Stetson Magazine

SPRING 2023

A Painting of Promise

This aerial painting of the John B. Stetson University campus was created by W.A. Sharp, head of the art department, in 1900. The painting, looking northeast, was part of a joint Stetson University/City of DeLand exhibit at the National Education Association’s annual meeting in Charleston, South Carolina. Stetson University celebrates its 140th anniversary this year.

STETSON UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE

SPRING 2023 • VOLUME 39 • ISSUE 1

President Christopher F. Roellke, PhD

Editor

Michael Candelaria

Designer

Kris Winters

Art and Photography

Kristen Colesanti, Stetson University

Archives

16

16 Celebration for the Ages

This year marks Stetson’s 140th anniversary — making our 1883 a very big deal.

20 My 100-Year Legacy

Why serving as Stetson’s Director of Communications became the chance of a lifetime.

22 Mental Health Under the Microscope

A research grant that targets spiritual and religious competencies among counselors sets a 40-year Stetson record for size — and reflects a fundamental change in the scope of training.

Writers

Scott Boore ’76, Kate Bradshaw, Rick de Yampert, Jesse Fox, PhD, Cheri Henderson, Cory Lancaster, Patricia Letakis, Quiyara Murphy ’23, Christopher F. Roellke, PhD, Jack Roth, Alicia Scott

Class Notes Editor

Amy Dedes

STETSON UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE is published 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.

STETSON UNIVERSITY: The College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business Administration and School of Music are at the historic main campus in DeLand. The College of Law is in Gulfport/St. Petersburg. The university also has one satellite center: the Tampa Law Center. The mission at Stetson is to provide an excellent education in a creative community where learning and values meet, and to foster in students the qualities of mind and heart that will prepare them to reach their full potential as informed citizens of local communities and the world.

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26 Brain Fitness

The Cici & Hyatt Brown Hall for Health & Innovation is now open, strengthening the university’s connection to the surrounding community. One early example comes with the initials BFA.

30 Personifying First Gen

Meet seven students who are defying college odds and, in effect, multiplying the chances of success for others — while also putting their university to the test.

38 SURE Thing

From Bone Wars to rats to basketball, Stetson undergraduate research explores the world while reaping benefits far and wide for students.

42 Be Seen at Stetson

Keep an eye out — Stetson has launched a new university branding campaign.

46 Superhero Author

Meet Chesya Burke, PhD, who is unabashedly taking the literary world by Storm, Black Panther and bold creative expression.

48 Cyber Sleuths

Imagine a class where your only assignment is to break into your university’s computer system — giving students a hack of an experience.

50 Soccer for Kicks and a Career

Former Hatter player Eduarda “Duda” Pavao ’17 continues to be a standout, this time in the world of social media.

ON THE COVER:

Faces of First Gen on campus

(top from left): Mia Tejeda, Jaimy Lee Cotto De Jesús, Davis Brown, Leonardo Giorgioni and Quiyara Murphy; (bottom from left): Brooke O’Brien, Isaac Mendez and Kristine Lynn Rodriguez

Photo: Kristen Colesanti

ENSURING STUDENT SUCCESS

Simply put, the activities, encounters and commitments related to student success at Stetson — along with their impacts today and well into the future — are at the very center of our University’s Strategic Priorities 2023-2030. Nothing has commanded as much attention, and deserves more attention, than the success of our students now and in their lives beyond their years at Stetson.

Why?

Colleges and universities are confronting considerable challenges these days, and we can no longer operate by the time-honored traditions that have guided us for so long. We must deliver on our core values and promote student success so that there is a return on the considerable investment Hatter families make toward the transformative education Stetson provides.

Despite the challenges in the higher education landscape, this is also a profoundly exciting time for our beloved university. The Cici & Hyatt Brown Hall for Health & Innovation is now open, and a newly renovated Chaudoin Hall will be ready for occupancy this fall! The Advocacy Institute at the College of Law will also open this fall, cementing Stetson’s reputation in preparing “practice ready” attorneys throughout Florida and beyond. And Stetson is celebrating its 140th anniversary this year!

Looking ahead through the lens of our university’s Strategic Priorities 2023-2030, we have heightened our focus on ensuring student success. Stories in this magazine represent that effort.

Our “Be Seen” university branding campaign outlines our promise to enable students to be seen, be heard and be you. In turn, we seek students who want to explore, excel and grow. We want Hatters

Our Stetson Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) fosters excellence in research and creative activity for our students and remains one of our signature programs.

At our Brain Fitness Academy in Brown Hall, students work directly with residents from nearby communities to address cognitive challenges. In a course that most other schools don’t offer, our computer science students are literally hacking their way to uncommon discoveries in the world of cybersecurity.

The cover of this magazine is particularly emblematic of our university’s focus on ensuring student success. First-generation students constitute greater than one in four students on our campus.

Judging from the seven students profiled in the cover story, plus several other students throughout the magazine, it is abundantly clear that Stetson is alive and well and getting better every day.

Indeed, much more must be done. And we are planning to make that happen by creating greater opportunities for the kinds of deep learning experiences that are possible with a Stetson education.

How?

Academic Affairs is working to enhance and establish clear curricular

pathways that will better allow students to plan their academic progression and work more effectively with their academic advisors and mentors in achieving their Stetson degrees.

Our faculty is working to promote these pathways through innovative interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary collaborations, robust experiential learning and internship opportunities, and a whole host of other initiatives to promote the very best of “relationship-rich” education.

As our incoming students emerge from the throes of the global pandemic, we are looking closely and systematically at how our students engage with our university from their very first moments on campus. The most valuable resource at our disposal is our time, and how we spend that time with our students must be rooted in high-impact practices that enable our students to achieve their dreams.

In addition, we are guaranteeing that all students have the opportunity for the very best forms of experiential education.

Christopher F. Roellke, PhD President, Stetson University

INTELLIGENTSIA

Stetson has received national recognition for its commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability.

‘Green College’ Again

The Princeton Review has included Stetson in its Guide to Green Colleges for the seventh time, highlighting the university’s commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability. The Guide, established in 2010, recognizes the nation’s most environmentally responsible institutions.

The Princeton Review credited Stetson for, among other factors, creating a formal sustainability committee, having a public greenhouse gas inventory plan, offering a sustainability-focused degree and providing a car-sharing program.

Notably, this spring, Robert Sitler, PhD, professor of world languages and cultures in the Latin American & Latino Studies program, is taking a sabbatical to conduct Stetson’s second Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System audit. The audit allows colleges to track, manage and share information about their sustainability efforts in education and research; operations; and planning, administration and engagement. — Michael Candelaria

Four Ukrainian Students to Return Next Year

As the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approached in late January, Stetson announced a financial recommitment to its four students from the war-torn country — allowing them to remain enrolled for next year.

Ukrainian students Yuliia Balan, Genevia Gayden, Veronika Shchur and Yana Verbova arrived last summer for the 2022-2023 academic year and share an apartment on campus.

Last fall, the four students expressed a desire to stay at Stetson, as the war rages on back home. Since then, Stetson’s faculty and administration had been figuring out a way to help them stay.

Three of the students are expected to graduate from Stetson in 2024. The fourth is a first-year student who would graduate from Stetson in 2026.

“For Stetson, having these students earn degrees from our institution is an incredible achievement,” commented Elizabeth Plantan, PhD, assistant professor of political science. “They already bring so much to our campus community and are enriching the lives of all those they meet.” — Cory Lancaster

Editor’s note: Fundraising for this effort continues via a Stetson webpage devoted to the Ukraine Student and Faculty Support Fund.

From left: Genevia Gayden, Yana Verbova, Veronika Shchur and Yuliia Balan

NEWS AND NOTES ABOUT KNOWLEDGE

Mural Tribute at Stetson Aquatic Center

Audrey Berlie ’24, an environmental science and environmental business double major, and Jason Evans, PhD, associate professor of environmental science and studies, are leading a mural project at the Sandra Stetson Aquatic Center.

The colorful art installment to honor the area’s history and natural beauty has an anticipated debut of April 22, Earth Day.

The Aquatic Center is a 10,000-square-foot building that’s surrounded by the William Bartram Trail and Gardens along the western shore of DeLand’s Lake Beresford. The two-story center provides a permanent home for Stetson’s intercollegiate rowing teams, a space for water study and research, and non-motorized public recreation access to the lake.

The public mural will appear on the building of the restroom facility. The installment honors the rich Native American heritage of the area, as well as the area’s exploration by 18th-century naturalist William Bartram. The mural will depict a wide and colorful variety of native plants, artifacts, wildlife and features of the Florida peninsula.

Berlie and Evans commissioned master Florida naturalist Johnny Dame to create the mural. From concept to completion, the project includes a team of students guided and mentored by Dame.

The project comes by virtue of donors Jill Jinks and Chris Shuster, who serve on the board of trustees for Stetson’s Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience. Additional giving by others is being requested.

Alicia Scott

DID YOU KNOW?

The Digital Arts Program did it again — recognized as one of the best for game design by The Princeton Review. Stetson is No. 41 in the annual ranking of Top Game Design Schools, the same as 2022 when it debuted on the list.

The colleges making the 2023 list were based on a survey The Princeton Review conducted of school administrators, with the selection and ranking of undergraduate schools based on criteria that broadly covered the quality of faculty, facilities and technology. The Princeton Review also factored in data collected from the schools on their curriculum and career services.

Stetson’s Digital Arts Program began in 1996 as a partnership among the computer science, studio art and music departments. Now, greatly expanded, it ranks about the best.

A colorful art installment to honor the area’s history and natural beauty is planned at the Sandra Stetson Aquatic Center.

U.S. News & World Report applauded the College of Business Administration.

Moot Court ‘Cinderella Story’

Label the instant success of Stetson’s Moot Court Team as a “Complete Cinderella Story.” That’s what Sven Smith, PhD JD, associate professor of sociology and team director, had to say during the fall semester.

Online Business Programs Achieve ‘Best’ National Rankings

Stetson’s Master of Accountancy and Master of Business Administration programs have been ranked among the best online programs in the country for 2023, according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual report, which assesses online programs at more than 1,800 colleges and universities.

The MAcc program tied for No. 87 nationally for Best Online Master’s in Business Program (excluding MBA), and the MBA program tied for No. 142 for Best Online MBA Program. Stetson is one of a select number of elite business schools with both its business and accounting programs accredited by AACSB International.

For the 2023 edition, U.S. News ranked the two programs using five categories: level of engagement among students and faculty (30%); peer assessment (25%); faculty credentials and training (15%); student excellence (15%); and services and technologies (15%), including career guidance and financial aid resources available to students. Each program was evaluated using entirely separate data. — Cory

Lancaster

DID YOU KNOW?

Stetson has added two new university holidays that will begin during the 2023 calendar year: Juneteenth (June 19) and Veterans Day (Nov. 11).

University President Christopher F. Roellke, PhD, called the two holidays “symbolic of honor and sacrifice, which coincide with our university’s values.” Also, he described the move as “an opportunity to recognize two special population groups of our community.”

Smith pulled together a group of talented students, including one who was especially young at age 16, and started Stetson’s first moot trial competition team. There was neither funding nor any kind of tradition for the activity on campus — until the team’s first competition ended.

The team received a last-minute invitation to compete at the University of Central Florida in the American Moot Court Association’s Atlantic Regionals Tournament against top-rated teams from across the country. And, surprise, it earned second place.

Competitors in that event were 16-year-old Tristyn Rampersad ’26 and Colin Snyder ’23. Other members were Camilo Arado Lilleslatten and Tejal Ram.

The American Moot Court Association is the nation’s largest intercollegiate moot court organization.

During a typical competition, each judging panel (usually consisting of judges or attorneys) interrupts participants during the presentation of their argument, and the participants must be prepared for those questions and know how to answer them cogently and politely. — Michael

Candelaria

Colin Snyder ’23

Power of Stetson Connections

File this story under the heading “The Stetson Student Experience Never Ends.”

Several years ago, when Stetson professor Michael Denner, PhD, mentored Honors Program student George Winsten ’18, neither could foresee how the impact of their student/ mentor relationship would someday be felt by those on the front lines in Ukraine.

“He always pushed me to do more,” said Winsten, referring to Denner, professor of Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.

DID YOU KNOW?

In late March, Elizabeth Skomp, PhD, was announced as the university's next Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs. She will begin her new role on July 1.

Since joining Stetson in 2019, Skomp has served as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and professor of world languages and cultures (Russian). She was selected following a comprehensive internal search that began last year after Noel Painter, PhD,

“I always knew I wanted to make an impact,” Winsten continued, “but I had no idea how far a university like Stetson would take me in my education and career.”

Shortly after earning the environmental science degree, Winsten joined Solar Stik, a St. Augustine-based company, roughly 75 miles from campus, which provides autonomous energy solutions worldwide. And recently, as the company’s new program manager and sales director, he worked with Noble Supply & Logistics to provide 300 power systems for the Ukrainian military.

Solar Stik prides itself on producing portable systems that can be set up using a single-page diagram. The units can take in power from any source and create whatever type of power is needed. However, who would translate the instructions into Ukrainian?

Winsten reached out to his former professor and mentor, Denner, who came to the rescue. Denner translated the instructions into Ukrainian for free.

There’s more to the story.

Winsten works under Dr. Stephanie Hollis, Stetson Class of 1994 and an anesthesiologist who cofounded Solar Stik with husband Brian Bosley. Also, Winsten had followed his sister, Molly Winsten ’14, to Stetson.

“For a small school, we seem to have folks all over the world, and this is just one example of how Stetson grads are making a difference,” Winsten said. “The truth is, Stetson’s roots run deep, and I am proud to say they are directly assisting the people in Ukraine.” — Cheri Henderson

announced he would step down as Provost and Executive Vice President on June 30. Painter will take a much-deserved sabbatical after seven years of service as Provost and then return to the faculty in the School of Music, where he has served as an awardwinning teacher and scholar.

The announcement of an interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences is expected this spring, and a national search for that position will launch this fall.

George Winsten ’18

Elizabeth Skomp, PhD

Sweet Musical Success

Stetson’s Composition Studio was prominently featured at the Florida Flute Association’s 47th Annual Members Convention in late January. There, as part of the Guest Artist Gala Concert, Tammara K. Phillips, DM, and Kristie Born, DMA, performed the world premiere of Corazón de Fuego for flute and piano by Brandon Connors-Morrison ’22. Connors-Morrison is pursuing his Master of Composition degree at New York University.

Also, the Stetson Flute Choir performed two pieces by Stetson composers: Audiogenic Odyssey, written by Adam Cole ’22 and V. (world premiere), written by Kayli McClafferty ’23. They were

Enrollment And Marketing Gets New Leader

In March, Jeffery T. Gates, L.P.D, was named as Stetson’s new senior vice president for Enrollment and Marketing. Gates had been senior vice president for Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Success at Utica University in Utica, New York, and will begin his new role at Stetson in mid-May. Gates, with more than 20 years of experience in enrollment management, developed initiatives at Utica University to increase retention and grow enrollment, leading to multiple record-breaking enrollment years and significant improvements in the academic profile of the incoming classes.

In addition, he increased student satisfaction, engagement and graduation, and created the new position of Dean for Diversity. He improved collaboration with faculty, enhanced campus facilities, and successfully merged the Enrollment Management and Student Affairs divisions.

Prior to joining Utica in 2013, Gates worked in enrollment management at a large public university,

featured during the convention’s Flute Ensemble Showcase Concert.

Similarly impressive, cellist Megan Savage ’21 and her Kourdisma Quartet were named finalists of the Music Teachers National Association Chamber Music Competition. They were scheduled to compete in the final round at the end of March in Nevada. In addition, they won a place in the National Orchestral Institute’s new Haydn Quartet program, in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution, involving performances on a collection of Stradivari Instruments. Savage studied at Stetson with Jamie Clark, DMA.

One more recent triumph: The Stetson Trumpet Ensemble advanced in the National Trumpet Competition as one of the top 25 trumpet ensembles. The competition was scheduled for late March at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

None of this is a coincidence, of course.

Established in 1936, the School of Music is regarded as one of the nation's finest undergraduate-only professional schools. — Michael Candelaria

Binghamton University, State University of New York, and at a small private college, Bryant University, in Rhode Island.

At Stetson, he will oversee the new Division of Enrollment Management and Marketing, following the merger of Enrollment Management and University Marketing in December. The division includes the Office of Admissions and the Office of Student Financial Aid. Cory Lancaster

In mid-May, Jeffery T. Gates, L.P.D, will begin as the new senior vice president for Enrollment and Marketing.

Among the School of Music's recent high notes, the Trumpet Ensemble competed on an elite national stage.

Forward Together

On March 31, more than 150 alumni and friends gathered to celebrate Stetson’s rich history and hear from President Christopher F. Roellke, PhD, about some of the plans for the future, and how the university is moving “Forward Together.” The strategic plan will be unveiled this summer. Stetson’s four colleges and schools were on display at the campus event — College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business Administration, School of Music, and College of Law — which invited guests to interact with students and with musical instruments, and to “dive in” to business programs, with a reminder that the university’s experiential programs (such as the Roland George Investments Program) set a Stetson education apart. Guests also met old friends and made new ones, and connected with Stetson in true Hatter spirit. - Michael

Candelaria

Scan the QR code for more photos from the event!

