Current A Publication of Palm Beach Atlantic University
Volume XXX No. 1 Spring 2019
TAKEN AWAY
Holocaust-themed play written by two PBA professors reaches 6,000 schoolchildren -- Page 16
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Volume XXX No. 1
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Natalie M. Alvarez ’11 President Nancy Albertz-Schmidt ’05 Pharm.D. Robert Anderson ’94 Michael Armfield ’98/’02 M.S. April Bernal-Cleek ’01 Daylen Brinkley ’15 Bruce Burk ’10 Victoria A. Chouris ’97/’01 MBA Jessica Clasby ’13/’15 M.S. Alexandra C. Cook ’93/’94 MBA Britton Cotton ’10 John Cupini ’08 Katrina Dawe ’16 Paul Giles ’94 Karen Hilo ’02 MBA Brendan Kesler ’07 Putnam Kling ’10 Josué Léon ’11 MBA Jean Marseille ’05 Adam Masterson ’06 Zach McElroy ’02 Matt McKee ’95 Annaleah Morrow ’93/’97 M.S.
Ramona Owen ’91 Don Sloan ’73 Jared Southworth ’13 Laura Titus ’16 David L. Williams II ’16 PARENTS COUNCIL Robert and Cindy Read, Co-Chairs Joe and Amy Anderton Cynthia Campbell Wayne and Deretta Cotton, Founding members Jon and Helen Dickinson Mark and Cyndie Friese Rob and Kim Gomez Dave and Priscilla Guinta Andy and Terry Hardman Douglas and Heidi Hawkins Dan and Kendra Pearson
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Feature s
David and Alesia Wilson
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William M. B. Fleming, Jr. | President Vicki Pugh, CFRE, CAP™ | Vice President for Development Becky Peeling, APR, ‘05 M.S. | Associate Vice President for University Relations and Marketing Mary Jacobs | Assistant Vice President for Special Projects and Parent Relations Steve Eshelman ‘99 | Director of Alumni Relations Ellen Vaughan | Director of Annual Fund Development Katie Gentry ‘16 | Coordinator of Alumni Relations
Retiring faculty
Brian Crouch earns Excellence in Education Award.
Seven professors add up to 123 years of service
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Current magazine is published three times a year by the office of University Relations and Marketing, Palm Beach Atlantic University, P.O. Box 24708, West Palm Beach, FL 33416-4708. John Sizemore, editor: john_sizemore@pba.edu
S owers of Hop e
Cl a s s N o te s
Rwandan farmers blessed by cross-cultural grad
See who has a new job, spouse or baby (and share your news with us).
PBAAlumni
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Pati e nt con f i d a nt
Current Magazine Volume XXX No. 1, February, 2019
On the cover:
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@pbauniversity
@PBAtlantic
PBAvideo
Matthew Dykstra ’18, Mary Stucchi ’07 (left) and Hannah Rosenberg ’18 were three of the four-member cast for the play Taken Away. Story on page 16.
In December nearly 300 graduates celebrated with diplomas for undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees.
From the President Dear Friends, The always-joyous time of PBA graduation took on a poignant tone in December, as graduates learned about the death of our founding president. Dr. Jess Moody, 93, passed away the day before our Dec. 8 commencement ceremonies. (See page 27.) But as we grieved the loss of Dr. Moody, we celebrated his life of faith and his wonderful legacy, reflected now in PBA’s 50 years and nearly 18,000 alumni. One of those very first graduates shared the podium with me at commencement. The Rev. Wayne Padgett ’72 recalled Dr. Moody so fondly as “my mentor and father in the ministry.” Wayne was among the 84 pioneer students who enrolled when Palm Beach Atlantic opened its doors in 1968. “The incredible experience of a life change began in my life” at PBA, he said. Wayne was PBA’s first student government president, and he gave the commencement address to the nearly 300 new graduates in December. Jess Moody gave the address at PBA’s first commencement, in 1972. He told those graduates, “Whatever you do, wherever you go, borrow God’s eye. And see all of life as a call to help, to heal and to
make holy.” As I shook the hands of our newest grads, I thought about how excited Dr. Moody would have been to see them cross that stage and to imagine how they will make their mark upon the world, “borrowing God’s eye.” Later, as I saw the feature stories assembled for this issue of Current magazine, I thought again of Dr. Moody. Read these stories and find fresh examples of PBA graduates following the call to help, to heal and to make holy. I was reminded also that Dr. Moody and his wife, Doris, gave us the wonderful concept of Workship, the community service program so dubbed by combining the words work and worship. Author Cash Lambert ’14 (see page 14) said that Workship “really set the trajectory” for his future. I suspect that many, many other PBA graduates would say the same. Thank you, Jess and Doris Moody. Sincerely yours,
William M. B. Fleming, Jr. President Current Spring 2019
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Awardwinning teacher “There is so much going on in their lives, that it’s not worth responding to them in anger. So I always take the time to get to know the students and their stories.” --Brian Crouch, Lake Worth Community High School
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rian Crouch ’10/’12 M.S. reflected upon how his PBA experience put him on a path to become an award-winning social studies teacher. “The biggest takeaway,” he said, “was those people who poured into me to push me; they expected and demanded better of me.” Following that example, now he “pours into” students at Lake Worth Community High School, a diverse population that’s 86 percent economically disadvantaged. “What’s going on?” he asked a student one day. “You’re not doing your work. You’re giving me attitude. What’s happening today?” The student tried to brush off the query. “I’m just having a day, man.” “Well, talk to me,” insisted Crouch. “Give me the story.” Finally the student opened up and explained that it was the anniversary of his fleeing gang violence
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in Honduras. “There were four of us. Me and three friends. All three of them got killed.” Wow, thought Crouch, there’s so much more to these students’ stories! “There is so much going on in their lives, that it’s not worth responding to them in anger,” he said. “So I always take the time to get to know the students and their stories.” Often those stories pour out in Spanish, because more than half of Lake Worth High students come from Latin American countries, and many of them struggle with English. But that’s no problem for Crouch, who spent his formative years in Guatemala, where his parents were missionaries. “I can speak Spanish and not sound like a gringo,” he said. “It’s been a definite advantage, especially teaching here at Lake Worth.” Recently, on a typical day in his Latin American
Crouch also wanted to give students who aren’t History class, Crouch roamed all around the Latin American an understanding of their classmates. classroom, lecturing without notes. He instructed in “Especially in today’s political climate, with all that’s English, but responded readily in Spanish when an English learner needed an explanation. His 20 students happening in the world, I think it’s important that we know the whole story of everything,” he said. took notes and listened quietly, with a decorum that After he got the course approved, Crouch then many high school teachers could only dream of. had to get students to sign up for it. The first year he Students say they enjoy his classes, and they recruited more than 100 students. recommend them to others, citing Crouch’s The course continues to be a popular elective at enthusiasm, humor and knowledge of the subject Lake Worth High, boosted by Crouch’s teaching style. matter. “His positive affirmations to manage his “If you tell it the right way, history is so great,” he said. classroom” have made him a favorite teacher at the “History is dramatic. It’s a story. It’s not about the school, said one student, as she nominated him for boring ‘This battle happened on this date.’ It’s what you the 2018 Hispanic Heritage Excellence in Education can learn from that.” Award. “His patience with students who struggle with Recently a Latin American History student told English has made him become a confidant for those Crouch, “I think I understand my mom a little bit students who may not have anyone else assisting better now.” The mom was Nicaraguan and had fled them.” during the civil war there, leaving other family behind. Crouch won that award, as the only high school After lessons in Crouch’s class, the student said, “I teacher in Florida so honored. He received the award understand now why she left and I understand how she in a ceremony with Gov. Rick Scott. feels because she’s never been “Meeting the governor able to go back.” was amazing,” said Crouch. Recalling that student’s “But he’s not who I look to "The Hispanic community reaction, Crouch said, “This is for my recognition. It’s the is one of the fastest why I teach. It’s about relating kids that sit in this classroom. to the students and impacting It’s those faces on my little growing communities the students.” wall over here.” He pointed in our country. Politics, Crouch’s wife, the former to photos and notes he’s Samantha Mosher, is a 2012 received from former students. everything else aside, PBA music education graduate “What matters are the hugs what are we doing to who teaches at Palm Beach at graduation and the thankChristian Academy. With their yous. And knowing that these love this community that two children, on Christmas kids can do better.” needs love, that is coming Eve they welcomed extended Crouch joined the Lake family for a traditional Worth High faculty in 2013, from a place where Guatemalan feast: “carne after earning a bachelor’s there’s not a lot of love?" asada, tamales, beans, tortillas degree in communication and pupusas; the whole kit and and a master’s in leadership -- Brian Crouch, winner of caboodle.” at PBA. Communication the 2018 Hispanic Heritage “I love it. There’s so much professor Beth Hallquist recalls Excellence in Education Award fun in other cultures, and so him as “friendly, cheerful and much to learn from them,” outgoing and a delight to have said Crouch. “The Hispanic in class.” community is one of the fastest growing communities When he came to Lake Worth the school did not offer the Latin American History course, though it was in our country. Politics, everything else aside, what are we doing to love this community that needs love, that included in the school district’s curriculum. Crouch is coming from a place where there’s not a lot of love?” lobbied school officials to bring the course to his At the core, he said, “we should remember our school, citing the many students coming from Latin common humanity, that everyone has a story. We America. should celebrate those stories, and no one’s story is “Why not give these students an opportunity to better than the other.” Christians, especially, “should be identify with something?” Crouch asked. “Why not embracing and loving and helping,” he said. “Christ is show them that we are embracing the diversity that the ultimate example of inclusivity and care for others.” exists here at Lake Worth and give students the ability to participate in their own story?” Current Spring 2019
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Audrey Gruss in her office
Hope for depression
Recalling how her mother battled the illness, honoree founded research foundation
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omen of Distinction honoree Audrey Gruss advises young people, “Get involved in the grassroots of any charity that appeals to you, and you ultimately will be able to make a difference.” Now she’s making a difference in the fight against depression, the debilitating illness that plagued her mother for many years. “Three hundred fifty million people suffer from depression worldwide,” said Gruss. “It is a major, global health crisis.” Despite the ubiquity of the illness, there has been no new category of antidepressant developed in 30 years, Gruss said. So after her mother’s death in 2005, she founded the Hope for Depression Research Foundation. In the first six years of its work, the foundation funded research grants in 12 countries, 18 U.S. cities and more than 48 institutions.
