All things FSU: November 2017

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Random Fisher FSU Booster notes (Update)

http://www.tallahassee.com/story/sports/2017/11/28/don-t-publish-personal-dynamics-play-jimbo-fishers-decision/901799001/

Another complicating factor is the relationship between Fisher and Seminole Boosters, Inc. President Andy Miller according to multiple sources.

“They just don’t like each other,” said one of four people associated with the university and its athletics program. They spoke to the Democrat on the condition they not be named because of the tenuous nature of the negotiations with Fisher.

While published reports from Houston continue to indicate Fisher has agreed in principle to a deal, Fisher has declined to comment on the Aggies’ job. He also did not return comment for this story.

Fisher is unhappy with the Boosters’ focus on projects other than football operations, according to sources.

Miller told the Democrat Tuesday the Boosters’ role is to raise money for the advancement of the university, including all 20 of its men’s and women’s sports teams, and football.

He said the Boosters respond to the priorities as articulated by the athletic director and president.

“As for capital projects, we have been responsive to coach Fisher’s facility requests including the indoor practice facility, locker rooms, coaches offices, player lounge and student housing for football and are actively fund-raising for his most recent request for a football facility that is currently under architectural study by the athletic department,” Miller said.

Thrasher defended the setup between the athletics department and the Boosters, which serves as the fund-raising arm of FSU’s teams.

“This structure has been in place since the Boosters were founded,” Thrasher said. “It has served us well, and I don't see any issues that reasonable adults could not work through.

"How many football coaches have we had in the last 40 years?”

The Boosters has raised and spent $150 million toward facilities just for football since 2012 and more than $400 million since the early 1990s.

The organization annually transfers $22 million to the athletics department for all its programs.

In addition to raising operating funds, facility gifts and endowments, the Boosters also funds long-term debt of $10 million annually on facilities already built.

Jason Staples‏ @DocStaples

Travis Johnson’s most recent tweets basically hit it on the head as to why it’s been adversarial. There are old guard voices among the Boosters who have opposed modernization of the program at every step. But some of the biggest Boosters are allied w/Fisher, too

Jason Staples‏ @DocStaples

Annexation seems to be the right word. Boosters coming under university control like at UF & generally modernizing how that org is run is probably the endgame here if I’m connecting the dots I’ve been given correctly

Dubee da Grinch‏ @dubee24

No, it’s because he feels like many others do that it’s run like a lemonade stand. Same guy for 40 years running it and staffed by friends/good ole boys. Separate from university unlike UF, Clemson, etc.

FSU & Texas A&M

Corey Clark/TDO.com‏Verified account @Corey_Clark

FSU Boosters add $5.8 Million gift

https://floridastate.forums.rivals.com/threads/seminole-boosters-has-record-setting-increases-in-annual-fund-raising.200847/

This just released:

Seminole Boosters is pleased to announce a very significant gift from the Ghazvini Family in Tallahassee for $5.8 million over the next decade towards athletic facilities. This philanthropic family’s total lifetime gifts and pledges now exceeds $10 million to Seminole Boosters. Additionally we are pleased to report new major gifts from Mike and Jeri Damasiewicz, Jimmy and Lisa Graganella, Greg and Michelle Michaud, Paul and Mary Ann Broom and Joe Hughes.

The start of the year-end giving campaign will begin on Giving Tuesday with gifts being designated to Athletic Scholarships or a Coaches Club.

The 2017 Annual Fund campaign had a record setting year. The average gift amount increased by nearly 13% percent with total gifts and pledges of $19.7 million.

Reminder, FSU is a 'King'

No matter how much ESPN tries to knock down any SEC competition or how much Jimbo takes cheap shots at FSU, FSU is elite.

http://allthingsfsu.blogspot.com/2017/05/2017-update-kings-barons-knights-and.html

