A Florida State University Advancement publication for alumni, parents and friends FALL 2024 Volume 16, Issue 2
The Making of
ASPIRE
A STRATEGIC PLAN TO INSPIRE RESEARCH EXCELLENCE
TURTLES AND SHARKS AND OYSTERS... OH MY!
The Moment
On September 12, Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare broke ground on a new 140,000-squarefoot academic health center. Part of the FSU Health initiative, the facility will include clinical research space, a family residency practice and other resources aimed at bridging the gap between academic research and patient care. See a rendering of the center and read more on page 18.
by Bill Lax (B.S. ’90).
Photo
VIRES
An award-winning biannual publication from the Florida State Division of University Advancement, which includes the Alumni Association and FSU Foundation. Named after the first torch in the university seal, VIRES represents strength of all kinds: physical, mental and moral. Fall 2024 Volume 16, Issue 2
PUBLISHER
Julie Decker
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Hannah Akin (M.A. ’22)
DESIGNER
Lindsey Masterson @penandtool
CONTRIBUTORS
Emily Clemons MacMillan (B.A. ’17)
Lilly H. Erickson (B.A. ’19)
Zac Howard (B.A. ’14)
Brian Hudgins
Kenta Joseph (B.S. ’08)
Kelsey Klopfenstein (B.A. ’14)
Christi N. Morgan (B.S. ’98) FSU Communications staff members
PHOTOGRAPHY
Bill Lax (B.S. ’90)
Erich Martin (B.A. ’11) FSU Athletics
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By Emily Clemons MacMillan (B.A. ’17) and Hannah Akin (M.A. ’22)
Florida State traveled to Dublin, Ireland, in August to kick off the 2024 football season with the Aer Lingus College Football Classic! We enjoyed seeing so many of you at the “Welcome to Dublin Happy Hour” and cheering alongside you at the game. While the game’s outcome was not what we hoped, we still had an amazing time traveling and experiencing a new place together! We want to thank all the alumni, family and friends who made the trip to Dublin and those who celebrated with us at our Seminole Clubs’ game-watching parties across the country!
As we find ourselves in the middle of another vibrant fall semester, I am energized by the excitement that defines this time of year. Our students are deeply engaged in their studies, our faculty are demonstrating unparalleled excellence in their fields, and our staff are advancing Florida State University’s mission through their outstanding work. Our alumni, parents, and friends are also making valuable contributions and staying involved in ways that shape the future of our university.
In this issue of VIRES, you’ll find stories that highlight our progress on our ambitious agenda as one of the best public universities in America. Growing FSU’s research portfolio has been one of my top priorities, and the university’s first strategic plan for research will help us chart our path forward. Vice President for Research Stacey Patterson and a steering committee took the lead in developing ASPIRE, and I’m grateful for their dedication to producing a comprehensive and inspiring plan. I’m also proud of the enthusiasm and engagement of our faculty, who have embraced ASPIRE as a shared vision and a collective responsibility.
Our commitment to research that makes an impact is evident in our coastal marine projects. This issue features the important work of researchers who are informing the conservation of hundreds of species of marine plants and animals. You’ll also enjoy “10 Questions with Kathleen Amm.” Dr. Amm joined FSU in May as the new director of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. She’s an acclaimed researcher and industry leader who earned her doctorate from FSU, and we are excited to welcome her back home. With her vision and leadership, we are poised to usher in a new era of scientific discovery and innovation.
This issue also offers the opportunity to catch up with Jim Pitts, who retired in June after serving FSU for 56 years in a variety of roles — as a faculty member, associate dean, vice president for advancement and, since 1995, as director of International Programs. First Lady Dr. Jai and I, along with FSU Board of Trustees Chair Peter Collins and his wife, Jennifer, a member of the International Programs Board, had a wonderful time last year visiting our study centers in London, Florence, and Valencia, where we heard from students about their life-changing experiences studying abroad. Jim deserves tremendous credit for expanding these opportunities, including the purchase and renovation of the three European study centers. Under his guidance, FSU has become a national leader in study abroad enrollment, ranking No. 3 among public universities.
You’ll also find highlights of the success of FSU’s Great Give. I always say that FSU alumni are the best in the world, and your support advances our university priorities and helps us shine on the national — and international — stage. Your generosity supported many programs and allowed the Marching Chiefs to travel to Ireland to take part in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. As you peruse these stories, I hope you share my sense of pride and excitement. You are a valued member of the Florida State family, and your connection to our university community is vital to our success. As an FSU graduate, you are automatically a member of the FSU Alumni Association. Please stay in touch by joining one of the 60-plus Seminole Clubs or Chapters around the country and taking part in the Alumni Association’s virtual or in-person events. I hope to see you in November for Homecoming, where we will celebrate our many achievements together. I can’t wait to welcome you back to campus!
Go Noles!
Richard McCullough President, Florida State University
FSU Alumni Association @FSUAlumniAssociation
Congratulations to FSU alumna Dana Sterneman (B.A. ’18, M.A. ’21), who was a contestant on the new FOX Game Show “The 1% Club,” which aired Monday, June 17. It is currently streaming on Amazon Prime, so check out Dana’s episode! Spoiler alert: Dana is a finalist, beating out 99 other contestants! Go Noles! #SeminolesForever
FSU Alumni Association @FSUAlumniAssociation
We had a blast on our first trip to Colorado! Thank you to everyone who joined us for this year’s Young Alumni Weekend in Denver. Our personal favorite part of the weekend was watching the Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants. We can’t wait for next year!
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@FSU_Research
Imagine zooming in on a dried drop of salt solution – each pattern a unique masterpiece, reminiscent of abstract art.
New research by scientists in @fsuchemistry @fsuartssciences uses the patterns formed by a dried salt solution to train a machine learning algorithm that can identify the chemical composition of different salts.
FSU Alumni Association @FSUAlumniAssociation
We’d like to extend a round of applause to FSU golfer Luke Clanton. This weekend, the rising junior made history, becoming the first amateur with back-to-back top-10s on the PGA Tour since 1958. “The last time it had been done, the Dallas Cowboys had yet to play a football game. The audio cassette hadn’t been invented. No human had gone to outer space.”
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&Then Now
2024 marks the FSU Student Alumni Association’s milestone 45th anniversary. Originally founded in 1979 as the Student Alumni Foundation, SAA is a student organization dedicated to fostering spirit, tradition and pride throughout the university. Founders Ron Hill, of the Dean of Students Office, and Meredith Smith, of the FSU Foundation, Inc., served as SAA’s first advisors. Hill and Smith organized a trip for interested students to visit the Student Alumni Association at Indiana University, marking the beginning of the organization. A few years later, the group moved under the guidance of the FSU Alumni Association, and Associate Director of the FSU Alumni Association Phil Barco became the group’s new advisor. In 1992, the Student Alumni Foundation formally changed its name to the Student Alumni Association. Today, SAA offers activities and programs that help develop FSU students as leaders, scholars and future alumni. The group’s robust programming has included networking events with FSU alumni, community service projects and student advice panels. All FSU students can join SAA, elevating their FSU experience and taking a big step toward becoming Seminoles Forever.
LEARN MORE alumni.fsu.edu/saa
The Princeton Review Names FSU ‘Best Value’ Public University in Florida, No. 16 in the Nation
By Jenny Ralph (B.S. ’21, M.S. ’22)
Florida State University is the top-ranked Best Value public college in Florida, according to The Princeton Review’s 2024 Best Value Colleges list.
FSU is also ranked the No. 16 Best Value College nationally among public institutions, rising five spots from last year. The leap from last year’s ranking further positions FSU as the leading institution in Florida for exceptional education at an affordable cost.
“Florida State University’s rise in the rankings is a direct reflection of our unwavering focus on reducing financial barriers and prioritizing student success,” said FSU President Richard McCullough. “We are honored to be recognized as the top public institution in Florida for making higher education accessible and valuable to all students, regardless of their background.”
The Princeton Review surveyed more than 650 colleges and universities for the Best Value Colleges 2024 list. The schools earning a place on the list received the highest return on investment (ROI) ratings, which are based on The Princeton Review’s more than 40 data points covering academics, affordability and career preparation.
FSU’s opportunities for students extend beyond an affordably priced education, including nationally recognized career preparation. FSU’s Career Center offers many programs and initiatives to support students navigating all things career-related.
This emphasis on career readiness secured FSU the No. 14 spot on The Princeton Review’s list of the Top 20 Best Schools for Internships among public schools across the country.
FSU graduates who completed at least one internship had an 80% predicted probability of securing a job, while those who reported they did not do an internship had a 68% chance, according to a study conducted by the FSU Office of Institutional Research.
The study also found that minority underrepresented students, Pell Grant recipients and first-generation graduates who participated in internships were as likely as non-underrepresented, non-Pell and continuing generation students to secure employment offers.
“We’ve made it a priority to help all students secure internships — powerful and inspiring learning experiences that bolster students’ academic and career development,” said Joe O’Shea, associate provost and dean of undergraduate studies. “By making internships possible for every student, we are helping ensure that FSU graduates continue to be highly sought after for their talent and professional acumen. We’re grateful for the thousands of alumni and partners who help provide these learning opportunities for our students.”
The Princeton Review also included FSU in the Top 20 among public schools for Best Alumni Networks at No. 14, up two spots from the previous year.
LEARN MORE princetonreview.com
Florida State University’s rise in the rankings is a direct reflection of our unwavering focus on reducing financial barriers and prioritizing student success.
RICHARD MCCULLOUGH, PRESIDENT OF FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
Esteemed Family Physician, Education Leader Named College of Medicine Dean
By Bill Wellock
Florida State University Provost Jim Clark announced Dr. Alma Littles as the new dean of the College of Medicine this summer. She began in the role July 1.
Littles served as interim dean of the college from February 2023 through July 2024 and as a senior associate dean for medical education and academic affairs for nearly 20 years.
“Dr. Littles’ dedication to Florida State University and to the people of Florida has made a profound impact on the health and well-being of thousands of people,” Clark said. “Her career exemplifies the mission of the FSU College of Medicine to practice patientcentered health care, advance medical knowledge and bring high-quality care where it is most needed. Dr. Littles has provided outstanding leadership as the interim dean, and I have heard from an impressive number of health care leaders across the state that they looked forward to her appointment to permanent dean.”
Littles replaced Dr. John P. Fogarty, who served as dean from 2008 until his retirement in 2023.
Her commitment to service began in her hometown of Quincy, Florida, where she was the youngest of 12 children. She saw the difficulty of accessing health care in her rural community, and after graduating from the University of Florida College of Medicine in 1986, and the Family Medicine Residency Program at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare
(TMH) in 1989, she returned home to practice.
“When I first saw the College of Medicine mission statement, it resonated with me,” Littles said. “The college’s priorities and my goals as a physician mirror each other. Growing up in a rural and underserved community stimulated my interest in investing my talents toward helping people whose health care needs are not easily met. The college has remained dedicated to training physicians who can help meet those needs.”
Teaching and leadership have long been a part of her work. She began precepting medical students and residents soon after beginning to practice and joined the faculty of the Family Medicine Residency Program at TMH in 1996, later becoming director of the program. After the FSU College of Medicine was created in 2000, she became the acting and then founding chair of the Department of Family Medicine and Rural Health. She also served as president of the Florida Academy of Family Physicians.
“Dr. Littles is not only an outstanding physician; she’s outstanding at developing the next generation of physicians,” said FSU President Richard McCullough. “Her dedication to education and patient care sets a remarkable example for all. Dr. Littles embodies the spirit of excellence that defines our institution’s mission to advance health care and nurture future leaders in medicine.”
As dean, Littles oversees a college with a robust research and teaching portfolio. College faculty tallied more than $126 million in research expenditures from 2019 through 2023. Along with the central campus, the college includes nine regional campuses or training sites where medical and physician assistant students complete their third- and fourth-year education.
FSU’s model of medical education has a unique community focus that sends students across Florida for one-on-one, apprenticeship-style clerkships with established community physicians. Most medical students in the U.S. complete their clerkships in a large teaching hospital or academic medical center.
Littles has firsthand experience with that education model. She was a preceptor for students in the FSU Program in Medical Sciences and was the acting dean of the Tallahassee Regional Campus when it was developed prior to the first cohort of third-year medical students at FSU going out into community settings to complete their required and elective rotations.
She has also led the college’s accreditation efforts, the development and evolution of its curriculum and the expansion of its community-based education model in her role as senior associate dean for medical education and academic affairs.
“I see teaching and mentoring as an essential part of being a physician,” Littles said. “New doctors and physician assistants have so much to learn. Along with hours of study and practice, they need experienced practitioners to guide them on their journey. My own mentors were instrumental in helping me become a successful physician, and it is gratifying to pay it forward to the next generation.”
FSU has ambitious plans for advancing health care research and education. Littles will continue to play a major role in FSU Health, an enterprise she supported as interim dean. FSU Health is an initiative to transform health care delivery in North Florida. FSU is partnering with Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare to build an academic health center on the TMH campus that will offer advanced medical training and translational research for FSU faculty and TMH clinicians. The work is funded by $125 million from the Florida Legislature and Governor Ron DeSantis.
Other components to FSU Health include a health care campus in Panama City Beach that will bring together clinicians, researchers and students to meet the rapidly increasing need for medical care in the Florida Panhandle. FSU is also partnering with Mayo Clinic and others on projects to improve health care research and practice.
“Dr. Littles is an excellent leader for this initiative,” McCullough said. “Her experience and vision will guide us toward achieving our goals with precision and compassion. I am pleased to welcome her as the new dean of the FSU College of Medicine.”
The Florida State University College of Medicine was created by the Florida Legislature in June 2000. The college welcomed its first students, the Class of 2005, in May 2001, and now counts nearly 2,000 physicians among its alumni. The college ranks in the 86th percentile nationally for alumni physicians practicing in-state and in the 98th percentile nationally for alumni physicians practicing in underserved areas.
LEARN MORE med.fsu.edu.
Inaugural Horizons Unlimited Conference Demonstrates Ongoing Commitment to First-Generation Student Success
By Jenny Ralph (B.S. ’21, M.S. ’22)
President Richard McCullough spoke about his own journey as a first-generation student to Florida State University first-generation students at the closing keynote speech of the university’s first Horizons Unlimited Conference during the spring semester.
The daylong conference was a part of FSU’s ongoing commitment to first-generation student success and its emphasis on expanding resources for first-generation students. About a quarter of FSU’s undergraduate population identifies as the first in their families to go to college, with the Center for Academic Retention and Enhancement (CARE) offering resources and support to many of those students.
“The Horizons Unlimited Conference is a chance for our students to be able to learn alongside their peers with shared experiences from faculty, staff and alumni who understand and have shared experiences,” said DeOnte Brown, director of CARE and assistant dean of Undergraduate Studies. “It provides the opportunity for first-generation students to learn and grow together while providing the launchpad for future opportunities and success.”
FSU First Lady Dr. Jai Vartikar proposed the conference, which was planned by first-generation students for first-generation students. The steering committee included Joshua Burns, Kheila Chanza, Jenee Gray, Kephtania Jean Hilaire, Amanda Johnson, Kevin Knowles and Justin Mohabir.
“The stories that you heard today show grit, determination and resilience,” Vartikar said. “They also highlighted the incredible power of higher education to open doors, create opportunity and change lives forever.”
The conference offered three main sessions: maximizing the college experience, considering graduate schools, and navigating job searches and career establishment. It also provided networking opportunities with fellow first-generation students, alumni, faculty and university leaders.
Nayah Michel, a participant in the Navigating the Career Journey session and member of CARE’s QUEST Scholars Program said, “What stuck with me was to be bold and put yourself out there, as well as being yourself. Overall, CARE has provided a safe space that has made it easier for me to find and seek out the resources I need.”
