State University System
University of Central Florida student pistol-whipped, robbed
Orlando Sentinel
A University of Central Florida student was pistol-whipped and robbed while walking on campus just after midnight Monday, prompting a university-wide email alert. The 18-year-old student was in the parking lot near the UCF Water Tower at Gemini Boulevard and Libra Drive about 12:20 a.m. when he was approached by four men. One hit the student in the back of the head with a gun. The student’s phone and car keys were taken.
USF police investigating rape in public restroom
TBO.com
University of South Florida police say they are investigating a sexual assault complaint involving two males at the Marshall Student Center. A male filed the complaint Friday alleging he was raped in a public restroom the afternoon of Jan. 18, campus police say. USF police say the males were affiliated with USF but not students.
State College System
Northbound Wickham Road closed due to wreck in Melbourne
Florida Today
A three-vehicle crash has closed northbound lanes of Wickham Road at Post Road in Melbourne. Police are diverting northbound traffic through the Brevard Community College campus on College Wood Drive…
Rejuvenated SCF board about to embark on 30-year growth plan
Bradenton Herald
With a new president in place, State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota turned its attention to its future Tuesday and discussed construction projects and even mentioned a new campus…
Independent Colleges and Universities
Eckerd College science center opens to public Thursday
Tampa Bay Times
The public is invited to the grand opening of the James Center for Molecular and Life Sciences from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Eckerd College. The $25 million, 55,000-square-foot facility is named for longtime Eckerd benefactors Tom James, executive chairman of Raymond James Financial, and his wife, Mary. It houses biology, chemistry and biochemistry programs and new academic initiatives in those disciplines…
Nearly 200 immigrants become US citizens while Senators push for …
WMNF
Some Republicans and Democrats in the Senate announced an immigration reform framework today that would benefit undocumented immigrants. Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said the agreement is a major breakthrough because Americans oppose illegal immigration, but support legal immigration. The push came as nearly 200 Tampa Bay area immigrants became American citizens during a naturalization ceremony at Eckerd College Monday morning…
Yip Yap: Noted and Quoted FLHE Voices from Around the State
Speaker Will Weatherford: State’s research universities should charge higher tuition
Orlando Sentinel
Florida’s new speaker of the house, Will Weatherford, said Tuesday that he supports allowing public research universities such as the University of Central Florida and the University of Florida to charge higher tuition than other state universities. The idea was among several higher-education reforms that Weatherford told a crowd in Orlando that he is backing as the Legislature prepares for its next session in March. During a panel discussion at the Ball Room at Church Street, Weatherford said allowing the state’s top research universities to charge more would help them fund improvements and raise their national profile. Today, tuition among state universities varies only slightly. Florida State University and the University of South Florida are also considered top research institutions…
Weatherford says he won’t push for new online-only university
Tampa Bay Times
House Speaker Will Weatherford clarified his stance on overhauling the state’s approach to online higher education Tuesday, emphasizing that he would not push for an actual, 13th university focused on web-based education. But in remarks at a panel discussion held by the Orlando Sentinel and the University of Central Florida Metro Center, Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, made it clear that he still sees the Internet as a critical part of higher education’s future. ”I don’t know what the end game is going to be, but it’s not going to be creating some unbranded university or unaccredited university, because I think that would be a waste of everybody’s time and money,” Weatherford said. “But it will be pushing the envelope a little bit to get more people exposed to online learning. Instead, Weatherford suggested that the state create some entity “that is solely focused on creating the best platform, the best content at the most affordable price” — but not another university…
King Center receives significant grant from Harris Corp.
Florida Today
Stan Payne, chief executive of the Canaveral Port Authority and chairman of the Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts Inc., recently announced a significant grant from Harris Corp.’s charitable fund of the Community Foundation for Brevard for the King Center’s 25th Anniversary Celebration [Brevard College].
Gov. Rick Scott to visit Jacksonville University next month
Florida Times-Union
Rick Scott is scheduled to visit Jacksonville University next month to speak to leaders at the university’s Public Policy Institute. On Feb.
Sued driver in Lauderhill tow-truck fatality has been ticketed, fined
MiamiHerald.com
The tow-truck driver involved in the incident that fatally injured a Keiser University associate dean has a long record of vehicle-related citations and felony arrests. The dean, Elias Konwufine, 38, of Lauderhill, died Jan. 16, hours after he was run over by his own car as he pleaded with Kenneth Jay Schraff not to tow his car. Since 2008, Schraff, 48, of Lauderdale Lakes, he been ticketed for failing to register a vehicle; failure to wear a seatbelt; failure to obey a traffic sign; improper tag; driving “too fast for conditions,’’ driving without lights, and failure to secure a load, according to court records.
Hollywood brothers threw gravel, smoothie at Lynn University security guard …
Palm Beach Post
Two Hollywood brothers are facing battery charges after police said one threw gravel and the other spilled a mango smoothie on a Lynn University security officer who had ordered their car towed. City police arrested Diego Alejandro Cipollitti, 21, and David Andres Cipollitti, 19, at the university campus off Glades road on Monday afternoon. Both were released from the Palm Beach County Jail on Tuesday night after posting $3,000 bail.