2007	2012	2017
Kings
Alabama	Alabama	Alabama
Florida	Florida	Clemson
Florida State	Florida State	Florida
Miami	LSU	Florida State
Michigan	Miami	LSU
Nebraska	Michigan	Miami
Notre Dame	Nebraska	Michigan
Ohio State	Notre Dame	Notre Dame
Oklahoma	Ohio State	Ohio State
Penn State	Oklahoma	Oklahoma
Tennessee*	Penn State	Penn State
Texas	Texas	Texas
USC	USC	USC
Barons
Auburn	Auburn	Auburn
Clemson	Clemson	Georgia
Colorado	Georgia	Michigan State
Georgia	Oregon	Nebraska
LSU*	Tennessee	Oregon
Texas A&M	Texas A&M	Stanford
UCLA	UCLA	Tennessee
Virginia Tech	Virginia Tech	Texas A&M
Washington	West Virginia	UCLA
Wisconsin	Wisconsin.	Virginia Tech
		Wisconsin
Knights
Arizona State	Arizona State	Arizona State
Arkansas	Arkansas	Arkansas
Boston College	Boise State	Baylor
California	Boston College	BYU
Georgia Tech	BYU	Cal
Illinois	Cal	Colorado
Iowa	Colorado	Georgia Tech
Kansas State	Georgia Tech	Illinois
Maryland	Illinois	Iowa
Michigan State	Iowa	Kansas State
Missouri	Kansas State	Louisville
NC State	Maryland	Maryland
Oklahoma State	Michigan State	Missouri
Ole Miss	Missouri	NC State
Oregon	NC State	North Carolina
Oregon State	Oklahoma State	Northwestern
Pittsburgh	Ole Miss	Oklahoma State
Purdue	Oregon State	Ole Miss
Stanford	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh
Syracuse*	Purdue	Purdue
South Carolina	Stanford	South Carolina
Texas Tech	Syracuse	Syracuse
Virginia	South Carolina	TCU
West Virginia	TCU	Texas Tech
Washington State	Texas Tech	Utah
	Utah	Virginia
	Virginia	Washington
	Washington	West Virginia
Peasants
Arizona	Arizona	Arizona
Baylor	Baylor	Boston College
Cincinnati	Cincinnati	Duke
Connecticut	Connecticut	Minnesota
Duke	Duke	Indiana
Minnesota	Minnesota	Iowa State
Indiana	Indiana	Kansas
Iowa State	Iowa State	Kentucky
Kansas	Kansas	Mississippi State
Kentucky	Kentucky	Oregon State
Mississippi State	Louisville	Purdue
North Carolina	Mississippi State	Rutgers
Northwestern	North Carolina	Wake Forest
Rutgers*	Northwestern	Washington State
South Florida*	Rutgers	Vanderbilt
Wake Forest	Temple
Vanderbilt	USF
	Wake Forest
	Washington State
	Vanderbilt

Monday, November 27, 2017

FSU 40 and 35

http://www.tallahassee.com/story/sports/college/fsu/football/2017/11/26/keeping-40-and-35-alive-important-florida-state/895576001/

Forty and 35.

Those are two numbers that have been said a lot around the Florida State program over the past few weeks.

The first refers to the 40 straight winning seasons the Seminoles have had dating back to 1977, and the latter refers to the 35 straight bowl games FSU has played in dating back to 1982.

Both of those streaks were in jeopardy heading into November with FSU sitting at 2-5 and coming off a blowout 35-3 loss at Boston College.

Of course, FSU will also have to win the bowl game to extend the winning seasons streak to 41, but it's one streak at a time for the Seminoles.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Cross Country facility update

http://www.wctv.tv/content/news/Cross-country-field-the-crown-jewel-of-Apalachee-Regional-Park--458898903.html

Every year thousands of fans pile into Tallahassee to cheer on Florida State University football.
But, another sport is now calling the Big Bend home, luring spectators and their wallets to Leon County. That sport- cross country. The draw is all thanks to a field some are now calling a “crown jewel” of the area.
“We call it the cross country playground,” said Bob Braman, the head cross country coach at Florida State University.
Braman is talking about the course at Apalachee Regional Park, which has funneled in millions of dollars to date to Leon County.
But, the course wasn’t always a money maker.
The park is part of county owned land at the Leon County Solid Waste Management Facility. The county commission has since voted to close the landfill there, all while turning the area into a booming park space.
The vision for the course came out of a dilemma.
“We had a real need for a course because we were without a home,” said Braman.