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At one of those institutions doctors have discovered a new category of antidepressant that’s now going into human clinical tests. Developing this drug “would be phenomenal,” said Gruss. “It would be a major achievement.” It also would be a fitting legacy for her mother, whose name was Hope. As chairman of the Hope for Depression Research Foundation, Gruss provides leadership and skills developed through her extensive executive experience in international marketing and advertising. After rising through the ranks of the companies Revlon, J.P. Stevens and Elizabeth Arden, she struck out on ventures of her own. She is the former co-owner and president of Terme di Saturnia, an international scientific skincare firm. Now Gruss leads Hope Fragrances International, with a line of perfumes, creams and candles bearing her mother’s name. “One hundred percent of our net profit goes directly back to research into depression,” she said. The products are available online and also at two Palm Beach stores, Mary Mahoney and Mildred Hoit. Gruss and her husband, Martin Gruss, have several homes, including one in Palm Beach, where they live most of the time. She describes her husband as “a wonderful person who really taught me about philanthropy.” The Audrey and Martin Gruss Foundation supports a variety of charitable efforts in education, medical research and cultural arts. “I think it’s so rewarding to get involved in the community, helping the community be the best it can be,” she said. On Feb. 19 she will be honored as one of Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Women of Distinction in a luncheon benefiting scholarships for female students. (See www.pba.edu/women-of-distinction.) Gruss grew up in New Jersey and graduated with honors from Tufts University. Recalling what an emphasis her parents placed on education, she offered this encouragement to students and young graduates: “Look for opportunities using your best skills. Believe in yourself, and don’t be afraid to take risks as long as you have solid knowledge behind you.”
February 19 gala at The Breakers www.pba.edu/women-of-distinction
Call (561) 803-2971 for tickets
Supporting students New Woman of Distinction mentors at-risk high-schoolers, funds scholarships
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aurie S. Silvers has practiced law, been a successful media entrepreneur and served on a host of boards and executive committees, but she “gets goose bumps” when she talks about mentoring at-risk high school girls. Working with the program Women of Tomorrow, she mentors 12 to 25 students from Spanish River Community High School, a public school in Boca Raton. Chosen by counselors at the school, the mentees are a diverse group, she said, but they have this in common: “They need somebody who will listen to them.” She loves “inspiring the young women and motivating them to stay in school and reach for their dreams.” Silvers recalled a particular student she mentored, one who at first glance didn’t seem the type to blossom and seize opportunity. “But over time, having her work with the other girls in the program, having her become a little bit of a mentor herself, it built up her confidence,” said Silvers. “It really showed this young lady her worth, her potential.” As her mentor watched, listened and facilitated, that student “really became a butterfly,” said Silvers. “She really emerged,” eventually being accepted by both Harvard and Yale universities. For her mentoring, her philanthropy and her wide record of other community service, Silvers has been named one of PBA’s Women of Distinction. A resident of Boca Raton, she graduated from the University of Miami and that university’s law school. She’d always been fascinated by the broadcasting business, as her father owned radio stations, television stations and cable systems. So as an attorney she wound up representing people in the industry, “and I loved everything about it.” Eventually, she and her husband, Mitchell
Rubenstein, came up with a new concept and formed the SyFy Channel. “That was a big, gutsy move, with a few pitfalls along the way,” she said. “But it was a labor of love and truly a wonderful experience.” Silvers is now co-CEO of Hollywood.com, a leading celebrity news and entertainment information provider. She also is a majority owner of Misfits Holdings, LLC, a global eSports organization, and of Treasure and Space Coast Broadcasting. The Law School building at the University of Miami has been named in honor of Silvers and her husband. Their support of the school has included a gift for scholarships to law students committed to public service. “These are the young people, not unlike the young people at Palm Beach Atlantic University, that we aspire to develop and nurture and grow and hope that they go out into our communities and make it all a better place,” she said. She and her husband have three children and three grandchildren. “Without question,” she said, “my most defining and the finest part of my life is being a mother and grandmother.”
Laurie Silvers with her SyFy alien robot
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Celebrating seven retiring faculty Dr. Charles Lester: 28.5 years When Dr. Charles Lester came to teach in 1991, Tom St.Antoine was among his students that first PBA semester. Later, as St.Antoine pondered what to do after college, Lester told him, “Go get your doctorate, come back and take my place.” St.Antoine did indeed get that Ph.D., and he came back to teach at PBA in 1998. But he didn’t take Lester’s place. Instead, the two were faculty colleagues for the next 20 years, until Lester retired in December at the age of 85. Lester had served 25 years as a pastor before he became a communication professor. As he was working on his Ph.D., church leaders and pastors asked him to evaluate them because they were not being effective. “I spotted something they were not doing well, and that was listening,” he said. His study of listening became a specialty, and he wrote a book on the subject at the request of the International Listening Association. He wrote on different kinds of listening, and included spiritual listening and religious listening as chapters. He did a presentation at the listening association, “so I enjoyed giving a testimony that way.” Lester wrote student and faculty manuals for PBA’s London semester, and for eight years he directed the program. For several of those years he and his wife, Lou, traveled with the students. He taught, conducted chapels and took students on excursions. “We had a great time,” he said. “It was a joy to see the kids open up and grow.” The University presented Lester its Charles & Hazel Corts Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2002. As he wrapped up his last semester at PBA, he and his wife put their home up for sale, planning to relocate. Their daughter has urged them to move where she is, near Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. The Lesters have one grandchild and three great-grandchildren. Already, Lee University officials have talked to Lester about teaching. “And then there’s another position in Nashville, so I don’t know,” he said with a laugh. “I may be busy and I may not.” Born in West Virginia and raised in Michigan, Lester grew up in a foster home, blessed by “a great
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lady,” his Christian foster mother. He recalls making a decision “to serve the Lord” when he was a youngster at summer camp. Through the years that service has included chaplaincy with the Air Force and the University of Michigan Hospitals. On Dec. 8 he ended his service to PBA giving the benediction at commencement.