Leon County Commissioner Nick Maddox (B.S. ’05), a first-generation FSU student and former football player, shared some personal reflections of his time on campus before introducing McCullough for his keynote.
“Make sure that you take advantage of every single day you get to spend on this campus. The kid that I was would have never imagined the young man I was going to be, who would never imagine the man I would become,” Maddox said.
McCullough talked about growing up in Mesquite, Texas, in a family of modest means and how he came to believe in higher education as a pathway to success.
“The one thing I think that was instilled in me from the very beginning was the idea that I should work,” McCullough said. “That work was important.”
He worked his way through Eastfield Community College before attending UT-Dallas, where he majored in chemistry, which inspired his passion for accessibility and affordability in higher education. McCullough went on to earn a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Johns Hopkins University and served as a post-doctoral researcher at Columbia University.
McCullough was hired as an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University
and rose through the ranks to become vice president of research. He then served as vice provost for research at Harvard University before becoming FSU’s president in 2021.
McCullough shared three pieces of advice with students:
Cultivate mentors. “Cultivate mentors because these are people who are going to write recommendation letters for you. These are people who can give you advice — professors and people like us. We want to do that. We want to help you. This is the secret about being in academics. We get more joy out of that than you do by helping you, so cultivate mentors because you’re going to need recommendation letters.”
Be patient. “You’re not going to be promoted to the greatest person in the entire world just because you deserve it. It just doesn’t work that way. You’ve got to work hard. You’ve got to be patient. And, you know, it’s really a marathon, not a sprint. So small steps lead to big, big opportunities.”
Be kind. “Don’t burn a bridge. Every time I burn a bridge, it always comes back to haunt me. You’re just going to get a lot more in life if you’re kind.”
The evening ended with a questionand-answer session between McCullough and FSU Trustee Vivian de las CuevasDiaz (B.S. ’97), an alumna who was a first-generation student. They discussed topics such as imposter syndrome, the importance of building and using networks, and seeking advice from admired professionals. Like McCullough, de las Cuevas-Diaz emphasized the importance of hard work.
“The one thing I keep on hearing throughout today is ‘hard work.’ Firstgeneration students may have to work a little harder,” de las Cuevas-Diaz said. “But don’t forget that you will succeed, you will fail, and you will succeed again. Hard work is what gets you somewhere.”
de las Cuevas-Diaz also lauded FSU for its efforts to support students.
“I don’t think you’ll see another program or a president that cares as much
to build on what you are doing here today,” she said.
Justin Mohabir, a CARE student and steering committee member for the Horizons Unlimited Conference, agreed.
“It is so unique for Florida State to have a president who’s also a first-generation student,” he said. “It means a lot to see President McCullough as an example, knowing that whatever you set your mind to you can accomplish, despite the adversity you may face along the way.”
CARE serves more than 2,500 students annually, providing preparation, orientation and academic support programming for students who are among the first in their families to attend college and may face unique challenges in college due to educational or economic circumstances.
“In the past two-and-a-half years, we have seen tremendous growth in terms of the programs and services Florida State University provides for our first-generation students,” Brown said. “We’re excited to embark on this new journey as we think about our role in shaping support for first-generation students broadly across the country and across the higher ed landscape.”
In late 2023, Florida State University was designated a First Scholars Institution by the Center for First-generation Student Success, an initiative of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and the Suder Foundation that helps higher education institutions transform experiences and outcomes for first-generation students.
“With all of these talks and discussions today, I’m learning everything that goes into making sure I’m as successful as I can be right now to reach greater success in the future,” said Genessa Dulcio, a freshman civil engineering major. “Sometimes people don’t understand the full scope of the issues you may be facing, and knowing that these people have gone through the exact same things, and they’re still able to reach success, is really empowering.”
LEARN MORE care.fsu.edu
First Assistant Vice President for Career Services Selected
By Suzan Kurdak
Florida State University hired a new assistant vice president for Career Services in June to bring career preparation efforts to new heights, furthering partnerships with academic deans, institutional research and industry while also innovating career services efforts.
Rob Liddell, Ph.D. (B.A. ’01), former executive director at the Center for Career and Leadership Development at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, started in this new position on August 13.
“The Florida State University Career Center has built a stellar reputation for integrating academic and career readiness, pioneering thought leadership and scholarship, and leading the way in shaping the field across the Southeast, nationally and globally,” Liddell said. “I am absolutely thrilled to accept the invitation to serve as Florida State University’s inaugural assistant vice president for Career Services.”
Liddell brings more than 15 years of experience in career services and is a well-respected national leader in career preparation.
“We are committed to helping our students succeed while at FSU as well as ensuring they have opportunities and access to make significant connections with employers for their future,” said Amy Hecht (B.S. ’01), vice president for Student Affairs. “I am grateful for the president and provost’s support of our efforts to develop a best-in-class operation to better serve our students and alumni.”
During his seven years at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Liddell initiated and developed a unit re-brand to incorporate an existing leadership education effort by establishing programming around exploration, discovery, connecting and achievement.
“The energy at FSU is simply infectious, blending a deep respect for tradition with a forward-looking embrace of the future,” Liddell said. “I am inspired by the diverse and talented students drawn to study, live at and contribute to this extraordinary institution. As an FSU alum, returning home fills me with immense pride.”
Prior to his role at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Liddell served as director of career planning at Saint Leo University, where he led the employer service unit to maximize employment and internship opportunities through creative, strategic engagement with alumni, faculty and community collaborators. He has championed research-based programs, services and educational initiatives to impact student success and help prepare students for their professional lives.
Liddell earned his doctorate in curriculum and instruction, higher education administration and a master’s degree in management focused on leadership and organizational effectiveness from the University of South Florida. He graduated from FSU with a bachelor’s degree in religion.
LEARN MORE career.fsu.edu
Florida State, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Cement Partnership With Memorandum of Understanding
By Kathleen Haughney
Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) formalized their long-term partnership with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will create a governance structure for a new academic health center in Tallahassee and a medical campus in Panama City Beach.
The MOU is intended to create a not-for-profit corporation to jointly oversee major strategic, research and clinical education decisions for the two
organizations. The new structure will help transform the future of health care in the region through scientific progress, programmatic expansion and technological innovation.
“Since arriving at Florida State University, my leadership team and I have been working diligently to lay the groundwork for FSU Health, a bold initiative that promises to transform the health care ecosystem in North Florida,” said FSU President Richard McCullough. “The MOU is an important step in
solidifying our relationship with TMH and establishing the basic operating and governance structure for our partnership as part of the FSU Health initiative.”
By combining TMH’s patient care with FSU’s medical and health education programs and its research capabilities, FSU and TMH will further their longstanding goal of expanding health care in the region.
“TMH has been working toward this goal of partnering with FSU to create an academic health center for almost 15 years,” said TMH President & CEO
Mark O’Bryant. “This is a monumental step forward in our relationship, and I’m incredibly excited and proud of the work our teams have done.”
Research and clinical education are at the core of this agreement, with both parties recognizing the importance they hold in enhancing the prestige needed to attract significant state and federal funding, as well as the reputation to recruit world-renowned scientists and researchers.
Partnerships between TMH and FSU are not new, as both organizations have historically shared the common goal of moving healthcare innovation forward. The two organizations have partnered in the past to bring residency programs to the community, including Internal Medicine, General Surgery and Psychiatry.
A new opportunity presented itself in 2022 when the Florida Legislature and Governor Ron DeSantis awarded FSU $125 million to build an academic health center in Tallahassee, a rendering of which is included on page 18. The
project broke ground in September and is slated to open in late 2026.
FSU is also contributing to TMH’s partnership with The St. Joe Company to establish FSU Health in Panama City Beach.
This campus opened in July 2024 with a medical office building housing physician partner groups, an Urgent Care Center, an ambulatory surgery center, as well as cardiology and orthopedic services. Plans also include an initial 100bed hospital with an emergency center and other inpatient services, including surgery, cardiology procedures and imaging, scheduled to be complete by the end of 2027. The campus is planned to eventually support a 600-bed facility, supported by approximately 380,000 square feet of medical office space.
This work is critical as North Florida faces significant shortages of health care professionals but also rapid population growth. The development of FSU Health will boost the quality and availability of innovative care for North Florida and beyond.
Modern Languages Professor Receives Prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship
By Heather Athey
AFlorida State University faculty member from the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics is among this year’s recipients of a prominent award granted to artists and humanities scholars in the U.S.
Martin Munro, eminent scholar of French and director of the WinthropKing Institute for Contemporary French and Francophone Studies, received a 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship for his project, “Francophonics: Sounding Global French Cultures.” This project illuminates connections among four French-speaking global artists by examining the use of sound in their works.
“I was surprised, happy, honored and humbled, in that order, when I heard the news,” Munro said. “I have applied for the Guggenheim for a long time. The fellowship means a lot for me and my work; it recognizes what I have done before and encourages me to do more, for which I am very grateful.”
Munro was one of 188 Guggenheim Fellows announced in April by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Winners were selected from nearly 3,000 applicants based on criteria measuring their previous career achievements and their potential for creating exceptional future work. Munro’s fellowship begins in January and includes a $50,000 award that will allow him time and resources to complete a book encapsulating his research.
“I am so pleased to congratulate Martin on receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship,” said Sam Huckaba, dean of the FSU College of Arts and Sciences. “This celebrated award, earned through a fiercely competitive process, is a recognition of past excellence and future promise. With his selection, Martin has joined a group of distinguished recipients forever linked to the honor.”
The fellowship, considered the pinnacle of scholarly recognition in the humanities, grants a monetary stipend to allow awardees to conduct the highest level of independent work with few restrictions. More than 19,000 fellowships have been awarded since the program’s founding in 1925.
“Humanity faces some profound existential challenges,” said Edward Hirsch, president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
“The Guggenheim Fellowship is a lifechanging recognition. It’s a celebrated investment into the lives and careers of distinguished artists, scholars, scientists, writers and other cultural visionaries who are meeting these challenges head-on and generating new possibilities and pathways across the broader culture as they do so.”
Munro’s research areas include Francophone literature and culture, particularly of the Caribbean region, as
well as writing and exile in Francophone cultures, rhythm in Francophone literatures and cultures, and Caribbean sound studies.
The Francophonics project was inspired by what Munro describes as a network of invisible and largely unheard artists scattered across the globe who have incorporated French language and culture into their works, whether by being French citizens, being expatriates or having been born into areas of former French colonization in the Caribbean, Africa or Asia. This book is a culmination of his body of work on sound studies.
“Francophonics is a means of reading, tracking and hearing the acoustic elements of artistic creations — novels, poems, music and even visual phenomena such as films and photographs — that allows critics and scholars to think in terms of sound and its historical, political and cultural
resonances in contemporary works of art,” Munro said. “I will be working on some of my favorite artists: Franco-Mauritian author Michaël Ferrier, Innu poet Joséphine Bacon, French pop icon Christine and the Queens, and the Belgian-Congolese musician Baloji.”
Munro earned his doctorate in French at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and has lectured at University College Cork, Ireland, and the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. He joined the modern languages faculty at FSU in 2008. Munro became director of the Winthrop-King Institute in 2012, and his previous awards include a National Humanities Center fellowship, an international fellowship with the Society for French Studies and the French Voices Award from the French Embassy Cultural Services.
“Through his work and his leadership of the WinthropKing Institute, Dr. Munro places FSU at the forefront of the most prominent academic centers dedicated to the study
of Francophone literature and culture, especially of the Caribbean region,” said department chair Reinier Leushuis. “This recognition of Dr. Munro’s pursuits further solidifies our strengths in these areas. More importantly, it increases our ability to attract high-quality students — especially those seeking to pursue graduate studies — to our programs in Global French studies.”
Kaveh Akbar (Ph.D. ’18), who earned a doctorate in creative writing from FSU’s Department of English, is also among the recipients of this year’s Guggenheim Fellowships.
LEARN MORE about Munro’s work and the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics at modlang.fsu.edu
LEARN MORE about the Winthrop-King Institute for Contemporary French and Francophone Studies at winthropking.fsu.edu
FSU Aims to Have Lowest Undergraduate Student Loan Debt
By Patty Cox
As college students across the nation consider taking out loans to finance their college education, Florida State University has set its sights on becoming the best public research university in the country for graduating students with little or no debt.
President Richard McCullough said it’s an audacious goal but an attainable one.
FSU is already among the Top 12 public research universities when it comes to low student debt, he said, and the university could be No. 1 in the next couple of years.
“I think it’s really important that we not only deliver an amazing education to our students, but we also do it in a way that’s at the lowest cost,” said McCullough, noting that FSU has one of the lowest tuition rates in the country.
He said that when students graduate with debt, “it makes it harder to get your life started. That’s the last thing we want to saddle our students with.”
Helping spearhead the university’s multifaceted strategy to support students’ financial wellness is Associate Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Studies Joe O’Shea (B.A. ’08).
“We want to graduate our students with the lowest debt possible among public research universities in this country,” O’Shea said. “It’s a goal we’re already very close to achieving.”
Currently, about 32% of FSU undergraduates graduate with some debt, with an average of $14,500 — a figure that has been decreasing each year. This puts FSU well below the
national average of $29,400 in student loan debt at graduation.
O’Shea said that while student loans can play an important role in financing education, FSU is focused on preventing excessive debt that could negatively impact students’ futures.
During the 2022-2023 academic year, 86.3% of full-time undergraduates received some form of non-loan student financial aid.
Florida has among the lowest public university tuition in the country, making FSU among the most affordable in the country for a world-class educational experience, according to O’Shea, and Florida State has not raised the price of tuition for the past 11 years.
“This is part of FSU’s commitment to making sure our education is as accessible as possible,” he said.
FSU students graduate on time, which helps minimize debt by reducing the time students spend accumulating expenses. The university has one of the highest four-year graduation rates in the country — 75% of FSU’s students graduate in four years.
“Our students are not staying for five or six years and accumulating debt,” O’Shea said. “Our focus on timely graduation is a key part of our strategy.”
FSU’s efforts to minimize student debt are rooted in a strategy that includes financial education, increased scholarship funding and innovative support programs. O’Shea highlighted several key components of the approach:
EXPANDED SCHOLARSHIPS AND GRANTS
Through the support of alumni, donors and legislative backing, FSU has significantly increased the amount of scholarship dollars available to students. FSU distributed more than $105 million in scholarships last year.
“We’ve been able to bring the average debt levels down incrementally for each graduating class,” O’Shea said. “This is thanks to the incredible generosity of our donors and the strong institutional and legislative support.”
Notable examples include significant gifts for first-generation students, women in STEM and other scholarship programs.
“It really is such a beautiful approach in which so many people who care about FSU and about students are coming together to make sure that our students have what they need to thrive during their time in college and beyond,” O’Shea said.
FINANCIAL LITERACY EDUCATION
Recognizing the importance of financial education, FSU has launched initiatives such as the Unconquered by Debt Program. This program, led by Joe Calhoun, former chair of FSU’s economics department, provides outreach and peer education to help students understand finances, student loans, credit, budgeting and long-term financial planning.
TARGETED SUPPORT FOR VULNERABLE STUDENTS
Programs like CARE, or the Center for Academic Retention and Enhancement, offer scholarships and holistic support for first-generation and Pell-eligible students. Recently, FSU introduced the Quest Scholars and Illuminate programs, which provide annual scholarships and funding assistance to support experiential learning opportunities like study abroad and internships.
PAID INTERNSHIPS AND WORK OPPORTUNITIES
Programs such as InternFSU and InternFSU:TLH partner with university departments and local businesses to provide paid internships. The university also employs hundreds of students in roles like peer mentors and learning assistants.
REDUCING TEXTBOOK COSTS
University Libraries has adopted free open educational resources to reduce the financial burden of textbooks.