Florida State cross country had been hosting its FSU Invitational cross country meet at the Miccosukee Greenway for years, but in 2009 that no longer became an option. That’s when Leon County Parks and Recreation stepped in, offering trail space at Apalachee Regional Park. Although the area was part of the solid waste facility, trash had never been stored in that area.
"There wasn't a smell. There was no real stigma to it. You just had these beautiful woods and fields,” said Braman. "(I thought,) have a little vision, have a little imagination and let's see if this can work."
Braman, along with Brian Corbin from the Gulf Winds Track Club, decided to have an open mind and check out the space.
"That's when we had grass all the way from waste high to eyeball high. (We) got to work with our machetes to see if we could do it,” said Corbin
Corbin, Braman and a group of volunteers began chopping out a course by hand, and the first meet was held shortly after.
Since then, the field has grown and changed.
In 2013 the Leon County Commission invested $250,000 into the field. $125,000 was general revenue and $125,000 came from the tourism development tax. The course has been widened to meet national standards. It’s also now fit with fiber-optic cables, a jumbo Tron for spectators, and areas along the course for coaches and families to watch.

"It's not just a clock up there and it's, ‘go run we'll see you in a couple minutes.’ There are people screaming and yelling and bells are going off,” said Amanda Heidecker, with Leon County Tourism Development.
Between its inaugural season in 2009 and its most recent complete season in 2016, the park has hosted three national championships, five state high school championships and five regional championships.
In that same time, the park has generated more than $20 million in director visitor spending; $8 million alone was brought in in 2016.
"What happens is we bring thousands of people who stay here, stay in our hotels, spend their dollars in our restaurants,” said Braman.
"Obviously when you bring in thousands of people, that number is generally pretty high,” said Heidecker.
And the numbers are only expected to grow.
In the coming years Apalachee Regional Park is slated to host several big time meets including the USA Track and Field National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championship in December, the FHSAA State Championship in 2018 and the NCAA Championship in 2021.

With those events, and more, county staff estimate $24 million in direct visitor spending in the next five years, along with attracting 30,000 athletes and 67,000 visitors.
The park has surpassed expectations of both athletes and its founders.
"Anybody that comes here say's 'I've never seen anything like it,’” said Braman.
"I literally get chills. Because this place started as just nothing,” said Corbin.
And, more enhancements are still on the way.
In October, the County Commission approved staff to move forward with plans for Stage 1 of the Apalachee Regional Park Masterplan.
Specifically for the cross country field, plans include permanent restrooms, a new awards and events stage and a community gathering pavilion. For the park as a whole, plans include hiking and biking trails, a paddle trail at Lake Lafayette, wildlife observation, a dog park, disc golf and an air field.
Stage one is expected to cost $5.1 million.

Monday, November 20, 2017

FSU UF Rankings in 1990s

Corey Clark/TDO.com‏Verified account @Corey_Clark

Yearly reminder: FSU and Florida played 12 times in the 90s. They were both ranked in the Top 10 for all 12 ... That’s just absurd.

Drew‏ @D_Grem

13 times from 1990-2000

Jason Kruszka‏ @JasonKruszka

Replying to @Corey_Clark

And FSU was 7-4-1 in those games.

FSU Nanotube prototypes

http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2017/11/19/fsu-researchers-show-off-nanotube-prototypes/874770001/

It’s stronger than steel, yet only a fraction of its weight. Its size is 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. These are carbon nanotubes.

For more than a decade, Florida State University High-Performance Materials Institute researchers have been laying the groundwork for a number of prototypes involving carbon nanotubes, a key entity in the future of materials engineering.

The institute was founded in 2006 with a mission to recruit and retain top-quality faculty and staff that will place HPMI at the forefront in the field of advanced composites materials and nanomaterials.

“The HPMI is a great resource to the College of Engineering – here many of our leading materials faculty are pushing the state-of-the-art for manufacturing of nanomaterials, and many of our graduate and undergraduate students receive a cutting-edge materials education,” said Dean of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering Murray Gibson. “I am particularly excited by the range of research from basic to applied engineering, and the multiplicity of research sponsors from government to industry.”

HPMI is located in FSU’s $20 million, 45,000 square foot Materials Research Building in Innovation Park next to the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, where it houses the latest state-of-the-art facilities and laboratories for research in nanomaterials and equipment.

The ground-floor laboratory looks more like a modern manufacturing factory, and includes 3D printers, multiple hot-press machines, furnaces reaching temperatures up to 1,400 degrees Celsius as well as carbonization furnaces up to 2,500 degrees Celsius, large autoclave for high-pressure process and high-pressure waterjet cutters.

Some of HPMI’s innovative technologies include fabrication of buckypapers, stretching alignment of nanotubes and production of nanocomposites.