Dr. Henry Virkler: 24 years “Two days after we were married, we had 12 juvenile delinquent sons,” said Dr. Henry Virkler. He and his wife, Mary, had become house parents at a “topflight,” secular children’s home. But despite the efforts of psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers, he witnessed the kids’ behavior deteriorating and several heading for prison. After a discouraging year, the Virklers moved to a Christian children’s home. There they watched students finish school and go on to college. Many got married and brought their spouses back to visit the home. “I just saw such a huge difference between when Christ is allowed into the counseling process versus when He’s excluded,” said Virkler. “I decided from that time on I wanted to always be involved in Christian counseling.” Virkler went on to earn his master’s degree and Ph.D. and became engaged in Christian counseling and training Christian counselors. He started three counseling centers during that time, and in 1996 he joined the faculty of Palm Beach Atlantic. He has taught mostly at the graduate level, and he received the Charles & Hazel Corts Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2011. “The best hours of my day are between 6 p.m. and 8:30 or 6 and 10, when I’m teaching,” he said. “Just seeing students come in, excited about learning counseling, feeling this is God’s call on their life and then hearing some of their stories. Wow! It’s just so moving to hear how God is working.” He’s seen the University’s counseling program grow dramatically, with counseling alumni becoming leaders in counseling agencies. Counselors from PBA “are using their gifts to bring healing to hundreds if not thousands of people,” he said.
123.5 years of faithful service As Virkler’s students have gone out to work in the field, many of them have asked him to stay in touch. He’s built an email list of some 1,000 who receive his weekly reviews of the best articles he’s read on counseling. The Virklers’ two sons graduated from PBA, one to become a teacher and the other a doctor. “And they met wonderful Christian gals here,” he said. “To know that your sons got good education here and found good partners for life, that just is so fulfilling for me.” After retiring in May, Virkler will be happy for more time with his children and his four grandchildren, but he said he’ll also be glad to come back and teach a class or two. “I just enjoy the teaching so much.”
Dr. Ann Langlois: 18 years When Dr. Ann Langlois joined the Rinker School of Business faculty in 2001, she brought with her a key ingredient for a business professor: real life business experience. Faculty search committees “always look for that in candidates,” she said. “It brings more believable teaching skills to the classroom.” Langlois had more than 25 years experience in retail and commercial banking. She had managed a banking team of 200 sales associates, and she worked her way up to regional vice president with Citizens Bank in East Providence, Rhode Island. “I was also very active in the community at the time,” she said. As a full-time banker, she often taught on the side, with evening classes at the New England School of Banking and at multiple universities. Business students “are always fascinated to learn what you did in business,” she said, “and we’re the ones they seek to find out about jobs.” Among her favorite PBA classes is Regional Business Environments, for which she has led students to places such as Egypt, Spain and Dubai. “It was my responsibility to think out of the box and design the course and visualize the way I wanted the trip to roll out and what I wanted the students to learn,” she said. After preparing students for those trips, Langlois loved observing her students, seeing how they developed after learning the basics of the country and how knowledgeable and professional they became.
“These are amazing academic events,” she said, “when I travel with the students and I see their excitement and see them all come together. And just the camaraderie that comes about when you’re traveling together. What the students are learning about. What they’re talking about. Them wanting you to go places with them.” For some 15 years she taught alongside her husband, Dr. Ed Langlois, who retired from the Rinker School in 2016. They have four children and six grandchildren. When she retires in May, it’ll be with mixed feelings, she said. She’s asking herself now, How will I impact the community? during retirement. She plans to explore online teaching on the graduate level. As she tries her hand at the growing world of online education, she’ll recall fondly her PBA trips, the classroom interaction and the relationships with students and faculty. And special memories include candlelight dinners that brought all the faculty together in years past, “always followed by an amazing Christmas concert at the chapel.”
Dr. Gerald Wright: 15 years
As Gerald Wright worked on his doctorate at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and thought about where God was calling him to serve, he discovered a stark contrast: When a local church needed a pastor, its search committee might get 50 resumes, but when a ministry to Africa needed a church planter, it might go three years without a single applicant. “God’s not that bad at math,” said Wright. “There’s just something fundamentally wrong when 50 pastors want to go to a little church in Louisiana but nobody wants to go start a new church in Africa.” So he concluded that the call to ministry was a global call. In the years that followed, Wright followed that call to Africa, Singapore and the Middle East, among other places. “I served in lots of different cultural contexts,” he said, “and my life was incredibly enriched by all of those experiences.” For example, when he taught in a Nigerian seminary, he also worked with an unreached people group, semi-nomadic cattle (Continued on following page) Current Spring 2019
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herders of Muslim background. There he found “just the most beautiful, winsome people and culture.” Yet as much as he loved his time in Africa and Asia, he “connected more deeply” when he lived in the Arab culture. “The Arabs taught me what community really looks like.” And so when Wright came to PBA in 2004, he had much to share about different cultures and the interplay between faith and different cultural contexts. He has taught classes mostly in cross-cultural studies (recently renamed intercultural studies within the School of Ministry curriculum). “My life has been so rich here with wonderful, wonderful relationships with students and faculty,” he said. His relationships with students grew much as he took them on trips to the Middle East and he saw them meeting needs of people in different cultural settings. Now Wright and his wife, Kathy, are praying about where they’ll serve after he retires in May. One “growing sense of burden” he feels is environmental degradation. “Environmental degradation always disproportionately affects the poor,” he said. “As a Christian, even if I didn’t care about the environment itself, I ought to be an environmentalist just because of the impact this has on the poor.” The cause of immigrants also is “dear to my heart,” he said. Whatever cause he pursues next, Wright takes along “a deepened sense of what scripture has to say to us” thanks to each of the cultures in which he has lived.
Dr. Lee Prescott: 15 years
When Deborah Lee Prescott was about 12 years old, her mother gave her a copy of The Diary of Anne Frank. “It literally changed my life,” Prescott said. Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl who died in a concentration camp, becoming one of the millions to perish in the Holocaust. As the young Prescott read the book, she thought, How could this have happened and the world didn’t change? “It really led me on a lifelong quest and passion to learn more,” she said. Holocaust literature became a specialty as she earned her master’s degree and doctorate. She’s done much scholarly writing on the subject, and recently collaborated with retired theatre professor Don Butler to write a Holocaust-themed play for children. (See page 16.) She joined the PBA English faculty in 2003. “I really liked the idea of teaching at a small university because
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I felt like I would get to know my students better and I really liked a faith-based school,” she said. “I love teaching, and I’m having a great time, but when I retire I’ll have more time to write, both scholarly and creatively.” Her creative works have included a series of children’s books inspired by her dog, Mitzvah. The name comes from a Hebrew word with the popular meaning “a good deed.” Her dog, “a little, scruffy mutt,” came from a no-kill shelter. “I named her Mitzvah because she’s a mitzvah to me, because she brings me unconditional love,” said Prescott. “And I’m a mitzvah to her because she doesn’t live in a cage anymore.” Books about Mitzvah have been published in English, French, Italian and Spanish. Prescott recommends them “for anyone who loves dogs or who knows anyone with a disability.” Sometime after Mitzvah came to live with Prescott the dog became ill and lost its sight. “She’s been such an inspiring witness to me in how she manages her blindness,” Prescott said. (See www.prescottbooks.info.) She and Butler are working on a children’s play about Mitzvah, and they hope to see it performed at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in 2020. But even without that stage exposure, the little dog already has more than 1,300 followers on Instagram, and she even has a fan club in Norway. Prescott loves to travel, with a special interest in countries associated with Holocaust events. She was delighted to lead the PBA Study Abroad Program in London in 2015, and she hopes to travel much after she retires in May.
