SCENE THE
THE
Summer Issue 1
July 12, 2019
THESCENEFP.COM
www.thescenefp.com
Grand pride parade See page 4-5
Stargazing nearby See page 7
St. Louis Community College at Forest Park
Fickas to stay on as president By Zoey Tincknell The Scene staff Julie Fickas no longer has “interim” in front of her title. St. Louis Community College has hired her to serve as president and chief academic officer for the Forest Park campus. Fickas, 52, has been overseeing campus operations for about a year. She was one of three candidates vying to fill the position. “Forest Park is a neat campus,” Fickas said. “It’s the only campus in the city. I love being a part of this campus and having that strong community feel.” The other two candidates were Ted Lewis, provost and vice president of academic affairs at Bluefield State College in West Virginia; and Feleccia MooreDavis, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Tallahassee Community College in Florida. Moore-Davis will become president and chief academic officer for STLCC’s Meramec campus. Fickas was hired by Chancellor Jeff Pittman and the STLCC Board of Trustees. In a phone interview last week, Pittman said he was looking for someone with strong leadership skills and the ability to work with people in the surrounding community. “Julie’s a success story within the college, working her way up the latter,” he said. “I believe she can give hope to current and future students.” Pittman said Fickas is “very familiar with the culture” at Forest Park and can help graduating students find opportunities to use their skills and earn higher wages in the local workforce. Pittman also said Fickas’ science background will help her ensure the success of the new Center for Nursing and Health Sciences, which is expected to open this fall on the Forest Park campus. “I’m really happy for Julie,” said Brenda Bell-Foster, secretary in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and business, where Fickas served as dean for a year before becoming interim president. “She’s very approachable and intelligent. I can see how she’s improving the college, being very proactive.” Tayna Carr, student accounts assistant for Campus Life, hasn’t worked much with Fickas one-on-one, but she has found her to be easy to talk to and personable. “I hope that she can bring some unity to the departments and the overall student body to provide an overall better experience for our students,” Carr said. Fickas started her career as a corneal researcher who studied the effect of hard
Burst sprinkler causes millions in damage Books, medical equipment damaged By Zoey Tincknell The Scene staff
President Julie Fickas contact lenses on the eyes. She didn’t intend to follow in her father’s footsteps and become an educator, but she got an opportunity to teach a biology lab and enjoyed interacting with students. Fickas taught biology at Lindenwood University in St. Charles and Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois, before joining the STLCC faculty in 2009. Fickas taught biology on the Florissant Valley campus, served as department chairwoman for five years and moved to the Forest Park campus in 2017 as dean of STEM and business. Fickas earned a doctorate in interdisciplinary leadership from Creighton University in Nebraska while working full time for the college. At Forest Park, Fickas wants to expand training programs to help students prepare for a fast-changing workforce in a fast-paced world. She also has plenty of other ideas. “My mantra has always been working on the small things to create big change,” she said. “If you’ve noticed, I have been adding new furniture to create a nice area for students to study and to collaborate with other students.” Fickas’ husband, the Rev. Rodney Fickas, is a pastor. They have three grown sons who all attended STLCC; three grandchildren and one grandchild on the way. In her free time, Fickas loves to bake, hike, bike and do other outdoor activities that expose her grandchildren to nature. She’s an avid gardener who has both native and vegetable gardens. “When you’re pulling weeds, you don’t have to think that much, and I find it very relaxing,” she said. Reporter Timothy Bold contributed information for this story.
All of Missouri has been dealing with extreme weather lately, from a tornado in Jefferson City to severe thunderstorms and flooding along the Missouri and Meramec rivers. The Forest Park campus has experienced its own water problems. On May 22, water surged in a pipe on the first floor of the library building, causing a sprinkler to burst and sounding a fire alarm. Water soaked reference books, furniture, carpeting and walls on the main and lower levels of the library building and an adjacent basement area that housed the Academic Support Center, math classrooms, a teachers lounge and tutoring space for English as a second language. Also damaged was expensive new medical training equipment destined for the new Center for Nursing and Health Sciences on campus. “One single sprinkler has caused millions in damage,” said Julie Fickas, who recently became campus president and chief academic officer after serving a year as interim. Damage to computers, printers and other technology is still being assessed. Most electrical fixtures, such as light-
ing, seem to be OK. Officials don’t have final estimates on the cost of repairing facilities and replacing equipment, but they expect insurance to cover most of it. Summer classes that had been scheduled in the basement area adjacent to the library building had to be moved, forcing administrators to find room for them elsewhere on campus and confusion for students who didn’t get notices until the last minute. “My staff is amazing,” Fickas said. “They immediately took action and helped to move around as needed. I am grateful for each one of them.” Officials predict the library will back to business as usual by August and that medical training equipment will be replaced in time for the Center for Nursing and Health Sciences to open in the fall, as planned.
Early morning emergency
Fire alarms sounded on campus late at night on May 22, which was a Wednesday. The fire department and Forest Park Facilities Manager Dennis Dill were already on the scene by the time Fickas arrived at 2:30 a.m. May 23. “It took fire department officials three hours to walk around every room and every building to find the culprit of the fire alarms (the burst sprinkler) within the library,” Fickas said. Three to four inches of standing water filled the lower level of the library building,
See Sprinkler page 2
Photo by Timothy Bold
Damaged drywall caused by a faulty sprinkler is shown removed from the basement area adjacent to the library building. The area is used for tutoring students studying English as a second language.