Employers Back on Campus in a Big Way

This academic year has brought a new and invigorated focus on employer interaction on campus — with students benefiting from internship and career opportunities.

One tangible result: The graduating class of 2022 has achieved a success rate (percent of students employed or seeking additional education) of 91%.

For example, what began in May 2022 as a conversation at Delta Air Lines headquarters between Delta Air Lines President Glen Hauenstein ’82 and Stetson officials has led to a new strategic approach of creating unique and engaging experiences for employers and students on campus. The vision has fully materialized — bringing not only top employers to DeLand, but also bringing back “incredible alumni who are reengaging with their alma mater and keeping the fire alive for Stetson talent at their organizations,” noted Stacy Collins ’04 ’08, executive director of Stetson’s Career and Academic Success.

Last October at the first-ever Delta Day, 98 students attended an open session to hear “why Delta stories,” hosted by Shantra Laye, Delta Air Lines university recruiting manager, and others.

Later that month, the Fall Internship & Career Expo attracted 62 employers and 352 students.

In February, Stetson hosted the first-ever Disney Day, where 465 students interacted with Disney executives and team members from Disney World Company Casting Services, Disney Vacation Club, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 20th Century Studios.

And, while these efforts are proving to be successful, Employer Takeovers is perhaps even more noteworthy, cited Liz Connor ’21, associate director of Career and Professional Development.

On those days, employers have full range of the campus to interact with students, faculty and administrators at various locations, which has resulted in immediate opportunities for internships and careers. As part of a pilot program, there have been 10 Employer Takeovers this year, with more to come.

“This year,” Collins concluded, “is just the beginning of dynamic experiences to connect employers, alumni and students on our campus. This is the Stetson difference.” Alicia Scott

Stetson hosted its first-ever Disney Day.

The “Forward Together" strategic plan will be unveiled this summer.

TEACHER’S APPRENTICE FOR THE PRESIDENT!

As I get insanely close to my graduation date, I wonder where all the time went. Like a great majority of people, I mistakenly thought I had all the time in the world to prepare for my future. It came as a huge revelation during the fall semester of my junior year that I was far more behind than I originally anticipated. I quickly became overwhelmed with the never-ending list of things that still needed to be done. Taking time to speak to faculty members whom I trusted, I learned that perhaps one of my most important tasks should be building connections with people who could push me in the right direction.

Luckily, I had already taken a huge step in becoming a FOCUS Leader during the 2021 Orientation season. That decision was undoubtedly one of the best I’ve made during my time here at Stetson.

As a FOCUS Leader, I developed the confidence — not only in myself, but in my skills and what I had to offer to others — to be proactive in my own future. Through FOCUS, I learned to lead the charge for myself. I stopped waiting for opportunities to approach me and, instead, I actively sought them out myself.

When the 2022 Orientation began last fall, I received my assignment to be part of FSEM, Stetson’s First Year Seminar program. Part of being a FOCUS Leader is to participate in such a class.

BY QUIYARA MURPHY ’23

FSEM represents the first class on cam-

At the start of my final year at Stetson, I gained lessons of a lifetime — learning with and from new students as part of the First Year Seminar program.

Quiyara Murphy ’23

This First Year Seminar class was taught by university President Christopher F. Roellke, PhD — and ably assisted.

pus for first-year students. It’s their initial classroom Stetson Student Experience, making the FSEM especially important. Basically, they learn what it takes to be successful in college, both as a student and as a person.

I couldn’t believe that I’d been assigned to the FSEM taught by our university president, Christopher F. Roellke, PhD. I wondered if it had been a mistake. My questions were eventually answered when I asked President Roellke directly.

In addition to FOCUS, I have a ton of other responsibilities on campus, including my job in the Carlton Union Building. One morning, as I was sitting at the desk in front of the CUB’s coffee shop, President Roellke walked in. I called him over and introduced myself (an example of me seeking out my own opportunities). I remember that very first conversation. I asked him if he was teaching an FSEM that semester. He said, yes, and we talked. He told me he was a little nervous as it had been a few years since he taught a class, and it was longer since he taught first-year students.

The door was wide open! I didn’t even need to knock, just walk in. So, that’s what I did. “Do you need a TA for the class?” That was all I needed to ask, and the position was mine. Amazing! I had never been a Teacher’s Apprentice before, so I had no idea what went into that role. But I was eager to learn.

Over the next week, I held my daily FOCUS meetings and began to build relationships with the students in the class. In a departure from previous patterns, I didn’t have to say goodbye to my first-year family members — affectionately dubbed “guppies.” I could now spend the next three months learning alongside 16 of them in their first-ever real college class.

Their class was called “American Higher Education: Policy and Practice.” We learned about everything that goes into the efficient running of a university and how it’s truly dependent on the success of its students, faculty and staff. Topics ranged from effective leadership, community/ alumni engagement, finance and Title IX (gender-based discrimination) to Greek life, athletics, academic freedom and civil discourse. Also, we had the wonderful opportunity to meet a few members of the Stetson University Board of Trustees, as well as then-DeLand Mayor Robert Apgar and Jules Coleman, PhD, a former Yale professor and Provost at New York University.

President Roellke began every class with one of his original dad jokes, which he disguised as “true stories.” It was so refreshing to walk in the class and forget about everything going on outside of those four walls. President Roellke wasn’t intimidating or scary. In fact, he welcomed students and encouraged them to stop and have a conversation with him. His generosity of time and caring was never-ending.

On the second day of class, he walked the entire class to Pat & Toni’s Sweet Things shop near campus and bought us all (and even some people in line) $2 scoops of ice cream. We even had the chance to tour his home and learn the intriguing history of 418 N. Woodland Blvd., across the street from campus.

I’ve always said that President Roellke gave me too much credit for being his Teacher’s Apprentice. But, in all honesty, I don’t think I have ever given him enough credit. I had such a great time in the class, and I formed a relationship with the president of the university!

Had he not been so warm and receptive

to me, I would not have been able to make this happen.

President Roellke has always told students that “we were partners.” He surely treated me that way. I’m thankful to him for everything he taught me. I’m also grateful for the relationships I built with the students. Even with graduation only a short time away, I learned just as much from those first-year students as they did from me — if not more.

Quiyara Murphy ’23 is a health sciences major with a minor in psychology. She is a member of the Alpha Alpha Alpha Honor Society. In addition, Murphy (also pictured on the magazine cover) is another of Stetson’s first-generation students. First Gen coverage begins on Page 30.

THE PRESIDENT’S FSEM EXPERIENCE

Teaching the FSEM last fall on the politics and practice of American higher education was catalytic for me as Stetson’s president. I learned as much from my wonderful students as I hope they may have learned from me.

Though not explicitly part of the syllabus, I wanted this course to provide an opportunity for me to get to know our incoming students fully. I wanted to understand how they had navigated the throes of the global pandemic and what impact those experiences have had on their learning, their goals and their ambitions. I also wanted, very much, to enable these 16 students to "see under the hood" a bit on how Stetson works, to understand and access the ample resources that are available to them, and perhaps even create a group of new ambassadors for our beloved university.

In short, I had a blast, and I think the students did too!

Christopher F. Roellke, PhD President, Stetson University Professor of American Studies and Education

The FSEM included an uncommon field trip.

CELEBRATION FOR THE

AGES

This year marks Stetson’s 140th anniversary — making our 1883 a very big deal.

BY MICHAEL CANDELARIA

1883 sure has a nice ring to it these days. For one, there’s the current award-winning “1883” Paramount+ original series. In dramatic fashion, the show allows viewers to hitch their wagons and head West through the Great Plains toward Montana, one of the final bastions of untamed America.

Then there’s Stetson, celebrating its 140th anniversary — as in established in 1883. Similarities between the two? Almost assuredly, no, except for the year, of course. And Hollywood just doesn’t do 1883 justice.

Hollywood doesn’t mention DeLand.

There is no retelling of how, on Nov. 5, 1883, Henry A. DeLand and Dr. John H. Griffith inaugurated DeLand Academy in a lecture room of the nearby First Baptist Church. In essence, that was the founding of Stetson University, which became a college in 1885. DeLand Hall was built in 1884, becoming the university’s first building and the oldest structure in continual use as an educational facility in Florida. In 1889, DeLand Academy was renamed John B. Stetson University in honor of the well-known hat manufacturer who gave generously of his time and means.

More Stetson history: In 1897, the business school curriculum was established, making Stetson’s School of Business Administration the oldest in Florida. In 1900, the College of Law was organized as the first law school in Florida. During the first

DeLand Hall (foreground) in the early 1900s

decade of the 20th century, Stetson was the only college or university of 50 or more students in the Southeast that required Carnegie units for admission and four years of work for a Bachelor of Arts degree. Back then, the College of Arts and Sciences was the College of Liberal Arts. In the early years, Stetson was also one of the few coed universities in the South.

Since early in the 20th century, graduate classes leading to a Master of Arts have been offered, as well as other master’s degrees. In 1936, the School of Music, a longtime department of the College of Liberal Arts, was established as Florida’s first collegiate school of music.

The rest, as the saying goes, is history. Now, 140 years later throughout the Stetson community, that’s what 1883 really means, right?

Well, yes, plenty of other historic events occurred in 1883, such as in May 1883 when the Brooklyn Bridge in New York opened to traffic after 13 years of construction. The first electric lighting system using overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison in New Jersey, began service. The first vaudeville theater was opened in Boston. Also, in an ode to the burgeoning West, that year President Chester A. Arthur became the first sitting president to visit Yellowstone National Park.

Nonetheless, Stetson was established in DeLand — and it’s a cause for a yearlong celebration that culminates during Stetson’s Homecoming 2023, Oct. 20-22.

Editor’s note: Keep an eye out for details about the October celebration plans!

A classroom in the 1930s

Sampson Hall in 1908

1890s campus streetscape

DID YOU KNOW?

A brief collection of miscellaneous facts through the decades that might surprise you:

1880s

1887: The Stetson Reporter, Florida’s first college newspaper, is published for the first time.

1920s

1929: The Great Depression hits Stetson hard as it had other institutions nationwide. When John B. Stetson Jr., who followed in his parents’ footsteps as a generous donor, could no longer be counted on for funding help, the university’s finances fell on shaky ground. Nonetheless, his philanthropy, along with his family’s, left an indelible mark of giving — as evidenced by the university’s record-setting total of $52 million in fundraising for fiscal-year 2022.

1890s

1894: Stetson plays its first football game — an intramural game — in front of hundreds of spectators.

1900s

1905: Stetson University College of Law becomes the first law school in Florida to admit women. Florida’s first female lawyer graduated from the College of Law in 1908. The College of Law was founded in 1900, becoming Florida’s first law school.

1910s

1913: Flagler Hall (with students shown in front) is renamed to honor railway magnate Henry M. Flagler. The building, constructed in 1902, was originally called Science Hall. Henry Flagler financed the building but required that the university keep his $60,000 gift a secret. Following his death in 1913, the three-story classroom structure received its now-familiar name.

1930s

1930: Stover Theatre, built for the oldest collegiate theatrical company in the South, opens its doors. Originally called Assembly Hall, because Florida churchmen complained about the university’s building of a “theatre,” it was renamed Stover Theatre in 1938 to honor Stetson professor Irving Stover, PhD, who was head of the speech department from 1908 to 1964. He died in 1965 and was rumored to haunt the building.

1940s

1940: As the effects of World War II began to reach colleges across the country, Stetson’s enrollment drops from its highest-ever count to a mere 362 students in 1940. By the mid-1940s, however, a significant number of military veterans were enrolled as students, and in 1946 they constituted half of the student body — with enrollment reaching 2,554 in 1948, an all-time high at the time.

1950s

1951: The Holler Fountain is installed as the centerpiece of Stetson’s Quadrangle, now known as Palm Court. The art deco-style fountain was built in Central Florida in 1937 and was featured in the Florida display at the 1939-1940 World’s Fair in New York.

1980s

1982: Stetson becomes the first private college in Florida to host a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest honor society.

1990s

1995: After a long relationship, Stetson formally ends its affiliation with the Florida Baptist Convention.

2000s

2003: The Eugene M. and Christine Lynn Business Center becomes the first building in Florida to be certified as a green building by the U.S. Green Building Council under its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system.

2010s

2010: Stetson becomes a pet-friendly campus with the opening of its first pet-friendly residence hall.

1960s

1961: The university purchases a massive Beckerath Organ for use in the Elizabeth Hall Chapel (now Lee Chapel). A total of 56 crates were shipped from Hamburg, Germany, to DeLand, where three men spent two months assembling the organ in place.

1970s

1971: Stetson University’s Model U.S. Senate is founded by T. Wayne Bailey, PhD, a political science professor, and student John Fraser. It is the nation’s oldest collegiate-level model Senate.

2020s

2020-2021: Amid the COVID-19 pandemic — Stetson’s second pandemic in history — the university successfully maintains strict health protocols on campus.

Editor’s note: For comprehensive information about the history of Stetson University, go to https://www.stetson. edu/other/about/history.php.

LEGACY MY 100-YEAR

Why serving as Stetson’s Director of Communications became the chance of a lifetime.

BY ALICIA L. SCOTT

In the distance, I see the back door of Chaudoin Hall. Did Mariah Houston use that door every day when she arrived for work?

A Black maid in the early 1920s, Houston, my grandaunt, was the first of my relatives to work at Stetson.

Others would follow. My great-grandmother, Suzie Clara Houston-Cook, took in laundry from Stetson professors after moving to DeLand from Georgia in 1923. Her husband, Cornelius “Big C” Cook, my great-grandfather, cleared countless acres where Stetson buildings would soon be erected.

My grandfather, Ernest Cornelius Cook Sr., grew up in a two-bedroom home at 343 E. Arizona Ave., where Nemec Hall stands today. He recalled going to school with dirt on his clothes because he worked beforehand in the fields on campus with his father and nephew.

As a young boy helping to clear land one day, my grandfather watched a group of well-dressed white men walk into DeLand Hall and wondered if a big job on a college campus could ever be possible for him. He went on to graduate from renamed Bethune-Cookman University, received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater and served as its vice president for Fiscal Affairs for many years. In his honor, on the campus of the university stands the Ernest C. Cook, Sr.

Walking through Palm Court, my third day on the job, it hit me: “I can pick up where they left off, and they would be so proud of me.”

Alicia Scott

Financial Aid building on Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard.

My great-aunt, Georgia Cook Wyche, followed in her aunt Mariah’s footsteps as a maid in Chaudoin Hall.

Clarence “Bo” Davenport, nephew of my grandfather (son of Mary CookMcArthur) once lived in the East Arizona Avenue home and worked the fields, clearing land on Stetson’s campus as a young man. Davenport broke color barriers in DeLand and retired as Public Works director for the City of DeLand. The DeLand Public Works building carries his name in honor of his service.

Davenport was a personal confidant of former Stetson President Doug Lee, PhD, who presided from 1987 to 2009), and together they worked to cultivate and improve the relationship between the African Americans in the nearby Spring Hill community and Stetson.

With my arrival to the Office of University Marketing last August, my family’s legacy at Stetson now spans 100 years. As a native of Ormond Beach, I grew up hearing my aunt Georgia, my grandfather Ernest and my cousin Bo affectionately say, “If you had a job at Stetson, you were somebody special.”

My goddaughter, Alexis Glenn, works as director of recruitment in Admissions for Stetson. I clearly remember the day last summer when she told me about an opening at Stetson for a director of

Communications. I was not looking for a job. I was an adjunct professor at Rollins College and busy working on a doctoral degree in business administration.

But something deep within stirred my soul and moved me to apply.

My cover letter was unconventional. “My family roots run deep within the DeLand and Stetson University community,” I wrote. “In the early 1900s, my family served as domestic workers and laborers on the campus of Stetson University.”

“Connecting with the fortitude of my ancestors’ contribution to the advancement of Stetson in the early 1900s to serving as the Director of Communications would be the chance of a lifetime,” the cover letter continued. “I bring more than the occupational qualifications; I bring a unique generational Stetson pride to my service in the position.”

I am thankful that my boss, Cory Lancaster, assistant vice president of Marketing Communications and Media Relations, heard the unspoken request from my ancestors and gave me a chance to serve at Stetson.

From my first days on the job, when I often walked teary-eyed across campus and the many days since, I am inspired by their lives, which often were lived in

The roots of Alicia Scott’s family run deep at Chaudoin Hall (left) and across the campus, including the work of greatgrandmother Suzie Clara Houston-Cook (above).

the shadows of Stetson. They were the nameless, undocumented servants because of their race, who sacrificed their identity but served in sanctity.

I feel their presence with me every day as I write stories for Stetson Today, mentor students and collaborate with many dedicated people across the campus. I have a 1900s vintage iron on my desk as a reminder of how they “pressed on.” It is symbolic and meaningful for so many reasons.

For all the back doors that they entered, they unlocked the front door so I could walk in and be here today.

Alicia L. Scott is director of Communications at Stetson. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in business administration from Northcentral University. She earned an MA in teaching from Rollins College and a BA in broadcast journalism from Bethune-Cookman University. In addition to working as an educator and adjunct professor, she previously served in the dual roles of chief of protocol for the Bethune-Cookman University president and executive director of the Mary McLeod Bethune Performing Arts Center.