Boca brothers charged with assault of security guard
Sun-Sentinel
It started with a tow truck. But police say it ended with a gravel-battered golf cart covered in a mango smoothie. And now the Cipollitti brothers, Diego and David, stand charged with battering a security officer, according to a Boca Raton Police report. The officers showed up at a Lynn University parking lot around 2 p.m. in the 3600 block of North Military Trail. There, police found a security officer. He said he had found a white Audi parked illegally, so he called a towing company…
David Cipollitti, Diego Cipollitti arrested, face battery charge on Lynn …
WPTV
Two brothers from Hollywood attacked a Lynn University security officer after their vehicle was towed from campus, according to a probable cause affidavit. According to the report, the guard ordered a tow truck Monday after discovering a white Audi in violation of parking rules. David Cipollitti ran after the car when he saw it being towed but slipped and fell on gravel during the chase, the report states. He then picked up some of the stones and threw them at the guard, hitting him in the chest and arms, according to the report. His brother Diego followed and tossed a mango smoothie on the guard, police say.
Foreign-born college students say sweeping reforms of immigration …
WPTV
At Northwood University and other college campuses, stories of great ambition such as his are tempered by the realities of the nation’s immigration laws. Students on student visas — with few exceptions — often have to leave the United State about one year after graduation. A sweeping overhaul of the nation’s immigration system and a pathway to citizenship for as many as 11 million people could potentially change that. ”It’s a policy that fractures the politics in different ways and it’s probably that fracturing that allows now the parties to come together on some general principles,” said Dr. Tom Duncan, president of Northwood University.
Meetr™ iPhone App Launched to Track Cost of Meetings in Real Time
DigitalJournal.com
Meetr designer Miguel Elasmar, a 2004 graduate of the Ringling College of Art and Design, referred to the user interface design as “an intuitive and beautiful approach to calculating data – influenced by 1980’s LCD gadgets.”
Stetson baseball coach Pete Dunn selected for ABCA Hall of Fame
Daytona Beach News-Journal
Stetson University announced Tuesday afternoon that [Pete] Dunn, who is embarking on his 34th season as head coach, would be among those inducted Jan. 3, 2014 at the ABCA Convention in Dallas.
UF student arrested in Internet sex sting
The Independent Florida Alligator
The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office arrested two Gainesville men and a UF student over the weekend as part of an Internet sex sting operation. Deputies arrested Benjamin Wade Parker, Lance Thomas Kriete and Richard Lee Ashcraft III on felony charges, according to ASO arrest reports. The sting was part of Operation Nightlight, an undercover online sex sting operation that started Thursday and ended Sunday morning, said ASO spokesman Lt. Todd Kelly. Kriete, 20, of 13 Fraternity Row, responded Friday night to an online ad, where he started talking to who he thought was the father of a 14-year-old girl.
University of Miami athletic program has staff members linked to Anthony Bosch, under investigation by DEA
New York Daily News
Rodriguez, the Yankees’ third baseman and the largest donor in Miami baseball history, and Jimmy Goins, the strength and conditioning coach, have been linked to a self-described Miami “biochemist” under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and Major League Baseball. “The University of Miami is aware of media reports regarding one of our employees and an intensive review is underway,” the university said in a prepared statement. “We will not comment further on personnel matters.”
Jasmine Guy speaks at annual Martin Luther King Jr. event at UNF
Florida Times Union
Veteran television actress, director and choreographer Jasmine Guy is the guest speaker at noon Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the 32nd annual Martin Luther King Scholarship Luncheon at the Adam W. Herbert University Center Banquet Hall at 12000 Alumni Drive at University of North Florida.
USF St. Peterburg’s interim leader not a finalist for permanent post
Tampabay.com
The interim chancellor of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg was passed over on Tuesday as an advisory committee advanced three other candidates in the search for the school’s permanent leader. Bill Hogarth, the director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography, interviewed for the post on Monday but did not survive the committee’s Tuesday vote…
USF, WUSF Receive Awards for Gulf Oil Spill Response
WUSF News
The University of South Florida and a trio of WUSF reporters are being honored for their work in response to the BP Gulf oil spill in 2010. A team of USF researchers and officials, led by Dr. William Hogarth, are among the recipients of Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Tampa Bay‘s STEM Catalyst Collaborative Partnerships Award.
Releases and Web Stories
JU Public Policy Institute receives major scholarship donations, announces acceptance of applications for fall 2013 semester
News Release
Fresh on the heels of establishing two major scholarship funds last week for JU Master in Public Policy students, the JU Public Policy Institute (JU PPI) announced Tuesday it is now accepting applications for the fall 2013 semester.
Keiser University’s Laura Goolsby Receives a National Appointment
News Release
Lakeland, FL—Jan. 29, 2013 — Laura Goolsby, Program Coordinator for the Bachelor’s degree of Dietetics and Nutrition program at the Lakeland campus, has recently been appointed to a national position on the Dietetics in Health Care Communities Executive (DHCC) Committee.
$900000 NSF grant funds STEM pilot program
Seminole State College
Seminole State College of Florida has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant totaling almost $900,000, to be paid over the next three years to prepare students for high-earning careers in engineering, architecture and construction…
UF: Florida’s consumer confidence drops one point in January
University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s consumer confidence dipped to 75, down one point from a revised reading of 76 in December, according to a monthly University of Florida survey.
UF sorority houses challenged to reduce water use
University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Sorority houses on the University of Florida campus have a chance to win a $500 donation to their chosen philanthropic organization through a water conservation challenge this spring.
USF’s Sanberg named to National Medal of Technology & Innovation committee
USF Research News
TAMPA, Fla. – Paul R. Sanberg, Ph.D., D.Sc., has been appointed by the U.S. acting secretary of commerce Rebecca M. Blank to the nomination evaluation committee for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Sanberg is senior vice president for research and innovation at the University of South Florida, and founder and president of the National Academy of Inventors…