Dr. David Carson: 12.5 years
“Every semester and every year has been an adventure,” said Dr. David Carson, professor of counseling at the Orlando Campus. When he retires in August, he’ll take with him “just countless memories” of his graduate students, of their “in-class epiphanies,” their interactions with each other and their growth. “We’ve just seen unbelievable examples of transformation,” he said. Some students entered the program “knowing very little about what counseling is,” but became first-class therapists by the time they
123.5 years of faithful service graduated. Sometimes the transformation was even greater on the spiritual level. “We’ve had students come in who grew up with bad church experiences and turned away from the faith and yet there’s this kind of rebirth spiritually during their journey with us,” said Carson. “And that is way above and beyond what any of us as faculty can ever do humanly. That is truly a God thing.” He came to PBA in 2006, through a connection with Dr. David Lawson, director of the psychology and counselor education programs on the Orlando Campus. When Carson was a visiting professor at Biola University in California Lawson was one of his doctoral students. Carson has enjoyed the small campus experience in Orlando. “The faculty and the staff and the students on our campus are kind of like a big family.” He’s also appreciated “the freedom to be who I really am” that he found at PBA. It’s “a healthy freedom” unlike what you find at many other schools, he said. “I will treasure that for the rest of my life.” In addition to his teaching here and his academic writing, he has done much work overseas. He has worked in community development in northern India and Nepal, and has been a Senior Fulbright Scholar in India. He has trained a variety of counseling students in India, from the lay level to the doctoral level, and he has helped ministries develop youth projects in the slums. He’s had “great support” from PBA in that overseas work, he said. In retirement he plans to stay very involved with South Asia projects and with his writing. He looks forward to having more time with his five children and 10 grandchildren. Many of the Carson clan have settled in Colorado or Wyoming, so Colorado native and outdoor enthusiast Carson is eager for “adventures in the Rocky Mountains with my wife and kids and grandkids.”
Dr. Melvin Holder: 10.5 years Navigating career choices during the different chapters of our lives can be difficult, but the key “is really pretty simple,” said Dr. Melvin Holder. “If we’re sensitive to the Holy Spirit, He will place us where we
should be, where it will be the most rewarding, not only for us, but for the kingdom of God.” Holder retired in December, after teaching for more than 10 years at the Orlando Campus. He’s taught mostly graduate courses in leadership. His students have had the benefit of his practical wisdom from the business world, as he worked for the Ford Motor Company 33 years before starting a second career in teaching. A Tennessee native, he came to Ford’s Memphis offices right out of college with his accounting degree. To further his career with Ford, he earned his MBA, and he worked his way up through jobs in accounting, procurement, sales, marketing and administration. “In our late 40s my wife and I began to pray about what the Lord might want us to do the second half of our lives,” he said. “One of the things that the Lord had always put in my mind was teaching.” So at age 50, working full-time, Holder went back to college. It took five years, but he graduated with his doctorate in education on a Saturday morning, and had his early retirement party the following day. “The Lord just kind of worked out the timing on that,” he said. He ended up joining PBA’s Orlando faculty, on a compact campus “where we know each other. The faculty that I’ve had the privilege of working with are just the neatest group of individuals,” he said, “and we’re all so diverse that it really makes it fun and interesting.” Holder delights in learning about his former students: the books they’ve written, the things they’ve accomplished and the principles he taught that “connected” with students and helped in their careers. “That’s been a really rewarding part of teaching for me,” he said. “It’s fun to hear them repeat things that you said in class, and they’re not realizing that you said that.” One of his last official PBA duties was offering the invocation at December commencement. Now he and his wife, Brenda, plan to relocate to Tennessee, where their daughter and her family live. “My association with Palm Beach Atlantic has been delightful,” he said. “I think the brightest days are ahead for PBA, and I don’t have to say that, because my paychecks are running out.”
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Center for Integrative Science Learning
SUMMER CAMPS Science Camp and Institute June 10 – 14 and June 17-21
Explore math and kinematics and renewable energy. Incoming 1st – 5th graders
Incoming 6th – 12th graders
Tuition: $225
Tuition: $300
Extended care available
For more information or to register: www.pba.edu/summer-science-programs Dr. Fred Browning, camp director, professor of physics, email ISLCenter@pba.edu
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Crowd pleasers
The sketch-comedy show Monday Night Live played to a packed house Nov. 19. To hear about the next show follow the crew on Facebook: @MondayNightLivePBA.
News briefs
And details on the Web
Rooney joins LeMieux Center
Warren Scholarship Fund boosted
Former Congressman Tom Rooney has been appointed senior fellow for The LeMieux Center for Public Policy. He also will serve as a distinguished lecturer in the Politics Department of the University’s School of Arts and Sciences. www.pba.edu/news/rooney-lemieux-senior-fellow
Each year the new Bebe Warren Scholars Program will offer scholarships to three freshmen and one transfer student who aspire to be elementary school teachers. www.pba.edu/news/warren-signature-scholarship
$550,000 set for pharmacy research Raj Mantena, chairman and founder of IntegraConnect, has pledged $550,000 to establish the IntegraConnect Pharmacy Faculty Research Fund and the IntegraConnect Pharmacy Innovation Awards. www.pba.edu/news/integraconnect-pharmacy-gift
Trustee Board appoints officers PBA’s Board of Trustees appointed new officers effective January 1, 2019, with Jim Jenkins of West Palm Beach as board chairman. www.pba.edu/news/trustee-officers-19
Golf tournament raises $52,700 The Alumni Association Golf Tournament held Sept. 29 raised $52,700 for the association’s scholarship fund, a record high for the tournament. www.pba.edu/news/alumni-golf-results-18
50 alumni noted at homecoming Business, science, ministry and academia represent the occupations of the 50 notable alumni who were recognized at the Homecoming 50th Anniversary Celebration at the Harriet Himmel Theater. www.pba.edu/news/50-notable-alumni
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Workship set the path Community service at PBA helped author realize 'this world's not about me'
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ash Lambert ’14 is publishing his first book at the age of 26. “Kind of crazy to think about,” he said. “It all started pretty much thanks to PBA’s Workship program.” In his first semester, freshman Lambert was looking for community service opportunities for Workship. (www.pba.edu/workship). He learned about the organization Surfers for Autism (SFA) and spent a day volunteering with the group. He also took photos and wound up writing a story about SFA for The Beacon, PBA’s student newspaper. In the story he explained how volunteers introduced autistic youngsters to surfing, and how the activity provided remarkably helpful therapy and fellowship. He quoted the mother of an 8-year-old who said Surfers for Autism had changed her son’s life and changed her life as well. “If you attend one of these events,” said the mom, “it’ll change you and you’ll be hooked.” That mom was right. Lambert himself got hooked that day. He continued to volunteer with SFA and he continued to write about it. In the next few years he got the stories published in several magazines, but he was disappointed that the magazines only wanted a piece of 800 words or so. “I realized there was so much more to the story,” he said. “I said, ‘Man! Someone really should write a book
“As he came off the board, the volunteer hoisted him into the air, Lucas raised his hand in victory and the crowd cheered as I wept. The walls came down that day. We had seen 14
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a breakthrough; not only that, we’d seen humanity at its very best. Total strangers, giving so freely and lovingly of themselves for another.” --Mom of an autistic child, excerpt from Waves of Healing
about these people and their lives and these kids and this organization.’” And so he thought, Well, why can’t you do it, Cash? Why can’t you be the person to bring their stories to light? By this time Lambert was a journalism graduate and a working journalist, and on the side he spent many months doing research, going to SFA events and interviewing families touched by autism. After many more months writing his book, then came the most frustrating part: landing a publisher. “I was rejected by so many publishers!” he said. He moved to Hawaii, where he became editor of Freesurf magazine. It was something of a dream job for a journalist trained in West Palm Beach, but he continued to pitch his book to publishers. “The thing that really pushed me to keep trying was just the kids that I interviewed and the parents I spent time with,” he said. “I wanted their stories to be told so badly, that I said, ‘I can’t give up on this.’” Finally his persistence paid off. Lambert landed a contract with Hatherleigh Press, a publisher of books on health, fitness, parenting and other categories in healthy
living. Waves of Healing comes out in March, to be distributed by Penguin Random House. Lambert said readers will see that Surfers for Autism involves much more that the calming therapy for autistic children. “Yes, the kids experienced breakthroughs, the kids made friends, the kids had accomplishments, and that’s great,” he said. “But so many parents told me: ‘For the first time in my journey with autism with my son or daughter, I have people who understand me. I have people who I can talk to who know exactly what I’m going through.’ They have this community now that is a big support group, a traveling, surfing support group. “And the craziest element of it all,” he said, “was that a lot of the volunteers, after going to events, began to pursue a career in things like that, in therapy, in helping those with special needs and disabilities.” When you just attend an event like Surfers for Autism, Lambert said, it’s easy to watch from afar and remain detached. “But when you get involved,” he said, “when you volunteer, which is what Workship taught me how to do, then you meet people and you really just
kind of forget about what’s going on in your life and you focus on helping someone else. You realize: this world’s not about me.” At PBA Lambert said he got “an amazing education, and my faith grew so much, but the Workship element had such a profound impact on me that it really set the trajectory for where I would go.” That trajectory now has him developing the concept for a second book. It too will be nonfiction, he said, “a story that needs to be told, just like the SFA story was. I love telling the stories of people.” Lambert still lives in Hawaii, where he is social media director for a website and also does freelance writing. He hopes to visit South Florida in April for the year’s first Surfers for Autism event. At Deerfield Beach he hopes to have a book signing. And more importantly, he said, he’ll reunite with the families of that “traveling, surfing support group” from whom he learned so much. PBA grad Dr. Briana Andrassy also has volunteered with Surfers for Autism. She researched the effects of the program as part of her doctoral nursing studies at PBA. See the 2017 research review Enlightening Minds at www.pba.edu/aboutfaculty
Lambert moved to Hawaii, where he became editor of Freesurf magazine. It was something of a dream job for a journalist trained in West Palm Beach.
