First lady lauds USF veterans program

Posted Jan 13, 2012 by Lindsay Peterson

Updated Jan 16, 2012 at 04:11 PM

First lady Michelle Obama singled out USF yesterday in an address before students and faculty at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.

It was one of three programs she named, of 130, that are part of a new veterans initiative called Joining Forces.

What caught her attention was a USF plan to “create a first-of-its-kind Center for Veterans Reintegration, which will mean a single, cohesive research, treatment, and education facility for veterans and families.” It’s working with the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

The idea behind Joining Forces is to train medical students and doctors to provide better treatment to veterans and their family members. It also aims to bolster research and clinical trials on post-traumatic stress disorder and brain injury.

“I’m inspired to see our nation’s medical schools step up to address this pressing need for our veterans and military families.  By directing some of our brightest minds, our most cutting-edge research, and our finest teaching institutions toward our military families, they’re ensuring that those who have served our country receive the first-rate care that they have earned,” said the first lady.

You can go here to read more about USF and the program, which also involves the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.

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Alexander cancels meeting after making officials scurry

Posted Jan 11, 2012 by Lindsay Peterson

Updated Jan 11, 2012 at 10:31 AM

University officials across the state gave up their vacations, worked overtime and generally threw themselves into fulfilling a massive data request from state Sen. JD Alexander last month.

He needed the information fast he said because his Senate Budget Committee wanted time to analyze it before a Jan. 13 meeting.

The answers, delivered on time last week, covered 5,000 pages.

And Alexander’s reponse: “Nevermind.”

The meeting set for Friday the 13th has been cancelled.

People were already peeved by the massive last-minute request. Now you can imagine what they’re saying.

This whole thing spiraled from Alexander’s fight with USF over his desire to make USF Polytechnic an independent university. And that seemed obvious when the leader of a key education committee, state Rep. Bill Proctor, wrote the university presidents a letter last week with a less inquisition-type tone.

Proctor invited them for what sounded like a grown-up, collegial discussion of how to best serve their students.

Despite the trouble Alexander caused everyone who had to scurry to meet his demands, the new chairman of the Board of Governors, Dean Colson, sounds unruffled.

This comes from Board of Governors spokeswoman Kelly Layman:

“Chair Colson has talked with Sen. Alexander on a great many issues this past year in his service as Vice Chair and as the legislative point person for the Board. Chair Colson believes that we can continue to work cooperatively with the Legislature in order to achieve outcomes for both the existing and new accountability and performance metrics we have put in place, while not decreasing student access to our public universities.”

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Mayor Iorio returns to USF

Posted Jan 11, 2012 by Lindsay Peterson

Updated Jan 11, 2012 at 09:18 AM

She’s back, for a night.

Pam Iorio is speaking tonight at USF about something we’re not hearing a lot about in these STEM-focused days.

It’s how the humanities prepare people for leadership.

Iorio received a master’s degree in history from USF, and she went on to be a hugely popular Tampa mayor, leaving office after two terms with an 87 percent approval rating.

She’s also promoting her book tonight, Straightforward: Ways to Live & Lead, in which she describes her “distinctly direct, clear, honest, strategic and respectful” way of working with people.

The soiree, at the Patel Center for Global Solutions, starts at 6 p.m. with a reception for invited guests. Her talk begins at 7 p.m.

You can go here for more info.

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Search for new Poly chief soon to start

Posted Jan 9, 2012 by Lindsay Peterson

Updated Jan 9, 2012 at 04:47 PM

USF is moving right along toward finding a permanent replacement for Marshall Goodman at USF Polytechnic.

USF President Judy Genshaft dismissed Goodman from his chancellor’s post last month, giving Lakeland CPA David Touchton the interim job.

Picking a replacement is a major move because Poly’s new chancellor could end up becoming Poly’s first president when it goes independent - after meeting several goals set in November by the state university Board of Governors.

Meeting (by phone) with a group of USF trustees assigned to monitor the Poly independence quest, Genshaft said last week she was leaning toward hiring the R. William Funk & Associates search firm.

He’s led other searches for polytechnic chiefs. He also led the search that put Frank Brogan in the chancellor’s seat of the Florida State University System.

There’ll be more discussion about this on Thursday. That’s when the two subcommittees keeping tabs on Poly – one from the USF Board of Trustees the other from the Board of Governors – meet in Orlando. Here’s the agenda.

A couple of members of the governors subcommittee were peeved at Genshaft after she named Touchton, an opponent of separating Poly from USF.

That set off board member John Temple, who dropped an indignant letter on Brogan last week.

But it seems the fireworks show has ended, for now.

You can go here for a sanitized version of the tension-filled conference call over Goodman’s replacement.

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Bye, bye holidays. Crowds return to campus

Posted Jan 8, 2012 by Lindsay Peterson

Updated Jan 9, 2012 at 11:43 AM

Busy week.

There’s a picnic on Monday morning outside the Marshall Center, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and that night the Office of Multicultural Affairs is putting on a “massive” welcome party in the ballroom with an emcee, music, dance performances and free food.

Get more free food – coffee and donut holes – the next morning from student veterans on the MLK sidewalk near the Marshall Center.

There’s even more free food available Tuesday afternoon at Carnival 21—trail mix. The health-promotion event, from 3:30-5:30 p.m., offers students DermaScans to reveal facial sun damage (yikes), foot and neck massagers and free pedometers to first comers.

Bring your coolest mug and make your own hot chocolate from 1-3 p.m. on Friday at the USF Botanical Gardens.

And on Saturday, join more than 3,000 USF students who plan to help Hillsborough residents across the county as part of the Stampede of Service.

One other thing.

Classes start on Monday.

Go here to get a list of what’s going on

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