#84 SPRING 2019
A publication of New College of Florida
STEMMING THE TIDE New College at the forefront of Sarasota Bay’s recovery
Getting in the Game Club sports bring competition, wellness, and world-class coaches to New College
Editorial Staff Liz Lebron Associate Director Content Marketing Manager Kim McDonald Creative Services Manager Kim Vickers Associate Vice President of Advancement Kathleen McCoy Director of Alumni Relations Linda Joffe Communications Specialist
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Publisher Office of Communications and Marketing New College of Florida 5800 Bay Shore Road Sarasota, FL 34243-2109 941.487.4153 communications@ncf.edu
Stemming the Tide New College at the forefront of Sarasota Bay’s recovery
20 Profiles
14 Getting in the Game Club sports bring competition, wellness, and world-class coaches to New College
Wesley Beggs ’10 Tracy Collins Peter and Katie Hayes Kevin Hunt MS ’19
Also inside this issue: On Campus > 1 Op Ed > 5 In the Community > 12 Foundation Focus > 18 Chapter News > 25 Class Notes > 26
NCAA Board of Directors Executive Committee Chair – Cindy Hill ’89 Chair-Elect – Steve Jacobson ’71 Governance Chair – Chad Bickerton ’05 Immediate Past Chair – Frazier Carraway ’72 Lynne Allen ’72 Hazel Bradford ’75 Robert Bilott ’83 Jordan Clark ’04 Robert Freedman ’83 Ginger Lyon ’70 Gera Peoples ’94 Leslie Reinherz ’70 Norman Stein ’69 Dan Stults ’77 James Tietsworth ’84 Jay White ’70 New College Leadership Donal O’Shea, Ph.D. President Barbara Feldman, Ph.D. Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs MaryAnne Young Vice President of Advancement Ann Comer-Woods Director of Communications and Marketing For a listing of the Board of Trustees, visit ncf.edu/leadership-and-governance
THEN & NOW
Culture of Discovery New College faculty and students collaborate on research projects.
CAMPUS NEWS
Suzanne Janney Retires After 25 Years at New College uzanne Janney, special assistant to New College President Donal O’Shea, retired from New College in March after serving 25 years at the institution. Janney, who is an English-for-Speakers-of-OtherLanguages (ESOL) teacher by training, came to New College in 1993 via the University of South Florida, where she worked as an adjunct instructor when she and her family moved to the Tampa Bay area from New York. Janney decided New College was the only place for her after considering a number of opportunities in the area. “I never imagined that I’d be here as long as I’ve been,” reminisced Janney, “25 years at New College.” Janney worked as a Fulbright U.S. Student Program administrator in New York, and she ended her career there as the assistant director of both the foreign and American programs. She interviewed with Professor of Humanities Mike Michalson, who oversaw academics at the then-joint USF Sarasota-Manatee and New College campus, and who became the first president of New College when it converted to a separate entity. Michalson hired Janney as the college’s first grant consultant, and together they shaped the culture of the newly formed college. Faculty had not applied for grants under USF, and Michalson tasked Janney with developing a national grants strategy. “I did a lot of the conceptual work of showing the faculty how what they wanted to do could fit into the parameters of whatever the sourcing fund was,” said Janney, “and then I helped them write the grants.
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“In short order New College was winning a triple-agency grant for team-taught, first-year seminars combining the humanities and sciences,” recalls Janney. “The college received an NSF grant of $668,000, which was to replace marine science facilities, and that’s the Pritzker lab.” The former Fulbright administrator next set her sights on advancing research opportunities for New College students. She convinced Michalson to provide administrative support for those who wished to apply for Fulbright scholarships and began working directly with students on their application materials. The Fulbright program soon began awarding New College students multiple grants per competition. “That’s how we got our reputation as the Fulbright Factory,” said Janney. Janney served in a number of roles before landing in the president’s office, and she is most proud of her 20 years as Southern Association for Colleges and Schools liaison, her work as staff liaison to the board of trustees since 2001, and her 20-year term as Duke TIP administrator. “I’ve seen a lot of change, and it’s very gratifying,” said Janney. “The cultural change is the most important change that we can make, and I’d like to think that I helped to change the culture to a can-do culture during my time here.” As Janney reflects on her time at New College, she is optimistic about the college’s future. New College is now fully accredited by the SACS, and Janney sees the college as more structured and ready for growth. “I think we’re ready for another cultural change, and that has to involve everyone getting on the same page,” said Janney, “the faculty, the students, and the staff, in supporting the growth plan and helping us be successful in the performance metrics. We’re ready to take our place as the real 11th member of the state university system.”
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ON CAMPUS
CAMPUS NEWS
New College Professor Finalist for Manifest One Prize he Cincinnati-based Manifest gallery selected New College Associate Professor of Art Kim Anderson’s work as a finalist for the 9th Annual Manifest One Prize. The selection committee included 18 peer jurors who reviewed 927 works by nearly 300 artists from 40 states, the District of Columbia, and 14 countries through a blind jury process. “I am pleased to have been selected as a finalist for the 9th Annual Manifest One Prize,” said Anderson. “This is probably my biggest accomplishment this year, as the jurying process is rigorous, and included 18 peer jurors and four nail-biting rounds.” Manifest is a respected non-profit gallery and publisher with a reputation for stringent peer review. On its website, the gallery notes, “the winner and finalists, 11 works, represent the
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top scoring 1% of the jury pool.” The gallery will feature all finalists in its Manifest Exhibition Annual publication, which documents the previous season’s exhibits. “I am very happy to have made it this far—as they note this is a resume-worthy accomplishment,” said Anderson. Anderson describes her work as examining the intersection of painting and photography, and reflective of “the ways the two mediums have shaped one another’s evolution and our engagement with images and representation more broadly.” In addition to the Manifest One prize nomination, Anderson will also exhibit her work at the Prince Street National Annual Juried Exhibition in New York and Millersville University Sykes Gallery in Pennsylvania this year. The Sykes Gallery exhibition is entitled Bloom, and Anderson’s entry features a stop motion animation. Several galleries included Anderson’s work in their exhibitions, among them Painting in the 21st Century at New York’s Site: Brooklyn; Drink Me at the H Gallery in Ventura, California; and the Painting Center’s JuxtaPositions exhibition in New York.
CAMPUS NEWS
New College Alumnus on GEDI Mission to Space r. Sean P. Healey ’90, a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service, met with a group of New College students at the Heiser Natural Sciences Complex to discuss his latest project: a space mission. Healey was in town for the launch of the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation, or GEDI, aboard SpaceX on December 5. GEDI is a lidar, or light detection and ranging sensor, that will map Earth’s forests as it orbits the planet when mounted on the International Space Station. During that time, GEDI will measure how long it takes laser pulses to reach Earth’s surface and return to the ISS. It is the first spaceborne laser instrument to map Earth’s tropical and temperate forests in high resolution and three dimensions, as lidars traditionally fly aboard research planes. The two-year mission will help ecologists better understand the density of the world’s forests and how much carbon they currently store. GEDI will gather millions of data points and produce maps of the average biomass in one-kilometer blocks. “My job on this team is making that last inference,” said Healey, “take all of those dots and make estimates for each one-kilometer area. What we end up with is a waveform that
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is correlated with the structure of the forest.” Healey is also developing a companion platform, dubbed Obi-Wan, which will serve as the applied end of GEDI. It will go live next year at a galaxy near you. To learn more about Dr. Healey’s work, visit gedi.umd.edu.
