By Associated Press A report commissioned by Rutgers University after a scandal led to the ousting of its basketball coach and athletic director finds breakdowns in communication as the university learned about the coach’s physical and verbal abuse of players. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at ESPN Headlines
By David Lariviere, Contributor Eddie Jordan could be named the new Rutgers University men’s basketball coach as soon as Monday, according to multiple reports, and, if nothing else, he’ll provide class and stability to a teetering program.
Sigh.
Once a sportswriter, always a sportswriter, I guess.
I just saw that Rutgers University fired its head basketball coach after three seasons, ostensibly because of some practice videos, aired on ESPN, that showed him pushing some of his players and calling them homosexuals. Perhaps in stronger language than that. (There were subtitles.)
Now, far be it for me to condone a basketball coach cussing out players in a practice at a Big East school, where just about every player is selected for his ability to maybe play in the NBA. But if every coach in major college sports were selected on his skills as a diplomat, the final four would be very dull indeed. Ask one Robert Knight.
A more telling reason for Mike Rice’s firing may well be his last three years’ record of 44-51.
Some years ago, Oral Roberts University had just come to national basketball prominence. It was 1973, and two guys who have provided me over the years with endless hours of both friendship and entertainment could not have been happier. Both Oral Roberts and former head coach Ken Trickey are no longer with us; but back then, President Roberts told Trick publicly how much he loved him.
Trick answered with a question:
Would you still love me if I was eight and 20?
“We’d love you,” said the man the University is named for. “But we’d miss you.”
In the case of Rutgers, they don’t even have to love Rice. Insult the gay community, and you’re fired. Even if the real reason is probably 44-51.
Explain that to me. I hate to go all Bill O’Reilly on us, but we can have the Federal Government use our money to pay for putting a crucifix in urine and call it art. The ACLU can file and win endless lawsuits telling Christians they can’t post a cross on public land. But let a basketball coach call someone a fairy, and even Chris Christie gets into the act as the Governor of New Jersey. Who knew fatso was so sensitive.
I’ll bet that if Coach Rice called a player a “bible thumper” or a “mackerel snapper,” nobody would have said a word.
Let me be clear here. I’m all for civility in basketball coaches. But no basketball player was hurt in the making of those videos. They were all there voluntarily, and they all stayed there. You know, getting a quality college education while auditioning for the NBA. That’s why they are called student-athletes.
I’d be willing to give pretty good odds that if Rice were 85-10 over the last three years, he’d still be there, too. If they had even played their way into an invitation to the big dance this year, he’d still be head coach.
There are two things at work here.
First is institutional hypocrisy at Rutgers. And second is the willingness of people who should know better to cower in the face of political correctness.
When I was growing up,
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Rutgers University and coach Mike Rice.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By ESPN.com news services Rutgers University is commissioning an independent investigation of the conduct of former men’s basketball coach Mike Rice and the way the school handled the situation. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at ESPN Headlines
If Dr. Robert L. Barchi is removed from his job as president of Rutgers University, it may have more to do with his own approach to leadership than his failure to act more promptly in the case of the abusive behavior of its bully basketball coach. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By David Williamson and Max Macaluso, Ph.D., The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
With March Madness in full swing, we decided to stick with what we know here at The Motley Fool, trading our basketball picks in for stock picks. We formed our own bracket filled with the top Big Pharma and Big Biotech stocks in a winner take-all tournament as determined by the collective intelligence of our CAPS community.
This Final Four matchup is a heavyweight bout between Celgene and Johnson & Johnson. Watch and find out what J&J and embattled Rutgers University have in common and whether Celgene’s style of play is enough to advance to the championship round.
Can Celgene continue to soar?
Every in-the-know biotech investor has an eye on Celgene. Shares have skyrocketed this year as the company outlined a plan to almost triple its profits in only a few years. But should you buy the story Celgene is selling? Make sure you understand the key opportunities and risks facing this company by picking up The Motley Fool’s brand-new premium report on Celgene. To claim your copy today, simply click here now.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Mark Russell Mike Rice may have been fired by Rutgers University for abusing his players , but he’s still got a $100,000 bonus coming his way, reports the AP . That’s in addition to the $622,500 he received as his regular salary in 2012, as part of a five-year deal Rice signed… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
By The Huffington Post News Editors
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Rutgers University‘s fired basketball coach is due a $100,000 bonus for lasting through the season.
Mike Rice was dismissed Wednesday after a video was made public of him kicking and shoving players and spewing gay slurs during practices.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
Justice has been done at Rutgers University today. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
I’ve heard of the Girls Gone Wild film series, but I’ve never seen a Coaches Gone Wild video until today. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Don Van Natta Jr. Video of Rutgers University men’s basketball practices from 2010-2012 shows incidents in which coach Mike Rice hurls basketballs from close range at players; shoves his players; feigns punches; kicks them; and screams obscenities and homophobic slurs. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at ESPN Headlines
WASHINGTON — Beyond the investigations, it’s business as usual for Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez.
The new Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman presides over hearings on North Korea and travels to Afghanistan and Pakistan. As a New Jersey senator, he welcomes professors and students from Rutgers University and the state’s National Council of Jewish Women.