RETENTION AND PERSISTENCE GRANTS
To ensure students can continue their education without interruption, FSU has established funds to support students facing financial challenges.
“We’ve been able to help hundreds of students stay at FSU when they were facing the choice of not continuing due to financial difficulties,” O’Shea said.
O’Shea noted that while recent federal complications disrupted this year’s financial aid process, FSU remains committed to its long-term goals.
“We’re in it for the long game,” he said. “This will forever be important.”
The success of these initiatives is heavily reliant on the contributions of FSU’s community of donors and legislative allies, O’Shea said.
“With continued partnership and support, we can achieve this goal and ensure that our graduates can launch their careers with as little debt as possible,” he said.
While the full impact of these initiatives may take years to fully materialize in the data, O’Shea said FSU is committed to continually improving its support for students’ financial well-being.
“The return on an FSU education is far more than just financial,” O’Shea said. “We are empowering our students to excel across all their roles — as employees, neighbors, citizens and friends. Our communities depend on the kind of educational experience we provide.”
Classics Professor LeadsDigArchaeological to Explore Ancient Settlement in Italy
By Dena Reddick
Anew archaeological expedition led by a team of Florida State University researchers that began in Italy this summer has ignited local excitement as the first discoveries from the excavation are revealed to the public.
The Montereggi Archaeological Project, co-directed by Professor of Classics Andrea De Giorgi, seeks to uncover the history of an ancient Etruscan hilltop settlement that predates settlement by the ancient Romans. The project has received a permit for three years, with the aim of extending the permit and eventually constructing an accompanying museum and research center.
“We hope our investigations help to imbue this ancient site with a sense of life,” De Giorgi said. “Our goal is to glean the story of this historical setting, then restore the ancient site and present it back to the community. We’re very grateful for the support of the property owners (George M. Rapier III and Villa Bibbiani), the township, the mayor and the local people, who are all very excited about this project.”
A team of eight FSU classics graduate students began excavating the site in June using a mix of traditional methods, such as shovels and wheelbarrows, alongside advanced technologies such as ground-penetrating radar. The team has already unearthed several discoveries, including Etruscan
coins, ceramics, pottery and remnants of a monumental building from the 5th century B.C.
Located 30 minutes southwest of Florence in Tuscany, the hilltop settlement sits along the Arno River near the town of Capraia e Limite. The site’s long history of occupation spans from the Etruscan period in the 5th to 3rd centuries B.C. to the Romans and continues into the late Middle Ages. Research will explore how the site evolved over time, harnessing both historical data and modern technology to investigate the transition from the Etruscan period to the Roman era.
“Montereggi provides yet another great opportunity for FSU students to showcase their skills, learn about new field techniques and advance
↑ First row (L-R): Jessica Tilley, Kaley Wisner, Janette Snyder and Sydney Perkin. Back row (L-R): Catherine Uritis, Ethan Dubroff, Kyle
Machado and Noah Dubroff. Photo by Andrea De Giorgi.
their understanding of ancient cultures using state-of-the-art technology,” De Giorgi said. “This project will give students the opportunity to put their hands on ancient materials, organize collections and help curate an exhibit where our findings will be accessible to the public.”
One of the modern techniques employed by the researchers is known as light detection and ranging technology, or LiDAR. This remote sensing method employs laser light to measure distances and create detailed topographic maps and 3D models to detect buildings and architectural structures beneath the soil for excavation.
Dig sites such as Montereggi offer valuable professional experiences for students aiming for careers in academia or museum curation. Hands-on work with archaeological practices and technologies is essential for researchers and leads to opportunities for publications, from doctoral dissertations to journal articles and books. Additionally, future curators gain crucial experience in handling ancient materials and organizing collections for display.
“The Montereggi Archaeological Project builds on our department’s long history of involvement in archaeological projects in Italy,” said Tim Stover, professor and chair of the FSU Department of Classics. “Professor De Giorgi will provide invaluable experiences for our students who will get hands-on training while working at the site. The project enhances the department’s reputation as a leader in the study of the art and
archaeology of ancient Italy while opening up a world of exciting possibilities for our students.”
Thanks to a concession from the Italian Ministry of Culture to FSU, and support from private benefactor George McCarroll Rapier III, the Montereggi Archaeological Project will continue year-round through 2026, with the goal of extending the permit length, increasing the number of students working at the dig site and eventually creating a public space at the site by establishing an exhibit on the property. Students departed the site in July and will return in cycles, some in October and some in the spring, and they will work alongside co-director Agnese Pittari of Italy.
This is the third active Italian dig site for the FSU classics department. In 1973, FSU began excavations at Cetamura del Chianti, and in 2013 a dig began at Cosa in Chianti, which De Giorgi has co-directed since its inception.
“The local community quickly adopted our FSU students, some of whom are having their first experience abroad but are becoming integrated into this community in Italy,” De Giorgi said. “I was born and raised in Italy and now live in Tallahassee, so it means the world to me to see our FSU students adapting to the pace and lifestyle of Italy and to be welcomed into the local community.”
TO LEARN MORE about De Giorgi’s work and research in FSU’s Department of Classics, visit classics.fsu.edu.
← FSU master’s student Janette Snyder in action at Montereggi. Photo by Jessica Tilley, FSU doctoral student.
↑ (L-R) Grad students Kyle Machado, Janette Snyder, Noah Dubroff, Kaley Wisner, Sydney Parkin and Catherine Uritis. Photo by Jessica Tilley, FSU doctoral student.
FSU Celebrates Seven ACC Players of the Year
Florida State University proudly celebrates an outstanding achievement for the 2023-2024 academic year: seven Seminoles earned the ACC Player of the Year award. This accolade, awarded across all sports, recognizes exceptional athletic performance and is determined through a nomination and voting process. The remarkable success of these athletes underscores FSU’s commitment to excellence in sports and highlights the dedication and talent of its student-athletes.
THE STANDOUT ATHLETES WHO RECEIVED THIS HONOR ARE:
• Jordan Travis (B.S. ’22), Football
• Onyi Echegini (B.S. ’23), Soccer
• Audrey Koenig (B.S. ’24), Volleyball
• Lottie Woad, Golf
• Jeremiah Davis (B.S. ’24), Track and Field
• James Tibbs (B.S. ’24), Baseball
• Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, Tennis
FSU Won Five Conference Championships
During the 2023-2024 academic year, five FSU teams won conference championships. The FSU men’s tennis team won the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship for the first time in program history. The Noles rallied to defeat the two-time defending national champions, Virginia, securing the conference title. The Florida State volleyball team defeated Notre Dame to become ACC co-champions in November. It was their first ACC title since 2012. FSU football secured a 16-6 win over Louisville in the ACC Championship game in December. The FSU women’s soccer team defeated Clemson 2-1 in November to secure their fourth straight ACC Championship and 10th overall title. And finally, the Florida State beach volleyball team defeated South Carolina 3-0 to win the CCSA Championship in April. This marks the seventh CCSA championship in program history. Congratulations to the athletes who helped their teams achieve success!
FSU Produces ACC-Best 10 Picks in 2024 NFL Draft
With the NFL season well underway, the Seminoles’ success in the 2024 NFL Draft deserves recognition! FSU’s football program produced 10 picks in April’s draft and was the only team in the country to have multiple defensive linemen, multiple defensive backs and multiple wide receivers selected.
Florida State has had at least 10 picks in the NFL Draft four times in program history. FSU had an ACC-record 11 picks in the 2013 and 2015 drafts. Nationally, FSU’s 10 picks tied for thirdhighest and was four players more than the next ACC team. They were one of six teams with three top-40 selections and tied for third with six top-100 picks. The Seminoles have had at least one player drafted for 41 consecutive years. Congratulations to the following Noles!
Trey Benson (B.S. ’24)
RB | 3rd Round (66th overall)
Arizona Cardinals
Jaheim Bell
TE | 7th Round (231st overall)
New England Patriots
Tatum Bethune (B.S. ’23)
LB | 7th Round (251st overall)
San Francisco 49ers
Keon Coleman
WR | 2nd Round (33rd overall) Buffalo Bills
Braden Fiske
DT | 2nd Round (39th overall) Los Angeles Rams
Renardo Green (B.S. ’23)
DB | 2nd Round (64th overall) San Francisco 49ers
Jarrian Jones (B.S. ’23)
DB | 3rd Round (96th overall) Jacksonville Jaguars
Jordan Travis (B.S. ’22)
QB | 5th Round (171st overall) New York Jets
Jared Verse (B.S. ’23)
DE | 1st Round (19th overall)
Los Angeles Rams
Johnny Wilson (B.S. ’24)
WR | 6th Round (185th overall) Philadelphia Eagles
Jared Verse
U.S. Women's National Team at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Garnet & GOLD!
The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris brought excitement to the FSU community, especially due to the accomplishments of three alumni competitors. U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) soccer players Casey Krueger (B.S. ’11, M.S. ’12), Emily Sams (B.A. ’21, M.S. ’23) and Jenna Nighswonger (B.S. ’22) secured an Olympic win with a 1-0 victory over Brazil in the gold medal match!
In addition to this remarkable achievement, FSU was represented by a total of 26 athletes who competed across five different sports. The athletes represented 19 countries, highlighting the diverse and global nature of the Florida State University community. The competitors demonstrated exceptional skill and sportsmanship, making the FSU community proud on the world stage.
The
FSU Community was proud to cheer on these Noles as they competed in Paris.
THE ATHLETES WERE:
Kevin Borlee
Men’s Track 400m
Belgium
Gabby Carle (B.S. ’21)
Women’s Soccer Canada
Maria Conde
Women’s Basketball Spain
Andy Coscoran
Men’s Track 1500m Ireland
Jeremiah Davis (B.S. ’24)
Men’s Long Jump United States
Cristobal Del Solar (B.S. ’16)
Men’s Golf
Chile
Onyi Echegini (B.S. ’23)
Women’s Soccer Nigeria
Linden Hall (B.S. ’15)
Women’s Track 1500m Australia
Julio Horrego
Men’s Swimming 200m Breaststroke Honduras
Ida Hulkko
Women’s Swimming 100m Breaststroke Finland
Casey Krueger (B.S. ’11, M.S. ’12) Women’s Soccer United States
Max McCusker (B.S. ’22)
Men’s Swimming 4x100m Medley Relay Ireland
Morgane Metraux (B.S. ’18) Women’s Golf Switzerland
Gloria Muzito (’25)
Women’s Swimming 100m Freestyle
Uganda
Jenna Nighswonger (B.S. ’22) Women’s Soccer United States
Leonor Rodríguez (B.S. ’13) Women’s Basketball Spain
Leticia Romero (B.S. ’17) Women’s Basketball Spain
Alonzo Russell (B.S. ’14, B.S. ’21) Track 4x400m Relay Mixed Bahamas
Lauren Ryan (B.S. ’21) Women’s Track 5000m and 10,000m Australia
Emily Sams (B.A. ’21, M.S. ’23) Women’s Soccer United States
Emma Terebo (B.S. ’21)
Women’s Swimming 100m Backstroke and 200m Backstroke France
Peter Varjasi (B.S. ’24)
Men’s Swimming 4×100 Freestyle Relay Hungary
Adriaan Wildschutt (MBA ’22) Men’s Track 5000m and 10,000m South Africa
Kimberly Williams (B.S. ’12) Women’s Triple Jump Jamaica
Max Wilson (’26)
Men’s Swimming 100m Backstroke U.S. Virgin Islands
Ieva Zarankaite (M.S. ’19)
Women’s Discus Throw Lithuania
LEARN MORE gonol.es/2024Olympics
Jim Pitts
‘An FSU legend’ Jim Pitts retires after more than 50 years at Florida State
by Kelsey Klopfenstein (B.A. ’14)
For Jim Pitts, the greatest return on investment in study abroad has always been its impact on students and faculty.
Pitts began his tenure as director of International Programs at Florida State University in 1995, and traveled the world while steering the organization to sound success. After more than five decades at Florida State, Pitts stepped down from the helm and into retirement at the end of June.
The university honored Pitts for over 50 years of service during a celebration Friday, June 7, at Miller Hall in the DeVoe L. Moore University Center.
“On behalf of the entire FSU community and in concert with President McCullough, I wanted to thank you for your extraordinary service and congratulate you on your well-deserved retirement,” said James Clark, FSU’s provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “We all wish you the best as you embark on a new chapter of life, but remember, you’ll always be a part of the FSU family.”
FSU International Programs offers study abroad opportunities in locations across the world, including study centers in London, Florence and Valencia, a branch campus in the Republic of Panama and faculty-led programs in more than 20 locations. Despite visiting over 45 countries, Pitts did not originally seek a globe-trotting profession.
“It’s been an interesting career,” he said.
A native of Louisville, Pitts earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Kentucky in 1968 before taking a job as an assistant professor in FSU’s College of Business. He was an active faculty member, serving three stints as president of the Faculty Senate (1976-1977, 19781979 and 1987-1988) and several years on FSU’s Athletics Board. As a board member in 1987, Pitts put forth the motion to recommend the addition of a varsity soccer program to FSU’s athletics roster.
Eventually, Pitts was noticed by Bernie Sliger, FSU’s 10th president (1977-1991). Pitts served as assistant to the president for oversight before being named FSU’s vice president for Advancement in 1989, overseeing the Seminole Boosters, the Foundation and the Alumni Association. In this position, Pitts became chairman of the University Center Building Committee and supervised the largest single expansion ever to FSU’s campus.
As chairman, Pitts adeptly navigated the push and pull between academics and athletics behind the scenes. Today, the DeVoe L. Moore University Center is home to several FSU colleges, offices, event spaces, classrooms, athletic training rooms and the International Programs offices. Combined with Doak S. Campbell Stadium, the center makes up
the second-largest continuous brick structure in the world, with the first being the Great Wall of China.
In 1991, President Sliger called Pitts into his office and asked if he would go to London to buy a campus for the university.
“I told him I would go, but I would have to get a passport first,” said Pitts, who at the time had traveled around the U.S. a great deal but had not been to other countries requiring a passport.
FSU’s presence in London first began in 1971, when students arrived for a six-month study abroad program based at a hotel in the Earl’s Court district. The program relocated to the South Kensington district in the early 1980s and continued there until Pitts purchased what would become the FSU London Study Centre in 1991.
Located in the Bloomsbury district, an area famous for its cultural and educational history, the four 17th-century townhouses were renovated and refurbished into a suite of offices, classrooms and student accommodations. The first students took up residence in 1993.
“The value of giving Florida State University a splendid permanent home in the heart of historic Bloomsbury 75 yards from the British Museum and walking distance from the great theaters of London cannot be overstated,” said Mary Balthrop (B.A. ’72), who was a student in FSU’s first London program in 1971 and served as director of the FSU London Study Centre from 2002 to 2004.
The purchase of the FSU London Study
Centre marked the beginning of FSU’s International Programs as it is known today. To make the purchase, FSU created a direct support organization, Florida State University International Programs Association, Inc. That organization issued a tax-free bond to fund the purchase with Pitts as the initial treasurer. Later, in 1995, Pitts became director of International Programs.
Pitts spent the summer of 1993 in London overseeing restoration efforts and teaching courses. At the same time, a graduate student in the College of Education (now the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) was interning at the Fulbright Commission in London. Her name was Louisa Blenman.
Blenman (M.S. ’94, MBA ’12) came back to work for International Programs in 2004, after spending nearly a decade working in study abroad in London. She is now the organization’s interim director.
“Jim has a remarkable combination of vision, financial acumen and administrative savvy,” Blenman said. “These attributes have not only been central to my own career development, but they have also resulted in FSU being uniquely positioned in the field of study abroad. Equally as important as all these impressive qualities, Jim is a kind, thoughtful, fun-loving, family man, which helps make ‘IP (International Programs)’ the best place I can imagine working. Because of his leadership and guidance, I can better serve our university, faculty and
DID YOU KNOW?