ON CAMPUS
FOUNDATION NEWS
New College Foundation Receives $1.2 Million Bequest from Howard and Betty Isermann he New College Foundation received a $1.2 million bequest from the estate of Howard and Betty Isermann, a large portion of which they directed be used to establish an endowed scholarship fund to benefit out-of-state students who wish to attend New College. Howard passed away in August 2017, and his wife Betty died in June 2018. A former chair of the New College Foundation Board, Howard Isermann long recognized the importance of fostering out-of-state scholars. “The college has always had such a high level of academic achievement,” Howard once said, “and I’m someone who is interested in furthering that kind of education.” He established the Isermann Science Medal program in 2007, which provides opportunities for academically talented first-year students from outside the state of Florida to get hands-on research experience in mathematics and the natural sciences. New College pairs the winners with a professor each year, and they participate in research during their first January Interterm and for four weeks the following summer. During his tenure on the board (1998-2012), Howard focused attention on his science initiative and the need to infuse New College with out-of-state scholars. During their lifetimes, the Isermanns gave much of their time and treasure to promoting education, medical research, and the arts. The couple’s commitment to New College dates back to the 1990s, and it left an indelible stamp on the campus. Their generous endowment gifts have funded various academic initiatives and scholarships, construction of the Keating Center, and the dedication of the Betty Isermann Fine Arts Building, a teaching facility and gallery on the Caples campus that opened in 1998. Felice Schulaner ’78, chair of the New College Board of Trustees, served alongside Howard on the foundation board and succeeded him as chair. She commented, “From the very first, Howard energetically adopted New College as if it were his own alma mater. He and Betty were unswerving in their support of the school, investing in programs near and dear to their hearts. While they were enthusiastic about the value of a broad liberal arts
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education, they were particularly committed to attracting out-ofstate students with an interest in science and math. “Howard created the Isermann Medal to promote New College to high-achieving high school candidates from beyond Florida,” continued Schulaner. “This incredibly generous bequest will enable us to realize the dreams the Isermanns had for New College, for now and for the future. They would be pleased.” Howard Isermann was a brilliant scientist who developed the ultraviolet absorber that has become the most effective sunscreen in the world while working at Van Dyk & Co. He founded Novarome Inc. in 1980 and began manufacturing fragrance compounds used in consumer products from soaps to perfumes. He received a degree in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he later served on the board and as an honorary trustee. In 1989, Rensselaer renamed the department the Howard P. Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in his honor. Each year, the Society of Cosmetic Chemists presents the Howard Isermann Award on any aspect of cosmetic science related to sunscreen. Howard knew little about art until his wife Betty’s love of it opened his eyes to the world of painting. She studied with renowned watercolorists Nicholas Reale, Ed Whitney, and Charles Reid, and was an accomplished artist working in watercolors and acrylics. She entered and won a number of juried shows in New York and New Jersey, and she participated in group exhibits at several major corporate headquarters. Her artwork can be found today at various locations on the New College campus and throughout the local community.
COME BACK TO CAMPUS DURING OUR 60TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR! www.ncf.edu
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ON CAMPUS
What’s Happening CYMBELINE Monica Cross, production manager and technical director of New College’s Black Box Theater, directed a production of Cymbeline, Shakespeare’s classic comedy of errors. The play tells the story of the king’s daughter, Imogen, and the fallout from her marriage to the commoner, Posthumus Leonatus. The production featured Zachary Hanna in the title role, Bliss Aruj as Imogen, and Austin Gray as Posthumus. Learn more: ncf.edu/black-box-theater.
ARCHERY CHAMPION
Daniel Schell, a first-year student and member of the USA Archery Team, placed first at the United States National Collegiate 3-D Championships in the men’s barebow division. Schell competed against 32 other archers from colleges and universities across the United States.
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New College of Florida | nimbus
NEW COLLEGE SAILING TEAM
The New College Sailing Team took second place in a regatta sponsored by Rollins College and the South Atlantic conference of the Intercollegiate Sailing Association. The regatta took place on Lake Virginia and is part of a program to give developing teams opportunities to compete. The team, led by fourth-year student Renbourn Chock, will participate in more competitive races and host a “Learn to Sail Day” for New College students during the spring semester.
OP-ED
A Call on Alums to Help New College Grow BY NEW CO LLEGE PRESID E N T D O N AL O’SH E A
In the fall issue of Nimbus, Board of Trustees Chair Felice Schulaner ’78 and I wrote about New College’s 2018-2028 strategic plan: Cultivating Curiosity. Unleashing Potential. Using this plan as a road map, we seek to grow New College’s enrollment to 1,200 students and to increase our four-year graduation rate from 54 percent to 80 percent over the next decade. What does this strategic plan mean for our alumni community? To fulfill our mission of preparing intellectually curious students for lives of great achievement, and to achieve our goal of recognition among the best 20 liberal arts colleges in the nation, we need the support and involvement of our alumni. We aim to recruit more students who will thrive at New College. As alumni, you can enhance the visibility of the college by speaking about the transformative education that you received here. If you have friends or colleagues whose children are looking at colleges, encourage them to consider applying to New College. We are eager to connect with intellectually curious high school students who will flourish as undergraduates at New College. Once students arrive at New College, we want to provide them with an attractive campus, an inspiring curriculum, and a supportive community. Your financial support helps fund the academic and co-curricular programs that appeal to students’ intellectual, professional, and personal interests. We welcome you to campus to engage with our students through mentoring, community service, career advising, and professional networking opportunities offered through the Center for Career Engagement & Opportunity, or CEO, Student Affairs, and the New College Foundation. When students graduate from New College, they look to alumni to introduce them to career opportunities and professional networks. As graduates of New College, you have built your pathways to career and personal success, and our students are eager to learn from you. If you have internship opportunities or open positions at your company, please connect with the CEO. The strategic plan is a roadmap to our college’s future. I will have more information about its rollout in the Fall 2019 issue of Nimbus, which will also kick off the college’s 60th anniversary celebration. I look to our alumni to help us achieve the ambitious goals that we have set for the next ten years.
ncf.edu/strategic-plan
SAVE THE DATE: REUNION 2020
February 21-23, 2020 Come back with your fellow New College alums and celebrate the college’s 60th anniversary. Weekend of events to include mini-classes, dinner on the promenade and a party on the Bayfront, plus plenty of time to kick back and enjoy being back on campus with New College friends.
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New College students tag a blacktip shark in Sarasota Bay in 2015.
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STEMMING THE TIDE / COVER STORY
Stemming the Tide New College at the forefront of Sarasota Bay’s recovery BY E RI CH B A RG A N I E R AND LI Z LE B RO N
“I got hit in the face with a tarpon!” Dr. Brad Oberle said with a smile. Oberle, an environmental science professor at New College of Florida, had been conducting fieldwork with a team of New College faculty and students, and Sarasota community members on Tidy Island, a 240-acre island across the Sarasota Bay from Longboat Key, when the incident occurred. “We were working with a consultant, and I walked through a mosquito trench,” Oberle said. “Next thing I know, the fish smacked my glasses off, and I had two black eyes!” Oberle and his team are conducting experimental conservation work to help trace the health of Sarasota Bay and provide insight into red tide’s impact on Florida’s ecosystem since the 2018 bloom began. Harmful algal blooms (HAB), the scientific name for red tide, occur when nutrient
swells cause microscopic algae to grow uncontrollably, which overwhelms other marine life. Although most blooms are not harmful, some give off toxins that can harm animals and humans, and the most severe can be deadly to fish, marine mammals, and birds. Beyond the damage red tide inflicts on Florida’s aquatic life, it also negatively impacts the state’s economy. The 2018 bloom resulted in significant loss of marine life and a corresponding decline in local tourism-related expenditures. The local fishing and charter boat industries suffered, and Sarasota Bay-area hotel bookings and restaurant reservations declined. By August, CNN reported red tide cost Florida over $8 million in lost business revenue, including $1.4 million in losses for Sarasota businesses during that month alone.
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COVER STORY / STEMMING THE TIDE
Turning the Tide
New College of Florida faculty are studying the impact of the 2018 bloom on Sarasota Bay and how the ecosystem is fighting back to life. Dr. Athena Rycyk ’04, one of New College’s most recently appointed biology professors, is at the forefront of marine research in the bay. “I’m working with colleagues from the Chicago Zoological Society, Mote Marine Laboratory, and Loggerhead Instruments to build an acoustic listening station network in Sarasota Bay,” explained Rycyk, who is a Sarasota native and New College alumna. “The stations are solar powered and continuously recording sound via a hydrophone. Using a cell network, they send updates every five minutes with small samples of the data to let us know they’re working.” The stations pick up noises produced by fish, invertebrates, dolphins, manatees, and more to track the activity of sea life throughout the bay. The research will not only serve to track the feeding and breeding activity of fish, but it will also give clear information as to the health of each area around the listening station.
The acoustic stations store each noise on flash memory cards, which Rycyk and her colleagues retrieve every few months for analysis and categorization by species, and in some cases as mating calls, responses to predators, and more. The categorized sounds will enable the scientists to track sonic patterns throughout the bay. The 2018 algal bloom hampered the team’s progress. “Overall, it’s quiet. We expect there’s not much [marine life] there,” Rycyk said. “In one respect, we were fortunate we had listening stations out before the red tide to document the difference. Sound levels plummeted with the red tide, and the drop reflected the die off. We will see sound-producing species come back, but it’ll take considerable time.” Rycyk returned to New College after earning a Master’s and Ph.D. from Florida State University, and teaching at Eckerd College. She immediately began work on the listening station project and plans to build an open access sound library available to other researchers using the recordings. “With my students, I’m hoping to do acoustic monitoring, and network and build a library of biological sound,” Rycyk said. “It will be open source. We will have people develop algorithms and get lots of samples first.”
