Around Campus

College of Applied Studies
College of Arts and Sciences
College of Business
College of Communication
College of Criminology
College of Education
College of Engineering
College of Human Sciences
College of Law
College of Medicine
College of Motion Picture Arts
College of Music
College of Nursing
College of Social Sciences
College of Social Work
College of Visual Arts

College of Applied Studies

Florida State University Establishes Newest Academic College

In July 2010, The Florida State University Board of Trustees approved the establishment of a new academic college. As one of the 16 academic colleges and schools that make up The Florida State University, the College of Applied Studies is the first to make its home at FSU Panama City. Ken Shaw, dean of FSU Panama City, also serves as dean of the College of Applied Studies. 

"The new college opens up a world of opportunities for students and the campus," says Shaw, "making it possible for FSU Panama City to develop and offer new degree and certificate programs that will have the greatest impact upon meeting work force needs within Northwest Florida. The new programs offered by the College of Applied Studies will position the campus for long-term growth through a more streamlined academic approval process."

The College of Applied Studies provides an academic home for expansion in developing courses and programs that range across disciplines. The college will have the ability to determine areas of study that are essential to the Northwest Florida community and work force and to develop programs that will equip students with the knowledge, skills and experience they need to meet a wide range of problems.

Three programs within the College of Applied Studies have been approved and began admitting students for the first time in fall 2011: the Bachelor of Science in public safety and security, the Bachelor of Science in recreation and leisure services administration and the online graduate certificate in event management. The innovative public safety and security degree program is available on campus or online and currently offers two major options: police science and law enforcement operations. A law enforcement intelligence major will be added in fall 2012, and the crime scene investigation major will be added in fall 2013.

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College of Arts and Sciences

It isn’t often that a scholar’s work is so well known that it is cited in a comic strip, but that is what happened to K. Anders Ericsson, Conradi Eminent Scholar and professor of psychology at Florida State. His research, which asserts that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a skill, was referenced in the Sunday, Sept. 11 edition of FoxTrot.

 

Biologists fish for reasons behind endangered grouper’s comeback

FSU marine biologists are collecting new data on the once severely overfished Atlantic goliath grouper, a native species that is making a comeback in the southeastern United States after a 21-year moratorium on its capture while remaining endangered everywhere else in the world. The three-year study will determine what conditions and behaviors are supporting the goliath grouper’s population recovery in the waters along Florida’s coasts. The findings will be crucial in setting policy on the management and conservation of the species.

The new study will be unique in two key ways. 

“First, while in the past scientists had to sacrifice the fish to gather age, reproductive and predatory information, at FSU we’ve developed a non-destructive means of obtaining the data that spares its life,” said Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory scientist Christopher C. Koenig (Ph.D. ’75), who will lead the project with colleagues at the University of South Florida and the University of Florida. “Second, those new, non-lethal data-gathering methods allow us to actively engage commercial and recreational fishermen in the scientific process. We will train the fisherman to obtain scientific samples and to tag and release the fish.”

 

Cells are crawling all over our bodies, but how?

For 35 years, FSU cell biologist Tom Roberts has studied the means by which millions of amorphous single cells propel themselves throughout the human body. The cells don’t give up their secrets easily, though. Take them out of the body and put them under a microscope, and the crawling changes or stops.

Now Roberts and his team have found a novel way around uncooperative human cells. In a landmark study, the researchers used worm sperm, which is similar to a human cell, to replicate cell motility on a microscope slide.

“Understanding how cells crawl is a big deal,” Roberts said. “The first line of defense against invading microorganisms, the remodeling of bones, healing wounds in the skin and reconnecting of neuronal circuits during regeneration of the nervous system — all depend on the capacity of specialized cells to crawl. 

“On the downside, the ability of tumor cells to crawl around is a contributing factor in the metastasis of malignancies,” he said. “But we believe our achievements in this latest round of basic research could eventually aid in the development of therapies that target cell motility in order to interfere with or block the metastasis of cancer.”

For Roberts and his team, the next move will be to determine if what they’ve learned about worm sperm also applies to more conventional crawling cells, including tumor cells.

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College of Business

College of Business Names First Recent Alumni Achievement Award Winner

Brian Murphy (B.S. ’00, B.S. ’00), president and CEO of international consulting and recruiting firm ReliaQuest, was presented with the College of Business’s first Recent Alumni Achievement Award at its Leadership and Scholarship Awards Dinner on Thursday, Nov. 17. The award was established in 2011 to honor College of Business alumni of the past 10 years who have made significant professional and personal achievements since graduation. 

