The transition from high school to college ranks among the most exciting and the most insecure times in a young person’s life. To reduce the chances of unwelcome complications, students can take a few simple precautions to optimize their transition experience.

First, become familiar with the campus. Locate the emergency phones and the safest ways to get to class. At nighttime, seek out well-lit paths and avoid areas where thieves or assailants could hide. Second, inform friends and family of your daily routine and furnish a class schedule for your parents. Third, use social media intelligently, especially considering the startling rise in social media use among criminals, who glean information from Facebook and Twitter to choose targets.

According to research by Dr. Jon Coleman, roommate assignment is the process that introduces students to a university and greatly affects student impressions of the institution. Students who choose their own roommates, as opposed to having them selected by a housing authority, demonstrate a higher likelihood of remaining in their rooms. Dr. Coleman’s findings further indicate that students who use an online roommate search program subsequently express more satisfaction with their roommate experience than those who had their choice dictated to them by a university.

Another study, this one by Michigan State University, ranks roommate conflicts among the top reasons for dropping out of college. Further, the findings imply that roommate conflicts also spur college transfers.

FAMU creates new mobile app
WTXL ABC 27
Florida A&M University (FAMU) students are now able to use their smartphones to access a mobile application made specifically for Rattlers. The University launched the app, appropriately called FAMU Mobile, on August 27.  It is designed to give the entire FAMU community real-time access to campus news, events, courses, sports, maps and much more –whether they are on or off campus.

FSU welcomes Class of 2016
Florida Flambeau
On Sunday, Aug. 26, Florida State University ushered approximately 5,800 students into the Class of 2016 at the New Student Convocation held in the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center.

FSU Give Fans Chance To Say Thanks To Veterans
WCTV
From flyovers to Paratroopers dropping from the sky, Florida State has always found a way to incorporate Military appreciation into the football atmosphere. In 2012, FSU is doing something special that will allow fans to show their appreciation as well.

Many freshmen still let colleges pick roommates
Boston Globe
About 250,000 students have signed up for RoomSurf over the past three years. The University of Central Florida and the University of Arizona have established official partnerships with the website.

UCF to again hold off on graduate medical education approvals
Orlando Business Journal
The University of Central Florida will again hold off on discussions about sponsoring a graduate medical education program through the College of Medicine…

Tour comes to the University of Florida to engage students in politics
WUFT
A tour aimed at engaging young voters during this election season arrives at the University of Florida today. The event is put on by Politic365 and will feature a rally where students can share their opinions on such topics as jobs, education, healthcare, immigration, and voter participation. Special Assistant to University of Florida President Bernie Machen, James Sowell, says this event is meant to encourage students to vote…

State College System

Brevard Community College ponders name change
Florida Today
Brevard Community College may soon have a new name. BCC officials recently hired strategic communications firm Curley & Pynn to assist in a process to gauge community input in choosing a new name, which will reflect the institution’s shift to offering four-year degrees as early as next fall…

Broward invites feedback Wednesday on plan to create jobs
Sun-Sentinel
The “Six Pillars Broward” event will be at Broward College Bailey Hall, Building 4, 3501 Davie Road…

Daytona State Goes Campuswide With Outcomes Management Tool
Campus Technology
Daytona State College will shortly go institution-wide with an initiative it’s been testing to measure learning outcomes…

Murphy and West close to agreeing on first debate
TCPalm
West’s campaign on Saturday accepted a debate invitation with the Northern Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce and Palm Beach State College.

Suspect in slaying of SFC student surrenders to police
Gainesville Sun
Gainesville Police have made an arrest in connection with the murder of a Santa Fe College student last week, but investigators are still searching for the person they say pulled the trigger…

Independent Colleges and Universities

Princeton Review Names Florida Tech One of Best Southeast Colleges
Brevard Times
The Florida Institute of Technology is again one of the best colleges in the Southeast according to the nationally known education services company The Princeton Review…

Yip Yap: Noted and Quoted FLHE Voices from Around the State

Cheers: UNF gains another honor
Florida Times-Union
The University of North Florida continues to rack up national recognition. Once again, the university was listed as one of 136 institutions in the Best of the Southeast section of The Princeton Review’s website “2013 Best Colleges: Region by Region.”