An Eerie Silence
Acoustic listening station on Tidy Island
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Rycyk’s work complements that of her New College colleague, Assistant Professor of Biology Jayne Gardiner. Gardiner began studying the local ray, skate, and shark populations upon her arrival at New College. Her research produced a comprehensive view of the
species’ biodiversity in Sarasota Bay. “We’ve been studying shark and ray habitats,” Gardiner said. “We use standardized fishing methods, and we give our data to NOAA. We’ve documented 13 species of sharks and rays using ultrasonic acoustic tags that enable us to look at movement patterns, many of which are highly migratory. The tags helped us determine that some animals come back every year to Sarasota Bay. The red tide bloom impacted the whole system.”
“This is the worst we’ve ever seen it to date. It’s the deadliest, and it’s continuing to have an impact. Even things not immediately killed by it are affected.” -Prof. Jayne Gardiner Gardiner successfully defined Sarasota Bay as a nursery for blacktip sharks prior to the 2018 bloom. She gathered the requisite data by tagging sharks with microchips resembling those veterinarians use to identify household pets. Scanning stations wirelessly signal a database each time they detect a shark, and marine biologists throughout Florida and beyond track their movement patterns. The network of scientists maintain similar stations throughout the Gulf of Mexico and share information about individual sharks with all partners conducting research associated with the shark’s tag. Lately, the scanning stations have been eerily silent. “We haven’t encountered a live shark in a while,” said Gardiner. “Everything went to absolute zero for a while. We don’t know a whole bunch about sharks and rays right now. We just don’t have the baseline data.” Gardiner also serves as the director of
Assistant Professor of Biology Jayne Gardiner works with students in her research lab.
New College’s Pritzker Marine Biology Research Center, and she uses its research vessels to conduct field research with her students. Their taxonomy trips have yielded little since the 2018 bloom began. “This is the worst we’ve ever seen it to date,” Gardiner said. “It’s the deadliest, and it’s continuing to have an impact. Even things not immediately killed by it are affected. This bloom will affect the food web if it keeps up.”
Restoring the Ecosystem
Gardiner, Rycyk, and Oberle have teamed up to work on an experimental restoration project on Tidy Island funded by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Coastal ecosystems like Tidy Island are important to Florida’s environment because they store carbon and are a feeding ground for fish. Rycyk already set up a listening station on the island, and Gardiner and Oberle are gathering a baseline measure of the ecosystem
before they begin the experiment. The pair will test how different methods of removing invasive species from the island impact carbon absorption, and plant and marine life in the ecosystem. Their study will be one of the largest environmental projects carried out in the Sarasota-Bradenton area, and it will give scientists insight into how mangroves function as carbon barriers in the Florida ecological community. “We are looking at nuisance trees on Tidy Island,” Oberle said. “There are three real culprits: Brazilian peppertree, Carrotwood, and Australian pine. They were introduced as horticulture subjects at different times, and now they grow at the fringes of the mangroves. All three are good at moving seeds around. They attract birds, are really good at colonizing habitats, and all three spread quickly. They grow… at higher elevation and never get washed by the tide.” New College faculty have a long history of research on Tidy Island, where the college has several acres of
mangrove habitat, but it had been over a decade since any work had taken place there until Race Stryker ’14 enrolled in Oberle’s Forest Ecology class. Stryker studies carbon sequestration, or the manipulation of an ecosystem into removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it, and Tidy Island seemed like the perfect habitat for him to conduct work for his thesis project. “Forests are really good at doing that,” explained Stryker, “but mangrove forests in particular have three times the level of carbon sequestration as any other forest.” Through Stryker’s efforts, Oberle re-established relations between Tidy Island’s residents and New College’s scientific community, and Stryker completed his thesis work. He found that ditches are not effective means of mosquito control, and those areas store less carbon than ones left undisturbed. Oberle and his students developed a carbon inventory management system on Tidy Island based on Stryker’s work. “It helped plan the actual EPA
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COVER STORY / STEMMING THE TIDE
project,” said Oberle. “We were looking at soil, leaf litter, and dead wood. Students at New College do so much more than crunching numbers. They are piloting programs and working together on comprehensive projects. They are a valuable resource to me as a teacher.”
Healing the Bay
Gardiner’s students also inspire her work with sharks and on Tidy Island. In fact, their field work played an integral role in both the shark estuary designation and EPA grant application. Students secured funding for the expensive tagging work that is essential to tracking shark populations. “They pulled in funding, and another thesis student picked it up from there, did acoustic tagging, and deployed
additional listening stations,” said Gardiner. Lukas Heath was studying blacktip sharks in Gardiner’s class when he noticed a population drop after the algal bloom. The observation led him to study the impact of red tide on the bay’s shark population for his thesis project. “I compared the levels between 2016 and 2017, and we didn’t see big fish kills between those years,” said Heath. “This past summer, things just dropped off. Usually in each net we catch 50 to a couple of hundred fish, and there are some nets in which we catch 50 sharks. We haven’t caught a live shark in Sarasota Bay since July 2018.” Gardiner requires her taxonomy students to collect and identify fish species in the bay, and she builds
research trips to Tidy Island into the class syllabus. This work also helped build the foundation for the EPA grant application. “Tidy Island is a big mangrove swamp that was ditched in the 1950s to 1960s,” explained Gardiner. “The ditches allow fish to move in and eat mosquitos, and they caused some alterations. When you dig those trenches, you pile soil and create spoil mounds.” The mounds differ in makeup, altitude, and flora, an observation which gave Gardiner and Oberle the idea to conduct experimental research into how restorative work impacts carbon consumption on the island. While the mangrove forest has only red, black, and white mangroves, invasive species like Australian pine grow on the spoil ridges.
Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Brad Oberle and forest ecology student Angela McTigue on Tidy Island.
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STEMMING THE TIDE / COVER STORY
“Students at New College do so much more than crunching numbers. They are piloting programs and working together on comprehensive projects. They are a valuable resource to me as a teacher.” -Prof. Brad Oberle
Members of Oberle’s Forest Ecology class worked as a team to study how different parts of the ecosystem absorb carbon. “We developed a sampling strategy together that let us see how those things compared in parts of the disturbed habitats, areas that are in adjacent mangroves, and then in some control plots that we have scattered out around the woods,” described Oberle. While Stryker focused on the soil at Tidy Island, another of Oberle’s students, Angela McTigue, expressed interest in its trees. She is now completing her thesis research on leaf litter decay in mangrove forests in the Sarasota area, including Tidy Island, using surprising materials. “We’re now planting tea bags to do a direct comparison with Tidy Island and the decay there, the decay at Ungarelli Preserve, and also in the restored areas around Sarasota,” said McTigue. Forest ecologists recently began using tea bags to measure carbon decay because their leaves, which are organic matter, resemble leaf litter. Oberle and McTigue will find the bags weigh less if the organisms are active, and their contents will be vastly different. The opposite is also true. “If the soil organisms aren’t very active, and if they don’t have much of an appetite for tea, what we’ll see after a long period of time is that the tea remains basically the way that it was when we put it in the ground: same color, same texture, and importantly, same quantity,” said Oberle. Understanding which restored ecosystems are better at storing carbon could help scientists develop more efficient restoration techniques.
A Blank Slate
The 2018 algal bloom reached its peak, killing off much of the fish population, as the New College faculty members began their research project on Tidy Island. Although the bloom’s impact on the island’s marine life stalled their work, the team remains optimistic. “The good part is that, since there are no fish, there are less control variables with which to contend,” said Oberle. “It does give us a blank slate to figure things out.” Gardiner agrees. “This is an opportunity to learn what red tide does to a system like Sarasota Bay,” she said. “A lot of people thought these animals leave before conditions become really bad, but there were roughly 100,000 corpses. We must now try to learn what that means long term. Do these fish from the area come back? Do they spawn offshore? Do they source from somewhere else? We just don’t know, and it’s a unique opportunity to study that.” New College has been supportive of Gardiner and her colleagues as they maximize the research opportunities the bloom unexpectedly affords them. The team received administrative support to help them navigate the EPA’s intricate grant application process from Julie Morris ’70, the associate vice president of academic affairs at New College. “We’ve received great support from the Provost’s Office,” Oberle said with gratitude. “Julie has a great history with Tidy Island, and she brought this research opportunity to our attention. As an alumna in the Provost’s Office, she’s been instrumental.” Lawmakers have also taken notice of the work Oberle and his partners
have done, which is not surprising given the importance of Florida’s marine environment to the state’s economy. “I’ve been reassured by some of the steps Florida lawmakers take by reaching out to New College. [Senator] Marco Rubio’s office reached out,” revealed Oberle. “They were interested in finding solutions, and we can help find technical solutions.”