Alexis Glenn is the goddaughter of Alicia Scott and serves as Stetson’s director of recruitment in Admissions.

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

MENTAL HEALTH

A research grant that targets spiritual and religious competencies among counselors sets a 40-year Stetson record for size — and reflects a fundamental change in the scope of training.

BY JESSE FOX, PHD

According to the National Institutes of Health, from the beginning of the pandemic in spring 2020 until as recently as fall 2022, the United States experienced a 300% to 400% increase in the reported occurrence of anxiety and depression symptoms.

In response, more and more people have sought counseling to overcome the trauma that has manifested from two years of isolation, pain and fear. People are hurting and turning to the mental health community for healing. And, as a society, we have gained an intimate understanding as to how we react to traumatic situations across all levels.

The effects of the pandemic can be interpreted from a myriad of perspectives, from biomedical sciences to philosophical schools of thought, and everywhere in-between. Psychologically, the pandemic shook many people to their existential core, what Paul Tillich (existentialist philosopher, 18861965) called humanity’s ultimate concerns — our awareness of our mortality, a desire for meaning or purpose, and a drive to discover that our lives truly matter within the grandeur of the universe we know and cherish.

These concerns have universal relevance; all cultures find ways to address them. For instance, during the pandemic, many people experienced a sense that they needed to refocus their priorities onto what really matters. As a result, people created new goals to fit better with deeply held values and moral convictions, such as shifting from focusing on work priorities to reinvesting time in their closest relationships.

Further, how the pandemic has affected people in all three of these existential dimensions of the human experience (mortality, meaning or purpose, and personal worthiness) has created a renewed interest into how we are training mental health professionals to respond effectively to these concerns at a societal level.

Part of this renewed interest in mental health has centered on reviewing how competent our mental health professionals are at addressing the multitude of ultimate concerns that individuals are bringing into therapy.

This idea of “competence” recently has been mostly associated with multiculturalism — the understanding that people from different cultural backgrounds experience and therefore view the world differently. However, human societies have long pondered these concerns, manifesting across the world’s wisdom traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, to name a few) and creating pathways for responding to life’s biggest questions.

This is where the John Templeton Foundation comes into play here at Stetson University.

I have spent most of my career as a counselor and professor in address-

ing questions of how individuals’ core, existential nature creates psychological resources for human flourishing, and how they may simultaneously pose vulnerabilities that render individuals at greater risk for psychological distress and overwhelm them. This work has delved deeply into how people view their lives within a larger frame of reference, whether or not that takes on the shape of traditional religions or from more emerging perspectives such as the spiritual but not religious. Also, the work explores how taking a larger perspective on life helps people navigate the dynamic and shifting landscape of human development.

For example, Pew Research recently published a study documenting that at least 86% of the U.S. adult population has given some thought over the past year to the big questions about life — including the meaning of life, whether there is any purpose in suffering or why terrible things happen to good people.

In 2020, my colleagues and I found in a sample of approximately 2,000 U.S. adults that big questions like these are not only commonly endorsed, but are also causally connected to mental distress and well-being, and these connections remain relevant across differing religious identities (including atheist and agnostic).

It is now documented that when people go to a counselor for help, they also frequently wish to

he effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on health is complicated and multifaceted. An unfortunate result of the past two years is that mental health has become a major public health concern.

Jesse Fox, PhD

discuss how these connections relate to either the problems they face, or the solutions they are seeking.

In 2021, Holly Oxhandler, PhD, at Baylor University found that 64% of clients seeing a counselor nationally viewed their religion/spirituality as relevant to their mental health.

I take these lessons learned from my research and experience as a counselor into my classrooms with graduate students in counselor education at Stetson, with the hope that when students develop their relationships with clients, they are better attuned to ways these pathways manifest.

And more research is on the way. In 2021, along with colleagues at the University of South Alabama, University of Maryland - Baltimore, University of California - San Diego, Baylor University and Bowling Green University, I received a $5.3 million grant to explore, expand and train

mental health professionals in competently addressing the religious and spiritual dimensions of mental health. This project is titled the “Spiritual and Religious Competencies Project” (www.srcproject.org). Stetson received almost $2 million of this grant, which I oversee to launch a national funding competition that has now attracted top project investigators nationwide to partner on developing a diverse array of applied research.

Their work is currently propelling research projects taking place in several mental health programs and housed within diverse institu-

“It is every individual’s right to expect that when they go to a mental health professional, they will be receiving the best care possible, tailored to their specific needs.”

tional profiles, including Ivy League medical schools, state universities, private universities, Veterans Affairs and community mental health.

The types of projects are quite diverse. Some focus on clinical skills that all mental health professionals practice, including how to ask helpful questions and respond with empathy. Meanwhile, others focus on working through complex, real-life situations that frequently emerge for individuals and their families when their spirituality or religion are directly relevant to their psychological and social functioning. Some projects have a specialized emphasis on providing ethical and effective care to populations that are at higher risks for lack of competence. This includes religiously devout populations, religious minorities and populations more likely to experience religious conflicts, crises or distress.

The size of the grant, which broke a 40-year record at Stetson, reflects a fundamental change in how spirituality, religion and mental health are understood. It has now become evident from years of health research that when people report possessing a robust spiritual or religious life, it tends to also be associated with several health vital signs, ranging from healthier immune system functioning to reduced risk for depression.

Likewise, when people experience strains or conflicts within their religious or spiritual domains, they tend to report just the opposite — greater risks for disease and dysphoria.

As a result, more and more mental health professionals and professional bodies, like the American Counseling Association, have now recognized these topics need to be included as core dimensions of multicultural identity and potentially relevant to all clients that counselors may welcome into their office.

As a society, and especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen how important it is to monitor our mental health and provide ethical and effective services where they are most needed. It is every individual’s right to expect that when they go to a mental health professional, they will be receiving the best care possible, tailored to their specific needs.

Our research project seeks to fulfill that expectation by ensuring spiritual and religious competence be made available to every practitioner, whether they are licensed or still in training.

We cannot do the “best” for our client unless we fully understand them, and this generous grant to Stetson ensures that we can fulfill our ethical obligations as mental health professionals and give our clients the best chance at recovery.

Jesse Fox, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Counselor Education and director of the SMART Lab at Stetson. Evan Copello, MS, Spiritual and Religious Competencies Grant program manager, assisted on this article.

HOW CATASTROPHE AFFECTS PEOPLE

What happens to our minds during pandemics, natural disasters, terrorist attacks and other extreme calamities?

Chris Ferguson, PhD, a psychology professor at Stetson and “avid fan of all things dark, mysterious and scary,” offers answers in his book “Catastrophe!: How Psychology Explains Why Good People Make Bad Situations

Worse,” published last fall (available on Amazon).

Whether natural or man-made, local or global, disasters impact people’s thinking and behavior on both personal and societal levels. Even rather ordinary crises in personal lives, such as the loss of a job or the end of a relationship, trigger overwhelming feelings. At the societal level, group anxieties, coupled with the moral pressure to conform, can send people down a path of ruin.

Ferguson examines how pandemics, natural disasters, terrorist attacks and other events of mass hysteria impact psychology and prevent people from adequately responding to, preventing or learning from those calamities.

From the rush to hoard toilet paper during the pandemic to the disconnect between procedure and practice surrounding massive wildfires, to debates about the science behind climate catastrophes, and shifts after traumatic events like 9/11 and the murder of George Floyd, “Catastrophe!” uses in-depth case studies to reveal how moments of societal upheaval affect the psychology of citizens.

Ferguson believes that although, as a society, we have often failed to predict, respond to and learn from catastrophes, we have made “remarkable progress.”

He concludes the book by offering strategies to help people make better choices during crises in their own lives, and he provides solutions for how society can better navigate misfortune in the future. – Michael

Candelaria

The Cici & Hyatt Brown Hall for Health & Innovation is now open, strengthening the university’s connection to the surrounding community. One early example comes with the initials BFA.

BY PATRICIA LETAKIS

BRAIN FITNESS

How do you keep yourself healthy as you age — not just physically, but mentally and socially as well?

Two Stetson professors, Sarah Garcia, PhD, assistant professor of psychology, and Matt Schrager, PhD, associate professor of health sciences, have been working together to bring the Brain Fitness Academy to the DeLand campus.

That’s BFA, for short.

Above, residents of nearby communities are benefiting from the work of students and professors on campus.

In February, the doors opened, welcoming members from Volusia County to participate in novel programming that combines physical, social and cognitivechallenging activities designed especially for older adults experiencing dementia.

Three rooms in the new Cici & Hyatt Brown Hall for Health & Innovation, which opened its doors in January, house the Center for Optimal Health Across the Lifespan, which includes the BFA, along with Play Therapy, a program serving low-income children in Head Start programs; and SMART Lab, which addresses the effects of unhealthy stress levels in individuals.

Stetson is the fourth Florida location for the BFA, with the other three in nearby Winter Park, Oviedo and Orlando.

As promised, Brown Hall will accom-

modate a wealth of community outreach. BFA represents one of the first tangible outcomes.

Schrager, whose research focuses on the physiology of aging, first interacted with the original BFA in Winter Park through a Stetson senior research project in 2016. The positive experience and the benefits he saw participants receive encouraged him to create a similar program at Stetson. When he approached Garcia, who had been involved in the same type of program at the University of California, Los Angeles, she was immediately on board.

“Dr. Garcia’s expertise and experience are making this possible,” Schrager says.

FOCUSING ON NEURODEGENERATIVE CONDITIONS

Garcia is a neuropsychologist specializing in geriatrics, particularly physiological non-pharmacological interventions for cognitive decline. In other words, she focuses on helping people with neurodegenerative conditions without using medicine.

About the BFA program, she describes, “This is one of the first I’ve come across where it’s multiple different types of activities, hitting on physical activity, social activity and cognitive-challenging activity. You are doing something different every

five to 10 minutes, maybe even every 20 minutes.”

Garcia compares this to other programs where people (clients) are doing an hour or two of solely cognitive challenges or physical activity. The BFA combines the different activities and keeps activities moving throughout the program.

In addition, the BFA functions in a group format, so the entire program is very social in nature. Activities can be as basic as 10-minute stretch-and-breathe exercises or as complex as a task where you have different things to memorize and later in the day come back to them. There are also visual and verbal puzzles.

“It really varies between all the different cognitive abilities,” says Garcia. “It doesn’t focus on just one. It’s not like we’re focused on just memory. We incorporate language, retention, executive functioning and processing speed along with it.”

Schrager takes the approach a step further: “For people experiencing cognitive decline, the evidence showing the clear benefits of more traditional, aerobic exercise — and its effects on brain blood flow and neurogenesis — is pretty well established. I am interested in building on the existing evidence and studying the additional benefits of more challenging, skill-oriented activities such as dance, tai chi and dual-task activities.”

Matt Schrager, PhD

Sarah Garcia, PhD

STUDENT INVOLVEMENT

Ariel Chivers, a health-and-wellness expert who has been working with the senior population for 12 years, is the coordinator for the BFA and the Center for Optimal Health Across the Lifespan (COHL). She leads the sessions with the assistance of three or four undergraduate students who have strong backgrounds in psychology and health sciences-based courses. Chivers is the former associate executive director of the Volusia Flagler Family YMCA — another example of Stetson’s expanding community reach.

Most participants are in their 60s, 70s and early 80s, the time when cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative disorders are more prevalent. But there’s no cutoff. Most important is that participants arrive with a positive attitude, ready to work.

The group is kept small, about 12 participants, which allows Chivers to identify who in the group might need extra help with physical activity or who is struggling with memory work. Students then work one-on-one with those members. Students also assist by leading specific tasks. Although Chivers is in charge of leading the session, she might ask, “OK, who’s going to lead this memory task for the day?” In turn, that allows students to get more involved with hands-on experience.

Research is another opportunity in which students can engage.

“It’s not a requirement, but so far everyone we talked to is ’Yep, sign me up for any research as well,’” says Garcia about students. “For instance, we’re planning on tracking anyone who is interested in the research with a neurocognitive battery at the beginning and end of each semester. Students will be running those participants through that neurocognitive battery [such as memory and attention tests].”

CARE PARTNER SUPPORT

At the same time that patients are participating in the Brain Fitness Academy activities, their family members and care partners have the opportunity to participate in activities designed to reduce caretaker health concerns. The families of patients with dementia and mild cognitive impairment often experience high levels of chronic stress and burnout. The burden of caring for a loved one spans many areas of life, ranging from financial and interpersonal to physical and emotional.

Leila Roach, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Counselor Education, who oversees the Care Partner

Support group within the BFA, cites the benefits of a caretaker focus.

“Family members learn strategies to reduce stress and burnout, and they learn further about dementia and related issues by engaging in activities that include traditional support group conversations, presentations by speakers from the local health care community, education on dementia care, legal and financial issues, and also working in our educational kitchen,” Roach explains. She adds the activities emphasize developing community partnerships with care partners and families, as well as with faith-based organizations, community centers and health care organizations.

Graduate students in the Counselor Education Department who work on professional programs in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Marriage & Family Therapy facilitate the groups as part of their clinical internship experience.

MULTIDIMENSIONAL BROWN HALL

A bonus for participants and facilitators is that the BFA, as part of the Center for Optimal Health Across the Lifespan, is housed in shiny, new, state-of-the-art Brown Hall. Glass floor-to-ceiling windows welcome daylight. In public spaces, warm brown wooden slats add detail to the ceiling and create accent walls. White tables are complemented with geometricpatterned blue chairs. The design is uplifting, open and airy, as are the rooms where the BFA sessions take place.

Another feature of Brown Hall is a 600-square-foot greenhouse with automated temperature controls, grow lights, curtains and weather station. There’s even an outdoor classroom and raised garden beds that take advantage of Florida’s mild year-round weather.

Leila Roach, PhD

Ariel Chivers

Brown Hall is designed to create a bridge between Stetson and the surrounding community. The building is an inviting structure, and the programs inside will provide services that might not otherwise be available to area residents: Play Therapy and SMART Lab.

Play Therapy (Play and Creativity in Counseling) provides space for children and their families to engage in expressive arts and therapeutic play activities to facilitate the healing of trauma and other mental/behavioral health disorders, as well as to support the health and well-being of families in Volusia County.

SMART Lab’s mission is to teach and research the efficacy of stress management and resiliency skills with individuals from the community and students from Stetson. The program uses biofeedback monitors to target stress levels and is designed to help anyone from children to geriatrics.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

As the BFA coordinator, Chivers has been at the forefront of the community outreach efforts, leveraging social media, particularly Facebook groups throughout DeLand, Deltona, Orange City, Pierson and other surrounding areas. “We also reached out to our local doctors’ offices, neurologists, local communities, nursing homes and retirement homes, and we are hoping to reach out to Stetson alumni, as well as our current staff and faculty, to promote the program more,” Chivers says.

The spring program, which began in February, offers two sessions per week — Tuesday and Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. — and runs for 14 weeks. Another session is planned for Stetson’s Fall 2023 semester.

Schrager is confident Stetson is well on its way to not only strengthening its

connection with the community, but also impacting the community in creative and innovative ways — from brainhealthy activities to learning lifestyle adaptations for all ages.

“I am hopeful that the BFA can expand to serve the community as a beneficial resource for combating cognitive decline and its devastating effects on individuals and their families and friends,” Schrager says. “I am also enthusiastic about the expanding opportunities our students will now have to interact with people across the lifespan through COHL, including opportunities to work across generations through the BFA.”

Exemplifying the potential of community outreach at Brown Hall, the Brain Fitness Academy brings together students, professors and local residents in need of help. And, with more programs on the way, it’s only the start.

FIRST GEN PERSONIFYING

Meet seven students who are defying college odds and, in effect, multiplying the chances of success for others — while also putting their university to the test.

BY MICHAEL CANDELARIA

First Gen — as in the first generation in their family to attend college.

Even that moniker carries a measure of misunderstanding or at least the need for clarification. The definition can be complicated.

According to both the Center for First-Generation Student Success and the U.S. Department of Education, being a first-generation student means your parents (or legal guardian) did not complete a four-year college or university degree, even if other members of the family have. Further, many colleges and universities consider students with parents who attended international universities as First Gen. That includes Stetson.

At the same time, some colleges have different definitions. As a result, to begin with, the national landscape is uneven.

In addition, student resources on campuses are often tied to those designations, magnifying their importance, with accessibility of support and aid at issue. Historically, the First Gen population benefits from fewer financial resources than other students.

Then there are the inherent challenges of simply being first. Often, First Gen students feel alone in their experiences, with family members being unable to relate to college. And some students feel a sense of shame because they have taken on a First Gen identity.

More than with many other students, questions are apt to abound — generally, what to do and how to do it without any substantial insight from home.

As a First Gen student, maybe you remember your earliest days on a college campus.

Nationally, one in three undergraduates identify as first-generation, and those numbers are expected to increase in the near future, with the pipeline of first-time undergraduates heavily weighted with First Gen students. Meanwhile, First Gen success typically carries intergenerational impact, with successful college completion being a significant predictor of educational, job

and life achievement for the families of graduates.

Not coincidentally, the prevailing belief is that institutions of higher education must shift their mindsets and priorities to better serve First Gen students in order to survive, thrive and meet their missions.