Buckypaper, a nanotube-based substance, is one of HPMI’s most highlighted prototypes. Though it doesn’t look much different from a regular sheet of carbon paper, it exhibits remarkable properties of strength and conductivity. Although still in the prototypical stage, when the ultrathin buckypaper is used in composites, the nanotubes are poised to transform aerospace defense, energy, infrastructure and transportation.

HPMI researchers are focused on scaling up their productive prototypes so that buckypaper can be mass produced and affordable in the future. Planes, trains, and automobiles could one day be composed of this new material, which would revolutionize manufacturing as well as the passengers’ experiences. Commercial and military vehicles may be up to 10 times lighter in the future if they were engineered with buckypaper instead of metal, making them less dangerous and more effective.

“When we explore the development of buckypaper manufacturing process, we also keep the scalability as the ultimate goal to meet quality, quantity and affordability for potential industrial applications,” said HPMI Director Richard Liang. “We also provide continuous samples to support many industrial and government efforts for using carbon nanotubes for new product prototypes.”

HPMI and the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering have recently kicked off a project with NASA that is focused on developing material entities to be used in space travel. The project is a part of a five-year plan by NASA to establish the first-ever Space Technology Research Institutes, which includes one on bioengineering and one on materials synthesis.

Liang was named the materials synthesis team leader and deputy director for the multi-university project.

“A key element of HPMI’s success has been the quality of the students it attracts both at the graduate and undergraduate level,” Liang said.

HPMI welcomes FSU undergraduates interested in conducting materials research and offers a wide variety of projects for students to engage in. There are currently 60 student researchers at the institute, 16 of which are undergraduates.

Students have gone on to work at companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Electric and Apple.

FSU’s Gil Damon charts unconventional course to Rhodes Scholar finalist

http://news.fsu.edu/news/university-news/2017/11/18/fsus-gil-damon-charts-unconventional-course-rhodes-scholar-finalist/

Florida State University senior Gil Damon called it an honor to participate today as a finalist in an interview for a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford in England.
Damon, 21, prepared for this moment for months and while his name was not listed in the final group of 32 U.S. scholarship recipients, Damon had no regrets over his effort.
“It’s a little surreal to get this far, just to be considered,” Damon said. “I don’t know if I really have a sense of it yet. All of the candidates are extraordinary people.”
Damon, a double major in political science and psychology, charted an unconventional path on his journey to becoming Florida State’s seventh finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship in the past 11 years.
He studied one year at Tallahassee Community College before transferring to FSU where he has earned a perfect 4.0 GPA. He has interned at NASA, the Florida Capitol, United States Senate and the White House. He spent a summer piloting a 40-passenger tour boat down the Wakulla River through alligator-infested waters, while simultaneously explaining the finer points of “snakebirds” and Suwannee cooter turtles.
Damon grew up along the Gulf Coast in Wakulla County. He saw firsthand the devastation of Hurricane Dennis in 2005 and the serious environmental and economic damage caused by the BP oil spill in 2010. Those lessons, and his own intellectual curiosity, led him to focus his studies on the way science and public policy interact.
The experiences taught Damon lasting lessons that influenced his thinking about the convergence of science, government and politics during emergencies, and he watched how those institutions collaborated, or sometimes clashed, when needed most.
“Wakulla County is a rural area that’s seen a lot of crises that relate to the environment and relate to science,” Damon said. “I’ve really developed a passion for how science and policy interact. What I’d like to do is focus my life in a way where science and politics can understand each other better, work better together and produce better outcomes.”

