Florida Higher Ed Capitol Clips:
House Speaker Weatherford defends health care votes in Bradenton
Bradenton Herald
Weatherford defended approving $30 million in “pre-eminence” funding to help the University of Florida and Florida State University improve their national rankings among research universities.
“Sad to say, I would call our university system an average system compared to other parts of the county — but we have a chance to be great. And we just have to be sure we invest our resources the right way to get there.”
Polk Legislators Tout Benefits to Polk In This Year’s Legislature
The Ledger
…Education was the big winner in the session, McKeel said, referring to a $1.8 billion increase for education, teacher pay raises and money repaid to the university system. Locally, Lakeland did well, thanks to the state’s increased revenues. After a flap, the money for Florida Polytechnic University was restored and funds were allocated to repair and connect the Skyview utility system to the Lakeland sewer system, along with money going to a graduate medical program teaming Lakeland Regional Medical Center and the University of South Florida…
FL Tax Watch issues Annual Budget Turkey List:
Budget Vetoes Sought
Capitol News Service
Governor Rick Scott has until next Friday to sign off on the state’s 74 billion dollar budget. His staff has been sending letters to organizations set to receive state money, asking for justifications. And government watchdog says at least one hundred million of spending ought to be axed…On the list is 9 million for Embry Riddle, a private aeronautical university in Daytona Beach.14 million for a building at Gulf Coast State college in Panama City that ranked low on a priority list, and four million for a film project in Clearwater. “This is a hundred million dollars that could have gone to things like schools or healthcare. “, adds Weissert.
Slimmed down budget ‘turkey’ list still catches Senate leader’s wrath
Florida Times-Union
The biggest project that made the list was $14 million for Gulf Coast State College in Panama City. There was originally $300,000 in the Senate’s budget for the school, which is in Senate President Don Gaetz’s district…
Florida TaxWatch bags 107 budget ‘turkeys’ worth $107 million
MiamiHerald.com
Florida TaxWatch finds 107 line-item projects in the new state budget totaling $107 million that it says Gov. Rick Scott should veto because they bypassed the Legislature’s own standards for transparency and competitiveness….Among the projects that made the statewide list: * $14 million for a science and technology building at Gulf Coast State College in Bay County…
Annual ‘budget turkey’ list draws flak
Sun-Sentinel
…And a $14 million grant for a Gulf Coast State College Panama City campus was the biggest single item on the list…
One Polk Project on TaxWatch ‘Turkey’ List
The Ledger
Scott vetoed both of them, plus an appropriation for Florida Southern College’s Frank Lloyd Wright education and tourism center…
GCSC has top tax ‘turkey’ // DOCUMENTS
The News Herald
Gulf Coast State College gets top-turkey honors. The watchdog group Florida TaxWatch released its annual list of “turkeys” Thursday, naming 107 projects totaling $106.8 million, in the state budget…
Panhandle Projects on the “Turkey” Watch List
WJHG-TV
The proposed $14 million science and technology building at Gulf Coast State College made the 2013 turkey watch list…
State University System
Shooting Near FAMU Campus [SLIDE SHOW]
WCTV
At approximately 12 a.m., the Tallahassee Police Department received a call that a male had been shot in the area of 2800 Wahnish Way near FAMU. TPD says they responded and found a black male in his 30′s with gunshot wounds.
New survey shows Lee County business leaders more bullish about economy
The News-Press
Florida Gulf Coast University and the Fort Myers Regional Partnership – Lee County’s economic development office – shared these and other results in the Second Quarter 2013 Business Climate Survey Report.