“This College of Business recognition is a real honor for me,” Murphy said. “FSU provided a solid foundation both inside and outside the classroom that has allowed me to succeed thus far in my career, and I’m grateful for that and proud to be affiliated with the college. I enjoy contributing as an alumnus and look forward to helping even more in the future.”

 

Students show off entrepreneurial ideas during eWeek

The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship at Florida State University’s College of Business gave FSU students an opportunity to see what it takes to be a successful businessperson during Entrepreneurship Week, or eWeek, in September. The eWeek concept reflects the university’s ongoing transformation into “The Entrepreneurial University.”

“Students can be incredibly creative and innovative, and eWeek gives them insight into what it takes to be an entrepreneur and help contribute to the growth of our economy,” said Tim R. Holcomb, The Jim Moran Institute’s executive director and the university’s Jim Moran Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship.

During eWeek, students participated in an array of fun and educational activities, as well as challenging competitions that allowed them to network with members of the business community who were willing to share their secrets to success.

 

Business professor is the expert on Horrible Bosses

Virtually anyone who stays in the work force long enough will eventually have a really lousy boss. Those supervisors should count themselves lucky, then, that their long-suffering employees do not resolve to have them murdered, as three fed-up friends attempt to do in the black comedy Horrible Bosses, which hit theaters in July.

That’s not to say that all is well in America’s workplaces, says Wayne Hochwarter (Ph.D. ’93), the Jim Moran Professor of Business Administration at FSU. His recent survey of more than 400 mid-level employees from a variety of industries revealed just how poisoned the supervisor-employee relationship has become.

Hochwarter’s study also noted that workers enduring negative circumstances are stressed both at work and at home, are less willing to exert effort for the company good, experience sleep disturbances, report declining levels of self-worth and suffer from a variety of additional quality of life maladies.

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College of Communication and Information

University to take part in $10 million project to digitize nation's biological collections

The National Science Foundation has awarded a five-year, $10 million grant to The Florida State University and the University of Florida to coordinate 92 institutions in 45 states working to digitize the nation’s biological collections. FSU’s Center for Information Management and Scientific Communication will work with the University of Florida to create software and databases the nationwide participants will use to transfer and store the data.

“We will be a facilitating hub,” said center director Greg Riccardi (B.S. ’74). “This project puts us in the center of U.S. efforts to digitize collections for biodiversity research.”

The information in the Integrated Digitized Biocollections, or iDigBio, will include field notes, photographs, 3-D images and information on associated organisms, geographic distribution, environmental habitat and specimen DNA samples.

Available to anyone online, the data will help researchers identify gaps in scientific knowledge and could assist government agencies and others making decisions related to climate change, conservation, invasive species, biodiversity and other biological issues.

 

FSU and Warrick Dunn Family Foundation present home libraries to single-parent families

The Warrick Dunn Family Foundation, in collaboration with the FSU School of Library & Information Studies, presented home libraries to two single-parent families in July. The presentation of books and other educational materials is the culmination of a pilot project partnering the foundation with the university, from which football legend Warrick Dunn (B.S. ’97) graduated.

The collaboration was the brainchild of Nancy Everhart (Ph.D. ’90), an associate professor, director of the Partnerships Advancing Library Media Center and immediate past president of the American Association of School Librarians. Doctoral students from the center went to the two families’ homes and conducted extensive interviews with the children to determine their reading interests and preferences. Follett Library Resources provided the digital and printed materials for the libraries.

The libraries were presented to the families of Latashee Daniels and Wannessia Jefferson, beneficiaries of the foundation’s Homes for the Holidays program, which furnishes Habitat for Humanity-built homes for single-parent families who move in near the holidays. Although the pilot program focused on families in Tallahassee, the foundation hopes to expand and replicate the university collaboration in other communities in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana.

“The collaboration with FSU enhances our Homes for the Holidays program for single parents and their children,” said Jennifer Maxwell, executive director of the foundation. “Increasing literacy within our recipient families will create lasting change for future generations.”

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College of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Criminology Program Travels to Israel

In the summer of 2011, the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice led Florida State’s first international program in Israel. The inaugural program took 30 students to Kibbutz Tzuba for six weeks of coursework, guided excursions and discussion.

