Florida Trend | Florida's Business Authority

UCF Board of Trustees to consider President Dale Whittaker's resignation

UCF Board of Trustees to consider President Dale Whittaker's resignation

The UCF Board of Trustees will consider Whittaker’s resignation on Thursday morning during a special meeting on campus. Whittaker, who is facing pressure from state lawmakers and others, told trustees on Tuesday he was offering to resign. The Florida Board of Governors and the House Public Integrity and Ethics committee are investigating the university’s use, or planned use, of $85 million intended for operating expenses on construction. Read more from the Orlando Sentinel and read Dale Whittaker's resignation letter.

See also:
» UCF President Dale Whittaker gains support of 3,800 and counting through online petition
» Just 8 Months Into the Job, U. of Central Florida’s President Resigns

Florida researchers decode shark genome

In a major scientific step to understand the biology of this iconic apex predator and sharks in general, the entire genome of the white shark has now been decoded in detail. A team led by scientists from Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Research Center and Guy Harvey Research Institute (GHRI), Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, and Monterey Bay Aquarium, completed the white shark genome and compared it to genomes from a variety of other vertebrates, including the giant whale shark and humans. [Source: Florida Trend]

Record number of Central Florida students accepted into Disney Dreamer's Academy

A record number of Central Florida high school students were selected to participate in the Disney Dreamer’s Academy hosted by television personality Steve Harvey. Each year, thousands of students from across the country apply to the all-expenses paid career boot camp but only 100 teenagers are selected. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

Miami Dade College offers Florida's first Tesla START training program for service technicians

Miami Dade College (MDC) is the first institution in the Southeastern United States to partner with Tesla to offer a certificate training program for service technicians called Tesla START. The leader in electric car design and manufacturing will train students as technicians at a new facility being built at the College’s West Campus. [Source: Florida Trend]

As Florida mulls changes to its education standards, do we wait to order new textbooks?

School districts across the state are looking to buy a new batch of textbooks to last the next few years, a routine task that rarely attracts much attention. But this year is proving different after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he wants to eliminate any vestige of the Common Core standards from Florida’s school system. [Source: ]

See also:
» What should replace Common Core in Florida schools? State seeks input

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Stetson University HackerSpace presents 3-D car racing game workshop
High school and Stetson University college students and alumni have a chance to get behind the wheel and learn how to develop a 3-D car racing game for the final Stetson HackerSpace workshop, 3-D Game Development with Unity, on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2-4 p.m., at the Lynn Business Center, in computer lab room 317.

› New Orlando west-side early learning center promises more than education
The nonprofit LIFT Orlando and AdventHealth have started construction on a “first of its kind” early learning center in the long-neglected West Lakes neighborhood south of Camping World Stadium, with an opening expected by August.

› USF professors take sides over Mayor Mel Jurado and her diploma-mill doctorate
In the ongoing back and forth over the academic claims of Mayor Mel Jurado, one university professor used the podium at a City Council meeting Tuesday night to condemn another professor who stood in the same place earlier this month and defended the embattled mayor’s resume.

› Proposed bill would allow Florida students to ditch advanced math for industry certifications
State Senator Travis Hutson (R-St. Johns) introduced a bill last week that, if passed, would dramatically change traditional four-year graduation requirements for high school students by doing away with the requirement to pass some advanced math and science courses.