Publix officials. He was 78…
Former Stetson professor shares frustration with coverage
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Journalism is the recording of history as it occurs. Especially as it regards breaking news, we report what we know, and then we often report more as new facts become known. We also choose our words carefully. As David S. McCarthy told me last week, “Words matter.” McCarthy is still aggravated about a story The News-Journal reported that involved him almost two years ago. In February 2011, McCarthy was a visiting assistant professor teaching history at Stetson University. McCarthy has a doctorate from The College of William and Mary in Virginia. At Stetson, he was viewed as a good teacher who received positive feedback …
UF student on bike struck by SUV, police say
Gainesville Sun
A female University of Florida student was hit by an SUV and injured Saturday night while riding a bicycle on Southwest 13th Street. Gainesville Police have not released the woman’s name because of difficulty contacting the victim’s family.
‘Bird Buggy’ keeps noisy parrot quiet — and mobile
NBCNews.com
In an effort to quiet his loud pet parrot, a robotics student has created what must certainly be one of the most complex devices ever to be operated by a bird. The “Bird Buggy” lets the parrot roll safely around the house — and keeps his beak occupied. Andrew Gray, an engineering graduate student at the University of Florida, set out to make a device that would stop Pepper, his parrot, from screaming all the time. Deterrents didn’t work: A robotic squirt gun ended up just being a scream-activated bird bath; meanwhile, a device that rattled loudly when Pepper squawked was just ignored.
Legislator hints at more school construction funds
Gainesville Sun
A prominent state legislator raised the idea of budgeting more money for school construction and overall higher education at a committee meeting of the University of Florida‘s Board of Trustees on Thursday. Rep. Seth McKeel, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, addressed the board’s Committee on External Relations, asserting his commitment to seeking more state money for higher education and the Public Education Capital Outlay, the fund the pays for construction projects across the education system…
UF honors photomontage artist, educator Jerry Uelsmann
Gainesville Sun
…These images seem the stuff of dreams, or even nightmares, but photographer Jerry Uelsmann makes them spring to reality in his photomontages. Uelsmann, famous for his photographs that seamlessly meld multiple negatives, will receive an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Florida’s School of Art and Art History at this month’s commencement ceremonies. The school also honored the former UF professor by starting a studio art scholarship fund in his name…
A perfect storm is brewing in Miami, and it’s not a hurricane
Upstart (blog)
Among the first to recognize the potential within Miami was Susan Amat of the University of Miami. In 2008, she started Launch Pad, a business mentorship and support program for university students, faculty and staff.
A look at some of the changes proposed by a bevy of Democratic Senators …
Salon
Filibusters were once a rare occurrence, but as University of Miami professor Greg Koger explains in Filibustering, they increased in two major and important spikes…
Are pythons invading Georgia?
The Augusta Chronicle
“I think they’ll get stopped at about Gainesville (Fla.), agreed Joe Butler, a biologist at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville…
University of South Florida might not fill the $250,000 job created for former St. Petersburg mayor Rick Baker
Tampa Bay Times
A lofty job at the University of South Florida might or might not be available next month. With former St. Petersburg mayor Rick Baker giving up his $250,000 a year position as a vice president of economic development, the university doesn’t know if it will fill the position when Baker leaves at the end of the month. It might make people wonder if the job was really needed when it was created in 2010. The position was funded by the USF Research Foundation, a private support organization…
Taggart ready to steer South Florida Bulls in right direction
Florida Today
Willie Taggart is introduced as the new University of South Florida head football coach during a news conference Saturday.
USF St Petersburg narrows list for regional chancellor position
Tampa Bay Times
The interim leader of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg has been named one of the candidates still in contention for the permanent job. Bill Hogarth, former dean of the USF college of marine science, has served in the role of chancellor since August. He is among 10 people who remain from an initial group of 72 applicants. Though the “soft” deadline to apply was Nov. 30, the committee will still consider worthy aspirants. Hogarth took the reins from Margaret Sullivan, who announced her retirement this summer. He could not be reached for comment Friday…
UWF’s BEI fills interim CEO role
Pensacola News Journal
The resignation last month of Matt Altier after a little more than a year as the architect of the University of West Florida’s business arm raised questions about the future of the fledgling nonprofit. Some of those questions were answered Thursday during a Business Enterprise Inc. board meeting. The six board members chose an interim chief executive officer, effective immediately. Jim Barnett, UWF’s associate vice president of facilities development and operations, will take the helm at BEI until a permanent leader is chosen. He has been a vice president for 11 years. UWF President Judy Bense, who serves as BEI’s board chairwoman, recommended Barnett for the post.
Releases and Web Stories
Record number of degrees at Fall 2012 Commencement
Seminole State College
More than 3,000 bachelor’s degrees, associate degrees and program certificates – a record number – will be awarded this term by Seminole State College of Florida, according to the Department of Enrollment Services. Students will cross the stage on Sunday, Dec. 16, at 2 p.m. during Seminole State’s Fall 2012 Commencement in the University of Central Florida Arena.
UF Oyster Recovery Team updates Apalachicola producers, leaders on recovery …
University of Florida
Apalachicola-area oystermen and community leaders received a progress report Thursday from University of Florida scientists working to remediate the area’s oyster population collapse. Karl Havens, director of Florida Sea Grant and leader of the UF …
UF&Shands plans freestanding emergency department in NW Gainesville
University of Florida
Administrators at UF & Shands, the University of Florida Academic Health Center, have announced plans to build a full-service, 911-receiving freestanding emergency department in northwest Gainesville that will provide convenient 24-hour emergency …