Students began each week in the classroom with courses in Israeli culture and topical criminology issues such as international terrorism. The classroom then expanded across the deserts, mountains and beaches of Israel as students took guided tours that introduced them to the history, diverse peoples and centuries-old conflicts that define the country. Students heard from Israelis and Palestinians with a wide variety of ideologies, met with the Jerusalem police tasked with monitoring the sacred sites of three major world religions and explored ancient archaeological sites.

Designed as a safe and educational opportunity for students to explore the wonders and history of Israel while learning about present-day conflict, Florida State’s study abroad program to Israel is the only one offered from the United States. Learn more at www.FSUIsrael.com.

 

College Inducts Hall of Fame Class of 2011

The Alumni and Friends of Criminology Hall of Fame demonstrates how much one can achieve with a criminology degree from the nation’s top program and showcases the range of fields the college’s alumni pursue after graduation. Tom Blomberg, dean of the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, honored the 2011 inductees at a recognition dinner on Sept. 15.

Retired Col. Curtis Earp Jr. (B.S. ’60, M.S. ’69), a Vietnam War veteran, began his 28-year service with the Army after graduating with his bachelor’s in criminology. After his military service, Earp led the Georgia Department of Public Safety, Georgia State Patrol and the Florida Marine Patrol.

James Murdaugh (B.S.W. ’74, M.S. ’76, Ph.D. ’05) became president of Tallahassee Community College in October 2010 after leading the Pat Thomas Law Enforcement Academy and TCC Florida Public Safety Institute. Murdaugh previously spent more than 20 years working in criminal justice and served 30 years in the Air Force Reserve, retiring as a lieutenant colonel with active duty in both Gulf wars.

Jeffrey Shaara (B.S. ’74) is a New York Times bestselling author 10 times over. Shaara is the only author to have received the American Library Association's Boyd Award for Excellence in Military Fiction twice.

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College of Education

Education professor wins grant to develop digital game-based assessments

When playing digital games, children hone skills such as persistence, creative problem solving and conceptual physics that traditional pen-and-paper assessment methods may not measure.

That’s why FSU College of Education Professor Valerie Shute is designing, developing and evaluating stealth assessments and well-disguised educational content that can be embedded in digital games to surreptitiously measure key competencies in children.

Shute has been awarded a $600,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that should take her already internationally recognized work to the next level. The grant will support a new project led by Shute that will develop ways to extract game-play data from players’ log files and use it to learn more about a child’s competencies and developmental progress.

“My FSU colleagues, students and I have created stealth assessment mockups, but so far no one has actually built them directly within a digital game, as part of game play,” Shute said. “The new grant will help us to develop three stealth assessments within one game.” 

Traditional assessments often lack context and are too simplified and abstract to suit current education needs, according to Shute, who said they also fail to show what students actually can do with the knowledge and skills acquired in, and often outside of, school. In contrast, well-designed digital games provide meaningful assessment environments, presenting students with scenarios to which they must respond with a wide range of skills.

“We need to assess students in relevant, engaging environments,” said Shute, “not just by asking them to fill in bubbles on a prepared test form.”

 

Educator wins grant to evaluate Florida’s Bright Futures Program

Since 1997, the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program has provided academic scholarships to thousands of the state’s highest-achieving high school seniors. Now Shouping Hu, a professor of higher education in FSU’s College of Education, will evaluate the effectiveness of the program using a $780,000, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.

“The grant cannot come at a better time,” Hu said. “As a scholar who has longstanding interest in college access and student success in higher education, this grant will allow me to continue to do cutting-edge research in that direction and examine whether and how a high-profile state program can make a difference in student postsecondary educational opportunities.”

Bright Futures Scholarships are awarded to Florida high school seniors who have demonstrated “academic merit” and who plan to attend a public college or university within the state. Hu said he is excited to begin evaluating the scholarship program and plans to hire several research assistants over the course of the grant.

“We are confident that we will be able to generate most rigorous empirical evidence on the efficacy of the Bright Futures program on educational outcomes in individual students, the state and the country as a whole,” he said.

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College of Engingeering

Corporate partnership, doctoral program create new opportunities in materials science research

A new partnership between The Florida State University and Cytec Industries Inc., a global specialty chemicals and materials company, aims to attract and train the best minds in the rapidly growing field of advanced materials science. The company recently created the Cytec Engineered Materials Doctoral Fellowship for Advanced Composite Studies with a gift of more than $212,000 to FSU.

“We are fully committed to educational programs that are mutually beneficial for students, science and industry, and we believe the High-Performance Materials Institute does just that,” said Rob Maskell, chief scientist for Cytec Engineered Materials, a subsidiary of Cytec Industries that is based in Tempe, Ariz. “We are thrilled to be able to invest in a top-notch program that will bring us even closer to realizing advanced composites technologies’ full benefits.”

