Stetson Magazine

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A Question of Values

Best in Show It’s awards season, and one of my favorite comedies, Best in Show, captures it best. The movie is about the owners of five show dogs who head to the fictional Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show to compete.

One character, Dr. Theodore W. Millbank III, Mayflower Kennel Club president, says: “And really, I think what we’re talking about is standards, basically; very, very specific, rigid, you could say, but in this world where would we be without them, I think.”

With standards in mind, I’m pleased to announce that stetson magazine won two top honors in the CASE III district competition. In the category of Overall Best Practice Awards, the magazine took the Platinum for Best Article of the Year for “Values Quest.” The magazine also won a Grand Award for overall magazine. The judges looked at content, writing and design when deciding the winner in this category.

CASE stands for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

—Bill Noblitt

Staff President

Wendy B. Libby, Ph.D.

Vice President of University Marketing Editor and Art Director Editorial Assistants

Greg Carroll Bill Noblitt

Donna Nassick, Sebastian Jones & George Salis

Photographers

Contributing Staff

Janie Graziani, Mary Anne Rogers, Davina Gould, Brandi Palmer & Amy Gipson

Writers

Will Phillips & Brendan Rogers

Ronald Williamson, Trish Wieland, Kevin Winchell, Shannon Tan, Michael Calendelaria, Andy Butcher & Ricky Hazel

Class Notes Editor

Cathy Foster

Stetson junior art major Erin McCollum’s watercolors of place adorn this issue, including the cover painting of downtown DeLand.

Illustration by Junior Art Major Erin McCollum

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2 Letters Reactions to the last issue

12 A Sense of Place A reflection on the importance of place

4 Beginnings News about Stetson

14 Our Town They don’t call the city and the university sisters for nothing.

11 First Person On Becoming a Writer

20 A Place Apart It’s easier to see Stetson for the place it is now, a place apart.

46 Inquiry

Research and scholarship

22 Why Place Matters in Higher Education Where a university is located is only part of the reason.

24 Greetings From DeLand, Florida A professor writes about his changes in latitude and attitude.

48 Games No Payne, No Gain

50 Impact About gifts to Stetson

52 Alumni

54 The Classes

34 A Man of the World A student writes about his experiences abroad.

60 Endings “Why Your Parents Move to Florida” 61 Parting Shot Big rain on campus

is published three times a year by Stetson University, DeLand, FL 32723 and is distributed to its alumni, families, friends, faculty and staff. The magazine is printed on FSC-certified paper. The College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business Administration and School of Music are located at the historic campus in DeLand. The College of Law is in Gulfport/St. Petersburg. The university also has two satellite centers: The Tampa Law Center and the Stetson University Center at Celebration near Orlando.

stetson magazine

26 Our Vanishing Shoreline Will a future father have the same view of his son playing on the beach?

30 On the Water Front What can be done about Florida’s scarce resource?

36 Where Are the Men? Men are not so much invisible as missing in action.

40 Music Forges Community How does music bring a community together?

42 Helping Returning Heroes The College of Law’s Veterans Advocacy Clinic fights for veterans’ rights.

44 Coming Home Former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland comes home to Stetson.

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‘Come on, people!

Wake up! Apart from God you can do nothing. Get back to your roots, Stetson!’

—Edward Seymour

More ON Values Finally! Someone wrote a letter (in the fall issue) that I’ve been meaning to write since Stetson cut its ties with the Baptists!

Without God you can do nothing; with God, you can do everything! Why does Stetson even consider the “question” of God? Are you kidding me? The more valid and realistic question is: “How can you NOT believe in God?” Come on, people. Wake up!

Apart from God you can do nothing. Get back to your roots, Stetson! The term “spirituality” has become so vaguely defined that it has come to mean anything and nothing at the same time, most likely brought about by our liberal media and liberal not-connected-to-the-real-world university and college professors.

If you think you can make it in life without God, you are severely mistaken. I have been through some rough times myself, and I can honestly say that without God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life, I would either be dead or in jail. That’s the absolute honest truth.

Time to come out of your ivory towers and get in the real world.

The real world is tough. And without God, you’ll be shot down 2

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in a heartbeat by the devil.

On a completely different note, I read with sadness that Dr. Bryan Gillespie passed away. He was my academic adviser the entire time I was at Stetson, and he was a man of utmost integrity, character and intelligence.

—Edward Seymour ’91 I attended Stetson because it affirmed (Pro) God and Truth. In that affirmation, Stetson maintained a climate of academic freedom to explore worldviews and religions, along with the other quality university areas of study. In reading about Stetson’s 2014-19 Strategic Map in the latest stetson magazine, I see no reference to God or how Stetson students explore personal faith journeys. I chose Stetson intentionally because I wanted to pursue truth. Any plan for Stetson — whose motto I hope always remains — that leaves God and personal faith journeys out is deficient.

Stetson risks losing its niche and its students if it does not seek the narrow path that leads to and affirms God and Truth.

—Thomas E. Broyles ’73

Our Chaplain Responds Thank you both, Mr. Seymour and Mr. Broyles, for reading and responding to our stetson magazine and its emphasis on VALUES. It is obvious that you are passionate about your memories of Stetson.

As university chaplain, the oldest of four children and the parent of two children to graduate from this historic university, permit me to respond to your letters.

The personal freedom to pursue one’s faith and spiritual

journey within a rigorous academic environment has been a hallmark of this university for decades. It is what continues to be a distinctive value of Stetson.

I am so pleased that you had a chance to get to know Dr. Bryan Gillespie. He was one of the most influential professors and friends I acquired as a student and continued to have after I graduated.

But he, like so many of my professors, lived his personal faith and affirmed the necessity of academic integrity.

Stetson still enjoys professors whose personal values and beliefs are in consort with their commitment to the highest of academic standards. Stetson continues to acknowledge the diversity of belief, as it did when I was a student. And the university has even made a substantial invest-

ment for its students to have the opportunity to experience personal growth through their spiritual development while challenging and preparing them to ask the hard questions with intellectual integrity.

We have more faith-based organizations than ever, along with opportunities to enjoy interfaith dialogue and events that are essential in preparing students to become informed, compassionate global citizens.

I am again grateful for your interest. I assure you that your university takes its historical roots seriously and continues to be successful in living its values through the generous gifts provided by its faithful graduates.

Peace to you, —Michael R. Fronk ’74 Stetson University Chaplain

I really enjoyed the Fall 2014 “Letters” contribution from alumna Ann Beth Cotter Yergler ’82 [“Too Left-Wing,” page 3]. As our Brit friends say, she is “spot on.” While I did not know her, I am quite proud that she was probably walking the Stetson grounds at the same time that I was there.

Today, Stetson claims to promote some politically correct “values,” when there is nothing wrong with the values that existed at Stetson and in the nation as a whole in 1941. The values were great when I was there, too, in the late 1970s.

—Jim Cain ’80 What a delight to read the letters of Ann Beth Cotter Yergler ’82 and Darrel L. Harman ’72 in the Fall ’14 stetson magazine — but the real blessing would be if they would come to one of my classes. I teach American history with attention to the robust diversity of traditional and progressive impulses during each era — all vital parts of American culture.

There is energy and fire in their words, and that is a good starting point for education. The values these alums express are not the only ones circulating in these United States, but they are important ones. I was glad to see Mr. Harman’s mention of Jesus Christ Superstar. I’m happy to include that in my course American cultural traditions for our study of evangelicals — not to promote that religious tradition or to denigrate it, but to understand it as believers experience it, including interviews with church members.

I can use another example from popular culture to explain my method: Pat Benatar sings, “Hit me with your best shot.” I mean that with each values commitment that students bring to

class, or that they are exploring, let’s evaluate it. How will that orientation to the world, that orientation to truth and God — with commitment to social justice, entrepreneurship, equality, small government, faith, or fixing cleft palates, to take examples from their letters — deal with the issues we all share?

We’ve got lots of different views — all are welcome, or we’d better stop saying we’re a democracy. An education for significance can help students steer through the range of thoughts in humanity and weigh them all deliberately — or we’d better stop claiming to be educating for significance.

Education continues after college, often with a public classroom that focuses much less attention to consideration of different points of view. I’ve taken my classroom posture to the digital highway with PubClassroom.com, academic ideas downloaded for public use and popular deliberation. You can see a few posts bringing some tastes of academic thinking to public issues — so far, see essays on elections and on Halloween.

Godspeed to all our students and alumni on their journeys of lifelong learning! And let us hear from you: What questions do you have about the public classroom all around you? For more information, go to PubClassroom.com.

—Paul Croce, Ph.D. Stetson Professor of History and American Studies

and his influence lives on in my classroom. I’m also a widely published poet and have written the attached poem in remembrance and celebration of him.

He was a real person — in a word, a man.

I’m a Stetson M.A. (English 1975) and was devoted to Dr. Bryan Gillespie, who died recently. After graduation, I visited him and his wife Annette several times and maintained a lively correspondence with him.

He helped shape my mind and soul. I’m a lifelong teacher myself,

I received the recent issue of stetson magazine and enjoyed reading the article about “Stetson’s Temptation With Innovation,” and I have some thoughts I would like to share with you.

My daughter Ekaterina Liventsova graduated from

On a Retired Professor’s Brain, Now Donated to Research —for Bryan Gillespie Your home under oak and scrub pine, Your roof wearing ribbons of moonlight, Your dirt road that seemed to meditate . . .

The roods in the graveyard just past the side fence, The sexton’s squat brick cottage, a globe on its table Waiting to be spun, to dazzle your garden Enough to let the serpent slink in To warp your walk, drag your tongue, And then flee God’s spells with just a curse.

As Harvard studies the gray hills and valleys, Will those brainy microscopes detect the words That Marvelled us? Will it note the pure white spot, The soul that Parkinson’s failed To tempt, the soul that is winking at death, Like Donne’s, in Herbert’s cloud-cathedral?

—Ricks Carson ’75

‘We’ve got different views. All are welcome, or we’d better stop saying we’re a democracy.’

—Paul Croce, Ph.D. Stetson Professor Stetson many years ago. Now she’s living and working in Tromso, Norway. I sent her a car magnet that says Stetson on it to remind her of her university. She placed it on her refrigerator and said with disappointment that in Tromso nobody knows anything about Stetson University. I assume mentioning it did not impress anyone.

How can this be changed? I believe the university should write letters containing words of appreciation to every Stetson graduate.

That way, Stetson lets its graduates know how important they are to the university.

One final note about innovation: Technology is like any new piece of equipment; what matters is what you do with it.

—Gulnara Elrod Parent of Former Stetson Student, Ekaterina Liventsova ’06, MBA ’10 welcomes letters to the editor. However, we ask that you focus your letter on a topic or article in the magazine. Send letters by email to wnoblitt@stetson.edu, by fax at 386-822-8925, or snail mail to Bill Noblitt, Office of University Marketing, 421 N. Woodland Blvd., 8319, DeLand, FL 32723. Because of space limitations, we may edit some letters, so please try to keep them under 200 words.

stetson magazine

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Be Certifications Add Clout

Deborah Goldring’s undergraduate digital marketing strategy class is designed to look at strategic decisions and tactical applications in digital marketing from the perspective of the marketing manager.

Students learn to implement key marketing objectives, such as brand awareness, customer acquisition and retention. And it’s the first marketing class to require students to be certified in Google AdWords and HubSpot Inbound.

“Two certifications are required, and I offered some optional ones as well, because they take a lot of time to do,” explains Goldring, Ph.D., assistant professor of marketing. “The certifications are completed outside the classroom experience.

It’s part of the enhanced learning of our unit system.

“What I’m doing in class is teaching conceptual ideas and frameworks about digital marketing,” asserts Goldring. “And then the students can apply that knowledge to high-value marketing certifications.

“This class fits with Stetson’s value of personal responsibility,” Goldring continues. “My students are going to interviews and most employers look at the brand name of the university. Stetson has a great reputation and brand. A business degree also puts you ahead of a lot of people because it’s a very practical degree. But there is so much competition for good jobs.

“You need a way to separate yourself from the pack. And these 4

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Assistant Professor of Marketing Deborah Goldring, Ph.D., talks about the importance of certifications.

certifications really show something more,” she adds.

Alexis Aldamuy ’14 was a student in Goldring’s class, who majored in communication and media studies and minored in marketing and journalism.

“Digital marketing is denser than other forms of marketing,” says Aldamuy. “Getting the certifications was challenging. The first time taking the test was to get a feel for how I would be tested on the information. Then came the studying for the next couple of weeks. The tests are really applied, not simple questions like ‘what is the definition of impressions and click-through rate?’

“A great thing about this course, though, is that with these certifications, we participated in a digital simulation where we were able to put these certifications into practice,” she adds. “That was when we really got to learn what they are all about. We were able to actually use what we learned in specific situations.”

Because of the certifications, Aldamuy landed an internship with EdgeCore, an award-winning digital marketing agency in Winter Park, whose clients include Tijuana Flats, Sonny’s BBQ, Courtyard Marriott and Verizon Wireless, among others. Stetson graduate and Digital Marketing Manager Heather Lyles spoke to the class about EdgeCore, and Aldamuy made the connection.

“Alexis’ certification definitely gave her a leg up,” says David Wheeler, vice president of operations at EdgeCore.

“The company created a paid internship program within the last year,” says Wheeler.

—George Salis

Stetson Law Ranked Tops Stetson’s College of Law is ranked seventh in the nation among the 2014 Super Lawyers Top 10 Law Schools for Pro Bono Graduation Requirements.

Stetson Law students donated 31,719 pro bono service hours to more than 400 organizations in the 2013-14 academic year.

Stetson’s College of Law is one of the first law schools in the U.S. to require pro bono service from its students.

“Stetson Law led the way in promoting the pro bono requirement in law schools,” says Dean and Professor of Law Christopher Pietruszkiewicz.

“Today, we remain dedicated to instilling a passion for public service in our students and graduates,” he adds.

All J.D. students at Stetson are required to complete a minimum of 60 hours of pro bono service, and the law school offers a public service scholarship.

Stetson students serve the community in a variety of pro bono roles: as court-appointed advocates for children in the dependency system, as Spanishspeaking translators assisting with immigration cases, as researchers investigating consumer finance abuse and workplace/school religious discrimination or harassment, and as advocates working in a variety of community law programs. The College of Law also offers a Pro Bono Service Initiative to help veterans find free legal representation through its Veterans Law Institute.

—Brandi Palmer STETSON

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Online Business Among Best Stetson’s Master of Accountancy (M.Acc.) program is earning recognition again in U.S. News & World Report’s 2015 Best Online Graduate Business Programs (excluding MBA), where it tied for No. 42 in the nation. Stetson tied for No. 93 in Online MBA and Graduate Business Programs specifically for the joint Master of Pharmacy/Master of Business Administration program (Pharma/MBA).

Listed consistently as one of the South’s leading universities since the U.S. News survey of colleges and universities was first published in 1985, Stetson University’s online graduate business programs are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), known as the gold standard of business school accreditation.

Because this year’s rankings were divided between programs offering MBAs and those that exclude MBAs, the rankings and data for 2015 are not analytically comparable to those from years past. Only 118 schools are ranked this year, compared with 225 the previous year.

Stetson’s online accounting graduate program is one of 180 nationally recognized AACSB accounting accredited institutions worldwide.

“Our online Master of Accountancy program is now in its sixth year,” says Michael Bitter, Ph.D., Rinker Distinguished Professor of Accounting and chair of Stetson’s M.E. Rinker Sr. Institute of Tax and Accountancy.

“We are very proud of the quality of our program — our faculty, our students and our curriculum — and are pleased that 6

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we were one of the very first universities to offer top-quality online graduate education in accounting to working professionals,” Bitter adds. “Our program has helped students meet CPA examination requirements, enhance their knowledge and skills, attain promotions and compensation increases, advance in their field, and, in some cases, transition into accounting education.”

Stetson was also ranked No. 27

by Accounting Degree Review, which recently published its annual affordability rankings of online master’s degrees in accounting.

The rankings include the top 30 most affordable online programs, based on tuition and fees of the whole program for an out-of-state student enrolling in the 2014-15 academic year.

In Stetson’s joint Master of Pharmacy/Master of Business Administration (Pharma/MBA) program, founded in 2010, students earn both a Master of Business Administration degree from Stetson and a Master of Pharmacy from the University of Florida.

U.S. News rankings are based on several key measures of quality, including Student Engagement; Admissions Selectivity; Peer Reputation; Faculty Credentials and Training; and Student Services and Technology.

“The Stetson distinction resides in the mindset of developing our students within an innovative, integrated, and intimate environment, which changes lives in addition to career preparation,” says School of Business Administration Dean Tom Schwarz, D.B.A. “Our students are challenged and dared to lead significant lives that have an impact upon our communities.

Our students are ready to lead, ready to work.”

Stetson’s School of Business Administration and the accounting program are both fully accredited at the undergraduate and graduate levels by the AACSB. Stetson is one of a handful of elite business schools that has both business and accounting programs accredited by AACSB International.

—Mary Anne Rogers

Stetson Goes International Stetson University is one of the top master’s universities in Central Florida for international students as well as students studying abroad, according to the Institute for International Education’s (IIE) 2014 Open Doors Report on International

Educational Exchange.

Stetson has seen a 65 percent increase in international student enrollment since 2011 and currently has 157 students from 61 foreign countries enrolled.

“The dramatic increase in the number of international students represents significant efforts at Stetson to strategically focus on one of our core values, global citizenship,” says Rosalie Richards, associate provost for faculty development and interim executive director of WORLD: The David and Leighan Rinker Center for International Learning.

According to IIE, the number of international students in Florida has grown by 11 percent since the last academic year. That is three percent higher than the national average of 8 percent.

Stetson Law Wins

Over the past several years, Stetson has increased its international enrollment and students studying abroad by offering 25 exchange options with more than 400 different programs.

Other international initiatives include partnerships with universities in other countries.

These include those countries in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and others; faculty research abroad, joint degrees and other partnerships with foreign universities; and international fellowship, grant and scholarship recipients.

Stetson University’s WORLD: The David and Leighan Rinker Center for International Learning coordinates the university’s international initiatives; strengthens collaborations with other countries; increases the global engagement of faculty; facilitates the

internationalization of the curriculum; enhances intercultural awareness, experiences and learning of students on all campuses; and increases the overall quality of the academic enterprise by attracting a diverse and rich multicultural mixture of students, faculty and academic partners.

This year’s statistics document shows how much more global U.S. higher education has become since the launch of the initiative.

The overall number of international students in the United States has grown by 72 percent since the first International Education Week briefing was held in 2000.

International students make up about 4 percent of the more than 21 million students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities.

—Janie Graziani

The invitation-only Andrews Kurth National Moot Court Competition determines the 16 “best of the best” moot court programs in the United States.

Stetson’s team of Nick Sellars, Melaina Tryon and Giovanni Giarratana won the final round on Jan. 24 at the University of Houston Law Center, and Tryon also won Best Oralist. Professor Brooke Bowman and Erin Okuno ’13 co-coached the team.

Stetson and the University of Missouri both won championships at the ABA Law Student National Arbitration Competition on Jan. 24 in Chicago. The 40-team competition was designed to produce two sets of champions.

Stetson Law students Lauren Eliopoulos, Alexandria Lewis, Andrew Tuttle and Jennifer Wilson won over a second Stetson team of Chelsea Johnson, Ashley Petefish, Kristy Rowsey and Scott Tolliver in the finals. Professors Kelly Feeley and Roberta Flowers co-coached Stetson’s teams.

In addition, Stetson Law student Phylicia Pearson was named best advocate at the Florida Bar Trial Lawyer Section’s Chester Bedell Mock Trial Competition in West Palm Beach.

Stetson’s team of Pearson, Stephanie Baker, Kyle Ross and Harold Velez placed second in the competition. This year, 11 law schools sent 22 teams of students.

Stetson has won the competition 21 times in its 32-year history.

