Note from CFF news editors

(The good news - Justine, Bianca and Ashley will be at our class today)

Hey guys,

I was disappointed today when only a handful of you guys showed up for the meeting today. I hope you all try to make more of an effort in the coming weeks, and actually meet your NEW news editor, Bianca, in person. Anyways, here are the open stories for the next week:

Stories for Thursday Jan. 21 Deadlines: Draft, Friday Jan. 15, Final, Monday Jan. 18
1. Kiplinger's Recognizes UCF as a Top-40 Best Value Universityhttp://news.ucf.edu/UCFnews/index?page=article&id=002400417c223ec20125ae9931fd0065c8&subject_id=0024004102975ad83011b2b83251c0c35 The University of Central Florida provides one of the nation's best values in education, according to a Kiplinger's report published today. UCF ranked 36th, advancing six spots from its 2009 position on the magazine's annual 100-school list of best-value U.S. public colleges and universities. What does this mean to students and faculty?

2. UCF Prof. honored by Obama UCF professor Lesia Crumpton- Young will be honored at the White House this afternoon by President Obama for her success with mentoring women and minorities who are studying engineering and with increasing diversity in her field. Crumpton-Young, a professor of Industrial Engineering & Management Systems, also will receive $10,000 from the National Science Foundation to help further her mentoring efforts. She is one of only 20 mentors nationwide who will be honored today. The Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, awarded each year to individuals or organizations, recognizes the crucial role that mentoring plays in the academic and personal development of students studying science or engineering and who belong to minorities that are underrepresented in those fields. The 1:35 p.m. ceremony will be Webcast at http://www.whitehouse.gov/live. To view the White House news release, click the link below. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-honor-teachers-and-mentors-announce-key-partnerships-educate-innova To read a fall UCF news release about the award, click the link below. http://news.ucf.edu/UCFnews/index?page=article&id=00240041037381429012136c33d790045b0

3. Religious student housing in Sem. County: A group of religious campus groups are trying to get a religious dorm set up next to North Gate Apartments, near the stadium. I believe it’s the Catholic Campus Ministries and Hillel, but other groups may now be involved. Many residents in the nearby Oviedo neighborhoods have been protesting against this. Where is this at now? What are they doing? Will these dorms require Housing RA’s? Is there money in their budget to hire more RA’s? 4. UCF Hockey club profileThe team, although it’s a club level, is ranked #2 in the South. Where do they play? How often do they practice/play games? Against what teams? What kind of audience do they get for this? Russell Pittman, President (954) 854-3908 ttp://www.ucfhockey.org

5. Blue Man Group – one of them is a UCF alumni. Profile him! How did he become a Blue Man? What did he study at UCF?
6. UCF Alzheimer’s Discovery Could Lead to Long-sought Preventive Treatment new discovery by University of Central Florida researchers has revealed a previously unknown mechanism that may drive the early brain function deterioration of Alzheimer’s victims, thus opening a new exploratory path in the quest for an Alzheimer’s cure.The research, which will be published Friday, Jan. 8, in the peer-reviewed science and medicine journal PLoS ONE, also demonstrates how the unique application of an existing cell research technique could accelerate the discovery of treatments to exploit the new findings.http://today.ucf.edu/blog/2010/01/08/ucf-alzheimers-discovery-could-lead-to-long-sought-preventive-treatment/

7. Rent your books versus buying them: How many students at UCF are interested in renting their books through places like Chegg.com versus buying them? Is it really a cheaper alternative? Find out how many students are using this servie versus buying books? How much are they saving? What is the process like? What do local bookstores think? I believe CB&S started renting books too.Since Chegg started, it has made it possible for hundreds of thousands of students at more than 6,400 colleges save in excess of $84 million. Students at University of Central Florida have saved over $424,348. In addition, for every textbook that’s rented, Chegg will plant a tree through a partnership with American Forests.Angela PontaroloChegg.com angela@chegg.com

For Monday, Jan. 25 Deadlines: Draft, Wednesday Jan. 20, Final Friday Jan. 22

1. Why Do Students Drop Out? Because They Must Work at Jobs TooWhat’s the drop out rate at UCF? What’s the average age of the drop out population? Is this higher than other universities? Why? And the main reasons? What is UCF doing to prevent this?
Seventy-one percent of those surveyed who had quit college said that work was a factor in the decision, and more than half said it was a major factor. About 35 percent of those who dropped out said they had tried to balance work and study, and found it too stressful.http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Do-Students-Drop-Out-/49417/

2. How many international students does UCF have?
Most universities have a large international program b/c it helps fund higher tuition and better research. How does UCF compare to other large universities across the nation? How many international students are enrolled currently? How many more are we expecting in recent years? What’s it like to be an international student – what are the constraints? What makes it different than being a student from the U.S. or even Fla?

3. It's a new day at Seminole State CollegeState of the art classroom-library building opens Monday, when college's first four-year degree program starts Why is UCF partnering with the community college? What does UCF get out of this? What are the pros and cons for each student? Faculty? A new era begins at Seminole State College on Monday.In addition to launching its first four-year degree program, the college is opening a new $30 million classroom/library building that caps an $85 million construction campaign that has changed the face of the main campus in Sanford.The new 109,000-square-foot, four-story building, built in collaboration with the University of Central Florida, is called the Partnership Center because it will serve both schools.UCF offers 11 degree programs taught by its own faculty on Seminole State's main campus, allowing students to pursue a bachelor's degree in majors such as psychology, nursing and elementary education without having to trek to the university's main campus in east Orlando.Instead of being taught in classrooms across campus, UCF courses will all be based in the Partnership Center.http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-seminole-state-new-building-20100108,0,1713270.story

4. IDEAS –is having an entire media review by the U.S. Department of Energy. IDEAs is a really involved group on campus, and this is the groups first full year on campus. Talk to Prez. Chris Castro – 786-234-5524 5. DREAM WALK –
There are these kids walking from Miami to DC in support of the DREAM Act. UCF kids are going to have some events with them while they're passing through Orlando. Basically it's event coverage but since it's a week long and part of a much larger political issue, I thought maybe we could include it in News. Let me know what you think. There's more info at the facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=george+regojo&init=quick#/event.php?eid=155543214962&index=1.

-- Sincerely,Bianca Fortis and Justine GriffinNews EditorsCentral Florida Future,UCF's student newspaperhttp://www.centralfloridafuture.com
Call Bianca at 352-650-8540Call Justine at 727-743-7717