Damon’s efforts outside the classroom have been just as constructive.
He joined the Student Leadership Council in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, where he helped form the Nonpartisan Exchange Team. The group brings together students with polar opposite political views and encourages them to talk about how they form their political perspectives.
Damon said it’s not about who’s right or who’s wrong. It’s not a debate — it’s a chance to have a conversation and, hopefully, promote understanding.
“We found if you put people together who are willing to talk, generally they end up as friends,” Damon said. “We saw friendships form, and that’s really powerful. If we can actually create more situations where a Democrat and a Republican — or folks from any place in the political spectrum — can talk to each other, then we can strengthen our society.”
Damon’s commitment to excellence has earned the admiration of his professors.
“Gil is an exceptional young man,” said Carol Weissert, FSU’s LeRoy Collins Eminent Scholar and professor of political science. “He is smart, engaged, ambitious and well-rounded. He is a great representative for FSU.”
Professor Ashby Plant, director of Florida State’s Social Psychology Area, called Damon a dedicated scholar.
“Gil takes full advantage of his education and is tireless in applying what he learns in the classroom to real-world problems and issues,” Plant said. “In all of my experiences with him, he has demonstrated an eagerness to engage in every possible intellectual opportunity.”
Ten years ago, Florida State Assistant Provost Joe O’Shea — an FSU senior in 2007-2008 — became the university’s fourth Rhodes Scholar.
O’Shea vividly recalls the emotions he experienced before the interview, and he gave Damon insights on how to handle that part of the process.
“I told Gil it was possible he would be the only person from a public university at the interviews for finalists,” O’Shea said. “Don’t let that intimidate you: FSU provides a world-class education that has prepared you well for this moment. You have a compelling narrative and a commitment to the public good that is both genuine and powerful.”
Craig Filar, associate dean of Undergraduate Studies and director of the Office of National Fellowships, hopes Damon’s success will encourage other students to capitalize on the many opportunities at Florida State.
“It has been a wonderful experience to see Gil grow throughout his time at FSU and through his pursuit of the Rhodes Scholarship,” Filar said. “I hope his journey inspires more students to challenge themselves to find creative, innovative ways to grow beyond their current goals and discover all they can accomplish as a student at FSU.”
Florida State’s Rhodes Scholars are Frederick William Buchholtz, 1905; Caroline Alexander, 1976; Garrett Johnson, 2006; O’Shea, 2008; and Myron Rolle, 2009. In addition, FSU had Rhodes Scholar finalists in 2009, 2011 and 2012.
Rhodes Scholarships, created in 1902, are the oldest and among the most distinguished international fellowship awards in the world. Scholars are selected based on academic achievements, character, leadership qualities and commitment to others.

Ranking streak

‏Verified account @ralphDrussoAP

Ohio State, 50.

Florida State, 41.

Georgia, 21.

Wisconsin, 21.

Oregon, 20.

Oklahoma, 19.

LSU, 18.

USC, 16.

Friday, November 17, 2017

10 Best College Football Jobs

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Fan behaviour study

Interesting article.

http://www.kgw.com/news/investigations/fans-behaving-badly-thousands-ejected-arrested-during-2016-college-football-season/486339923

Inside the numbers
The records show at least 3,778 fans were ejected during the 2016 football season and 1,102 fans were arrested.
Based on the records provided, the University of South Carolina had the highest fan ejection rate in the country, followed by Wisconsin, Oregon, Oregon State and Nebraska.

That doesn’t necessarily mean those schools had the rowdiest fans. Comparisons are difficult because stadiums have varying policies on dealing with unruly fans. Not all colleges keep records on arrests or ejections.
Of the 128 Football Bowl Subdivision programs that KGW requested data from, 122 responded but not all provided data. Sixty-eight provided arrest numbers and 66 provided ejection numbers.
Most of the misconduct involved alcohol.
“You couple alcohol with the upped emotions, the intensity, screaming and yelling and you have some potential for issues,” explained Brian Baxter, sports psychologist and director of the Sport Psychology Institute Northwest.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Gateway District

http://www.wctv.tv/content/news/Gateway-District-could-mean-more-enhancements-for-Tallahassees-SW-side--457547593.html

Big changes could be on the way for Tallahassee's southwest side, as local planners seek approval for the "Gateway District."
The Gateway District originally started out as a Blueprint 2000 project called the Airport Gateway, which targeted Springhill Road and Lake Bradford Road to create an innovative path from the Tallahassee International Airport. However, Florida State University is now on board, expanding the scope of the project and aligning its plans for infrastructure improvements with the city-county agency.
Plans for the project include improvements for both Springhill and Lake Bradford Road including sidewalks, street lights, landscaping and bike paths.
"All of the enhancements to the roads, they will enhance bike, pedestrian and vehicular safety," said Autumn Calder with Blueprint 2000.
That portion of the project is slated to cost about $59 million and will be funded through the penny sales tax. All of this has been approved through the Airport Gateway project.