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Two professors, three alumni pull no punches in story for kids
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hen I first read the script, I was in tears,” said Mary Stucchi ’07. “And I thought, ‘How could I not tell this story?’” The story, Taken Away, came from PBA professors Don Butler and Dr. Deborah Lee Prescott, who collaborated to write a Holocaust-themed play for young audiences. Some 6,000 schoolchildren experienced the one-act play with its cast of four, three of the actors being PBA grads. “That was such a powerful performance that now my heart really hurts,” said a middle school teacher. “The play was the most meaningful and straightforward experience our students have ever had about the Holocaust.” “We didn’t pull any punches for the kids,” said Butler, associate professor emeritus of theatre. “We told it like it was.” He and Prescott set the play in Germany in 1937, just a few years before the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Prescott, professor of English, is a scholar in Holocaust literature. As she and Butler began planning the play, she introduced him to Jews Out, a board game from that period in Germany. In the
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game, as players work their way around the board they “collect” Jews from shops and banks and take them to collection centers. “The first person to get six Jews out wins,” said Butler. “I was horrified by that, and I said to Lee, ‘We’ve got our inciting incident here.’” So the play opens with Stucchi’s character receiving the game Jews Out as a Christmas gift from her best friend, a young teen played by Hannah Rosenberg ’18. Rosenberg’s character is the daughter of an official in Hitler’s SS, and she hasn’t yet discovered that Stucchi’s character has Jewish heritage. Rosenberg’s character then shows off her newly acquired uniform: the brown jacket of the Hitler Youth organization. “You have to join,” she says. “They teach us how to be perfect wives and mothers and how to help the Führer and the Reich.” She throws her arms around Stucchi’s character, who is beginning to understand that their friendship must end. Matthew Dykstra ’18 played two characters: the father of Stucchi’s character and an SS officer. During a brief introduction Dykstra also took on the role of narrator, putting on an armband, giving the Nazi salute and shouting, “Heil Hitler!” Taken Away played at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts and also with Kravis-On-The-Road, (Continued on page 18)
“That was such a powerful performance that now my heart really hurts,” said a middle school teacher. “The play was the most meaningful and straightforward experience our students have ever had about the Holocaust.”
In 1937 Germany, Mary Stucchi's character opens a Christmas gift from Hannah Rosenberg's character, to find an anti-semitic board game called Jews Out. Photo and cover photos by Alicia Donelan Current Spring 2019
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(Continued from page 16) traveling to schools in the area. Often at Dykstra’s Nazi salute, a few kids in the audience would giggle and follow suit. “But by the end of the play,” said Stucchi, “it is dead silence and the students are engaged and they realize it’s not a joke. It’s real. It’s heavy. Some of the students were even moved to tears. That means we did our job.” “I’ve just been amazed” at the response to the play, said Prescott. She and Butler crafted the production for middle and high school audiences, and they provided a study guide for teachers to use before and after students saw the show. The guide included a vocabulary section with words such as menorah and Mischling, German for mixed blood. “That’s what they call people who are part Jewish,” explains the mother of Stucchi’s character in the play. “The show was great, and it really invited a discussion among the students,” said one teacher. “As ever, the Kravis-On-The-Road crew were exemplary professionals.” Butler’s company StoryMakers has produced numerous young audience shows for the Kravis. Butler usually writes the plays by himself, often filling the cast with Palm Beach Atlantic students. “Taken Away is a real PBA kind of project,” Butler said. Former professor Ann Cadaret built the set, while Adjunct Instructor Penelope Koleos-Williams did the costumes. Stucchi has performed in several young audience shows for Butler. “I’ve always loved education,” she said, “and marrying my two passions: education and theatre, is just a dream.” Butler and Prescott have begun collaborating for another joint project, a play for younger children. It will feature Mitzvah, a blind dog that has inspired Prescott to write several children’s books. The two hope to bring Mitzvah to the Kravis stage in 2020. And because of the great interest generated by their first collaboration, Butler said, Taken Away probably will return to the Kravis in a couple of years. PBA professors Don Butler (at left) and Dr. Deborah Lee Prescott wrote the play Taken Away and plan another joint project. (See page 10 for a photo of Prescott and more about her work.)
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Tracy McCoy, right, enjoys an improv exercise with children's theatre students Aimee Spector, Ben Fertitta (back row) and Jaydon Fleigelman.
'Perfect fit'
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ith the newly named PBA Children’s Theatre, the University has assumed operation of a popular K-12 program begun by one of its own musical theatre alumni. Rachel Sharpe Gaydosh ’09/’12 M.S. recalled the first meeting with interested parents as she began organizing the effort in 2011. “We were completely blown away by the overwhelming response from the parents,” she said. That summer the organization launched with a musical theater camp. With Gaydosh as artistic director and a host of her fellow theatre alums as teachers and choreographers, the work continued with after-school classes and full productions, beginning with The Musical Adventures of Oliver Twist. More than 50 families were involved.
Elena Bockman-Pedersen (at right in back) is a Palm Beach Atlantic junior and serves as stage manager for the new PBA Children's Theatre.