Professor Michele Joiner cocoached the team with Sara Mieczkowski ’10 and Shaun Cummings ’14.

Stetson law school’s advocacy record includes five world titles, 67 national championships, and 111 best advocate/oralist awards.

“One of the most important skills in a lawyer’s toolkit is effec-

tive advocacy,” says Dean and Professor of Law Christopher M. Pietruszkiewicz. “Stetson’s dedication to producing effective advocates is unmatched. This weekend, our students proved that they are exceptionally well-prepared for the courtroom.”

—Brandi Palmer

Celebration Center Endorsed Florida Gov. Rick Scott congratulated the Stetson Center at Celebration for being included in the Orlando Business Journal’s list of top colleges and universities in the state of Florida.

“Thank you for all you are doing to make sure Florida students are prepared to participate in Florida’s growing economy,” Gov. Scott wrote in a letter.

In partnership with an advisory board of Celebration residents, the Center at Celebration developed the Lifelong Learning Program, which is an educational enrichment environment for learners age 50 and above.

This year alone in a program designed for the members to experience a vibrant life with their peers, the programs included: • Tech E-Fest Expo • Distinguished Alum speaks to Lifelong, featuring Dave Marsh ’75, former chief meteorologist at WESH-2 News • Lifelong author unveils secrets of Pearl Harbor • T V meteorologist Tony Mainolfi talks hurricane season • “Why Judaism, Christianity and Islam?” part of Lifelong Learning Series • Lifelong Learning Member Wins Best Play, featuring W.L. Newkirk, M.D., winner of the Tampa Bay Theatre Festival for his first play East Lansing.

—Mary Anne Rogers STETSON

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Honors for Service Stetson has been selected by the Carnegie Foundation to receive the prestigious Advancement of Teaching “Community Engagement Classification” for 2015 in recognition of exemplary commitment to student learning through community impact.

Since 2006, colleges and universities with the highest institutional focus on community engagement have been invited to apply for the classification.

Stetson is one of only 157 institutions across the country to receive this classification for a second time, having also received this distinction in 2008.

“With passionate commitment to this crucial component of today’s higher education experience, Stetson’s support for community engagement is inherent throughout our institution as reflected by Stetson’s mission and values, as well as student, faculty and staff involvement,” says Stetson Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Beth Paul, Ph.D. “We are an institution whose identity is grounded in the value of community engagement and whose students are challenged and supported to lead lives of significance,” she adds.

Several nationally recognized initiatives in particular showcased the breadth and depth of Stetson’s commitment to community engagement, including: • Experiential Learning. More than 100 courses include projects that require students to work with local businesses, nonprofits, or civic organizations in order to solve meaningful problems — across academic programs such as accounting, finance, art, music, biology, psychology and political science.

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• Community Partnerships.

Stetson partners with more than 60 local organizations to create opportunities for student learning through community impact — including agencies that focus on homelessness, economic development, education, youth empowerment, environmental sustainability, civil rights and healthcare.

• Bonner Program. Through four-year internships at local nonprofit organizations, Stetson’s 60 Bonner students align their academic and career goals with community needs — progressively moving into positions of increased leadership and building the capacity of community partners as program managers, site coordinators, grant writers, researchers, volunteer trainers and marketing directors.

“The importance of this elective classification is borne out by the response of so many campuses that have demonstrated their deep engagement with local, regional, national and global communities,” says John Saltmarsh, director of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education.

“These are campuses that are improving teaching and learning, producing research that makes a difference in communities and revitalizing their civic and academic missions.”

In addition, Stetson is one of only two universities across the country recognized “with distinction” for every category of community engagement by the 2014 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.

These categories, which include Economic Opportunity, Education, Interfaith and General Community Service, are the highest federal recognitions an institution can receive for its commitment to community, service-learning and civic engagement.

“Stetson has a long history of service learning and educating students to be significant as both leaders and participants in an ever-changing world,” says Wendy B. Libby, Ph.D., president, Stetson University.

“We’re honored to receive this prestigious award, and owe much of it to the students themselves.

They are the energy driving our commitment,” Libby adds.

Approximately 900 institutions from across the country applied for the 2014 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.

Applications are reviewed based on how effectively the institutions work with community members to achieve meaningful, measurable results while placing more students on a lifelong path of civic engagement.

“Our mission at Stetson’s Center for Community Engagement is to promote lifelong commitments to social responsibility that create student learning through community impact,” says Savannah-Jane Griffin, director of Community Engagement.

“This award shows that our students, faculty and staff directly engage in activities that foster all of our values and improve the campus, community and world,” she explains.

During the 2013-14 academic year, Stetson students, faculty and staff contributed more than 114,000 hours of community service through academic courses and co-curricular programs and raised more than $55,000 to support local and national nonprofit organizations. Several projects highlighted in Stetson’s application include: • Partnership with Volusia County Schools. In 2013-14, 190 Stetson students volunteered for more than 39,050 hours in local public schools, working

primarily as tutors, mentors, co-teachers or after-school program coordinators. Led by the Stetson University Department of Education, these efforts concentrated on local elementary schools with the highest number of at-risk students.

• Partnership with The United Way. Stetson students became IRS-certified tax preparers through the United Way’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, resulting in more than $200,000 of tax refunds for more than 200 local,

College of Law Expands Programs

low-income families.

• Pro Bono Service. Stetson College of Law students are required to complete at least 60 hours of legal and non-legal pro bono work before graduation, which resulted in more than 19,000 hours of highly skilled assistance to legal aid societies, local nonprofits and government agencies in 2013-14.

• Bonner Program. Here’s more about Stetson’s Bonner Program, recognized as one of the premier community engagement programs in the country. It pro-

vides need-based financial aid packages to more than 60 students in exchange for completion of at least 10 hours of community engagement work each week through a four-year internship with a local nonprofit organization, resulting in more than 22,000 hours of work in 2013-14.

“Congratulations to Stetson University, its faculty and students for its commitment to service, both in and out of the classroom,” says Wendy Spencer, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community

Service, the federal agency that administers the program.

“Through this work, institutions of higher education are helping improve their local communities and create a new generation of leaders by challenging students to go beyond the traditional college experience and solve local challenges,” Spencer continues.

More information on eligibility and the full list of Honor Roll awardees can be found at nationalservice.gov.

—Kevin Winchell

In 2014, Stetson Law added two student exchange programs, a summer abroad program, and an annual advocacy workshop to its international activities in the British Isles.

In addition, Stetson signed student exchange agreements with the University of Leicester, England, and the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England.

Stetson Law students may now spend a semester at either university and receive transfer credit.

Stetson Law is also launching a summer program in Oxford at St. Hugh’s College. This intensive, two-week experience will allow students to earn three credits in comparative advocacy from elite British and American faculty in one of the world’s great centers for higher education.

Stetson Law offered its first advocacy training program in Ireland to a sellout crowd last July. The two-day program for students, professors and legal practitioners taught the Stetson method of trial advocacy at the University College of Dublin Sutherland School of Law. “This new program reinforces Stetson’s commitment to teaching advocacy in a global marketplace,” says Dean Christopher M. Pietruszkiewicz. Stetson is planning a second workshop for summer 2015. Stetson Law continues to offer a full 13-week semester program in London each fall, and all students are offered a legal internship placement while in the program. Past students have interned with the Crown Prosecutor’s Office, law firms, nonprofit organizations and advocacy groups while in the British capital.

—Davina Gould STETSON

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A Stetson student heads to class.

Board Changes Investment Policy The Board of Trustees approved a change in the university’s investment policy in alignment with Stetson’s recent decision to become a tobacco- and smoke-free campus. The university will no longer directly invest in tobacco company securities.

“This decision is an outgrowth of Stetson’s commitment to its values,” explains Stetson Vice President and CFO Bob Huth.

“By choosing to restrict investment of certain university funds, we are putting our values into action, which is an important component to the full Stetson experience.”

The board reviewed and approved the 15-year campus plans for Stetson’s four campuses recommended by the university’s Facilities Committee. The plans identify various facility projects to be undertaken in the near and midterm.

Two new graduate degree programs also were approved: • The J.D./LL.M. in Advocacy 10

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degree program at Stetson’s College of Law began in spring 2015. It offers a joint-degree program, allowing qualified students the opportunity to earn both a J.D. degree and an LL.M. degree in advocacy from Stetson in as little as three years.

• The Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Social Justice degree program offered in Stetson’s College of Arts and Sciences will support educators in meeting the academic and social-emotional needs of all students, including students considered at-risk. This program is designed to help educators better understand and serve the marginalized segment of children in the United States who live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level.

Family homelessness is the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.

The board recognized two significant gifts by longtime Stetson supporters. Their gifts were celebrated in separate ceremonies on campus: WORLD: The David and Leighan Rinker Center for International Learning has been

endowed by Stetson Trustee David Rinker ’62 and his wife Leighan ’65. The dedication ceremony was held to honor them and their family’s longstanding investment in Stetson’s future.

While Stetson’s recruitment of international students and the study abroad programs are most well-known, the newly endowed WORLD (World Outreach, Research, Learning and Development) Center seeks to recognize, connect, increase and support the other ways Stetson is able to internationalize the institution and gain global recognition.

The Hollis Family Student Success Center, the latest endeavor in a long history of support and service to Stetson by the Hollis family, will be the hub of learning in the heart of the Stetson campus.

The center will put the various functions of Stetson’s Student Success program into one high-visibility, high-traffic location: Stetson’s duPont-Ball Library, on the second (mezzanine) level. It will focus on empowering students with the academic, social and financial know-how to

succeed and to live a life of significance.

Four new members of Stetson’s Board of Trustees, elected previously, attended their first trustee meeting.

They are Susan Morris ’69, Troy Templeton ’82, MBA ’83, Robert Pocica ’75 and C. Scott Bruin ’75. Their photos and bios are included on the university’s Board of Trustees website.

The trustees received information on Title lX and participated in an information session about what the university has done and continues to do to be compliant with its requirements.

The focus was on ensuring a safe environment for faculty, staff and students.

Leading the discussion was a panel of experts, including Stetson’s General Counsel Mark Alexander, partner, Alexander DeGance Barnett; Professor of Law Peter Lake, who serves as director of the Center for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy; and Douglas Onley, senior claims counsel, United Educators.

—Janie Graziani

F

i r st

Per

son

On Becoming a Writer

By George Salis Stetson Senior “Keep reading, especially narrative fiction,” said Andy Dehnart, assistant professor of journalism.

That was the advice Andy gave me at the end of the semester at a spring 2013 nonfiction workshop. He instructed me that by reading more fiction I could add more scenes and characters to my personal essays when appropriate and perhaps increase the emotional charge, too. That summer, I took to novels, something my shelf was lacking.

I began modestly, reading Orwell’s fiction and other classics like Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, but it didn’t take long for something deep within me to rekindle. I tapped into the passion and love that had been there from the start.

Back in middle school, I had eagerly awaited the Scholastic book catalog, and I always ordered at least one or more books a month. At that age I read fantasy, of course.

Through books, other worlds had me in their clutches, and I surrendered. It wasn’t until high school that my reading sharply declined and then halfway through came back as a love for science-popularizing books, the likes of Sagan and Dawkins. I escaped into an awe-inspiring reality: astronomy and biology, physics and psychology.

But then, at Andy’s suggestion, there I was, well into college and back within the flow of

fiction, being carried much further and deeper than ever before. Soon, I was up late, restless in bed, when a story came to me.

I had to write it down.

It was my first real attempt at fiction: a horror tale. I began to write more, not horror, but stories exploring loss and loneliness, stories that rose from my subconscious. I realized that this was what I wanted to do: write fiction. I would read everything I possibly could.

This is how I met Associate Professor of English Mark Powell. I discovered that an actual novelist, someone who does what I want to do, was teaching at Stetson, and I took a multi-genre class where he taught the fiction portion.

I read his psychologically disquieting novel The Dark Corner and was convinced of his tremendous talent. Last summer, I took two more classes with him: fiction workshop and an independent study on magic realism.

One on one, I talked with him about great novels and novelists, such as Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. Mark, being from the South, introduced me to the Mississippi magic realism of Lewis Nordan with Wolf Whistle.

It wasn’t until Mark gave our fiction class an assignment to write from the point of view

of a child that I learned how to control my prose and make it less grandiloquent and more “translucent,” as Mark described it. I was taught to leave something for the reader to project, feeding and trusting the reader’s imagination as much as my own, a joint effort.

This moment was another epiphany for me, and so, along with the inspiration of DeLillo’s sparse prose in novellas like The Body Artist and Point Omega, I wrote in a more restrained and careful manner.

Mark and Andy, along with the Stetson experience, allowed me to find a lost love and grow it larger than it ever was.

During winter break, I took up the arduous and masochistic task of writing my first novel.

All writing should have moral substance, as Mark insisted. Fiction is how we know ourselves. With it, we construct a mental map that details the selves of others with different ideas, cultures, perspectives, ways of living and being. And we can find out: This is where we and others exist.

Fiction, much like travel, is the antidote to ignorance and solipsism.

With this in mind, allow me to end with a quote from a wrongly slandered and must-read novel, Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses: “A poet’s work [is] to name the unnamable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world and stop it from going to sleep.”

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A

I

SENSE of PLACE B y B i ll N obl i tt ed i to r , stetson m a g a z i ne

I can still see the long-lost, hand-tinted picture of my grandfather with his fluffy collie, both all smiles. Remembering that photo, I can almost smell his Old Spice and feel his day-old stubble.

My grandfather’s stories are my stories of place. I grew up in Birmingham, Ala., during the tumultuous civil rights movement, a movement that washed over me and led me to social justice. Birmingham was a steel town then until the molten metal dried up like riverbeds in the Great American Desert. I heard stories about my grandfather working at American Cast Iron Pipe Company during the Depression. Those stories were about a man who took in others and fed them during that period, not because he was wealthy but because he was one of the few who had a job.

One story in particular still makes my hair stand on end. My grandfather would hop a freight train to get to and from work, and one night on his way home, he, just as he had always done, put his cash in his shoe. He was mugged, beaten and left for dead but never gave them his hard-earned pay.

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n my mind’s eye,

From stories like this flow rich memories of place that run through us like the blood in our arteries and veins, and they connect us in mysterious ways. For example, I worked one summer at ACIPCO and wondered how my grandfather labored there for 30 years. It was the hardest work I’d ever done, shoveling burning coals as they rained down from the cast machines that spun the pipe overhead.

I wonder if novelist Thomas Wolfe was right: We can never truly go home again because place changes.

After my grandfather died, my mother moved at the speed of lightness with my brother and me in tow back and forth across the great underbelly of this country to Los Angeles. She would soon get homesick and return to Birmingham. She could never quite shake that sense of place.

Oddly enough, my mother died in the same Birmingham hospital where my older son and I were both born.

We all have these stories of place, memories of people and events that shaped who we became.

This issue, then, explores that invisible lure called place and particularly the area Stetson calls home, Central Florida. That sense of place defines the kind of university Stetson has become.

How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof thinking of home. —William Faulkner

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Our Town B y R o n a l d W. W i l l i a m s o n

The city and the university are sister institutions whose values and endeavors are sometimes tied so closely that it is hard to tell where one starts and the other ends.

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Stetson, no DeLand. No DeLand, no Stetson. Believe that? Granted, it’s a bit melodramatic and not totally true. But it’s not total nonsense, either. Without the other, neither Stetson University nor the City of DeLand would be the institutions we know today.

Each would be diminished, torn from deep, shared roots.

They’re two parts of a whole. Always were. Always will be.

At least that’s what people said in the low hills around the birthplace of the city and university more than 130 years ago. They were founded on the same sandy slopes around the same wet hollow in the same remote longleaf pine forest. Today, they’re powerful, significant and independent entities with great common values, mutual interests and shared histories.

Their mutual interests are so thoroughly woven in this place that it can be hard to tell where one starts and the other ends. That’s because citizens say they don’t end.

Not really.

Not around here.

They’re sisters, after all, residents are quick to point out.

They share the same genes, steeped in the same life values as their father, Henry A. DeLand, founder of both institutions. For generations since, they’ve been nurtured and reared, protected and empowered, by good people — friends, admirers, relatives and extended family — who o

Illustration by Stetson Junior Erin McCollum

“The time is just before dawn. The sky is beginning to show some streaks of light over in the East there…

The morning star always gets wonderful bright the minute before it has to go — doesn’t it? Well, I’d better show you how our town lies.”

—From Our Town

by Thornton Wilder

Downtown DeLand STETSON STETSON

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embrace DeLand’s values, including, most famously, John B. Stetson, whose generosity saved the university when it was a child.

“The success of the City of DeLand and of Stetson University are intimately intertwined,” observes Bob Apgar, mayor since 2001 and son of a Stetson teacher. “The success of each is dependent on the success of the other.”

“Henry DeLand and John B. Stetson were joined at the hip,” says T. Wayne Bailey, Ph.D., a professor and political science icon who has observed and participated in government for more than 50 years. “The impact the two institutions have had on one another has been profound, immeasurable and impossible to quantify.”

“They are an excellent example of symbiosis,” says Trustee Betty Drees Johnson. The professor emerita and former library director has been part of the Stetson family, and a DeLand citizen, even longer than Bailey, enrolling as a student in 1955. “Both the university and the community are enriched by the existence of the other.”

“The university has long been one of the top reasons people give for living here and people wanting to relocate here,” says City Manager Michael Pleus ’94, MBA ’99. “It has always shaped our community’s culture and atmosphere in countless ways — from arts and theater to business and baseball and human services.”

“Henry DeLand and John B. Stetson had a vision for DeLand as a cultural and learning community, much like classical Athens,” says Larry Arrington ’73, MA ’89, a former Volusia County manager and now a government consultant. “The classical Greek and JudeoChristian ideas about building a good and sustainable society are very much a part of this vision.”

A SHARED DREAM The essence of the shared dream was evident from the start. The university’s 1883 seal is emblazoned with its creed: For God and Truth. The city’s 1882 seal bears three symbols: Faith, Hope and Charity.

“Henry DeLand wanted this city to be a center of culture and learning, the Athens of Florida,” says Apgar, agreeing with Arrington.

“The city’s strategic plan acknowledges the effort to maintain that heritage. Stetson plays a major role in helping fulfill that vision.”

Pleus goes a step farther: “Suffice it to say we would not be the Athens of Florida without Stetson. Nor would we be one of the premier communities in Central Florida.”

Civitas is endemic in the DeLand community and at Stetson, says Arrington, who works 16

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Illustration by Stetson Junior Erin McCollum

‘The Golden Rule expresses the core values of civitas. It enables citizens to dedicate themselves to work in common cause for the common good.’

Stetson’s Sampson Hall on Palm Court

with many governments across Florida. It’s a vital element in any superior community, he explains, and embodies the invisible bonds of rights and responsibilities that unite citizens of a state or town or neighborhood.

“The Golden Rule expresses the core values of civitas,” says Arrington. “It enables citizens to dedicate themselves to work in common cause for the common good. People see their values reflected in their community. And for that reason, they have community identity, social trust, and a sense of place that feels like home to them.”

Scratch the surface of virtually any civic club, business organization, nonprofit, arm of government, church, cultural or humanitarian effort in the DeLand community, and there’ll be traces of Stetson’s influence. Many local organizations were founded by members of the Stetson family. A university president founded the Rotary Club in 1926. Stetson’s American Association of University Women founded the Museum of Art in 1951.

“Citizens of good will,” who included Stetson leaders, founded The Neighborhood Center in 1969. The homegrown charity helps poor and homeless individuals and families obtain clothing, food, shelter, job help and other services. From the beginning, students and faculty were involved. Several faculty members have been president of the center.

Education, arts and culture are other priorities of the sisters.

The first civic building in DeLand was educational. It was a community schoolhouse for pioneer children. Land was donated by the town’s namesake, who also paid half the cost.

Locals raised the rest.

“The biggest common value from the beginning,” says Johnson, “is an appreciation of the importance of education and the resulting outgrowth of the arts.” Colorful artwork on 1920s real-estate brochures tie DeLand and Stetson together as one destination: the “Educational Center of Florida.”