UCF College of Medicine’s first graduates to walk May 17
Orlando Business Journal (blog)
May 17 is going to be a big day: The University of Central Florida will graduate its first class of 36 doctors from the College of Medicine…
UCF reports more aggravated assaults, fewer burglaries and vehicle thefts in 2012
Orlando Sentinel (blog)
The number of aggravated assaults and rapes reported at the University of Central Florida rose slightly in 2012 while the school saw fewer burglaries, robberies, larcenies and vehicle thefts, according to crime data released this afternoon…
The College Competition Is On
CBS Local
The University of Florida had a record 29,300 applicants last year and 11,800 were accepted…
UF management of St. Augustine now producing historical dividends
Gainesville Sun
Visitors to the country’s oldest continuously occupied city founded by European settlers can now see the impact of the University of Florida’s stewardship of two dozen state-owned properties here. Three years after taking over the management of 38 buildings on 23 parcels in the historic downtown quarter, UF can point to the opening of the Colonial Quarter, a historically accurate tourist attraction with live re-enactors in colonial garb that has been operating for two months…
Moffitt Cancer Center researchers analyze how Spanish smoking relapse booklets are distributed
Science Codex
Researchers from Moffitt Cancer Center and the University of South Florida have evaluated how Florida health care and social service agencies distribute “Libres para Siempre” (“Forever Free®”), a Spanish smoking relapse prevention booklet series…
USF Sarasota-Manatee sponsors STEM summit for middle-school girls
Bradenton Herald
…The USF Sarasota-Manatee campus will host its fourth- annual STEM Summit on Saturday. The summit is free and open to all middle-school girls in Manatee and Sarasota counties. The day-long program will offer the girls an opportunity to research and explore the four core fields…
State College System
BCC’s Last Graduating Class Receives Diplomas
SpaceCoastDaily.com
About 1,900 students were eligible to receive their degrees Thursday as the last graduating class from Brevard Community College walked across the stage at the King Center for the Performing Arts…
Graduation season gets going
Ocala
Meanwhile, 38 of West Port High’s nearly 500 graduates have already graduated from the College of Central Florida with associate’s degrees…
A better economy for college graduates
Florida Courier
Daytona State College held two commencement ceremonies on Monday at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach…
DSC captures national JUCO golf title
Daytona Beach News-Journal
With a great run of consistency and a nine-shot lead entering the final round of the National Junior College golf championship, a certain level of comfort might’ve been expected for Daytona State College…
IRSC respiratory care program earns award
TCPalm
The Indian River State College Respiratory Care program is among a select group of respiratory care programs being recognized by the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) with the Distinguished RRT Credentialing Success Award…
Independent Colleges and Universities
SBA to offer help to Edward Waters, surrounding area
Florida Times-Union
Edward Waters College signed an agreement Thursday afternoon with the federal government to bring more business help to its students and the neighborhood that surrounds the college…
Fashionable Shoes Step Out at Lynn University’s 2013 Commencement
Huffington Post (blog)
Every graduate needs to step out into the “real world” in style, and at Lynn University all styles are welcome as you’ll see from the many styles of shoes that made their red carpet appearance at our 2013 commencement ceremony.
682 receive degrees from Stetson University
Daytona Times
Stetson University conferred bachelor’s and master’s degrees to 682 graduates on May 11, during two commencement ceremonies at the Edmunds Center, 143 E. Pennsylvania Ave…
Yip Yap: Noted and Quoted FLHE Voices from Around the State
Opinion: Florida taxpayers need accounting of college pay
Daytona Beach News-Journal
You know you have a problem when state auditors cannot tell the governor exactly how much some public college presidents are paid in salary and benefits…
Does FAU board of trustees need an overhaul?
South Florida Business Journal (blog)
With Mary Jane Saunders resigning as president of Florida Atlantic University, a question remains regarding whether some of the board members should go, too…
Letters: Next administration at FAU should be leaner, more open
Palm Beach Post
Regardless of the post-mortem to follow, I thank Mary Jane Saunders for making the courageous decision to step down as Florida Atlantic University’s president. Hopefully, the administration now will begin to think of students as more than data in an Excel table…RAMASWAMY NARAYANAN – Boca Raton
Lowe: FAU’s Saunders resigns
Sun-Sentinel
Over the course of my journalistic career, I’ve witnessed a number of good reporters get promoted to management positions because that was the natural next step for them in their careers. Except that it was unnatural because sometimes they turned out to be disasters as editors…
Stein: Can FAU restore its image?
