The policy prohibits all forms of tobacco use including e-cigarettes and a variety of smokeless products on Stetson buildings, structures, grounds, parking lots and in university and personal vehicles while on Stetson grounds.

“I am proud that Stetson University residential campuses will be completely smoke- and tobacco-free next August,” said President Wendy B. Libby, Ph.D. “Stetson is committed to providing a safe and healthy living, learning and working environment for our students, faculty, staff, alumni and visitors.”

Stetson began implementing smoking restrictions in 2007 by banning smoking near buildings and air vents. The new policy is the result of several years of research, focus groups and a university task force that determined that smoking was inconsistent with the values of the university.

Stetson will offer a variety of resources to help members of the Stetson University community quit smoking, including a series of free education programs about smoking and free resources for those who want to quit, including cessation products and classes. The university task force determined, “Our university commitment to health and wellness, one of our shared values, requires us to protect non-smokers but also to support smokers in reconsidering a behavior that has been scientifically proven to have serious long-term health consequences.”

Compliance with this new policy rests with all members of the Stetson community. Community members are empowered to respectfully inform others about the policy and the ongoing effort to enhance awareness of and encourage compliance with this policy.  Violation of this regulation may result in corrective action under the Student Code of Conduct, Human Resources Policies and Procedures, or other applicable University Regulations or Policies. Visitors refusing to comply may be asked to leave campus.

Stetson will use the next 10 months to continue to educate the Stetson community and visitors about the new policy with a series of informational sessions, health fairs, human resource training sessions, student tours of campus, in marketing materials and on its website at stetson.edu/breathe-free.

“Four years ago, the Stetson community embarked on a strategic planning process that resulted in our 2011-14 Strategic Map,” says President Wendy B. Libby. “That process and its outcomes will be valuable resources in planning our next Strategic Map, as together we think boldly and innovatively about Stetson’s role in higher education and prepare our students for significant lives.”

Over the past few years, Stetson has exceeded enrollment goals, increased its financial health, enhanced academic programs, hired new faculty and staff, and created a more vibrant campus environment for students.

“This is an important time in the life of Stetson University,” says Provost Beth Paul. “Strategic planning offers us wonderful opportunities to bring our community together for rich, creative discussions that inform our strategies and move Stetson forward. It’s an inclusive process that allows us to prioritize our thinking, articulate our goals, identify new or reallocated funding that supports key initiatives, and invest in action that elevates our university to new heights.”

Tim Fallon and Stacey Zawel of TSI Consulting Partners, Inc., will assist Stetson in strategic planning efforts this year. The process kicks off next week with open discussion sessions, focus groups and an online survey, which will help us assess our strengths and weaknesses as well as the critical issues we face and the key priorities we should establish in our Strategic Map.

Mark Your Calendars!

There will be several opportunities this year to offer input into the next Strategic Map:

“Seeing Stetson In Context” Open Discussions

It’s a time to think big, toss ideas around, examine major trends in higher education and assess the opportunities that lie before us. Plan to attend any of these one-hour discussions. Take a look at Resources posted on the University Planning website, and bring your own material for conversation!

10-11 a.m., Oct. 14; 124 LBC

3-4 p.m., Oct. 14; Faculty Lounge, CUB

10-11 a.m., Oct. 15; TBD

4:30-5:30 p.m., Oct. 15; Faculty Lounge, CUB

Online Survey

Next week via Stetson Announce, we’ll launch a short, anonymous, open-ended survey that asks for your thoughts on Stetson’s strengths, critical issues we face, and key priorities we should establish. Your participation is important! Your input will help shape our 2014-19 Strategic Map.

The University Planning Website

Pertinent strategic planning documents, including a timeline of the 2013-14 strategic planning process, are posted at https://www.stetson.edu/other/planning/ . Please check back often for information updates and new resources.

Beyond Access and Affordability: An Education of High Value

You can also read this blog written by President Libby on Huffington Post, posted 10/2/13. 