“Stetson has always been at the center of STETSON

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arts efforts, not just for the university, but for the whole DeLand-area community,” says Johnson. She has been a leader in many museum, theater and cultural arts endeavors.

“Stetson embraces being in a community that has a great small-town quality of life, a place with a strong sense of community and a city government that is willing to partner with it,” says Apgar.

Partnerships are everywhere.

Students and faculty create marketing plans for businesses, conduct civic surveys, help poor and elderly people prepare tax returns, help homeless and distressed citizens, teach immigrants to read, work in public schools and with United Way, take on environmental projects, assist residents during disasters and on and on. In recent years, Stetson joined the city to build multimillion-dollar public stadiums for baseball and football.

“We are a community that thrives on civic engagement,” Stetson University President Wendy B. Libby, Ph.D., said at her inauguration in 2010. “We … honor our stewardship for the world and for one another.”

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT Community-engaged learning is built into Stetson’s curriculum and classes, as are a wide variety of internships and service learning and community-based research projects. It’s a crucial element of a Stetson education.

Arrington and Pleus began their public service careers as interns in county government in DeLand.

One of the most valuable gifts the community offers the university is itself and a willingness to welcome students to practice what they’re learning.

“When students get involved in the community, they begin to understand why they’re in college in the first place,” says Greg Sapp, Ph.D., who holds a chair in civic and social responsibility.

“We’re here to prepare them to make a difference in their communities,” Sapp adds.

“Civic engagement changes their academic lives because they understand better what they are doing.”

Stetson nurtures, challenges and instills in students a purpose to bring formative change to their communities, small and large.

Sometimes, for some graduates, their community is here, the place where they labored for years — on campus and off — to earn a degree and enter adulthood with high values and significant purpose.

Like Courtney Edgecomb and her husband, Robert. She came to Stetson from Naples. He came from Vero Beach. Courtney earned her 18

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degree in 2012, Robert in 2013.

They haven’t gone anywhere.

They’re making a place for themselves in DeLand, finding their “niche,” Courtney says.

They found nearby jobs in their fields and are active in their church and community.

Courtney likes the close-knit sense of place she feels here.

“DeLand gives Stetson a great environment to introduce students to the ‘real world’ away from home,” says Courtney, a United Way staffer. “My husband and I both agreed that this is a great place to start our family.

“I’m not sure that we’ll stay here forever, but it’s definitely a place for us to grow right now.”

Cultural opportunities are often named as major benefits of Stetson’s presence, as are its attractive and historic campus and certainly the significant economic impact of thousands of students, faculty and staff (and parents and family and visitors).

However, says Apgar, people often overlook what may be the most powerful and enduring benefit. It’s the steady stream of fresh, enthusiastic and highly motivated new citizens.

They come to Stetson from far-flung places for jobs and education, and although it’s rarely their plan, many never really leave.

Instead, they find significant purpose in the communities near campus. They make friends, start careers, raise families, get involved, contribute exceptional talents and, over time, become outstanding citizens.

“There are countless examples of that,” says the mayor. “And the continuing dynamic helps regenerate DeLand’s population with educated, productive and contributing citizens.”

Sound familiar? Sure it does. Everyone in DeLand knows people like that. It’s characteristic of the area. Apgar is an example, as are Arrington, Bailey, Johnson, Pleus, Sapp and perhaps the Edgecombs too.

All are part of the nonstop rejuvenation that has occurred since the beginning.

Thousands of Stetson graduates are settled in this area.

A CORE BOND Sisters do not always see things the same way. There have been rifts in the relationship, but none that damaged the core bond.

In the early 1980s, Stetson’s leadership was frustrated when it lost a bid to transfer to Stetson ownership of a number of streets passing through campus to make the university safer and more compact.

It had been done in the past, but this time the citizenry refused.

Illustration by Stetson Junior Erin McCollum

Stetson’s College of Law

In 1954, DeLand leaders were distraught when trustees moved the College of Law across Florida to the Tampa Bay area. The post-World War II boom in enrollment had stretched facilities in DeLand to the breaking point. The law school’s accreditation was in jeopardy, and circumstances were dire.

DeLand leaders raised money and sought property to keep the school, but it was far too little. A group from the St. Petersburg area had the best offer, hands down.

It was the first export of Stetson’s values and civitas.

The College of Law has thrived in Gulfport, continuing to win national awards and graduate respected lawyers who not only serve the many bay-area communities, but a wide array of state and federal posts. Florida’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, is a Stetson Law graduate, as is the mayor of St. Petersburg, the president of the St. Petersburg Bar Association and The Florida Bar, too.

Stetson’s particular brand of civitas flourished there as well.

The College of Law has a strong reputation for community engagement and service.

Faculty members are deeply involved in the community and have won many awards for their work. Law students donated almost 32,000 hours last year to a wide range of some 400 organizations in the bay area.

“Stetson is an active, cooperative and beneficial partner with the Gulfport community, and it’s engaged on a regional level, too,” says Gulfport Mayor Sam Henderson. Stetson contributes to city activities for the public, especially relating to bicycling.

As in DeLand, that characteristic engagement is continuous in the cities and counties near the College of Law. It’s a powerful benefit to organizations and agencies. It’s also a powerful benefit to students who get practical experience in a broad spectrum of legal subjects as they work in internships, externships, legal clinics and pro bono services.

“Through school outreach programs, Stetson has helped many citizens in the community who are unable to pay for needed legal services,” says John Wolfe, JD ’73, St. Petersburg’s city attorney. The college, he says, has built a cooperative, friendly and inclusive relationship with bay communities that not only benefits citizenry, but the school and its graduates.

Wolfe didn’t use the word civitas or invoke the Golden Rule, but that’s what the College of Law is practicing.

Some 5,000 College of Law alumni are estimated to live and work in communities around Tampa Bay, all educated under

The College of Law has a strong reputation for community engagement and service.

Law students donated almost 32,000 hours last year to a wide range of some 400 organizations in the bay area.

Stetson’s values, which include Henry DeLand’s personal ones.

The same forces of engagement are at work on a smaller scale at Stetson’s two educational centers along the I-4 corridor, one in downtown Tampa and another in downtown Celebration.

The 2004 Tampa Law Center is a classroom building, a law library and home to the 2nd District Court of Appeal’s Tampa branch. The signature building mimics the College of Law’s distinctive architecture and stands in a developing hub for legal activity. The public-private partnership between a working court and a law school is the first of its kind in Florida.

Stetson’s Center at Celebration opened in 2001 and offers a modern educational and training facility convenient to Disney and the Orlando area. Graduate students take classes in business administration, marriage and family therapy, education and school counseling. Community meetings, job fairs, club events and other civic activities occur there.

Today, a third of the way through the sisters’ second century, the bedrock values of their founding father stretch right across Central Florida. In places far removed from the wet hollow in DeLand, Stetson maintains fidelity to its founding vision of a good and sustainable society with civitas.

By example and curriculum, Stetson not only teaches its students academic proficiency, but something more human. Students learn to understand self-interest rightly by building and sustaining an ethic of stewardship and reciprocity in its relationships.

Stetson does this in the knowledge that a flourishing university and community, bonded together in common cause, mutually reinforce one another in profound and immeasurable ways — just as the visionary founder wished.

Ronald W. Williamson is a freelance writer living in DeLand.

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APlaceApart

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It is not down on any map; true places never are.

—Herman Melville B y P a t r i c k T. D av i s ’ 8 8

I’ve found my way home to Stetson in many ways over the years.

Along emotional paths, leading to reconnection. Down intellectual trails, arriving at new questions and curiosities.

Through confusing turnabouts, redirecting my commitments to Stetson in new ways.

My relationships with Stetson have changed and grown over time, but my motivation never has: return to the place that has mattered most in my life. Stetson is the place my mind came awake, and that made everything else in my life possible. It’s not the sort of thing an incoming student or prospective family might ever see on a chart of Stetson “outcomes” or “job placements.” The number of students for whom clarity occurred? Who felt prepared to turn inspiration into action? Who found the deeply meaningful influence of a mentor for life? Not what normally gets tracked and reported. But it is this place — of an awakened mind, of possibility, of clarity, of inspiration — that has been the destination for me, by whatever route.

Of course, that’s the view from the rearview mirror. It’s easier to see Stetson for the place it is now, with some distance, than it originally seemed to me as an unsure, first-year student or even when a recent graduate. I didn’t know how special a place I had found until a bit later. As with so many others, Stetson was presented to me as a beautiful campus “between Disney World and Daytona Beach.”

That sounded good at 18.

My education would happen at a tourist destination. Something to pay for, pass through and take pictures of while visiting. A memory to make and with prices a bit too high for the making. That was the story, the impression. An education would happen “between” the fun of other places. It wasn’t until later, when I returned to see today’s

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Stetson, that I realized how wrong it was.

Stetson is not a place “between” anything.

Stetson is a place unto itself. A place to inhabit, not just visit. A place to engage with, not just remember. A place to evaluate for the lifelong value it creates, not the investment it requires. Stetson is a place apart.

Framed by the orange groves of one of Florida’s major industries, the roadways connecting its coasts and entertainment complexes, and the rivers and ocean giving it all life, Stetson thrives like few other places.

When I return to Stetson now, I see not “the campus,” but hands-on community gardens and investment programs, each equally teaching what it means to tend to what might grow.

I see conceptual and practical notions of sustainable environments coming to life, shaping students’ understanding of our shared responsibilities to thriving — whether alongside the state’s wildlife or within a community of entrepreneurs. I see a workshop of ideas, a gymnasium of the mind, where thoughts are hammered out or stretched to stronger conclusions. I see a place of active thinking that happens on campus in the natural and commercial settings around campus and across multiple campuses.

To me, the place of Stetson is no single destination. As a place apart, Stetson is defined by what happens when gathered there, not the landscape itself. Like with so many true places — the ones standing apart because of what they do for the mind and heart — I think Stetson is not defined by where it sits on the map. It is defined by a set of ideals — the ones it taught me, and I hope others.

The same might be said of America itself.

A collective set of decisions and beliefs defined the new destination that would give

us the basis of our individual and cultural identities — challenges and conflicts included. I think the place of Stetson is defined by some equally bold ideas and promises, not all of them easy. They are what I think define Stetson as a place apart.

Others might add to this or disagree, but that too is part of this place. These are the lived beliefs I have experienced at this place apart. At Stetson, we believe: • That our complex world demands active, engaged minds; • That we have an obligation to solve problems for others and ourselves; • That, together, we must call out injustice and commit to righting it; • That a busier, harsher society makes the arts and sciences more important, not less; • That the systems of life are interconnected, and we must be stewards of them all; • That our various histories and stories intersect rather than divide; • That we consciously decide — here, now — if our hearts will be open and our thoughts broad; and • That we dare to be — ourselves, different, significant.

I don’t know how to put the place with those beliefs — and surely others — down on any map. It may be located — rooted — in DeLand. But it is also present across other locations, inside countless minds, across various subjects, inside large and small businesses, throughout our nation’s communities.

The place apart that is Stetson lives not between anything, but within.

Patrick T. Davis ’88 is the founder and CEO of Davis Brand Capital and the co-founder of StandUp, the world’s first anti-bullying foundation.

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A chat room in online courses is a thin substitute for a dorm room or coffeeshop discussion.

B y B et h P a u l , P h . D .

Why Place Matters in Higher

I

believe that physical location

matters in higher education, and Stetson is an excellent case in point.

For example, Stetson’s location in Central Florida offers an abundant laboratory of opportunity for learning about nature and its biology, especially with the university’s new focus on water and the environment. Our students grasp how DeLand’s history is a microcosm of Florida history. They begin to understand the problems and solutions of injustice. In this laboratory called place, they create and perform magnificent works of art inspired by where we are. Furthermore, they collaborate with government and business to help our area prosper. They learn how to help those in desperate need of legal advice but

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without the means to access it. They begin to see how Florida politics represent the nation as a whole. In other words, place inspires them to make connections with our world.

For example, Associate Professor of Biology Melissa Gibbs, Ph.D., embeds her students in her research into how the invasive armored catfish species stirs up Blue Spring’s wildlife, particularly the manatees. Stetson students see a renowned researcher in action and learn how to be a scientist.

“As a marine biology student,” says senior Jennifer Gooch, “one of the most important things is making a difference through your work. Besides, the practical experience I’m getting through this project is not only giving me an in-depth look at the scholarly world of freshwater studies,” she adds, “but also it’s

teaching me the necessary skills to continue to research other species of fish in my career.”

In a number of ways, then, our faculty and students take advantage of this unique laboratory. But many more reasons about why place matters become visible when looking at higher education, particularly for Stetson.

PHYSICAL CONTEXT MATTERS The importance of a college campus as physical place for concentrated learning can be compared to the “virtual” place created by online learning communities. Of course, a good deal of learning can happen through online venues, but it is inevitably narrow due to its confined channel of communication.

A chat room is a thin substitute for a dorm room or coffee shop discussion. An email

to navigate for themselves and for the community’s common good.

For all students, indeed for all learning community participants, colleges and universities provide a fertile context for exploring how we wish to live in, and what our responsibilities are to, community. Colleges provide a base where students, faculty and staff move through layers of communities, learning how the local and global interact. These are places to test ideas about how the world works or doesn’t and to explore and define the ways in which we individually and collectively strive to better our society.

In this way, colleges are hopeful places for realizing a more inclusive community. Closeknit learning communities provide opportunities for face-to-face interaction with different people who many normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to meet in our still-segregated society.

Research on stereotyping, prejudice and oppression highlight how we can change our views about the unfamiliar “others” with face-to-face interaction. In authentic interaction, we can break down barriers and build empathy, personalization, relatedness, comfort and love.

Colleges and their physical environments are all-too-rare places for liberating students from the tyranny of difference that continues to plague our communities near and far. In turn, our graduates become daring and significant agents of global liberation.

Education exchange with a professor does not have the same impact as dropping by her office.

Videoconferencing is fraught with technical difficulties and distractions that are not present when a professor and his or her students sit in a seminar room together for a concentrated hour of discussion. The health benefits from athletic challenge and competition just aren’t the same in a virtual tennis match.

A traditional campus is a real place where people are fully engaged with all their senses.

Our students interact with real people face to face and experience a full range of body language, small inflections of expression, and the reactions of others.

I believe learning is contextual, at once stimulated by community, society and culture.

As I pointed out at the beginning, community

contexts provide powerful fodder for learning — historical, political, social, cultural and economic dynamics. The college and surrounding community also build psychological meaning, fostering identity and connection and a lasting feeling of home. Generations of alumni who gravitate back to visit their home campuses enrich their communiies.

COMMUNITY SOCIALIZES CITIZENS Higher education institutions are important centers of socialization, preparing, guiding and prompting adults to function productively in society. This is especially true for traditional-aged college students who quickly discover that a university is a new community that offers a first opportunity to learn to live independently. They begin to figure out how

PLACE IS SIGNIFICANT The place of learning, then, is significant.

We learn through our relationships with others. Moreover, our society’s hope depends on citizens who have the intellectual, interpersonal and psychological skills to work with diverse others to develop, sustain and advance places where people can lead fulfilling and significant lives.

I shudder when I hear public dialogue about higher education in which physical places are considered to be “amenities” that are no longer affordable and, therefore, no longer needed.

Worse yet is the insinuation that residential education at places like Stetson can only exist in a small sliver of elite institutions that can afford such “perks.”

Place and relationship are essential elements of our humanity. Thus, place and relationship are not frivolous perks in higher education: They are the fabric of a better society.

Beth Paul, Ph.D., is Stetson’s provost.

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DeLAND,

By Paul Croce, Ph.D.

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DeLand, I had never set foot in Florida.

If I had been cooler in my youth, I would have at least spent a Spring Break or weekend at a Florida beach.

Nope.

Since I grew up in Virginia and attended schools in Washington, D.C., and Rhode Island, Florida still had the air of a magical place. When I was young, an airline had an ad efore moving to

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for Florida vacations that they would show each winter. With pictures of icy roads and exasperated men and women shoveling snow, a seductive voice said simply, “When you need it bad, we’ve got it good….”

On arriving in DeLand, the promise of that ad came to life. It was beautiful — so sunny — and palm trees everywhere. I moved to Florida to work, but in the back of my mind, the place reminded me of leisure time. When I first told my father about the job, the

thought of Florida made him think of retirement. He looked a little puzzled when saying, “BEGINNING a career in Florida — hmm….”

The natural setting made for an easy transition, but the culture was another story. Having lived in the American Northeast Corridor and as a small child for a few years in Rome, Italy, I felt I had entered foreign territory. The adjustment to DeLand was not about moving South.

After all, I am a native of Virginia, even if my home was in Virginia’s north — a land, as

John F. Kennedy quipped, with Northern hospitality and Southern efficiency.

But I grew up surrounded by artifacts of Southern culture with frequent visits to Jamestown, Williams-burg, Mount Vernon, Manassas Battlefield Park and the forests of Shenandoah.

On my arrival in Florida, the immediate challenge was adjustment to small-town life.

Having grown up in a suburb near the nation’s Capitol and then living in medium-

sized Providence, R.I., the pace in DeLand was slower than I was used to, and there was a different cultural style. So many gun-and-pawn shops, churches on almost every corner, and St. Peter Catholic Church with a sign announcing that it was “dedicated to Gospel values,” as if to assure passers-by who might doubt this about the largest of Christian denominations.

And yet, small-town life was also enticing.

Houses were less the suburban fortresses I was used to, and people actually stopped to talk to one another. Instead, there were neighborhoods with people on foot and ready to chat.

And I was lucky to live in a house just a 10-minute walk to work, but after growing up in car-centered Megalopolis, USA, this felt almost un-American!

Still, some of the adjustment was to this particular small town.

Young people at that time called our town “Dead Land.”

Until the mid-1990s, a lot of empty storefronts dotted downtown DeLand, and at that time, the Southern Baptist Convention supported Stetson. Most of the faculty, however, were not Baptists themselves, but an air of traditionalism did exist on campus. There was also an air of camaraderie and of informality in procedures.

There were indeed many differences in the classrooms: Picture Stetson without Africana Studies or Gender Studies programs, a Cross Cultural Center, a Kaleidoscope organization, a Karen Haas Award, an International Guitar Workshop, a Latin American Studies Program, an International Business Minor, or an Environmental Sciences Program, and without explicit attention to values. Because of its Christian heritage, plenty of attention was paid to the value of higher learning and character building.

However, little attention was given to cultural diversity.

In the past two decades, Stetson’s commitment to personal attention multiplied with a tremendous growth in experiential education that included classroom projects, class trips, field experiences and internships.

With the hiring of faculty from around the country and world, Stetson changed significantly. I was particularly involved with two programs, each confirming my sense of place in my new hometown.

In connection to Africana Studies, Stetson began the Howard Thurman Program, named in honor of the great African-American preacher who was a native of Daytona Beach, and directed by the late Rev. Jefferson Rogers.

The program brought an all-star cast of civil

A Stetson professor experiences changes in latitude and attitude when he moves to DeLand and Stetson.

rights scholars and activists. It brought a long-overdue connection between the university and the DeLand and Central Florida African-American communities.

Meanwhile, inspired in part by Central Florida’s natural wonders, especially its many springs, I became active in the environmental wing of Stetson’s Values Council, and I began to teach environmental history courses.

Attention to values and environmental studies was a natural extension of my ongoing research on religion and science.

Race relations and environmental health, along with countless other hot topics, are not just items for classroom lectures, but part of the fabric of our lives.

Today, a Stetson education retains the best of its traditional commitment to personal education by providing platforms for thinking globally and learning locally about race, the environment, and much more.

In addition to the classroom innovations blooming on campus, there is also a new program called Learn Local that is explicitly fostering attention to the local issues around us. Check out the Learn Local Program at http://bit.ly/1DYiipS. The DeLand I came to call home in 1987 has bloomed. Between the energy of Stetson and the attractions of downtown DeLand, which has not only revived, but has also become the winner of the Great American Main Street Award, it ain’t Dead Land any more.