Williams: FAMU can’t let this chance pass
Tallahassee Democrat (blog)
When I was growing up, my parents instilled in me several invaluable but simple concepts about opportunity. First, there are always opportunities even in the worst of circumstances. However, one must look in order to see or recognize an opportunity when it presents itself. Once it is seen, you have to seize it, knowing that it may be a long time, if ever, in coming again. Too many opportunities are missed because they were not seen and seized by the very people who could benefit from them…Henry Neal Williams is a professor and director of the Environmental Sciences Institute at Florida A&M University. Contact him at henryneal.williams@famu.edu.

FAMU Appoints Interim Dean in College of Education
WTXL ABC 27
Florida A&M University (FAMU) Interim President Larry Robinson has appointed Patricia A. Green-Powell as the interim dean in the FAMU College of Education.

The trick for GOP: Being heard above Isaac’s gales
San Jose Mercury News
“The American public is just about at wits’ end with everything being partisan,” says Richard S. Olson, who studies the politics of disaster at Florida International University in Miami. ”One of the problems with these scripted conventions is that, when something happens literally during convention time, the scripts make the speakers look out of touch,” he says. “And if the RNC wants to connect to the broad American public, one of the ways to do that would be to talk about it, talk about disasters as transcending normal everyday politics and make it a true national concern.”

MSU announces finalists, public forums for MSU Letters and Science dean position
KXLF Butte News
Nicol Rae is the senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Florida International University…

Distant Allies: Mitt Romney and Florida Governor Rick Scott
Stateline
“The governor is further right than the GOP mainstream,” says Charles Barrilleaux, a political science professor at Florida State University.

20-year-old selected as alternate delegate to RNC
Florida Today
Alejandro Capote became a U.S. citizen on April 28, 2011. Ten months later he was selected as an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention. That transition may be less remarkable than the journey that prompted it, the Florida State University junior’s 1998 escape from Castro’s Cuba as a 6-year-old…

Thomas mixes prayer, politics in speech to Lakeland Optimist Club
News Chief
Ethan Boyd, a Polk State College student, had a mixed reaction to Thomas’ views. “There was stuff I kind of agreed with and stuff that had me on the edge of my seat (in disagreement),” he said…

Empire State Building shooting: Gunman Jeffrey Johnson handed keys to his …
Daily Mail
Born in 1953 to a Japanese mother and an American father, [Jeffrey] Johnson attended Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida from 1978 to 1980…

After Empire State Building Shooting, a Gunman’s Mother Asks Why
New York Times
After attending Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla., he [Jeffrey Johnson] joined the Coast Guard and got married. After four years he and his wife divorced, about three decades ago, Ms. Johnson said.

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Columnist to Speak at Rollins
About – Cities & Towns
On September 6, 2012 at 7:30 p.m., the Winter Park Institute at Rollins College will host New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Nicholas Kristof…

Return of the trolleys: Tally’s free ride
Florida Flambeau
Rick Sterling, a native Tallahasseean and Tallahassee Community College student, believes the trolleys would be perfect for evenings out and for football games. “The trolleys are better than the city bus,” said Sterling. “If they took me from where I tailgated to the stadium—it’d be cool. It’d be a great way to transport myself when I’m drunk.”

Though Small In Number, Protesters Take Aim At Both Parties
NPR (blog)
“We’re trying to build someone above any political party because equality should be above political parties,” said Jonathan Alingu, 24, an economics major at the University of Central Florida and a student labor activist.

Deborah German: Valencia’s Lake Nona campus will make Medical City ‘even stronger’
Bizjournals.com (blog)
Dr. Deborah German, dean of the University of Central Florida College of Medicine and vice president of medical affairs, wasn’t available for an interview before we went to press, but did send over a statement. “We are delighted to have Valencia as a partner in Medical City,” German wrote in the statement. “The students who will choose health-related careers in medicine and biomedical sciences are often advanced and have gone beyond the usual high school offerings. Valencia’s presence adjacent to the Lake Nona High School will allow these young students to be stimulated beyond the high school curriculum. This will make our medical city even stronger.”

Storm deters convention protesters
USA TODAY
“If the hurricane weren’t an issue, I believe there would have been more than (5,000),” said Robbey Hayes, 21, a member of Students for a Democratic Society and a student at the University of Florida.