Is that happening at Stetson?

During this spring’s semester, there are 700 first-generation students on the DeLand campus, representing more than 25% of the student body, according to Stetson’s Office of Institutional Research & Effectiveness.

Seven of those students share their personal stories, as well as perceptions about their university in terms of ensuring success.

DAVIS BROWN: ‘I WILL FINISH’

When Davis Brown arrived on campus last August from Niceville High in the Florida Panhandle, much was on his mind – but not the least of which was making it past his junior year. His mother and father had tried, as did his older brother, all unsuccessfully. In each case, life intervened, making Brown a First Gen student by Stetson’s definition.

Even from the outset, Brown was confident about his choice of Stetson, and with his chosen major of music composition (with a primary focus in voice). He was attracted to the campus by virtue of its intimacy, particularly the low student-to-teacher ratio, and he had received a handsome scholarship. Further, a choral singer in high school, he survived the rigors of an arduous audition and admission process into the School of Music. In his words, the overall setting “really felt like home.”

On the other hand, he was challenged by, as he describes, a simple concept: “realizing that you're an adult now.”

“I still had the high school impression of like, ‘OK, I'm going to go home and I'm just going to do nothing, and I could just play video games or something like that,” he remembers thinking last fall. “… I've realized that I have to do so much more and that, you know, I'm accountable for a lot of things that I have to keep track of.”

As a First Gen student, Brown had to learn the nuances of college largely for himself. In essence, while first-year students can have it tough on any campus, it’s likely even tougher for First Gens.

Now in his second semester, Brown is making progress, particularly with selfreliance, both in class and around campus.

“It was a bit of an emotional process to really realize that I have this entire school filled with people meant for connections rather than just having a small clique,” he says. “… Learning to be comfortable with myself and not having to rely on a small friend group to keep myself sane.”

Brown sings the university’s praises, commenting that “Stetson is very, very helpful.” Yet, mostly, in a sure sign of growth, he’s finding his own way.

“I've already faced more challenges than I even expected,” he concludes. “But I will finish. … The only thing I can do is really just stay positive and make sure I'm doing the best that I can.”

Davis Brown

MIA TEJEDA: ‘NEEDED TO FIND OUT BY MYSELF’

Mia Tejeda is the oldest of three siblings in a family from the Dominican Republic. The home setting had always been closeknit and traditional — with one notable exception. Tejeda left at age 16 to spend her final year of high school with an uncle in Tampa (Riverview High). And now she’s the first in the family to attend a U.S. college.

While both parents went to a version of college in the Dominican Republic, it was more like secondary school, says Tejeda, describing the experience as “totally different” from Stetson and adding that her parents “didn’t have any idea about how [U.S. college] works.”

“I needed to find out by myself,” she continues.

Despite being on campus only since last August, Tejeda has already found out. A marketing and professional sales major with a minor in data science, she is exploring career choices in the

School of Business Administration. Also, she is the finance director for the Latinx Student Union. Plus, she’s a Stetson student ambassador, as well as a social media ambassador for the university, among other activities. That’s all in year one.

“Even now, when I talk about my classes to my parents, they’re like, ‘Oh, wow. They're already preparing you already for a career?’ They didn’t have that [experience],” Tejeda says, citing that her father is a bank notary and her mother works in marketing.

Tejeda credits Stetson’s Woke Independent Student Empowerment Program for her immediate success. WISE promotes leadership development and mentorship, particularly during a student’s first year on campus. Its mission is to foster encouragement and support for full-time first-year students of color, including Black/African Americans, Chicanx/Hispanic/ Latinx, Asian/Asian Americans, Native Americans, Hawaiian/ Pacific Islanders, and Multi-Ethnic, or those who may identify as underrepresented, marginalized and/or under-resourced.

"I would not be in the place I am right now if it weren’t for WISE, their leaders and my mentor [Ari Thompson], who played a key part of me being successful in the campus,” she asserts.

Tejeda believes she couldn’t have asked for more after Stetson’s presence kept continually popping up online as she was researching colleges. “Every time I tried to search, Stetson would appear, and I was just like, ‘Why not apply?’” she remembers. “There was no college that gave me as much attention as Stetson. And from the beginning, after I was accepted, if I needed something I would just call and they would pick up.”

Tejeda’s own attention to detail regarding education is no accident. It wasn’t an easy move to leave home as a teenager, but she did in hopes of greater opportunities.

“I want to get a better education. I want to have options,” she says, pointing to a possible career in marketing, public relations or media.

“I was like, ‘OK, this is the market for me; the U.S. is the dominant market for media. I want to go there. I want to find out.’”

In turn, Tejeda is already contributing to the campus culture at Stetson, one she describes as “very calm” and where “you can succeed very easily if you really want to.”

“The amount of resources Stetson gives you, and the personalized attention you get from Stetson, is not something I would waste,” she comments.

As such, her biggest challenge so far isn’t what to do and how to do it. The hurdle is time management, as in trying not to do too much.

“There's so many things that you could do at Stetson that you sometimes get too overwhelmed, and you have to learn how to drop some,” Tejeda concludes. “That's my biggest challenge.”

Mia Tejeda

ISAAC MENDEZ: ‘THOUGHT I WAS JUST GOING TO COLLEGE’

Isaac Mendez’s mother immigrated to the United States when she was 14, leaving Mexico and her family behind to live with an older sister in California. She didn’t finish middle school and, seeking the American dream, she initially worked as a babysitter and in the agricultural fields of California.

Mendez’s father, also a field worker originally from Mexico, didn’t attend school after the sixth grade.

With that as the backdrop, Mendez would find his way to Stetson and then to California for ABRCMS — the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists.

Following a family move, Mendez was born and raised in Prince George's County, Maryland, not far from the nation’s capital, where he began to realize his own opportunities. Attending Bladensburg High School, with a student population primarily of color, he excelled, even obtaining a license to be a Certified Nursing Assistant. And, largely inspired by his mother’s bold decision as a teenager, he “always wanted to have a big move.”

That meant college and, ultimately, would mean Stetson.

“I wanted to have something new where I could start, where I could flourish within my own self, try to figure out who I am and try to just find my identity,” says Mendez, who has a sister 12 years younger.

In researching colleges, Mendez had used several online platforms, and “Stetson one day just popped up in my email.” Stetson checked all of his requisite boxes, including a warm climate, strong financial aid and, later, a surprise campus setting.

In 2019, his first visit was on a Hatter Saturday, a student-recruiting event held in the spring. Also, it marked his first

visit to Florida. Mendez quickly was sold.

“I thought [the campus] was beautiful,” he remembers. “I thought it was a different scene. … It was just trees and very tropical. It felt like home. … So that same day, I was like, ‘Yeah, I'm going to be a student here.’”

As it turned out, Mendez became much more than a student. Majoring in health sciences and under the guidance of Heather Evans Anderson, PhD, assistant professor of health science, Mendez has conducted research about functions of the heart. Most recently, he studied the effects of vitamin D on the hearts of marine invertebrates. Plus, with the help of a scholarship from the American Society For Microbiology, he presented his work at the 2022 ABRCMS Conference in Anaheim, California. (Notably, Anderson, whom Mendez considers his mentor, also was a First Gen student.)

“My goal is to be able to be a heart specialist for a lot of patients who suffer heart disease, but also have a research background and be able to do clinical and research work,” he says.

Mendez just never thought he would be dissecting hearts at Stetson. His words: “No, I didn't, I thought I was just going to college, and I would take the classes required for medical school. … I never thought I was going to do a hands-on-type research like I’ve done.”

Graduating this May, Mendez looks back and thanks his mother.

“She always instilled education being a priority,” he says. “She believed that’s the way to be able to make a mark in the world. … Her family was unable to give that opportunity to her. She wanted to be able to give that opportunity to her kids.”

Isaac Mendez

BROOKE O’BRIEN: ‘HAVEN’T FAILED YET’

National statistics reveal that being a first-generation student comes with inherent disadvantages. In the case of Brooke O’Brien, her arrival at Stetson last August came with additional obstacles: She is mostly bound to a wheelchair.

Seven years ago, during a surgery to address scoliosis, more damage was actually done — now preventing O’Brien from experiencing the mere comfort of walking on campus. She is approximately 95% immobile.

Further, O’Brien was home-schooled without the benefit of classmates, and her parents have roughly a year of college experience combined.

“The first few weeks were nerve-wracking, and I'd never been on my own either,” says O’Brien, who lives in nearby Orange City following early moves from Ohio and Virginia. Her mother and stepfather raised her along with a younger brother. Her biological father lives in Ohio; she doesn’t know him well.

O’Brien remembers her first day on campus, Aug. 12, 2022. “I had a bunch of thoughts,” she continues. “One was ‘This is so exciting.’ Another thought was ‘I cannot do this. I’m going to fail here.’ But I haven’t failed yet.”

O’Brien is majoring in psychology but also is considering philosophy. She’s in the midst of exploration.

“I just really wanted to agree on something [as a major]. I guess psychology right now,” she says. “… My mom always encouraged me to go to college because she said one of her biggest regrets was not finishing college.”

And, yes, there are physical accessibility issues around campus, O’Brien says, while insisting they aren’t a predominant concern. “Everyone's very nice. Everyone's always helpful,” she says.

“People here are really helpful, which is good.”

Special praise goes to Joshua Rust, PhD, a professor of philosophy. O’Brien tells the story of an elevator in Davis Hall not working, forcing O’Brien to miss class. Rust responded to her apologetic email with instant action and a message of “no, no, no, don't apologize.” The elevator was promptly fixed, and Rust changed his classroom to better accommodate her.

Mostly, though, O’Brien isn’t seeking to be singled out. She chose Stetson because “it’s a small school close to home and a big school would’ve been way too overwhelming.” Also, she wanted a place where she could grow.

To that end, she has become more assertive, she adds, noting that “I'm not a very assertive person, but sometimes you have to be. You have to change.” As an illustration of exploration, she participates in Touchstone, Stetson’s literary and arts journal for students.

“I've made a lot of friends here,” O’Brien says. “And I'm doing pretty well in my classes. … I've met a lot of people with different experiences, different majors, all that good stuff.”

All represents a today that is allowing O’Brien to think about tomorrow, perhaps attending law school.

O’Brien even has advice for future First Gen students: “I would say definitely go out to the events and the tabling [students showcasing various clubs/activities on campus]. Try to join some organizations, because getting a lot of friends here has really been the biggest help to me.”

Brooke O'Brien

LEONARDO GIORGIONI: ‘SHATTERED MY PLANS, BUT FOR THE BETTER’

Leonardo Giorgioni, born to a mother and father from Venezuela and Italy, respectively, and who grew up in Spain, sought to see a “completely different culture.”

With that desire, plus the help of a good scholarship and GO Campus, Giorgioni arrived at Stetson this January. GO Campus is an organization that identifies college options for international students.

“I felt like staying in Europe was going to be more of the past 18 years,” explains Giorgioni, who attended a globally diverse secondary school in Spain and began learning English at age 2. “I felt like I was going to grow up a lot more [in the United States].”

Yet, Giorgioni arrived alone and with virtually no insight about college life or America. His father, now a marketer and entrepreneur, had taken university-type classes in Italy for only a few weeks. His mother never got the chance. Growing up, she was told her early passion, writing, “would never get her anywhere.”

Not only was Giorgioni a first-generation college student, but also from far abroad. And, although his parents “really wanted” their only child to attend college,

he had so much to learn.

“I came here with zero expectations for what it was going to be like,” he says, less than two months after stepping on campus. “Coming here was definitely mind-blowing.

“I came here with a mindset that, OK, I'm going to be alone; I’ll focus on my classes and, you know, do my own thing. And then I just realized how many people are here and how many things there are to do. It kind of shattered my plans, but for the better.”

Majoring in psychology, Giorgioni is observing his surroundings and responding to new information by, in essence, asking for more of it.

“There's so much support. I'm just comparing things to how it was back in high school because that's the only experience I have. And there is definitely so many things around [the campus],” he says.

A newcomer, Giorgioni concedes he’s by no means an expert about college, but he’s trying to get there.

His view: “I'm in a new country as an international student, and my parents have never [attended a] university. So, I have to concentrate. And, yeah, you do. But that’s not all. If you want to experience a university, I feel you have to let yourself free to be able to do whatever you are offered. Just say, ‘Yes, cool.’ That's my main thing.”

FIRST GEN IN LIFE AND RESEARCH

A former firstgeneration college student, Joanne Morales Bembinster didn’t have it easy growing up.

In her senior year of high school, she describes, “My whole life fell apart.”

In the end, she was fortunate enough to find mentors and friends to guide and support her through the troubling times. And she believes her education at Florida Gulf Coast University “changed my life.”

In part, those early experiences are fueling Bembinster’s current research and work to help First Gen students. She is Stetson’s director of Academic Success and an adjunct instructor of professional communications in the School of Business Administration.

In May, she hopes to complete her studies in Stetson’s post-master’s/ pre-doctoral Education Specialist (EDS) program, where her thesis explores the advising experiences of First Gen students on campus. The related research, which included interviewing some 20 enrolled students on campus, delivered both affirmation and new insight.

Bembinster sees a lot of positives in her research, too — with universities such as Stetson now recognizing this especially diverse group as dynamic and resilient.

Leonardo Giorgioni

“The experiences that they’re bringing to our campus is rich,” she says. “So, nationally we’re seeing a big shift, and I think that's where Stetson is really jumping into that part of the story — to where we are saying: ‘Welcome; we open our doors; we want to help guide and support you; and we will help change your life and for the next generations.’”

Joanne Morales Bembinster

KRISTINE LYNN RODRIGUEZ: ‘FIND YOUR CONNECTION’

Kristine Lynn Rodriguez represents anomalies in multiple ways. She’s an only child whose parents come from very large families. Her parents both hailed from the Philippines, but they didn’t meet until coming to the United States and working in the same industry, food concessions. Also, Rodriguez, a sophomore, is a first-generation student and, uncommonly, a commuter student from nearby Orange City.

After coming to the U.S., Rodriguez’s mother, who never attended high school, was a nanny. Her father completed his associate degree in the Philippines. Both traveled extensively as concessionaires, following large-scale events and sports like NASCAR, until meeting and ultimately settling in Volusia County, where Rodriguez spent her entire life.

At University High in Orange City, Rodriguez was a good student, but she also carried an important advantage.

Her mother became employed at Stetson, as a custodian at the Lynn Business Center, which meant Rodriguez could attend the university tuition-free. (Her mother, Rusaly Rodriguez, remains a Stetson employee.) By virtue of the university’s Tuition Benefits policy, Rodriguez started in August 2021 as a biology major on a pre-health track just as the COVID-19 pandemic was ebbing.

Today, she wants to take care of the young.

“I'm not sure what specifically, if it's going to be medical school or being a [Physician’s Assistant] or dentistry, I just want to specialize in pediatrics,” says Rodriguez, who added an anthropology minor last fall. “I really want to work with kids and have that comfort and connection to help them. They’re not fully responsible or aware of their health. I think educating and caring for them is one big thing I really want to do.”

In addition, Rodriguez has immersed herself in campus life, even as a commuter student. She helps to promote Stetson’s Asian Pacific American Coalition, handling public relations and marketing. The organization strives to raise cultural awareness on campus of the Asian continent and Pacific Islands. Also, she’s the secretary for the Alpha Chi Omega sorority. Such participation has brought a sense of belonging.

“It was kind of hard finding that [campus] connection at first because I was just in and out of campus [as a commuter student],” she says. “… But joining and being connected in organizations, I feel like you're able to find your connection with everyone.”

Meanwhile, Rodriguez found her fit in the classroom.

“I love studying life science, and I really love like the labs and lab reports we do in biology,” she comments. “I love the biology department — nice and open professors that I’m able to talk to and receive advice.”

In essence, the campus serves as a safety net. “It's all about being communicative and being comfortable, not feeling like there’s a bad question. Your professors and the lab assistants and your peers are here to help you because we're all learning together,” she adds.

Rodriguez shares her own advice, too, for others who might someday sit in her seat as a First Gen commuter student.

“Don't be afraid,” she says. “There's always going to be someone to help support you. … It kind of feels like a heavy thing on your shoulders when you’re the first one out of your family [to attend college]. You have this pressure. But you also have this opportunity, and it’s a really big thing. … Your family will support you, even though you might sometimes not think so.”

Kristine Lynn Rodriguez

JAIMY LEE COTTO DE JESÚS: ‘RESPONSE THAT I WAS LOOKING FOR’

Jaimy Lee Cotto De Jesús openly concedes that until moving to the continental U.S. from Puerto Rico as a fifth-grader she didn’t know there was anything beyond middle school. No one in her family, to her knowledge, had finished that level.

“It was a big thing for me to even finish middle school. It was even bigger for me to finish high school. And it's tremendous that I even got here to college,” says De Jesús, whose parents separated when she was very young.

There were challenges, too, for De Jesús to get past that fifth grade. She remembers being dropped off at her new school that year in Rochester, New York, where her mother had moved. De Jesús didn’t speak English and “had to kind of find my way through.”

She returned to Puerto Rico during middle school before eventually graduating from Pine Ridge High in nearby Deltona. She had more than found a “way through,” graduating in 2021 after being active in the school’s Junior ROTC program, dabbling in student government and asserting herself in several other clubs.