And as a Cuban-American, Menendez has been working into the evening daily with other senators on overhauling the nation’s immigration system.
Read More at OfficialWire . By Donna Cassata.
The man who wants to be the next president of Iran sits in a hotel lobby, steps from his office and thousands of miles away from the country he wants to lead, a distance surpassed only by the hurdles he needs to clear even to land on the ballot.
Hooshang Amirahmadi, a bespectacled professor of public policy at Rutgers University, declared his candidacy for the Iranian presidency last year. He’s now well into a quixotic quest that has taken him on fundraising jaunts from New York to California to Dubai and, finally, to Iran next month.
Amirahmadi, 65, has lived in the United States for 40 years, calling it “my country.” He married his wife here, and his daughter was raised in New Jersey. But he feels compelled to run for office in Iran to reconcile the conflict he and other Iranian-Americans feel within.
“I feel like, you know, it’s not easy to be an Iranian originally and be here, and be a citizen of this country, and see the two sides of you fight each other every day,” Amirahmadi said.
Iran‘s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was elected to his second term in 2009 in an election that sparked pro-democracy protests. He is not eligible to run again.
Under Ahmadinejad, Iran has increasingly become defiant over its nuclear program, refusing to bow to Western pressure and sanctions. Ahamadinejad has also said that Israel must be “wiped off the map” and has hurled bizarre accusations against Western countries, including that they caused a drought in Iran.
Years ago, Amirahmadi’s now 21-year-old daughter asked why the two countries couldn’t get along. The professor said he was moved by her question. He founded the nonprofit American Iranian Council and started working to smooth diplomatic relations between the countries.
Even though he is already a behind-the-scenes player, Amirahmadi’s candidacy is a long shot. He and all Iranian presidential candidates must be approved by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s Guardian Council ahead of the June election. His American citizenship, along with his beliefs, including freedom of the press and a government based on “rationalism” rather than religion, may immediately disqualify him.
“This is not a serious candidacy at all,” said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, a professor of political science at Syracuse University. “He has no chance whatsoever getting an OK from the Guardian Council. Indeed, his American citizenship will disqualify him easily.”
Amirahmadi said he has dual American and Iranian citizenship.
The head of the Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, said this month that Iranian elections are the “freest in the world” and that candidates will be chosen in accordance with the law.
A U.N. investigator said this month that there are widespread human rights abuses in Iran and expressed concern that torture and increased crackdowns on activists, journalists and lawyers could undermine the fairness of the election.
Waving off the skeptics, Amirahmadi is confident he will be approved. He has spoken with members of the council about his presidency, but not the supreme leader. He thinks that his years working in both the U.S. and Iran — he goes back …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Fibrocell/UCLA Study on Human Skin Cells Yields Promising Results
Published Online in Stem Cell Research and Therapy Journal
EXTON, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Fibrocell Science, Inc.(OTC: FCSC) announced today that its research collaboration with UCLA has resulted in a discovery that may lead to a more predictable, commercially viable method of producing stable, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from adult skin cells. The study has been accepted for publication in the Stem Cell Research and Therapy peer-reviewed journaland the provisional paper is available online (http://stemcellres.com/content/4/1/15/abstract). It was conducted under the guidance of James Byrne, PhD, assistant professor, UCLA Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research.
“We continue to be pleased with the results of our collaboration with UCLA to pursue the full potential of fibroblasts,” said David Pernock, CEO and Board Chair, Fibrocell Science.
The cells may be used by academic researchers and pharmaceutical companies to evaluate new drug compounds for safety and to develop patient-specific therapies for multiple disease states, including heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and diabetes. Using skin cells is more advantageous to the patient than obtaining cells from bone marrow or adipose tissue (fat). A skin biopsy is quicker to perform, less painful and minimally invasive.
Dr. Byrne’s study found human skin cells cultured in the presence of a chemical known as BAY11 resulted in reproducible increased expression of the OCT4 genethat did not inhibit normal cell growth. OCT4 is involved in many cell processes, but is primarily known to maintain pluripotency and regulate cell differentiation. It is typically used as a marker to identify undifferentiated cells.
The development of a more stable method to create iPS cells from skin cells allows for the potential of a reproducible commercial manufacturing process. The study was performed at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research and Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at UCLA in conjunction with the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience at Rutgers University.
About Fibrocell Science, Inc.
Fibrocell Science, Inc. (FCSC) is an autologous cellular therapeutic company focused on the development of innovative products for aesthetic, medical and scientific applications. Fibrocell Science is committed to advancing the scientific, medical and commercial potential of autologous skin and tissue, as …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Frontier Communications Corporation Names Luke Szymczak Vice President, Investor Relations
STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– John M. Jureller, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Frontier Communications Corporation (NAS: FTR) , announced today that Luke Szymczak has joined the company as Vice President, Investor Relations. He reports to Mr. Jureller.