The FSU Florence program owes its beginnings to the FSU Flying High Circus. When the circus toured Italy in 1964, leaders and students were inspired to create a program in Florence.
students as we explore ways to enhance FSU’s global offerings and reputation. I will always be grateful to Jim for the opportunities he provided to countless students, faculty and staff, including me.”
Pitts has overseen tremendous growth at International Programs. FSU now ranks No. 3 among public universities for study abroad enrollments, with 2,469 students studying abroad during the 2021-2022 academic year.
Once Pitts was named director of International Programs, the organization assumed responsibility for several preexisting programs, including one in Italy. The Hotel Capri was FSU’s first home in Florence in 1966, when the Great Flood of Florence happened. Rather than disband the program after the flood, FSU students and faculty assisted in recovery efforts, earning the title of “Mud Angels” from Florentines.
After International Programs took over the Italy program, Pitts started looking to purchase a study center there, too. After over 20 years of searching, the Palazzo Bagnesi Falconeri, a 37,000 square-foot palace, opened as the FSU Florence Study Center in 2021.
“It’s amazing how much you can feel his passion, his dedication, to our students and to the staff,” said Charlie Panarella, director of the FSU Florence Study Center.
“There was a visiting faculty member who came to Florence that stated that leadership is ‘a philosophy and not a title.’ I think Dr. Pitts embodies that. It’s
incredible how much he’s impacted so many lives over the past five decades.”
In 2000, International Programs assumed responsibility for FSU’s branch campus in the Republic of Panama. FSU had operated in the region since 1957 through a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to teach military servicemen and their families stationed in the Canal Zone. When the U.S. reverted control of the Panama Canal to the Republic of Panama, FSU decided to maintain operations without the contract.
FSU Panama moved to its current location in the City of Knowledge in 2009. Today, FSU Panama serves around 500 students from 30 different countries each academic year.
“Jim has been going to Panama for about 25 years, and I don’t recall him ever missing a commencement in Panama, which is remarkable to me,” said Carlos Langoni, rector of FSU Panama. “His love for this institution, his love for the study centers and for the branch campus in Panama — you don’t see that sense of responsibility everywhere. He’s an incredible leader.”
In 1997, the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics started a program in Spain that Pitts wanted to expand. In 1999, the cohort studying in Madrid visited Valencia for the first time and fell in love with the city. The program director on the trip called Pitts and suggested he look into Valencia as a potential site for a study center. In 2000, the FSU Spain program permanently moved to Valencia.
Ignacio Messana, director of the FSU Valencia Study Center, first met Pitts during a phone interview in 2000, which Messana conducted from a telephone booth. Messana became director in 2002.
“You taught us to be fair, to be passionate, to be kind, to be good to each other, to be very professional but at the same time to use a personal touch, and always give priority, as a team, to the
Catching Up With
“I’m moving to Seminole, Florida, because you can’t take the Seminole out of me,” said Jim Pitts, retiring after over five decades at FSU.
Originally from Kentucky, Jim has lived in Florida for 56 years, and his son and daughter-in-law live in Seminole, a small community in the Tampa Bay area between Clearwater and St. Pete.
In his parting words to alumni, Pitts highlighted the importance of giving to FSU’s International Programs.
“I would encourage alumni to give back to International Programs because I think International Programs helps students today understand the world in which they live, and that’s extremely important. It’s difficult for me to imagine a student having a 21st-century education and not having exposure to the rest of the world.”
This year, International Programs gained a part-time fundraiser and has already seen impactful contributions. Particularly noteworthy is the recent endowed gift and unveiling of the Ruth A. Owen Galleria Belle Arti at the FSU Florence Study Center. This marks a significant milestone, as it is the first named room at one of FSU’s four study centers in Florence, London, Valencia or Panama.
This is only the beginning, noted Pitts. Numerous opportunities exist at the study centers, totaling about 120,000 square feet, much of which is still available for naming. These giving opportunities create lasting legacies while supporting FSU’s educational mission.
Jim hopes to stay involved with FSU and join either the Seminole Club of Pinellas County or the Seminole Club of Tampa Bay.
International Programs will continue to honor Pitts’ career and legacy with the newly established James E. Pitts Directors Endowed Fund, which you can learn more about on page 33.
(L-R) former FSU Provost Larry Abele, Jim Pitts and FSU President Sandy D’Alemberte (1994-2003) on a tour of the Panamá Viejo in Panama City, Panama, in 1999. Photos courtesy of International Programs.
students and the faculty,” Messana told Pitts during the celebration. “We grew in the teamwork and the camaraderie that you taught us.”
Pitts went on to purchase FSU’s first building in the heart of the historical district of Valencia in 2004. After integral renovations, the Garnet Study Center and apartment building was inaugurated by Pitts and then-FSU President T.K. Wetherell (B.S. ’67, M.S. ’68, Ph.D. ’74) in the summer of 2007. The first cohort of students to reside in the building arrived that fall.
In 2013, International Programs purchased a second study center and apartment building. The Gold Study Center welcomed its first students in summer 2014.
Of the more than 45 countries Pitts has visited, one of his most fascinating travels was to Vietnam. In 1999, he worked with Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture to organize several performances in Vietnam by the University Singers, FSU’s premier undergraduate touring choir. Under the auspices of International Programs, a delegation of 104 embarked to Vietnam to become the first U.S. college choir to perform in the country since the war.
Included in the delegation was Pitts and his daughter, an FSU student at the time and member of the University
Singers. Also included in the delegation was a Vietnamese American whose grandmother lived in the Mekong Delta. Upon learning this, Pitts arranged a meeting for them in Ho Chi Minh City.
“It was a powerful moment,” Pitts said.
He attributes his coming to FSU in 1968 to the wisdom of his wife, Martha. They’ve been die-hard FSU fans ever since, sending all three of their children to study abroad through International Programs and being ardent supporters of FSU Athletics.
In 2007, Pitts led FSU’s Homecoming Parade as Grand Marshal, and in 2012 he was awarded FSU Alumni Association’s highest honor: the Bernard F. Sliger Award, named after FSU’s 10th president, who asked Pitts to purchase the property in London. In 1998, he was also inducted into the FSU Alumni Association’s Circle of Gold, which recognizes worthy individuals who, through their service and achievements, personify the university’s tradition of excellence.
Under Pitts’ leadership, more than 50,000 FSU students have studied abroad through International Programs.
“It’s certainly been wonderful watching students develop and change their perception of the world,” Pitts said.
↑ First photo from the summer of 1993 in London, featuring Jim Pitts in the garnet suit jacket, front left, and Louisa Blenman in the back row, center, wearing a floral dress. Second photo features
THE MAKING OF
A STRATEGIC PLAN TO INSPIRE RESEARCH EXCELLENCE
The process of building FSU’s first-ever strategic plan for research involved a remarkable outpouring of feedback from faculty across campus, resulting in a cohesive vision to empower interdisciplinary projects aimed at solving some of society’s biggest dilemmas.
by Zac Howard (B.A. ’14)
When President Richard McCullough challenged FSU faculty to reach half a billion dollars in annual research expenditures last year, he took a moment to explain why he was confident the ambitious goal could be accomplished.
“We have a bold new strategic plan, led by our Vice President for Research Stacey Patterson, called ASPIRE that will help,” McCullough told a standingroom-only crowd huddled into the College of Medicine’s Durell Peaden Auditorium during his State of the University address on November 29, 2023.
The year-long process of creating ASPIRE — short for “A Strategic Plan to Inspire Research Excellence” — was still in the early stages at the time of McCullough’s remarks. But the value of creating the plan was already understood by those who, like the president, recognized the university’s tremendous growth potential in the area of research.
“Right now, we’re at one of those punctuated change points in history,” said Gary Tyson, professor
of computer science. “Not every decade is a decade of dramatic improvement, but there are times when the ordering of which universities are great and which aren’t changes rapidly. I think we’re in one of those now.”
Tyson was one of 24 members on the Faculty Steering Committee tasked with compiling feedback from colleagues within their respective college or department to help formulate the strategic plan.
“The goal of ASPIRE is to get us in that right lane so that we can improve rapidly compared to other universities,” he said. “A lot of universities are just trying to survive. Other universities are thriving. FSU has strengths in the right areas.”
Director of Research Development Beth Hodges (B.S. ’91, MSW ’00), who has worked in the Office of Research since 1997, agrees.
“The stars are aligned for research to take a big leap,” Hodges said. “It’s become something people talk about on campus now, more than ever before.”
→ A student demonstrates technology used for eyetracking studies in the Department of Psychology. Photo by Devin Bittner (B.S. ’19, MBA ’22).
The opportunity to advance research by leaps and bounds is one of the primary reasons Patterson left her home state and a senior position at the University of Tennessee, where she had worked for 16 years, to head FSU’s Office of Research in October 2022.
“I’m a builder,” Patterson said. “I could see there was a lot of opportunity at FSU to build on the strengths that were already here. That opportunity seemed vast, and I still believe that a year and a half in.”
Like most universities, FSU’s annual strategic plan outlines and projects expected research activity, but ASPIRE is the first plan devoted entirely to it.
ASPIRE details five strategy areas for maximizing excellence in research:
OUR PEOPLE
1 2 3 4 5
IMPACT AREAS AND CROSSCUTTING THEMES
The strategy areas contain four or five actionable subcategories, each with several tactical methods for accomplishing them.
↑ A student works on research in the lab of Lisa Eckel, director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience and professor of psychology and neuroscience. Photo by Devin Bittner (B.S. ’19, MBA ’22). ← Chemistry Instructor Bridget DePrince shows off the mystifying nature of science at the Circus of Physics, hosted by the Department of Physics. Photo by Kendall Cooper (B.S. ’23).
Five primary resources were used to inform ASPIRE’s composition: analyses of funding and publication trends, a report from the Council of Associate Deans for Research, the Faculty Steering Committee, input from a campus-wide faculty survey and the FSU strategic plan. In order to craft the best possible plan, Patterson and her team bore in mind the importance of involving faculty from start to finish.
“We felt strongly that we needed to hear the voices from across campus as to what we needed,” she said. “ASPIRE is not an Office of Research plan. This is an FSU research strategic plan. In order for that to be the case, the faculty has to be a big part of it.”
The effort to include faculty was genuine and was evident in the final version of the plan, according to those involved in the process.
“The question I had initially, and probably most faculty had, was: ‘Are we on this committee because they need to justify what
they’re going to do? Or are they actually going to listen to what we have to say in these meetings,” Tyson said. “I feel like they listened to us. And we felt that very quickly in the process.”
Another member of the Faculty Steering Committee, Heather Flynn (B.S. ’90, M.S. ’92, Ph.D. ’96), professor in the College of Medicine and chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, said her colleagues were eager to share their ideas.
“It was a very well-done, systematic process that I think maximized the ability to get very diverse input across campus,” Flynn said. “There were a lot of people who really appreciated the opportunity to provide this input. My survey got a lot of responses and a lot of long responses.”
Each member of the committee collected, compiled, reviewed and synthesized common themes that emerged from the feedback they
→ A student in the Institute of Sports Sciences and Medicine lab demonstrates how to use the Bod-Pod, which measures body fat percentage and lean muscle mass.
Photo by Chloe Harden (B.S. ’19, M.A. ’22).
received, before convening with three or four other committee members in workgroups to discuss their findings. The participants shared opinions sourced from faculty members across a wide range of disciplines, including engineering, hospitality, music, law, nursing and business, to name a few.
“I was amazed with the consensus,” Flynn said of the workgroup conversations. “There were such clear themes that emerged from all these different perspectives across campus. I thought that we would end up with a hundred different points, but they really merged into these core themes, and when I read the final report, I thought they really nailed it.”
ASPIRE’s emphasis on targeting impactful research with a real-world impact was one of the key distinctives of the overarching paradigm driving ASPIRE.
“A lot of other schools have a very strong emphasis on telling faculty they need to bring in as much money as possible, and that is the goal,” Flynn said. “With ASPIRE, the goal seems to be: ‘Yes, bring in grant money, but with the aim of having high-impact work.’”
The term used to describe this high-impact work is “translational research,” and Patterson’s expertise in the area is one of the reasons FSU recruited her. In February, she helped the university secure a $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Part of the NSF’s Accelerating Research Translation (ART) investment that provided over $100 million to 18 academic institutions across the nation, the first-of-its-kind award aims to help scientists scale their work into products and solutions that can ultimately move from the lab into the public sphere.
“President McCullough is very interested, as am I, in not only the basic and fundamental research, but also the application of the research and the impact it can have on Florida, Floridians, the nation and the world,” Patterson said.
In many cases, collaboration between more than one academic discipline is an essential
↑ Institute of Molecular Biophysics and College of Medicine Senior Research Professor Huan He examines a sample in the Translational Science Laboratory. Photo by Devin Bittner (B.S. ’19, MBA ’22).
component for successful translational research proposals. Universities often have unspoken silos within their different colleges and departments, but Tyson believes FSU has done a better job than most at minimizing those invisible roadblocks to collaboration.
“Universities are realizing that if they want to apply for these very large NSF, NIH grants that are inherently interdisciplinary, they have to break down those walls,” Tyson said. “All universities are doing it; some are doing it better than others.”
High-impact, translational research frequently focuses on finding solutions to monumental challenges, and thus rarely can be tackled by faculty in one department alone.
WE HAVE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO COME HERE FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE IN A HIGHLY COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENT, WHERE YOU HAVE PEOPLE WORKING
ACROSS DEPARTMENTS, COLLEGES AND DISCIPLINES IN
A VERY COOPERATIVE WAY.
HEATHER FLYNN (B.S. ’90, M.S. ’92, PH.D. ’96), Professor in the College of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine
“When we talk about the complex problems in society, they are not single-disciplinary problems,” Flynn said.
As department chair, Flynn is responsible for recruiting faculty from top medical schools across the country, and FSU’s ability to mitigate departmental silos is a big selling point.
“We have people who want to come here for the opportunity to be in a highly collaborative environment, where you have people working across departments, colleges and disciplines in a very cooperative way,” she said. “That’s not necessarily the spirit at a lot of other schools.”
The collaboration is fueled by a larger cultural milieu on campus – one that cannot be measured by numbers or figures.
“What we have the opportunity to do here is grow in a way that maintains that sense of community, that sense of belonging and family,” Patterson said.
“You hear that word ‘family’ a lot. I think it’s real here. That doesn’t exist at every institution.”
After a formal draft of the plan was completed, the Office of Research distributed it to the university community and hosted public forums, where anyone could attend and voice their opinions on ASPIRE. More than 500 people attended the two forums.
“The conversations around these topics really brought people together in a way that I don’t think we’ve ever done before at FSU,” Flynn, an alumna who has worked at the university since 2012, said of the entire process.
Patterson and her team were thrilled with the level of engagement and the outpouring of positive responses they received throughout the process.
“You always hope that an effort like this is going to be well received, but you don’t know what you’re
going to walk into,” Hodges said. “You might hear things that surprise you, and that’s okay, because you want to hear everything. If there are issues going on, that’s what this whole thing is for. It’s to bring everything out and see, ‘What is it that we need to do be able to get to the next level?’”
Though detailed and robust, ASPIRE remains malleable to allow for necessary changes down the road. Patterson has pledged to provide status updates twice a year on the university’s progress to faculty and staff.
“This is a living document. This final plan will evolve over time based on new opportunities,” she said. “If we just write the plan and put it on the shelf, it won’t have the same impact as if we are looking at this as our guide to help us prioritize the things we need to do to make FSU a more robust research institution.”