DeLand is fully alive.

Paul Croce, Ph.D., is professor of history and American studies at Stetson.

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How a Rising Tide Will Affect Florida’s Coastline

Our Our VANISHING Shoreline B y J a s o n M . E va n s , P h . D .

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New Smyrna Beach over a recent holiday, I watched my wife and son play in the sand and surf. Of course, the husband and father could enjoy this happy moment, but the scientist in me feared what the future holds for our vanishing coastline.

As a Central Florida native, I know the beauty, splendor and economic importance of our coasts. Sandy beaches, bountiful estuaries and mild subtropical winters have attracted visitors from all corners of the world. Many of these visitors inevitably return to settle, leaving behind cold winters and creating new lives in their own little piece of paradise.

For my family, this process began with my paternal grandparents, who first moved to Central Florida in the early 1960s. Transplanted from Baltimore, they settled into a modest new house on a small Orlando lake.

Like many who grow up here, frequent trips to Daytona Beach became a staple of my dad’s childhood. This tradition continued straight into the next generation with me, my sister and various cousins. Hot summer days spent at the Daytona Beach pier with cars packed with people, food, various beach toys, and without fail, piles of fugitive sand on the car seats.

These wistful experiences are an indelible

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hile at

part of my own childhood memories.

When I reflect on my current research into the rising sea level, memories such as these inevitably turn up with a mixture of loss, nostalgia and — perhaps most strangely – hope.

As a teenager, I remember going to Daytona Beach for a Memorial Day visit and viscerally realizing that the amazingly wide beach of my earlier childhood (really only a few years before) was merely a fraction of what it once seemed.

Perhaps, I first thought, this was an illusion of growing older. My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles agreed that the beach indeed seemed much narrower than it used to be.

More worrisome, my family members concurred that this narrowing of the beach had been happening for some time and by my grandpa’s sage reckoning was “fast getting worse.”

“What happened to our coastline?” my family wondered. We did track A LOT of beach sand into our cars but NOT that much.

It became obvious that other — far more important — factors caused the rapid loss of Daytona Beach.

Some of these factors are, in a sense, quite natural in origin. For one, environmental scientists have long known that sandy beaches like those at Daytona are changeable places.

Tides, storms and winds inevitably move the Photos by Stetson Professor Robert Sitler, Ph.D.

‘I turn once more to look at the 6-foot-tall sea wall behind me, wondering, just for a moment, if some other father 200 years from now will be able to stand in this very place watching his son.’

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‘How I wish the problem was as simple as better management of coastal erosion or as straightforward as replacing ill-conceived sea walls with seminatural sand dunes.’

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beach around over time, often making barrier islands.

Therefore, erosion of a beach is not all that new or surprising.

Of course, this natural process of erosion still causes alarm, particularly if the ocean begins to claim your beachfront building or property. The many miles of protective sea walls and other engineered barriers along our developed coast mark the ongoing battle to protect human investment against the sea’s erosional force.

Such sea walls, however, exact an ironic toll, since stopping the erosion at the face of the sea wall speeds it up elsewhere. This often results in more rapid loss of the beach itself.

Truth be told, the sea walls near the Daytona pier likely played a major role in the rapid loss of beach I observed as a teenager back in the early 1990s. In fact, many beach communities along the East Coast have grown wise about sea walls and instead have patiently cultivated and restored large sand dunes.

These are little vegetated hills of sand on the beachfront between the ocean and human development. My favorite example is the City of Tybee Island, Ga., which over time has covered a 1930s-era sea wall with a vegetated dune field that in some cases exceeds 20 feet above sea level.

But how I wish the problem was as “simple” as better management of coastal erosion, or as “straightforward” as replacing ill-conceived sea walls with semi-natural sand dunes. In fact, long-term measurements indicate that sea levels along the east coast of Florida rose about seven inches between the years of 1900 and 2000. This may not seem like a tremendously large amount of sea level rise, and, in fact, sea level rise was until recently not viewed as a major concern in the development of Florida’s coastal communities. However, large amounts of research indicate that the seemingly modest rate of sea level rise in the 20th century had not been seen on Earth since near the end of the last ice age.

In other words, we now know that the rising seas of the 20th century are among the earliest indications of human-caused climate change, correctly known as “global warming.”

More recent measurements suggest that the sea is now rising about 1.3 inches every 10 years. That’s almost two times as fast as that observed during the 20th century.

The best scientific projections of sea level rise for the year 2100 range from a “stay the course” scenario of 1 foot, all the way to what I call the “doomsday” scenario (think rapid melting of Greenland and West Antarctica) of over 6 feet.

Whatever the scenario, it’s important — if sobering — to remember that most climate scientists do not expect sea level rise to end by 2100, but instead project for the sea to continue rising many centuries into the future.

It is, frankly, almost too easy to create maps showing what any part of the Florida coastline might look like under 6 feet or, taking the long view, even 100 feet of rising sea level. The beaches we now know would lie far underwater, along with vast swaths of coastal real estate that we could no longer afford to protect.

Low-lying freshwater and forest ecosystems would slowly give way to saltwater tolerant mangroves and then to open saltwater lagoons and oceanfront beaches.

Sitting atop the DeLand Ridge, the area around Stetson University eventually becomes an island, perhaps with a climate not all that much different from today’s Florida Keys.

The scientist in me can attempt to rationalize such scenarios. For example, the limestone of the Floridan aquifer beneath us, which is the source of our drinking water and blue water springs, serves as testament that Florida was once under the sea before.

What matter, one might ask, that it may be destined to do so again?

But maybe it’s only natural that my scientific objectivity is quickly overridden by my deep emotional connection to this special place. Indeed, trying to make sense of what any of this means, even within our own human time frames, is one of the most daunting tasks faced by educators and researchers in the environmental sciences.

That meaning became clear yesterday as I watched my wife and 3-year-old son giggling in delight as the gentle waves rolled up the New Smyrna Beach sand. Dolphins, pelicans and terns feasted on baitfish in the dusk light, no doubt finding joy and nourishment in the moment. I turn once more to look at the 6-foot-tall sea wall behind me, wondering, just for a moment, if some other father 200 years from now will be able to stand in this very place watching his son.

For no reason that I could describe as scientific, in that moment I felt hopeful that we as a human community will indeed come together and take the steps needed to halt the rising sea.

Jason M. Evans, Ph.D., is assistant professor of Environmental Science and Studies at Stetson.

Photos are by Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures Robert Sitler, Ph.D., for his project titled “Aquatic Gems,” a look at our water wonders within a 30-mile radius of Stetson’s fountain.

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On the W S

urrounded by sea, speckled with lakes and springs like a Jackson Pollock painting and boasting one of the highest annual rainfalls in the country, Florida would not seem to lack water. But that is the critical case when it comes to the fresh, usable kind.

“It’s not a crisis yet, but everyone sees that in the near future it is going to be,” says leading environmental lawyer Clay Henderson, a Stetson alumnus and adjunct professor. “We are on a collision course between a growing population and a limited supply of water, and at some point, it all has to come to a head.”

Consuming around a billion gallons of water every day — roughly the equivalent of 5,000 average-sized, domestic swimming pools

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— Florida offers media-friendly examples of the consequences of overuse.

It’s the home of threatened Everglades, jeopardized wintering waters for manatees, and sinkholes that suddenly swallow homes, vehicles and streets.

NATIONAL CONCERN, LOCAL ACTION But Florida is not alone. Parts of California have been struggling with drought in recent times, as have regions of Texas and Georgia.

And the problem is not limited to dry, desertlike places you might expect to have to deal with water shortages: a 2012 report from the Environmental Hydrology Laboratory at the University of Florida identified unlikely Lincoln, Neb., as the third most-vulnerable

city in the country for water shortage.

Growing awareness of the looming national emergency has prompted research and action over the past decade. However, a 2014 report to Congress by the United States Government Accountability Office found that despite efforts, 40 of 50 state water managers said they expected shortages in some portion of their states in the next 10 years. And agriculture is one of the biggest users of freshwater.

Clearly, more needs to be done, and Stetson aspires to play a key role in helping provide some of the answers through its new Institute for Water and the Environment.

Drawing on multidisciplinary expertise, the initiative is intended to catalyze a threepronged response to the challenge that com-

ater Front B y A nd y B u t c h e r

bines collaborative research, policy development and public education.

“We hope to do no less than influence the development of public policy in regard to water in the state of Florida,” says Karen Ryan, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Stetson is uniquely positioned for the task — geographically, academically, politically and experientially. With its campus just a few miles from the St. Johns River, a main water source for the region that was included in 2008s list of the most endangered rivers in the United States, the university is close to 30 waterrelated beauty spots.

That proximity has fostered a rich history of associated research, from water quality Photo by Stetson Professor Robert Sitler, Ph.D.

testing to water and wildlife studies. Faculty and students have provided vital data for water management authorities.

The environmental concern has also been translated into campus action: In-house sustainability measures have seen Stetson achieve a high level of water reuse.

A COMPLEX PROBLEM In some ways, the founding of the institute merely gives a name to what Stetson has already been doing quietly. But those involved also believe that its creation will crystallize and catalyze more action by bringing a deliberate focus to an issue most people are unconcerned about as long as their faucet works when they turn it on.

Florida would not seem to lack water, but that is the critical case when it comes to the fresh, usable kind. In fact, Florida offers plenty of examples of the consequences of overuse.

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“No one else is really stepping up to the plate,” says Wendy Anderson, Ph.D., professor and chair of Stetson’s Environmental Science and Studies. “We seem to be the only one eager and ready to do it.”

That may be because “water may well be the most complex problem in Central Florida today,” according to Henderson. “If this were easy, someone would have already done it.”

Consequences of improper water management can be severe.

First, there are the many interwoven reasons for the water shortage. Wasteful use.

Building development. Climate change.

Energy demands. Pollution. Population growth: not only Florida’s 19 million residents, but as Henderson points out, also the 100 million or so annual tourists “who like to come here and take a shower every morning.”

Then there are the practical and political complexities of coming up with an answer.

Aging infrastructure. Commercial interests.

Policy issues: By way of illustration, Ryan notes that hotel use of water in Florida isn’t taxed, while it is in New York City.

Next come political concerns with the many different groups charged with managing water for their communities agreeing that something needs to be done, but holding different ideas on what that should be, especially when it comes to access to shared, and limited, water sources.

The institute has already started work in this area. Its new banner was quietly unfurled a year ago, bringing together representatives of water agencies across the region for a workshop on issues of shared concern.

In late February, it hosted newly elected state representatives for a special briefing on water issues.

CREATING AWARENESS For the most part, it’s a meeting of minds.

Bringing together all Stetson’s key waterrelated thinkers, the institute will become a meeting place, too. There are plans for developing a home on Stetson land at Lake Beresford, shared with the rowing club, which could provide research space and host public awareness events.

Anderson sees visual and performing arts as a powerful future vehicle for raising the profile of water issues. But that is no small objective: because we take water so much for granted, bringing the issue to public attention is “a huge challenge for the water industry in the U.S.,” says Kirsten Work, Ph.D., associate professor of biology.

The vision for the institute goes beyond state lines, hopefully providing ideas for other 32

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parts of the U.S. When it comes to tackling water and other environmental issues, Florida is “fairly ahead of the rest of the country just because we have to deal with a lot of these issues sooner,” says Henderson.

There is an international aspect, too.

“Although we value water so little, it is the most important resource we have on the planet,” says Work. “Unless we get a handle on it, we are going to face some serious issues.”

Associate Professor of Biology Melissa Gibbs, Ph.D., agrees. “We need freshwater for the health of the wildlife and the environment, so having a healthy ecosystem is not only important for a biologist, it is important for everyone.”

Water, then, is key to maintaining Florida’s ecosystems.

While water shortages are largely a question of inconvenience in parts of America, around the world they are a matter of life and death.

One in six people on the planet lives where water is scarce. And, like here, it’s not just in the deserts. As home to the rainforests, most people would not think that Brazil has a water problem, but deforestation and urban growth have forced unheard-of rationing in large cities like Sao Paulo.

Finding ways to store rainwater and desalinate seawater on a large scale may be part of the planet’s long-term answer. But the challenge is not just the amount of water we have, but how we use it.

Unwise, water-heavy agricultural methods strain supply in some parts of the world, says Katherine Alfredo, a postdoctoral research scientist at the Columbia Water Center, part of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

Meanwhile, a July 2014 report by the School of Business and Social Sciences at Denmark’s Aarhus University warned that unless the demand for water to produce energy is eased, by 2040 there would not be enough to drink as well.

How we use water in the U.S. may not seem relevant to the needs in, say, sub-Saharan Africa, but modeling good practices to the international community is essential if problems in other parts of the world are to be addressed, Alfredo asserts. “You emulate who is in front of you on the development landscape.”

So, like a stone dropped into a well-maintained pond, Stetson’s Institute for Water and the Environment could have a ripple effect far beyond Central Florida.

Andy Butcher is a freelance writer living in Central Florida.

Photo by Rodney Neff

‘We need freshwater for the health of the wildlife and the environment, so having a healthy ecosystem is not only important for a biologist, it is important for everyone.’

A manatee and her baby frolic at Blue Spring, near Stetson’s DeLand campus.

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A Man of theWorld B y J o s e p h A . D av i s

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he asked me,

“Do you want to cry?” I didn’t understand the question. No, I wanted to help!

What happened next made me realize why we were in rural Guatemala — to learn a lesson.

As an intern for the Alliance for International Reforestation (AIR), an experience made possible through a Stetson Rinker International Learning Scholarship, I had just helped plant a mountainside in pine saplings to prevent mudslides.

It was time for lunch.

The Mayan women began filling a huge cauldron with water and cutting vegetables with their machetes. The rest of our team continued planting. Because we were behind schedule, I volunteered to help cook.

A Mayan woman gave me a task: build the fire. We began cooking the way many Guatemalans do with a fire on the ground and a cauldron perched on rocks. The crying was inevitable. In order to fan the fire hot enough to cook the soup, I had to crouch close. You cannot help but cry because of the smoke.

While tears were streaming down my face, sparks were stinging my hands. We were on the side of a mountain, cooking lunch for 40 people. The lesson I learned was to adapt and meet the daily challenges of life, no matter where you are.

A DESIRE TO TRAVEL My desire to travel began my sophomore year at Stetson when I decided to study in Spain. During my six months in Madrid, I gained a new understanding of European politics when we visited the Senate and heard the Spanish president deliver a speech.

Whether speaking with my host family over dinner, taking classes conducted entirely in

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Spanish, or talking with Spanish friends, I was immersed in Spanish language and culture.

That experience whetted my appetite for international learning.

A DIFFERENT WAY TO LEARN In history classes at Stetson, we learn about the Cuban missile crisis. In political science classes, we learn about communism, Cold War relations, and the historic tensions between Cuba and America. In January 2014, I stepped onto a plane bound for a destination I never thought possible — Havana, Cuba. Cuba was no longer just a picture in a textbook. While in Cuba, I learned what communism means to the Cuban people. A little observation and conversation with the locals yielded much useful information. Hearing average Cubans talk about life in their country helped me to understand that Cubans know their own plight. They are not complacent, even though their political system has not allowed them to voice their opinions.

The trip broadened my understanding of Cuban politics.

Over Spring Break 2014, I found myself in South Africa as part of a Stetson course about social justice and apartheid. We visited the Apartheid Museum and saw the previous regime’s instruments of terror and oppression.

No textbook can fully bring to life the sense of injustice, racial segregation and oppression that I felt in that museum.

We also toured Robben Island and stood in the cell where the apartheid regime imprisoned Nelson Mandela. Our tour guide was a former prisoner who served time with Mandela for organizing against the apartheid government.

Through Stetson’s international learning programs, I have studied in Spain, Morocco,

‘When I study abroad, I discover a new piece of myself. I travel not simply as a tourist.

I travel as a student of the world, always learning and growing professionally and personally.’

South Africa, Guatemala and Cuba. Every time I step on a plane, I know I am on my way to a different kind of learning experience. I know I will always return a changed person.

Studying abroad presents a unique opportunity for professional and personal development in ways that are not possible inside a traditional classroom. And my travels in foreign countries have helped me expand my network of friends and professional contacts. I know these will benefit me for years to come.

Their warmth and welcoming grace touched me deeply.

An internship in your major field is a valuable experience, and an international internship especially sets you apart. I was so fortunate to work with AIR, a U.N. award-winning nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Guatemala.

LEARNING AND TEACHING I learned and taught sustainable agriculture techniques with the indigenous people of Latin America. I learned the value of teamwork, and my Spanish fluency improved daily.

I also learned to appreciate a different culture and people.

When studying abroad, I grew as a person, always returning more mature and independent. My understanding of other cultures, religions and lifestyles expanded, and I truly became a global citizen. While in a small village in Morocco, I stayed in the home of a Moroccan family. We hiked in the Atlas Mountains to a remote village and entered a Quranic school.

There, we met with the Quran scholar in residence. After a lengthy and heartfelt discussion about Islam, the Quran and fundamental extremists, I gained a new understanding of Islam in the world. It’s difficult to put into words. All I can say is that it was a profoundly personal experience. We came to know each other and accept the commonality of our struggles for peace and justice despite our cultural, linguistic and religious differences.

When I study abroad, I discover a new piece of myself. I travel not simply as a tourist.

I travel as a student of the world, always learning and growing professionally and personally.

And in case you were wondering, my next study trip is already in the works. After graduating in May, I plan to study this summer in Innsbruck, Austria. I will be taking prerequisite courses in preparation for Stetson’s MBA program.

My journey as a student and global citizen continues.

Joseph A. Davis is a senior at Stetson.

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Where Are the Men?

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labbergasted,

I almost drop my pen and paper when Stetson University’s Faculty Learning Community Day speaker, UNC Professor and Demographer James H. Johnson Jr., Ph.D., talks about the end of men. What?

I’m sitting right here. Can’t he see me? Have I become invisible? Well, men are not so much invisible as missing in action. Johnson pointed out that for the first time in history women outnumber men in the workplace, and men are attending college in ever lower numbers.

Johnson also poked holes in thoughts on illegal immigration and other sacred cows by citing data from the 2010 census. Just the huge numbers migrating from the Northeast and the Midwest to the South are head-scratchingly hard to understand. Johnson says that on average we will have 28 major shifts and changes in our lifetimes.

How do these shifts affect our sense of self and our sense of place?

His numbers shatter the Mad Men TV show-era fantasy of a maledominated, white society. Now, according to those figures, it’s increasingly less white and more female-dominated.

In her Atlantic Monthly article, titled, oddly enough, “The End of Men,” Hanna Rosin wrote about the biologist Ronald Ericsson, who developed a method in the 1970s that would help couples determine the sex of their children. Ericsson then believed, according to Rosin, that he could help couples produce more male children who would better benefit society.

However, Ericsson was shocked when more couples to the tune of 75 percent wanted more daughters than sons.

Today, he’s changed his way of thinking. He’s quoted in Rosin’s article as saying: “Women live longer than men. They do better in this economy. More of ’em graduate from college. They go into space and do everything men do, and sometimes they do it a whole lot better. I mean, hell, get out of the way — these females are going to leave us males in the dust.”

Johnson and Rosin both say that is exactly what happened. “The working class, which has long defined our notions of masculinity, is slowly turning into a matriarchy, with men increasingly absent from the home and women making all the decisions,” Rosin wrote. “Women dominate today’s colleges and professional schools — for every two men who will receive a B.A. this year, three women will do the same. Of the 15 job categories projected to grow the most in the next decade in the U.S., all but two are occupied primarily by women.”

B y B i ll N obl i tt

WHERE ARE THE MEN? “The sex ratio in higher education has been 60 percent female and 40 percent male for decades,” said Johnson. “In 2010, colleges and universities granted 522,000 more degrees to women than to men. You can’t have stable families. You can’t have stable communities when you 36

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Illustrations by Tim Teebken

Men are not so much invisible as missing in action.