Some residents and business owners along the roads are on board with the improvements.
"The sidewalks are definitely needed because a lot of people go up and down Springhill Road and I've even seen a child be hit before," said Steven Hunter, who's lived on Springhill Road for about 40 years.
Currently, in front of his house is merely a dirt path made by residents walking along the grass.
Down the road, Kip Rogonoa, who works as a mechanic at Kip's Auto Garage, noted the prominent people who drive along Springhill, traveling from the airport into town.
"I've seen Dick Cheney go by here, I've seen FSU, FAMU. So I've seen
all the prominent people go by here," he said. "The first appearance they see should be a beautiful road, even if it's small."
He also noted the improvements have long been over due.
As for the proposed FSU expansion, which still requires final approval to be added to the Blueprint project, plans include creating a new road through campus. The road would be built off of Orange Avenue and run through areas near the Seminole Golf Course and Innovation Park. Ultimately, it would provide better connectivity to the areas near the Stadium and FAMU Way.

"(It'll) provide better access to Innovation Park, which of course will open up the economic opportunities," said Calder.
Funds for that portion of the project would be provided by Florida State University as well as the Florida Department of Transportation.
Calder said linking the two projects creates a more holistic approach and allows for more input from the local community.
"Regardless of whatever route you choose to come or leave from the airport it'll be a really beautiful route to take," she said.
Blueprint has already held three public hearing, collecting comments from the community. It'll hold two more on Wednesday. One, for business owners at the Tallahassee International Airport at 3 p.m. and a second at Pineview Elementary School at 6 p.m. for residents. All are open to the public.
Then, on Thursday the agency will hold its first of two required public hearings on the project at City Hall, with the meeting starting at 4:30 p.m.
The second and final public hearing is set for the agency's December 5 meeting which starts at 3 p .m., also at City Hall.
Although many residents seem to be on board with the project, others are against it citing more congestion and foot traffic if the improvements are made.
Hunter even cited fears of losing his land to provide space for the sidewalks. However, he said the innovation is necessary.
"We're living in the 21 century. YOu got to realize that expansion is ineveitable," he said.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Do Parents Fuel Binge Drinking in College?

http://www.chronicle.com/article/Do-Parents-Fuel-Binge-Drinking/241756?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=42f46d90e61144139ae94d72cfea9f14&elq=c4132900fdeb4d878df4078ae8525df8&elqaid=16592&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=7212

John E. Thrasher, the Florida State University president who last week announced an indefinite ban on fraternity and sorority activities, says he is battling a culture of alcohol abuse that takes hold among students in middle school and continues with the encouragement of parents.
The ban at Florida State, which is the latest among similar measures taken at several colleges and universities, was prompted by the death this month of Andrew Coffey, a 20-year-old pledge at Pi Kappa Phi who was found unresponsive after a party.
Mr. Coffey’s family applauded the ban, saying in a letter that it was a step toward fixing a culture "that is obviously broken."
But Mr. Thrasher, during an interview at The Chronicle’s offices on Monday, said he had heard from other parents who were not as supportive, some of whom had told him that "you’ve ruined my so-and-so’s cultural life."
That sort of backlash, which is sometimes acknowledged privately by college leaders, points toward the role that parents may play in acquiescing in or even encouraging high-risk drinking by students.
Mr. Coffey’s death came at the start of Parents Weekend at Florida State, when students’ families are invited to the campus. At one point during his presidency, Mr. Thrasher said, he was appalled to see parents drinking to excess at a local bar with students, some of whom appeared underage.
"They were doing shots," he recalled. "They were doing the whole deal. I was flabbergasted by that."
Mr. Thrasher said that Florida State’s new sanction had teeth, and that he would not lift it without evidence of a cultural change.
But he conceded that meaningful reform is complex. He was not sure that a ban on alcohol, for example, is possible at houses owned by Greek organizations. Nor, he said, is it advisable to push the groups off campus, where oversight would be more difficult.
"I don’t really know that there’s a silver bullet," he said.

What Colleges Can Do About Fraternities

The eight articles in this collection describe the strategies that colleges are using to try to prevent fraternities from harming students, and at the same time to preserve the positive values of the Greek system. Download this collection here.

