A University Police report identified the student as Mark Andrew Ratliff.  Jeff Morrill, an investigator with the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner office, said the death was confirmed as a suicide by hanging.

Ratliff was found by a passing jogger, University Police said. Ratliff’s vehicle was found in a nearby parking lot and  a note was discovered at the scene.

Ratliff received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in 2005 and was a graduate student majoring in architecture.

University spokeswoman Lara Wade said in a statement, “The University of South Florida community mourns this loss. Because of the tragic nature of this incident, we want to reach out to faculty, staff and students to remind everyone about the array of resources available to provide counseling and support though the USF Counseling Center and through the Employee Assistance Program (EAP).”

For more information, pick-up Wednesday’s issue of The Oracle.

Each speaker had a different story to tell and different advice to offer, but all had one trait in common — they are parents of teenage children with disabilities.

Three parents offered their personal experiences and advice to other parents at the “Family Perspectives on the Challenges of Teenage Children with Disabilities” seminar, which was held by the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities at USF’s College of Behavioral and Community Sciences on Wednesday.

The speakers touched on the topics of healthcare, post-secondary employment, and social relationships.

Nila Benito works as a child and family studies coordinator at the center. She has two sons with autism, 20-year-old Vincent and 19-year-old Joseph, and spoke about their employment opportunities.

“I knew from middle school that Vincent would be self-employed,” she said.

She said she used “Discovery,” a program designed to help disabled people find their niche, to try to find Vincent a job. However, she advised parents to avoid similar programs because they do not provide the proper support.

What really makes a difference in the search for employment is strength and support from the family, she said.

“We actually found that Vincent’s niche is (stocking vending machines),” Benito said. “He is almost independent with everything except counting the money.”

She said Joseph is in high school and is more academic then his brother. Day programs in the classroom have proved to be successful, however Benito said she is still trying to figure out what profession Joseph would like to enter.

The second speaker, Janet Hess works for FloridaHATS pediatrics in adolescent medicine. Her daughter, 17-year-old Hayle, had brain surgery when she was four months old for hydrocephalus — an accumulation of brain fluid.

Because of her condition, Hayle developed significant learning disabilities such as memory issues and speech disorders.

When it comes to healthcare, Hess said it is important for parents to think about their child becoming self-sufficient and independent before they reach the age of 18. Hess said she has worked with Hayle for years to get her to take medicine, sign in at appointments and give receptionists her credit card for payment by herself.

Preparing a child for their next steps when dealing with healthcare is crucial, she said.

“One thing I have found with her, which is part of her disability, is being very literal, and preparing and talking through things,” Hess said. “And trying not to have surprises along the way.”

Janet Atkinson, who also spoke Wednesday, works in Family Support and O0utreach Services. Her 18-year-old son Taylor has cerebral palsy and autism and suffers from seizures. Yet regardless of disabilities, Atkinson said teenagers are still teenagers and yearn for social relationships.

“I let him go to a Christian camp,” she said. “He made friendships. We just went to a fundraiser last week, and the girls came running out of the kitchen saying, ‘we love him.’ They really meant it.”

It is important for children with disabilities to interact with others and not remain sheltered, she said. When Atkinson hired a behavior specialist to work with Taylor, she learned that he interacts best with people older than him.

Dee O’Neill, a parent of two children with special needs and a family support coordinator for a non-profit children’s mental health organization, came to the seminar because she knows the speakers and respects their perspectives.

O’Neill said she appreciated their honesty and home spun advice.

“As parents there is no guidebook on how we do this,” she said. “So we learn from others.”

Scott: I am pro-life with the exception of rape, incest and mother’s life. I would sign a law.

Sink: I would follow the law as it is. It has limits like parent notification and I will follow it as it is.

– Do you feel that the legislature has gone too conservative?

Sink: Yes, they have passed slush funds and they should have been passing ethic laws.

Scott: This race is about jobs and you are an Obama-liberal and you have been endorsed by all of these things but missing that this race is about jobs.

Sink: Can I respond to that?

–We have to take a break but you will be able to respond when we come back.

–We are back and this is going to be considered a lightning round. Mr. Scott is homosexuality a moral.

Scott: I am not answering that

Sink: I was told I can answer to the last response.

– We have to continue.The Terry Schiavo situation was the court right in ruling?