Building Community
Gardiner and Oberle believe stewardship of Sarasota Bay must be a community effort. In addition to their own students, the professors will incorporate area middle and high school students into the EPA-funded restoration project on Tidy Island. The students will attend seminars to learn about the research before they participate in fieldwork and data collection. Their data will be part of the final analysis, and their participation will connect New College and the local community through environmental protection efforts. “It really is something where we need a large scale community effort,” Gardiner said. “Red tide is a natural phenomenon, but we contribute to it. It’s coming from runoff like the application of fertilizer and old septic systems. Some higher-level policies in place and funding to connect infrastructure [would fix the problem]. Make the phone call, send the email to local representatives. And research scholars help, too!” “This work is about community,” added Oberle. “It’s about collaboration, community, and everyone who has a stake in a healthy bay.”
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IN THE COMMUNITY
New College Students Give Back Talent meets opportunity at the Center for Career Engagement and Opportunity MATTHEW KIRCHMAN ’14, A 2018 POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES New College graduate, had a special
request for Madeline Heath at the Center for Career Engagement and Opportunity, or CEO, when he emailed the assistant director last fall.
“Knowing the calibre of those who attend New College of Florida,” wrote Kirchman, “I would love to offer an expedited application process for fitness-minded students interested in a part-time job working at my store downtown.” Kirchman is the store manager at Fit2Run’s Main Street location in Sarasota, and he turned to New College when he needed staff to work during the busy fall and winter seasons. “I intentionally tailored the job description toward the kind of student I was during my first year,” explained Kirchman. “Instead of listing the job as a sales position, I advertised for a runner. I knew there were students who would be looking to get involved in the community, specifically the running community.” The CEO launched Handshake, a one-stop-shop career management site, during the summer, and Heath encouraged Kirchman to set up a corporate profile and post his listings on the New College job board. That’s where first-year student Maggie Ferrell found him. Ferrell had created a student profile on Handshake after Heath delivered a presentation about the site during her Environmental Studies class. She needed a part-time job, and Ferrell began searching through listings from local employers close to New College. “I found Handshake to be a very helpful tool,” said Ferrell. “It was easy to set up an account, customize my profile, and search for and apply to jobs. I saw a job [at Fit2Run] that I was interested in, and I applied for it. I received a response to set
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up an interview on November 2, had my interview on November 7, and was hired November 9!” Through her excitement, Ferrell grew concerned about her job security when she traveled home during winter break. The New College campus is closed over the holidays, and she would be in Orlando with her family during the four-week hiatus. She needn’t have worried. Kirchman, whose family is in Boca Raton, Florida, had worked out a solution to Ferrell’s problem when he worked at Fit2Run as a New College student. “Matthew knows how weird the schedule is,” said Ferrell. “I’m going to temporarily transfer to the Fit2Run in Orlando, so I still have a job, and then I come back to campus and transfer back to the Sarasota store.” When the CEO launched Handshake, one of its goals was to develop closer ties to the local business community, especially locally owned firms. Fit2Run, a family-run business founded in Bradenton by father-and-son duo Parks and William Robinson, shares New College’s commitment to the Sarasota Bay community. “The whole philosophy of the company,” shared Kirchman, who in addition to his role as store manager is also the company’s race management director, “is to have a close-knit family feel, and to be the local running store. We have people who will come to community runs at multiple stores throughout the Sarasota Bay area in the same week. That’s a testament to how strong that community is.” New College students will continue to be a part of growing and strengthening that community. After he brought Ferrell on board, Kirchman interviewed and hired a second New College student who applied through Handshake. To learn how you can connect with New College students on Handshake, visit ncf.edu/ceo or call (941)487-5002.
Americorps VISTA and New College students tackle food insecurity in the Sarasota Bay area THE AROMA OF SOUTHERN, CREOLE, AND CARIBBEAN CUISINES
greeted Jada McNeill, the New College AmeriCorps VISTA coordinator for the 2018-2019 school year, when she arrived in Sarasota’s historic Newtown neighborhood. She and a group of New College students were in the area’s first AfricanAmerican settlement to volunteer at Big Momma’s Collard Green Festival, a celebration of community and culture to benefit the Newtown Farmer’s Market. “Newtown residents consider New College students their babies because they’re always volunteering in that community,” said McNeill, who encourages students to patronize the farmer’s market as a food source.
AmeriCorps VISTA members, or Volunteers in Service To America, are akin to domestic Peace Corps volunteers. The federal program funds participants for one year, during which they carry out service projects at community organizations throughout the United States. McNeill’s predecessor worked with students to open a food pantry at New College, which is accessible around the clock with students’ ID cards. She now manages its operation and coordinates volunteer opportunities at organizations like the All Faiths Food Bank in Sarasota, Bradenton’s Turning Points homeless assistance center, and Food Bank of Manatee. “My theme is healthy futures and food insecurities,” explained McNeill. “A lot of people don’t realize it, but food insecurity does exist on college campuses. There’s this myth that because students are in college and have a meal plan, it’s not a problem. But a lot of students do deal with this issue.” Among other projects, New College students recently painted the Turning Points food pantry and worked with Meals on Wheels staff to package groceries for homebound seniors. The Office of Student Affairs recruits students during a volunteer fair at the start of each semester. “My role at New College is to get students more involved in civic engagement and more involved in volunteer opportunities related to food insecurity,” said McNeill, who is impressed by how passionate New College students are about global issues and wants to channel that energy toward more local projects. “I want students to realize that there is a whole community around them that has issues they can deal with hands on. The key is building and maintaining strong partnerships that make volunteering more appealing to students.” To learn more about volunteer opportunities at New College, email vista@ncf.edu or call (941) 487-4426.
New College students win Gilman Scholarships THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS AMARANTH SANDER AND RAIN KWAN
are studying in Canada and Japan, respectively, as recipients of the prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship for spring 2019. The U.S. Department of State-funded scholarship gives
students of limited financial means and diverse backgrounds the opportunity to study or intern abroad through awards of up to $5,000. Sander and Kwan will be studying abroad through the National Student Exchange, which will allow them to pay the New College tuition rate while they are away for the semester. One of the Gilman Scholarship’s core objectives is for students to develop service projects that will have an impact on their home institutions based on what they learn abroad. Sander, an anthropology and environmental studies student who received a $1,000 award, will pursue their passions in French language and environmental sustainability at Bishops University in Quebec, Canada. Sander has been involved with the campus’s Council of Green Affairs since their first year and looks forward to using their time abroad as a way to make New College a greener community. “My goal is to base a project inspired by Bishop’s strong commitment to environmental sustainability and work with our CGA to incorporate similar programs on campus,” said Sander. Kwan, a first-generation college student studying computer science, received $3,000 to study Japanese language and culture at Japan’s Tokyo Metropolitan University. The trip will be the first time abroad for Kwan, who is half-black and half-Asian. As an adoptee, Kwan is excited for the opportunity to explore her identity by immersing herself in an Asian culture. “I don’t really know that part of me, so it will be an explorative way to get to know a new culture,” said Kwan, who is involved with several clubs on campus, including the Black Student Union and the Asian/Pacific Islander Student Alliance. Upon her return to New College, Kwan will organize an exhibit of her photographs from her time in Japan to bring a greater sense of cultural awareness to campus. “I volunteer as a tutor at the library in the Newtown community,” said Kwan, “and I’d like to share my experience with the kids there to show them that I don’t have many resources, but I had this opportunity and you can, too.” Since 2005, New College has had 22 Gilman scholars including Sander and Kwan. To learn more about Sander and Kwan, visit New College News: news.ncf.edu/news/new-college-students-win-gilmanscholarship-to-study-abroad.
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Third-year Rain Kwan and fourth-year Hannah Chaudry fuel their passion for sport during basketball practice.
Getting in the Game Club sports bring competition, wellness, and world-class coaches to New College BY S H A N E DO N GL A S A N ‘11
The club sports program at New College of Florida is sailing full speed ahead. Whether it’s tennis, swimming, or rock climbing, a growing number of club sports on campus are creating a more active student life at New College. Club sports offer an opportunity for student athletes to play competitively or recreationally. Reflecting the New College ethos of independence and inclusion, the club sports program provides an environment where students can pursue their fitness goals and which welcomes all participants, regardless of athletic background or skill level. Athletes have the ability to compete with other schools through intercollegiate organizations or the Cross College Alliance, a collective of higher education institutions in Florida’s Gulf coast comprised of New College, Ringling College of Art and Design, University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota, and The Ringling. The club sports program is part of an initiative to offer more physical activities on campus that contribute to student
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wellness, as the college’s enrollment growth strategy outlines. New College adopted the plan in 2017 to increase enrollment and raise the four-year graduation rate. “New College and sports have been at different places, but now we’re expanding our vision to ask, Why not do this?” said Colin Jordan, director of the fitness center. “This is something our students enjoy, and we have more and more students who’ve played sports [in high school] and want to continue playing. We’re able to enrich and broaden their college experience, and give them the opportunity to forge relationships from club sports. All of that impacts retention and helps students become involved and attached to New College.” Eugene “JR” Ayers joined the college at the beginning of the 2017-2018 academic year as the waterfront and outdoor recreation coordinator to help develop the program. Ayers was serving as the coach for the swim team before taking on his new role.
