PEL people recognized with awards

PEL seniors and their families gathered in Cobb Gallery on Saturday, May 20, to celebrate their journeys and to honor some of the accomplishments of those in the PEL community. The slide show below shares highlights from the PEL Celebration, and we offer our heartfelt congratulations to all!

To learn more about the PEL Visual Arts exhibit, curated by Professor Arthur Skinner '76, click HERE.

May Graduates; Alumni Updates; Faculty & Staff News

Under blue skies and with a light breeze cooling the air, Class of 2017 graduates and their families gathered early Sunday morning, May 21, in the South Beach area for the Commencement Ceremony. Led by bagpipers, the graduates processed, by collegium, from the robing area in Fox Hall ,past the library and dorms, and into the massive tent to hear speakers mark the occasion and to receive awards and diplomas.

Eckerd College President Donald R. Eastman III presents
PEL graduate Lora Vineberg '17 with the Irving G. Foster Award.

Among the people honored during the ceremony were PEL seniors Lora Vineberg and Gladys Hall, both of whom majored in Business Management. 

Vineberg was awarded the Irving G. Foster Award given to a PEL graduate who has demonstrated overall academic achievement. The award is named in honor of the late Irving G. Foster, Professor Emeritus of Physics, who played a major role in the design and inception of the Program for Experienced Learners.

Eckerd College President Donald R. Eastman III presents
PEL graduate Gladys Hall '17 with the
David and Blanche Colgan Memorial Prize.

Hall received the David and Blanche Colgan Memorial Prize given to a PEL graduate who has demonstrated extraordinary determination and perseverance in achieving a solid academic record and who exemplifies the spirit of life-long learning. The award is provided through the generosity of Trustee Mary Miller (PEL '97) in memory of her parents, David and Blanche Colgan.

PEL graduate Richard Schomp '17 (Organizational Studies)

Scroll below to see a list of the graduates, some of the images from the ceremony, and graduating PEL senior Teresa A. Stewart's Commencement speech.

Or read all the speeches and view all 608 images of the Sunday morning ceremony in the College's online photo album by going to the 2017 Commencement page.

Please note: A number of PEL seniors who plan to graduate in August 2017 also participated in the ceremony. The list below includes only students whose official graduation date falls in August 2016, December 2016, or May 2017.

courtesy of SweetClipArt.com

Congratulations!!!

Warmest congratulations to these PEL students who completed their programs of studies and graduated during the 2016-2017 academic year.

May 2017

Christine M. Aderhold, Media & Film Concentration

Carla Baker, Concentration in American Culture/Minorities Studies

Steven E.Ballinger (D), American Studies

Jonathan Booker, Human Development

Jessica M. Bossen (D), Business Management

Edward J. Bozeman (HH), Business Management

Samantha Browning, Humanities

Dawn R. Bryant, Human Development

Sylvie Cantin (D), Human Development

Angelina R. Capobianco (HH), Business Management

Stacey Clarke, Human Development

Charles D. Claybaker (H), Business Management

Kim C. Cobham, Human Development

Ludy Cole, Business Management

Michell L. Cox, Organizational Studies

Craig A. Cranston (D), Humanities

Christel Dykes (D), Business Management

Lorraine Eastman, Organizational Studies

Teresa R. Flournoy, Human Development

Davie Gill, Sports & American Culture Concentration

Kenneth L. Grimes, Business Management

Gladys Hall, Business Management

Megan L. Halloran, Business Management

Molly C. Henry (HH), Concentration in American Culture & Society

James Hill (D), Business Management

Joshua P. Hunziker (D), Business Management

Kristen L. Inoa (D), Business Management

Quandala Johnson (HH), Management

Christopher J. Kelaher, Organizational Studies Concentration

Michelle J. Kiekenapp Nelson (HH), Creative Writing Concentration

Jamie E. Klempner, Organizational Studies Concentration

Benjamin Labay, Business Management

Joshua T. Lewis (H), Business Management

Bradley Lowe, Business Management Concentration

Rachel A. Luna. Human Development

Catherine M. McBride (HH), American Studies

Dorice M. Michalik (D), Business Management

Timothy J. Mineo, Business Management

Joseph C. Mobilio, Business Management

Yadira L. Montes Rivera (HH), Humanities

Courtney Niedens, Business Management

William Morelli (D), Organizational Studies

Tashauna L. Nobles, Business Management

Kelly L. Pickering (D), American Studies

Katherine C. Quinn, Global Business Concentration

Stephan L. Ralph, Business Management

Jared B. Rishel (D), American Studies

Tanya M. Rotter (H), Humanities

Jeanne A. Salvo (D), American Studies

Richard Schomp, Organizational Studies

Kelly A. Schooley, Humanities

Christopher Shaun, Business Management

Emily P. Strickland, Concentration in American Culture & Communication

Zachary C. Thompson, Visual Arts

Jeanette I. Ventrone (HH), Human Development

Theresa G. Vess (HH), Business Management

Lora D. Vineberg (HH), Business Management

Caitlin Q. Wells (HH), Human Development

Shirley Wells, Business Management

Kimberly Whitford (H), Human Development


December 2016

Yvonne C. Comeau, Humanities

Ricky Counts, Human Development

Priska Green (HH), Business Management

Charissa A. Jackson, Human Development

Jason W. Malpass (HH), Creative Writing 

Peter Marer (HH), Business Management

Bonnie L. Mason, Creative Writing

Daniel McGlone, Business Management

Andrew J. O'Connell (H), Humanities

Daryl L. Osburn (H), Human Development

AKM R. Rahman, Business Management

Natalie Ricketts, Human Development

Stephen Sabella (HH), Business Management

Sandra Singleton (D), Human Development

Teresa A. Stewart (HH), Human Development

Cecilia Walker, Business Management
Lisa Washington, Human Development

August 2016

Richard P. Anglewicz (D), Business Management Major
Sherry Ball (H), Organizational Studies Major
Robert M. DiPalma (D), Humanities
Melanie R. Ducane, Human Development
Aaron Flinn (D), Business Management Major
James C. Fort, Environment & American Culture Concentration
Rashad Lewis, Business Management Major
Regina A. Perkins (HH), Organizational Studies Major
Thomas J. Pyche, Business Management Major
Monica L. Taylor (HH), Business Management Major