What’s more, De Jesús inspired her sister, two years younger, and brother, three years younger, who observed her accomplishments. “My sister was going to drop out in high school, and she saw me graduate and she just felt that she could do it too,” comments De Jesús, adding her brother now plans to attend Stetson.

That success brought her to Stetson in fall 2022, following a gap, and De Jesús hasn’t slowed her achievement. A marketing major, she’s already on the executive committee of the campus Latinx Student Union as the director of community engagement. About her Latinx group, she touts “it’s for everyone,” not solely for Latins. And she’s a university student ambassador.

Surprisingly, De Jesús draws parallels from her earliest days at Stetson to the “culture shock” of fifth grade in a new country. “I couldn't figure out where I was going back then,” she says. “And then it was the same thing here. I was very homesick for the first week, that's for sure.”

FIRST GEN AT STETSON (DeLand Campus — 2,742 Total Students)

25.53% First Gen

61% Female / 39% Male

56.93% Non-First Gen

17.54% Unknown

Ethnic Composition

13.6% Black or African American

27.6% Hispanic/Latino

7% U.S. Nonresident

42.6% White

9.2%* Other Race/Ethnicity

*Contains students from the following small populations: Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, two or more Races, and race/ethnicity unknown

Source: Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness, Spring 2023 Semester

Nonetheless, characteristically, she is persevering.

“At first, I thought I was going to have to really deal with this on my own, but it was also one of the reasons why I chose Stetson,” she continues. “I felt very welcomed. And I felt like, as a First Gen student, I would have support here in the university. When I expressed my concerns, they were all met with a response that I was looking for.”

In particular, De Jesús credits the WISE program for her rapid acclimation, noting, “I had that additional support to help me through this process, not only as a First Gen student, but also as a Latin student and a woman of color.”

Eventually, De Jesús found that same comfort in marketing. She began as a discovery major, but marketing “called to me,” she describes.

Now, with her brother eyeing life as a future Hatter, can De Jesús convince her sister to follow suit? Her immediate response: “We’re trying.”

Jaimy Lee Cotto De Jesús

From Bone Wars to rats to basketball, Stetson undergraduate research explores the world while reaping benefits far and wide for students.

BY RICK DE YAMPERT

SURE THING

Katie Wedderstrand ’23 made paleontology the subject of her grant-winning Stetson Undergraduate Research Experience.

“B

one Wars” engulfed American paleontology in the late 1800s. Enthralled by the spectacular dinosaur skeletons being unearthed by paleontologists in the American West, U.S. natural history museums scrambled to add the beasts’ bones to their collections.

Paleontologists were giddy to oblige, even if that meant — said Katie Wedderstrand ’23, a SURE scholar and a social studies major with a concentration in history — resorting to “unethical fossil-hunting.”

The Bone Wars also spilled over U.S. borders and pitted Americans, who were veritable upstarts in the study of geologic past involving the analysis of plant and animal fossils, against their more established British, French and German counterparts.

Wedderstrand decided to make paleontology the subject of her proposal for a grant from SURE, the Stetson Undergraduate Research Experience.

Awarded one of the highly competitive grants, Wedderstrand titled her project oddly but quite effectively. The project’s name was “I wish you would throw that bone out of the window’: The Bone Wars and Cultural Nationalism in the late Nineteenth Century.” Her research paper earned her a place presenting at the biennial national conference of Phi Alpha Theta, the honor society for undergraduate and graduate students and professors of history, held this January. Plus, her work was named Florida’s best undergraduate manuscript at the state regionals of Phi Alpha Theta in March.

“Katie’s exploration of nationalism that goes beyond wars and military leaders to ’My dinosaur is bigger than your dinosaur’ was fascinating,” comments

Kimberly Reiter, PhD, associate professor of history and chair

of Stetson’s Undergraduate Research Committee and Stetson Showcase.

Reiter, who signed on as Wedderstrand’s faculty mentor for her project, smiled impishly and noted the curious title “included a quote by one of those paleontologists. When a bone didn’t fit his thesis, he would just … .” Reiter let her hand, making a dismissive throwing gesture, finish the sentence.

Since Grady Ballenger, PhD, Professor Emeritus and former professor of English, introduced the idea of Stetson undergraduate research grants in 1998, during his first year as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, SURE scholars have researched their passions around the world.

FROM ARCHAEOLOGY TO CANCER, EVEN BASKETBALL AND BASEBALL

The students have gotten dirty on archaeology digs in northern England and Greece; studied German lieder in Vienna, Austria; explored the “symbolic capitalism” at play in the National Basketball Association; investigated 9/11 conspiracy theories; composed symphonic music on a computer; researched how viruses may cause cancer; and pursued many other projects.

That includes rats. Lab rats, of course.

Yahia Adla ’23, a Syrian-born biology major who is minoring in biology/pre-med, titled his SURE project “Spilanthol alters the consumption of, and taste reactivity behaviors elicited by, solutions in male Wistar rats.”

In a Junior Seminar taught by Michael King, PhD, the professor of biology mentioned his research “on neural mechanisms that control behavioral responses to taste input,” Adla recalls. “Imagining how our brain can perceive different tastes and eventually control our cravings and food intake was mind-blowing. As he was speaking, I was thinking about how we manipulate our nervous system in perceiving taste differently from what we eat.”

That led Adla, who as a high-schooler worked in Egypt at its National Cancer Institute and National Research Center, to ponder Spilanthol, a bioactive compound and taste enhancer. “That hasn’t been investigated yet from a neuroscience perspective,” Adla points out. “When I pitched this idea to Dr. King, he was excited, and we immediately started designing an initial experiment and applying for a grant.” (Adla is also a first-generation student.)

Yahia Adla ’23

Kimberly Reiter, PhD

Kaira

experience made me realize there is more than one direction, and the possibilities are endless.”

iting their academic prowess in a wide assortment of disciplines at venues across campus.)

SURE grants require great effort, even during the application process.

Students must be at least a sophomore and apply on the SURE webpage. A committee composed of “an eclectic bunch of Stetson faculty” — Reiter’s words — awards up to 20 grants annually. Each award provides up to $2,000 for research and up to $500 to support travel, although in certain cases the travel stipend may be increased to $1,000.

The goal of the program “is to develop informed graduates equipped with skills and dispositions to tackle complex challenges,” according to the online description.

Kaira Thevenin ’24 is another such student. The Apopka native and health science major with a minor in chemistry titled her SURE project “Exploration of Merkel Cell Polyomavirus Small Tumor Antigen Localization in Transformation and Tumorigenesis.”

Her research will lead to “more insight into how viruses cause cancer,” Thevenin says.

Such curiosity can lead almost anywhere. As a result, SURE scholarship isn’t exclusively about hard science research. SURE’s webpage proclaims it is “a signature program that fosters excellence in research and creative activity,” and is open to any student on campus — from the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Business Administration and the School of Music.

“We’ve had people use a SURE grant to write their ‘great American novel,’” Reiter says. “One student wrote a requiem. If the proposal is really good, we’ve helped fund students going off to international studios to study — at the Orfeo Music Festival in Italy, for example.”

Business students have used SURE grants “to fund research that will take them into the Roland George Investments Program,” Reiter adds. “My favorite one ever from the School of Business was a study about whether left-handed pitchers make more money” in Major League Baseball.

TACKLING COMPLEX CHALLENGES

The core of the SURE program is an eight-week, research-intensive experience that takes place during the summer, in which students work on individual projects under a Stetson faculty member who has agreed to be their mentor. Research may continue throughout the subsequent year, with SURE scholars expected to present their findings at various conferences and at the springtime Stetson Showcase. (This year’s Stetson Showcase was scheduled for April 11. The 2022 event featured nearly 200 students exhib-

Working with her mentor, Kristine Dye, PhD, assistant professor of health sciences and biology (a relationship that goes back to Thevenin’s first year on campus and predates her SURE research), Thevenin states the methodologies of her project “include various transformation assays, subcellular fractionations, mutagenesis and tissue culture.”

The SURE grant enabled her to continue the research last summer.

“Some of my experiments tend to be quite intensive and/or require a long period of time to conduct,” Thevenin describes. “As a full-time student, I find myself breaking up these experiments into multiple days to accommodate my class schedule during the semester. With the help of the SURE grant, I was able to solely focus on research over the summer and knock out a lot more experiments than I would have been able to do during the school year.”

SURE funds also provided the opportunity for her to present at an undergraduate research conference in California. “It was a really memorable experience as I had never been to

Thevenin ’24: “My SURE

California before,” Thevenin says. “I was fortunate enough to receive a poster presentation award at that conference.

“My SURE experience made me realize there is more than one direction, and the possibilities are endless.” (Thevenin is also a first-generation student.)

THE FINANCIAL EQUATION

Reiter, who also serves as a counselor for the Council on Undergraduate Research, a national organization, would like to expand those possibilities at Stetson. Not coincidentally, that means obtaining more funding.

While the stipend faculty mentors receive has been increased from $250 to $500, “the amount we give students — $2,000 — has not changed in 25 years,” Reiter says. “Many schools now have quite exceeded that amount.”

While the university contributes some dollars to SURE, the bulk of funding comes from donations by the Palm Beach Community Trust and the Frueauff Foundation.

The goal of Stetson’s Undergraduate Research Committee is to increase individual grants to $3,000 and travel stipends to $1,500. And, as for the mentor stipend of $500, Reiter is concerned that even the increased amount isn’t adequate compensation for the time and effort required of faculty.

“We’ll need donors for this,” Reiter asserts.

The funding situation came starkly into focus as six SURE scholars were selected to take part in the 2023 National Conference on Undergraduate Research at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on April 12-15. The conference was expected to attract 4,000 college students and faculty members from across the nation.

Reiter called the conference a “big deal” but also cited the costs to students in event registrations, flights and hotels. “We struggle for even the registration money,” she says. “[Students] can apply for various Dean’s funds and Provost funds through Stetson, and Stetson tries to be generous. But even student conferences have gotten expensive. If Stetson can’t fund it, then it’s a personal decision.”

One possible solution, currently being worked on in the proposal stage by the Undergraduate Research Committee, is to establish an office of undergraduate research on the Stetson campus.

“This is an office that many other schools of our rank and association have established,” Reiter explains. She adds that undergraduate research at Stetson “is at a crossroads right now” and that “a center for undergraduate research would probably take a $2.3 million startup.”

Also, she cites that such an office would provide central direction to help students find research opportunities, funding and scholarships, as well as “more effectively promote our student achievements to a broader community.”

“It doesn’t need a lot of physical housing, but it does need the seed money to put this together,” she continues.

BIG RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Indeed, the SURE program is an investment that produces both tangible and intangible benefits. Just ask Cameron Black, a 2016 graduate in history and economics. He titled his SURE project “The Ultimate Assist: Expansion, Salary Growth, and ‘Cultural’ Changes Within the National Basketball Association from 1970-2000.”

Black was a basketball player in high school, but an injury ended his playing days and “turned him from a love of the sport to a love of understanding the sport,” Reiter says. “He was working on a whole new field that he pretty much invented — symbolic capitalism.” Black went on to pursue his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley.

“He’s going to be one of the names in labor history in a couple of years,” Reiter predicts.

Ryan Lynch ’09, history and religious studies, whose SURE project focused on 9/11 conspiracy theories, is currently an associate professor of history and geography at Columbus State University, where he specializes in Islamic history.

Jenna Siladie ’11, voice performance major, whose SURE grant enabled her to study lieder in Vienna, Austria, has established her career as a soprano in concert halls across the United States and Europe.

Those are just three more examples of SURE success.

For them and other SURE scholars, their participation in the program “has informed who they are,” Reiter insists.

SURE scholars embody “the worth of a Stetson education,” which isn’t necessarily measured “in dollars and cents, or jobs,” Reiter concludes. “What it’s measured in is the intellectual development, personal growth and global citizenship, which are the three core values at Stetson, and which these students have demonstrated with these independently conceived, thought-through projects. That’s important to the university.”

Keep an eye out — Stetson has launched a new university branding campaign.

BY MICHAEL CANDELARIA

Well, that’s not really a must, but the campaign does come by virtue of adventurous ambition, copious research, more than a dash of creativity and very high hopes to bolster enrollment.

The Be Seen campaign, now fully launched but designed to continuously evolve, leverages the best that Stetson has to offer students while highlighting the lasting impacts of attending a small university.

In essence, aside from a highly regarded degree, the campaign touts the benefits of Stetson in the classroom and beyond. For example, small class sizes promote academic and personal relationships and community. Professors are able to provide personalized attention and create the kind of relationship-rich academic setting that enables the best and most meaningful learning opportunities. Not only do students get to know classmates, they form connections that will help them succeed both in the classroom and in life.

Be seen one on one. Be seen for your potential. Be seen for your talent. Be seen competing. Be seen at the big game. Be seen living the Greek life. Be seen in a hammock. Be seen in the community. Be seen exploring. Be seen by employers. Be Seen … .

That’s the idea.

Said another way, as a student at Stetson, you will be seen, be heard and be you. It’s about what students want to accomplish and achieve, and how they want to do it. And that goes for all students, prospective and current.

“This campaign was created to elevate Stetson’s student experience,” says Steven Alexander, vice chair of the Stetson University Board of Trustees. “This is for students to see themselves at a place where they can succeed in many number of ways. They have the opportunity to actually be seen, to be recognized, to be validated for who they are.”

“This Be Seen campaign is so flexible in the ways that we can use it and can appeal to different potential groups of students. That was one of the things we found most exciting about it,” notes Bruce Chong, who retired Jan. 31 following more than seven years as vice president for Marketing and Communications.

Alexander and Chong were among the first to seek development of a new university campaign to both attract new students and retain existing students. Findsome & Winmore, a full-service marketing agency based in nearby Winter Park, then joined a comprehensive research and discovery effort — involving virtually all segments of the Stetson community.

“We heard about all the multiple opportunities that students have. And what we heard was remarkably consistent — about opportunities students have in their classrooms, with faculty, in their majors, internships, community work, professional groups. So, this really showcases what it is to be here at Stetson,” describes Chong, citing discussions in 2022 with students, alumni, faculty, staff and others.

Further, as the opportunities for students continue to broaden with the launch and implementation of the university’s new Strategic Priorities, the campaign can expand to encompass them, Chong adds.

Similarly, Matt Certo, CEO of Findsome & Winmore, points to the students being targeted for the messaging. “Stetson is a small private university with a distinctive heritage and location. It’s a unique proposition that appeals to an ambitious student with a pioneering spirit. And that kind of kept resonating with us,” Certo comments.

“Ultimately, we really felt that Stetson attracts and cultivates and serves a student who wants a unique experience, a differentiating experience, an experience that’s not just, ‘Hey, I went to class.’ These students want connection. They want community. They want to learn together; they want to make a difference. And Stetson is that place.”

“You’re going to be noticed; you’re going to be understood,” concludes Alexander. “This works really well in showcasing what it is to be here at Stetson.”

In other words, Be Seen at Stetson.

Created to promote the Stetson Student Experience, the campaign touts the benefits of the university in the classroom and beyond.

Stetson has a new university branding campaign to attract students. And, please pardon the pun, the campaign must be seen to be believed.

BE SEEN IN BUSINESS

Entering his senior year at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, a prestigious boarding school, Isaac Choate had his college plans pretty much set. He was going to play football, likely at a place such as Dartmouth University, where his father rowed crew.

That’s until those plans crumbled, as injuries ended his career. He was forced to contemplate a life without football.

In spring 2019, when the Sandra Stetson Aquatic Center first opened, he had visited Stetson as a member of the Phillips Exeter Academy rowing team. He liked what he saw of the university, and a seed was planted. In fall 2019, Choate received an offer to attend West Point but was medically disqualified just prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. Eventually, he applied to Stetson.

Yet, even after his arrival on campus in August 2020, it took him a while to identify his ideal fit. Initial thoughts about a biochemistry major didn’t pan out, and admittedly he became distracted by a social life that was a bit too robust. In a sense, he was exploring those campus choices, too. Also, he was medically disqualified from Stetson’s ROTC program after initially participating.

Then he wound up in a business sales class taught by Dena Hale, PhD, in the spring of his first year. Surprise, surprise.

“I walked into it [class] the first day and I was like, ‘I’m not going to use this.’ And about 30 minutes into the class I was like, ‘Wow, OK.’ I thought, ‘Well, everything that I’ve done with my academics and my

athletics kind of intertwines in this environment right here,’” Choate remembers.

Hale also made a difference, guiding him with a simple comment along these lines: “Hey, I get you understand this [class], but imagine how good you could be if you applied that hard work from your athletics into this class and through your natural abilities.”

Choate took the advice to heart, renewing a commitment to achievement, wherever it might lead.

In his sophomore year, he joined the Stetson rowing team, as well as the Centurion Sales program and the Alpha Kappa professional business fraternity. Also, he became an analyst in Stetson’s high-level Roland George Investments Program and a tutor in professional sales.

“I was determined to do as much as I could to prepare myself for my future and have a bunch of different options rather than putting all my eggs in one basket, which I did in high school,” explains Choate, now majoring in investment finance and professional sales.

Stetson, in turn, provided the requisite setting.

