State University System
FAMU Track closed for renovation
WTXL ABC 27
FAMU Athletics today announced plans to resurface and upgrade the Robert “Pete” Griffin Track in the Spring/Summer of 2013. The collaborative plan brings together institutional support measures to enhance athletics… As of Wed., Jan. 8, the track will be inaccessible to the public.
Machen enthused by Gov. Scott’s commitment to UF
Gainesville Sun
The exact reason why University of Florida President Bernie Machen agreed to postpone retirement may be buried in the numbers of Gov. Rick Scott’s next budget proposal. Machen would not address specifics Wednesday about what he discussed with Scott or what convinced him he would have the resources necessary to pursue top-10 status for UF.
Suspended search for new University of Florida president costly
First Coast News
The University of Florida’s president is staying put, but the search for a successor still wound up costing the school. UF President Bernie Machen, who has led the school since 2004, agreed this week to remain on the job at the urging of Gov. Rick Scott and the chairman of the university’s board. But the university – which began a search for a replacement last year – will pay at least $41,000 to the Miramar Beach firm hired to help find a new president. UF’s contract with Greenwood/Asher & Associates called for a total payment of $95,000 in three installments plus up to $9,500 in expenses.
State College System
FSCJ to repay $5 million in student aid fees
Jacksonville Daily Record
The Florida State College at Jacksonville board of trustees Tuesday addressed the repayment of more than $5 million in improperly dispensed student aid funds, reviewed its lab fee structure and approved the contract for an interim president in its first meeting of the year.
Independent Colleges and Universities
Photo Gallery: The Hotel Ponce de Leon at Flagler College in 2012
First Coast News
Flagler College is celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Hotel Ponce de Leon. Henry Flagler opened the hotel’s doors January 12, 1888. Throughout 2013 the college will celebrate the hotel’s history by offering guests the opportunity to chat with a Henry Flagler reenactor, listen on various lecture series, and tour the same halls as Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie.
UM Performing Trials On Heart Monitor
WBFS
A clinical trial of an early heart attack detection device designed to track significant changes in the heart’s electrical signal and alert patients to seek medical attention is underway at the University of Miami Health System…
Yip Yap: Noted and Quoted FLHE Voices from Around the State
Editorial: An awesome debut for Manatee Technical Institute’s new campus
Bradenton Herald
Manatee Technical Institute enters a new era this week with the opening of its sparkling new main campus in East Manatee. Impressive in every way, the new MTI heralds an even stronger school district commitment to workforce development with career programs designed to fulfill the hopes and dreams of a diverse group of students…
Our Opinion: Resource development
Tallahassee Democrat
Whether it’s training workers for health-related careers, providing work re-entry courses or implementing programs that meet the demands of manufacturers, Tallahassee Community College clearly has filled a void in the Leon County community…
New appointments to university Board of Governors expected today
Juice (blog)
Gov. Rick Scott is expected to make up to six new appointments to the Florida Board of Governors, which will make the university governing board a body dominated by his nominees. Four terms expired Monday — those of Norman Tripp, Tico Perez, John Temple and Gus Stavros. Another two vacancies exist because Ava Parker and Joe Caruncho resigned with time left in their terms. One person who will definitely be gone is Perez, a big time supporter of University of Central Florida, who served on the board for seven years. ”I did not reapply,” Perez told the Sun-Sentinel. “Seven years is a long time. Jeb Bush brought me in. It’s an extraordinary board.”
FAMU’s student paper delays publication
Tallahassee Democrat (blog)
Florida A&M’s student newspaper, The Famuan, has postponed publication until the end of the month to ensure student journalists receive proper training. School of Journalism & Graphic Communication Dean Ann Kimbrough decided to delay publication of the spring semester’s first edition until Jan. 30 following the filing of a libel lawsuit last month by a former Marching 100 drum major. “This is an opportunity,” she said. “We need to make sure we are all involved in the training related to our jobs.”
Sandy Hook community leader rips Florida professor who doubted massacre
Fox News
Newtown First Selectman E. Patricia Llodra said the conspiracy theorist has no business drawing a taxpayer-funded paycheck. ”Shame on you, too, FAU, to even have someone like this on your payroll,” Llodra, herself a former teacher and school administrator, told FoxNews.com in an email. “Professor Tracy is an embarrassment to me as an educator and should be to you as well. I can assure you, sadly, that the events here in Newtown unfolded exactly as are being reported, with the horrible outcome of the violent death of 26 innocent people, including 20 children. ”It is outrageous and an insult to all caring people to think that this man would chose this event as a stage for his outlandish conspiracy theories,” she added, calling his statements “wrong, inconsiderate and insensitive.”