Scott: Yes

Sink: No it is a private matter

– Your biggest regret?

Scott: Not having more kids. I have two daughters and I wish I could have three or four.

Sink: Ohh… I don’t think I have a regret. I just want to serve Florida the best that I can

Scott: They raised fees, we have lost eight-hundred jobs and they have done nothing to fix it.

Sink: Let me be clear, there has only been one party in Tallahassee–Rick Scott’s party. I was on the outside. My plan calls for$700 million cuts, and cutting the $3 billion in Medicare fraud.

–Would you ax the high-speed rail?

Scott: Every project we have to gain something for the taxpayers, let’s look at everything and then make a decision. My opponent has no funding mechanism and will raise taxes

–Did you both learn something from the BP oil spill?

Sink: I was unhappy with the Obama Administration and how they dealt with the oil spill. I also learned how dependent we are on tourist economy. I went up to Pensacola and was the only official up there helping.

Scott: We all live here because we love this environment. I dealt with this in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew hit and went down and helped those hospitals.

Scott: Here is what you do as a CEO, you surround yourself with the smartest people you can and you trust them. That is what I did with my company and that is what I will do as governor. This race is about one thing, it is about jobs. I am running on that platform.

Sink: Let me go back because I can’t stand Rick Scott telling lies about me. I know small businesses. Rick Scott doesn’t know much about me and doesn’t know much about Florida. He hasn’t been here long enough to know about Florida. He says I don’t take responsibility? I am the kind of person that when I hear about problems I try and solve the problems.

–You were the president of Nations Bank Florida and you had no knowledge of these problems

Sink: The lawyer publicly said that ‘Alex Sink had no knowledge of these issues.’ Let me make this clear, if someone tells me something to do that is illegal I wont do it. He says I don’t care about seniors, when I heard about these problems I help put together legislation and a task force to protect seniors.

Sink: I have nothing in my plan that says raising taxes. That is a false charge that we have heard over and over again by Rick Scott.

Scott: You want to increase workers. How are you going to pay for it? You want to extend rails? how are you going to pay for it?

Sink: I am not raising taxes. I’m a math major, I know how to do numbers. My plan calls for cutting taxes. You have spent this campaign from the beginning making up numbers just like you made up healthcare fraud in your company.

Scott: you want to talk about fraud, lets talk about your company. your bank tellers were receiving kick backs. You want to talk about fraud, I have a whole list. You want to talk about your county fraud

Sink: You cant lecture me about fraud

Scott: In contrast I’m proud about my company. I’ve been working since the second grade. I wanted three things: better patient satisfaction, better outcome and better price. I got all three

–What does amnesty mean to you? Does that mean you wouldn’t welcome immigrants in and try to get rid of them?

Scott: My lt. governor is a legal immigrant. She lived the american dream,. We need to secure borders, know whose in our country. If you’re in our country illegally and you get caught doing something wrong in our country, you should be asked if you are illegal. We should have a legal process that allows people into our country, we should have a legal work force.

Sink: Florida is not Arizona, but I would have a plan that increases the fines and penalities companies that knowingly hire illegal workers. I’ve been enforced by two largest law enforcement organizations in this state. They’re concerned about haveing resources stretched thin adn not being abel to effectively do their job.

–USF President Cesar Hernandez: I am the first generation born in U.S. from parents who benefited from immigration laws of the Regan administration. What are your true views of Dream Act and, if your going to secure the borders, how?

Charlie Crist, Independent: My grandfather was 14 when he first came to America. The Dream Act requires that you stay out of trouble with the law, go to college, join the army and earn your path to citizenship. I believe in the Dream Act, it’s right thing to do. Rubio is opposed, but I agree with Meek. To secure border, we should add additional law enforcement.

Kendrick Meek, Democrat: I support the Dream Act and wrote letters to move for it. It’s important to look at the realities of comprehensive immigration reform. We need people to pay penalties for being here illegally. Securing borders is very important. We need to focus on immigrants who overstay their visas. The Arizona law is exciting to so many people because it enforces the law against people who hire undocumented workers.