Christian Musical Theatre, begun by Palm Beach Atlantic alumna, is now PBA Children's Theatre “The parents were amazingly cooperative because they saw their kids blossoming, doing what they loved and building relationships, all in a safe, Christcentered environment,” said Gaydosh, who is the daughter of Barbara Sharpe, School of Arts and Sciences secretary. Gaydosh has moved on to become lead grant liaison for the nonprofit organization Place of Hope, but Christian Musical Theatre continued with classes, performances and abundant PBA connections. The program’s next artistic director was Tracy McCoy, wife of PBA Theatre and Cinema Arts Chair Allen McCoy. Last fall the organization became a part of the University, to operate as PBA Children’s Theatre under the Department of Theatre and Cinema Arts. Allen McCoy now is director of the program, with Becky
Saunders as program coordinator. Allen McCoy said there’s no other university in South Florida providing a theater program like this, where youngsters receive college-level instruction and resources. With PBA’s spiritual vitality and emphasis on redemptive storytelling, “I believe it’s a perfect fit,” he said. The children’s theatre will provide opportunities for upper-level PBA theatre students to work as assistant directors and choreographers or teachers in summer classes for children. Junior Elena Bockman-Pedersen already has landed her role as PBA Children’s Theatre stage manager. She came to study theater at PBA after enjoying two years with Christian Musical Theatre under Tracy McCoy. “My life has been changed through children’s theater,” said Bockman-Pedersen. She found it a nurturing environment for building friendships, creativity and confidence. “It was a time for me to discover who I am.” She now aspires to work in children’s theater after college. Allen McCoy said four other current PBA theatre students acted in the previous children’s theatre program. Now as schoolchildren get involved in PBA Children’s Theatre, he said, “we’ll introduce them to PBA and the PBA mission, and maybe they’ll stay on and choose to come to PBA.” He expects the program to increase the University’s profile in the community. Over the past five years 5,000 people with no previous PBA involvement attended the children’s theatre productions, he said. In December PBA Children’s Theatre produced its first show, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Tracy McCoy directed the show, in her last major role as she transitioned to her new job directing high school theater at Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Lauderdale. The next PBA Children’s Theatre production will be The Addams Family, a musical comedy based on the 1960s television show by the same name. It will feature all the wacky family members of the TV show, with a new story about love, honesty and family. Registration is now open for The Addams Family four-week production class for students completing grades 7-12. Designed for both experienced performers and those wanting to try theater for the first time, the class runs May 28 to June 23, with performances set for June 22-23. Registration for Summer Camp Theatre Experience opens soon for theater fans entering grades K-12. The one-week session runs July 8-12. For more information about PBA Children’s Theatre, contact Becky Saunders at (561) 803-2420 or becky_saunders@pba.edu. Current Spring 2019
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A theology of dignity
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wanda: Though its people have found reconciliation and healing after civil war and genocide in 1994, heavy needs linger in this African nation, where the economy rides largely on the shoulders of subsistence farmers. And when leaders sought to start a new agriculture program, they called upon a graduate of PBA’s School of Ministry. Matthew VonHerbulis ’09 had spent more than a year interning at a sustainable agriculture training farm in Texas, but in Rwanda as he studied the farming community he soon drew upon his background as a cross-cultural major and biblical studies minor. He discovered a “cultural identity problem” that prevented farmers from farming the land well. “Farmers really represented the underbelly of society, even though they make up the vast majority of the population,” he said. Farmers found no dignity in their work. Rwanda is 90 percent Christian, and VonHerbulis was working under the auspices of the Anglican Church, so he saw this cultural problem as also a theological problem that required this theological response: “If the gospel is that God is working through Jesus to restore a loving relationship between himself, people and all of creation, the land itself, then farmers find themselves right at the heart, right at the intersection of God’s mission in the world,” he said. “So we built our program on equipping farmers to be ministers, teaching that agriculture is a ministry of the church.” As founding director of Sowers of Hope AgriFaith Association (www.sowersofhopeafa.org), VonHerbulis established and trained a Rwandan staff to open community “agrifaith” schools at local churches. There farmers meet every week to
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"Weaving holy scripture and agriculture know-how through his farmer training, Matthew has transformed farmers with a new and holy purpose plus ability to grow cash crops," says Anglican leader study topics such as conservation agriculture and agribusiness, while also studying the Bible. Then they go home to test the principles they’ve learned, experimenting on their small farms. “They continue to grow and learn from each other,” said VonHerbulis. He sees “three pillars” undergirding these farmers: the “scriptures, the land and each other.” Working together, they succeed, and they establish savings and credit groups and gain better access to materials and markets. “Matthew’s program Sowers of Hope offers something to our communities that is unique and desperately needed — a theology of dignity,” said Brandon Walsh, who served as ambassador to the Anglican archbishop. “This affirmation has resonated deeply with our farmers, drawing them in flocks to the churches. Matthew’s leadership and passion for this program have made all the difference.” Beginning with the first class of 12 farmers, the program has grown to 175 members. “We teach our community how to learn and we teach them to teach,” said VonHerbulis. He’s expecting this network to exceed 600 farmers by the end of this year, the growth designed to make the program self-sustaining as farmers prosper and give back financially. “Weaving holy scripture and agriculture knowhow through his farmer training, Matthew has transformed farmers with a new and holy purpose plus ability to grow cash crops allowing the farmer to make a more-than-decent income,” said William E. Deiss, executive director of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund. “The farmer is no longer spiritually and materially poor. This is sustainable transformation in many ways both for individuals and communities.”
Sometimes development efforts provide only “a Band-Aid solution” with an ongoing dependence on outsiders, said VonHerbulis. By contrast, he’s working for a long-term solution in “renewing the people and calling them into service to solve their own problems and serve their own communities.” Until Sowers of Hope reaches its goal to become self-sustaining, it depends upon support from the Anglican Church and other donors. And separate from the program’s budget, VonHerbulis and his wife, Karli, have raised their own support, coordinated through the Fort Myers, Florida, agency New Mission Systems International. Matthew and Karli met as PBA freshmen. They now live on the outskirts of a Rwandan city with their two children. Karli spends most of her time with the kids, but she’s trained as a doula and does some work with pregnant mothers. In November VonHerbulis came back to Palm Beach Atlantic after he made a presentation to the ECHO International Agricultural Conference in Fort Myers. At PBA his former professor Mark Kaprive shuttled him from one gathering to another, meeting
students, faculty and staff. “He’s a pretty innovative thinker,” said Kaprive. “He’s on a really unique path.” Kaprive is an intercultural studies instructor and director of Campus Ministries and Missions. He plans to send a team of students to Rwanda to work with VonHerbulis, perhaps as early as this summer. “I would love to get PBA students involved in this,” said VonHerbulis. “Part of my long-term vision for this is equipping other young people to go and replicate this ministry.” VonHerbulis spent several years working in various positions until he settled into Sowers of Hope. Sometimes those other jobs seemed random, “But now I see how they all came together,” he said. “That really was me being equipped for this ministry. “So hang in there,” he told students. “Be where you are. Learn where you are. Recognize that God has you where you are for a reason, but don’t stifle the burning design, the call you feel.” Matthew VonHerbulis and others were recognized at Homecoming on Nov. 3. See the complete list: www.pba.edu/news/50-notable-alumni
Matthew VonHerbulis '09, his wife, Karli, and their two children live on the outskirts of a Rwandan city. Current Spring 2019
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Show your Sailfish pride by supporting PBA’s Annual Scholarship Fund, or making a gift to Athletics, Missions, the Parents Fund or a school of your choice. Your gift creates opportunities for students to fully explore and pursue their academic and career interests.