Erin Phillips, a native of Jacksonville, Fla., who is nearing completion of her master’s degree in industrial and manufacturing engineering, is the first recipient of the newly created Cytec fellowship.

“I’m really excited to start working with Cytec because I think that there is a gap between industry and academia,” Phillips said. “And I think if we can bridge that gap and collaborate, it’s going to be critical for advances in the area of advanced materials.”

Once she earns her master’s degree, Phillips plans to work toward a doctorate as one of the very first students in a new doctoral program in materials science and engineering at Florida State. The State University System’s Board of Governors approved the interdisciplinary program on June 23. 

“The new Ph.D. program in materials science and engineering is a natural outgrowth of the outstanding and broad range of materials-related research being conducted by faculty at Florida State University,” said Nancy Marcus, dean of The Graduate School at FSU. “This is an exciting opportunity for students interested in pursuing innovative and cutting-edge research in materials.”

Composite materials have and will continue to revolutionize the way everything from automobiles to aircraft and consumer packaging are made. Using innovative technologies developed at Florida State, researchers at the High-Performance Materials Institute are now able to make materials that are stronger and lighter than traditional materials such as steel and have electrical properties that will enhance future applications.

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College of Human Sciences

Eating dried plums helps prevent fractures and osteoporosis

When it comes to improving bone health in postmenopausal women, a Florida State professor and a group of researchers from FSU and Oklahoma State University have found a simple, proactive solution to help prevent fractures and osteoporosis: eating dried plums. 

“Over my career, I have tested numerous fruits, including figs, dates, strawberries and raisins, and none of them come anywhere close to having the effect on bone density that dried plums, or prunes, have,” said Bahram H. Arjmandi, Florida State’s Margaret A. Sitton Professor and chairman of the Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences.

In the United States, about 8 million women have osteoporosis because of the sudden cessation of ovarian hormone production at the onset of menopause. What’s more, about 2 million men also have osteoporosis. Arjmandi encourages people who are interested in maintaining or improving their bone health to take note of the extraordinarily positive effect that dried plums have on bone density.

“Don’t wait until you get a fracture or you are diagnosed with osteoporosis and have to have prescribed medicine,” Arjmandi said. “Do something meaningful and practical beforehand.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture funded Arjmandi’s research. The California Dried Plum Board provided the dried plums for the study.

 

Institute of Sports Sciences and Medicine kicks off at Florida State

Florida State University experts in medicine, exercise science, nutrition, sports psychology and athletic training have partnered with the Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic, one of the nation’s premier sports medicine and orthopedic treatment centers, to establish the Institute of Sports Sciences and Medicine. Based at Florida State, the institute will lead interdisciplinary research and educational outreach programs focused on the development of elite-level athletic and human performance — including an emphasis on long-term health and the prevention and treatment of athletic injuries such as concussions.

“Our institute’s focus is the end-users — athletes of all ages — and all its activities will be designed to directly benefit them by promoting peak performance and optimal health,” said Institute of Sports Sciences and Medicine Director Mark J. Kasper, a faculty member in FSU’s Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences.

 

Human Performance Lab will foster collaboration between academia, athletics and medicine

Florida State University has unveiled a new laboratory that is intended to improve sports performance and reduce sports-related injuries while preserving optimal health for life. University President Eric J. Barron (B.S. ’73) and College of Human Sciences Dean Billie J. Collier dedicated the Human Performance Laboratory, which is part of the university’s Institute of Sports Sciences and Medicine, on Sept. 16.

The Human Performance Laboratory, located in the McIntosh Track and Field Building on FSU’s campus, will house research teams who will study the variables of sports performance, including acceleration, speed, agility, strength, endurance, proprioception (the sense of how one’s limbs are oriented in space) and biomechanics. The studies also will focus on the prevention and treatment of athletic injuries. Research findings will be shared with coaches, athletic training practitioners, strength and conditioning specialists, medical doctors and the public through publications and symposia.

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College of Law

Law School ranked third best in nation for Hispanic students

Hispanic Business magazine named The Florida State University College of Law the third best law school in the nation for Hispanic students in its September 2011 issue. This is the eighth year in a row that the College of Law has been named one of the top 10 law schools for Hispanic students.