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Kathleen Amm (Ph.D. ’97) Director, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
By Hannah Akin (M.A. ’22)
Kathleen Amm became the director of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) in May. Bringing more than 25 years of experience in superconductivity and magnet design, Amm oversees the MagLab’s headquarters at FSU and its facilities at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Florida. Previously, Amm spent nearly 20 years at GE Global Research, as a physicist in the electromagnetic and superconductivity lab, followed by various leadership positions. She later led the Magnet Division at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Amm holds 22 patents, has co-authored over 75 peerreviewed publications and is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Amm earned her B.S. in mathematics and physics from the University of Toronto and her Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from FSU.
1 What led you to return to FSU to work after earning your doctorate here?
The MagLab has always had a special place in my heart. I did my graduate work here under Professor Justin Schwartz and Professor Crow, who were my co-advisors, and I have many great colleagues here. I've worked in a wide variety of areas in magnet technology, MRI and accelerator magnets in superconducting machines. With the breadth of the science and engineering that takes place at the Magnet Lab, I felt ecstatic to be selected for this position and get to work with such an amazing group of scientists and engineers across so many disciplines impacted by high-field magnets.
2 How did you interact with the MagLab as a graduate student?
I started as a grad student at the University of Illinois, and then my advisor received an offer from FSU and was going to Tallahassee. Because of that, I came down for a whirlwind tour of the MagLab. (Actually, I came down on the weekend of Homecoming to see the lab the following Monday, so there were lots of FSU football fans here. I became a huge FSU football fan when I was a student, so that was a bonus in coming back.)
As a graduate student, I was able to use the high-field resistive magnets and worked using various XRD machines and the scanning electron microscope to study my samples. It was great to be able to be part of the beginning of the lab, building it up and getting to use the high-field magnets.
3
For those who may not know, what role does the MagLab play in advancing science, engineering and technology?
The MagLab plays an incredibly critical role in an area known as quantum materials, which is a broad range of materials. Think about, for example, your cell phone. There are a lot of materials in there that, to be able to get them small enough to fit in these devices, were studied in magnets here over many years. To give another example, with MRI, the use of magnets has basically eliminated the need for exploration surgery. Currently, some very bright people from fusion experiments around the world have begun startup companies to look at what we call “compact fusion reactors,” and our scientists are partnering with them to help them, along with other national labs, see how we can get the best conductors and get the magnets up and running. These types of devices could change the world because they can make limitless energy from water. That's a huge push right now around the globe, and we're playing a key role in that.
4
Tell us about a challenge you’ve faced in your career.
When I was first promoted to management at GE, I was quite young, and I had two brilliant people reporting to me. One of them had the job before me and had become a chief scientist, and the other, who was a principal engineer, had also gone for this job, but they chose me for the position over him. I had huge respect for these two guys, and it was made very clear to me by my manager that we needed to be a team. But I was this young manager, only five years post Ph.D., running the magnet group at GE, so I had to gain their trust. Through that process, we learned from each other and ended up working together very well.
When the chief engineer won a big award from the IEEE for technical accomplishments, he thanked me in his acceptance speech for the work I'd done with him over the years. He was a tough guy who I didn’t think I would ever hear that kind of recognition from, but he thanked me for what I’d done in front of everybody, and that really moved me.
5 What is one of the most interesting projects you’ve worked on?
When I was at GE, a team of us was working on a low-cryogen magnet, which is a magnet that that has just a couple liters of helium in it versus the thousands of liters that are in most MRI magnets today. We were the first ones to develop this low-cryogen magnet! You can think about it like this: I take a magnet and rather than pouring a bunch of very expensive liquid helium into it, I put a little bit of helium gas into it and plug it into the wall, and it can cool itself down. This was huge because helium is not recoverable; it goes up, like balloons into the air, and is gone forever. Unfortunately, the magnet we developed was ahead of its time, and GE decided to shelve it. But we were the first to develop the technology, and it was not an easy project; it took us 10 years of work. Later, Phillips and Siemens launched products in this space, so maybe GE will eventually, too.
6 Do you have a favorite memory from your time as a grad student at FSU?
The lab was just such a wonderful environment to spend time in, and I sat in the magnet science and technology area with some graduate students who are very successful now. The number of impressive
people who have come out of this lab is amazing.
7 What work at the MagLab excites you most?
That's like asking me who my favorite child is! What excites me about the MagLab is the incredibly wide variety of areas of scientific impact that we have, how incredibly engaged and enthusiastic the scientists and engineers are and the implications their research has for a wide variety of topics.
We have an incredible facility that looks at chemical spectra. They do a lot of environmental research and work with industry. We have a phenomenal nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) program that studies materials, both solid-state materials as well as biology. We build the best NMR probes in the world that are used around the globe. We do highfield MRI and amazing work on a variety of topics in medicine at our facility at AMRIS at the University of Florida, led by Professor Joanna Long, and that impacts the study of disease states and the brain. And of course, there’s the core of our program, which is in the solid-state physics space. We have some of the highest field magnets in the world. Here, and at our D.C and Los Alamos facilities, we can do science that can be done nowhere else.
8What do you envision for the future of high-field magnet research and technology at the MagLab?
We’re currently looking at what our strategy and vision are because as you can see, we have a very diverse portfolio. We have incredible basic science that we and our users are delivering out of our facility. We want to expand the impact of that. We're looking at partnerships with companies who do high-field NMR, high-field magnets for science around the globe and work on fusion, and we’re considering how we can help them. Also, we’re looking at how we can make a difference in terms of helping industry develop robust conductors that can operate at higher magnetic fields for a variety of applications. Another area of great interest to us is electric power applications, especially all-electric aircraft. One of our professors, Lance Cooley, has secured funding to start a hydrogen test facility that will explore the hydrogen economy. This includes fuel cells and other applications, as well as the potential for allelectric aircraft powered by hydrogen with superconducting generators.
9What impact do you hope to make as director?
I received great advice from the gentleman who hired me into my first role as a manager at GE, Mike Harsh. His piece of advice was to hire the smartest people, so the IQ goes up in the room. So, I've always tried to hire people smarter than me, to elevate people and help them be successful. As director, I would like to retain, attract and develop the best scientists and engineers in high magnetic field science and technology and enable all these brilliant people from around the world to be able to get the magnet science they need.
Are there any misconceptions about the MagLab you would like to clear up?
Yes! We do not control the weather, so please do not credit or blame us for what's happening with the weather in Tallahassee.
How Florida State University research is informing the conservation of our coastal marine plant and animal life
By Emily Clemons MacMillan (B.A. ’17) and Hannah Akin (M.A. ’22)
Florida State University may not be as widely known for its connection to wetland animals as our rivals around the state, but our research and conservation efforts along Florida’s many coasts are world-renowned.
From the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean, to the Everglades and Crystal River, the university has researchers working to gather information from various ecosystems to inform the conservation of hundreds of species of plants and animals. FSU researchers represent the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, the FSU Coastal and Marine Laboratory, the Department of Biological Science and even the FSU-FAMU College of Engineering.
A main focus for many of these researchers is the effects of warming water temperatures on plant and animal species, and they are working hard to study these effects and inform solution-finding efforts.
One such researcher is Mariana Fuentes, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science. Her work involves studying whether sea turtles can adapt to changing temperatures and other environmental challenges.
Warming water temperatures have been a particularly pressing issue for sea turtles because temperature determines the sex of a turtle while it is developing in the egg — cool temperatures result in male hatchlings, while warm temperatures result in female hatchlings. Because temperatures are rising, sea turtle populations are increasingly feminized.
After examining 24 nesting sites across the world used by four species — green, loggerhead, hawksbill and olive ridley turtles — Fuentes finds that the turtles try to adapt by nesting earlier to expose the eggs to cooler temperatures. But some species may begin to see a significant drop in their populations.
“For most locations and species,” Fuentes said, “their adaptations won’t be sufficient.”
Turtles that successfully hatch and grow into maturity continue to be impacted by humans’ interactions with nature. Part of Fuentes’ work is to examine the human dimension of conservation and identify ways to encourage people to make changes that will positively impact the sea turtle populations. These include responsible boat operation to avoid hitting turtles, turning off the lights in beach houses to
encourage hatchlings into the water and even practicing proper recycling habits to reduce ocean pollution. Further, Fuentes says small actions like cutting the circles on plastic six-pack rings and using metal straws are meaningful ways to help.
“It’s all these cascading effects that we’re not aware of and don’t think of,” Fuentes said. “Yes, trash is still an issue — straws, plastic bags — but also microplastics are now changing the environment. People should be aware of how they interact with the environment and the consequences it can have. It’s all interconnected.”
Hard at work on other coastal and marine research projects are researchers with the FSU Coastal and Marine Laboratory (CML). Located about an hour south of Tallahassee in St. Teresa, CML research projects are conducted by faculty members and postdoctoral and graduate students, with some
undergraduate contributions through classes offered at the main campus or through the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program.
“The CML is located in a biologically interesting region that has little development compared to other parts of the coast,” said Joel Trexler (M.S. ’82, Ph.D. ’86), director of the Coastal and Marine Laboratory and professor of biological science. “Being an undisturbed coastal zone, it’s an interesting place to get information and make comparisons to other regions.”
Habitats are being disturbed every day by human activity in nearby Apalachicola Bay, however. According to Trexler, the popularity of oyster and scallop fishing in the Northern Gulf results in overfishing and habitat loss that negatively impacts the entire ecosystem. The Apalachicola Bay System Initiative (ABSI), hosted by
↑ The Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory is located about an hour’s drive south of Tallahassee, in St. Teresa. Photo by Dave Barfield.
↑ Professor Marianna Fuentes.
Photo by Erich Martin.
the CML, is investigating the root causes of this decline in Apalachicola Bay’s oyster reefs. Led by Sandra Brooke, Ph.D., ABSI is developing a plan to manage and restore the oyster reefs and promote the overall health of the bay. The project is supported primarily by a grant from Triumph Gulf Coast, Inc., the nonprofit created after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill to oversee the funds designated to eight Florida counties that were disproportionately affected.
The CML and ABSI created an oyster hatchery which was completed in 2021 and spawned its first oysters in 2022. The hatchery had a “quite productive” year in 2023, according to Trexler, which involved placing young oysters, called spat, onto
People should be aware of how they interact with the environment and the consequences it can have. It’s all interconnected.
↑ In the Marquesas Keys, members of Dean Grubbs’ lab, along with scientists from Shedd Aquarium, The Field Museum and Bimini Shark Lab, tag and collect data from an adult smalltooth sawfish. Photo by Rosie Poirer.
restored reefs in the bay. The ABSI will assess the effectiveness of replenishing the bay’s wild oyster population with hatcheryraised spat by looking at their survival, the amount and frequency of spat release needed and the overall stability of the population.
In addition to overfishing, habitats are changing due to many other factors. As global temperatures continue to rise, the Northern Gulf region is experiencing a surprising level of what Trexler called “tropicalization,” meaning the region is seeing greater numbers of plant and animal species normally occurring in South Florida. A CML research project led by Josh Breithaupt, Ph.D., is examining the rapid proliferation of mangrove trees in North Florida, which are replacing the grasses that typically characterize the coasts. While not invasive, Breithaupt’s research shows that the trees are changing ecological processes in the soil and disfavoring typical North Florida species.
“To an ecologist, it’s not at all surprising that their range is expanding because of warming temperatures, but having mangroves here is just different, not better or worse,” said Trexler. “The trees replacing grasses is visually striking, but people like to cut them down because they’re tall and block the view of the ocean. The environment is changing, and people are responsible for this rapid change.”
North Florida mangrove trees may not be a problem, but warming temperatures
are negatively impacting a number of other species, including sharks.
CML researcher Dean Grubbs, Ph.D., has been conducting a coastal shark survey for 15 years. The survey tracks the migration timing of several species of sharks and how they are impacted by warming water temperatures, which have increased three degrees since the survey began.
Grubbs researches the critically endangered smalltooth sawfish and is currently exploring the onset of a mysterious disease that is killing sawfish all over South Florida. Sawfish ill with “fish spinning disease” are literally spinning themselves to death around the Florida Keys, leaving researchers across the state puzzled. Grubbs’ lab has provided samples of healthy sawfish to compare to ill or deceased specimens to help determine the cause of the illness.
In 2023, Grubbs worked with Gavin Naylor, Ph.D., co-leader of an undergraduate summer field course and research partner from the University of Florida, and their students to catch, tag and release a 13-foot specimen off the coast of Cedar Key. Grubbs said Cedar Key was the farthest north he had ever seen a sawfish, but his research lab which regularly tracks the species is finding that the general population is moving farther north as waters warm and become more favorable for them.
Fifty-one smalltooth sawfish have been confirmed killed by fish spinning disease. One was an animal Grubbs and his team tagged seven years ago during a trip with his undergraduate shark course, where students from FSU and UF typically expect to interact with many species of sharks like hammerheads and bull sharks. On this year’s trip, students were
surprised not with a sawfish, but rather with 120 individual sharks to tag and release.
“It’s an experience the students will never forget, that’s for sure,” said Grubbs. “They’re expecting to see just one or two!”
Like sea turtles, oysters and sharks, the beautiful coral reef systems that make up some of earth’s most biodiverse ecosystems also face challenges due to human activity and climate change.
Andrew Rassweiler, Ph.D., associate professor of biological science, received funding from FSU President Richard McCullough to develop autonomous methods for mapping the distribution of endangered corals and other organisms sensitive to climate change and heat stress. Rassweiler worked with Sarah Lester, Ph.D., of the Department of Biological Science at FSU, and Olugbenga Moses Anubi, Ph.D., of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, to develop small, autonomous surface vehicles, or “ro-boats,” equipped with sonar technology and cameras to map coral reefs.
The project aims to examine the health of reefs all along coastlines to
↑ A ro-boat travels over endangered staghorn coral.
←Mariana Fuentes, Ph.D. and Renata Schama, Ph.D. check the productivity of a Loggerhead sea turtle nest at St. George Island. ↑ CML Tech L. Millender pouring pediveliger larvae into setting tank for spat-on-shell.
Photo by Emily Fuqua.
inform conservation efforts by tracking the health of the corals from year to year. Previously, the researchers mapped corals by swimming over them with inner tubes of equipment in tow. While this method was generally effective, Rassweiler notes there were challenges.
“If you want to know how things are changing from one year to the next, you want to swim over exactly the same area, and that turns out to be really hard,” Rassweiler said. “People aren't that good about navigating the water, so you can go back and get in the water at the same spot and swim out in roughly the same area, but you're not going to go over exactly the same coral and say, ‘So I saw it last year and it was bleached. Is it still alive this year?’ You can’t. A person just won't go back to the same spot by accident.”
The ro-boats solve this problem. They can be programmed to travel the exact path someone swam during a previous year, which allows the researchers to compare the state of the corals from year to year from exactly the same vantage points. The roboats can take hundreds of thousands of photos in a week of field work, so the research team uses artificial intelligence to identify the species in each photograph.
The team launched a ro-boat this summer at the Bonaire National Marine
Park in the Caribbean Netherlands, primarily studying the critically endangered Staghorn Coral, which is also found in Florida’s waters. “We did mapping this summer, and over the course of the next year, we will assemble vulnerability maps that we're going to share with the local marine park,” Rassweiler said.
Rassweiler’s team is working with the local management agency in Bonaire to consider how they can use this kind of data. Having information about the health of the reef along a coastline, including which spots are particularly healthy or vulnerable to bleaching and thermal stress, helps inform conservation efforts.
Rassweiler says that, for example, if disease is present, the local management might close down fishing or diving at a certain location to try to relieve stress on the reefs — anything they can do to help the corals make it through moments of high thermal stress.
As turtles, sharks, oysters and thousands of other species try to adapt to a changing world, Florida State researchers continually find that while human interaction with the environment is causing numerous problems, there are many things we can do to support and protect wildlife across the state of Florida and in ecosystems around the world.