With such weighty words as access and affordability lingering in the air after President Obama’s bus tour last month, it’s easy to get caught up in the higher education mantra and its vagueness. The phrase paints visions of low unemployment rates and an educated workforce unconstrained by student debt.

But access and affordability are not enough to get the world where it needs to be. For one, it becomes too easy to think we can solve the world’s issues with quick degrees at a low cost, with less consideration for quality of the learning – that is, the deep learning that comes from reflection, application, iteration and rigor.

We devolve into education as transaction; we might as well get the empty calories from a vending machine. Tomorrow’s workforce raised on the educational equivalents of fast food, chips and candy bars. Is this how we will shake up education?

A better strategy is to lead our discussions with a global concern for the substance, purpose and outcomes of education – without which access does not matter.

In contrast, UNESCO’s new Education for All Global Monitoring Report Team analysis focuses on the need for quality education, highlighting the linkages between it and the reduction in mortality rates, increased tolerance for differences, and economic growth. How can we talk about access to higher education when worldwide UNESCO estimates that more than 250 million children still may not be able to read or write by the time they reach fourth grade?

In our own country in particular, one in three public school fourth-graders taking the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress reading test performed at or below the “Basic” level (NAEP).

A Values-Driven Education

In at least the richest nation in the world, literacy in our children cannot be optional, nor can we shrug aside issues of poverty, violence or discrimination in which education and the prospect of “having prospects” so clearly have a role. Embedded in education must be concern for the character of our citizens to combat this indifference, so we make the right and important choices as we care for our sick, teach our children, grow our food and lead our companies.

Quality education is about far more than the 3 Rs and its liberal arts underpinnings that teach valuable skills like critical thinking and problem-solving. Education, at its best, is threaded with values – those shared ideals that champion and protect what’s important to us, and that elicit the finest within us. While values education may happen in the home or community, there is a critical role for schools and universities to play as we impart new knowledge – and with it, provoke the discourse that instills personal and social responsibility.

At Stetson University, our values are the foundation of all we do as we dare our students to live a life of significance. Our values are the expression of who we are and what we believe in; even before our students start classes, they are involved in community service programs. And our Bonner Scholars program is built around leadership experiences and long-term relationships with organizations in need. We are sixth on Washington Monthly’s list of master’s universities that contribute to the public good. Each September we immerse ourselves in Values Day, where we cancel classes and engage in a full slate of workshops for students, faculty and staff across our university.

On Values Day especially, we embrace and espouse the values we’ve agreed on as a community: personal growth, global citizenship, intellectual development, and at the heart of them all, personal and social responsibility. We discuss the evolution of civic engagement, and why it matters, and what our Center for Community Engagement does and how it integrates our curriculum with our community. A session explores Mayan culture, examining their practices and beliefs, which challenges our assumptions and prompts us to look at our own culture with fresh eyes. The world is both a bit bigger and smaller the day after Values Day.

Quality Outcomes

I do firmly suggest that education should lead to a job, but more importantly it should also lead to a life – a personally satisfying life in a society we want to live in. Where all individuals and organizations – as part of their mission and values – devote time, energy and innovation to a cause or entity without even considering ROI, because the benefits are priceless and wide-reaching. I am well aware that this smacks of idealism, but that’s a badge I am comfortable wearing.

Access to a quality, affordable education interwoven with values takes us to this level and beyond ourselves – beyond mere success and into a more meaningful realm: significance. Leadership expert John Maxwell advocates that you “can’t have true success without significance; significance comes when you add value to others.”

Education can be a powerful change agent. In a world where human slavery still exists and clean water is not a universal right, we are in desperate need of reprioritization and a recommitment to values. Our values are, after all, our fallbacks as well as our guideposts, and what unites us in times of crisis when there is no logic or experience to show us the way.

Surely measuring our students’ random acts of kindness and the impact of civic engagement on our communities is just as important as quantifying the number of graduates we send out into the world and the salaries they make. A global, values-driven society – that’s the legacy I’m most interested in seeing education preserve.