GETTING IN THE GAME / FEATURE
“We’re really on the cusp and are launching forward in a major way,” said Ayers. “But we are seeing club sports open up and witnessing a major shift in the number of students involved with sports and the level of competition they are able to engage in.” The club sports program has already come a long way since Ayers’s arrival. From attracting world-class coaches to getting more students engaged with sports, Ayers has been busy organizing a sustainable program and empowering students to lead teams, be involved, and realize their own capabilities. “If your club needs something, and it comes down to limited resources, JR doesn’t say ‘We can’t do it,’ but ‘Let’s figure out how we can do it,’” said club captain Austin Venhaus.
Leading the Way
First-year student Cooper Urbec wasn’t expecting to be the co-captain of the rock climbing and bouldering club, but if he wanted to bring rock climbing to campus, Urbec had to step up and take charge. The computer science student had more than a decade of rock climbing experience before coming to New College, and he wanted to find a way to continue his passion on campus. He formed the campus’s first rock climbing club alongside co-captain Austin Venhaus. “We want to show other students that Cooper and I are committed to helping them be better rock climbers,” Venhaus said. “It’s about encouraging people to do something they enjoy.”
World-Class Coaches While New College’s club sports are student-led organizations, the teams wouldn’t be where they are without the guidance of elite coaches who train students on campus each week and prepare them for competitive play against local colleges and community leagues. The coaches hail from diverse and accomplished backgrounds in the National Football League, U.S. Olympic weightlifting, top-tier college basketball, and semiprofessional soccer, to name a few. They are united in their enthusiasm for sharing their knowledge and expertise with New College athletes. “I’m personally very excited about getting [the club sports program] started off the ground,” said coach Jim Van Pelt, who played basketball for Auburn University. “It’s about getting more people involved in sports and giving them an outlet outside of academics. It’s a real big step for New College.” The excitement is mutual. Students have responded to New College’s commitment to club sports by organizing and investing their time in their teams’ success. “New College is a small school, so I wasn’t expecting that we would attract these accomplished people,” said basketball co-captain Sierra Schwaback. “Coach Jim is so encouraging and wants us to play well. He’s also great at facilitating a good team dynamic.” Regardless of students’ skill levels, the coaches are ready to work with any athlete who wants to play, even those who are new to the sport.
Swim coaches Eugene “JR” Ayers and Dr. Duane Khan, flag football coach Vernon Kearney, soccer coach Matt Meeker, basketball coach Jim Van Pelt, sailing coach Dave Pedersen and fitness center director Colin Jordan.
“Coach Vern [Kearney] is the most amazing coach I’ve had in my entire life,” said Anna Blood, captain of the flag football and basketball teams. “We learn about these things because he played in the NFL. He’s even there if you need to talk about school or class.” While students are excited to be working with first-class coaches, the coaches are also eager to be working with top-notch students. “New College students are in general impressive people, and what I’m inspired by is how hard they push no matter what they are going through,” said Dr. Duane Khan, who swam competitively for Pine Crest, one of the best high school swim teams in Florida. “They are curious and want to examine what normative club sports have been, but they want to explore what other possibilities there are as well.”
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FEATURE / GETTING IN THE GAME
Third-year Maria Penaloza kicks it up a notch during martial arts practice with Eugene “JR” Ayers.
arrived at New College. He’s been diving into projects like finding sponsorships, improving the courts, and finding ways to raise funds. “I came here knowing this was a school about inclusivity and letting you be yourself,” said Renzy. “I’m excited to grow the program and show people the extent [to which] we can share our different passions through sport.” “We’re moving in a lot of different directions, but I find it fun,” added Rozana Jaber, the soccer team captain. “It’s a release from all the studies, which can get pretty rigorous.” Thesis student Sierra Schwabach hadn’t played basketball since middle school, but she serves as co-captain of the basketball team alongside Anna Blood. “We both stepped up to lead the team, and I didn’t know what it was going to entail,” said Schwabach. “After a semester of playing with a small but dedicated group of people, it’s inspired me to find new ways to increase the number of people that are participating with any sports club. It’s now a goal of mine to make sure that club sports persists on campus.” Flag football coach Vernon Kearney, who formally played for the Kansas City Chiefs
Self-motivation is key to success at New College, whether it’s in the classroom or on the field. In addition to playing their sport, club sport captains take a leadership role in promoting its visibility on campus, organizing practices and meets, motivating players, and modeling good time management skills. “It’s about the personal desire to invest in something bigger than yourself,” said Ayers. “The idea behind a club sports program is to give [students] a positive outlet and support network that allows for self-development, growth, and cooperation. They learn to lead, and we’re teaching them skills they need to graduate and for life afterwards.” Rory Renzy played tennis in high school and wanted the sport to play a central role in his college life. The second-year public policy student has big plans for the future of the team, which had been an active club on campus when he
and Oakland Raiders, gives encouragement to team players during practice.
Building Community Through Sport
Sailing is one of New College’s oldest sports. With access to Sarasota Bay and a fleet of sailboats, the campus waterfront has been a training ground for those wanting to chart a new course as sailors or who want to continue sharing their love for the water. Growing the club sports program is also an opportunity for community building both on campus and off. Renbourn Chock, a psychology and anthropology student, said the sail club provides an outlet to learn from other students. The sail club captain is always ready to bring new people out sailing on the bay, even if they drop by in the middle of a team practice. “You’re not only building a club but also a
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Swimming State of Mind
network,” said Chock. “You have people you can lean on. We’ve got students from different areas of concentrations who I can ask about things like biology or data science. It’s a great way to get out of your own mindset and talk to people about what they’re up to in their academics or other concerns.” The soccer team captain founded the club because she was eager to compete with other schools and learn from their club sport programs. Jaber grew up playing soccer on the streets of her homeland of Palestine, and her passion for the sport never faded. “Sports can be used as a way to get people to build school spirit, meet people from other schools, and build those other connections,” Jaber said. “Other students are very interested in playing with us, and it would be nice to get more fans on the fields to cheer us on.” Since she founded the team, Jaber and her teammates have played Ringling College, University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, and State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota. As the club sports program continues to find new ground on campus, one thing club captains want to emphasize is a welcoming and fun-loving atmosphere. There are no try outs to join a team or club. As long as students are committed and interested, club sports can be an outlet with boundless opportunities.
Before coming to New College, Sara Friend never thought she would dive into the world of swimming. Now in her fourth year, Friend is one of the captains of the swim team, a role she decided to take on just a few months after learning how to swim. The opportunity to work as an assistant director at a summer camp motivated Friend to overcome her fear of the water. The job, however, required a lifeguard certification, so Friend reached out to the fitness center, where she worked with swim coaches Eugene “JR” Ayers and Dr. Duane Khan to earn her certification. Over the course of a month, while trying to balance her studies in philosophy and other extracurricular activities, Friend became a certified lifeguard in her third year at New College. “I thought I was just going to earn my certification and didn’t think I would continue with swimming after that, but I actually enjoyed it a lot,” Friend said. “It was a big transformation for me.” Apart from the physical benefits of swimming, Friend also recognizes the positive impact swimming can have on mental health. With the help of Dr. Kahn, who is also the assistant program director at New College’s Counseling and Wellness Center, she is incorporating ways to promote mental health wellness through the swim club. “I spoke with Dr. Kahn about what my goals are for the swim club and the other clubs I’m involved with on campus,” Friend said. “One of those goals has always been keeping mental health wellness in mind, so I wanted to bring
that to the swim club as well.” The swim team currently has different groups of swimmers, including athletes who swim competitively and students who swim recreationally to work out and improve their skills. For the Spring 2019 semester, Friend and Khan, who is developing a resilience wellness program on campus, plan to start a group focused on students who want to swim for mental health reasons, whether it’s to help ease their anxiety or depression, lower their stress levels, or to feel more motivated. “We encourage lots of our students who come to the CWC to engage in sports because it’s an opportunity to get connected with people who are all working towards a goal,” explained Khan. “You’re also seeing yourself develop in something and gaining a sense of excellence that doesn’t have to do with your academic performance.” Friend and Kahn want to create an environment where students feel comfortable swimming at their own pace while knowing there is someone there to engage with their mental health needs. “We’re trying to shift the culture of sport to show that it’s not only a competitive or skill-building space but one about overall wellness as well,” Friend said. “The function of the wellness program is to enhance people’s ability to pursue their goals and their dreams while also saying it’s normal that people go through wounds in life, and that you can engage in healing those wounds while you are developing yourself in the ways that you want to,” Khan added.