FSU Through a New Lens
The FSU Alumni Association invites you to explore culturally rich travel destinations curated for FSU alumni and friends. Our esteemed travel partners handle all the planning and logistics, allowing you to simply relax and enjoy your trip. We have chosen world-class guided tours with unique itineraries. Each destination provides the chance to visit iconic landmarks, savor authentic cuisine and immerse yourself in the local culture alongside fellow Noles. We hope you will join the Traveling Noles!
TRAVEL INSURANCE
The Alumni Association is happy to offer our own insurance through our trusted partner, Meyer and Associates. Individual travel insurance plans are available to meet various needs and budgets.
LEARN MORE gonol.es/protectyourtrip
QUESTIONS? gonol.es/Travel 850.644.2761
travel@alumni.fsu.edu
CLASSIC
Irish Splendor
March 14–21, 2025
Greece Island Hopper
April 24–May 4, 2025
British Landscapes
July 6–15, 2025
YOUNG ALUMNI
Dubai
May 3–10, 2025
Indochina
September 27–October 8, 2025
SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans
February 9, 2025
NCAA® Women’s Final Four® in Tampa Bay
April 3–6, 2025
LUXURY
Flavors of Northern Italy
May 9–17, 2025
National Parks and Lodges of the Old West
June 6–14, 2025
Vancouver to Toronto by Rail
July 24–30, 2025
LEARN MORE gonol.es/travelingnoles
PARENTS AND FAMILIES Making a Difference
INTRODUCING THE PARENT & FAMILY ADVANCEMENT COUNCIL
FSU’s partnership with family members is essential in realizing our vision of academic excellence, innovation and service to our students. Dedicated and engaged family members contribute to the success and growth of FSU, and they have the power to enrich the college experience for all students. The council plays a crucial role in building upon countless contributions that families make to FSU.
The council is comprised of dedicated philanthropic families committed to student success. By engaging more deeply with the FSU community, council members help build meaningful relationships, play an important role in welcoming families into their new Nole family and support
fundraising initiatives that are most meaningful to them.
“Members of the Parent & Family Advancement Council are essential university ambassadors and champions of student success through their philanthropy,” said Sarishni P. Patel (B.A. ’06, M.S. ’08), assistant vice president for the Division of University Advancement, Annual Giving. “We would love for you to join us today to empower our Noles to achieve their full potential!”
With a minimum annual gift of $10,000, council members enjoy unique benefits and opportunities. They enjoy access to specially curated events in Tallahassee and beyond, engage in meaningful collaborations with university leaders and connect with fellow
↑ Family celebrates graduate at Fall 2023 Commencement.
philanthropic Nole parents and family members.
“From the moment our family first stepped onto campus, we knew Florida State University was special, and we felt an immediate connection. Our passion and love for FSU only grew from there, and nothing makes us prouder than having both of our children enrolled and thriving. We continue to be grateful and humbled by the opportunities FSU has provided to our family,” said Parent & Family Advancement Council Chairs Eric and Tina Burton. “The Parent & Family Advancement Council is one way we can give back to the university that has given us so much. As council members, our connection to the university grows ever stronger, and our investment in it enables us to help FSU students flourish, which makes for a stronger FSU.”
LEARN MORE about joining the Parent & Family Advancement Council at gonol.es/PFCouncil
FSU’s Great Give:
The Power and Impact of Donors
For the fourth year in a row, FSU’s Great Give surpassed its $1 million goal thanks to the support of donors worldwide!
For more than 13 years, FSU’s Great Give – one of the longest-running giving days in the country – has inspired our Seminole family to support their areas of passion. This year, a record 7,242 alumni, friends, faculty and staff members and students raised $1.15 million to address immediate and emerging needs during the 24-hour event.
“FSU’s Great Give allows our entire Nole family to come together, in a short amount of time, from all over the world to invest in students, programs and activities,” said Sadiki Perry, assistant director of digital and social giving for the Division of University Advancement, Annual Giving. “Seeing the impact that one person can make when their gift is combined with many others is astounding!”
The primary goal of FSU’s Great Give is amplifying the impact that one donor can make when many participate. This year, donors invested in more than 100 projects that supported student excellence and success, science and technology, the arts, athletics and research. One of the most inspiring projects was the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help fund the FSU Marching Chiefs' trip to Ireland. Nearly 1,000 donors raised more than $160,000 to help send 166 students to Dublin to represent Florida State University.
“There is always great interest for us to be at any game, but especially this one,” said Dr. David Plack (B.A. ’92, MME ’95, Ph.D. ’06), director of athletic bands. “Full band travel outside of the Florida game and the postseason, like the ACC Championship, is becoming increasingly harder to accomplish, but FSU’s Great Give provided us the opportunity to secure the funding for our program.”
In addition to the Marching Chiefs and general college support, some of the more inspiring projects supported:
· First Generation Matching Grant Program
· Food for Thought Pantry
· FSU Flying High Circus
· FSU Marine Lab Diving Scholarship
· FSU Veterans Alliance
· Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI)
· Student Emergency Fund
· WVFS Tallahassee 89.7 FM
Support for FSU’s Great Give continues to grow year after year, with more than $9.8 million dollars raised from more than 39,000 donors to date. As a preeminent university, Florida State continues to rise in rankings, recruit the most ambitious students, address societal challenges, ensure accessibility for all, produce cutting-edge research and hire the best faculty thanks to the philanthropic investment donors choose to make every year.
“Annual Giving is about connecting people to their university passions in a way that is meaningful to them. The power of many can be transformational, and giving doesn’t have to be intimidating. Giving what you can, when you can, is one of the many ways to help pay it forward and bolster the strength, skill and character of all who engage with Florida State University,” said Sarishni P. Patel (B.A. ’06, M.S. ’08), assistant vice president for the Division of University Advancement, Annual Giving.
Make a charitable gift to FSU any time. GIVE TODAY give.fsu.edu
$3M Estate Gift to FSU Expresses Couple’s ‘Love for the University’
By Pete Reinwald
In a significant show of support for their alma mater, FSU alumni Scott (B.S. ’81) and Suzi (B.S. '81, B.S. '95) Brock recently announced a $3 million charitable bequest that underscores the couple’s enduring appreciation for FSU Athletics, gives back to the College of Business and honors Scott Brock’s late father, a northwest Florida native who dedicated his life to public service.
Their gift includes:
• $1.5 million to support Seminole Boosters, which financially assists FSU Athletics.
• $1.4 million to establish the Scott and Suzi Brock Endowed Professorship in Accounting and the Scott and Suzi Brock Endowed Scholarship in Accounting in the College of Business.
• $100,000 to create the Hurdis A. Brock Endowed Graduate Scholarship in Public Administration in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy.
Scott Brock said the gift illustrates the family’s lifelong connection to Florida State University.
“This remarkable gift reflects the Brocks’ devotion to Florida State University and their belief in our students, student-athletes and faculty members,” FSU President Richard McCullough said. “We are deeply grateful to Scott and Suzi for their foresight and the example they set for our FSU family.”
The family’s connection to the university started with Hurdis Brock, namesake of the planned graduate scholarship in public administration. Hurdis attended FSU, leading the way for Scott, who earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1981. Scott is now senior director of state government affairs at Bristol Myers Squibb, where he has worked for 25 years.
“We’ve been blessed throughout our lives and careers,” Scott said. “As we developed our estate plan, we wanted to include a gift to Florida State University that would benefit faculty and students academically and athletically for generations.”
Suzi Brock earned a bachelor’s degree in communications in 1981 and added a degree in interior design in 1995. She owns a business, Suzi Brock, CKD, that designs kitchens and bathrooms.
Scott and Suzi each also followed an older sibling to the university, “contributing to why we attended FSU,” Suzi said. “I’m grateful to our alma mater and excited that we could make this bequest.”
LEARN MORE about the Brocks’ bequest and why they have chosen to support Seminole Boosters, the College of Business and the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, by visiting fla.st/1ROO7DNL
Seminole 100
Seminole 100 recognizes the 100 fastest-growing FSU alumni-owned or alumni-led businesses at a celebration on FSU's campus each year. The seventh annual Seminole 100 award ceremony was held during the spring semester.
Southern Spear Properties, LLC, led by FSU alumnus Sean W. Compton (B.S. ’08), was named the 2024 No. 1 fastestgrowing business. The company, based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is a full-service engineering and project management shop on a mission to be the most trusted contractor of its kind in the South and credits its expert focus on craftsmanship and logistical efficiency for its early success.
The 2024 Seminole 100 Top 10 are:
1. Southern Spear Properties, LLC | Sean Compton (B.S. ’08)
2. Payne Law, PLLC | Caleb Payne (B.S. ’07)
3. Right Aim Media | Michael J. Blair (B.S. ’11), Samantha Blair (B.S. ’12, B.S. ’15) & Ryan Smith (B.S. ’07)
4. Health Advocates Network | Kevin Little (B.S. ’92)
5. CI Group | Brandi Markiewicz (B.S. ’02)
6. DMF Homes, LLC | Derrick Friga (B.S. ’15)
7. Law Offices of Stephen A. Smith | Stephen A. Smith (B.S. ’02)
8. Stewart Simmons | Shena Simmons (B.S. ’07, MBA ’12) & Jillian Elleby (B.S. ’07)
9. Don’t Tell Comedy | Brett Kushner (BFA ’08)
10. Law Office of Matthew C. Williams | Matthew Williams (J.D. ’13)
The complete list of 2024 Seminole 100 businesses may be viewed at Seminole100.fsu.edu.
“We take great pride in recognizing the achievements of our exceptional alumni,” said FSU President Richard McCullough. “As trailblazers, they contribute essential products, services and solutions, fostering job creation and fortifying communities. They epitomize the entrepreneurial spirit flourishing at Florida State University and inspire the next generation of innovators and leaders.”
The Florida State University Seminole 100 Celebration honors FSU’s top entrepreneurs and allows them to share valuable business insights. Seminole 100 companies were ranked by the global financial services firm EY, which verified the information provided and ranked the companies based on their compound annual growth rate over the past three years.
Nominations for the 2025 Seminole 100 have closed, but keep an eye out for the spring celebration date at Seminole100.fsu.edu. The submission period for the 2026 class will begin in the spring of 2025.
REUBIN O’D. ASKEW YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD
Joey Arellano (B.A. ’15)
Andrew Hazelton (B.S. ’11, M.S. ’13, Ph.D. ’16)
Derrick Scott II (B.S. ’16)
INSPIRE AWARD
Michael Saunders (B.S. ’64)
Leticia “Tish” Stropes (B.A. ’95, B.S.’95)
CIRCLE OF GOLD
Our Distinguished Alumni at Homecoming
Julie Decker, associate vice president of Advancement, Alumni Engagement and president of the FSU Alumni Association, invites you to mark your calendar for November 22, when we’ll gather to celebrate our incredible alumni during this year’s Homecoming weekend! We can’t wait to shine a spotlight on the following alumni who have made a difference in their communities and at Florida State.
Javier “Javi” Borges (B.S. ’97)
Jeff Boykins (B.S. ’92, M.Acc. ’93)
Barbara Coen (B.S. ’74)
Inez “Liz” Cohen (B.S. ’74)
Carlton Wayne Edwards (B.S. ’63, MBA ’68)
Louis “Lou” Taormina (B.S. ’96)
BERNARD F. SLIGER AWARD
Emerson Eugene “Gene” Deckerhoff Jr.
If you know an alumnus or alumna who embodies the spirit and values of Florida State University, don’t miss the chance to nominate them for one of our prestigious alumni awards. The nomination period for the 2025 awards will begin November 22, 2024, and end February 9, 2025! For more information, please contact Sarah Kelly at skelly4@fsu.edu.
The FSU Alumni Association charters affiliated, volunteer-led Alumni Networks, allowing alumni who share similar interests or affiliations to connect with one another. Ready to get plugged in? Learn about, connect with or support the following networks by visiting gonol.es/networks.
Asian American Alumni Network at FSU
Emeriti Alumni Society at FSU
First-Gen Alumni Network at FSU
Hispanic/Latin Alumni Network at FSU
Jewish Alumni Network at FSU
National Black Alumni at FSU
Pride Alumni Network at FSU
Veterans Alumni Network at FSU
Women for FSU (W4FSU)
Young Alumni Network at FSU
DID YOU KNOW?
All of our Seminole Clubs are on social media! This issue, we’re highlighting the Seminole Club of Manatee! Check out their Facebook page, “Seminole Club of Manatee,” and look for your local club on social media to stay in-the-know about upcoming and recent events!
FSU Connect
If you’re working on a project or a new venture, you’re bound to have questions — and lots of them. FSU Connect offers a quick, easy way for you to get expert advice from a network of experienced alumni. It can help you find mentors, build a board of advisors, explore internship possibilities and accelerate your idea or venture.
FSU Connect is free and available for you to use at your convenience. Jumpstart your success at fsuconnect.fsu.edu, and experience the power of your alumni network today.
Pride Network Book Stipend
After a couple of years of hard work and donor support, the Pride Alumni Network at FSU has successfully achieved their goal of reaching their $30,000 endowment. Since its inception in 2020, the Pride Network has aimed to cultivate a community for LGBTQ+ and allied alumni to maintain meaningful relationships. The completion of this endowment is a huge step toward keeping their mission alive.
To give back to the university and support current FSU students, the network is excited to announce a new scholarship opportunity. $500 book stipends will be awarded at the start of each fall semester to three deserving students. This scholarship opportunity is open to all current FSU students who possess and maintain a GPA of at least 3.0.
Students are encouraged to apply at fsu.academicworks.com/opportunities/30462
Seminole Sendoffs
The FSU Alumni Association's Seminole Clubs held 13 Seminole Sendoff events this summer to celebrate incoming freshmen and officially welcome them to the Seminole family as they prepared for their Florida State journey! The sendoffs provided opportunities for students to learn more about FSU, meet other local incoming students and network! FSU families who attended benefitted from meeting other families, learning about ways to engage with Florida State and hearing about their local Seminole Club. Sendoff events were held in Atlanta, Chattanooga, Destin, Jacksonville, Lake Sumter, Manatee County, Miami, Naples, Nashville, Orlando, Pinellas, Sarasota and Tampa.
Veterans Alumni Network
The Veteran Alumni Network was revitalized last year and looks forward to a year of programming and connection!
In 1947, veterans returning from World War II enrolled at the Florida State College for Women (FSCW), and as a result, FSCW became Florida State University. This proud legacy of veterans has driven FSU to become one of the most veteran-friendly and empowering universities in the nation. The Veteran Alumni Network was established to foster relationships between veteran alumni and currently enrolled student-veterans, as well as FSU faculty and staff members who are veterans.
Glen E. Hallowell (B.S. ’09) serves as the chair of the Veteran Alumni Network and is a member of the FSU Alumni Association’s National Board of Trustees. Hallowell, a United States Air Force civilian with the U.S. Special Operations Command, leads a team supporting special operations units worldwide. His distinguished career includes roles with Special Operations Command Central and Naval Special Warfare Command. Hallowell graduated from FSU with a Bachelor of Science in geography and certificates in urban planning and emergency management. He was instrumental in founding the Collegiate Veterans Association and played a key role in establishing the Student Veterans of America, which contributed to FSU’s participation in the network.
↑ Glen E. Hallowell (B.S. '09), chair of the Veterans Alumni Network.
Women for Florida State University Relaunch
Since its inception in 2008, the Women for Florida State University (W4FSU) has fostered friendship and community by engaging women who have a passion for Florida State University. Over the past two years, W4FSU has undergone a rebrand, culminating in an official relaunch this July. W4FSU is built on four pillars: engage, invest, celebrate, and the newest addition, grow. These pillars guide the organization’s mission to advance the lives of women through advocacy, knowledge exchange and shared experiences. The organization, which is chaired by Katee Tully, emphasizes the importance of student success and encourages involvement and participation from all members of the community.