“I would definitely say that [Stetson] gave me not only the environment but the tools,” Choate says. “And what I liked is that no one told me what to do. Obviously, I like guidance and advice, but I hate being confined to having to do one certain thing. And Stetson was kind of the environment that equipped me with the tools to create and do exactly what I wanted for myself. It was, ’OK, if this didn’t work out, you have 100 more options to try something else that might potentially work out.’

“You gain a set of skill sets, which then applies to the next one whether you realize it or not.”

BE SEEN IN EXPLORATION

While Christie St. Vil grew up in Orlando, her parents were natives of Haiti. And although they didn’t attend U.S.-type college there, her parents had very specific requirements regarding her education at Stetson.

So, upon arrival on campus from Evans High School in August 2021, St. Vil had the choice of four career options given to her: doctor, lawyer, engineer or teacher.

Her explanation as a First Gen student: “My parents wanted me to have the dream that they didn’t get.”

To identify a career, St. Vil immediately went into discovery mode — as in making discovery her actual major. By catalog description, the university’s Discovery Program is a hub of active exploration and reflection with faculty, staff and peers that can assist students in progressing successfully through their undergraduate career and beyond. The curriculum is designed to allow students the opportunity to create a unique learning experience as they explore.

After initial inquiry, and since “forensic scientist” sounded interesting and was the closest career to doctor among her options, St. Vil majored in sociology with a minor in chemistry. It didn’t take long, however, for her to seek another path — and to anticipate one very difficult conversation with her parents.

She explored further, taking a variety of electives until she found an area that felt right. It turned out to be communications. She liked her first communications class and took another; she was sold.

“I definitely took some time my freshman year,” she says. “I went through a lot of different majors to get to communication before I actually committed.”

Isaac Choate Christie St. Vil

Then came the conversation. “Telling my parents wasn’t the easiest thing because [communications] was not in the bracket they gave me. I said, ‘Yeah, but it’s really what I want to do.’ And after I told them I really want to do it, they were like, ‘Fine, if that’s what you really want to do.’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s what I know how to do.’ So, it was a journey.”

The journey was aided by her academic advisers.

“I definitely expressed my concerns to my advisers [about choosing the best major for her],” St. Vil continues. “They said it’s totally fine if you want to explore majors. What they did was give me a course from every department. Then we eliminated majors. I was like, ‘No, that’s not for me. No, that’s not for me.’ We did that [pro-

cess of elimination], and it helped me find communications. I was never considering communications [before that process].”

St. Vil now majors in communications and media studies with minors in journalism and community engagement. She has an eye on a career in broadcast journalism. Additionally, she’s a Writing Center tutor, a Bonner Program leader and actively involved in the Black Student Union, among several other groups on campus.

Perhaps most notably, St. Vil is proud of her exploration.

Her words: “I’m pretty proud of myself because I was getting discouraged. It was getting to the point where ‘It’s looking like I don’t know what I’m going to do.’ But I found communications, and I’m fine. … The next step for me is grad school.”

BE SEEN AS A VETERAN

Adam Shulman has come a long way from New Smyrna Beach High — in reality only about 25 miles away — and it’s taken a long time. Graduating from there in 2005, he arrived at Stetson in August 2021.

Between then and now, there were a few initial classes at Daytona State College before dropping out; a four-year stint in the Navy, working as a machinist until 2010; assorted jobs and many uneven times living day to day as he tried to find himself; and finally earning an AA degree from Daytona State but being unable to get substantial employment. All occurred before settling at Stetson.

In essence, he had gone from working on sophisticated F/A-18 Hornet aircraft to virtually stocking shelves during that time.

“When I got out of the Navy, the biggest issue was I didn’t really know what to do, who to go to, where to go,” Shulman says, describing earlier days. “I was floating around; I was completely lost.”

His campus arrival followed a monumental shift in his life, when Shulman promised his dying aunt that he would chart a new, more meaningful course — to leave a legacy behind, no matter how big or how small, and to take care of his parents, who had taken care of his aunt.

Shulman was 34 at the time. Ultimately, he asserts, Stetson provided the needed direction.

And she credits her current school for assisting along the way.

“I think Stetson definitely taught me a lot — like learning how to find resources, learning how to fight and advocate for myself,” she concludes.

“When I got accepted, it was kind of a game changer because I knew Stetson was going to be a challenge for me,” he recalls.

Shulman, still very much uncertain but with a Daytona State degree in business administration, took his first class with John Riggs, DBA. The class was in professional sales and communications, and it proved to be another pivotal point.

“[Riggs] was the first person in my academic career from high school all the way through college to ever stop and tell me he saw something in me,” says Shulman, now 36. “So it kind of sold me.”

Shulman received kudos in that class for creating a PowerPoint presentation on how to start a business reincorporating veterans.

Shulman subsequently found a role with veterans on campus, filling a leadership void by serving as president and reigniting the Student Veterans Organization.

“I’ve already grown,” Shulman comments, again citing Riggs as a catalyst. “… I can 100 percent say you can grow here. And I love the environment because the classes are so much smaller. So, you can actually work one on one. And every professor I’ve ever had to deal with, anytime I’ve had a problem, they put everything down and they’ll focus on me and help me with whatever problem I’m facing — regardless of whether it’s a test or something I have to deal with in the outside world.”

Shulman is scheduled to graduate in December, and he’s thinking about returning as a graduate student in business management. He has found his way, which most often leads to the sales labs at the Lynn Business Center.

“Anybody and everybody who knows me, they know every time I’m on campus, I sit in the sales lab,” he says. “I sit there and study, and I sit there and help other students.”

Adam Shulman

Meet Chesya Burke, PhD, who is unabashedly taking the literary world by Storm, Black Panther and bold creative expression.

BY RICK DE YAMPERT

SUPERHERO AUTHOR

nIearly December 2020, the internet was abuzz with the news: On the winter solstice of that year, when Jupiter and Saturn would be in conjunction for the first time in 400 years, Black people would magically be gifted a superpower. Telepathy, Hulk-like super strength, X-ray vision, super speed — every person of African descent would receive an extraordinary ability!

“I can make a great argument that that did happen,” says Chesya Burke, PhD, assistant professor of English and U.S. literatures, and the author of 100-plus fiction pieces and articles within the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror and Afrofuturism.

Her latest work, a book-length study of the Marvel superhero Storm, titled “Hero

Me Not: The Containment of the Most Powerful Black, Female Superhero,” was scheduled for release in April from Rutgers University Press (during press time for this magazine).

OK, comic book superheroes, of course, have superpowers. But other people bequeathed with amazing abilities?

“[Yes,] I say that, because in a lot of ways Black people use other types of understanding of the world that is not necessarily based in a Eurocentric view,” Burke comments from her Flagler Hall office on campus while sitting beneath framed, stylized portraits of James Baldwin and science fiction doyenne Octavia Butler.

“For instance, we, in a lot of ways, talk to our ancestors. Our ancestors are a literal continuation of who we are and how we exist. Everything that we do in so many ways, we do it because they couldn’t. We do it because they stood on stones for us to get to the stars.”

Burke did, indeed, receive a superpower — her writing ability — and at a very young age, when she was growing up in the eerie town of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The town was the scene of an alleged, bizarro encounter in 1955, with a family claiming

their farmhouse was besieged by small-statured, big-headed, big-eared creatures from a spaceship (the Kelly–Hopkinsville encounter). They were entities that, in UFO lore, became known as the “Hopkinsville Goblins.”

Burke notes that, along with those goblins, Hopkinsville was the birthplace of the renowned clairvoyant Edgar Cayce, known as the “Sleeping Prophet.” Also, she points out, the town lies on a ley-line, which mystics say are stretches of land that emanate certain “earth energies.”

The town, however, resonates with Burke even more personally.

“My family stayed on haunted land, and I grew up with my great-grandmothers passing stories down, and my grandmothers telling firsthand stories of ghosts they had seen,” Burke says.

Such strangeness came to inspire and infuse Burke’s writing. Those works include her 2011 short-story collection “Let’s Play White,” and such tales as “Talitha Cumi” in the 2021 anthology “There Is No Death, There Are No Dead: Tales of Spiritualism Horror,” and “Haint Me Too” in the 2019 anthology “Hex Life: Wicked New Tales of Witchery.” (A

Chesya Burke, PhD

“haint,” derived from the word “haunt,” is a term used in African American folklore to refer to a ghost or malevolent spirit.)

“A lot of my stories are just stories of my family,” Burke continues.

Another factor played into young Chesya’s burgeoning love of scary stuff.

“My mom was a huge horror buff,” Burke describes. “She had no problem with us watching any horror movie.

“I was fascinated by the stories and the way stories can be told. So I started writing very young, at about age 6 or 7 or 8.”

The young writer quickly found an audience: her extended family and “whoever would ... let me read to them.”

Burke’s family moved to Atlanta, and she pursued her BA in English and Africana Studies at Agnes Scott College. Meanwhile, she continued writing and submitting stories to various publications.

“I had received quite a few rejections,” Burke concedes. “My grandmother passed away. She was one of those people who would listen to my stories. I decided that, when I came back from her funeral, I was going to let it all go.”

Yet, when she opened the email account she used for her writing pitches in order to close it down, things changed. “I got my first acceptance at that moment,” Burke says.

Her 2011 short-story collection “Let’s Play White” was published two years before she earned her bachelor’s degree.

That work garnered lofty praise from two titans of American literature, Samuel R. Delany and Nikki Giovanni.

“These dark tales announce the arrival of a formidable new master of the macabre,” wrote Delany, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

“What a stunning collection,” wrote Giovanni, a poet and essayist whose honors include the Langston Hughes Medal and the NAACP Image Award.

Meanwhile, another passion was simmering in Burke’s heart.

Her words: “I asked myself a couple of years into college, ’What do I want to do?’ And it was ’I want to teach.’”

Burke attended Georgia State

University to pursue her master’s degree in African American Studies. Her historical mystery novel “The Strange Crimes of Little Africa” was published in 2014. She combined academia and science fiction in the writing of her 2015 master’s thesis, “Hero Me Not: Mammy, Magical Negro and the Constructed Containment of Storm from the X-Men.”

Burke earned her doctorate in English literature from the University of Florida in 2020. She arrived at Stetson in August 2020 to assume her first full-time teaching position. She has been Stetson’s director of Africana Studies since August 2022.

“I absolutely love teaching,” Burke says. “I love reading. I love writing. I’ve been very lucky to blend the things I love into a career that I love. I get to spend my time around books and people who love books, and people who love to talk about books.”

Her Stetson faculty biography opens with this: “Chesya Burke is an Afrofuturist. She writes and studies Afrofuturism as a cultural movement that seeks to reclaim Black identity through art, literature and political resistance.”

The term Afrofuturism dates back to the early 1990s. Culture observers see its particular worldview in the novels of Delany and Butler, the music of Parliament-Funkadelic and avant-garde jazz musician Sun Ra, the Marvel Comics superheroes Black Panther and Storm, and other creators and creative expression.

“I define Afrofuturism as a longing of Black people for connection to not just history but to their own magical place in the world, their own existence as actualized beings,” Burke explains. “In the world, very often Black bodies do not get the benefit of being considered human. Afrofuturism not only centers that humanity, but it places us in a lot of ways in the stars. So, it makes us bigger — not bigger than what we are, but bigger than what the world has

Burke’s book “Hero Me Not” explores the “problem with Storm.” (Yes, the book’s roots reach back to her master’s thesis.)

“I love Storm,” Burke says. “She’s a Black woman who has these unlimited powers and has been worshipped as a goddess in Africa.”

However, adds Burke, Storm “freely and willingly” allows herself to be subjugated by the Professor X character, who tells her she isn’t a goddess, that she’s instead a mutant.

In the X-Men comics and movies, Storm is seen as “out of control and she must be contained,” Burke says. “Why can’t she be considered a goddess? Because that means that she is uncontrollable. You cannot contain her.”

Burke “would love for this book to start a discourse around the way we view powerful bodies — who can be powerful and where we place that power.”

Currently, Burke is editing an academic journal about the works of filmmaker Jordan Peele, and she’s writing a fantasy piece in which Stagecoach Mary, a real-life Black mail carrier in the 1890s, ventures into space.

“I’m not one of those people who has to write every day," Burke says. "But I do have to write. It is very important to me. I find myself in my writing.”

imagined us to be.”

CYBER SLEUTHS

BY PATRICIA

This is a course that most other schools just don’t offer. It’s a course that provides a very realistic experience — without the cloak-and-dagger aura. Also, it requires a lot of trust between IT, the administration, students and the teacher. In fact, students must sign a nondisclosure agreement, as do the professors. The class is always closed-door, and no one is allowed to say what happened in the class — ever.

Josh Eckroth, PhD, associate professor of computer science, teaches Cybersecurity 331. His description: “It’s a course where the students have one project for the entire semester, which is to essentially try and break into Stetson University’s computer system.”

In other words, the students are trying to hack into the system of their own university.

Before your mind jumps to Hollywood images of a hacker wearing a hoodie and intensely clacking away on a keyboard as he (or she) goes deeper and deeper into the mysterious dark web, let’s put this into perspective.

Talk about the Stetson Student Experience. Well, this is certainly one of them.

“They can’t talk to their significant other about what they are working on in the class. And to my knowledge … there’s never been a big issue with any of that. That’s why they [university administrators] keep letting us do it,” says Eckroth, who holds a PhD from The Ohio State University in the areas of artificial intelligence and cognitive science.

Immersed in the world of computer science, Eckroth admits he tries to keep everything in his life digital. You won’t find him surrounded by shelves filled with books. When he moved into his office in Elizabeth Hall, which was built in the 1800s, he had the existing furniture removed, even the telephone. He brought in a glass desk and hung a geometric poster on the wall.

To him, the juxtaposition of modern and historic design is striking. “I chose to make my office minimal,” he says, adding it’s easier to focus without clutter.

FINDING A FLAW

Although Eckroth can’t talk freely about the students’ confidential work and findings, he was able to comment about an old case regarding cameras that Stetson used years ago. “The class found a public source code, when it shouldn’t have been public, on the internet for this camera,” he recalls. “And by analyzing that source code, just studying it, we as a class found there was a flaw in that code, and it allowed you to get access to the cameras.”

This had nothing to do with Stetson, except that the university was using the cameras at the time.

Eckroth goes on to explain it was clearly the camera company — not Stetson’s system — that had a mistake in their code. However, when contacted and told what the students found, the company denied any misdoing. “This is one of the things that happens in the cybersecurity industry,” Eckroth points out. “The smaller companies, not Microsoft, they know how to handle this stuff. But the smaller ones might deny that it’s a real thing and try to ignore it.”

He continues: “After a month back and forth with no results, we said, ‘In two weeks we are going to make it public.’ And the next day, they said, ‘Oh, there’s an update,’ and that fixed the problem.”

It’s important to know that in the cyber world there are mainly two types of hackers: unethical black-hat hackers and ethical white-hat hackers. A black-hat hacker could have sold the knowledge about the camera

Imagine a class where your only assignment is to break into your university’s computer system — giving students a hack of an experience.

LETAKIS

Josh Eckroth, PhD

on the dark web or wherever. They sell people’s information all the time. “So we are teaching the students not to do that, but instead the responsible thing to do is to contact [the responsible party] discreetly, tell them how to fix it. We had all the details and everything, and that’s what let them fix it,” Eckroth explains.

This is the kind of realistic experience students take away from Cybersecurity 331. They can truly say: I’ve done this kind of audit and not just from teaching materials set up by other people, but an honest audit.

THE CYBERSECURITY STUDENT

To succeed in Cybersecurity 331, a student needs to develop a hacker mindset.

“This is something we definitely try to teach students,” Eckroth comments. “There are some students who already have this — maybe for reasons unrelated to security, but maybe just for the way they approach problems. And that is, you have to see how something can be used in a way it wasn’t intended to be used.”

For example, if a programmer writes a forward-thinking code, A to B to C, the person is supposed to do this, respond like this, and everything will work out just fine. But the hacker’s approach would be how do I make certain outputs happen. What do I need to put in A to get a different C?

Students also need to be persistent, another aspect of a hacker’s mindset. Hackers spend hours and hours and hours to get something to work. It could be sending commands and looking for clues to make things behave a little differently. Then they tweak things more and more to make them behave really differently and, ultimately, break in.

“That’s a mindset that not everybody enjoys,” Eckroth adds.

Think of it as if someone wants to break into your home. You might have all the security in the world, but if the burglar is persistent enough, in time the break-in will probably happen.

“We have the ability to be persistent because we have a whole semester. We have one target and a lot of people in the class, and we can find those unusual tricks that happen to work,” Eckroth says of the students.

In comparison, he points out, an audit company might come for a week, perform a quick audit and then walk away. His words: “They’re not going to find the really deep complex techniques, which the class has gotten pretty good at finding.”

One of the tasks students perform daily in class is to check news reports on CVE, or common vulnerabilities and exposures. It’s a list of publicly disclosed computer security flaws to help IT professionals make computer systems more secure. Students also use a variety of tools to scan for vulnerabilities.

Some of the students who major in cybersecurity go on to work at audit companies. Others take the course because it gives them a different perspective on computer science. Either way, it’s a worthy student experience that’s not only real, but also for the real world.

“It makes you a really good programmer,” Eckroth concludes, “because you start to see things in a reverse way. You can just be better at your job.”