In announcing the appointment, Mr. Jureller said, “Investor Relations plays a critical role at Frontier, and we’re excited Luke has joined our team. He will provide a strong connection with our stakeholders. Making sure that analysts, portfolio managers, financial media, individuals and others in the investment community understand Frontier’s strategic direction, operations, financial performance and value proposition is critical. Frontier has a compelling story to tell, and I am confident Luke will help make sure it is heard.”
Mr. Szymczak joined Frontier after 12 years at J. P. Morgan, most recently as Managing Director at JPMorgan Asset Management. As a senior analyst he covered telecom, wireless, cable and technology sectors for the global asset manager and managed the firm’s global Tech-Media-Telecom Fund.
Prior to J. P. Morgan, Mr. Szymczak was with Prudential Securities for eight years, most recently as First Vice President, Equity Research covering the communications equipment industry. Before that, he was an Associate with Schooner Capital. He began his career with a division of IBM, later holding corporate positions in Engineering and Marketing and managing teams whose projects covered Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Mr. Szymczak earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University, College of Engineering and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
About Frontier Communications
Frontier Communications Corporation (NAS: FTR) is an S&P 500 company and is included in the FORTUNE 500 list of America’s largest corporations. Frontier offers broadband, voice, satellite video, wireless Internet data access, data security solutions, bundled offerings and specialized bundles for residential customers, small businesses and home offices and medium and large businesses in 27 states. Frontier’s approximately 14,700 employees are based entirely in the United States. More information is available at www.frontier.com.
<br …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By The Huffington Post News Editors
Even after the college applications are completed, the acceptance letters have rolled in and you’ve decided upon your school of choice, there’s still one important decision to be made: choosing a college major.
HuffPost Live tackled the topic earlier this week, featuring Taylor Trudon (Associate Editor of HuffPost Teen), Will McGuinness (HuffPost College Senior Editor), Anne Mongillo (Dean of Academic Advisement at Hofstra University), Spencer Brown (freshman at Rutgers University) and Dale Stephens (founder of uncollege.org).
“A lot of the time I find a student thinks they’re supposed to be in a certain major, like engineering or business or something with an obvious end point with a position. Maybe they’ll be excited about it but a lot of times they’re not,” Mongillo said. “I’ll ask them, ‘What do you like? What have you always like to do?’ I can start to talk to them about the transferrable skills that go into that major.”
Read More…
More on Starting College
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Synta Announces Appointment of Sumant Ramachandra, M.D., Ph.D. as President, Research and Development
LEXINGTON, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NAS: SNTA) today announced the appointment of Dr. Sumant Ramachandra as President, Research and Development.
Prior to Synta, Dr. Ramachandra was Senior Vice President, Research and Development (R&D), Regulatory and Medical Affairs, and Chief Scientific Officer of Hospira, a specialty pharmaceuticals and medical device company. At Hospira, Dr. Ramachandra led a 1,200 person R&D organization and was recognized for his achievements and contributions as a healthcare leader in PharmaVoice’s “100 of the Most Inspiring People,” Diversity MBA’s “Top 100 Under 50 Diverse Executive Leaders,” and Chicago Business’ “Crain’s 40-under-40.”
Prior to joining Hospira in 2008, Dr. Ramachandra was Vice President and oncology portfolio therapeutic area leader at Merck & Co. (formerly Schering-Plough), and prior to Merck/Schering-Plough he was therapeutic area head for medical oncology at Pfizer (formerly Pharmacia). At these companies, Dr. Ramachandra drove the development, regulatory approval, and market expansion studies for numerous oncology products.
“Sumant brings a broad range of development and regulatory leadership experience, as well as a unique perspective having led both oncology development at large pharmaceutical companies, and the broader range of R&D functions at a large, global specialty pharma company,” said Safi Bahcall, President and CEO, Synta. “Sumant’s experiences with a wide range of drugs, manufacturers, pharma companies, payors, providers, and regulatory agencies will enhance our ability to realize the full potential of our product pipeline to benefit patients.”
“The programs at Synta can change the treatment of many types of cancers,” said Dr. Ramachandra. “In addition, Synta’s culture of innovation, collaboration, and commitment to speed and excellence in execution are exciting and critical to success in our industry. I am very much looking forward to being part of the Synta team and contributing to bringing these new drugs to cancer patients.”
Dr. Ramachandra received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Rutgers University, and M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Medicine and Dentistry-New Jersey Medical School. He conducted his residency at the Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Dr. Ramachandra also earned a master’s of business administration from the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania.
About Synta Pharmaceuticals
Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing small molecule drugs to extend and enhance the lives of patients with …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By The Huffington Post News Editors
The value of a college degree may not be what it used to be, from a monetary point of view, but experts have long been touting educational benefits of a different kind — keeping divorce rates low.
A study recently published in the journal Family Relations found that the theory still holds true — with overall divorce rates leveling off since the 1980s after more than a century-long rise — but the rate has increasingly diverged by race and socioeconomic class, when educational attainment is factored in.
In short: Married couples who have attained higher levels of education are less likely to divorce than less-educated couples, but “African-American women don’t seem to enjoy the same degree of protection that education confers on marriage,” said Jeounghee Kim, assistant professor at Rutgers University, where the study was conducted.