The magazine based its ranking on the following criteria: Hispanic student enrollment, Hispanic faculty members, degrees conferred to Hispanics, progressive programs aimed at increasing enrollment of Hispanic students and school reputation as reflected in U.S. News & World Report.

“We are all thrilled to be named the nation’s No. 3 law school for Hispanic students,” said Associate Dean for Student Affairs Nancy Benavides. “It is our mission every day to make sure all of our students feel welcomed, supported and have everything they need to succeed in law school and beyond.”

 

Moot court team wins international competition

The Florida State University College of Law’s Moot Court Team won first place in the World Finals of the 2011 Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition. Team members were third-year law student Tanya Cronau (B.A. ’08, B.A. ’08) of Port St. John and Cape Canaveral, Fla.; third-year law student Lynn Guery of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and Anne Marie Rossi (J.D. ’11) of Tampa, Fla.

The semifinal and final rounds of the competition were held Oct. 4 and Oct. 6 at the High Court of Cape Town, South Africa. The team previously beat Georgetown University’s representatives in Washington, D.C., for the right to represent North America in the international competition.

“We were all thrilled when Florida State won the right to represent North America,” said College of Law Dean Don Weidner. “To be the global winner has us all walking on cloud nine.”

Florida State defeated Saint Petersburg State University of Russia, the winner of the European round, in the semifinals. It then defeated the National University of Singapore, the winner of the Asia Pacific round, in the finals. Abdul Koroma, Peter Tomka and Xue Hanqin, all judges with the International Court of Justice, presided over the final round.

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College of Medicine

College awarded maximum reaccreditation status

The Florida State University College of Medicine has been granted a maximum eight-year accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the sanctioning body of U.S. medical schools. With the favorable ruling, Florida State becomes the first new medical school of the 21st century to be reaccredited. 

“This news was not unexpected based on the remarkable outcomes this medical school has produced since the first class of 30 students arrived in 2001,” said College of Medicine Dean John P. Fogarty. “The leaders, administrators, faculty and students who helped plan and build this program should be extremely proud, as should all of our friends and supporters.”

Accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education occurs every eight years as part of a nearly two-year process that includes a rigorous self-study by the applying institution and a thorough inspection from a site visit team. Only accredited institutions may receive federal grants for medical education and participate in federal loan programs. In addition, attendance at an accredited program is required for allopathic medical students before they can take the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam or enter residency programs approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. 

Since first gaining full accreditation status in 2005, the College of Medicine has opened new regional campuses in the Florida cities of Sarasota, Fort Pierce and Daytona Beach and rural clinical training sites in Marianna and Immokalee; graduated seven classes; and grown from around 170 medical students to a full enrollment of 480. The new regional campuses are in addition to previously opened campuses in Orlando, Pensacola and Tallahassee.

 

A young woman’s journey from inner city to medical degree

Derrick Brooks (B.S. ’94, M.S. ’99) made a lasting impression as an All-American football player at Florida State in the 1990s and later as an All-Pro linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Without nearly as much fanfare, he is making contributions off the field that will have an effect for generations to come. A recent Florida State University College of Medicine graduate plans to make sure of it.

Natasha Spencer (B.S. ’06, M.D. ’11) credits Brooks with inspiring her to overcome the obstacles of growing up in a crime-ridden Tampa, Fla., neighborhood. Spencer first met Brooks when she was 11 years old. As a charter member of the Brooks Bunch program, she joined the NFL standout and other young people from low-income communities on educational field trips. The program evolved as the children grew older, assisting participants such as Spencer with college. With support from Brooks and fellow Seminole Stuart Lasher (B.S. ’81), Spencer fulfilled her dream of going to medical school.

Brooks, who recently completed his term as a member of the university’s board of trustees, fought back tears as he watched Spencer pick up her diploma at the College of Medicine’s commencement ceremony on May 21.

“Now she’s going to throw the rope back and help pull others up,” he said.

After completing a residency program in obstetrics and gynecology, Spencer plans to go back to Tampa and help others.

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College of Motion Picture Arts

Groundbreaking digital arts program accepts applicants for fall 2012 classes

The Florida State University recently announced the opening of limited enrollment for a new animation and visual effects program that will prepare students to produce the Hollywood hits of the future. The first-of-its-kind program unites the nationally renowned FSU College of Motion Picture Arts with the award-winning visual effects industry pioneer Digital Domain Media Group, which has created innovative visuals for more than 80 movies, including the Transformers series. FSU will accept applications until Jan. 18, 2012, to fill 100 freshman and 100 sophomore slots for the 2012-2013 academic year. Students enrolled in the program will spend their freshman year in Tallahassee and their sophomore through senior years in West Palm Beach, Fla.