Sun-Sentinel
Can Florida Atlantic University restore its image? Absolutely. Thankfully Mary Jane Saunders has resigned as president of the university which had become a late-night TV joke favorite. That’s not what you are looking for when you are considering donating to a university, or sending your child there. You want to be proud of the university. While many good things have happened at FAU, the blunders during the past few months under Saunders obscured any of the good. It was time for her to be gone. She knew it. Everyone knew it…
FAU editorial was good obituary
Sun-Sentinel
Regarding the May 16 editorial, “What’s next for FAU:” I filed this editorial under: “How to write a kind obituary for a victim.” It was sappy and supercilious, but the tone was just right; ironically, so was its vague conclusion.…Richard Dea, Delray Beach
Letter: Jesus exercise did not come from ‘textbook’
Sun-Sentinel
In Mike Mayo’s May 16 column about Florida Atlantic University’s President Mary Jane Saunders’ resignation, he wrote “Religious conservatives and Gov. Scott got mad when they heard about a classroom exercise that called for Jesus’ name to be stepped on, even though the professor got the exercise from a textbook and it had been done numerous times before.”…Chris Christensen, Margate
Nick Healy Helping to Start New Catholic College in Ireland
The Ave Herald
Former Ave Maria University President Nick Healy is somber as he cites example after example of how Ireland is slipping farther and farther away from its Catholic heritage. “Ireland once supplied priests, missionaries and educators all over the world …
Journalist Soledad O’Brien to speak at Broward youth event
MiamiHerald.com
Award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien, known for her Black In America documentary series as well as being a former CNN Anchor, will be the keynote speaker at the #IamCHANGE Youth Town Hall at 7 p.m. Friday at Broward College South Campus.
Interim President of FAU Pushed Chick-fil-A Stadium Naming Deal, Former A.D. …
New Times Broward-Palm Beach (blog)
Hapless Florida Atlantic University president Mary Jane Saunders resigned yesterday, and with their usual talent for due diligence and public relations savvy, the board of trustees filled the still-stinking seat with Dennis Crudele, who reportedly was go-between in the school’s effort to sell naming rights to its football stadium to the notoriously homophobic fast-food chain Chick-fil-A. Crudele is better known for supporting maximum tuition hikes last summer, at a time when governor Rick Scott opposed them. Crudele argued hikes were necessary because FAU faced cuts of $24.8 million in state funds and might have to close campuses in downtown Fort Lauderdale and Port St. Lucie. (The former is still open; the latter is not.)
Famed NCAA coach Andy Enfield shares his ‘second act’ with Slate
DigitalJournal.com
In the second installment of Slate magazine’s Second Acts crowd-sourcing and editorial series, Florida Gulf Coast University‘s basketball coach Andy Enfield provides perspective on how his original experiences in his “first act” working as a vice president at a technology start-up provided the legs for his “second act” as an NCAA basketball coach for one of the most exciting teams to make it to the Sweet 16.
Miami Artist Turns Body Fat Into Soap After Surgery
WLRN
Miami artist Orestes De La Paz has an unusual piece of performance art on display at the Frost Art Museum on the campus Florida International University…
Taylor named director of undergraduate admissions
University at Buffalo Reporter
Barry Taylor, director of undergraduate admissions at Florida International University, has been appointed director of undergraduate admissions at UB, effective June 19…
Rise in Roadkill Requires New Solutions
Scientific American
In February of 2000 Matt Aresco, then a PhD student at The Florida State University in Tallahassee, drove through and was stunned at the sight of dozens of crushed turtles. For the next five weeks he patrolled the road between the lakes, once counting 343 dead turtles in 10 days. “It was so heartbreaking to see dozens of turtles, animals that could be 50 or 60 years old, smashed before they make it two feet onto the road,” he says…
Crime rate down in state, county Number of arrests in county rise
St. Augustine Record
Bill Bales, professor in the College of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Florida State University, said crime has been declining in Florida for around 20 years, and Florida is not alone…
Internet cafe law may have unintended targets
Tampabay.com
That word — skill — “from a legal standpoint, is a huge, huge change,” said Marc Dunbar, an adjunct law professor at Florida State University and an attorney who focuses on gaming and governmental law…
Online database shows how much pharmaceutical companies are paying …
WPTV
“There is a legitimate fear,” said Dr Craig Hanson, a professor and medical ethics expert at Palm Beach Atlantic University.