Mr. Thrasher was in Washington for a meeting of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. He visited The Chronicle with W. Kent Fuchs, of the University of Florida, and John C. Hitt, of the University of Central Florida. They echoed Mr. Thrasher’s argument that the alcohol problems they see on campus are deeply rooted.
"The education and the culture change has to start years earlier," Mr. Fuchs said.
Yet none of Florida’s assembled public-university presidents would say that fraternities and sororities had outlived their usefulness on their campuses. Both Mr. Hitt and Mr. Thrasher were members of fraternities in college. Mr. Fuchs was not.
"Most of the really good leaders we have," Mr. Thrasher said, "come from our fraternities and sororities."
Jack Stripling covers college leadership, particularly presidents and governing boards. Follow him on Twitter @jackstripling, or email him at jack.stripling@chronicle.com.

Monday, November 13, 2017

FSU College of Criminology and Criminal Justice ranked No. 1 in the world

http://news.fsu.edu/news/business-law-policy/2017/11/08/global-greatness-fsu-college-criminology-criminal-justice-ranked-no-1-world/

The Florida State University College of Criminology and Criminal Justice is the top college in the world for the study of crime and prison management, according to the Center for World University Rankings.

The rankings, organized by subject, are based on the number of research articles in top-tier journals by faculty from the university.
“We are extremely pleased that our college was identified as the top program in the world among the many excellent criminology programs,” said Thomas G. Blomberg, dean and Sheldon L. Messinger Professor of Criminology. “This ranking is particularly meaningful because it is based upon an empirical methodology that considers the quality and quantity of a program’s scholarly publications for the past 10 years. Moreover, our graduate students, as part of our intellectual community, have collaborated with the faculty in so many of the publications that led to our No. 1 ranking.”
The college is no stranger to taking top spots among research productivity rankings. In 2016, the college’s faculty ranked No. 1 in productivity, according to a study by the Journal of Criminal Justice Education. That year, FSU’s criminology faculty published more articles in the top eight peer-reviewed journals than any other criminology or criminal justice program in the country.
The College of Criminology and Criminal Justice was not the only FSU college that excelled in the Center for World University Rankings. Florida State ranked No. 6 among universities worldwide for the subject of social psychology. In education and educational research, FSU placed No. 7.
The Center for World University Rankings began as a project in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 2012 with the goal of rating the top 100 universities in the world. In 2014, the rankings expanded to list the top 1,000 degree-granting postsecondary institutions. The rankings are the largest of its kind among global universities.
The CUWR is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates.

Bowl Streak Updates

‏ @OX_VT

OXVT‏ @OX_VT

FSU research team nets $8M grant to focus on students with learning disabilities

http://news.fsu.edu/news/education-society/2017/11/13/fsu-research-team-nets-8m-grant-focus-students-learning-disabilities/

A Florida State University-based research team studying the best ways to help students with learning disabilities has received an $8 million grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Led by Richard Wagner, the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Eugenia and Russell Morcom Chair, the grant is to further research on dyslexia and other learning disabilities, to help train the next generation of scientists, and to do public outreach to ensure that research on these issues is making its way into the nation’s schools.

“Some of the research we’ve done already has helped children in schools, but we don’t think we’ve done all we can yet,” Wagner said. “That’s really going to be our focus as we reach out more to make a difference in the schools and for families.”

The $8 million grant will be spread out over five years and fund research at Florida State as well as several other partner institutions under Wagner’s lead including Haskins Laboratories, University of California at Irvine, University of California at San Francisco, University of Washington, Vanderbilt University, Purdue University, University of Oregon, Yale and Southern Methodist University.

The grant is a continuation of work that the Florida Learning Disabilities Research Center — housed within the Florida Center for Reading Research and the College of Arts and Sciences — has done for the past 10 years. The center has had 10 years of continuous funding from NICHD and this grant extends that another five years. It is one of only three NICHD Learning Disabilities Research Centers in the country.

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Deion Sanders, FSU great

Jack M Silverstein‏ @readjack

Monday, November 6, 2017

FSU's Pass Blocking Efficiency stacks up among P5 schools

How has Jimbo ignored this issue? Don't hire friends and family because it clouds your judgement.

Brendan Sonnone‏ @BSonnone

Great job FSU fan base...