You can help them realize that dream through your support. Thank you for making a gift by June 30. www.pba.edu/dream Contact Ellen Vaughan Director of Annual Fund Development ellen_vaughan@pba.edu (561) 803-2017
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Keynote speaker for research conference
Retired Delta Force soldier serves his fellow vets in opioid epidemic
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continue to evolve and better meet the needs of that nce again Norman “Norm” Hooten fights on particular patient population.” the front lines of a deadly battle. This time His residencies complete, Hooten now works fullhe battles the opioid epidemic as a clinical time at the inpatient mental health unit of the Orlando pharmacy specialist with the U.S. Department of VA Medical Center. Many of the patients he sees are Veterans Affairs. coming in after opioid overdose. In Hooten these In 2012 Hooten entered the Lloyd L. Gregory vets see a fellow veteran who has lost close friends to School of Pharmacy after a distinguished career in overdose. the Army’s Special Forces. He earned his doctorate “Vets are at about an equal risk in pharmacy in 2016, and he returns of misusing opioids, but they’re on March 12 as keynote speaker probably at double the risk of dying for PBA’s annual Interdisciplinary of an overdose,” he said. “My goal is Research Conference. He’ll speak with to potentiate the role that we play as the benefit of two eye-opening years pharmacists in solving the problem of post-graduate residency at the VA of substance abuse disorder, for vets, medical centers in Orlando and West especially. Palm Beach. “We can make a difference in their “I used to look at this whole problem lives,” he said. “Not just from managing of substance abuse disorders as people their medications, but in being that who just made bad choices in life and person who gives them the support were paying the price for it,” he said. and encouragement they need along “I realize now that it’s not all about the the way, that maybe helps guide them choices they make sometimes. And and give them hope for the future so I think this really is a disease and we they can prosper.” have to treat it accordingly.” Barbara Kelly, senior associate During Hooten’s residencies with the professor of pharmacy practice, VA he rotated through different clinics, such as those for pain management, Norman Hooten '16 Pharm.D. recalls Hooten as a student “always responsible, always influencing others substance abuse and post-traumatic in an unassuming way and always grateful to be stress disorder. He realized that the same patients would show up in multiple clinics, something often not learning the field of pharmacy.” He had come to PBA as veteran of the elite Delta Force, having led a team noticed as the specialized medical providers tended to into what became the Battle of Mogadishu, the bloody “work in silos.” operation depicted in the movie Black Hawk Down. “So I combined all those silos into one clinic During his time as a pharmacy student he went on for a special population of patients,” he said. This national television, helping to tell the Mogadishu story pilot project brought together specialists such as for 60 Minutes, but he didn’t cultivate celebrity status at psychologists, pharmacists and pain management PBA. physicians so they could treat vets comprehensively, “I remember his humility the most,” said Kelly. “I’m instead of letting patients “bounce around from one so proud and thankful that Norm continues to serve clinic to another.” “We did some good,” said Hooten. “I’m pretty proud his country as a strong servant leader by utilizing his pharmacy knowledge and skills to provide patient care of the fact that it was my residency project and we got and be a patient care advocate to his fellow veterans.” to kick the ball off, and I’m very hopeful that it will
Interdisciplinary Research Conference
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Students, faculty, staff, alumni and parents found a lot of fun and excitement as they followed the athletic teams during the fall. In case you missed some of the action, here are some highlights, plus tips to keep up with the Sailfish this spring. ◆ Men’s soccer captured the Sunshine State Conference (SSC) title and the conference tournament title as well. The Sailfish hosted the NCAA South Region Tournament for the fourth straight year. Finishing the season 19-1-1 and 9-1 in the conference, PBA was the winning percentage statistical champion for all the NCAA Division 2 soccer teams in the nation. ◆ Individual soccer awards went to: Brian “Mac” McMahon, SSC Coach of the Year; Juan Sanchez, Defensive Player of the Year and SSC Tournament Most Outstanding Player; Sanchez, Elliott Barker and Claudio Rivadeneira, United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-America Team and United Soccer Coaches South Region Team; and Alex Stoiljkovic and Callum ChapmanPage, All-SSC second team. ◆ Sailfish volleyball finished the season 29-5 and hosted the NCAA South Region Tournament for the third time in four years. Senior Molly Burkhardt was named to the All-SSC First Team, while Amber Rowoldt was named SSC Freshman of the Year. ◆ Men’s and women’s basketball continues in the spring semester; on Dec. 17 Jules Jasmin was named SSC Defensive Player of the Week. At www.pbasailfish.com you can find complete schedules and results for all the sports teams. Follow them as well on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @PBASailfish. All home games for baseball, softball and lacrosse will be broadcast through a partnership between Sailfish Athletics and the School of Communication and Media, which has a sports broadcasting major. Follow the action through www.sunshinestateconference.tv. The Sailfish have 17 varsity sports: baseball, men’s basketball, men’s cross country, men’s golf, men’s lacrosse, men’s soccer, men’s tennis, men’s track, women’s basketball, women’s cross country, women’s golf, women’s lacrosse, women’s soccer, softball, women’s tennis, women’s track and volleyball. Beach volleyball will come onboard as the 18th sport for 2019-20. PBA alumna Christina Alessi Matthews ’13 has been hired as the inaugural head coach. Current Spring 2019
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Join us for
Founders Day Wednesday, April 3, 2019 11 a.m. in the Greene Complex
The culmination of our 50th Anniversary celebration years Palm Beach Atlantic University
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Special music
Former presidents Dr. George Borders,
and special guests:
Dr. Paul R. Corts and Dr. David W. Clark, plus family members representing Dr. Jess Moody and Dr. Claude Rhea
Flanked by flowers and by photos of Dr. Jess Moody, the founding president’s son and grandson were among those giving him tribute in a memorial service Dec. 15 at Family Church Downtown. Chris Moody, top photo, is a 2007 PBA grad, while his father, Patrick Moody, graduated in 1976.
PBA's visionary founder honored Dr. Jess C. Moody, founding president of Palm Beach Atlantic University, died Dec. 7, 2018. He was 93. “As the University celebrates its 50th year, we give thanks for a giant of a Christian crusader, a Bible preacher, a visionary dreamer and our founding president,” said President William M. B. Fleming, Jr. “Dr. Moody’s mark is on every Palm Beach Atlantic graduate and student. His sweet love and unlimited devotion to young people is legendary. Stories will continue to be written and told about Dr. Jess Moody, a servant for all seasons and all mankind.” As pastor of First Baptist Church of West Palm Beach (now Family Church Downtown), Moody shared his dream to start a Christian college in the Palm Beaches. Over several years of starts and stops, including raising money and community support,
Palm Beach Atlantic welcomed the first students in 1968 with Moody as its first president. He served as president for four years, and was pastor of the church for 15 years. He and his late wife, Doris, were the architects of PBA’s award-winning Workship program, through which university students to date have volunteered more than 3.3 million hours of community service. Memorial gifts can be made to The Jess and Doris Moody Endowed Scholarship for Dr. Jess Moody Ministry at Palm Beach Atlantic University (www.pba.edu/moody-scholarship-fund). Current Spring 2019
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Class Notes Wayne Padgett ’72 and Geraldine “Gerry” Wetherington Padgett ’72 celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary in 2018. Gerry serves as a library media specialist at Wynnebrook Elementary School and Wayne recently completed 17 years working with Hospice of Palm Beach County. He is the founder and president of Gramercy Park Community Coalition, has served for more than 20 years as chaplain at Fern House Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Center and is pastor at Crossroads Baptist Church. They are proud grandparents and live in Haverhill, Florida. Rick Jacobs ’94 and Christine Arroyo Jacobs ’94 have been married for 25 years and have four children, ages 22, 21, 16 and 11. They have served as foster parents since 2007 and have cared for more than 20 children. Their 11-year-old was one of their first foster children, and they currently have a 1-year-old boy whom they have fostered since he was 4 weeks old. The Jacobs live in Coral Springs, Florida, and Rick serves as worship pastor at First Baptist Church Pompano Beach. Elisabeth “Elise” Warner ’98 married Max Fowler in November 2013. They welcomed their daughter, Ava, in October 2014 and their son, Asher, in December
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2015. The Fowlers live in Flowery Branch, Georgia.
their children, Tyler and Tucker, she relocated from North Florida to Fayetteville, North Carolina, Lucie Wismer ’98 has owned in July 2018. He is the pastor Lucie’s Home Services, Inc., a of communications at Village residential cleaning company based Baptist Church and she is teaching in Durham, North Carolina, for third grade at C. Wayne Collier 15 years. She also runs Victorious Elementary School. Generation, a foundation in Venezuela that provides school Christen Jasmin ’03 started a new fees, uniforms, supplies and meals position with Heartland Alliance in to 35 children in the city of Cagua, January 2018. As a member of the as well as feeding more than Refugee and Immigrant Services 100 children on a weekly basis. team, she teaches English to adult Lucie first visited Venezuela on students. She is glad to be part of a Palm Beach Atlantic mission an organization that values human trip in 1995. facebook.com/ rights and believes in treating all victoriousgenerationvenezuela. humans with dignity. Christen lives in Chicago. Amy Mitchell Gagel ’00 and her husband, David, adopted RaeAnn Rebekah Sohmer Bageant ’04 LinMei and her husband, Shane, welcomed Michelle Judah Rowen on Aug. 22, 2018. from He weighed China in 10 pounds, January 4 ounces 2018. and was They 21 inches also have a 10-year-old daughter, long. He is Eliana Jan, and an 8-year-old son, loved by Isaac Lee, and live in Paragould, his four older siblings: London (9), Arkansas. McKenna (7), Elijah (5) and Darcy (2). The Bageants live in Wheaton, Janan Woodall Hodges ’01 Illinois. graduated in May 2018 from Chris Allison ’05 co-founded Florida Atlantic Gaming and E-sports Experiences University with (GEEX) in 2018. GEEX is an her Master of online social platform with Education in tournament integration, helping educational recreational staff at schools to leadership. With her husband, create intramurals, communities Doug Hodges ’05 M.S., and and events that engage students
What's your news? passionate about e-sports, video games, board games and trading card games. The company goal is to increase students’ sense of community and aid in the creation of life-long friendships. Chris lives in Lindsay, Texas. Marco Correa ’06 Pharm.D., his wife, Erin, and their son, Logan, welcomed another boy, Victor Antonio, on Oct. 1. Marco completed licensure as a consulting pharmacist in September, and oversees the stand-alone emergency room and imaging centers of Good Samaritan Medical Center. They live in Riviera Beach, Florida. Lisa Jordan Smith ’06 and her husband, Josh, have been married 10 years. After seven years of infertility, they welcomed Landen Michael on July 27, 2017. He weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces, reaching 20 inches long. After working with Florida Baptist Children’s Homes in Church Relations, Lisa is now a stay-at-home mother. They live in Melbourne, Florida.