Rubio: We have a broken legal immigration system in America, but we also need to remind oursleves that the reason why people come to America is because they are looking for opportunity. Opportunity will dissipate if too many illegal immigrants take jobs. We need to create a national consenusus among the immigration system. The worse things coming across the border are not immigrants, but drugs and warfare. We need to have an electronic verification system so employers can verify that workers are legal. For children brought to country by illegal parents that have done well in school and want to continue at university or serve in military — we need to accommodate them because they build our country. The Dream Act could apply to 2 million people across country.

–Kelli Polson, former managing editor of USF Oracle: What are your plans to direct funding to Florida univeristies once the stimulus package is gone?

Rubio: Student’s need to have access to strong loan and grant programs. The real dividing line in America’s employment field is post-secondary education.

Meek: As tuition rates continue to increase, we need to create a fixed rate. Students are stepping into a middle class worked force,thus we need to stop thinking on an individual level and think about our community. The stimulus was created to stop the suffering of students, but currently, tuition rates are going to continue to increase.

Crist: We need to everything we can to create opportunities for young people. Florida currently has the highest graduation rate in the history of state.

–Frank Hernandez, student government Director of Student Affairs: During this political season, weve seen a lot of negative adds. What have you done to bypass partisan politics and what are you going to do to get back on track?

Meek: It’s important to understand the art of compromise.

Kendrick Meek, Democrat: not acceptable, we cannot allow these dangerous individuals who brought about the true 9/11 to have an element of safety on their side.

– What should happen to legal immigration in U.S.?

Marco Rubio, Republican: I don’t believe we can grant amnesty – need to have a legal immigration system that functions. People come here for jobs and we continue to hire them. Many illegal immigrants in Florida came here legally, but became illegal because their visas expired.

Charlie Crist, Independent: need a common sense approach to probelm. First, draw border. Have an earned path to citizenship – immigrants need to become proactive members of the U.S. economy.

Meek: Dream act called for individuals to serve in military or attend college. It’s important for us to move for comprehensive immigration reform. Rubio and Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott will send imigration reform down the drain.

Rubio: An “earned path for citizenship” is basically amnesty. It’s unfair to allow illegals into the country when people worked hard to come here legally.

– Should voters be worried that Crist will change his views once he gets to Washington like he did as Florida governor?

Crist: people of Florida understand that views need to change as facts change. There is a need for a senator that is open minded and free thinking.

Rubio: Crist changes opinions on issues because he wants to win the election. Any time you get into issues, Crist wants to change them into something else because he can’t answer the questions. Candidates want to point fingers because they don’t want to address issues. Rubio has received six endorsments from Florida papers becuase he’s giving serious answers.

Meek: I’m the only defensive player at this table. People are looking for a U.S. senator to stand up for them. In Florida, jobs have to be created, we need to reverse spending, we need to abolish off shore drilling and we need to have representation of the people. Immigration is a serious issue, but we can’t enact an Arizona style law in Florida. The economy depends heavily on tourism and Arizona law would come with boycotts – sink Florida further into the economic hole.

Who is coming out on top in the debate? Is Crist being “flexible” or “flip-floppy?”

Marco Rubio, Republican: there is nothing wrong with compromise on ideas, but can’t compromise on principals, tax increses in middle of economic downturn is a bad idea. Only candidate who has declared that he will not compromise.

Charlie Crist, Independent: Rubio wouldn’t accept tax cuts for 98 percent of people becasue of his ideology, it’s more important to listen than to scream on cable channels, want someone to fight for voters instead of party.

– Is the world better off after U.S. war in Iraq?

Rubio: yes, Iraqi people are better off then they were under Sadaam Hussein’s reign.

Meek: war was not brought about because of fact but because of false hoods. International community must stay involved in Iraq, the world is safer, but would have been better off if we hadn’t listened to lies of Bush administration

Crist: the world is better off. The number one role of our government is safety and security, Gen. David Petraeus is the right guy to lead us there, but we have to keep our eye on Iran. Singed the first Investment Act with Iran, great relationship in Isreal.

–Is a peace agreement between the Taliban terrorist group and Afganistan’s government a reasonable way for war to end?

Rubio: U.S. role is to create a civilized society, confidence in troops on the ground there

Don’t forget to check out the Oracle Twitter page. Are the candidate’s responses affecting your views on who you’re going to vote for? How do you think the candidates are answering the questions? Do you agree with the questions that are being asked? Vote in the USF straw poll.