By President Wendy B. Libby, Ph.D.

]]> http://www.stetson.edu/portal/stetson-today/2013/10/an-education-of-high-value/feed/ 0 http://www.stetson.edu/portal/stetson-today/2013/10/weapons-of-mass-distraction/ http://www.stetson.edu/portal/stetson-today/2013/10/weapons-of-mass-distraction/#comments Tue, 01 Oct 2013 05:00:33 +0000 Mary Anne Rogers http://www.stetson.edu/portal/stetson-today/?p=8767 “Distracted Driving” is receiving a lot of attention these days, particularly the alarming statistics of death and injury caused by drivers who are talking or texting on cell phones. Forty states have already banned cell phone use while driving and, starting today, Oct. 1, Florida will do the same.

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), over 3,000 people annually are killed as a result of distracted driving. They also cite that teens and young adults are the largest proportion of drivers who are involved with fatalities directly related to cell phone use while behind the wheel: a whopping 21 percent of all car crash fatalities of 15 to 19 year olds can be blamed on driving while using a cell phone.  A recent study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) showed that someone texting, dialing or grabbing the phone while driving is three times as likely to crash than a driver who is not distracted (www.Distraction.gov).

It could be argued that Florida is slow to jump on board with this initiative and some argue that while passing the law is a good first step, it may not be enough. “It’s important because it is the first step towards creating a primary law,” said Joe Steward, Community Traffic Safety Team Program Coordinator in DeLand (District 5, Florida Department of Transportation). “Honestly, it will not make a big difference. Florida law applies only to secondary violation…and the law also does not even apply to drivers in stopped vehicles. Those of us who grab our iPhones to check an email the minute traffic slows or whenever we stop at a light can still text legally when behind the wheel.” In other words, breaking the law that begins today is a secondary offense, requiring an officer pull over an offender for another traffic infraction (e.g., speeding, running a stop sign) before issuing the $30 fine.  And being able to use your phone while stopped at a signal or in a traffic jam isn’t sitting well with those who wish to enact tougher legislation on the matter.

If the stats and police enforcement don’t scare some “straight” then watching a recent documentary short by Werner Herzog might do the trick. “From One Second to the Next” is a 35-minute film that debuted on YouTube this summer. Four major wireless carriers—AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint—partnered on the film project that stemmed from Herzog’s work on 30-second commercials for anti-texting and driving. It has scored millions of views and made a significant impact on raising awareness about distracted driving. The raw emotion of the film comes from people who have been impacted as the driver at fault, the victims left with shells of their former lives, or the family members who’ve needlessly lost loved ones. They are unified in their message: don’t text and drive.

by Trish Wieland

]]> http://www.stetson.edu/portal/stetson-today/2013/10/weapons-of-mass-distraction/feed/ 0 http://www.stetson.edu/portal/stetson-today/2013/09/more-than-100-high-school-students-celebrate-constitution-day-at-stetson/ http://www.stetson.edu/portal/stetson-today/2013/09/more-than-100-high-school-students-celebrate-constitution-day-at-stetson/#comments Thu, 19 Sep 2013 05:00:10 +0000 Gary Sipe http://www.stetson.edu/law/news/?p=13428 » Read more ]]> A crowd of 120 Tampa Bay area high school students gathered in the Great Hall on Stetson University College of Law’s Gulfport campus on Sept. 17 to learn about Constitution Day during a special James Otis Lecture Series presentation. High school and middle school students in Tampa also attended via webcast.

The presentation, coordinated by the Tampa Bay Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates and Stetson, featured remarks from Stetson Law alumni, ABOTA leadership, the Federalist Society, American Constitution Society, law professor Robert Bickel, and Judge Charles Wilson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

The program, now in its third year at Stetson, educates local high school students about the individual liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. This year’s Constitution Day program was held in conjunction with Values Day at Stetson University, which celebrates the university’s core values of intellectual development, personal growth and global citizenship. Sept. 17 marks the 226th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

To register for any of the following workshops, call Donna Nassick at 386-822-8923. Some of the workshops have a limited enrollment and depending on the numbers, the locations will be assigned later as we get closer to the workshop date. For the workshops designated as “brown bag lunches,” you are encouraged to bring your own lunch, and the SUM office will supply drinks.