“The graduates of this program will have a Bachelor of Fine Arts from one of the nation’s top film schools and the very latest digital animation skills, making them well educated and job ready for the most competitive, high-skill careers in the film industry,” College of Motion Picture Arts Dean Frank Patterson said. “Currently, nearly 100 percent of our graduates find meaningful work in the film and television industry within 12 months of graduating.”

Unlike other digital arts programs around the country, students completing the animation and digital arts program will graduate with both a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The Florida State University and professional certification training in the area of their choice. When the program begins next year, students will have the opportunity to begin “touching digital magic” through exposure to Digital Domain’s industry-leading technology and techniques. Students will be prepared to work on digital animation and visual effects projects in the film industry upon graduation.

“Story is the key to our business, and Florida State’s film school students are among the very best storytellers in the nation,” said John Textor, chairman of the Digital Domain Media Group.

The film industry supports 2.4 million jobs and provides more than $140 billion in total wages, according to a 2010 Motion Picture Association of America report. In Florida, the entertainment industry generates more than 15,000 direct jobs and nearly 29,000 total jobs throughout the state. In 2009 and 2010, a total of 31 films and 34 TV projects were filmed in Florida, including television shows Act of Valor, Animal Cops: Miami, Basketball Wives, The Glades, Burn Notice and movies Casino Jack, Color, I Am Number Four, The Losers, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Up in the Air.

“Florida continues to emerge as a major driver of our nation’s film industry, and this exciting new program will help our state solidify its status as a destination for future Hollywood professionals,” said West Palm Beach City Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell (B.S. ’89). “The unique public-private collaboration between Florida State University and Digital Domain demonstrates we have a blockbuster program in the making.”

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College of Music

Renowned composer Carlisle Floyd celebrated

Opera legend Carlisle Floyd recently returned to The Florida State University for a gala concert to celebrate his work, life and generosity. FSU’s College of Music presented A Celebration of Carlisle Floyd on Sept. 24 in Ruby Diamond Concert Hall. The performance featured College of Music alumni, faculty and student performers who showcased a number of selections from Floyd’s operas.

The concert served as a means of recognizing the recently created Carlisle Floyd Endowment for Opera at Florida State. Floyd, one of the foremost composers and librettists of opera in the United States, hopes the fund will help students benefit from the offerings of FSU’s College of Music and keep its opera program thriving. In addition to establishing the fund, Floyd donated the original manuscripts of his operas Wuthering Heights and Susannah, the latter of which premiered at FSU in 1955, to the university’s Warren D. Allen Music Library.

“This celebration of Carlisle Floyd’s work provides a unique opportunity for our community to experience the musical artistry of a leading, internationally acclaimed composer,” said College of Music Dean Don Gibson. “It also allows those of us in the College of Music to celebrate the career of a wonderful, generous human being whose initial operatic work helped launch our program into a leadership position and whose generous planned gift will ensure the continued leadership role FSU opera will play far into the future.”

Floyd began his teaching career in 1947 at The Florida State University, just four days after his 21st birthday. During his time at Florida State, he received the university’s Distinguished Professor designation and was later awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.

After almost 30 years at FSU, Floyd accepted the prestigious M.D. Anderson Professorship at the University of Houston. Following his retirement from the University of Houston, he returned to Tallahassee, where he currently resides.

During Floyd’s prolific musical career, the award-winning teacher and conductor wrote operatic renditions of Cold Sassy Tree, Of Mice and Men, Willie Stark and many others. He also composed a wide range of non-operatic works.

“We could think of no better way to thank him for his lifelong support and to celebrate his 85th year than to give Tallahassee audiences a chance to see and hear great scenes from Carlisle Floyd’s operas and allow them to meet both the man and his music,” said Professor Douglas Fisher, director of opera activities at FSU and master of ceremonies for the event.

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College of Nursing

College of Nursing Dean Plowfield named Chancellor at Penn State York

Former Florida State University College of Nursing Dean Lisa A. Plowfield has been named the new chancellor at Penn State York. Plowfield concluded her tenure as dean at Florida State on June 1 after having served since July 2007 as the seventh leader of its 61-year-old College of Nursing. FSU recruited her from the University of Delaware School of Nursing, where she served as director from 2002 to 2006. 