Florida Poly Committee Seeks Provost
The Ledger
Four candidates for the interim job of first provost at Florida Polytechnic University will be interviewed by members of a selection committee in Orlando on Monday. Candidates for the position will be interviewed by Florida Poly board members Sandra Featherman, Richard Hallion and Don Wilson, along with Florida Poly Chief Operating Officer Ava Parker. The under-construction university currently has a board and a handful of employees, including Parker, but no academic staff members yet…Candidates for interim provost to be interviewed Monday are: Ghazi Darkazalli of Bedford, Mass. He served most recently as president and CEO of Marian Court College in Swampscott, Mass., a private college sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy. He has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and extensive global consulting affiliations. Peter L. French of Lakewood Ranch. He retired as dean for academic affairs at the University of South Florida Sarasota/Manatee Campus, French has a Ph.D. in international relations from Yale University. Margaret J. Hartman of Santa Fe, N.M. Her resume says she was a founding director of an educational consulting company incorporated in Singapore, where project work was conducted in such locations as Rwanda, Qatar and Kabul. Most recently she was employed as deputy provost for Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. She has a Ph.D. in entomology from Oregon State University. David G. Marker, of Pensacola. He is currently employed as interim provost of the University of West Florida, Marker has a Ph.D. in physics from Pennsylvania State University. He has held numerous interim posts in recent years, including serving as president at St. Gregory’s University, provost and president at Pacific Oaks College and vice president for academic affairs at Assumption College.
Aquarius Reef Base May Be Saved By Florida International University
Huffington Post
The world’s coolest laboratory may be saved after all. Florida International University president Mark B. Rosenberg announced in a spring “welcome back” letter that the school has submitted a proposal to assume operations of imperiled NOAA-owned Aquarius Reef Base, the world’s only operational underwater research laboratory.
FSC Administrator Is Finalist for Job at Kansas Wesleyan University
The Ledger
Matt Thompson, who is currently vice president for advancement at Florida Southern College, is one of three finalists vying for the position of president at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, Kansas.
PBSC to host 14th annual King breakfast
Palm Beach Post
Next Thursday, PBSC will host the 14th annual breakfast on the Lake Worth campus in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza. The three-hour event will feature a complimentary breakfast, presentation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Awards and a keynote speech by Morris Dees, co-founder and chief trial attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala…
New Cornell Museum director implements free admission
Orlando Sentinel
It didn’t take Ena Heller long to make a statement. Just a few months into her tenure as director of Rollins College‘s Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Heller announced admission would be free. To everyone. For all of 2013, the museum’s 35th-anniversary year. ”Our mission is to expand everyone’s knowledge of art,” Heller explains. “What I’ve learned over the years is that a lot of people are intimidated by museums. If you can remove even one barrier, real or perceived, you want to. Admission is a barrier.”
Student, ex-King Commission member to be honored
Gainesville Sun
Jenna Stafford, a senior at Eastside High School and winner of the Keeper of the Dream Award from the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Florida, in the school’s library. She also is in the dual enrollment program at Santa Fe College.
New Santa Fe grand piano showcased at Friday concert
Gainesville Sun
Santa Fe College President Jackson Sasser and Provost Ed Bonahue stood alongside him, waiting to see which model would eventually rest on the Fine Arts Hall stage at Santa Fe. “It’s like you’re doing a speed date,” [Evans] Haile says of trying each piano. “You’re trying to find a connection.”
Postponing Retirement, U. of Florida Chief Signals an Alliance With the Governor
Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription)
Over the course of his nine-year presidency at the University of Florida, J. Bernard Machen has played the role of Sisyphus. Time after time, Mr. Machen thought he was moving Florida toward the elusive goal of “top 10″ status among public universities. But again and again, his budget was slashed and hope of progress dwindled. In June, Mr. Machen announced plans to retire, effectively leaving his successor with a very steep hill left to climb. All of that changed on Tuesday, when Mr. Machen, who is 69, agreed to indefinitely postpone his retirement. The university called off a national search that was days from conclusion because it seemed Mr. Machen was prepared to give that rock one last push…
UNF students urging lawmakers not to hike tuition
First Coast News
Students at the 11 schools in the State University System of Florida are rallying together to try to keep tuition from going up next year. Florida law allows a 15% tuition increase, and for the past several years it has gone up…UNF Student Government President Carlo Fassi is encouraging students to take part in the “Aim Higher” campaign to urge lawmakers to invest in higher education. Fassi said it won’t just help students but also the economy by having a more educated workforce…
Releases and Web Stories
JU Business Dean Don Capener to stress “reality over rainbows” as Jan. 25 keynote speaker for Jacksonville Startup Weekend
Jacksonville University
Follow your bliss. Chase your dreams. Pursue your passions…All nice catch-phrases used to energize people starting their own businesses. But if no customers are willing and able to buy your new product or service, perhaps it’s not such sage advice. “Most successful entrepreneurs or ‘circuit’ speakers claim you can do anything you can dream, but following your passion can be expensive,” says Dr. Don Capener, dean of Jacksonville University’s Davis College of Business. “Be reasonable in what you can afford to risk in your new venture. It’s reality over rainbows.” That’s just one piece of wisdom attendees to Startup Weekend in Jacksonville will hear when Capener gives the keynote address Jan. 25 at the University of North Florida…
UF/IFAS entomology department is new home to School of Ants project
University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The nationwide School of Ants has set up shop at the University of Florida, but picnickers can relax – none of its “students” are the six-legged variety. The school is an example of citizen science, a project where ordinary people collect and submit data for experts to review and compile. Participants collect ants from their yards and neighborhoods, and then entomologists identify each species and plot its location on digital maps that, eventually, will provide a snapshot of ant distribution around the country.
Is Global Warming Real? Find Out from a Leading Climate Expert
Valencia College
Is global warming real — and a real emergency for the planet? Or just a bunch of hype from tree-huggers? Come find out on Jan. 17, when Dr. Michael E. Mann, an expert on global warming and member of a scientific team that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, discusses the topic at Valencia College’s Performing Arts Center on East Campus.