9.26.13/NOON-1 p.m.  How can I reach my audience? (Brown bag lunch)  Who should attend: Anyone who wants to learn how to promote themselves or their programs to the media. We will discuss the role of Public Relations within Marketing, tools such as Stetson Today (including calendar and announcements), news releases, talk radio, media pitches, story ideas and talking to the media. (This is not media training.)

10.10.13/NOON-1 p.m.  Stetson Brand: The Power of Significance (Brown bag lunch)  Who should attend: Anyone interested in learning how the university brand affects the way we market and advertise our products and services. Beyond logos and color pallets lies the brand – the intersection of science (strategy) and art (visual identity) that drives emotion. See what the university brand is and how it bridges the gap between us and our audience , and why it is the foundation for all you might want to do.

10.14.13/9:30-10:30 a.m.  Those Blasted Emails!  Who should attend: Anyone who communicates with groups of people. Tired of too many emails? Don’t add to the problem. Determine the best way to reach your constituents before hitting the send button. Learn when to use email blasts, internal email lists, announcements, social media or none of the above. We will also discuss changes to the announcement section on Stetson Today and how it can help you get your message out. We’ll look at examples, discuss the differences among them and review tips for writing to reach your audience.

10.16.13/1:30-2:30 p.m.  Demystifying Content Management for the Web  Who should attend: Anyone who has a hand in managing an official university website or is interested in learning about content management. It’s not that content management is all that complicated; rather it’s that there’s a lot to consider. Who is your audience? What kind of experience do they expect? How are they experiencing your website: These make up some of the first questions that should be asked as you build a website That’s relevant to your users, and practical not only to use but to maintain. Remember, your website is how you speak to the world. Let is shine! 

11.12.13/NOON-1 p.m. (Brown bag lunch)  Speaking with the Media – Basic Training  Who should attend: Anyone who might anticipate dealing with the media (print, broadcast or digital) Despite its name, media training is not actually for the media. It’s for you – someone who may need to communicate with the media. It’s an invaluable experience that will arm you with the basic essentials you might need to comfortably and effectively engage with the media.

11.13.13/NOON-1 p.m. (Brown bag lunch)  Good Presentations Don’t Just Happen  Who should attend: Anyone who has to construct a presentation assisted by technology. The workshop is designed to explain best practices for presentations, the effective use of technology to make your presentation relevant and memorable, and what tools are available as you prepare.

US News

Stetson University again has earned national recognition for its rigorous academics, commitment to social mobility and service, and military friendliness by ranking among the top universities in recent national surveys.

“At Stetson, we take pride in being recognized as an academically rigorous institution that places a high value on global citizenship, personal growth and social responsibility,” said Stetson President Wendy B. Libby. “Stetson provides a personalized learning experience to each student, based on top quality faculty and focused on learning outcomes. We challenge our students to go beyond success – to become significant in their communities, nation and the world.” (Biology professor Cindy Bennington, Ph.D., is pictured, right, helping two Stetson students in the biology lab.)

Among the recent rankings are:

• U.S. News & World Report’s 2014 edition of “Best Colleges” ranked Stetson 5^th in its list of Best Regional Universities (South), 5^th on the list of Best Value – Regional Universities (South), and 222^nd on the list of Best Undergraduate Business schools, a list that includes schools from all over the country. Stetson’s category in the first two rankings includes universities that provide a full range of undergraduate majors and master’s programs, but few, if any, doctoral programs. The 625 universities in the category are ranked by region. The third list includes all universities in the U.S. that offer undergraduate business education.
• Washington Monthly ranked Stetson 6^th among all universities on its list of 2013 Master’s Universities. Schools are rated based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs), and service (encouraging students to give something back to their country).
• MilitaryFriendly.com has included Stetson on its list of 1,868 of schools throughout the country that exhibit leading practices in the recruitment and retention of students with military experience, and are committed to providing a supportive environment for military students.