Putting power lines underground brings it own concerns: panel
Platts
“Simply undergrounding a power line does not eliminate” the risk of an outage, “it shifts the risk,” said Ted Kury, director of energy studies at the Public Utility Research Center at the University of Florida…

Though Small In Number, Protesters Take Aim At Both Parties
KERA News
As volunteers passed plastic buckets for donations, Michela Martinazzi, 20, a University of Florida student, talked about why Obama is only marginally more popular with the left-wing coalition that refers to itself as the 99 percent. ”President Obama ran a campaign based on promises in 2008, and he made us all hopeful,” she said. “But he has disappointed.” Will she vote in the fall? ”Unfortunately,” said Martinazzi, an art history and French major, “I’m going to have to vote for Obama. At least he’s not trying to defund Planned Parenthood and take away choice.”

Isaac leaves power outages, flood warnings across South Florida
Bellingham Herald
The area’s agricultural community also fared relatively well. But some avocado trees lost fruit and broke branches in the high winds, said Teresa Olczyk, director of the Miami-Dade County/University of Florida Cooperative Extension office.

RNC 2012 Protests Lead To At Least One Arrest
Huffington Post
Florida labor organizer Jose Soto said 16 buses of protesters from New York, Miami and the Florida Panhandle canceled because of the storm. He said the bus companies didn’t want their equipment and drivers headed into possible problems.”It’s a calamity but all the people here are delegates for those who can’t be here,” said Soto of the University of Florida’s Graduate Assistants United local.

In Hurricane Forecasts, “Cone of Uncertainty” Is Surrounded by Haze of Confusion
Slate Magazine (blog)
Kenny Broad, an environmental anthropologist at the University of Miami, has spent years studying how people perceive environmental risk. In 2007 he co-wrote a paper on how the public interpreted—and, just as often, misinterpreted—the cone of uncertainty in the runup to Hurricane Charlie in Florida in 2004. Among his findings was that many people thought that the cone represented the storm’s likely geographical extent. It actually says nothing about how large the affected area will be, or how intense its effects might be in different places. It just indicates the areas most likely to find themselves in the exact eye of the storm. Perhaps even more confusingly, Broad noted, the cone “is not tailored to the size, severity, or previous behavior of each individual storm.” Its shape is entirely determined in advance based on the average error of all official storm forecasts in the region over the previous five years…

Two UNF students earn national Delta Nu Alpha Foundation scholarships
Florida Times-Union (blog)
Taylor Barry of Ponte Vedra Beach, and Alexis Anderson of the Arlington neigborhood, who are University of North Florida seniors, have received scholarships from the Delta Nu Alpha Foundation, a national nonprofit supporting education in the fields of transportation, distribution and logistics.

Duval superintendent semifinalists peppered with questions Monday night
Florida Times-Union
Larry Daniel, the dean of the College of Education and Human Services at the University of North Florida, asked the semifinalists how they would strengthen and expand partnerships with the local higher education institutions.

USF Professor Launches Petition Against On-Campus Chick-fil-A
Patch.com
Dr. Scott Ferguson, assistant professor in the Department of Humanities & Cultural Studies at the University of South Florida started the petition about a month ago on change.org, a website that allows anyone to create their own grassroots campaign..

GOP: We need you Florida
Naples Daily News
“There’s very little evidence that a convention helps carry a state,” said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

GOP gives Florida Governor Scott good grades
The News-Press
Susan MacManus, political science expert from the University of South Florida in Tampa, said the governor has done well so far. “I’m sure the people are most appreciative that he has put politics aside,” she said.

Florida: Website Fights Back Against Ticket Quota
TheNewspaper.com
A college professor has turned to the Internet to make her case against ticket quotas in Tampa, Florida. Barbara Orban, who teaches graduate courses in public health a the University of South Florida, set up Highway Robbery Tampa last week to detail her allegations against city officials built up over the course of more than a decade of research. ”Since I contend that certain police officials, attorneys and judges were untruthful or violated laws, my website is essential in providing supporting documentation to affirm my statements,” Orban told TheNewspaper.

The End of Ron Paul and His Selective Patriots
Esquire (blog)
Ron and Rand Paul continued their quixotic, doomed attempt to bring real diversity to Republican thought at the RNC’s off-Broadway opener here at the University of South Florida on Sunday night…

Ron Paul Fires Up University Of South Florida Crowd
NPR
Rep. Ron Paul, who challenged Mitt Romney during the GOP primary season, hasn’t endorsed Romney. Paul won’t be speaking at the convention, which upsets his supporters. At Sunday’s rally, thousands cheered the loudest when Paul repeated his anti-war message, and called for an end to the Federal Reserve…

Paul Fans Bid Him Adieu for Now
Wall Street Journal
The “Paulians” chanted “Paul ’16″ and “President Paul” inside the Sun Dome on the University of South Florida campus, about a half-hour’s drive from the official convention site.