“It has been an honor to serve Florida State’s distinguished College of Nursing,” Plowfield said. “Together my colleagues and I have expanded its already strong educational programs, created even more scholarship opportunities for our future nurses and continued to produce exceptionally well-prepared professionals at both the undergraduate and graduate level.”

In addition to leading the College of Nursing through the national accreditation process and a State University System quality enhancement review, Plowfield established its first doctoral education program, realigned its mission to reflect the university’s research-intensive focus and extended nursing education to regions of the state where it was most needed. During Plowfield’s tenure, the college garnered about $4 million in grants.

FSU College of Nursing Associate Dean Dianne Speake has been appointed interim dean due to her impressive and extensive experience as a nurse educator, administrator and researcher. Soon, Speake will be leading the College of Nursing through the accreditation process for its unique Doctor of Nursing Practice program, which currently has 58 students enrolled. The first class will graduate in December 2011.

“I’m honored by my appointment as interim dean,” Speake said. “I look forward to working with our nursing students, alumni, faculty and community partners to continue to build excellent educational programs that prepare registered nurses, educators and advanced practice nurses to meet the health care needs of Floridians. In 28 years as a nurse educator, my passion for nursing education has only increased as the needs for highly educated nurse practitioners and leaders expand in all aspects of health care.”

Speake joined the FSU College of Nursing faculty in 2001 after serving as a research associate in the FSU Center for Gerontology, a senior consultant at MGT of America Inc. and the assistant director of Performance Improvement and Public Health Nursing for the Florida Department of Health. She holds a doctoral degree in nursing from the University of Texas-Austin and Master of Nursing and Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees from the University of Mississippi.

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College of Social Sciences and Public Policy

Jill Quadagno receives University Distinguished Teacher Award

Lauded by her students as a wonderful mentor, an inspiring teacher and a caring adviser, one of The Florida State University’s most eminent scholars has been selected to receive the university’s top teaching honor. Jill Quadagno, who holds the Mildred and Claude Pepper Eminent Scholar Chair in Social Gerontology, received the 2011 University Distinguished Teacher Award during the Faculty Awards Ceremony.

“It is quite humbling to have been chosen for the University Distinguished Teacher Award, because so many of my colleagues are superb teachers,” Quadagno said. “I am truly honored to be this year’s recipient. Ultimately, I judge my own success by the success of my students, and I can think of no higher praise than to be considered a good teacher.”

College of Social Sciences and Public Policy Dean David Rasmussen said it is fitting that Quadagno is the first from the college to receive the Distinguished Teacher Award.

“Jill has been an outstanding member of the faculty in every way,” Rasmussen said. “She has had a long and productive career in research on important issues of health care and aging. This award recognizes her commitment to teaching and mentoring our students who benefit from her being on the forefront of research in the subjects she teaches.”

She was nominated for the award because of the excellent student ratings she has received for her graduate courses. A committee comprised of faculty, advisers and students reviewed the nominations and made the final selection.

“She stands out as unequivocally the best teacher I’ve had, as well as one of the most important mentors in my entire life,” wrote one graduate student of Quadagno. “She is also remarkably supportive and astonishingly humble.” 

A former student praised Quadagno for mentoring her students long after they leave her classroom.

“She is unfailingly gracious, generous with her time and sage in her advice to her former students; her ‘teaching’ does not end when we receive our FSU degrees.”

This isn’t Quadagno’s first student-nominated honor. She also received a University Teaching Award, which recognizes faculty for excellence in undergraduate and graduate teaching, in 1992.

An internationally recognized expert, Quadagno is renowned for her work on aging, health and social policy issues. In 2010, she was elected a member of the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. She is past president of the American Sociological Association and the author of more than 75 articles and 12 books on aging and medical sociology. In 1994 she served as senior policy adviser on the President’s Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform.

Quadagno began her academic career in 1977 at the University of Kansas, where she rose to the rank of full professor before coming to The Florida State University in 1987. She received her doctorate in sociology from the University of Kansas in 1976 and her master’s from the University of California-Berkeley in 1966. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Pennsylvania State University in 1964.

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College of Social Work

Doctoral student awarded prestigious national fellowship

A Florida State University graduate student who is pursuing a doctoral degree in social work has been awarded a competitive fellowship to pursue research on the needs of military veterans who have suffered from a traumatic brain injury. David Albright (M.S.W. ’06) was one of 24 students to be selected for participation in the RAND Graduate Student Summer Associate Program from a field of more than 500 applicants. He will conduct his research at RAND’s Santa Monica, Calif., headquarters. 