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2018 CLAMBAKE
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FOUNDATION FOCUS 2018 Clambake Tops Expectations
On November 1, supporters of New College gathered on the bayfront behind College Hall for the 40th annual Clambake, the college’s signature fundraising event. This year’s Clambake netted over $350,000 for student scholarships, besting last year’s event by more than $100,000. “Thank you, everyone, for making this year’s 40TH ANNUAL NEW ENGLAND Clambake such a success,” said MaryAnne Young, executive director of the New College Foundation. “We had an absolutely outstanding committee, led by foundation trustees Sue Jacobson and Chuck Hamilton ’64. Together, our community friends and alums rallied behind our goal of raising more money for scholarships than ever before. You made it happen!” The fundraiser also had record attendance, with nearly 400 guests enjoying New England fare on the waterfront. Some of the talented students to whom New College recently awarded scholarships also attended, sharing their experiences with donors. The compelling student speaker was scholarship recipient Alex Koutelias, who aspires to a career in arts management. Mark your calendars: Next year’s Clambake is scheduled for November 7, 2019.
Giving Tuesday Yields $200,000
The New College Foundation challenged friends and alumni of the college to raise $100,000 during November’s Giving Tuesday, and they delivered. Two generous donors— foundation trustee Bill Johnston and an anonymous donor—matched individual gifts 1:1 up to $5,000, for another $100,000 in matched donations. The total of $200,000 will help fund scholarships for New College students, among other initiatives. “It was an exciting day on Tuesday, November 27, watching the gifts come in online, via the mail, and even some checks that were hand delivered to the office during the day,” said Associate Vice President of Advancement Kim Vickers, who joined the foundation team in October. “With the help of a challenge grant from two donors and the generous support of alums and community friends, we met our goal of $200,000 by midnight on Giving Tuesday. This was a great jump start to our year!” Giving Tuesday, now in its seventh year, takes place the Tuesday after Thanksgiving each year and encourages people to support their favorite charities during the holiday season.
#GIVING TUESDAY
Women’s Giving Circle Awards Initial Gifts
The Women’s Giving Circle, a group of women in the community who joined forces to steer their philanthropic efforts to New College, awarded its first grants to students, faculty, and staff during a luncheon on November 14, 2018. “We were honored by the number and breadth of grant requests we received in our inaugural year,” said Geri Serot, who chairs the Women’s Giving Circle. “While we wish we could have funded each of these deserving requests, we are thrilled to award these initial five gifts. As membership in our ‘circle’ grows, we hope to have more funds available for New College’s amazing faculty, staff, and students.” Assistant Professor of Economics Tracy Collins received the largest grant, which she will use to connect New College economics students with area high school students from underrepresented populations. Geri Serot and Dr. Tracy Collins The smallest but most immediately impactful grant went to Amanda Markee, a first-generation college student, which she used this past summer to travel to the Entomological Society of America’s annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, which invited her to present a talk on a new fly species she discovered. Other recipients included: Assistant Professor of Biology and Marine Science Athena Rycyk and Assistant Professor of Biology Elizabeth Leininger, to purchase acoustical analysis software to aid in their research, as well as student research projects; Assistant Librarian Tammera Race and Coordinator of Library Operations Barbara Dubreuil for a Banned Books Week project entitled “See Yourself in Graphic Novels”; and Director of Writing Jennifer Wells, who plans to launch a peer-to-peer program to recognize the outstanding work of student writing assistants at the Writing Resource Center. For more information about the Women’s Giving Circle and how you can support its efforts, email foundation@ncf.edu or call (941) 487-4800.
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PROFILE / PETER AND KATIE HAYES
Garden of Delights Family Continues Matriarch’s Legacy at New College BY LINDA JOFFE
The New College Foundation has a beautiful new garden, thanks to the generosity of Peter and Katie Hayes, and the Hayes Family. The garden is dedicated to Anne (Anno) Osborne Swain, Katie’s mother, who passed away on May 29, 2018. Swain attended Vassar but did not graduate. She received a degree in psychology from the University of South Florida when New College was still associated with USF. Swain had been a friend to the college since 1962 and over the years underwrote scholarships, donated to endowment funds, and attended many fundraisers. The foundation received a legacy gift of $50,000 from her estate. “Mom was a giver, but she didn’t need recognition,” comments her daughter, Katie Hayes. “She loved flowers and gardening, and she loved New College, so I know she would be thrilled with this place.” Peter and Katie had always appreciated New College, but it wasn’t until New College Board of Trustees Chair, Felice Schulaner ’78, and her husband Dennis became their Siesta Key neighbors in the mid 2000s that they became involved on a deeper level.
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“Felice is a wonderful advocate for the college,” says Katie. “She really opened our eyes to what a great place it is and what it brings to the Sarasota community.” The Hayes family began attending Clambake, the foundation’s signature “She loved fundraiser, in the 1980s as guests of flowers and Anno and have been sponsors of the event since 2009. Their connection gardening, with New College was further and she loved strengthened when it selected Peter’s New College, company, Tandem Construction, as so I know the manager for the new addition to she would be the Heiser Natural Sciences Complex, which opened in 2017. thrilled with “It was a very special project, so this place.” well managed, and it was a pleasure to work with so many talented people,” commented Peter Hayes. “From the outset, we were welcomed into the New College family. When you invest in what you love and have respect for it, it makes you work that much harder. Working with the college is a real collaboration,
The Hayes family gathered for an intimate ceremony in celebration of the garden’s completion on January 24, 2019, the day Anne Swain would have turned 88 years old. Left to right: Finn Hayes, Kent Hayes, Chase Hayes, Kelsey Hayes, Peter Hayes, Katie Hayes, David Luria, Susan Erhart, Sherry Luria, Lauren Hayes and Lucy Hayes.
very inclusive, with all parties engaged in bringing the project to fruition.” As principal and president of an award-winning construction company, Peter enjoys putting his energy into organizations he cares about and that make a difference. He makes a choice to invest his time in projects that impact the Sarasota-Manatee community with a significant focus on education. In the garden project, his business philosophy merged with a personal motivation. Peter was on campus with several New College staff members when they asked if he could help create a new garden for the foundation in a space that was overgrown and essentially unusable. “At first, I was not exactly sure how best to help with this new project,” recalls Peter, “but as I started walking around, I thought to myself, ‘I think I want to help make this vision a reality…’ and before leaving the site, ‘We should just do this.’” The next morning Peter thought about how much his mother-in-law, Anno, loved gardening and how she was the person who had first connected him and Katie to New College. Naming the garden in her memory made perfect
sense, and the entire family agreed. Peter and Katie’s contribution to the project was what Peter calls the “hardscape”: the new paths, the grading, storm drainage, and the undulating paver walkways that emulate the pavers used in the college’s Academic Resource Center. The overall design was in the hands of grounds coordinator Rob Audet, who used the 150 year old, live oak tree as his inspiration for redefining the space. Following the motto “right plants, right culture, right size, right aesthetic,” he selected 60 different species utilizing mounded soil and rocks for a pleasing look and better drainage. He also hung orchids from the stout branches of the noble tree. The lushly landscaped garden reflects New College’s personality: bold, creative, unexpected. Passersby can now see the inviting space from the street, beckoning all to visit and appreciate it.
On a new bench in the garden is a sign with one of Swain’s favorite expressions: May this garden be a place to find peace in the center of thy being.
