WASHINGTON Purdue University President France Cordova was installed today as chairwoman of the Smithsonian Institutions governing board as the museum complex expands with the coming construction of a new black history museum and calls for another focused on Latino American heritage.
As Cordova begins her three-year term, she will maintain her post at the Indiana university. Cordova will lead oversight and support fundraising for the worlds largest group of museums and research centers. Cordova is an astrophysicist and previously held posts in the University of California system and was chief scientist at NASA.
Cordova succeeds Patty Stonesifer, a former Microsoft executive and former chief executive of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Stonesifer has served as chairwoman since 2009 and will become vice chair of the board.
The Smithsonian is developing its first institution-wide capital campaign to increase private support. Congress provides about 70 percent of the Smithsonians budget, but funds for programs and exhibits must be raised privately.
Rochester, Minn. The Rochester School Board has chosen a veteran school administrator from Iowa to be the district’s next superintendent.
Michael Munoz currently works as the chief academic officer for the Des Moines Public Schools. He’s also worked as a teacher, counselor, coach and principal in Iowa and Nebraska.
School Board Chair Dan O’Neil said the board voted unanimously to offer him the vacant position.
“His connection to the community through some of the community sessions that he had and his communication of clear intent for being an educator, for being all about the students, those two things, communicating and connecting, were superlative,” O’Neil said.
The Rochester School Board will now to enter into contract negotiations with Munoz. They expect to have the position filled by July 1.
Rochester is the state’s 7th largest district with 16,400 students.
The previous superintendent, Romain Dallemand, spent four years in the job. He left in January to take a job as superintendent at a district in Georgia.
St. Paul, Minn. — More than three dozen people have applied for an open seat on the St. Paul School Board.
The seat was left vacant in November when board member Vallay Varro stepped down to head an education non-profit. The St. Paul School Board now has to appoint someone to fill that seat for the year remaining in Varro’s term.
With the application period now closed, the district says 41 people applied. Familiar names include two former St. Paul School Board members, Al Oertwig and William Finney. Finney also used to be St. Paul’s police chief.
Another applicant is David Unowsky – he used to own a well-known bookstore in St. Paul called the Hungry Mind.
Ramsey County prosecutor Dave Pinto and public relations executive Ted Davis have also applied, along with two 2010 candidates for seats in the Minnesota Legislature: Jeremiah Ellis and Avi Viswanathan.
The first round of public interviews will be later this month, Jan. 12.
Here is the list of the 41 people who have applied for the vacant seat on the St. Paul School Board:
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A recount will begin Monday morning in the extremely close Palm Beach County School Board District 6 runoff election.
Marcia Andrews led rival Dean Grossman by 77 votes, according to a tally posted Friday afternoon on the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections website.
“The margin is so narrow, they have to do a recount,” Grossman said. Elections officials had continued reviewing provisional and other ballots after the precincts closed Tuesday.
There were 49,317 votes in the contest, with 24,697 going to Andrews and 24,620 awarded to Grossman, according to Friday’s update.
Andrews, a former school district principal and administrator, had 50.08 percent of the vote, while Grossman, a radio sales executive landed 49.92 percent.
There is a mandatory recount if the vote margin is 0.5 percent or less, according to Florida law.
The District 6 winner succeeds longtime board member Sandra Richmond, who did not run for another term.
The voting district includes Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee, part of Wellington, Belle Glade and areas west of Delray Beach and Boca Raton.
On Nov. 16, A