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leave that many men out. Where are the men?”

Similarly, according to the university’s 2013-14 Common Data Set, Stetson’s undergraduate population has more women than men. Women make up 57 percent of the undergraduates, while 43 percent of the undergraduate population is men.

And the issue goes deeper. “Eighty percent of the job loss in the 2008 Great Recession happened to men,” Johnson explained while calling it a “Man-cession.”

“Today, three times as many men of working age do not work at all compared to 1969,” said Johnson. “In fact, since 1969, the median wage of the American male has declined by almost $13,000 after accounting for inflation.

“And a lot of these men have not been able to make the transition to this new, postindustrial economy,” he asserted.

Rosin’s Atlantic Monthly article asked this question: “What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women?” In other words, with fewer men obtaining college degrees and with more women in the workplace, will these numbers mean a power shift in the American economy?

Stetson Sociology Professor Diane Everett, Ph.D., attended Johnson’s talk but interpreted his figures in a different way.

“We know women have made gains in the labor market in terms of their labor force participation and even in terms of the wage gap,” Everett observed. “And women have moved into jobs that are historically male-dominated.

“But that’s because a lot of male-dominated occupations have disappeared with the changes in the economy, with economic restructuring and globalization,” she added.

“Jobs that were around in the ’50s and ’60s and were the backbone of the American economy are not around anymore.”

Even with these changes, according to Everett, “a lot of women are still relegated to service positions that pay minimum wage with no benefits.

“And if you look at the Fortune 500, you will see that the CEOs are still predominantly white men,” she underscored. A recent U.N. report supports Everett’s conclusion. Women only run 5 percent of the world’s largest companies, but women own or manage more than 30 percent of all businesses, most of them small companies.

“Generally, women rarely come into an occupation, and then that job suddenly shifts from male-dominated to female-dominated until the men start leaving that line of work,” she added.

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THIS IS BIOLOGY. THIS IS SOCIOLOGY. Women, too, figure into the illegal immigration issue, with the median age of Hispanic females at 27 and the median age of white women at over 40, according to Johnson.

“Young people are more likely to have children than old folks,” he said simply.

“There’s something in demography called completed fertility. Completed fertility for women begins between the ages of 40 and 44.

“This is biology. This is sociology. Hispanic women having children is where the growth is going to occur in our country. And if you shut down immigration, your economy can’t grow,” he asserted.

“The immigration debate is nothing to be taken lightly if we are aging out of the childbearing years,” he continued. “Where will the next generation of talent come from?” He noted, for example, that in 1990, 66 percent of the births in America were non-Hispanic whites. That percentage dropped below 50 percent in 2011.

As part of the Browning of America, Johnson believes that growth is coming from those of color. Will this growth hurt the U.S. economy? “How many of you have heard that Hispanics are a burden on the healthcare system?” he asked. “But how many chronic health problems do you really have when you’re 27, the median age of Hispanics? What kind of health problems do you have when you’re 40, the median age of non-Hispanic whites in America?”

Reiterating his point, he said, “You have also heard that these immigrants are a burden on the system, that they cost more than they contribute.”

However, Johnson pointed out that illegal immigrants help the economy by buying goods and services and paying taxes. North Carolina Hispanics, for example, spent $9.2 billion ($15,130 per person), while the cost of essential services to them (healthcare, corrections, K-12 education) was $817 million or $1,360 per person.

A NET BENEFIT “The net benefit to North Carolina was about $8.3 billion, or about $13,000 per person,” he explained. For every $1 spent, then, the return to the North Carolina economy was $10.

“You are going to hurt your economy if you take this money out,” he said. “Every study we have done — including one in Arizona — shows this huge net benefit. If you want to be anti-immigrant, you also need to understand that it’s not just the people you’re targeting, it’s the whole economy.”

‘The working class, which has long defined our notions of masculinity, is slowly turning into a matriarchy, with men increasingly absent from the home and women making all the decisions.’

With the Graying of America, those dollars become even more important for funding Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, according to Johnson.

“Think about how much more they would be contributing to the economy if they had the same rights and privileges as legal citizens,” Everett emphasized.

Why, then, do so many have this stereotypical view of illegal immigrants? “One explanation is scapegoat theory. When people lose their jobs or experience hard economic times, they often do not blame the economy or the government as the cause of their hardship,” Everett explained. “They often look at somebody else as the source of these problems, and that ‘somebody else’ is often groups that are worse off than they are, such as illegal immigrants or other minority groups.

“Those groups become the targets of frustration and hostility, because they are seen as a threat and the cause of problems, such as the disappearance of jobs,” she adds. “They become scapegoats.”

Johnson also pointed to other misperceptions about illegal immigration and declared, “If you have a problem with immigration, get over it.”

“Those from Asia, Latin America and the Middle East are the nonwhite ethnic minority members who are part of this Browning of America,” he said. “The U.S. immigrant population went from 10.3 million in 1900 to 40.4 million in 2011 because we liberalized our immigration policy in the mid-1980s.”

Citing history and laws as reasons for the U.S. to hold back the numbers from Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, Johnson stressed, “We’ve put the blame on one ethnic group, Hispanics.”

But the numbers show that those who come as tourists and international students are a major part of the illegal immigration issue.

“They are more likely to be well-educated and sit right beside you, and you don’t even know it,” he added.

According to his research, these groups now number 53 million and many times have

overstayed their visas, thus making them illegal immigrants. He said that 40-45 percent of the illegal immigrants in the U.S. get into the country this way.

“These are folks we invite to come on a temporary basis,” he said. The reason little is heard about this population is that “they contribute $12.8 billion to our economy, and this is big business for us.”

DEALING WITH THE CHANGES It’s one thing to understand this brave new world. It’s quite another to know how Stetson faculty can help their students deal with these dramatic changes.

“We’re facing a free-agent economy,” Johnson pointed out. “Our students are going to have to sell their services and themselves.

And they need to stay on top of information in their fields and know the trends.

“Furthermore,” Johnson continued, “we need to help our students develop this cultural elasticity where they can move among cultures with ease.

“This requires our students to be agile and flexible.”

Everett believes that Johnson’s discussion of demographic disruption goes beyond preparing students for this new society. “We at Stetson need to turn the lens on ourselves and ask how we are going to respond.”

To drive home her point, she reaches for a recent Orlando Sentinel, where she points to two stories on the front page that reflect the radical changes Johnson discussed, one about students who “step out with business startups” and the other about “sitcom shows life for Asian-Americans.”

“This is happening now,” she stressed.

Everett recalled hearing students coming out of classes in Davis Hall speaking Spanish.

“And I am thinking that if I’m going to be a responsible member of this community, I need to go back and relearn Spanish to be able to communicate with people. In other words, the challenge is on us to adapt.”

Bill Noblitt is editor of stetson magazine.

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Music Forges Community “Music speaks the most universal of languages, one by which the soul is freely, yet indefinably moved; but it is then at home.”

—Robert Schumann, Composer

C

laims to universality make a lot of

people uneasy these days — and rightly so, for such claims often betray ethnocentrism. Many of Schumann’s pronouncements about universality, too, are riddled with bias. But this one he got right. Music (like language) is universal in the sense that we all — all of humanity — “do” it. We need music.

Recent research in anthropology, psychology and neuroscience of music suggests that music has played a crucial part in the way we evolved as a species.

Like language, music can function both to connect people and to help them communicate. It also appears that throughout human history music has played an important role in creating and sustaining social cohesion.

What can be more bonding and binding than singing, playing and dancing together?

It is no coincidence, then, that music is so essential to human ritual, religious and otherwise. Worship, political rallies, weddings, funerals, concerts, sports events, frat parties, birthdays, children’s play, graduations — you name a social activity, the music is there.

Indeed, by its very definition, music is a social art form that requires participation of many — composers (individual or collective, as in folk music), performers (professional or not), and listeners. The moment these elements come together, one is dealing with a community. In experiencing music together with others, we are experiencing the world with them.

One of the ways music helps to create and sustain communities is by furnishing us with a sense of collective identity. The subject of group identity or identities, both real and imagined, was one of the threads that ran through a course I taught last fall called Music and Politics. In the unit on German

Nationalism, my students looked at the seminal role — positive and negative — music (and music mythology) had played in defining the German nation.

In another unit, Music and Protest in the United States, we explored music as the agent of solidarity in the civil rights movement and in various anti-war movements. In most cases, music was an expression of shared experiences, feelings, ideologies, concerns, symbols, and even locations.

The course ended with the discussion of Hip-Hop (and Rap as its musical manifestation) at the time of the genre’s creation in the turbulent late-1970s New York City. Hip-Hop emerged as a protest art form (against social injustices), but it was also a great expressive outlet for young artists, who were ready to channel their collective energies away from violence and into creativity.

But if music offers a strong sense of solidarity to the like-minded, it also has an ability to bring together those on opposite sides of a given divide. Take the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra of young musicians founded to bring together Israeli and Palestinian young musicians — to form a new community.

A statement of the orchestra reads: “We aspire to total freedom and equality between Israelis and Palestinians, and it is on this basis that we come together today to play music.”

(Go to www.west-eastern-divan.org.)

Music offers a shared experience, which transcends “deep political and ideological divides.” It does not suppress the differences, nor does it solve real-world problems, but that shared experience of making music promotes tolerance.

Music grounds you in almost every sense of the word. It allows you to be anywhere and yet feel “at home” (recall Schumann’s words).

B y D a n i i l Z a v l u no v , P h . D .

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Music allows you to be anywhere and yet feel at home.

Associate Professor of Music Anthony Hose directs Stetson’s Orchestra.

This sense of place — sense of belonging — could be something very real, like a geographical location: a village in Russia with songs whose melodies are unique to that village or a tribal community in Africa with drumming patterns characteristic only of that community.

But the sense of home could also be very abstract, for music has a capacity to transport you to different often distant communities where you might or might not literally belong.

My own experience illustrates this.

I have lived in the United States now for some two decades, but I grew up in Central Asia. Uzbek, Afghan and Central-Asian Jewish music were part of my everyday life. I lived with these musical traditions alongside Soviet pop, Russian folk, and Russian and Western art (classical) music. I am at home in all of these cultural communities, and each has shaped me in some way. Obviously, I do not (and cannot) belong to them all, but music gives me access to them — a metaphorical membership, if you like. Through their music, I carry fragments of these communities with me wherever I go. We all do something similar, regardless of our backgrounds or the kinds of music we listen to or perform.

Through music, you can also encounter new communities. The secret to such encounters lies in the openness of reception. Mere exposure to musical diversity enriches, and perhaps even strengthens, you and your own community. It is for this reason that I require my students in the Introduction to Western Art Music course to attend a series of classical music concerts on campus.

The idea behind this requirement is not only to expose them to the alien repertories that we are studying, nor to make them leave their musical comfort zones, and not even to hear music live, but also to experience all these things communally. Concerts — classical or not — are events during which numerous communities converge. Bridging these distinct communities — musicians, faculty, staff, students, parents, local community members, etc.

— is, of course, music.

From the perspective of a musician, there is always the urge to make music individually and together and to share that music with others. For the audience member, there is the need to take part in that music-making, to share in it. Temporary and fluid, that concert will end, but the community-forging experience will be taken by us and through us into other communities.

Daniil Zavlunov, Ph.D. is assistant professor of music at Stetson.

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Stetson Law Students Represent Disabled Veterans

F

By Shannon Tan

ormer Army Maj. Stacey-Rae Simcox and her husband Mark Matthews had a difficult time with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) once they left active duty.

Both were Judge Advocates General (JAGs), the group concerned with military justice.

“We really messed up filing his claim for benefits with the VA,” explains Simcox, now director of the Veterans Advocacy Clinic for Stetson’s College of Law. “It really exemplifies how difficult and convoluted the VA is. If two JAG attorneys can’t figure out this system, then how is the average Joe going to be able to? And what if that soldier or Marine has post-traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury as well?

“That would make it impossible.”

At the Veterans Advocacy Clinic, then, Stetson law students learn practical attorney skills while representing disabled veterans seeking the benefits they earned from the VA. The clinic is in the perfect place. With the third-largest population of veterans in the nation, Florida has been hit hard by issues in the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to Simcox. “Florida’s large veteran population also means that a number of veterans are now students attending school at Stetson and are part of the Stetson community,” Simcox explains.

Still, the issues are many: Lengthy wait times for veterans seeking medical care, falsified records covering up chronic delays, allegations of veterans dying while awaiting treatment from the VA. The recent scandals involving the VA have brought the need for quality legal and medical

assistance for veterans to the forefront. The clinic helps veterans navigate this minefield.

In Florida, the Stetson University College of Law and the University of South Florida (USF) Morsani College of Medicine are collaborating to help veterans navigate the bureaucracy of the VA disability claims process.

Stetson’s Veterans Advocacy Clinic is one of about 30 veterans clinics at law schools across the country.

Simcox says the partnership, which is believed to be the first of its kind in the

nation, allows law students to work closely with medical students in a variety of fields to seek diagnoses, evaluations and medical advice on challenging medical issues in veterans’ cases.

Stetson’s Veterans Advocacy Clinic takes on cases where veterans “really need a lawyer” because the disability claims are procedurally complicated or involve complicated medical issues such as combat and military sexual trauma, Simcox says. The clinic also handles claims for medical retirement benefits for

Helping Returning 42

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Detail from the Korean War Veterans Memorial

active-duty service members.

The average veteran is “trapped in the system for five to seven years,” according to Simcox. “There is a saying, ‘Delay, deny until you die’ because veterans get turned around in the system for years… We don’t want to be that closed door. We will find a way to help you because it’s personal. I’m a veteran.”

Barbara Wood, a part-time Stetson Law student and Army and Navy veteran, tells her clients that they are not alone in battling the VA bureaucracy.

Heroes

“I understand how frustrating this process is,” she tells the veterans. “I’m trying to take that stress off you, and I will take that stress off you for this process.”

Before coming to Stetson, Simcox founded the Veterans Clinic at William and Mary law school. While there, she presented medical evidence to the VA that allowed 82 percent of veterans she assisted to receive medical benefits after being initially denied them.

For example, one client was diagnosed with bipolar disorder but was denied benefits from the VA, she says. After the students discovered that the client’s symptoms stemmed from a traumatic brain injury, the VA awarded the client his benefits.

“He went from being homeless to not homeless,” says Simcox. “He went from not being medicated to being medicated.

“The medical examinations being done by

VA hospitals are often not adequate, which is why having USF is so important, because law students and medical students are working hand-in-hand on these cases,” she says.

Dr. Isis Marrero, a psychiatric behavioral neuroscientist at USF Health, says the partnership would “inform and educate legal counsel so they are more familiar with mental health issues and are able to identify early on those veterans who should have psychiatric evaluations done.”

Veterans suffer from a spectrum of mental health disorders, including post-traumatic stress, mood disorders, depression and traumatic brain injuries, says Marrero.

Such disorders can affect a veteran’s ability to parse the complex issues in their cases. A single veteran’s case file can span more than 1,000 pages.

Alexis Campos, a third-year student at Stetson Law, had a client who thought he filed a benefits claim in the 1970s. “He confused a benefits compensation claim with a GI Bill claim,” she says. “It shows how complicated the process is. You can go 30 years thinking you have a claim. He thought he was fighting a claim, and he really wasn’t.”

The Veterans Advocacy Clinic students often act as detectives in sorting out veterans’ claims. Some scour Facebook for witnesses in a rape case. Others turn to social media to document visible changes in a veteran after a sexual assault incident.

“One of my clients took short trips to the Korean Demilitarized Zone, but unless you can prove that, exposure to Agent Orange is not presumed,” says Trista Miller, JD ’11, supervisor of Stetson’s Veteran’s Law Institute Pro Bono Initiative, who participated in the Veterans Advocacy Clinic.

The veteran had no orders showing that the military had sent him to the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Miller, a former Army officer, is searching online blogs and forums and has filed numerous Freedom of Information Act requests in an attempt to locate others in the same military specialty who were at the Korean Demilitarized Zone at the same time.

The clinical students are hopeful that their efforts will eventually lead to beneficial resolutions in the veterans’ cases.

“I think the fact that we can get attorneys and law students involved gives veterans a much higher-quality response to the VA than they would probably have had on their own or through veterans services organizations,” says Wood.

Shannon Tan is a Stetson Law student.

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Former U.S. Senator and Vietnam Hero Max Cleland Comes Home to Stetson

Coming Home

By Bill Noblitt “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially.”

—Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

O

April 8, 1968, then Capt.

Max Cleland’s (’64) Vietnam War tour was coming to an end, yet he volunteered to go on a rescue mission in Khe Sanh. There, North Vietnamese troops overran thousands of stranded Marines.

It was supposed to be an easy assignment.

All he had to do was oversee the installation of a radio relay station on a hill and then head back to have a beer with friends. But nothing is ever easy in war.

A helicopter took them rumbling to the site. On arrival, a fellow soldier jumped off the helicopter, and the grenade he carried dropped to the ground with the pin out.

As Cleland hopped off the helicopter, he stretched to his full 6-foot-2-inch height and looked up to watch the whirlybird take off.

But then he looked down and saw the grenade on the ground that he thought was his. When he reached to pick it up, it exploded.

“The blast jammed my eyeballs back into my skull, temporarily blinding me…,” he writes in Strong at the Broken Places. “When my eyes cleared I looked at my right hand. It was gone… Then I tried to stand but couldn’t. I looked down. My right leg and knee were gone. My left leg was a soggy mass of bloody flesh mixed with green fatigue cloth.”

That day, Cleland lost both his legs and part of an arm. He can still hear the ringing in his ears and heart. It was an accident turned nightmare. He was just 25 years old.

“The curse of the soldier is that he never forgets,” he wrote in his book Heart of a Patriot.

“My body, my soul, my spirit and my belief in life itself were stolen from me by the disaster of the Vietnam War.” n

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Cleland says now: “I think I’ve been broken totally twice in my life, once when that grenade went off,” he says. “At those times, I could do nothing but fight for my survival.”

Today, he sits telling his story in the T. Wayne Bailey Politicos Max Cleland Room on the duPont-Ball Library’s ground floor. The room houses the Max Cleland Collection of photos and political and military memorabilia.

“The other time was when I found myself in a deep, dark place after I lost my re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2002,” Cleland remarks as his voice goes hollow.

During that period, friends and faith pulled him through. “The good Lord has never come to me more powerfully than through the help of great friends,” he says.

“They say that courage is fear that is said in prayers,” he explains. “Say your prayers and don’t quit, and, amazingly enough, good things will happen to you.

“The grace of God is real, and the truth is real,” he says pointing to Stetson’s motto Pro Deo et Veritate. “And that’s how you come to faith. You have done everything you can and still feel powerless, and that’s when something good happens anyway. That’s grace.”

At that point, Cleland asserts, “You don’t want to quit because you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that all you have to do is have enough hope and faith to get through the next moment.”

That brutal Senate campaign, he says, “was worse than getting blown up.” During the campaign, one particular television ad charged him with not being tough enough on terrorism, something that struck at the very heart of his patriotism.

“I’d never seen anything like that ad,” says

Republican Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam veteran himself, about the 2002 TV spot.

“Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield — it’s worse than disgraceful. It’s reprehensible.”

The high point of his one-term Senate experience was expanding NATO with the Czech Republic and other former Eastern Bloc countries. The low point, he says, was the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton. “I was there doing some good stuff,” he stresses. “It was like being a ballplayer in the major leagues and playing center field every day.

“I thought I was supposed to be there. I thought I’d be re-elected.”

Today’s political landscape worries him, particularly big money in campaigns. “Big Photo by Brendan Rogers

money in political races has done more to hurt our country than anything I know,” he declares. “Billionaires are trying to buy elections now.”

Cleland also sees the decline of the Fourth Estate, the news media, a traditional watchdog on government and society’s institutions.

