Professors Pamela Cappas-Toro, PhD, and Andy Eisen, PhD, were included in an Orlando Sentinel list of “10 People Who Make Orlando a Better Place to Live.”

Professor Lou Paris, MBA, received an Ambassador of the Year Award.

Those are only three recent examples of Stetson educators not only teaching in the classroom, but also making a difference in the community.

In early September, Cappas-Toro and Eisen were recognized by award-winning Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell for their work on Stetson’s Community Education Project, which focuses on offering liberal arts education and learning opportunities in Florida prisons, particularly the Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach. Along with others, Cappas-Toro and Eisen believe that access to a liberal arts education provides incarcerated individuals with meaningful opportunities for personal growth and intellectual engagement, which ultimately benefit the community as a whole.

Cappas-Toro and Eisen are co-directors of program. Cappas-Toro is an associate professor of world languages and cultures. Eisen is a visiting assistant professor of history.

In his column, Maxwell wrote: “Too often, the prison system is about simply incarceration and not rehabilitation. Cappas-Toro and Eisen are working to change that through the Stetson’s college-in-prison program at the Tomoka Correctional Institution, where the two offer a weekly reading group, college-credit classes, workshops and lectures to inmates who are eager for a better life when released. The guy who nominated them — former Orlando Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy — described the duo as selfless educators who have dedicated their lives to people who are ‘cast aside and forgotten by many’ and yet who thrive because these two believe in them.”

Paris, an assistant professor of management in the School of Business Administration and director of the Prince Entrepreneurship Leaders Program, received his award from the Volusia County Business Incubator.

The award recognizes his “dedication and commitment to the creation and growth of new business ventures and for his support of the Volusia County Business Incubator and local entrepreneurship,” according to Connie Bernal, site manager for the Volusia County Business Incubator, which is part of the University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program.

The Joseph C. Prince Entrepreneurship Program launched the Leaders Program four years ago, enabling entrepreneurship students to gain industry insight and important contacts in a competitive environment.

“The award,” Paris commented, “lives up to the essence of what the organization is trying to accomplish in the area.”

The same, in fact, can be said about this recent recognition of Stetson professors — providing validation of Stetson’s mission to serve the community.