“While we are interested in national rankings, we always encourage prospective students and their parents to visit Stetson for a broader, well-rounded perspective of all that Stetson has to offer,” said Libby.

Stetson emphasizes active learning and has a low student/teacher ratio of 12:1, and 56 percent of classes have fewer than 20 students. Only 0.2 percent of classes have 50 or more students. Other factors leading to a top ranking include a 60 percent acceptance rate of applicants, and 58 percent of students finished in the top quarter of their high school graduating class.

“We are very pleased to be ranked so highly among our peers,” said Greg Carroll, vice president of Stetson University Marketing, “and we are excited about the future. Some of the statistics in the U.S. News data were gathered prior to the launch of many significant changes implemented in 2009 and later. Stetson has made great strides over the past few years in attracting students who are a great fit for the institution and that has already begun to impact student retention and graduation rates as well as enrollment.”

Stetson’s undergraduate enrollment this year is 2,729 compared to 2,516 in 2012. For the first time in recent history, students were put on a waiting list, and the university was forced to rent rooms for students at a nearby hotel because residence halls were full. In addition, Stetson has hired 30 new faculty members to ensure its low 12 to 1 student/teacher ratio.

Stetson’s moot court team, coached by Associate Dean and Professor of Law Michael Allen and alumnus Jason Stearns, argued in the final round of the competition before sitting judges from Florida’s First District Court of Appeal. The national competition takes place annually in conjunction with the Florida Workers’ Compensation conference. Teams from Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia competed this year, arguing in front of judges who are experts in workers’ compensation.

“It is incredible for our students to have an opportunity to present before the judges who hear workers’ compensation cases,” said Professor of Legal Skills and Moot Court Advisor Brooke J. Bowman. “We are very proud that our students have demonstrated their skills as top advocates in this national competition.”

The winning team is pictured below, (L-R): Paul Crochet, Judge T. Kent Wetherell II, Kayla Cash, Judge Scott D. Makar, Tyler Egbert and Judge Timothy Osterhaus. Photo courtesy Michael Crochet.

To learn more about advocacy at Stetson, visit www.law.stetson.edu/advocacy.

Hundredmark, who graduated from Stetson with her bachelor’s in business administration in 2001, received her Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law in 2004. She was one of the first two students at Stetson to be awarded the J. Ollie Edmunds Scholarship, a college based program designed to attract top student scholars with leadership potential. In 2012 and 2013 she was also named Georgia Rising Star Super Lawyer by her peers and was featured in Atlanta Magazine.

One can catch Hundredmark on several of CNN’s HLN TV programs, including Morning Express, Raising America and After Dark. She has commented on a variety of high profile cases, including the Jodi Arias trial, the Brett Seacat murder trial, the George Zimmerman trial and most recently, on the story, FBI rescues 105 kids from sex trafficking ring.

For the young woman attorney who aspired to be an actress when she was a child, Hundredmark said she would often “hope that a news show would call me after observing one of my court appearances and ask me to serve as a legal analyst. In fact, when CNN first called me, I joked with them, ‘what took you so long?’”

Her dream of appearing on TV came at a time when she really needed it. Just as her hard work had begun to pay off and her career began to take off, Hundredmark’s mother who had raised her only child as a single mom, was struck with cancer—the same cancer that she had beaten four years before. Hundredmark’s mother, who “was the driving force behind everything I had ever done,” died on April 25. “So, when HLN called and asked me to appear on one of their shows, it was the first time I had been truly happy in months. In fact, the only time I was sad the whole day was when I thought about how much I hated that my mom was missing out on this amazing milestone in my career.” She felt confident, however, that her mother “had a hand in making sure my little girl dream came true.”