“There’s little investigative reporting going on now,” he adds. “Journalism basically is on its way out, and that’s bad for our nation.”

In many ways, Cleland’s political life began at Stetson, especially through the university’s highly selective Washington Semester, where juniors and seniors see the major political issues of the day open up before them.

One particular event shaped his future political life. In 1963, while attending the Washington Semester, he went to Arlington to watch President John F. Kennedy’s burial.

“You can’t imagine what it was like to be in Washington, D.C., at that time as a 21-year-old senior and see the whole thing unfold.”

Born in 1942, Cleland grew up an only child in Lithonia, Ga. His father was a traveling auto parts salesman who was at Pearl Harbor shortly after the Japanese attack that launched the U.S. into World War II. Cleland remembers wanting to be a Navy aviator, but Stetson didn’t have Navy ROTC, so he joined the university’s Army ROTC program instead.

After Vietnam, he ran for and won a seat in the Georgia Senate, standing on 20-pound artificial legs to make his campaign speeches.

After the Georgia Senate, President Jimmy Carter appointed him head of the Veterans Administration, the youngest ever to hold that post. He also served 14 years as Georgia’s secretary of state.

Today, he’s secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission, managing 25 cemeteries overseas where fallen American troops from World War I and World War II are memorialized. He is also chair of the Advisory Committee for Arlington National Cemetery.

Back for Stetson’s Homecoming in November 2014, Cleland reflected on his time at the university. “I always feel a bit ethereal when I come here,” he says. “The Spanish moss in the trees gives the campus a mystical quality.”

What did Stetson give him, though?

“Stetson gave me the chance to be whatever I was supposed to be,” he says. “And I always wanted to be somebody.”

Bill Noblitt is editor of stetson magazine.

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In

q u i ry

On the Path of the Buddha New research means new information in the classroom, and Phillip Lucas, Ph.D., professor of religious studies, is no stranger to this concept.

From December 2014 to January 2015, between semesters, Lucas went to South India.

“I visited the five great Shiva temples, each related to the five classical elements of fire, earth, air, water, and aether — or space.”

He says he plans to film the worship rituals that take place there as well as the sacred architecture.

Lucas has done this before with his documentary on the Buddha titled On the Path of the Buddha: Buddhist Pilgrimage in North India, viewable at http:// bitly/16Z1K3Q. He takes you to sites significant to the life of the Buddha, and you feel you’re there.

The documentary follows the path of the Buddha from his birth in Lumbini, Nepal, to his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, to his death in Kushinagar, India.

“When I go to these places, I open myself up to the social, natural and subtle atmosphere of the place,” Lucas explains. “Each of these places has its own tone, its own unique palette of symbols and rites.”

You can feel this watching the documentary. In this way, Lucas gives his viewers an immersive experience.

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Why does he film the documentaries? He is simply doing what he wishes someone had done for him.

He realizes that often it is difficult for academic departments of religious studies to buy documentaries with their restricted budgets. Making the films free for educators helps address this need.

To date, the film has been viewed more than 10,500 times in its first year.

From an early age, Lucas was struck with wanderlust. During the ’60s, when it came time to head to college, he took the road less traveled.

More accurately, he went to sea and chose to spend seven years in Europe. While there, he lived in the Canary Islands and Morocco, and it was extremely rewarding, he says.

“I ran into a lot of really, really interesting people from different faith traditions,” he says.

“They taught me what they knew and had me read certain books. That opened my mind to this much larger world of religion, devotion, pilgrimage and spirituality,” Lucas says.

Constant broadening seems to be the mantra for Lucas. “After graduate school, my interests really began to expand.”

Lucas now teaches courses on comparative spirituality and those on the religions of India, Islam, and American religious history.

—Sebastian Jones

Teacher Exodus

points and subsequent failure for both teachers and their students.

The numbers on the chalkboard aren’t difficult to calculate.

National studies reveal that 40-50 percent of new teachers in kindergarten through 12th grade classrooms leave the profession within the first five years of teaching.

And about 13 percent of the nation’s 3.4 million K-12 teachers shift schools or leave the profession each year, collectively costing states up to $2 billion.

Simply put, new teachers are struggling in the classroom.

A National Center for Education Statistics survey found a correlation between the level of support and training provided to new teachers and their likelihood of leaving after the first year.

This reveals that poor retention is not a question of commitment but a problem with support.

A peek behind the curtain shows there is yet more to the equation: more academic responsibilities for teachers and more social challenges in the classroom, resulting in greater pressure

CHALLENGING TIMES An acceleration of K-12 curriculum content is a prime example of one challenge facing teachers.

“What I might have been studying when I was in sixth or seventh grade can now be found in the curriculum in third or fourth grade,” explains Chris Colwell, Ed.D., associate professor and chair of Stetson University’s Department of Education.

He knows what he’s talking about since he spent 34 years as a K-12 teacher and administrator.

As pointed out, 40-50 percent of teachers leave the profession within the first five years of teaching.

“So the amount of content, along with the ability to teach that content, provides a greater challenge for elementary teachers than it has in the past,” says Colwell. “The 21st century elementary school teacher has to come to the classroom with a much deeper understanding of core-content knowledge.”

At the same time, many col-

leges across the country are failing to change with the times. Teachers often are still being taught using old methods and with little exposure to new technologies.

Additionally, in many school districts, ongoing learning opportunities for K-12 teachers are limited.

Across the nation, college students majoring in education are falling short on core-knowledge depth, are not being adequately prepared to deal with classroom issues in an increasingly demanding environment, and don’t have the ability to foster blended learning — the use of technology-enabled tools and curricula in concert with traditional teaching methods.

The bottom line: Many teachers aren’t learning how to teach well enough, are suffering from lack of administrative support, and are becoming frustrated and overwhelmed to the point of leaving their jobs.

WANTED: SOLUTIONS As a result, new approaches are needed, along with the understanding that effective teaching

requires a deep knowledge of the subject, an understanding of how people learn, and an ability to use principles of learning and teaching to stimulate student learning and achievement. That’s exactly what is happening at Stetson.

Recognizing the need for new ideas and methods for teaching, Stetson and a handful of partners have their sights set on delivering a new model of excellence in educating prospective teachers.

In December 2014, Stetson — along with Bethune-Cookman University, Volusia County Schools and the New Teacher Center — was awarded a $1.1 million grant from the Florida Department of Education to create and launch the Volusia Center for Excellence in Education.

The goal: strengthen and enhance the skills of teachers as well as their knowledge of core subject matter. In-depth coursework, labs, field experiences and clinical education training will be required for all teachers going through the program. With committee work underway, all initiatives are scheduled to ramp up during the next several months. Giving teachers the tools they need to handle issues that arise in the classroom is key.

“This is an exciting opportunity to partner with our colleagues to enhance teacher education throughout Florida and beyond,” says Karen Ryan, Ph.D., dean of Stetson’s College of Arts and Sciences, noting that an effective program has been in place for years. “This grant will allow us to make aspects of our curriculum — especially the thorough mastery of content — more widely available to teacher education programs.”

“This collaborative effort will develop better trained teachers who will continue to receive peer

support throughout their first year teaching with Volusia County Schools,” says Margaret Smith, D.Ed., recently retired superintendent of Volusia County schools.

Academic rigor, performance evaluation and classroom relevancy will be the focal points as the model takes shape for the roughly 120 Stetson students who are learning to become teachers.

For example, Stetson interns teaching at schools will have a college professor working with and evaluating them as well as a supervising teacher at the school.

A teacher specialist from the K-12 school district, whose full-time job is to evaluate and assist professional practicing teachers in the field, will work with them. As such, the same instructional specialists working with a five-year veteran in the school system will assist interns, too.

“We are licensing teachers, and that license, that credential, means a lot to us,” says Colwell, who serves as the grant’s principal investigator. “So, we want that credential to be equal to and superior to the credential of an experienced teacher.”

As part of the model, Volusia County Schools has committed to offer student teachers employment at the end of their junior years if they are able to demonstrate an established level of proficiency.

“This initiative will provide a seamless transition for new teachers from their university pre-service programs to their early experiences co-teaching in the classroom, working alongside a qualified teacher and on through their first two years on the job,” says Jordan Brophy-Hilton, vice president of Program Partnerships at the New Teacher Center. “The result will be improvements in both teaching quality and student learning,” she says.

SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMS Efforts elsewhere in the country are yielding strong results.

In Chicago, for example, young teachers are finding help from the New Teacher Center’s e-Mentoring for Student Success program.

This innovative program brings together new and veteran teachers, along with university professors, to share ideas and experiences within a structured curriculum.

The program is built around a Facebook-like academic social platform where discussions and forums take place.

The eMSS program was created in partnership with the National Science Teachers Association to connect new teachers with each other and with mentors.

At Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa, a teacher induction program created by the New Teacher Center has increased new-teacher retention rates from 72 percent three years ago to 86 percent a year later.

Further improvement is expected.

Those efforts and others are part of new thinking — and an emerging new model — that education leaders like Colwell believe will provide needed solutions in the future.

“We’re not interested in our graduates taking three or four years to get really good at their craft,” Colwell concludes. “We want them to walk in the door ready on day one.”

Stetson’s Department of Education is accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education and fully approved by the State of Florida for teacher certification.

Programs are aligned to meet the State of Florida’s Subject Area Competencies and the Florida Educators’ Accomplished Practices.

—Michael Candelaria STETSON

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Ga

m es

No Payne, No Gain

By Ricky Hazel It took just 19 games for the return of the Stetson University football program to make a major mark on the national stage.

It was cold and drizzling in sleepy Buies Creek, N.C., as the Hatters prepared to take on Campbell in search of back-to-back wins for the first time in more than 50 years.

The previous week at Davidson, the Hatters earned a 40-34 victory over the Wildcats in what was a ho-hum performance for Stetson sophomore defensive back Donald Payne. For most players, a 16-tackle effort with 1.5 for loss, a forced fumble and a pass breakup is a career day.

Payne is not most players.

His father, Donald Payne Sr., and uncle, Ezra Johnson, were All-Americans at Morris Brown College, and his uncle went on to have a 15-year career in the NFL. The combination of athletic and academic ability, combined with a strong football lineage, made him an attractive recruit for Coach Roger Hughes’ first class of signees in February 2011.

It was not until Payne arrived on the Stetson University campus in August 2012 that the coaches got an idea about the kind of player he could be.

“When he got on campus and we saw him against the other kids we brought in, we realized pretty quickly that he was head and shoulders above the others,” Hughes says.

During his freshman season, Payne made an immediate impact.

He earned Pioneer Football League Defensive Player of the Week honors after each of the 48

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first three games of the 2013 season. He was also named The Sports Network’s national “Freshman of the Week” following Stetson’s first game.

In 2013, he was named PFL Defensive Freshman of the Year and first-team All-Conference. He was a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, which goes to the Freshman of the Year in FCS football, and he was a freshman All-American after recording 113 tackles, including 16 for loss, two forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and two interceptions.

During that season, Payne recorded double-digit tackles seven times in 11 games with a high of 15. But that was just a taste of what was to come.

The 2014 season began to pick up in game three as Payne tied his career-high with 15 tackles, including 1.5 sacks and a fumble recovery.

The next week at BirminghamSouthern, Payne had 16 tackles, including three for loss and his second interception of the year.

Against the Jacksonville Dolphins, Payne had 26 tackles, falling just short of the all-time PFL mark.

Remarkably, after the game, both Payne and Hughes agreed he had not played his best game.

In fact, Payne indicated that 30 tackles in a game was not out of reach.

Fast-forward to Buies Creek two weeks later. Payne started fast against Campbell as the Hatters and Camels battled in a tight game. By the time Campbell got the ball late in the fourth quarter, needing a touchdown to win, Payne had 25 stops.

On that final drive, Payne made five more stops to tie the NCAA’s all-time, all-division record for tackles in a game, hitting the mark of 30 that he had predicted. He capped the performance on the final play by getting

Stetson football star Donald Payne breaks records.

a hand on a pass at the goal line, deflecting the ball to teammate Ryan Powers for a game clinching interception.

Over the final half of the season, Payne piled up 128 tackles in six games to finish the season with an NCAA best 185 stops.

For his efforts, Payne became the Hatters’ first consensus AllAmerican. His list of awards include: • Walter Camp Football Foundation FCS All-America • The Sports Network FCS All-America First Team • Associated Press (AP) AllAmerica First Team • College Sports Madness All-America First Team • Beyond Sports Network All-America Second Team • Sports Illustrated Faces in the Crowd – Dec. 22, 2014.

• Buck Buchanan Award Finalist (FCS Defensive Player of the Year) • College Sports Madness PFL Defensive Player of the Year • PFL Defensive Player of the Year • Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-District • Pioneer Football League All-Conference First Team • Pioneer Football League Academic All-Conference First Team • FCS Athletic Director’s Association Academic All-Star Team “It is a tremendous honor to be recognized as one of the top players in the nation,” Payne says.

“While this is a great award, my goal is to not get complacent. I want to keep setting higher goals for myself and my team for the future.” For Payne and the Hatters, the future is brighter than ever.

Ricky Hazel is Stetson’s sports information director.

Photo by David S. Williams

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Impact

Opening in Fall 2015, the new Hollis Family Student Success Center on the mezzanine level of the duPont-Ball Library will feature nearly 4,500 square feet for mentors, group and individual study/tutoring space, and technology. Its services were previously scattered throughout campus.

A Room of One’s Own Garrett Franklin is on track to graduate this May with a degree in Integrative Health Science, but his road to academic success was not assured.

“As a freshman, I struggled with procrastination, time management and studying in general.

One-on-one success coaching gave me more than just study tips,” he reflects. “I gained a source of accountability and motivation and a greater knowledge of how to manage my schedule. Now as a peer success coach, I share the lessons I learned to help others be the best students they can be.”

Franklin is just one of hundreds of Stetson students who have benefited from efforts to ensure student success since initiatives began in 2010 under the leadership of Assistant Provost Lua Hancock, Ed.D. “Our students are not coming to us with a blank slate,” Hancock says. “They are coming to us with roots, history, knowledge and varied backgrounds to a place where they will grow even further.

In Student Success our symbol is the tree because we believe in the roots down and the growth up, and that a college campus is an amazing place to grow.”

At its core, the Hollis Family Student Success Center provides a range of deep, engaging learning experiences that lead to substantial personal and academic growth. This means everything from tutoring to internships. The approach focuses on the whole 50

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student, empowering him or her with the academic, social and financial know-how to succeed and become an effective global citizen and lifelong learner.

The program helped Zsofia Szurovszki ’16 secure a summer internship at a Fortune 500 company and handle her coursework while recovering from a shoulder injury (she is on the golf team). It also helped Miguel Ortiz Burgos ’16 adjust to the English language and environment.

“It is a service available and used by all students regardless of their academic status,” says Burgos, now a peer success coach.

“Every student at Stetson has the ability to succeed, and I believe sometimes we all just need a little help reaching that success,” Burgos adds.

Both shared their stories at a ceremony in October 2014 that recognized a gift from the Hollis family that would take Stetson’s dedication to student success to the next level.

“It was a special day to have my mom [Lynn Hollis] back on campus,” Trustee Dean Hollis ’82 says, “to see the warmth and affection of friends, and to see the space in the library and how it will be transformed into a warm, inviting and innovative space dedicated to student success. It was humbling to see all the people who care so passionately for Stetson, but especially for helping future generations succeed.

“We want to see students benefiting from the Stetson experience, by thriving and maturing in all aspects of their lives,” Hollis continues.

“We want them to relish chal-

lenges, deal with obstacles and turn those obstacles into success.”

Here are some tangible highlevel goals — and progress to date — that the Hollis Family Student Success Center will impact: • Since 2010, focused initiatives have directly contributed to a 12-percent increase in the number of first-year students achieving a 3.0 GPA in their first term. In addition, the number of first-timein-college students placed on academic warning or suspension after their first term decreased by 6.4 percent.

• Stetson’s retention rate in fall 2014 of first-time-in-college students is 79 percent from their freshman to sophomore year, a three-percent increase over fall 2010. The center’s efforts will help increase this to 80 percent by fall 2015 — aggressive for a university where 23 percent of its 2013 first-time-in-college students are the first in their families to attend college.

• Helping students persist to graduation is the center’s primary strategic goal. In 2013, Stetson’s six-year graduation rate of firsttime-in-college undergraduates was 64 percent, compared to 61 percent in 2010. The fall 2015 goal is to maintain that 64 percent.

But the best evidence of what the Hollis Family Student Success Center can accomplish is seen in students like Franklin and Szurovszki, as they overcome obstacles, inspire others, and position themselves for success in their lives and careers.

As Hollis says: “We can only hope and pray that others will benefit from the Stetson experi-

ence in ways that will allow and compel them to not just successfully pursue their passions, but also pass it on.”

Opening WORLD to Our Students “We’re dedicated to a holistic model of internationalization,” explains Paula Hentz, assistant director of Study Abroad at WORLD (which stands for World Outreach, Research, Learning and Development). “We strive to provide a variety of opportunities for students to become wellinformed global citizens.”

WORLD’s mission in advancing Stetson’s values also encompasses opportunities for faculty to lead programs abroad, make connections and otherwise enhance their global perspectives.

In addition, Stetson brings the world to its campuses here at

World travelers David and Leighan Rinker in Venice.

B y A m y G i p son

home through a variety of intercultural experiences inside and outside the classroom that explore diverse cultures and international issues.

Travel, technology and business development have made it more important than ever for students to have a global view, especially as more companies seek to hire graduates who are adept at interacting in intercultural situations.

To prepare students to meet these competitive demands, Stetson tripled the number of semester exchange opportunities for students in less than two years.

In just one year, Stetson increased its international population by 20 percent. Momentum is building.

It’s a mission that world travelers David ’62 and Leighan ’65 Rinker support wholeheartedly.

For several years, they supported student internships with the AIR Program in Guatemala (see story

Page 34). AIR (Alliance for International Reforestation) was developed by former Stetson Political Science Professor Anne Hallum, Ph.D. The Rinkers also helped fund an international studies trip series with the Department of Religious Studies.

David and Leighan Rinker are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the Marshall E. Rinker Sr. Foundation Inc. They also founded and own Paradox Properties Inc., a Palm Beach County investment company.

David has been a Stetson trustee since 1987, and Leighan served on the Board of Advisors of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Most recently, WORLD: The David and Leighan Rinker Center for International Learning was dedicated in October 2014, recognizing the family’s long-standing support of Stetson and specifically the Study Abroad Program.

“Intercultural learning is vital to the Stetson experience,” David Rinker says regarding why they give to the program. “A primary mechanism for transformative intercultural learning is study abroad. Our goal is to make it possible for every Stetson student to study abroad regardless of academic major and financial means.”

While only 27 percent of seniors said in a 2012 survey that they studied abroad while at Stetson, 56 percent of first-year students said they desire that opportunity. Interest has increased dramatically, but funding can be an obstacle. There is always a need for more student scholarships and funds that support program needs.

“At WORLD we are in the business of changing perspectives and creating opportunities to enhance the student experience on campus and around the globe,” says Matthew Ady ’14, who studied abroad in Spain and Peru and served as a peer adviser while a student. “Students always come back telling us their experience was none other than life changing.”

For more information, visit www.stetson.edu/world.

A Lifelong Stetson Connection Although she was at home in cities across the nation from New York to Miami, Lydia Theurer Pfund BA ’40, MA ’42, remained close to Stetson throughout her life. After studying English and theater arts, she even served on the speech faculty at the university for a year.

Active in Dade County civic life, she was chair of the Red Cross Hospital and Recreation Corps and was on the board of directors of the Children Service Bureau and the Welfare Planning Council, among her many other activities. She enjoyed painting, antiques and her local garden club.

Pfund’s Stetson ties remained strong. She was secretary of the Dade County alumni chapter and was appointed by then-President J. Ollie Edmunds a founding member of the President’s Board of Alumni Counselors. She helped recruit students, solicit gifts and encourage alumni to

Lydia Theurer Pfund attend Homecoming. Pfund became a charter member of the Stetson Society in 1988.