YOU’RE NEVER TOO SAFE

How to protect yourself and your information from cyberattacks?

Associate Professor Josh Eckroth, PhD, offers insight.

It’s All About the Password. The only way to be truly secure is to have a randomly generated password that’s long, 15 or so symbols. If you create such a password, it’s likely to take thousands of years to crack. On the other hand, if your password is simple — any word with numbers after it or a password used in the past that is changed merely by adding an exclamation point at the end — it can very quickly be uncovered.

Manage Your Passwords. Make a different password for every single login, everything from email and bank account to subscriptions. Consider using a company such as 1Password. com to manage your passwords and monitor access through facial recognition.

Set Up Multifactor Authentication. If multifactor authentication, or MFA, is available, set it up! The technology requires a second source of validation before granting access. It represents one more layer of security. Even if hackers get your password, it’s highly unlikely they could break in.

Move to the Cloud. If you own or run a company, consider moving to the cloud (internet-based) from a physical server.

Companies like Amazon and Microsoft have all these security layers in place to protect your information, and you can often save money.

Eckroth: “You have to see how something can be used in a way it wasn’t intended to be used.”

In Cybersecurity 331, a semester of persistence often pays off.

SOCCER FOR KICKS AND A CAREER

Former Hatter player Eduarda “Duda” Pavao ’17 continues to be a standout, this time in the world of social media.

BY JACK ROTH

“Duda” Pavao ’17 — in the middle of the action at Qatar’s Al Janoub Stadium (France vs. Australia, Nov. 22, 2022)

Eduarda “Duda” Pavao ’17 played in more than 50 matches for the Hatters during four seasons. Now, she has embraced the dynamic nature of social media and, as a result, has experienced soccer — actually fútbol across the globe — in a very different way.

That is to say: two World Cups in one year, 2022.

After starring on the field and graduating with a BA in communications and media, Pavao went to work for the Orlando City Soccer Club of the Major League Soccer league and the Orlando Pride (National Women’s Soccer League) as a social media manager and content creator. Her job was building out their social media across multiple platforms.

It was a nice beginning — a splendid kick-start — but it only prepared her for the ensuing leap.

Last year, after going out on her own as a content creator and host freelancer, Pavao took on the world, sort of. She directed social media for FIFA, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, at the U20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica. Then, she worked for the National Women’s Soccer League as a content specialist and, most recently, worked as a stadium presenter for FIFA during the Men’s World Cup in Qatar.

FIFA, of course, is a soccer fiefdom unto itself, founded in 1904 and now the international governing body of association football, beach soccer and futsal (a soccer-based game played on a hard court smaller than a regulation field, and mostly indoors).

In terms of a career move for Pavao, call this a GOOOAAALLL

“It’s kind of difficult to put into words,” says Pavao, who was a versatile

performer for the Hatters, playing as a midfielder, forward and even as a goalkeeper. “I left my job with the Orlando Pride in February 2022 not knowing what was going to happen. I didn’t have a plan, and I never thought in a million years all of this would happen. I’m glad I took the chance and trusted the unknown. Being at two World Cups in one year is incredible.”

THE BEAUTIFUL GAME

Soccer has always been a big part of Pavao’s life. Born in Marilia, a small town near Sao Paolo, Brazil, she moved to Manaus in the Brazilian state of

Amazonas at age 7. She began playing soccer when she was 3 and has never looked back.

“Growing up in Brazil, soccer is a religion,” she explains. “I was very close to my grandfather, who was president of our hometown team. So, I was constantly playing … on the pitch [field], on the streets, wherever I could kick a ball.”

Pavao moved to Bradenton, Florida, to attend IMG Academy, a renowned boarding school that focuses on sports, specifically for preparing young athletes to play in college. IMG had invited Pavao for a camp when she was 14; coaches liked her abilities and asked her

The former Stetson standout gets lost in the crowd at Lusail Stadium, the largest stadium in Qatar (left, Brazil vs. Croatia), and at Khalifa International Stadium (right, Japan vs. Germany). The experience, she says, is “kind of difficult to put into words.”

Pavao: “Being at two World Cups in one year is incredible.”

to stay. When her parents didn’t want her to attend school so far away because of her age, she remained at home in Brazil — but annoyed her parents for an entire year until they acquiesced.

She went on to score 19 goals in her senior season at IMG and then attended Stetson from 2013 to 2017, where she served as captain in her final season as a Hatter.

“While at IMG, I was recruited by a few schools, but I had no idea about any of them,” she says. “I only knew I wanted to keep playing. I went to Stetson, toured the campus and fell in love with it. The campus is so beautiful … the fountains, gardens, everything so clean … the palm trees and the weather. I immediately felt at home there.”

On campus, Pavao says, she grew as a person.

“It was the people I met there … the teammates and friendships I have to this day,” she gushes. “I love Stetson, and my professors were amazing. I wasn’t just a number there. The connections we have

with our professors are incredible. They go above and beyond for every single student. The environment it provided is something I’ll never forget. Being an international student can be difficult, but everyone there made me feel at home.”

In addition, Pavao believes her Stetson education set her up from a career standpoint, citing that a major in communications and media studies was the “best thing” she could have done. (Also, she minored in sport business and Spanish.)

“Stetson is a smaller school, so all the professors are extremely helpful and

connect you with professionals in the area,” Pavao adds. “I remember volunteering with ESPN, which had a truck on campus; I learned how to cut highlights and gained valuable hands-on experience.”

One time on campus, the university hosted the Orlando City Soccer Club’s top executive, who spoke to students and shared his experiences. Pavao inquired and eventually became a broadcast intern with the club. When she graduated, Orlando City offered her a job as a broadcast coordinator. She had a visa for one year to work in the United States, and when it expired, she had to go back to Brazil for a year to wait for her permanent green card. During that time, she played professionally for Esporte Clube Iranduba da Amazônia in Brazil for half a season.

When she returned to Orlando, her focus shifted to content about the action both on and off the field. Also, having always been passionate about women’s soccer, she eventually migrated over to the women’s side to become the social media

Last fall, Pavao was signed by the Central Florida Crusaders of the National Indoor Soccer League.

During her four seasons on campus, Pavao played as a midfielder, forward and even as a goalkeeper.

manager and content creator exclusively for the Orlando Pride.

“My nickname was the Swiss army knife because I had to do a lot of different things in order to provide the content,” she recalls. “I really enjoyed the experience because I got to work with the best female athletes in the world at the time, including Alex Morgan, Ali Krieger and Marta.”

TWO WORLD CUPS AND A PLAYING CONTRACT

While working as a digital host for the U-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica last year (won by Spain), Pavao was approached by the entertainment director for FIFA and asked if she was going to Qatar for the World Cup. Her response: She hoped to go — it was her dream.

Dream realized. That entertainment director later asked her to be a FIFA in-stadium presenter (via Instagram and social media) at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in December, which was won by Argentina.

“It just happened,” Pavao describes. “I didn’t have his phone number [the entertainment director for FIFA] until I got there, and the next thing I know I’m in a stadium filled with 88,000 people. It was incredible. I’m still in a daze over it and can’t process it.”

Adding to the excitement of the World Cup, last fall Pavao was signed by the Central Florida Crusaders of the National Indoor Soccer League. The league was founded in January 2021 by a group of sports team owners with more than 50 years of ownership experience and features both men’s and women’s divisions. They compete in doubleheader game days over a 20-game regular season that takes place between December and April. A defender, she wears jersey No. 2.

In the eyes of Tom Traxler, the Crusaders’ head coach and general manager, Pavao was a standout.

“Duda and I have known each other for years through the media side of soccer,” Traxler says. “I’ve always known about her quality on the field, and she’ll bring enthusiasm and creativity to our team.”

For Pavao, who always wanted to play for the Brazilian national team, there are different paths to living one’s dream — either by playing soccer professionally or being involved in the sport — and in the end, you have to “trust it’s going to work out for you.”

She is getting a bit of both.

Pavao was forced to stop playing soccer because she wanted to stay in the United States and needed a work visa. Plus, she needed to focus on her social media career.

And, for various reasons, she never made it to the level of the Brazilian national team. So, one dream never quite materialized. Nonetheless, she was able to find ways of playing for fun while doing her social media work. Then, when the opportunity with the Crusaders came her way, she jumped on it.

“Soccer is my therapy,” she says. “So, getting an opportunity to play again, and with many of the girls I played pickup or in college with, is amazing. You have to flow with your passion, and my passion is soccer and sports. I knew if I stuck with it, I’d find a balance. I love soccer more than anything, and the power we have in bringing more awareness to growing the women’s game is a great responsibility.”

As a social media professional immersed in the world of soccer, Pavao believes she can give players a platform, present their stories and bring an enjoyable experience to fans.

And she has no plan to stop kicking that ball forward.

“I hope these social media platforms keep growing,” she says. “I’m happy here in the United States doing what I do. This is my home now. I look forward to working and living in other places, but I’ll always come back to Central Florida because it’s home to me.”

MAC-NIFICENT

An $8 million renovation to Melching Field at Conrad Park promises to make much of the college baseball world Stetson-green with envy.

BY MICHAEL CANDELARIA

Built at a cost of $4.5 million and opened on Feb. 12, 1999, Melching Field was the result of a joint effort involving Stetson, DeLand Sports Redevelopment Association and the City of DeLand.

The ribboncutting ceremony in February featured a robust celebration between Stetson and the City of DeLand.

Melching Field opened in 1999. A lease extension will keep it as home to the baseball program through the 2042 season.

Now, 24 years later, similar collaboration has delivered an $8 million renovation, making Melching Field at Conrad Park — “The Mac,” as it’s popularly known — one of the elite college baseball facilities in the country.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Feb. 11, highlighting the continued partnership between the City of DeLand and Stetson Athletics. At the ceremony, Hatters head coach Steve Trimper gushed about the new ballpark, noting, “It’s exactly, to the blade of grass, what I thought it would be in my dreams.”

Notably, in late December 2021, Stetson Director of Athletics Jeff Altier, a former baseball player for the Hatters, finalized an extension of a lease agreement with the City of DeLand for the use of Melching Field. That extension keeps the baseball program at Melching Field for home games through the 2042 season.

Over the past year, Melching Field underwent a complete face-lift of the playing surface that encompasses a new irrigation system and synthetic turf outside of the playing surface, creating a more consistent playing experience. The outfield was made shorter by 8 feet, increasing the likelihood of home runs, and fence padding was added to protect the players.

Fans can enjoy a new sound system, state-of-the-art videoboard and an energy-efficient LED field-lighting system that is capable of producing light shows during games. Chairback seating with cup holders has been added throughout the stadium, and premium seating areas include field-level seats, drink rail seats and low top half-moon table seats with swivel chairs.

In addition, the bullpens were moved to the outfield, replaced by seating options that can be reserved for special events. Those seating areas feature high-top chairs, picnic tables, an outdoor kitchen, a grassy berm and a student section.

WHY MELCHING?

Melching Field’s name came by virtue of a gift by alumna Luella Nichols Melching to name the field in honor of her late husband, R. Dale Melching. R. Dale Melching, a member of the Stetson Class of 1944, was a studentathlete who played varsity baseball and basketball. In 1978, he was inducted into the Stetson Sports Hall of Fame. Luella Nichols Melching was a Hatter cheerleader and lifelong fan of Stetson athletics.

Prior to Melching Field’s opening in 1999, the home of Hatters baseball had been Conrad Park, located on the same city block. For the City of DeLand, the new field was turned 180 degrees, and the stadium’s front was given a south entry on Woodland Boulevard.

Amid all of the changes, one aspect of 2,500-seat Melching Field, located one mile from campus, is expected to remain unchanged. The ballpark has provided the Hatters a substantial home-field advantage, as evidenced by the 2018 team, in Trimper’s second season as head coach, which advanced to the NCAA super regionals – missing the College World Series by a mere two wins.

Of course, there is no guarantee of that success being repeated this season. Yet, newly renovated Melching Field honors the history of Stetson baseball and offers a picturesque setting to catch the action.

During the Hatters' historic 2018 season, they won 32 of 35 home games.

A state-of-the-art videoboard is part of the new additions.

AREAS OF SPECIAL RECOGNITION

Several areas of the MAC feature displays that honor significant contributors to the rich history of Stetson baseball.

RETIRED JERSEYS — located on the batting cage and in the concession trophy case.

• Pete Dunn, No. 25

• Tom Hickox, No. 26

• Kevin Nicholson, No. 6

• Lenny DiNardo, No. 20

• Sammy Serrano, No. 21

ALL-AMERICANS — a list of names that totals 20 players is displayed above the women’s restroom.

• Mike Fulford, 1970, third baseman

• Tony Latour, 1970, first baseman

• Mike Wolfe, 1975, outfielder

• Tom Hickok, 1989, pitcher

• Kevin Nicholson, 1997, shortstop

• Sammy Serrano, 1998, catcher

• Frank Corr, 2000 and 2001, outfielder

• Lenny DiNardo, 2000 and 2001, pitcher

• Chris Westervelt, 2002 and 2004, catcher

• Brian Snyder, 2003, third baseman

• Chris Johnson, 2006, first baseman

• Corey Kluber, 2007, pitcher

• Jeremy Cruz, 2009, outfielder

• Nick Rickles, 2011, catcher

• Kurt Schluter, 2011, pitcher

• Robbie Powell, 2012, pitcher

• Logan Gilbert, 2017, pitcher

• Joey Gonzalez, 2018, pitcher

• Brooks Wilson, 2018, pitcher/utilityman, designated hitter

• Mitchell Senger, 2019, pitcher

HATTERS IN THE PROS — all Hatters who have signed professional baseball contracts are listed above the concessions area, highlighted by those who made it to the Major Leagues. The Major Leaguers: Bill Swaggerty, Wade Rowdon, George Tsamis, Kevin Nicholson, Eric Knott, Lenny DiNardo, Brian Bocock, Chris Johnson, Corey Kluber, Jacob deGrom, Patrick Mazeika and Logan Gilbert.

CREWS FAMILY BULLPEN — Robert Crews, a four-year starter on the infield, and wife Erica Demers Crews, are both in the Stetson Athletics Hall of Fame (Erica for softball) and have given back to their alma mater.

BALLPARK ENTRANCE — photo displays of Hatters who played at Melching Field and have been recognized for being among baseball’s best. They include Cy Young Award winners Corey Kluber and Jacob deGrom, Chipper Jones (substantial Stetson donor and Major League Hall of Famer) and Pete Dunn (legendary head coach). Also, Melching Field’s selection as the 2018 College Baseball Field of the Year is commemorated.

Note: In addition to the ballpark entrance, Dunn is celebrated on a parking lot street sign, in the Retired Jersey display case and with a sculpted bust. He was a fixture at Stetson since first arriving in 1969 as a player. He became head coach in 1980 and retired in late 2016, when he was named Head Coach Emeritus.

SNYDER DUGOUT — Brian Snyder, a Stetson Athletics Hall of Famer and former MLB first-round draft selection, is another major donor to the baseball program.

MAX CLELAND THE LEADERSHIP STETSON PROGRAM

BY SCOTT BOORE ’76, PRESIDENT, ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD

After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the recently named Max Cleland Leadership Stetson Program graduated its 14th class. Since the 2008 inaugural group, there have been almost 400 graduates, many of whom have gone on to serve the university as an advisory board member, a trustee or a volunteer.

In an article from McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, leadership is defined as a set of behaviors used to help people align their collective direction, to execute strategic plans and to continually renew an organization. Leadership is about guiding and impacting outcomes, enabling groups of people to work together to accomplish what they couldn’t do work-

ing individually. In this sense, leadership is something you do, not something you are.

I believe this is what Stetson’s Board of Trustees had in mind when it charged the Alumni Association Board with developing a program to engage alumni and prepare them to be the next generation of leadership for the university.

Leadership Stetson is:

• An oppor tunity to engage university leadership in candid dialogue — yes, real time with President Christopher F. Roellke, PhD, and many of his cabinet members.

Leadership Stetson is about:

• Touring campus facilities. A sip n’ stroll tour through many of the newer campus facilities, the Marshall and Vera Lea Rinker Welcome Center, the Cici & Hyatt Brown Hall for Health & Innovation, and iconic buildings such as Elizabeth Hall.

• Conversing with students. No script. They’re forthright and engaging.

• Seeing the Stetson of today. Ranging from a conversation about the changing athletics landscape, to a high-level student presentation on cancer research, to a live chamber music mini concert.

• Making new friendships and renewing old ones.

Most of all, Leadership Stetson is a way to stay engaged, reengage and to find a way to give back.

As stated, leadership is something you do, not something you are. Stetson has strived to produce people who “do.”

The 2024 Max Cleland Leadership Stetson Program will be held next February on Stetson’s DeLand campus, and I encourage all alumni to take a look and learn more.

If you are interested in participating in Leadership Stetson or getting involved with other opportunities, please contact the Office of Alumni Engagement at 386-822-7480 or alumni@stetson.edu.

Leadership is something you do, not something you are. Stetson has strived to produce people who “do.”

CHAUDOIN GETS A MAKEOVER

BUILDING THE FUTURE

As Stetson looks to the bricks and mortar of its future, three capital projects are in various stages of completion.

Institute to view renderings, learn about the plans and put your name on a space.