Brent Axe‏Verified account @BrentAxeMedia

Good to hear @CuseFootball fans were treated well in Tallahassee

Sunday, November 5, 2017

10 win seasons last 25 years (1993-2017)

‏ @OX_VT

Hope #Hokies head is still - Ton to play for still including th 10 Win Season during 25 year Bowl Streak - Nothing to at #BeatGT

Friday, November 3, 2017

Project Garnet

Another Seminole Booster development?

http://www.urbantallahassee.com/index.php/projects1/item/969-project-garnet

Location: 1607 Belle View Way, Tallahassee, FL 32304

Status: PROPOSED
Owner: Seminole Boosters, Inc.
Design: Nequette Architecture and Design
Contractor: Capstone Development Partners, LLC
Website: ONLINE
Value of Improvements:
ETA:
Description: Proposed for a vacant 7.58 acre parcel at the intersection of BelleVue Way and Hayden Road is the construction of a 192-unit (619) bed apartment complex with a 7,500 SF clubhouse. The development would include (50) 1-bedroom, (20) 2-bedroom, (12) 3-bedroom flats as well as (57) 4-bedroom and (53) 5-bedroom townhouses that will be rented on a per-bed basis. Buildings within this development expected to be 4-5 stories tall. The project site is zoned University Transition and is located within the Multi-Modal Transportation District.

https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=Nq_8WcfYBoKKmQHW5YPQBA&q=1607+Belle+View+Way%2C+Tallahassee%2C+FL+32304&oq=1607+Belle+View+Way%2C+Tallahassee%2C+FL+32304&gs_l=psy-ab.3...940.940.0.2033.2.1.0.0.0.0.105.105.0j1.1.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..1.0.0.0...0.yxLIKaeGFsA

Thursday, November 2, 2017

FSU engineering professors win $1.7M NIH grant to search for stroke treatments

https://news.fsu.edu/news/science-technology/2017/10/31/fsu-engineering-professors-win-1-7m-nih-grant-search-stroke-treatments/

Two Florida State University researchers have received a $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to find new treatments for stroke.

In the United States, stroke is the fifth leading cause of death and one of the primary causes of disability, with more than 795,000 individuals experiencing an attack each year. But the only drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration has limited effectiveness.

Now, two researchers from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering will focus their collective efforts on developing new treatments that could treat this complicated medical issue.

Samuel Grant, associate professor of chemical and biomedical engineering and director of the MRI user program at the FSU-headquartered National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, and Teng Ma, professor and chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, will investigate how to use cells from bone marrow and fat tissue as a way to treat what’s called an ischemic stroke. This form of stroke occurs as a result of a blockage in a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain and accounts for about 87 percent of all cases, according to the American Heart Association.

To date, a clot-busting drug called tissue plasminogen activator is the mainstay of stroke treatment, but it is only effective if administered within a short time after stroke onset and only for a small percentage of stroke patients.

“Our long-term goal is to develop cell therapy technology for stroke treatment,” Ma said. “Specifically, we will develop technology that allows us to produce therapeutically competent cells as well as the ability to monitor their fate in the brain. The knowledge gained will help establish cell therapy as a viable technology in stroke treatment.”

Researchers will look at cells called human mesenchymal stem cells that are found in both marrow and fat tissue. Grant and Ma believe that they can pretreat these cells and deliver them into the brain of patients who have experienced a stroke.

These cells have attracted the attention of scientists and clinicians because of their potential for tissue repair and regeneration after migration to sites of tissue injuries, including damage in the brain.

“Use of these preconditioned cells should increase their therapeutic effect and viability once transplanted in the stroked brain,” Ma said.

A major barrier, however, is that many of these cells die once transplanted, which greatly reduces the therapeutic benefits for stroke treatment. Additionally, the fate and transport of these cells to the stroke lesion are not well understood.

The joint effort of the investigators’ laboratories seeks to address these problems. Ma’s laboratory has developed a unique bioreactor system to enhance the cells’ survival rate after transplantation by preconditioning them as 3D aggregates or clumps, which have demonstrated improved viability and increased migration in cell cultures. Grant’s laboratory has developed techniques and instruments to take advantage of the sophisticated magnet technology at the National MagLab that can assess the efficacy of transplanted cells in a living organism.

They will use the world’s only 21.1 Tesla magnet, essentially a super-powered MRI, to track cells, observe the cells’ impact on metabolic and ionic recovery and assess the mechanisms that can be optimized to improve stroke outcomes.

“This machine provides the sensitivity and specificity to monitor the fate and transport of implanted cells over time while also letting us detect early markers for stroke recovery,” Grant said. “This will allow us to make critical decisions about how cells can be better prepared to treat stroke.”