Her leadership was evident even as a student on campus: She was president of Alpha Xi Delta sorority; editor of the Stetson Reporter, The Hatter and The Stetsonian; a member of Pi Kappa Delta and Theta Alpha Phi; and vice president of the Class of 1940.

Her impact on Stetson remains long after her passing. She left Stetson a $4.6 million gift from her estate to go toward general endowment needs.

Her philanthropy supports various initiatives, such as professorships, scholarships, the soonto-be-constructed Marshall and Vera Lea Rinker Welcome Center, and the Hollis Family Student Success Center.

To learn more about the ways you can make a gift to Stetson and the associated tax benefits as a member of the Stetson Society, please contact the Office of Gift Planning at (386) 822-7461 or plannedgiving@stetson.edu.

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Stetson Awards Announced

By Trish Wieland Anne Solomon ’63 New Executive Director of Alumni Engagement Woody O’Cain addresses the 50th Reunion class.

O’Cain Named Alumni Director Woody O’Cain, Stetson’s new executive director of alumni engagement, has spent his entire career in higher education, developing lasting relationships between institutions and the people they serve.

O’Cain brings more than 27 years of higher education experience in admission, recruitment and enrollment management from a variety of institutions.

Most recently, O’Cain served as the associate vice president for enrollment management at Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina.

O’Cain was at Queens from 1987 to 1992 and helped recruit the first coeducational class. From 1992-96, he was in charge of recruitment for other colleges, including the South Carolina Honors College at the University of South Carolina. He served as associate vice president for enrollment at the University of Evansville from 1996-98.

He became the director of admissions at Furman, where he served until 2008. During his 10-year tenure at Furman, he successfully elevated that university to a more nationally recognized, academically competitive and diverse liberal arts institution.

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He then became vice president for enrollment management at his alma mater, Erskine College.

O’Cain also worked as a consultant for Performa Higher Education, now called CREDO, as the director of admission solutions. He worked closely with their enrollment team to guide small, private colleges and universities through their admission and recruitment strategies.

“I have tremendous passion for working in private higher education and take great pride in the roles I have played at the other institutions,” O’Cain says. “I feel my experiences, especially at Furman, will benefit Stetson.”

One of the first things O’Cain learned in his admission career was the importance of “recruiting one student at a time.”

“That philosophy never escaped me,” he says. “I plan to use a similar approach and ‘engage one Stetson alum at a time.’ ” He plans to focus on connecting to Stetson’s alumni base with the current students at Stetson. By connecting alumni expertise with Stetson students, O’Cain wants to help “our students become holistically prepared for what they will face after graduation.

“This, in turn, will help our students become more successful and committed alumni,” he says.

—Bill Noblitt

Taking smart risks is second nature to Anne Solomon ’63, and this Stetson Distinguished Alumni Award winner knows a thing or two about reaching high and pushing herself to be the best. “Majoring in English strengthened my writing and analytic skills, both of which have been central to my career,” she notes. “Stetson faculty and friends helped open my mind to possibilities in the outside world, to options well beyond the confines of DeLand.

“In college, a friend and I would pore over each week’s issue of the Saturday Review of Literature, not only for the articles and reviews but also for the ads in the back about travel, jobs and adventures that could await an English major,” she recalls.

Throughout the 1970s, she directed one of the three primary, nongovernmental programs that helped develop ties between the United States and China — two societies that had been politically separated since 1949. In 1976, she was offered a senior staff position in the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.

“The U.S.-China relationship was high on the foreign policy agenda of the Carter administration, and my work on science and technology ties was a key element,” Solomon explains.

Solomon earned a Master of Public Administration degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 1980 and, afterward, returned to the National Academy of Sciences to focus on international

technology and trade.

In the 1990s, she was the deputy assistant secretary of state for science, technology and health. She negotiated with European countries, Japan and Russia on issues related to the Global Positioning System (GPS) and was responsible for U.S. global science and technology agreements as well as hard-hitting medical concerns like the global HIV/AIDS crisis.

After 9/11 and subsequent anthrax attacks, she worked to improve the nation’s approach to bioterrorism medical situations.

Now the senior adviser for science and technology policy at The Center for Study of the Presidency & Congress, Solomon focuses on foreign policy and economic and security implications of science and technology globalization. She also encourages students to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) initiatives and take smart risks with their educational pursuits.

“When I speak to young women about their career and life aspirations, I always encourage them to take calculated risks,” she explains. “With an urge to explore, people can find challenges and delights they had not even imagined before.”

N.K. Kihunrwa, MBA ’03 Nsaa-Iya “N.K.” Kihunrwa’s first “taste” of life at Stetson occurred rather uniquely: Dr. Jane Goodall (the renowned primatologist and humanitarian) introduced him to the now late Stetson President Doug Lee during a birthday party for Goodall at the home of a Disney vice president.

It was an amazing stroke of luck for which the thriving businessman and Distinguished Alumni Award winner is grateful.

Kihunrwa had been working at Disney on the recommendation of Goodall, whom Kihunrwa had met back in 1991 at an art contest he won that was sponsored by the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI). After meeting Lee and other Stetson leaders at Goodall’s birthday party in April 2000, he was extremely excited and thankful to have a chance to fulfill a long-held dream of obtaining an advanced college education in business. He was welcomed to Stetson and successfully navigated the academic criteria to enroll in fall 2001.

While at Stetson, Kihunrwa helped create CHOMI-RAFIKI, a thriving microcredit program in Tanzania. “Above all, my role in the Values Council Secretariat has further helped to shape my outlook on life and helped me become the person I am today.”

Kihunrwa is the chief coordinator at Development Partners Group for Water (DPGW), a consortium of donors supporting Tanzania’s water sector led by the World Bank. He also is one of the founding members of Goodall’s “Roots & Shoots” Program, a global environmental and humanitarian program for young people.

Kihunrwa still remembers many at Stetson with great fondness. “As a leader, I admired Doug’s commitment to instill and maintain good values at the university. As a leader, he had a profound impact on my life,” he says. “From Doug, I have experienced generosity, and I will continue making it a duty to help those who need higher education.”

Jane Edmunds Novak From the age of six, Jane Edmunds Novak held a special place in her heart for Stetson. It started with her father, J. Ollie

Edmunds, who worked his way up from custodial services on campus to president and chancellor of Stetson University. He instilled in his two children his love of Stetson and giving to others.

That legacy of giving continues.

Novak, who was honored with the Distinguished Service Award, along with her brother, John “J. Ollie” Edmunds Jr., support some of the most significant scholarships bestowed at Stetson.

“My father was the most generous person I have ever known.

He taught our family the joy of giving,” explains Novak. “The privilege of giving to others and getting a good education were important to him. We honor his legacy by recognizing and supporting deserving students, faculty and friends of Stetson.”

The most prestigious award is aptly named after their father.

The J. Ollie Edmunds Distinguished Scholarship Program is a four-year, full-ride scholarship awarded to exceptional students.

Novak and her brother also facilitate many of Stetson’s most prestigious annual awards and chose to name them after people who were “near and dear” to them while they were on campus.

The George and Mary Hood Award is given to a member or friend of the Stetson community in recognition of commitment and contributions to the university’s core values. The William Hugh McEniry Award for Excellence in Teaching (which honors the former dean of the university) is Stetson’s most prestigious award for faculty. The Etter McTeer Turner Award recognizes a student with outstanding academic performance, leadership and commitment to community service.

“These people were so special to us,” says Novak. “It is fitting that these major awards are in

their honor.” Novak has served on the Stetson board since 1995.

They are both on the boards of Gualala Redwoods Inc., a familyowned redwood forest company in Northern California, and the Third Growth Foundation.

Hyatt Brown, Hon. ’92 Cici Brown, Hon. ’07 Hyatt Brown, Hon. ’92, and his wife, Cynthia “Cici” Brown, Hon. ’07, are two of Stetson’s most committed and passionate supporters, making them ideal candidates to receive this year’s George and Mary Hood Award in recognition of their passion for, and commitment and contributions to, Stetson and its core values.

“It’s like we’ve always been connected to Stetson, but it actually emanates from Hyatt’s brother’s father-in-law, Arthur Morris, who was on the board of trustees in the ’60s and ’70s,” says Cici. “From there, Hyatt, who’s been in Volusia County all his life, joined the board under former Stetson President Pope Duncan.”

Leadership has always come naturally to the Browns. From 1961-2007, Hyatt served as chief executive officer and president of Brown & Brown Inc., a publicly owned corporation that is the sixth largest insurance intermediary/brokerage in the country and the world. He now serves as chairman of the board at Brown & Brown. He was a member of the Florida House of Representatives (1972-80) and Speaker of the House (1978-80).

Hyatt has been a member of the Stetson Board of Trustees since 1981 and currently serves as the chair of the Finance Committee. Cici, a former buyer for Saks Fifth Avenue, has been a devoted member of the arts and various charitable organizations

since she moved to Volusia County after Hyatt and she married in 1965. She has served on Stetson’s Board of Trustees for 15 years and also served 12 years (including one term as chair) on the College of Arts and Sciences Board of Advisors.

They highlight a moment in 2006 as especially memorable.

After a lengthy board meeting discussion regarding the Sage Science Center, which was in great need of repairs and updating at that time, the Browns suggested that the board members commit to and launch “phase one” of the fundraising immediately.

“We started a spontaneous board commitment to fund a drastically needed renovation of this facility, which resulted in 100-percent board participation for this project by the end of that meeting. That commitment from all the board members combined was several millions of dollars,” recalls Cici. “It was so inspiring that we all could make something so significant happen for our students in just one meeting.

President Doug Lee and others had tears in their eyes.”

The Browns recently established the Brown Center for Faculty Innovation and Excellence at Stetson, which opened this spring. Previously, they endowed the Brown Faculty Fellow & Visiting Professor Program, and numerous students have benefited from the Browns’ scholarship support through the years.

“We love being involved with young people because it’s very exciting and energizing,” explains Cici. “They are our future, and we need to be very mindful of that.

The commitment of the faculty and administration to provide a superior education and opportunities to all students is what we love most about Stetson.”

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Send Us Your Class Note Stetson University is proud of its alumni and their accomplishments.

Therefore, we want to hear about your achievements. If you are a graduate of Stetson University in DeLand or Celebration, send your class note to the Office of Alumni Engagement at Stetson University, 421 N. Woodland Blvd., Unit 8257, DeLand, FL 32723, or email your news to alumni@stetson.edu. If you are a graduate of the Stetson University College of Law, send your class note to the College of Law’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations, 1401 61st St. South, Gulfport, FL 33707, or email your class note to stetson.edu/lawalumninews. For the DeLand campus, you can fill out the online form for class notes by going to stetson.edu/ hatternet and clicking on submit class notes in the side menu. For College of Law graduates, you can fill out the online form at https://www.law.stetson. edu/forms/alumni-newsupdate.php. We will only use photos that are high resolution, and because of space limitations, we cannot guarantee use of all photographs.

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1960s Harry E. Allen ’60, Palm Springs, Cal., co-authored a textbook in 1975 titled Corrections in America, a book dealing with post-conviction processing of law violators (jail, probation, prison, parole, halfway houses, etc.).

Pearson/Prentice Hall published the textbook’s 14th edition. It is now the longest continuously published text (1975-2015) and is the best-selling textbook in the field of corrections.

David D. Spitzer ’61, MA ’64, North Miami, has been named a professor emeritus, having retired in 1997 from the art and philosophy department at Miami-Dade College, North Campus. In addition to formerly teaching art appreciation, humanities and philosophy, he is in his fourth decade as an active and exhibiting fine-arts photographer. The Smithsonian: National Museum of African American History and Culture has acquired 181 of his photographs of jazz and blues musicians for its permanent collection. The Southeast Museum of Photography has 161 of his prints of jazz and blues artists in its collection.

The Institute of Jazz at Rutgers University archives holds 400 of his images of notable jazz artists.

▲ Jewel Spears Brooker ’62, St. Petersburg, is a professor emerita of literature at Eckerd College, where she taught for more than 30 years.

She is the author of nine books and more than 100 essays on modern literature. She is also the co-editor of T.S. Eliot’s Complete Prose, published

by Johns Hopkins and Faber & Faber.

In addition, she has had visiting

appointments at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Doshisha University in Kyoto, and at Yale, Harvard, and Columbia universities. She is a senior research fellow at Oxford University (Merton College).

Marilyn Carroll Barton ’63, North Fort Myers, is retired from the Lee County Health Department after working for 30 years as a state employee. She travels twice a year to Vermont to visit family.

Diane Disney ’63, West Chester, Penn., received the 2014 George Graham Award for Exceptional Service from the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) in Washington, D.C. The award recognizes sustained and extraordinary contributions to making NAPA a stronger and more respected organization. Chartered by the U.S. Congress, NAPA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization established to help governmental leaders build more effective, efficient and accountable organizations.

name of Anne Josephs in the women’s fiction genre, also available on Amazon.

Jeanine Wehr Jones ’63, Hood River, Ore., taught in Turkey for three years and Philadelphia for one year, raised a family and went on for an M.A. in library and information science. She was a media specialist at Phillips High School in Raleigh, N.C., for 10 years. She and her husband own Career Key Inc. Robert J. Safransky, MA ’65, Pinellas Park, received a Saint Jude the Apostle Medal from Bishop Robert Lynch at the Cathedral of Saint Jude the Apostle in St. Petersburg. The medal is given each year in the diocese as a way of recognizing those showing distinguished and outstanding service to their parish.

Priscilla Jones Tunnell ’66, Rome, Ga., celebrated 50 years of service as a minister of the Gospel. She has served in more than 10 churches, four states and three countries.

Ned B. Ricks ’68, Gurnee, Ill., appeared in the play Lotto Fever in the Sucker State with the Saint Sebastian Players in their 34th season.

1970s

▲ Priscilla Campbell ’63, Lake Worth, a former clinical psychologist, has been homebound with ME/CFS since 1990. Despite this life change, she has written seven multi-chapter books and books of poetry, which were published by the Small Press and one by Clemson University Press. Sea Trails, an account in poetry and log notes of a 1977 trip down the East Coast in her 22-foot sailboat, and Postscripts to the Dead can both be found on Amazon. Moreover, she co-authored five books under the pen

W. Timothy O’Keefe ’70, Pensacola, has been appointed dean of the College of Business for the University of West Florida. He previously served as interim dean of the college and director of graduate programs. As dean, he is responsible for oversight and management of four academic departments and the Florida Small Business Development Center at UWF. He also continues to serve as a professor of accounting.

Leonard S. Englander, JD ’75, St. Petersburg, of Englander Fischer LLP joined the All Children’s Hospital Foundation Board. He sits on All Children’s Institutional Grants Committee. All Children’s Hospital focuses on pediatric treatment, education, research and advocacy to improve the well-being of children.

All Children’s is one of the few hospitals on the West Coast to serve the single purpose of the betterment of children’s health.

property litigation, as well as probate, environmental, land use and securities litigation.

Pamela Cichon, JD ’79, St. Petersburg, has joined the law firm of Rahdert, Steele, Reynolds & Driscoll, P.L., after 23 years of service as a senior assistant city attorney handling defense litigation for St. Petersburg.

1980s ▲ Robert S. Schumaker ’75, JD ’78, St. Petersburg, joined GrayRobinson, P.A., in their Tampa Real Estate Practice Group. He joins the firm with 30 years of experience in the industry, particularly in the practices focused on commercial real estate, land use law, lending transactions and environmental law.

▲ Harry O. Thomas, JD ’75, Tallahassee, has been selected for inclusion in the 2015 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the practice area of insurance law. He was named among Florida Super Lawyers for 2014 in the area of business litigation, along with also being selected to the 2014 Super Lawyers Business Edition. In addition, Thomas was named in Chambers USA for his extensive experience in handling regulatory litigation and reinsurance disputes.

Stephen C. Page, JD ’77, Stuart, has been named among the 2015 Best Lawyers in America. He was listed for the practice areas of intellectual property, real estate, trusts and estates and commercial real estate. Page, a member of Gunster’s business litigation team, focuses his practice on complex business and intellectual

Theodore C. Eastmoore, JD ’80, Sarasota, an attorney and founding shareholder at the law firm of Matthews Eastmoore, has been inducted as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the highest professional national honor given to a trial attorney. The invitation-only membership in the college represents just one percent of the total lawyer population of any state or province and includes the best of the trial bar from the United States and Canada.

John H. Pelzer ’80, Fort Lauderdale, is in the 2014 Super Lawyers Business Edition for appellate law.

▲ Lynne Wilson ’83, Winter Park, has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in the real estate law section. She is one of the original founders of Shuffield Lowman and an experienced attorney in all areas of commercial real estate transactions, commercial lending, banking and finance.

Todd C. Richardson ’84, JD ’86, Daytona Beach, an assistant professor of Paralegal Studies at Daytona State College, recently published an article titled “Cloud Computing and International Jurisdiction” in the November issue of Facts and Findings, the bimonthly national periodical of

Joe Trupiano ’04 dismantles a piano to transform its inspiring sounds.

Alumnus Designs Award-Winning Tools Joe Trupiano ’04, who received his bachelor’s in digital arts at Stetson University, co-founded a company with Keith Robinson called Sample Logic LLC in 2006. The company was born from his thesis at New York University, where he received his master’s in composition and music technology. Since then, he has provided the award-winning tools for musicians and composers involved in film, television and video games.

“I learned many important things at Stetson,” says Trupiano. “I was taught everything from Web design to graphics and marketing. The experience has helped me put a tangible vision and story to the products of the company I’m a part of.

“Stetson’s phenomenal digital arts program was what originally caught my interest,” explains Trupiano.

“Many of the classes I had were project-oriented,” Trupiano adds. “It didn’t really feel like school, but more like a community set out to inspire. This made the digital arts program highly enjoyable and one that continuously pushed me to think outside the box. The professors in the department were actively engaged with the students by meeting and assisting us and offering inspiring ideas on projects.”

“Joe was a great student and a hard worker,” says Nathan Wolek, Ph.D., associate professor of Digital Arts and Music Technology and chair of the Creative Arts Department. “I remember that he would always come to our meetings with new musical material prepared and ideas for where we could take whatever project the course was working toward.”

Trupiano’s co-founded company Sample Logic LLC continues to release widely used tools.

“We design award-winning, modern day, virtual instruments specifically geared for film, television and game composers,” explains Trupiano. “Essentially, they are tools for musicians and composers to make music. Our products have been used in Avatar, CSI, Law and Order, South Park and much more. Our clients range from musicians and DJs who are just starting out to established musicians and composers such as Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, and The Crystal Method.”

Since Trupiano graduated, the digital arts program has developed and expanded. “We have grown substantially,” says Wolek, “and we recently made some needed improvements in our facilities.”

—George Salis

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the National Association of Legal Assistants.

Mark E. Haranzo, JD ’85, Darien, Conn., was recognized by Best Lawyers in America as a Super Lawyer in New York and by London’s Citywealth Leaders list. He is a partner in the New York Office of Withers Worldwide, a London-based international law firm.

Lewis F. McMullen ’85, Hendersonville, Tenn., was named the church planting specialist for the executive board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. For the past six years, he has served as the church planting catalyst for the Nashville Baptist Association.

William M. Nieporte ’85, Richmond, Va., was elected second vice president of the Baptist General Association of Virginia during the organization’s annual meeting in November 2014. For the last seven years, he has served as senior pastor at the Patterson Avenue Baptist Church in Richmond, Va. He is formerly a member of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board and has served on multiple Baptist General Association of Virginia committees and chaired several of them.

Elaine Dobson Lerner ’86, Lake Mary, was appointed general counsel at Seminole State College. She will head the college’s Office of Legal Affairs.