Tell the PBA community about that new job, spouse or baby. www.pba.edu/alumniservices
Nathaniel Evans ’07 is director of Denver Gap Year, a Christianbased program that serves as a launching pad between high school and the rest of a student’s life. The program is designed to cultivate an individual’s passion for change while guiding through a transformational journey of identity and purpose. Nathaniel plans to launch the program in the fall of 2019. He lives in Denver, Colorado. www.denvergapyear.com Hannah Berg Biggers ’08 and her husband, Bryan, welcomed their second child, Andrew Corban, on Oct. 24, 2018. He weighed 9 pounds, 2 ounces, and joins older brother Johnathan, 2. Hannah works in medical sales at OxyLife and Bryan is an instructional designer at Palm Beach Atlantic University. They live in Jupiter, Florida. Charity Lamerson Grams ’09 and her husband, Joshua, welcomed their first child, Ella Grace, in November 2017. She weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce, and was 20 inches long. Charity is a licensed clinical social worker with New Directions
Behavioral Health. They live in Lake Worth, Florida. Matthew Chiapperini ’10 opened a new law firm, George Gesten McDonald, PLLC, in Palm Beach County in 2018. The civil litigation firm focuses on personal injury, class action and commercial/ business cases. Lauren Villarreal ’12 married William Sloan in Charlotte, North Carolina, on March 3, 2018. He is a Methodist minister, and she is a business development manager with Franklin Southampton Economic Development, Inc. They live in Southampton County, Virginia. Lauren Graham Waller ’14 has published a book entitled Success by Design: 6 Basic Design Principles to Help You Create Professional Graphics without Having to Be a Professional. She is a freelance graphic designer. Success by Design, available on Amazon, is written for non-designers who want to learn the basic principles of design. Lauren lives in Hobe Sound, Florida. Current Spring 2019
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What's your news? Meagan Landis ’15 has been serving with World Team in the Philippines, using creation care as an entrance strategy into communities to plant churches. The organization works in remote coastal villages to educate local people on good stewardship of the reefs and biodiversity in the Philippines. Through these interactions, Meagan and her team work with local college students to start Bible studies and share the Gospel. Kayla Reesor Prewitt ’15 Pharm.D. and her husband, Travis, welcomed their second daughter, Hannah Reese, on Aug. 21, 2018. She was 6 pounds, 11 ounces and 19.5 inches long. She joins big sister Haley Kate, 2. Kayla works as a pharmacist for Kroger, and they live in Corbin, Kentucky. Ignacio Briceno ’16 works as an account manager for Facebook marketing partner Adsmurai, supervising their largest client in Latin America, Puig Perfumes. Previously he worked with Publicis as a digital marketing supervisor. He lives in Mexico City, Mexico.
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Tell the PBA community about that new job, spouse or baby. www.pba.edu/alumniservices
Katrina Dawe ’16 was promoted to vice president of operations at BodySite, a cloud-based lifestyle guidance web portal and native app. She began working for BodySite immediately after graduating in December 2016. She lives in West Palm Beach. Jordyn Marlin ’16 married David Patrick in June 2018 in Scotland. PBA professor Dr. Gary Poe officiated the wedding, and several Palm Beach Atlantic alumni attended. The Patricks hosted a traditional Highland games celebration after the wedding. Jordyn works at Archaeology Scotland and is pursuing archaeological research on ancient Pictish symbols found on stone monuments. They live in Falkirk, Scotland.
Erika Stage ’16 recently moved to Los Angeles, California, to begin her new position as student affairs director with Debbie Allen’s Dance Academy. She lives in Woodland Hills, California.
In Loving Memory Manasseh “Manny” Heeralall ’15 Pharm.D. of West Palm Beach passed away Dec. 8, 2018. He was 33. Born in Guyana, he was a pharmacist at Palms West Hospital. He is survived by his wife, Grace Ann Reynolds Heeralall; his parents, Daniel and Raj Heeralall; and his sister, Hadassah McCray. He became ill on a family trip to the Bahamas and died at JFK Medical Center. He had served on many mission trips to Uganda, and led The Pharmonics, the praise band at the Lloyd L. Gregory School of Pharmacy. Richard Sherfey ’01 passed away in Orlando Dec. 19, 2018, from complications of diabetes. He was 40. He is remembered by many for his lifelong passion for music, expressed in the soulful rock-androll of his band Richard Sherfey and All God’s Children. He had been preparing a full-length album, for which a posthumous release is slated in May 2019. He is survived by his mother, Jimme Lee Sherfey of Lakeland, Florida; a sister, Rhonda Keller of St. Petersburg, Florida; and two brothers, Jimmy Sherfey of Orlando and Jeffrey Sherfey of Chicago.
Homecoming 2018 Nov. 3 gathering at the Harriet Himmel Theater Dear Friends, Homecoming 2018 brought us a flurry of activities, with reminders everywhere of Dr. Jess Moody’s dream from 50 years ago. His dream, inspired by Matthew 19:26, was for a Christ-first university in the heart of West Palm Beach. Homecoming was a wonderful week to reflect on God’s amazing faithfulness through those 50 years and to look forward with even greater excitement about the future. This year’s festivities included racing roaches at the 36th Great American Bug Race, worshiping with students at the Anchor Worship Community (formerly known as Thursday Night Live), touring the fascinating archives at the Warren Library, learning from alumni speakers during chapel and cheering on the Sailfish at volleyball games. On Nov. 3, alumni packed the Harriet Himmel Theater in downtown West Palm Beach to celebrate the University’s 50th Anniversary. More than 220 guests enjoyed the fellowship and the music by alumni bands The Lubben Brothers, Mona Lisa Tribe and Rocket to Anywhere. And they loved walking through a timeline of PBA’s history as displayed through photos, yearbooks and mementos of founding leaders such as Dr. Moody and Dr. Donald Warren and others. As a part of the celebration, 50 Notable Alumni were honored during the evening. Of course, countless PBA alumni are notable, in many special ways. But to celebrate our 50 years, we called attention to the
achievements of 50 incredibly commendable alumni. For example: • Matthew VonHerbulis serves and disciples farmers in Rwanda; • Christina Unkel is a successful litigation and business lawyer and also president of the Women’s Sports Museum and referee with FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association; • James Green directs impactful and innovative community service initiatives for Palm Beach County. What an exciting time to celebrate PBA’s 50 years and 50 of its accomplished alumni! I am so blessed to celebrate my first full year as director of alumni relations. This year I look forward to connecting with as many alumni as possible and celebrating their continued success. Please share updates with us on your endeavors. If you plan to be on campus, I welcome the opportunity to continue the conversation during a cup of coffee or a tour of the campus. I also invite you to join me in giving back to the future of PBA through the Annual Scholarship Fund (www.pba.edu/giving). Together, with God’s help, let’s keep building upon the solid foundation and the bold dream that began 50 years ago. Best Regards, Steve Eshelman '99 Director of Alumni Relations Current Spring 2019
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P. O. Box 24708 West Palm Beach, FL 33416-4708
Singers Veronica Garcia, Astrid Rodriguez, Matthew Taylor and Christion Garner were among PBA's Pop Rock troupe greeting visitors to the City of West Palm Beach’s Holiday in Paradise at the waterfront just before Christmas break. The University was one of the sponsors of the annual event, which included Sandi, a 600-ton holiday tree sculpted of sand. Across the way from Sandi was PBA's own sand figure (above), featuring a blowfish trumpeter dubbed Louis Blowstrong.
NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID WEST PALM BEACH FL PERMIT #1356