LEARN MORE women4.fsu.edu
↓ In the spring of 2024, the Women for Florida State University proudly unveiled its new branding and logo at a special gathering in the FSU Alumni Center Courtyard.
NOVEMBER 22
• Emeriti Alumni Society
Guided Campus Tours
• Emeriti Alumni Society
Welcome Luncheon
• 2024 Homecoming Parade
• FSU Alumni Awards
NOVEMBER 23
• Homecoming Breakfast
Presenting the 2024 Grads
Made Good
• PRIDE Alumni Network Tailgate
• Young Alumni Network Tailgate
• FSU vs. Charleston Southern Football Game
NOVEMBER 24
• Emeriti Alumni Society
Induction Brunch — 50th Anniversary
See a full schedule and register at alumni.fsu.edu/homecoming.
Westcott Plaza
Steeped in tradition.
Leave a lasting mark at the historic plaza with a personalized brick .
Get started at gonol.es/BRICKVF24
Javier Borges
Becomes First Hispanic Chair of the Alumni Association’s National Board of Directors
Javier "Javi" Borges (B.S. ’97) became the first Hispanic chair of the FSU Alumni Association’s board of directors on July 1.
With more than 20% of FSU’s student population being Hispanic, this milestone aligns with the university’s trajectory toward becoming a Hispanic-serving institution.
“I am deeply moved to be the first Hispanic alumnus to serve as chair of the Florida State University Alumni Association National Board of Directors and represent a growing student and alumni base,” Borges said. “I am humbled and honored by the extraordinary opportunity to be a servant leader and ambassador for my alma mater — an institution that made an indelible impact on my life.”
Borges has served as vice chair of the Alumni Association’s board and has been actively involved in various committees, including board development, audit and finance.
In his professional career, Borges has been the leader of the Americas’ media and entertainment sector and the global client service partner for EY. With more than 25 years of experience, he has guided commercial and public sector organizations through EY’s assurance, consulting, strategy and transaction, and tax services, helping them achieve their strategic, operational and risk management goals. He has also served on EY’s Latino Professional Network Steering Committee. In 2016, he was honored as a Young Hispanic Corporate Achiever by the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility.
“We are thrilled to welcome Javi as the new chair of the Alumni Association,” said Julie Decker, associate vice president of Advancement, Alumni Engagement and president of the FSU Alumni Association. “FSU alumni will be well-served, as he is one of the most involved and passionate alumni I know. His extensive experience serving Florida State University will undoubtedly strengthen our alumni network and create new opportunities for engagement and support.”
Borges has served as vice chair of the Alumni Association’s board and has been actively involved in various committees, including board development, audit and finance. Photo by Kira Derryberry.
Borges’s dedication to FSU is showcased by his longstanding involvement with the alumni community. As past president of the Seminole Club of New York City, he was instrumental in launching the Noles in NYC program and establishing a 9/11 memorial scholarship at FSU. He served as president of the Seminole Club of Miami, where he founded the ’77 Club to honor South Florida alumni with exceptional dedication to FSU. Borges also played a key role in founding the Hispanic/Latin Alumni Network at FSU and remains an active member of the Seminole Boosters.
Marking another first, Borges will serve as the inaugural two-year chair of the board following recent updates to term limits. He is committed to advancing the university’s goals and aims to engage FSU’s over 407,000 global alumni, encouraging them to invest their time, talent and treasure in Florida State.
Borges graduated from FSU in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in international affairs and multinational business.
LEARN MORE alumni.fsu.edu
Sidonie McCray
(B.M. ’11)
By Brian Hudgins
After obtaining her music performance degree from FSU, Sidonie McCray envisioned a future performing in a major orchestra or on Broadway. However, her path took a different turn when she decided to audition for a military band.
McCray had colleagues at the time who had taken military band auditions. “I had a general idea of what I was stepping into, and I am super thrilled to have done it because it’s such a fantastic path,” McCray said.
Securing a spot in the band, McCray shipped off to basic training. She is the first female special drummer with the U.S. Army Band, “Pershing’s Own.”
Having drummed with the U.S. Army for more than 11 years now, McCray notes that the job requires her to be ready for various weather conditions, as performances often occur at outdoor ceremonies. “We are pretty acclimated to all types of weather,” McCray said. “Extreme heat or extreme cold make the job tough, but that is our mission.”
The job leads McCray to perform at various ceremonies and events, often playing for heads of state, military leaders and other dignitaries.
In April, McCray had the honor of giving a special performance before Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at Arlington National Cemetery.
“My role was to be a special drummer at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,” McCray said. “The role is to play four muffled ruffles prior to the playing of Taps by the bugler.” McCray performed her role after Prime Minister Kishida laid a wreath at the tomb, which is a symbolic resting place for all fallen soldiers whose remains are unidentified or undiscovered. McCray is the first female special drummer who has done a special drummer mission at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
McCray has carved her unique path with strong influences from her parents, FSU and the U.S. Army.
Her father’s service in the U.S. Air Force and his passion for music played a significant role in her upbringing. “He was a fantastic guitar player, and he had a rock band growing up,” McCray reminisced. “I was a kid, and he would ask me to come in and play some percussion instruments here and there. Once I started taking some formal music lessons, I would play in their group every once in a while. I grew up with music through my dad and his co-workers who would come jam out.”
During her time at FSU, McCray was a member of the Marching Chiefs, where she played the snare drum and was part of the Big 8 Drumline. Known for their energetic performances and precision, the Big 8 Drumline plays an important role in FSU’s football gameday atmosphere, performing for spirited crowds of up to 90,000 people.
The contrast between the energetic football games and solemn Army Band events is stark, but McCray finds both environments to be profound and impactful — in very different ways.
McCray credits Dr. John Parks, distinguished teaching professor of percussion at FSU, for his mentorship. “He absolutely made me the musician I am today and helped me carve the path to where I am today,” she expressed with gratitude.
→ McCray (pictured right) during a presidential wreath-laying ceremony in 2020 honoring Presidents’ Day in front of George Washington’s tomb at Mount Vernon.
Joshua O’Driscoll (B.A.
’05, B.S. ’05)
By Brian Hudgins
Joshua O’Driscoll’s journey through the art world is marked by two significant moments, a little more than a decade apart.
The first occurred in Tallahassee, where the Tampa native explored a broad curriculum at FSU, including literature, philosophy and religion. O’Driscoll stumbled upon art history and was captivated. “I took an art history class by chance… that was the first time I had exposure to art as an object of study,” he said. “By virtue of being an undergrad student at FSU, I was able to explore. I remember when the lights would go down and the [art] slides would go on, thinking it was amazing!”
O’Driscoll credits the structure of FSU’s art history major as an asset in his professional journey. As part of the major, he also had to take art classes, which he said was beneficial. “I liked the mixing of history and practice,” O’Driscoll noted. The expertise of professors also made O’Driscoll’s experience valuable. “The professors made it a strong department, and it still is,” he said. “I happened to take classes with professors such as Cynthia Hahn, Paula Gerson and Jack Freiberg — people who are real experts in their field. It was a great experience that allowed me to get into art history at a high level.”
An active Tallahassee art scene coupled with the faculty’s efforts gave O’Driscoll a springboard into his graduate studies in Massachusetts. O’Driscoll earned a master’s degree in art history from Williams College and a Ph.D. in art history from Harvard University. After completing his Ph.D., he experienced another defining moment in New York City: The Morgan Library & Museum sought a curator for its esteemed collection of illuminated manuscripts, and O’Driscoll stepped into the role. Illuminated manuscripts are handwritten documents or books that have been decorated with gold or silver, vibrant colors or intricate designs, and
miniature pictures. Historically, they often contained religious texts or secular works aimed at an aristocratic audience.
O’Driscoll’s work with illuminated manuscripts involves a continuous learning curve. Working with a diverse collection means he does not necessarily have expertise in each area. In a given week, O’Driscoll might work with a range of materials from medieval English manuscripts to ancient Egyptian papyri. “It’s not the most common type of collection for an art museum,” O’Driscoll said, remarking on the uniqueness of his work. “Most people think of paintings, sculpture or photography. Illuminated manuscripts are very rare, in contrast.”
The first exhibition O’Driscoll worked on at the Morgan — on medieval monsters — provided a fun introduction to his new job. A few years later, he curated a major exhibition of illuminated manuscripts from Central Europe, called “Imperial Splendor: The Art of the Book in the Holy Roman Empire.” Currently, O’Driscoll is organizing a collaborative show with the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. “The Book of Marvels: A Medieval Guide to the Globe” is now open at the Getty and is scheduled to open at the Morgan in January 2025. “I’ve worked on exhibitions on three very different topics that have been interesting in different ways,” O’Driscoll said. And there is more to come. “My next show will focus on the earliest surviving decks of Tarot cards from the fifteenth century. It’s a good example of how the job keeps you on your toes.”
↓ This Latin manuscript was created by about 16 scribes in a Benedictine abbey in Trier (in what is now Germany) around the year 980. The manuscript has come to be known as the Golden Gospels of Henry VIII because the English monarch owned it some five centuries later. J. Pierpont Morgan acquired it in 1900. Photo by Janny Chiu, 2022, and provided by Joshua O’Driscoll as an example of an illuminated manuscript.
Class Notes
Cheri Swan (B.S. ’16, M.Acc. ’17) was promoted to tax manager in the Tallahassee office of James Moore & Company, a business consulting firm that specializes in providing tax, auditing, accounting and controllership, data analytics, human resources, technology and wealth management services to clients nationwide.
Brian Tannenbaum (B.S. ’15) has joined Ball Janik LLP as an associate in the firm’s Tampa office. Tannenbaum has experience litigating construction defect cases and legal matters related to real estate, condos, general commercial, arbitration and HOAs. (1)
Jennifer Williams Roland (M.S. ’99) joined Texas A&MCorpus Christi as deputy athletic director, external relations and SWA.
William Kyle Ingle (Ph.D. ’07), professor of educational leadership at the University of Louisville, published a new book titled, “Innovation and Impact: The Origins and Elements of EdD Program Excellence.”
Dr. Keri M. (Jasen) Guilbault (B.A. ’94) was appointed associate editor of the Journal of Advanced Academics. Guilbault is an associate professor in the online Ed.D. program and director of the gifted education graduate programs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education. (2)
Katrina Shantel Lindsey (B.S. ’96) joined Casey’s General Stores, Inc. as chief legal officer and corporate secretary.
G.C. Murray II, Esq., DPL (J.D. ’11) received The MLK 2024 Excellence in Community Service Award from The MLK Foundation of Florida, Inc.
Dara T. Mathis (M.A. ’07) was honored on Wednesday, February 7, with the American Mosaic Journalism $100K Prize for her coverage of Black freedom movements, identity and parenthood. The award, created by The Heising-Simons Foundation, recognizes outstanding freelance journalists who invest so much of themselves, personally and professionally, to tell the stories of underrepresented and misrepresented communities. A national panel of media judges from outlets such as the Texas Tribune, NBC News and The New Yorker selected Mathis for the award. Her 2023 article in The Atlantic, “A Blueprint for Black Liberation,” draws from her personal history growing up in the Black liberation movement as part of a radical Black nationalist commune.
Brittney (Diggs) Alls (B.A. ’05) was named chief compliance officer and vice president for audit, compliance, ethics and risk management at Augusta University. (3)
Elizabeth Beard Goldsmith, Ph.D. (B.A. ’71) engaged in a conversation with First Lady Jill Biden, Ed.D., at the White House about their mutual roles as college professors. Goldsmith, a COSSPP alumna, is celebrating over 30 years as a White House expert, a journey that commenced in January 1992, when Curator Anne Golovin at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History suggested she study the White House as the most documented house in the country.
Gigi Rollini (B.A. ’97, MPA ’03, J.D. ’03), managing partner of Florida Government Law Partners in Tallahassee, has been recognized by Super
Lawyers as one of the top Administrative Lawyers in Florida for 2024. This year, only eight attorneys in Florida achieved this recognition. Rollini has been recognized by Super Lawyers every year since 2010 and has been named to the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Florida twice. She serves as president-elect of the National Association of Women Lawyers and is a past president of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers and the Tallahassee Women Lawyers.
Kirby Thomas (M.S. ’12, Ph.D. ’16) wrote a book to help individuals with no programming experience learn how to code in SAS. Thomas hopes this approachable book will help make data analytics accessible to everyone.
M. Leigh Smith (B.S. ’72, MBA ’73, MSW ’82) published "The One Minute Therapist" with Balboa Press. Smith drew inspiration from working with thousands of clients who were motivated to grow and change their lives.
Joanne B. Sullivan (B.S. ’72), assistant vice president of community engagement for USF Health, was presented the 2024 Dottie Berger MacKinnon Woman of Influence Award by The Tampa Bay Chamber.
Kelly Corder, APR, CPRC (B.A. ’07) was recognized by PRNews as a 2024 Top Woman Award recipient for 2024 in the Motivators category.
Max (B.S. ’11) and Lindsey (B.S. ’11) Spanier raised $32,000 from their annual Sloane Staffing charity golf tournament benefiting the Golden Cub Ambassador's Club, a vital initiative of the Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation. (4)
↑ Lindsey and Max Spanier, owners of Sloane Staffing, presenting a $32,000 check to Jack Nicklaus's granddaughter, Christie Nicklaus Strunk (B.S. ’15) and her husband, Todger Strunk, cochairs of the Golden Cub Ambassadors Club. 1 2 3 4
Cheryl Sisk (M.S. ’76, Ph.D. ’80) was selected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in the area of neuroscience for distinguished contributions to the impact of puberty on the adolescent brain, particularly how it relates differently to social behaviors and eating disorders in males and females.
Wes Ball (BFA ’02) directed “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes," the 10th film in the Planet of the Apes franchise, which was released in theaters in May.
Brett Davidson (B.S. ’96, M.S. ’97) was named associate vice president for development and alumni engagement at the College of New Jersey.
Lasana Smith (B.S. ’01) is founder and CEO of GAROI Media, which was recognized earlier this year with the Digital Marketing Campaign of the Year award at the Fifth Annual American Marketing Association South Florida Awards. The accolade celebrates the agency's innovative and impactful advertising campaign for the New World Symphony, titled "I Dream a World: Harlem Renaissance in Europe." (5)
Alex Wyss (B.S. ’89) was named executive director of the Tennessee State Parks Conservancy. With more than 30 years of experience in conservation and fundraising, Wyss will lead the nonprofit organization in its mission to support and enhance Tennessee State Parks, which includes expanding public accessibility, inspiring the next generation and strengthening environmental stewardship within the parks.
Cindy Roe Littlejohn (B.S. ’92, M.S. ’94, Ph.D. ’97) published “Palmetto Pioneers: The Emigrants” — a book about seven-year-old Mary Walker, who follows her family into the wilds of territorial Florida in 1829 — in the summer of 2022 on Amazon. The nonfiction book is the first of a trilogy, and it recently received four awards — a national IPPY bronze medal for nonfiction in the southeast and three medals from the Florida Authors and Publishers Association for history, biography and cover design. Littlejohn released the second book in the trilogy, “Palmetto Pioneers: From Harmony to Hostility,” in March. The book covers the time period from statehood in 1845 through the first year of the Civil War.
Adrienne Love (J.D. ’05), shareholder at Stearns Weaver Miller, is board certified by The Florida Bar in Intellectual Property Law and leads the firm’s intellectual property group. She devotes her practice to patent, copyright and trademark matters, including litigation of such intellectual property cases in federal courts throughout the United States. (6)
Dinah Jackson Laughery (B.S. ’93) was re-elected to the National Council of fraternal organization Zeta Tau Alpha (ZTA) for the 2024-2026 term. Laughery continues to serve as national president and was initially elected in 2022. The nineperson National Council is elected every two years to lead the organization. Laughery and her husband Mike have two sons and currently live in Austin, Texas.