During his three months at RAND, Albright will work in the Center for Military Health Policy Research to evaluate the educational needs of service members and their families about traumatic brain injury, which results from a force to the head where portions of the brain are damaged and functioning is impaired.

“It’s a real concern for military service members facing the threat of improvised explosive devices, landmines, roadside bombs and rocket and mortar shells,” he said. “It’s also problematic for military families who are often unprepared for the challenges of living with and/or caring for a loved one with a TBI.”

The RAND Graduate Student Summer Associate Program is unique in that it matches graduate students with RAND senior research staff members who have the same academic background and will mentor the students. Albright is working on the traumatic brain injury project with RAND researchers Lisa Meredith, a senior behavioral scientist, and Andrew Parker, an associate behavioral and social scientist.

A military veteran himself, Albright expects to continue pursuing research focusing on the needs of military service members and their families after he earns his doctorate in 2011. He is simultaneously working on a master’s degree in measurement and statistics.

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that conducts research on a wide range of national security problems and domestic and international social policy issues.

 

Social Work alumna named a Notable Nole

Jennifer Mayne (B.S. ’93, M.S.W. ’97), who received her bachelor’s degree in social work from FSU’s Tallahassee campus, was named a 2011 Notable Nole by Florida State University Panama City, where she completed her postgraduate studies in the field.

Mayne, a certified social worker in healthcare with the National Association of Social Workers, is currently a supervisory social worker for the Gulf Coast VA Healthcare System in Biloxi, Miss. She is a mentor to students from the College of Social Work and a certified supervisor for Registered Clinical Social Work Interns with the Florida Department of Health. She credits the College of Social Work and its professors with preparing her for success in her professional career.

“If you don’t have the tools you need to learn the profession, it’s hard to have anything to work with,” she said. “FSU provided me with a strong foundation.”

Patrick Green (B.S. ’08) and FSU Alumni Association National Director Katie Patronis (B.S. ’08) were also recognized as Notable Noles.

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College of Visual Arts

Newly renovated William Johnston building rededicated

Florida State University President Eric J. Barron (B.S. ’73) rededicated the newly renovated William Johnston Building to the “20th century students who first brought these halls to life” and the “21st century students who will open its doors to the future” during a ceremony held on Sept. 20.

The renovation marries a traditional collegiate Gothic exterior with an ultramodern interior that includes a dramatic five-story atrium. The 143,000-square-foot building houses portions of the Division of Undergraduate Studies and the colleges of Communication and Information; Human Sciences; and Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance.

The east-facing original section of the building, which contains the Suwannee Dining Hall, was built in 1913. The west-facing, newly renovated section originally opened in 1939. During the recent renovation, great care was taken to preserve many of the building’s historical interior finishes.

The architects of Gould Evans Associates and a consultant from H2 Engineering designed the new Johnston Building to conform to the standards of the Architecture 2030 Challenge, an initiative by the global architecture and building community to build carbon-neutral buildings that strive to emit zero greenhouse gases in their operation.

 

Seven Days of Opening Nights announces stellar lineup

The 14th season of Seven Days of Open Nights, which runs from Feb. 9–20, 2012, boasts a diverse, eclectic lineup.
Florida State’s popular performing arts festival will include the Tallahassee debuts of the acclaimed Soweto Gospel Choir, New Orleans powerhouses Allen Toussaint and Trombone Shorty, jazz chanteuse Jane Monheit, comic legend Joan Rivers, the National Theatre of Scotland and 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Egan.

As always, the festival will focus on education. Featured artists will offer master classes to FSU students and will perform for K-12 students.

FSU launched Seven Days of Opening Nights in 1999. Due to its immediate success, the festival has grown longer than its name suggests. For more information, visit www.sevendaysfestival.org.

 

Ringling Museum Names New Executive Director

Steven High recently joined The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art as executive director. He was previously director and CEO of the Telfair Museums in Savannah, Ga.

“I am looking forward to collaborating with Steven High and hearing his exciting ideas to further enhance the Ringling Museum’s leadership position as an internationally acclaimed center for visual and performing arts,” said Sally McRorie, dean of the College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance, which manages the Sarasota, Fla., museum. “His 30-plus years of museum and university experience, coupled with his strong business savvy, are a perfect match for the Ringling Museum. We also are very pleased that he will join our fine Department of Art History faculty within the College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance. His training and scholarship in art history combined with his practical experience in museum leadership will be critically important in our preparation of students in museum studies, art history, arts administration and related disciplines.”

 

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