3 Ringling graduate students win Student Academy Awards
WWSB ABC 7
Three graduate students from Ringling College of Art and Design have been selected as winners in the 2013 Student Academy Awards…
Feds say students can bring pets to college dorm rooms – WOGX.com
WOGX
Stetson University senior Brenton Alloway says he likes the fact that pets are allowed in his dorm, Stetson Cove Apartments — one of two dorms on campus that is pet friendly. “You can choose when you sign up…
FDLE report shows crime down across central Florida
WFTV Orlando
But despite the jump in sex crimes, experts told Heath that the study shows a much safer central Florida. ”For the most part, it’s a tricky business to interpret crime statics,” said Kenneth Adams, criminal justice professor at the University of Central Florida…
Florida coach calls Nick Saban ‘the devil himself’
Examiner.com
Tim Davis, an assistant coach for the University of Florida Gators football team, is not a fan of University of Alabama coach Nick Saban. At a recent event Davis referred to Saban as “the devil himself,”…
Harris employee honored by University of Florida
Florida Today
Cindy Kane, director of corporate relations for Melbourne-based Harris Corp., has been named a 2013 Alumna of Distinction by the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications…
African American Baby Boomers And Retirement: It’s A Challenge
WJCT NEWS
Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder, a professor of sociology at the University of North Florida, says the same black Baby Boomers who lived through the Jim Crow era and the turmoil of the Civil Rights movement often find they don’t have the skills to successfully navigate the vagaries of retirement. ”You know there are definitely racial gaps as far as access to technology,” says Wilder. “And so African Americans in particular have less access to to computers and technology. And even if they do have access to it, they’re a lot more resistant to embrace all the different things that the technological advances have brought.”
Pre-med student arrested for tricking girlfriend into taking abortion pill
WTSP 10 News
According to his Facebook page, [Andrew] Welden was a pre-med student at the University of South Florida…
How USF engages in education
MyFox Tampa Bay
Jenna Withrow has helped build the University of South Florida’s social media empire from the ground up. It started with just one Facebook page. “From there it just kind of grew organically,” Withrow said.
Releases and Web Stories
FGCU Claims the 2013 A-Sun All-Sports Championship
FGCU Athletics
MACON, Ga. – Florida Gulf Coast University is the Bill Bibb Trophy winner for the first time in the school’s history, edging ETSU to claim the 2012-13 Atlantic Sun All-Sports championship…
Study: Oil Dispersants May Make Oil Sink Deeper Into Sand
WCTV
Tallahassee, FLA — A Florida State University researcher working as part of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) investigated the effects of dispersants on the movement of crude oil through water-saturated marine sand and found that dispersants potentially facilitate penetration of oil components into the seabed, where oxygen concentrations may affect the degradation of the oil.
Peekaboo Photo Booth Present in Rollins College Senior Sendoff Celebration
DigitalJournal.com (press release)
Andrew Birr, owner of Peekaboo Photo Booth states, “Over the last few years, we’ve done many events for Rollins College and this event is the most rewarding each year.
SF Digital Media Students Receive Scholarships
Santa Fe College
The Digital Media Technology department at Santa Fe College held the 2013 Student Showcase Thursday, May 2 with a gala opening and awards ceremony…