▲ Tamara Jones Nicola ’87, Naples, has changed the name of her law practice to Nicola Family Law. The name change reflects the firm’s sole concentration on family law. As owner and president, Nicola concen-

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trates her practice on family lawrelated matters, including divorce, paternity, premarital agreements, children’s issues, asset valuation and distribution, domestic violence and dependency.

Annette Thompson ’88, Birmingham, Ala., has just published Alabama Barbecue: Delicious Road Trips. This book tells the story of some of the best and most interesting barbecue spots in Alabama. She is also serving as this year’s president of the Society of American Travel Writers, the pre-eminent professional organization of travel communicators. Moreover, she is part of a group of culinary professionals who have established Birmingham’s charter chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier.

1990s

▲ Jon P. Hansen ’90, Rapid City, S.D., has been hired as the new vice president for enrollment and marketing at Chadron State College. Before being tenured at Chadron State College, he was an independent contractor there for two years.

Thomas McElroy, JD ’90, Orlando, after 22 years in various legal and executive corporate positions, has joined Gravitational Marketing in Orlando as director of business development.

Jeffrey E. Barbacci ’91, MAcc ’92, Tallahassee, has been elected to serve as the 87th board chair of the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants for 2014 -15.

▲ Brian D. Ray ’91, Gainesville, received the Florida State University College of Education’s Distinguished Alumni Award. The award provides an avenue for honoring graduates of the college who have distinguished themselves through scholarly, creative and humanitarian achievement as well as service to their profession.

Courtney Ward Brown ’92, MS ’02, Auckland, New Zealand, launched KYPAD NZ. A KYPAD is an all-in-one-stand-up paddle board, surfboard and kayak for kids. She is expecting to expand distributorship to Australia in 2015.

Michael P. Connelly ’93, JD ’96, Malvern, Penn., was highlighted in the September 2014 edition of the Sports Business Journal.

Achievement Bronze Leadership Award, which honors volunteer excellence. This award was presented in recognition of her participation and leadership in supporting and expanding Junior Achievement of Central Florida’s student impact.

Thomas S. Harmon, JD ’95, Tampa, recently spoke at NBI’s seminar, Auto Injury Litigation, on ethics and ethical challenges confronting counsel representing plaintiffs and defendants in auto injury cases.

Mark Hill, JD ’95, Vero Beach, has joined Hurley, Rogner, Miller, Cox, Waranch & Westcott, P.A. as an associate in the firm’s Ft. Pierce office.

David Sampedro, JD ’95, Miami, received an AV Preeminent Rating by Martindale-Hubbell.

Sheila McDonough Gugliuzza ’96, Western Springs, Ill., was quoted in an article on the bankrate.com website, titled “Advice for late-blooming parents.” She advises first-time parents in their 40s and 50s to start saving for their retirement first.

Vincent A. Branton, JD ’99, Richland, Wash., has been named general counsel at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

2000s Tyra N. Read, JD ’00, Fort Myers, has joined the real estate practice group Becker & Poliakoff as a shareholder in the Fort Myers office. Read is AV-rated as “preeminent” by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating possible.

▲ Joanne Kenna, JD ’94, Longwood, with the Health Law Firm, in alliance with the Greater Orlando Chapter of the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants, presented a seminar to members of the Central Florida nursing community at the University of Central Florida.

Meredith Level, JD ’94, Orlando, has been awarded the National Junior

▲ Kimah Burrell ’01, Kissimmee, has begun work as the executive

director for Brevard C.A.R.E.S. She was previously the program director with Safe at Home Central Florida with Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services.

Jackie Crain, MBA/JD ’01, St. Petersburg, is now chief strategy officer/senior counsel for All Children’s Hospital Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Mary C. Evans, JD ’01, Fort Myers, has been elected judge of the Circuit Court, 20th Judicial Circuit, State of Florida.

Jill Shipley ’01, MBA ’03, West Palm Beach, has joined Abbot Downing in its expanding family dynamics and education practice.

Abbot Downing is part of Wells Fargo’s wealth, brokerage and retirement group, a leading U.S. wealth manager.

Mark E. Thompson ’02, Orlando, has worked alongside a group of brokers at Crossman & Company to facilitate the $21 million sale of Charles Height Square in Rome, Ga. Ryan G. Benson ’03, Naples, acquired A. Vernon Allen Builder. A. Vernon Allen Builder was founded in 1951 and is still considered one of the largest and well-established home builders in Naples.

William J. “Josh” Podolsky, JD ’03, Tampa, of Phelps Dunbar, LLP concentrates his practice in the areas of real estate, commercial transactions, banking, finance, general business, and corporate and partnership matters.

Roberto F. Fleitas, MBA/JD ’04, LLM ’05, Miami, has opened Fleitas, PLLC. Fleitas, PLLC practice focuses on real property issues for financial institutions, multinational, public, and private corporations, emerging businesses, families and individuals.

Erica Haman ’04, Washington, D.C., was hired by SunTrust Mortgage as assistant to Brad Hoffman ’02. Brad has been working at SunTrust for more than 10 years.

SunTrust can originate residential purchases or refinance loans in 35 states, including Florida.

John R. Mills ’04, San Francisco, Cal., won a Supreme Court stay of execution by a vote of 6 - 3. His client, Mark Christeson, had been scheduled

to die by lethal injection. The appeal raised several concerns about legal counsel he received over the years, including failure of some of his attorneys to meet a 2005 deadline to file for an appeal hearing before a federal court. It is uncommon for someone to be executed without a federal court appeal hearing.

Melissa Kay Shaddix ’04, Ormond Beach, has had her work The Church Without the Church: Desert Orthodoxy in Flannery O’Connor’s “Dear Old Dirty Southland,” published by the Mercer University Press.

Dharshini Yogendra ’04, Lake Mary, graduated from Saint George’s University School of Medicine in 2009. She completed pediatric residency at Winthrop University in Mineola, N.Y., in 2013 and is now a full-time pediatrician in Orlando.

Naitasia Hensey ’05, Woburn, Mass., received a juris doctor degree from New England Law, Boston during the 103rd Commencement ceremonies. She was recognized with a New England Law Boston Service Award. She also holds an MBA. Natalie Woll Travaglione ’05, New York City, was promoted to president of Detroit Events.

Suzanne M. Boy, JD ’06, Fort Myers, FL, was sworn in as the 2015 president of the Human Resource Management Association of Southwest Florida (HRMA), a local chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Boy concentrates her practice in employment law.

▲ David R. Keith ’06, DeLand, is now the treasurer and executive board member at Disability Solutions for Independent Living Inc.

Isa Adney Honored at Stetson To say that Isa Adney, Stetson’s Outstanding Young Alumni award-winner, is ambitious is an understatement.

Author, blogger, public speaker and in-demand education consultant are only a few of her titles. Since she’s only 27, she seemed an obvious choice for this year’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

This powerhouse alumna, who graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in communications, was a FOCUS orientation leader and SURE grant recipient. She was a member of the Stetson Dance Team, Omicron Delta Kappa (Leadership Honor Society) and Lambda Pi Eta (Communication Honor Society). Adney was selected as the 2009 Stetson Commencement speaker and was also honored with the Etter McTeer Turner Award that day.

Adney draws tremendous satisfaction in promoting college education. As a community college transfer, she gives a great deal of credit for her success to winning the Jack Cooke Kent Scholarship as well as several professors she met while at Stetson.

“When people ask me about my experience at Stetson, I immediately start talking about the faculty,” she says.

“Every professor I had at Stetson helped me see things in a new way and taught me things I still use and treasure,” Adney points out.

She cites Rebecca Watts, Ph.D., who was also her adviser and special mentor, Michael McFarland, Ph.D., John York, Ph.D., and Andy Dehnart, among those who especially made a difference to her.

“Do you see? I can’t stop talking about this. I didn’t know how deep that education would change me, or how I would draw on it for years and years to come,” says Adney.

The confidence she acquired while at Stetson has enabled her to think critically about how community college students are perceived and use what she’s learned to help change those messages. She strives to help community college students to see the importance of their messages, their stories and their contributions.

“My goal in everything I do is to try to help create more spaces where they can contribute their voices and their talents to the world through continuing to get the kind of education that I feel so lucky to have received,” asserts Adney.

Check out more about this intrepid alumna on her website at isaadney.com.

—Trish Wieland

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2010s

Corey Kluber ’07

Jacob deGrom ’10

Two Hatters Win Top Baseball Honors Two Hatter alumni, Corey Kluber and Jacob deGrom, recently received top Major League Baseball honors.

Former Stetson Hatter Kluber capped a great season with the Cleveland Indians by being selected as the American League Cy Young Award winner.

Kluber, who played for the Hatters 2005-07, completed his first full season in the big leagues with an 18-9 record and 2.44 ERA in 34 starts. His 235.2 innings of work this summer ranked third in the American League. He tied for the league lead in wins and was second in strikeouts with 2.69.

During his three seasons with the Hatters he posted a 20-9 record in 32 starts. His 20 wins are tied for second in school history.

Kluber downplayed winning personal awards when he was at Stetson for Homecoming. “I don’t try to set personal goals for myself,” he says. “I focus on the big picture, on improving. I don’t look at the numbers, because that becomes counterproductive. I just try to get my work in and try to get better every day.”

He was inducted into the Stetson Athletics Hall of Fame, along with former teammate and current Atlanta Braves third baseman Chris Johnson ’07. He says that seeing other former Hatters succeed in the big leagues is fun.

“It is pretty cool that we have three guys in the Majors right now,” Kluber says. “CJ and I played together for two years, and that is pretty cool. I never got a chance to play with Jacob but to have three guys from our school all playing is cool. We see each other from time to time, and it is always good to catch up.”

Similarly, deGrom capped a stellar first season with the New York Mets by earning National League Rookie of the Year honors. DeGrom, who played at Stetson from 2008-10, finished his rookie season in New York with a 9-6 record and a 2.69 ERA in 140.1 innings of work. He recorded 144 strikeouts, including tying the MLB record with eight consecutive strikeouts to start a game against Miami. DeGrom was twice named National League Rookie of the Month this season.

Kluber’s Cy Young Award and deGrom’s National League Rookie of the Year award put the Stetson baseball program on the map. It is just the second collegiate program to ever have two former players win a Major League Baseball post-season award in the same year.

—Ricky Hazel

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▲ Jennifer LaRocco, JD ’07, Palmetto, has joined the law firm of GrayRobinson, P.A., in the firm’s public finance practice in Tampa. She will represent Florida cities, counties, universities, school boards, aviation, port and other governmental authorities, and community development districts, as well as banking and other financial institutions.

Phoenix Ayotte Harris, JD ’07, Fairfax, Va., has formed a new law partnership, Harris & Carmichael, PLLC. Brian A. Watson, JD ’07, Orlando, is on the board of directors for the Orlando Economic Development Commission (EDC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to attracting, retaining and growing jobs in the region.

Erin Lovell Ebanks ’08, Orlando, has had her first book published, Happy Professor: An Adjunct Instructor’s Guide to Personal, Financial, and Student Success.

Nicole Tilton Gross ’08, MBA ’09, Chicago, Ill., was featured in Reno Magazine’s article “Power at Any Age.” She was profiled as the project manager for the Whitney Peak Hotel project. She is the youngest person to run a hotel in Northern Nevada.

John Miller, JD ’08, Fort Myers, was elected a stockholder at Henderson Franklin. He is also in Florida Super Lawyers® magazine (2011, 2013-2014) as a “Rising Star” in the field of civil litigation defense. In addition, he received the James A. Dixon Young Lawyer of the Year Award from the Florida Defense Lawyers Association. Miller is AVrated by Martindale-Hubbell.

Katie Nadolny ’12, Belleview, graduated from the University of Michigan with a master’s in music for vocal performance. She has completed her first season with the Des Moines Metro Opera as an apprentice artist and started a position as an adjunct voice instructor with Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan.

Chrissie Fernandez, JD ’13, St. Petersburg, has been appointed assistant public defender in the 16th Judicial Circuit of Florida.

Justin W. Weber ’14, Mount Dora, was featured in an Orlando Sentinel article highlighting his performance of A Musical History of Jazz.

Marriages & Unions

▲ Lucia Hegel ’07 to Eric Diaz ’08, MBA ’09 on Nov. 22, 2014.

John Baker ’07 to Claire Griggs on Sept. 27, 2014.

Lilly Sadler ’08 to Scott Van Houten ’09 on Aug. 31, 2014.

Andrea Strong ’08 to Daniel Grill ’07 on Aug. 2, 2014.

▲ Katelyn Whitney ’09 to Jess Lanza ’09 on Oct. 18, 2014.

Births

▲ Chelsea Knox ’11 to Aldo Rodriguez Perez ’10 on Aug. 31, 2014.

▲ Kate Martin ’11 to Paul Carlson ’11 on Oct. 18, 2014.

▲ Steven M. Roy ’75 and wife Cathy, a granddaughter, Olivia Grace, in August 2014.

▲ Amy Scaturro Dedes ’04 and husband John ’02, a daughter, Ava Rose, in September 2014.

Zachary Chalifour ’06 and wife Mandy, a daughter, Morgan Andrea, in August 2014.

Heather Brooks Morton ’06, and husband Michael, a son, Evan Bryan, in May 2014.

▲ Stacey Bassett Vail ’98 and husband Stephen, a daughter, Catherine Elizabeth, in July 2014. ▲ Heather Collins Cobb ’07, MAcc ’08, and husband Derek, a daughter, Ellianne Faith, in December 2013.

In Memoriam ’30s Mary Robinson Hutson ’39 ▲ Katrina Ellich ’12 to Peter Irwin on Oct. 5, 2014.

Maria Harper ’12 to Zachary Andrews on July 19, 2014. ▲ Alicia Kurpiewski Johnston ’00 and husband Marshall, a son, Logan Bradley, in January 2014.

▲ Mary Brummet ’13 to Jeremy Rill ’13 on Aug. 1, 2014.

▲ Kristie Roberts Pichler ’03 and husband Chris, a son, Everett Davis, in September 2014.

’40s Marian Estridge Gillespie ’41 Olive Lord McMillan ’43 Annette Bolton Clark ’45 Jeane Shaw Klender ’45 Joan Sheppard Payne ’47 Victor R. Koche, LLB ’48 Earl D. Waldin, JD ’48 Walton Hardin, LLB ’49 ’50s Arthur W. Alexander, MS ’50 Mildred Respess Feasel ’50 Richard Finn ’50 Donald E. Marang ’50 James E. Pelham ’50 Walter C. Shepard, LLB ’50 Quitmon Brown ’51

Daniel L. Neisler ’51 Virginia Skeen Sparlin ’51 Mason H. Wharton ’51 Shirley Christie ’52 William T. Moore, LLB ’52 Joseph W. Weber ’52 James N. Carlin ’54 Rod T. Lonsinger ’54 Earl D. Tyer ’55 Gayle Slater Falk ’56 Gene R. Stephenson ’56, LLB ’57 Howard S. Borden, JD ’57 W. Judson Rogers ’57, MEd ’74 James C. Yeargin ’57 Robert Bearinger ’58, LLB ’58 Orville Johnson ’58, LLB ’58 William R. Johnson, MA ’58 James R. Meriwether ’58 Carolyn Starnes Rasmussen, MA ’58 William H. Kernan ’59 Ronald E. Lee, LLB ’59 Obediah R. Miller, JD ’59 ’60s Stephan Ross ’61 W. Rogers Turner, LLB ’61 John E. Keiper ’63 Charles D. McClure, LLB ’63 Vernon E. Waters ’64 Stanley W. Wallace ’66 Polly Garrett Tillinghast ’67 Roger S. Tucker, JD ’67 Frank G. Forrest, MA ’69 ’70s John N. Mackey, JD ’70 James H. McAnly, JD ’70 Robert M. Kennedy ’71 Mark A. Zimmerman ’71 Joseph J. Granata ’75 Mary L. Taylor, JD ’75 Paul R. Williams ’75 Gino L. Andreuzzi, JD ’76 Dolores Doty Kennard ’76 Frank S. Kinsey, MEd ’78 ’80s Minnie Pauline Hodges ’81 Ralph J. Mattice, JD ’82 Thomas L. Whiteside ’83, ’84 Alta Robin Gipson, MEd ’84 Kathleen Costa Pownall ’86 ’00s Tory W. Hallgren ’05 ’10s Nicholas R. Kenyon ’10

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Why Your Parents Move to Florida

By Professor Terri Witek, Ph.D. Stetson’s Sullivan Chair in Creative Writing Other imports thrive: roller coasters, Spanish moss, cooled air and a pair of teenaged armadillos who fled a traveling tent show in the Thirties (heirs dot the berm like overturned helmets).

There are still giddy miles of citrus to consider and, although at first they’ll buck at it, the sweet corn of March. That fewer clothes are needed means robins arrive all at once like a shipment of discount, flame-hued mittens.

It will seem small-minded to be sad here, though they are.

The graves fill up same as anywhere.

But as long as they keep a dozy eyelid propped, the sky (so low in buttoned-up Illinois or Ohio) by some huge blue agreement forgets to drop. (from Carnal World)

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Big rain on campus

Photo by Will Phillips STETSON

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Office of University Marketing 421 N. Woodland Blvd., 8319 DeLand, FL 32723

STETSON is printed on FSC-certified paper.

a t

a r t s March

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A RT – Continuing through April 28, Oscar Bluemner’s Europe: The Mediterranean, Hand Art Center, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

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M U S I C – Harvard Radcliffe Choral Society*, Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

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ART – Digital Arts Senior Exhibition Opening Reception, Hand Art Center, 6 - 8 p.m.

Continuing through April.

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- 22 MUSIC – Stetson Opera Theatre and Orchestra*, Mozart’s Idomeneo, DeLand High Theatre, 7:30 - 9 p.m. Russell Franks, director; Anthony Hose, conductor.

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MUSIC – Guitar Ensemble*, Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

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MUSIC – Sounds New, featuring Blair McMillen, piano, Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

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THEATER – Friday Night Live, Second Stage Theatre, 8 - 10:30 p.m. A 90-minute sketch show performed by a senior.

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MUSIC – Great Pianists at Stetson series, Robert Blocker, piano, Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, 3 - 4 p.m. Stetson welcomes Robert Blocker, dean of Music at Yale University.

MUSIC – Chamber Orchestra*, Anthony Hose, conductor, Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

April

7

MUSIC – Stetson Women’s Chorale and Stetson Men*, Timothy Peter and Andrew Larson, conductors, Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

10

MUSIC – First Glimpse*, Student Composers Concert, Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, 7:30 - 9 p.m. New sounds from the minds of Stetson’s young composers.

11

MUSIC – University Symphony Orchestra*, Anthony Hose, conductor, Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

Featuring Michael Rickman, piano, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, The Emperor Concerto

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MUSIC – Guitar on the Rocks, Gillespie Museum, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

* Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance at http://bit.ly/1ClC2iC

- 19 THEATER – Clybourne Park, Second Stage Theatre, Museum of Art, 8 - 10 p.m., Sunday, 3 - 5 p.m. Inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. ART – Fine Arts Senior Exhibition Opening Reception, Hand Art Center, 6 - 8 p.m. Continues through May.

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M USIC – American Composers Recital*, Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

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MUSIC – University Symphonic Band*, Douglas Phillips, conductor, Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

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MUSIC – Brass Ensembles*, Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, 3 - 4 p.m.

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MUSIC – Woodwind Ensembles*, Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

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MUSIC – Concert Choir*, Handel’s Messiah, First Baptist Church, DeLand, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

Timothy Peter, conductor.

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MUSIC – Stetson Jazz Ensemble*, Patrick Hennessey, director, Stetson Room, CUB, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

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MUS I C – Percussion Ensemble, Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

May

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MUS I C – Community School Youth String Concert, Stephanie Sandritter and Sandra Hill, conductors, Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

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MUS I C – Community School Young Singers Concert, Amanda Sali, conductor, Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

See more Stetson University events at www.stetson.edu/cultural-calendar.

Learn more about Stetson arts events at www2.stetson.edu/creative-arts.

For more on Stetson’s School of Music, visit www.stetson.edu/music.