Yes, our beloved Chaudoin Hall is getting a new look!

Renovations are well underway this year. Originally built in 1892, Chaudoin will soon sport renovated first-floor common spaces; new kitchens and lounges on the upstairs floors; and new suite and private bathrooms throughout. When it reopens to women for the Fall 2023 semester, it will also have a brandnew HVAC system, fire suppression sprinklers and upgraded finishes.

See more specifics at https://www. stetson.edu/administration/development-new/chaudoin-hall.php.

If you and your former hallmates would like to be part of Chaudoin’s history and renovation, contact the Office of Alumni Engagement about naming opportunities or to make a gift: qrco.de/chaudoin.

The Cici & Hyatt Brown Hall for Health & Innovation opened its doors in January 2023. Students are finding comfy study nooks and baking cookies in the teaching kitchen lab, while faculty are settling into their new offices. Stetson is still raising funds for endowment and the upkeep of Brown Hall, with a wide variety of naming opportunities now available at https://ifolio.cloud/ StetsonU-Brown-Hall-Building.

The new Advocacy Institute at the College of Law is under construction, with a ribbon-cutting slated within the next year. More courtrooms, meeting spaces and classrooms will provide a home to Stetson’s centers for excellence and institutes, including Advocacy, Biodiversity Law and Elder Law. See https://ifolio.cloud/Stetson-Advocacy-

Phase I of the Edmunds Center renovation is planned to begin next March with new seating and sound system in the gym, the addition of an ADA-compliant elevator, and the start of lobby renovations. Other renovations will bring a new, exciting Hall of Fame area that celebrates the history of Stetson Athletics, a VIP lounge and balcony for a great fan experience, and more. To view plans and naming opportunities for the full project, visit https:// ifolio.cloud/EdmundsCenter.

View renderings, learn about the plans and put your name on a space.

An expansive front porch with swings and rocking chairs, soft lobby seating, a lounge — and more.

Brown Hall teaching kitchen lab

Brown Hall celebration last October

Edmunds Center renovation

HOMECOMING 2022

AND OTHER ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT

Numerous events highlighted MLK Week, all themed "A Week of

In Jacksonville

President Christopher F. Roellke, PhD, joined Hatters in Jacksonville.

Action.”

Last season’s Stetson Alumni Day with the Rays in St. Petersburg — cheering on pitcher Corey Kluber ‘08

Hatters vs. Davidson College in North Carolina Stetson Day at the Florida Capitol in January

Below and at right: Homecoming 2022 was back in person for the first time since 2019. The theme was “Come Together,” and Hatter alumni came together to celebrate on campus like no time had passed.

Alumni were able to mingle in Hatter Village, an exclusive alumni tailgate area.

School of Music alumni gathered at the 2023 Florida Music Education Association conference in Tampa.

Brian Rodriguez '15, MBA ’16 and his family celebrated his Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

A LIFE OF SIGNIFICANCE

JOHN A. MORGAN JR., PHD

1935-2023

Stetson held a special place in John Morgan Jr.’s heart.

Morgan met his sweetheart of 52 years, Anne Louise Desautels ’60, at Stetson, and they married in DeLand on June 19, 1958. He was a founding member of the Men’s Judicial Committee and was one of the five original members of Stetson’s Honors program. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude, from the university in 1957, he endeavored to make the world a better place through distinguished service.

Morgan went on to earn his Master of Arts (1959) and Doctor of Philosophy (1963) from Duke University. He joined the faculty of George Washington University and served as chairman of the Faculty Senate for years. While at George

Washington, he also served as a consultant in the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention, Washington, 1973-1975; the National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 1971-1973; and the Cabinet Committee on Education, Washington, 1970.

His efforts earned him a Woodrow Wilson fellowship; a Southern Fellowships Fund fellowship; and a Citation for Distinguished Service from the George Washington University Faculty Senate in both 1978 and 1984.

Grateful for his Stetson experience, Morgan generously supported the university for more than 31 years while simultaneously helping to ensure its future. When he passed on Feb. 11, 2023, his estate generously provided for an endowment supporting Stetson’s Honors program.

If you would like to make a tribute gift in memory of John Morgan Jr., donations can be made online at www.stetson.edu/give or by mail to Stetson University, 421 N. Woodland Blvd., Unit 8286, DeLand, FL 32723.

DONOR SPOTLIGHT

Jerry ’57 and Betty ’59 Kruhm

Jerry and Betty Kruhm are both double-Hatters, as well as former board members and retired educators. In addition to generously supporting Stetson annually for 39 years, they wanted to “have some income and leave something for Stetson.” So, they took money out of their stock market accounts to fund five charitable-gift annuities with their alma mater over the years.

Said Jerry: “It’s been a great option for us.”

Sue Orrell ’66

Sue Orrell said the ideals of Stetson have been her guide and foundational sense of purpose long before she arrived on campus and long after graduation. Her hope to include the university in her estate plan became concrete when she learned about the benefits of a charitable gift annuity.

“Both supplemental income and the knowledge that students in the School of Music will benefit from my gift make me grateful for this mutually beneficial opportunity,” she commented.

Fund Your Gift Annuity with Stetson and Receive Up to 9.7% for Life. By using highly appreciated assets, you could also avoid capital gains. If you would like a free illustration showing what your payout will be and how you could benefit, call 386-822-7459 or email astephens2@stetson.edu.

Send Us Your Class Note

STETSON UNIVERSITY

is proud of its alumni and their accomplishments. We would love to hear about your achievements. If you are a graduate from the DeLand campus, please send your class note to Stetson University, Office of Alumni Engagement, 421 N. Woodland Blvd., Unit 8257, DeLand, FL 32723, or email your news to alumni@ stetson.edu.

If you are a graduate of the College of Law, send your class note to Stetson University College of Law, Office of Development and Alumni Engagement, 1401 61st St. South, Gulfport, FL 33707, or email your class note to alumni@law.stetson. edu. College of Law graduates also can fill out the online form at Stetson.edu/ lawalumninews.

We can only use photos that are high-resolution, and because of space limitations, we cannot guarantee use of all photographs.

1950s

September, available on Amazon. The book compiles his deepest insights for living a life worth leading, lifted from 40-plus years of personal, real-world leadership experience growing businesses from startup to industry leader.

Jim Dator ’54

published “Beyond Identities: Human Becomings in Weirding Worlds,” available on Amazon. Says Dator: “From a lifetime of work in futures studies and space studies, I balance frank tales of my own experiences and beliefs concerning my chosen and fluid identities with those of others who tell their stories.”

Gerald Callahan

’58 compiled a recap of his life shortly after his wife of 63 years passed away. Following two years of rewrites, his thoughts came together as his recent book, “His Miracles and Ours!” available on Amazon.

1970s

Stuart Pavlik ’79 received the Volunteer of the Year award from the West Palm Beach Fishing Club. The club was founded in 1934. (Pavlik is on the right.)

1980s

Wendy Parson ’80, MEd ’92 retired in 2021 from teaching in Putnam County, Florida, after more than 31 years. She looks forward to “reading any book” she wants, “whenever” she wants!

on behalf of the city’s LGBTQ+ residents and municipal employees.

Simone Marstiller

’88, JD ’96 was named in City and State Florida magazine’s “The Florida Women Power 100.” Marstiller is the outgoing Secretary at the Agency for Health Care Administration.

Glenn Kindred ’89 was named partner and managing director of the Institutional Investment Management at Oak Cap Ventures in Petaluma, California. Kindred, a veteran of 20-plus years in the institutional real estate investment industry, has held executive roles in acquisitions, underwriting and asset management for multiple national firms.

president and director of RAND Education and Labor, leads a staff of more than 200 research experts who are focused on using evidence to improve schools for low-income and minority students. Also, Opfer holds the Distinguished Chair in Education Policy at RAND Corp.

1990s

Abby Hamilton ’94 released the book “Faith, Trust and Pizza Crust,” which shares reflections and insights that will “shift your thinking and increase your faith and trust in God.” It’s available on Amazon. Her goal is to tell others that God is here in every little part of our lives.

William Dellecker ’77, MBA ’78 published

“Leadership Worthy – How Leaders Are Made” last

Rand Hoch JD ’85 was presented the key to the city of West Palm Beach by Mayor Keith James. Hoch was recognized for his decades of pro bono work

Darleen Opfer ’89 was appointed to the board of directors for the Council for Aid to Education Inc. (CAE), a nonprofit developer of assessments that measure students’ essential academic and career skills. Opfer, vice

Cindy Lovell ’94, MA ’96 co-authored a new textbook that was published by Kendall Hunt Publishing Co., titled “The Big Book of ESOL Activities: Preparation for Educators, Administrators, and School Counselors.” It’s a collection of ready-to-go activities for college classrooms and ESOL endorsement training.

Kate Humbertson

Burton ’95 earned a Doctor of Education in Teacher Leadership at Kennesaw State University in December. Her dissertation, “Service Learning — It’s Elementary!” was based on research of two grades’ servicelearning projects at Trinity School in Atlanta, where she has taught since 2007.

Stephanie Friese Aron ’96 earned recognition as a 2023 Georgia Titan 100, an honor that highlights Georgia’s top business leaders. Aron is a co-managing shareholder at the Atlanta office of Chamberlain Hrdlicka, a business law firm.

that provides competitive job opportunities for blind and visually impaired adults. Levine is the director of business development for DLH Holdings Corp., focusing on development strategies for Modeling, Simulation and Training in the federal health care market.

2000s

Brian Levine ’96, MBA ’97 was appointed to the board of directors for Lighthouse Works, an Orlando-based organization

BIRTHS

Belkys Torres ’01 was named Associate Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence in Education at the University of Pittsburgh.

Ryan Benson ’03 principal with A. Vernon Allen Builder in Naples, was reappointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation board of directors and elected as Vice Chairman. Benson has also been selected as Secretary for the Florida Home Builders Association for a one-year term.

Lauren Gay MEd ’03 and husband Frank Gay III are now part of

Home Pros Family in El Paso, Texas. Frank serves as CEO of the conglomerate. Lauren, an experienced real estate agent, promotes the organization and its agents through a variety of outreaches, event coordination and building B2B partnerships throughout the El Paso market.

Rachel Hussey Boldman ’04, MS ’10 received her EdD in Higher Education Administration last August.

1 Melissa Kaika Knight ’10 and James Knight, a daughter, Charlotte Anna, October 2002.

2 Gemma Abercrombie Naiken ’02 and Anand Naiken, a daughter, Ayla Daxa, November 2022.

3 Alex Zelenski ’16 and Amanda Zelenski, a daughter, Aislinn Ella, January 2023.

4 Austin Garcia-Cooper ’10 and Megan Garcia-Cooper, a daughter, Penelope, May 2022.

5 Elizabeth Bornhorst Petersen ’09 and Benjamin Petersen, a son, Benjamin Stetson, April 2022.

She was scheduled to present her dissertation research at two national conferences in April 2023.

Garrett Pendleton MBA/JD ’04 was promoted to Senior Vice President –Head of Aviation Claims at Starr Insurance Cos. in Atlanta.

of Forbes’ “Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams, 2023.” CKM Wealth is a private wealth advisory practice with Ameriprise Financial in Sandy Springs, Georgia.

web3 enthusiasts that is “actively promoting thoughtful regulatory policy adoption and uniting the crypto community” in Austin, Texas.

2010s

Emily VanOosting

Chamber of Commerce; the 2022 Women in Business by The Daytona Beach News-Journal; and the 2021 Brad D. Strickland Young Innovator Award by the DeLand Area Chamber of Commerce.

Joe Kurelic ’05

was named as one of AdvisorHub’s “100 Fast Growing Advisors to Watch, 2022.” His employer, CKM Wealth, was named as one

MARRIAGES

Brett Henson ’06, JD ’10 was listed in the 2023 edition of “The Best Lawyers in America as One to Watch.” He specializes in commercial and construction litigation at Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP in Sarasota.

Chris Cavaliere ’07, JD ’10 was listed in the 2023 edition of “The Best Lawyers in America.” He specializes practice in employment law, management and litigation, and labor and employment at Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP in Tampa.

Megan Murray ’09 was recognized as one of the “Most Inspirational Women of Web3 and the Metaverse” for her work with ATX DAO, a professional network of

Bollman ’09, JD ’12 was named an associate with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, following 10 years with the 6th Circuit State Attorney’s Office.

Sarah Hancock ’12 was named the 2022 Volusia Young Professional of the Year by the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce. Hancock is owner of The Blind Pig DeLand and president of the Rotaract Club of DeLand. In addition, she has been honored with the 2022 Boss Lady Award by the West Volusia Regional

Hanna Lipsey ’14 graduated from the University of South Florida with a PhD, focusing in history. Her dissertation was titled “American Horse Power During the Great War.”

1 Julia Bruner ’14 to Kevin Waldmann, July 2021.

2 Cassidy Denslow ’19 to Garrick Harbison ’19, April 2021.

3 Lauren O’Toole ’19 to Harrison Watkins ’19, MBA ’22, July 2022.

4 Ashley Jenks ’20 to Cody Sprague ’19, December 2021.

5 Alex Zelenski ’16 to Amanda D’Arcy, October 2021.

In Memoriam

1940s

Dorris Holman Macklin ’42

Joyce Webber Altman ’43

Shirley Kagey Brown ’43

Barbara Black Boyd ’44

Terry Wagner Ling ’44

Elaine Freedlund Wooley ’44

Maxwell H. Stamper ’46

Clyde C. McCully ’49

Wallace E. Webb ’49

1950s

Robert H. Pinder ’50

Arlington P. Ragsdale ’50

Eleanor Boland Owens MS ’51

Mary Howell Ragsdale ’51

Gordon H. Cooper ’52

Cleatus M. Turner ’52

Judith S. Walker ’52

Betty Hagood Gamel ’53

H. Joan Sloan Mainwood ’54

Janet Sauls Cade ’55

Charles J. Franson ’55

Helen Radloff Grier ’55

Daniel W. Stebbins ’55

Ruth Harting Ford ’56

Sylvelin Tolleson Thwing ’56

Edna Morris Foster ’57

John A. Morgan ’57

Dudley V. Nunlist ’57

John S. Riser ’57

Barbara E. Weyand ’57

M. Roby Buckalew III ’58

Gordon M. Byrd ’58

Redden J. Thames ’58

Nola C. Frink ’59

Patricia M. Rabb ’59

Jerrie Moretz White ’59

1960s

Charles B. Fulton ’60

William R. Gordon MA ’60

Robert L. Keaton ’60

John A. Matthews ’60

Glenda King Shaw ’60

Vivian Morgan Corll ’61

Alberta Drummon Falconetti ’61

Vve Stevenson Galloway ’61

Terry L. Malcom ’61

Charles F. Royal ’61

Leslie Sutherland Wager ’61

Paul V. Hendrix ’62

Floyd E. Gladden ’63

Robert J. McCloskey ’63

C. Normal Pricher ’63

W. Thurmon Whitley ’63

William W. Orr MA ’64

Brenda Rains Robards ’64

Joyce Abbott Norcross ’65

Helen Whittington ’65

Alynn C. Snyder MEd ’66

Paul B. Sneider ’67

Joan Bunnell Badzinski ’68

Bonnie Brown Foreman ’68

Richard F. Thorman ’68

Dean Bunch ’69

Marilyn Parkinson Meridith ’69

1970s

Linda Pitt Meyer ’70

Frank A. Werner ’70

Wayne E. Brassey ’71

Winfrey Bunton ’71

Mary A. Burr ’71

Kevin M. Kearley ’71

Gregory A. Wilkerson ’71, MA ’75

Gail West Jayne ’72

Ron Monk ’72

Jean Campbell Sterling MA ’72

Larry F. Alexander ’73

Lawrence W. Arrington ’73

Wesley H. Dean MBA ’73

Bruce F. Hedlund ’73

Manuel J. Melendez ’73

Jean L. Walker ’73

Renee Cole Monroe ’74

Cheryl C. Ray ’74

David H. Sachs ’74

Karen Terrell Schoelles ’74

Robert Schumaker ’75, JD ’78

Jane Lynn Naft ’76

Kevin C. O’Brien ’77

Oscar J. Delgado ’79

James H. Maury ’79

1980s

Vickie Davis Baker ’80

Kathryn C. Dunmire MA ’80

Florence A. Jones MEd ’80

Richard A. Laporta ’80

Gail Schuck ’80

Carole S. Hull ’81

Susan Campbell Lenten ’82

Tamara Strickland Fuehrer ’83

Joy Fox Steinbaugh ’83

Chris A. Warren ’83

Betty P. Green MEd. ’84

Charles L. Schilling ’84

Linda A. Holloway ’89

1990s

Andrea E. Goodwin MAcc ’92

Steven M. Lucas ’92

2000s

Dereck G. Capaz MBA/JD ’03

2010s

Caleb R. Matthews ’13

Milestone Memento

As another reminder of this year’s 140th anniversary, this collage of early campus buildings was given as a Stetson Presentation Day souvenir in 1900.

Top left: DeLand Hall

Top right: Chaudoin Hall

Middle left: Elizabeth Hall

Middle right: Elizabeth Hall Chapel

Bottom left: Stetson Hall (repeated larger below)

STETSON is printed on FSCcertified paper.