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PROFILE / WESLEY BEGGS ’10
Political Player Wesley Beggs ’10 is paving the way for young candidates in Sarasota BY S HA NE DONGL A SAN ‘ 1 1
AT 26, WESLEY BEGGS BECAME ONE OF THE YOUNGEST people to
run for Sarasota County Commission. Her campaign slogan was, “We deserve better.” “It’s something everyone on the political spectrum can relate to,” Beggs said. “It was important for us to say that everyone has a stake in this campaign, whether you are a Republican, Democrat, or independent. We are fighting as a community to better our community.” Beggs ran as a first-time Democratic candidate during the 2018 election, in which she dominated her primary with 67 percent of the vote before losing the seat to Republican incumbent Al Maio in the general election. She said she never thought she would run for public office, but she was motivated to do more after the 2016 elections. Beggs, who started her own marketing and media company, Growl Studios, shortly after graduating New College in 2014, reached out to the local Democratic Party to see how she could assist with campaigns through her communications experience. She was instead encouraged to become a candidate herself. “I knew it was going to be the hardest thing I had ever done in my life, but there is this rebellious quality that New College cultivated to push those limits and see what happens,” Beggs said. “If it doesn’t work out, then it doesn’t work out, and that’s something the contract system really taught me. Take it and you can fail, but the world will keep moving.” Beggs, who studied political science, said her biggest takeaways from New College were learning how to think critically and how to converse with people coming from different viewpoints. “Nat Coletta’s class on conflict resolution at New College really opened a lot of doors for me,” Beggs shared. “In today’s political climate, there’s a lot of animosity. We’re not always
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going to agree. It’s not about changing minds but winning minds. That’s what we approached the campaign with, and I think New College really set the groundwork for that.” Focusing her platform on the environment, affordable housing and sustainable economic growth, Beggs raised $35,000 from individuals while shunning big money players. “We didn’t take any money from businesses or developers,” she said. “We wanted to show people that it’s about a community deciding what is important and not developer interests.” Behind it all was what she called “a ragtag group of New College alums” that made up her campaign team. “I asked them to go on this adventure with me, and being New College students, [they] were curious to see what would be at the end of the journey,” Beggs said. “Every single one of them is now involved in politics. We created this conversation of how to get more young people to run. We’re asking for a seat at the table, and I think we’re paving the way for the success of younger candidates here. We need more people who understand the day-to-day struggle.” “In today’s political climate, Although she there’s a lot of animosity. might not have won We’re not always going a county commission to agree. It’s not about seat, Beggs and her changing minds but campaign drew a lot of support from local winning minds. That’s Democrats and even what we approached the an endorsement campaign with, and I think from Sen. Bernie New College really set the Sanders. In groundwork for that.” November 2018, Sanders invited Beggs to the inaugural Sanders Institute Gathering in Burlington, Vermont, which brought together progressive organizers and leaders from across the world. Beggs is planning another run for office in the future and is starting a nonpartisan nonprofit that will encourage more citizens to discuss issues at the local level. “We’ve got big plans for young Democrats in Manatee and Sarasota counties,” she said. “We’re working on building an infrastructure to get them active, engaged, and ready to rumble for 2020.”
KEVIN HUNT ’17 / PROFILE
Defending the country in cyberspace Kevin Hunt MS ’19 is working in the defense industry while earning her Master’s at New College BY LIZ LEBRON
WHILE MOST NEW COLLEGE STUDENTS WORKED on their independent study projects this past January, Kevin Hunt was applying for her security clearance. Hunt is in her final semester of New College’s Graduate Program in Data Science, the school’s only graduate offering, which consists of a full-time, semester-long practicum. Novetta, a Tampa-based defense contractor, hired Hunt to work as a data analyst. “The company I’m at has this intern cell where they will pay us to be interns,” explained Hunt. “We’re working on unclassified data, and then they’ll sponsor us during the internship to get the clearance. It’s this really unique, rare opportunity for me to work while going through the clearance process.” Hunt, who holds bachelor and Master’s degrees in biology from Purdue University, realized her true passion lies in programming and data science while working on a doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biophysics at the University of Chicago. She left the program after earning a second Master’s degree and relocated to the Tampa Bay area to be closer to family. Hunt discovered New College while “I go into a meeting at researching Meetup groups my internship, and I’m and enrolled in its nascent able to touch on so data science program in 2017. many different things Firms like Novetta that they’ve never heard rely on data scientists to of that we just happen interpret complex data to cover in class.” using sophisticated statistical models. At New College, Hunt received the training she needed in programs like Python and R to work alongside her more experienced colleagues. “I go into a meeting at my internship, and I’m able to touch on so many different things that they’ve never heard of that we just happen to cover in class,” said Hunt. “Being able to impress the people at my internship with just the depth and breadth of knowledge that I got from [New College] has made the struggle, the hardship, the drive from Tampa to Sarasota definitely worth going to the program.” As part of a data visualization course, Hunt used publically available NASA exoplanet data to develop a website where
people can view renderings of the planets, their distance from Earth, and other characteristics. The experience inspired Hunt to apply for an internship at the space agency, where she led a 10-week research project to find out if machine learning can replace human calibration and improve print quality. Currently, 3D printing lacks the requisite precision and functionality to serve as a viable option for astronauts, elaborated Hunt, and “3D printing would be extremely valuable to space exploration if you can make the tools you need instead of preemptively loading all the tools you could possibly need.” Hunt and her NASA colleagues are in the process of publishing her findings. Although her work at NASA opened up career opportunities for Hunt, she grew attached to the Tampa Bay area and will remain in the region working as a data analyst after graduation. For Hunt, working in the defense industry is more than a job; it’s an act of patriotism. “I’m serving my country,” proclaimed Hunt. “I always wanted to serve in some way, but for whatever reason never joined. Now I just feel a really deep sense of pride that I can serve my country with all the years of schooling and all the work that I’ve put into getting this far. I feel really proud of that.” Hunt also wants to stay engaged with the tight-knit data science community at New College. “All of the teachers I had throughout the program made me feel more attached to [New College] than all the schooling I’ve done in the past,” said Hunt. “I would love to come back after I have more experience, talk to the new incoming students for my program, and show them things I’m doing.” To learn more about New College’s Data Science Program, visit ncf.edu/graduate-program or call (941) 487-4103.
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PROFILE / TRACY COLLINS
Bridging the Gap Economics Professor Tracy Collins Works to Diversify the Discipline BY LIZ LEBRON
TRACY COLLINS IS PASSIONATE about economics and finance, and she wants to expand interest in the discipline in underrepresented communities. Diversity and inclusion are important to the assistant professor of economics, who studies growth and development. She is currently spearheading a mentorship program to engage young people with economics and finance while they are in high school. Collins was one of the inaugural recipients of a grant from the Women’s Giving Circle, a group of women in the Sarasota Bay community who joined forces to steer their philanthropic efforts to New College. In her grant application, she proposed an outreach and mentorship program to connect New College students with high schoolers from the Sarasota-Bradenton area who are interested in economics and finance. Her grant application stated she would encourage students from groups which are traditionally underrepresented in those areas to apply and provide funds for low-income students to pay for ride shares. The Women’s Giving Circle awarded Collins $5,000 for the two-stage initiative. Fourth-year New College students mentored third-year students on best practices for navigating the economics curriculum and how to identify internship opportunities during the first phase of the program. Collins hopes mentorship will increase retention in the economics area of concentration. For the second phase of the program, Collins organized a series of on-campus seminars for the New College community and area high school students. Collins, who serves as the campus liaison for the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in Economics, used her vast network to bring a wide range of speakers to lead the seminars. The sessions cover topics ranging from investing to how to build wealth, and she structured them to give students a comprehensive view of career pathways available to economics students. Assistant Professor of Finance Xinxin Wang spoke with attendees about her journey from high school student to professor of entrepreneurial finance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She addressed those students who are interested in economics but do not want a career in banking by highlighting lucrative opportunities outside of Wall Street, such as research and academia. Like Collins, Wang and many of the speakers hail from
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underrepresented groups in finance and economics. Wang credits initiatives like the Economics and Finance Mentorship Program Collins organized at New College for the role they play in diversifying the field. “I’m young and female, and that’s uncommon in academia,” said Wang. “It’s even more uncommon in finance. But that’s changing! That’s why we need more programs like this in which we’re training the next generation of economists.” Other speakers, including World Bank researcher Oyebola Okunogbe and Russell Sage Foundation visiting scholar Bradley Hardy, who is also a professor of public administration and policy at American University in Washington, D.C., gave students insight into research opportunities outside of academia. Another goal of the mentorship program is to give students a realistic view of what they can expect if they pursue an economics undergraduate degree. One of the sessions will focus on SAT preparation and college application strategies. Students also toured the New College campus with student ambassadors from the Admissions Office. “We’re also going to talk about how to apply and get accepted at selective colleges like New College, and what is expected of economics students at New College,” wrote Collins to program participants. Collins worked for two Fortune 500 companies prior to joining New College. During her tenure in private industry, she worked for the international branches of Siemens AG (Germany) and HP (Spain) before becoming one of the youngest junior managers at Italian tire company Pirelli Tyres.
CHAPTER NEWS
On the Road…
The Alumni Association was on the road in Fall 2018, taking President O’Shea to meet alums in D.C., New York, and Boston. To view more chapter event photos and to learn more about upcoming events, visit ncf.edu/chapters.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
NEW YORK, N.Y.
BOSTON, MASS.
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CLASS NOTES
1960s
1970s
Jean Feingold ’66 writes short stories and enters them in contests in addition to the non-fiction writing that supports her. After years of total rejection, one story recently came in fourth in a contest at Brilliant Flash Fiction, an online magazine. No cash prize but the story was published online. You can read it at: brilliantflashfictionmag.wordpress. com/2018/03/20/art-prompt-writingcontest-results/
Robert S. Fish ’72 was named a 2019 IEEE Fellow in January in recognition of his application of visual communications and networking. IEEE is a professional organization advancing technology for humanity–Congratulations, Robert!
Robert McGarey ’69 founded the nonprofit Human Potential Center in Austin, Texas, 32 years ago. This year the Center became the first organization the International Association for Humanistic Psychology endorsed in its 55+ year history.