Unfinished town in Fla. left in limbo
Detroit Free Press
But Elizabeth Strom, who teaches urban planning at the University of South Florida, wonders if Connerton will reduce suburban sprawl or create more of it.

Releases and Web Stories

Flagler College Receives Tourism Grant from VISIT FLORIDA
ReadMedia (press release)
AUGUSTINE, FL (08/27/2012)(readMedia)– Visit Florida, the state’s official source for travel planning, has awarded a $2,000 Cultural Heritage and Nature Tourism Grant to Flagler College for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, which began July 1, 2012.

Art of Ernst Oppler at The Foosaner Art Museum
Brevard Times
MELBOURNE, Florida — The Foosaner Art Museum presents a comprehensive exhibition of the work of Ernst Oppler (German, 1867 – 1929) according to a news release from the Florida Institute of Technology.

Sweet Sparkman Architects and Ringling College of Art and Design Partner to Present ‘ORIGINS’ at the 2012 Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy
PR Web (press release)
Sweet Sparkman Architects and Ringling College of Art and Design today presented their joint conceptual architectural exhibit – ‘ORIGINS’ – at the 13th International Architecture Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia at the Palazzo Bembo in Venice, Italy…

Lockheed Martin Donates $500000 to Support University of Central Florida STEM teacher education
PR Newswire
ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) marked the 20^th anniversary of the Lockheed Martin / University of Central Florida Academy for Mathematics and Science at the University of Central Florida (UCF) with a $500,000 donation toward the program. Aimed specifically at preparing teachers to teach mathematics and science in Central Florida, Lockheed Martin has contributed more than $2 million to support the Academy and its participants since 1992.

Advanced IT Concepts Shines as Winner of 2012 Florida Companies to Watch
The Herald | HeraldOnline.com
ORLANDO, FLA., AUG. 27, 2012 — /PRNewswire/ – Advanced IT Concepts (AITC) has been recognized as a recipient of the 2012 Florida Companies to Watch award, an honor presented by the Florida Economic Gardening Institute/GrowFL at the University of Central Florida and the State of Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, in association with the Edward Lowe Foundation and funding support provided by SunTrust Banks, Inc…

Week Ahead for Aug. 27 to Aug. 31
The Florida Current
POLITIC365 TOUR…The Politic365 College Convention Bus Tour, aimed at engaging young voters during this election season, makes three stops at Florida universities this week. It will be at the University of Florida on Monday, the University of North Florida on Tuesday and the University of South Florida on Thursday. The UF leg will be be 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Rion Ballroom of the Reitz Student Union…

When a high school senior gets accepted in to college, he or she typically goes through a series of phases. The initial reaction is shock, then celebration with family and friends, and then something dawns on the college student-to-be.

I’m going to have to find a roommate…

Roomsurf, the social networking-based roommate matching service for college-bound high school seniors re-launched on January 20. This website has proven to be very popular among students, offering timid future college freshman a portal to make friends, connections, and potential roommates going to the college of their choice.

The successful website has gained over 20,000 subscribers since its re-launch this year, and has helped 175,000 students find compatible roommates from over 1,000 colleges and universities.

Roomsurf has a unique and innovative method to match roommates with the most compatible candidate. Students are asked to take a survey and answer a series of questions after joining the site, which relate to their living habits, what they’d like to see in a roommate, and how they would act with a roommate.

“Roomsurf gives students a platform to self select their future college roommates rather than leaving this important decision to chance” said Dan Thibodeau, Co-Founder of Roomsurf.

“By providing a social matching experience, Roomsurf helps users narrow their roommate search by allowing them to communicate with calculated matches to find the perfect fit.”

Staples High School student, Amanda Piccolino ’12, says that Roomsurf was a safe, easy, and enjoyable experience.

“It’s a straight-forward and non-awkward way to find the perfect roommate. You know everyone’s looking for a roommate on the site, and without talking to each other in person, you can tell if you’re compatible.”

Essentially, Roomsurf has opened a lot of doors, and has certainly benefited the future college student community.