Hundredmark currently serves as a domestic relations and criminal defense lawyer for Andersen, Tate & Carr, P.C., a full-service Georgia Law Firm, where she counsels and advises clients on a variety of divorce and custody related issues, including but not limited to child custody, visitation and child support, as well as handles cases involving allegations of murder, animal cruelty and aggravated assault.

“While I undeniably received a wonderful academic education at Stetson, my Stetson experience cannot be measured by a diploma or grade point average alone,” said Hundredmark. “Thus far, the most powerful influences of my life hail from that tiny campus in DeLand, Fla., and I cannot imagine my life today without the wonderful individuals who impacted my life during my four undergraduate years. Without the love, support, and guidance of my Stetson professors, my Stetson Tri Delta sorority sisters, and of course, my Stetson husband (Joe Fitzpatrick, Stetson alumnus ‘01 and former captain of Stetson men’s soccer), I would not be where I am today.”

Among her most influential professors at Stetson, Hundredmark listed several, but Dr. Monique Forte, the late management professor, who died in May 2010, was at the top. “I think of her often and know that my Stetson experience was better because of professors like her.”

“I probably took the most classes with Dr. (John) Rasp, and traveled abroad with him to Austria,” said Hundredmark.

“She was so phenomenally brilliant and talented in class, that you knew she could be incredibly successful in whatever she set her mind to,” said Rasp, Hundredmark’s business statistics professor. “I am glad to hear she is doing well.”

“Trinity Hundredmark was in one sense a pioneer at Stetson University in that she was one of the first two holders of the most prestigious scholarship that the school awards,” said history professor Paul Steeves, the first professor appointed to the J. Ollie Edmunds Chair. “Her considerable achievements as an attorney in a very short time make her a worthy representative of a scholarship that is named for an accomplished attorney (Dr. Edmunds) who made Stetson’s College of Law significant.”

“Trinity epitomizes the Stetson experience,” said management and international business professor Greg McCann. “She always was a talented young person finding her purpose and passion to create a life of significance.”

Trinity and Joe live in Atlanta with their two-year old daughter.

Photo by Alea Moore Photography

Jacob (pictured left) began his career by arguing for the State of Florida in the historic case of Gideon v. Wainwright more than 50 years ago. While Jacob argued on the side of Florida then, in the years since, he has become one of the nation’s strongest voices advocating for the right to effective indigent defense counsel. As noted by Paul M. Rashkind, a federal public defender in Florida, Jacob is admired for his candor and his transition from advocate for Florida to advocate for indigent defense.

“He has argued on behalf of an indigent defendant before the U.S. Supreme Court, served on numerous indigent defense initiatives, started legal clinics focused on indigent defense at more than one law school, written articles stressing the importance of indigent defense, and to this day, remains in his office late on many nights writing pro bono habeas petitions and briefs for indigent defendants,” said Ellen Podgor, a colleague of Jacob’s, in describing his dedication to the cause of indigent defense.

In the 1960s, as a professor at the Emory University School of Law, Jacob established the Legal Assistance for Inmates Program at the Atlanta Penitentiary. Later, as a member of the faculty at Harvard Law School, Jacob contributed to the establishment of the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project, an initiative through which students at Harvard Law provided legal services to indigent defendants. Jacob has written prolifically on the subject of indigent defense, and he made major contributions to the 2009 Report of the National Right to Counsel Committee.

Jacob regularly provides pro bono representation to indigent defendants. “I have sat with him in his office while he patiently explains an inmate’s case to the inmate by telephone, often for an hour or more,” said Joan Catherine Bohl, who has worked with Jacob on these cases, and admires his dedication to his clients. “He never gives over-simplified explanations, but he always seems to leave the inmate with a heightened understanding of his situation, and of the range of possible outcomes.”

“You have devoted your career to making the right to counsel a reality in courts across the country and we feel that it is particularly appropriate to recognize your steadfast advocacy on behalf of indigent defendants on the 50th anniversary of the Gideon decision,” said Steve Benjamin, president of NACDL.

Currently, Jacob teaches courses involving administrative law, constitutional law, criminal law, and criminal procedure at Stetson.