Sarah Lukas, Ed.D. (B.S. '10), was appointed dean of Florida Programs for National Louis University’s southeastern campus. Lukas previously served as director of academic operations at the university’s Tampa-based campus.
Matthew E.W. Bryant (B.A. ’07, J.D. ’11) joined Stearns Weaver Miller’s Tallahassee office in its Administrative & Regulatory Law group. Bryant has over a decade of experience representing applicants in procurement litigation before Florida’s State Agencies with a focus on bid protests. (7)
Joseph “Joe” Percopo (J.D. ’09) was unanimously elected a shareholder at Dean Mead. A member of the firm’s Estate & Succession Planning department, Percopo works with a variety of clients spanning from young couples who are just beginning their estate planning process to families who are well-versed in wealth management and preservation.
J. Paul Davis (B.S. ’84) published “The Astral Plane Project,” a sci-fi thriller that follows Liam, who uses his Astral Plane Project, a revolutionary artificial intelligence powered machine that allows mankind to travel visually back in time, to locate a long-lost treasure, catapulting him to scientific fame and attracting the attention of the CIA.
Emily Heisterkamp (MME ’11) traveled to India this past summer with Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program, a professional development program focused on the exchange and promotion of global education in schools. Heisterkamp is an elementary
music teacher for Westside Community Schools in Omaha, Nebraska. She documented her experience on her website, emilygoesglobal.com. (8)
Natalie Storch (B.S. ’91, M.S. ’19) was promoted to shareholder at Littler in the firm’s Orlando office. Storch focuses her practice on litigation, compliance and consulting on wage and hour law under federal and state law, and advising employers regarding labor and employment law matters.
Bruce Buchanan (B.S. ’79), is an attorney in the Nashville office of Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management. He has published the 2024 edition of The I-9 and E-Verify Handbook, along with co-author Greg Siskind of Siskind Susser, PC. The handbook is an important resource for HR professionals, attorneys and others involved in I-9 and E-Verify compliance. As special counsel in Littler’s Immigration Practice Group, Buchanan counsels employers on immigration compliance issues, conducts internal I-9 audits, represents employers on ICE inspections and audits, IER investigations, E-Verify issues, and employment-based visas. He also regularly speaks before employer groups. (9)
Anthony P. Pires Jr., B.C.S. (J.D. ’75) attained a 25-year milestone of Florida Bar board certification. (10)
Justin Russell (B.S. ’05), former global financial services firm chief legal officer, joined Kaufman Dolowich’s Orlando office. He joined the Financial Services and Institutions practice group and the Health Care/Managed Care industry group, representing clients in consumer protection matters and providing compliance counsel across financial, healthcare, insurance and credit and collection arenas, as well as advising on corporate governance matters and providing commercial litigation defense.
Freda K. (Keklik) Roberts (B.S. ’01) has joined the law firm of Siegel, Colin & Kaufman, PC. Roberts' practice encompasses issues pertaining to divorce and family law, including areas such as dissolution of marriage, property distribution, alimony, child support, child custody, postjudgment modification of alimony, child custody and prenuptial agreements. She brings over 15 years of legal expertise to her position, having worked exclusively in the family law arena since 2006. Super Lawyers has recognized Roberts as one of its “Rising Stars” six times. (11)
Richard Akin (B.S. ’06, J.D. ’09) has been elected to the Executive Committee of Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt, P.A. Akin represents businesses and individuals in administrative litigation, land use and zoning matters, and licensing and permitting issues. (12)
Scott C. Barnes (B.S. ’03), formerly of Ward & Barnes, P.A., joined Taylor, Warren, Weidner & Hancock, P.A. in Pensacola as a partner.
Andrea A. Lewis (B.S. ’07, J.D. ’10), shareholder and trial lawyer at Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley P.A., was honored as the Best Personal Injury Attorney in the 2024 Palm Beach County Community Choice Awards by the Palm Beach Post. As a former felony prosecutor and current civil litigator, Lewis has successfully handled numerous high-profile cases, including those involving sexual assault, sexually motivated crimes and crimes against children. (13)
Faculty Notes
Recent accolades of the faculty and staff at Florida State University
FSU’s 2023-27 Strategic Plan aims to expand research and academic excellence. FSU also recently developed the firstever university-wide research strategic plan — ASPIRE: A Strategic Plan to Inspire Research Excellence. Among ASPIRE’s strategies is a focus on scholarship and excellence, including the celebration of faculty success.
Fullbright Fellows
Daekwan Kim, Spencer-Feheley MBA professor at the College of Business, will serve in Finland at the University of Vaasa. He will focus on global versus regional industry 4.0 ecosystems and their performance and sustainability implications.
Shuyuan Metcalfe, associate professor of information at the College of Communication and Information, will serve in Italy. Metcalfe’s research focuses on trusted humancomputer interactions, specifically addressing issues of cyber insider threats, computermediated deception and deepfakes.
Mainak Mookherjee, professor of geology at the College of Arts and Sciences, will serve in India. Mookherjee intends to examine whether crustal rocks from Himalaya and the Indian subcontinent contain trace quantities of water.
Vincent Salters, professor of Earth, ocean and atmospheric science at the College of Arts and Sciences, will serve in Germany. Salters will visit and collaborate at the Institute for Mineralogy at the University of Münster. The research will focus on Earth’s mantle and fractionation due to mid-ocean ridge volcanism.
Nora Underwood, professor of biology at the College of Arts and Sciences, will serve in Sweden and conduct biological research at Stockholm University on the relationship between climate change and phenology, specifically the impact of climate change on the phenology of plants and birds.
Gang Wang, professor of business administration at the College of Business, will serve as the Fulbright-Hanken distinguished chair in business and economics in Finland. He will focus on leadership, acquisition premium and human resource management at the Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki.
Other Honorific Awards & Fellowships
Pedro Fernandez-Caban, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, received the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award.
Sonia Hazard, assistant professor of American religious history at the College of Arts and Sciences, was selected as a National Humanities Center fellow.
Martin Munro, eminent scholar of modern languages and linguistics at the College of Arts and Sciences, was selected as a Guggenheim fellow. Read our article about Munro on page 20.
Christopher J. Patrick, distinguished research professor and director of clinical training at the College of Arts and Sciences, received the 2023 Distinguished Contributions to Psychophysiology Award from the Society for Psychophysiological Research.
Maria Ryan, assistant professor of musicology at the College of Music, won the American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship (ACLS) and the National Endowment of Humanities (NEH) Fellowship. Ryan was also named the ACLS Susan McClary and Robert Walser fellow in music studies.
Stephen Sansom, assistant professor of classics at the College of Arts and Sciences, was doubly awarded in 2024 as a fellow at Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. and an NEH fellow at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, to be served in the spring of 2025.
Grants
Florida State University has set a new benchmark, surpassing $415 million in research expenditures for fiscal year 2023, as reported by the NSF’s Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey. This figure includes federal, state and private funding, fueling groundbreaking research by faculty and students.
Triumph Gulf Coast has awarded FSU $98.4 million to support the Institute for Strategic Partnerships, Innovation, Research and Education (InSPIRE) in Panama City, Florida — a monumental initiative that will transform research and development activities in Northwest Florida. This initiative will establish facilities for research and development in collaboration with industry and government and includes a transformative workforce development program for Northwest Florida. Located near the Northwest Florida Beaches Airport and Venture Crossings technology park, InSPIRE will serve as a hub for aerospace and advanced manufacturing, accommodating secure and open contract work. The project aims to increase the number of engineering graduates from FSU Panama City and enhance STEM outreach in the region. FSU will invest an additional $65 million over the next decade and secure over $230 million in contracts and grants. Economic projections suggest a $10 return for every $1 spent.
The National Science Foundation has awarded FSU $6 million to enhance translational research through IGNITEFSU (Inspiring the Generation of New Ideas and Translational Excellence at Florida State University), aiming to help scientists effect real-world change with their research. This four-year plan aims to provide training and mentoring for FSU and the Tallahassee community, launch seed funding programs and foster new partnerships to support an innovation ecosystem. This initiative builds on recent entrepreneurial endeavors, including Fast Start, a tech transfer program allowing researchers to bring innovations to market quickly; 1Clik Licensing, enabling industry partners to license FSU technologies easily; and a partnership with Domi Station, a Tallahassee-based business incubator providing access to FSU’s research and development resources and offering project and internship opportunities. Poised to bring research from lab to market, FSU also welcomed Valerie Landrio McDevitt as the first associate vice president for strategic partnerships and innovation.
Prestigious Elected Memberships
Wei Guo, professor of mechanical engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and researcher at the FSU National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society.
Susan B. Hassmiller, National Academy of Medicine member, has joined the FSU College of Nursing. Hassmiller is also a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and a recipient of the Florence Nightingale Medal, the highest international honor given to a nurse by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Three professors were elected members of the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida: Lisa Beth Hightow-Weidman of the College of Nursing and Stephen Hill and Laura Reina of the Department of Physics at the College of Arts and Sciences.
Jeffrey James and Tim Baghurst, researchers at the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, were named fellows of the National Academy of Kinesiology. The honor is among the most prestigious awards a kinesiology scholar can receive.
Yan Li, professor of chemical and biomedical engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, was elected a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biomedical Engineering.
Two faculty members were invited to join the National Academy of Inventors (NAI): Bruce R. Locke, professor of chemical and biomedical engineering, and Joseph Schlenoff, professor of chemistry, have been named fellows. Olugbenga Moses Anubi, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, was also elected as an NAI senior member.
Nicole Patton Terry, director of the Florida Center for Reading Research, has been named a 2024 American Educational Research Association fellow.
Joe Schlenoff, Robert O. Lawton distinguished research professor of chemistry and biochemistry, is one of only three researchers elected for 2024 to the American Chemical Society Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering. Schlenoff is the first FSU faculty member to be granted this honor.
Two members of the National Academy of Engineering joined the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering: Manoj Shah, an esteemed inventor and researcher who worked at General Electric and GE Research for over three decades, and Longya Xu, co-founder of Ohio State University's Center for High Performance Power Electronics.
Two faculty members have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science: Michael Shatruk, professor of chemistry, and Roxanne Hughes, director of the Center for Integrating Research and Learning.
↑ Harrison Prosper, the Kirby W. Kemper endowed professor of physics at the College of Arts and Sciences, is our recently elected Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor — the highest honor FSU faculty members can bestow upon a colleague. Prosper has been a key contributor to several major discoveries in particle physics: the discovery of the gluon (1980, DESY) and the top quark (1995, Fermilab), the observation of electroweak production of single top quarks (2009, Fermilab) and, just a decade ago, the monumental discovery of the Higgs boson — more commonly referred to as the “God particle” (2012, CERN). Prosper is also a passionate global speaker, known to recount how he became a scientist. He attributes the course of his life to his mother, who purchased a small telescope for him upon realizing how awestruck he was witnessing the 1969 moon landing. Staring up at the stars, Prosper was transformed; he became a passionate science student, and his passion is still evident in his public speaking, public service and research. Learn more and watch a video featuring Prosper at fla.st/LawtonProf24.
In Memoriam
Beulah “Bridget” McPherson Chandler (B.A. ’48) passed away in July. Chandler will be remembered for her extraordinary dedication and fervor as one of the university’s most devoted fans and supporters. Chandler started her education at Florida State College for Women in 1944, then graduated with a degree in English and speech from the newly minted Florida State University in 1948, making her a member of FSU’s first graduating class.
Her legacy will continue to resonate within the halls of FSU, inspiring future generations to embrace life with the same passion and vigor she exemplified. Chandler was a member of the FSU Circle of Gold and served on the boards of the Emeriti Alumni Society and the Alumni Association. We will miss having her energy, positivity and expertise in every room she inhabited.
When the Tallahassee Democrat asked about her experience at FSU during the transition from FSCW to co-ed FSU in a 2017 article, Chandler said, “It was exciting. I had no idea we were all making history. We were living our lives and doing the best we could. I feel incredibly blessed that I had the experience of an all-girls school for two years and then to graduate from a major university just blows my mind.” Pictured above.
Ladye Jones King (B.A. ’67) passed away in April. Known for her kindness, humor, empathy and love, King was a beloved wife, mother and friend. She is missed by her husband, Robert “Bob” King (B.S. ’68), children, sonin-law, daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
Dr. Barbara Ann Dietrick Friedes (B.S. ’16) passed away in July. Graduating from FSU summa cum laude in 2016, Friedes went on to earn a master’s degree from Oxford University and attend medical school at Johns Hopkins University. For the past three years, she worked relentlessly as a resident and then as chief resident in the pediatrics program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. While at FSU, Friedes was a beloved sister of the Chi Omega sorority, captain of the Golden Girls Dance Team and a researcher in the McGraw lab. Additionally, she was a UROP leader, Global Scholar, and IDEA grant winner with Honors, Scholars and Fellows. Friedes also met her husband, Cole Friedes (B.S. ’16), at FSU.
Richard Simmons (B.A. ’70), an iconic fitness guru and beloved FSU alumnus, passed away in July at 76 years old. Known for his vibrant personality and dedication to health, Simmons left an indelible mark on the fitness world.
Born Milton Teagle Simmons in New Orleans, Simmons battled weight issues from a young age, and his health journey led him to Los Angeles, where he opened the famed Slimmons studio in 1973. Simmons’ charisma and innovative approach to exercise made him a household name through “The Richard Simmons Show” and his popular “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” videos.
Simmons transferred to FSU from the University of Louisiana, traveled abroad to Italy and earned a Bachelor of Arts. He often expressed his fondness for his time at FSU, calling his time here a cherished chapter of his life.
Despite a recent skin cancer diagnosis, Simmons remained positive and dedicated to helping others. Simmons’ contributions to fitness and his compassionate spirit will be deeply missed by the FSU community.
Charles “John” Wilson (B.S. ’58) passed away in January at 93. Wilson graduated from FSU with a bachelor’s degree in history. While at FSU, he was a proud member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. Wilson retired in 1994 after 31 years of service to the U.S. government, a total of
35 years, including his veteran service. He was a proud FSU football fan, a dedicated supporter of the FSU Boosters and was proud of his two grandchildren who also attended FSU.
Alan Cleveland Rhodes (B.A., B.S. ’01) passed away in June. Rhodes graduated from FSU magna cum laude with degrees in electrical engineering and Spanish. While at FSU, he held many leadership positions and received the Seminole Leadership Award. He earned an MBA in global management and a master’s certificate from Stanford University’s Advanced Project Management Program. His award-winning career spanned 24 years of public service, beginning with the Naval Underseas Warfare Center in Washington; international work with Foreign Comparative Test Program Manager for Naval Seas Systems Command, coordinating staff in the U.S., Great Britain and Australia; project
coordinator for the Federal Columbia River Power System for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and senior analyst for Stanley Associates in Washington, D.C., before beginning a long career with several NASA programs.
He began with the NASA Constellation Program as project manager with the Orion Project Office in charge of space capsule recovery. He later moved to the NASA SOFIA program as scientific instrument development manager. In the past few years, Rhodes served as the mission lead systems engineer at the NASA Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley on the next mechanism for propulsion in space. Rhodes received numerous achievement awards from NASA and the Navy.
He traveled the world and was an avid rower, heading up the FSU crew rowing in many regattas around the country, and he continued his crew career while in Washington, D.C.
Parting Shot
More than 150 Marching Chiefs traveled to Ireland in August, where they delivered a halftime performance at the Aer Lingus Classic and performed at EPIC The Irish Emmigration Museum, Slane Castle and the FSU Pep Rally in Dublin’s Smithfield Plaza.
Pictured: Marching Chiefs perform at EPIC The Irish Emmigration Museum. Photo by Natalie DeClerk (B.S. ’24).
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