Herb Guggenheim’s ’74 book of poetry, “Strange Encounter at the Shakespeare Motel”, was reissued last year by Finishing Line Press. The new edition contains four poems not found in the earlier version. Guggenheim has
been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a Best of the Net award. His poetry has appeared in Poetry Quarterly, Gargoyle, The Road Not Taken: A Journal of Formal Poetry, and many other magazines both on and offline. Jackie Fauls ’75 retired in 2017 after 43 years working mostly for the state of Florida but also in the private sector. She devoted most of her career to the legislative process, retiring as the director of legislative affairs for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. She credits and thanks New College, Dr. Bob Benedetti, and the late, great Leslie Scheele for their parts in preparing her for the career she loved. That being said, she is so happy to be retired and not have to wake up to an alarm clock! She wishes her New College friends well.
IN MEMORIAM Andrea Martz Norfleet ’74 was born in 1956 in the coal region of East Central Pennsylvania. Based on her strategy to get as far away from Minersville as possible and to live near the beach, she attended New College, finishing her degree in 1977. She earned a PhD in Pharmacology in 1984, and that led to a lifelong career in research and teaching that she found interesting, challenging, and meaningful. In the last years of her career, she worked as a scientific publication writer for Genzyme in Boston. Andrea married fellow New College graduate Bill Norfleet ’73 in 1990. The first house they bought was a boat. Over the years, the Norfleets had the opportunity to live and work in many beautiful places, always near water, with their scuba tanks and a boat at hand. Andrea enjoyed life, and when she passed away on December 8, 2018, it was with only one regret—having Acadia National Park, Maine developed pancreatic cancer in 2012 at the age of 55. But even that experience brought some joy, as family and friends and neighbors rallied around. They made it possible for her to follow the advice in a quote by Voltaire, one of her favorites, “Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.”
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CLASS NOTES
1980s David Branson ’85 and his partner, David Shipp, have been together for 16 years as of May 2019, and this is his tenth year as an adjunct professor teaching composition at St. Petersburg College. He previously spent seven years as an editorial assistant at the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, D.C. He has also started freelance editing and proofreading, mainly for Asian Development Bank.
1990s Michael Rothbaum ’90 is a rabbi serving Congregation Beth Elohim in Acton, Mass., 20 miles outside of Boston. He is involved in various Jewish and interfaith social justice issues, including economic and racial justice, and immigration reform. With partners of various religions, he does regular ICE detainee visits in Boston, and coordinates monthly ICE protests and vigils. He has been chosen this year to be a Global Justice Fellow for the American Jewish World Service. He credits his New College education and colleagues with helping him to think critically in a world of soul-crushing conformity and way too many Billy Joel fans. He’s also happily married (thank God!) to the amazing Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, a Yiddish singer who has performed for audiences all over the world. Cathy Sarisky ’91 is living in Salem, Virginia, with her husband and two kids, chairing the Roanoke College Chemistry Department, coaching First Lego League
and First Lego League Junior robotics/ STEM teams, and otherwise too busy to blink. Matthew Grieco ’94 received the Louis J. Lefkowitz Memorial Award from New York State Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood on November 27, 2018. An assistant solicitor general in the appeals division of the attorney general’s office, Grieco received the award along with two of his colleagues for their work on a lawsuit versus the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to preserve funding for New York’s Essential Plan, a public health program created under the Affordable Care Act. Anne Tazewell ’94 is eight years into writing a memoir tentatively entitled, “Secret Agent: My Father and Me”, and she looks forward to sharing the final product in the not ‘too’ distant future. If any alums are agents or publishers, she would love to connect! Peter Hart-Brinson ’98 has published a new book, “The Gay Marriage Generation: How the LGBTQ Movement Transformed American Culture” (NYU Press). The book answers the question: How did gay marriage— something unimaginable two decades ago—come to feel inevitable to even its staunchest opponents? Drawing on over 95 interviews with two generations of Americans, as well as historical analysis and public opinion data, Hart-Brinson argues that a fundamental shift in our understanding of homosexuality sparked the generational change that fueled gay marriage’s unprecedented rise. Written with undergraduate students and the educated reading public in mind, the book owes a great debt to New College sociology faculty, students, and the
scholarship of Doug Berggren, who figures prominently in one chapter.
2000s Graham Coreil-Allen ’02 is a public artist and has been awarded an Open Society Institute - Baltimore Community Fellowship, which provides 18 months of funding and organizing
support as he collaborates with residents on reconnecting West Baltimore neighborhoods with Druid Hill Park. Through the Druid Hill Complete Streets project, Coreil-Allen will work with neighbors to ensure that a forthcoming Baltimore City Department of Transportation planning effort is as reflective of community voices as possible as it seeks to convert the dangerous barrier highways around Druid Hill Park into complete streets that are safe and accessible for all, especially the approximately 50 percent of area residents who do not drive. During the fellowship, Coreil-Allen will work with local youth to create trafficcalming public art to slow down cars and improve pedestrian safety. Jerald “JR” Lentini ’03 and his wife, Lauren, welcomed the birth of their baby son, Jordan Marshall Lentini, on August 5, 2018. In September, JR began practicing at Ruane Attorneys, the largest criminal defense firm in Connecticut.
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CLASS NOTES
Brendan Rabon ’03 had his first published poem, “Gladstone, ” appear in the Fall 2018 issue of Literary Matters. Rabon won the 2017 Meringoff Prize in Poetry which is awarded annually by the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers.
a quarterfinalist for the 2018 ScreenCraft Pilot Launch Competition: screencraft.org/2018/11/09/2018screencraft-pilot-launch-competitionquarterfinalists-announced. Fields and Kadwell also have a book coming out before the end of 2018, “Gay A Day” (Lethe Press), featuring a mini biography of a notable gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, or intersex person for every day of the year.
Amy “Kai” Doore ’04 moved to Michigan with her wife Sarah ‘03, had a baby, and is looking forward to having her first two books published by Tor next year under the pen name K.A. Doore.
Sarah Thompson ’06 married Harrison Sherwin ’11 on November 10, 2018. The ceremony and reception both took place at New College on the bayfront. They were thankful to have so many Novos in attendance, including Ilene Tompkins-Gillispie ‘07, who officiated their ceremony.
Jolene Elberth ’05 completed her Master of Public Policy and Management degree at the University of Melbourne, Australia, in December. Previously, she worked as a community organizer with undocumented migrant workers in New Orleans, Louisiana. Post degree she plans to continue her work in the refugee and asylum seeker policy sector in Australia.
Lauren Fields ’06, writing as L.A. Fields with co-author Tyson Kadwell, wrote a television pilot script (Breakneck, about North Carolina cold case detectives) that is
Timothy Richardson ’09, after passing all three of the exams in consecutive years and meeting the professional requirements, has become a Chartered Financial Analyst® charterholder. He wishes to recognize Dr. Khemraj for being the first person to recommend he pursue this credential, which he did back in 2014.
A Unique Way to Make a Difference
MAKE NEW COLLEGE PART OF YOUR ESTATE PLAN Have you considered how investing in intellectually curious minds could shape the future of Sarasota and the world? Have you thought about making a legacy gift to an organization that you want to impact past your lifetime? If this sounds like you, then consider making a planned gift through a variety of estate planning vehicles including:
• • • •
Will or Trust IRA or other retirement plan Life insurance policy Life income or other planned gifts involving charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts.
New College Foundation staff members are available to work with you and your professional advisor in achieving your philanthropic goals and objectives. For more information, please contact New College Foundation at (941) 487-4800 or foundation@ncf.edu.
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THE NEW COLLEGE FUND
PLEASE, REMEMBER TO GIVE. Your support of New College is vital to our mission to prepare intellectually curious students for lives of great achievement. June 30 marks the end of the New College Foundation’s fiscal year. In order for your annual fund gift to be included in the 2018-19 year, be sure it’s postmarked or received online no later than June 30. For more information, or to make a gift, visit ncf.edu/inspire or you can mail a check in the enclosed envelope in this issue of Nimbus. Thank you!
NEW COLLEGE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION NEW COLLEGE FOUNDATION, INC. THE KEATING CENTER 5800 BAY SHORE ROAD SARASOTA, FL 34243-2109
Connect with New College facebook.com/NewCollegeofFlorida facebook.com/NewCollegeFoundation facebook.com/NewCollegeAlumAssociation youtube.com/NewCollegeofFL twitter.com/NewCollegeofFL, @NewCollegeofFL
ISP 2019
Collaborative Learning Each January, New College students design and work on an independent study project in consultation with faculty. This year, students conducted climate change research in Peru, studied sea level rise in the historic African-American community of Newtown, developed a health literacy app, and created an exhibit of LGBTQ history and activism in Florida, among other projects.