 HH - High Honors; H - Honors; D - Distinction

 

Alumni News

Edward G. "Teddy" Baldwin '99 (American Studies) was inducted into the Eckerd College chapter of Phi Beta Kappa this last week as an alumni member. Baldwin earned his Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University Law School in 2003 and currently is a partner in the Baker McKenzie law firm in Washington, D.C., where his practice focuses on international arbitration, transactional litigation, sovereign immunity issues, and enforcement of judgments and awards.

Dean Lloyd Chapin, president of the Zeta Chapter of Florida, noted that Phi Beta Kappa is the nation's oldest and most prestigious academic honor society.


Renee Hamad '10 (Human Development), a retired concert pianist and philanthropist, was honored in April at the eighth annual Sertoma Sarasota Celebrity Roast. Sertoma is an international service organization whose primary projects help people with speech, hearing, and language disorders. Local chapters develop other projects based on community needs. The event honoring Hamad benefited Sertoma Kids Speech Therapy, which provides speech/language therapy for Sarasota area children in the Sarasota area with communication challenges regardless of their families' abilities to pay. An article in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune noted that Eckerd College adjunct professor Tom Honsa was one of the participants roasting Hamad, who was the first woman the Sarasota chapter has so honored.

Remembering . . .

William Sanford Scott III '95 (Business Management Concentration) of Venice, Fla., who died April 1, 2017. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/heraldtribune/obituary.aspx?pid=185003555

Faculty / Staff  News

Professor Sergei Novikov was honored recently for 25 years of service to Eckerd College. Novikov earned his Ph.D. from  Moscow State University – known as “the Russian Harvard” – with a degree in International Political Economy and served for a time as one of a group of economic advisors to Mikhail Gorbachev. Novikov teaches courses in international business and in Russian culture.

Visual arts representative exhibit covers almost 40 years worth of PEL students, instructors

Jim Crane
A New Day
September, 1999
Symbolizing the Program for Experienced Learners

 article and photographs 

by Anne W. Anderson

Over the almost 40-year history of the Program for Experienced Learners, or PEL, many students have discovered or rediscovered the importance of creating and understanding art. By Professor Arthur Skinner's "unofficial count," PEL has produced at least eighty-four students who majored in the visual arts. More students minored in the subject, and even more students took an art course or two during their journey. More than thirty instructors have helped shape PEL students and, thereby, the Tampa Bay arts scene and beyond.

Attending the reception were (above, l-r) PEL visual arts
instructors Rebecca Skelton and Rose Marie Prins with
Betsy Orbe Lester '93, who also became an instructor,
and Cal Brown '16 and (below, l-r) Lisa Sibley '12,
Karen Mitchell Tremmel '12, Annie Culbertson '09,
and Betsy Orbe Lester '93

As a tribute to the PEL visual arts program, Skinner recently curated a representative collection of work produced by PEL alumni and instructors. Some of the pieces are part of the College's permanent collection, some are from Skinner's own collection, and others were loaned by the artists for this showing. The exhibit was mounted in Cobb Gallery and ran from May 14 through graduation day, May 21. Artists and their families were honored at a reception on the 14th, and many of the people who attended the PEL Celebration on Saturday, May 20, took time to view the exhibit.

Scroll down to the end of the article to view a slide show of the exhibit. 

 Look familiar?

Two of the works were very familiar to students, faculty, and staff members who saw them in the PEL offices but may not have realized the connections. 

Jim Crane's A New Day, seen above, was presented to Dr. J. Thomas West in 1999 in recognition of West's forty years of service to the College. West had begun as the College's first admissions director and assistant professor of psychology  in 1959 at what was then Florida Presbyterian College. West's obituary, linked above, notes he "hit the road in 1959, barnstorming across the state, knocking on doors, persuading students to come to a school that had no tradition, no accreditation, no campus" (Jamal Thalji, Tampa Bay Times, March 18, 2010). West also began the Program for Experienced Learners in the late 1970s and was its longest serving professor.

In 1999, the College wanted to recognize West's service and suggested Jim Crane, one of the founding professors in the Art Department, create a piece of artwork for West. Crane, a cartoonist, painter, and collage artist who joined the faculty in 1963, asked West what he should paint. According to Crane's note (below), mounted on the back of the acrylic-and-plaster-on-wood painting, West had asked him to "paint something that would symbolize PEL." West, in turn, gave the painting to the Program for Experienced Learners.

For the last several year's, Crane's work hung in the back area, visible across the length of the offices. Pamela Jones' 92 untitled work (below) hung in the reception area.

PEL visual artists impacting their worlds

What does one do with a degree in art? As the brief biographies of the PEL graduates whose work was included in the show indicates, many alumni continue working as artists, have become teachers -- including here at Eckerd --and work in related fields:

1980s

Pamela Jones '92
Untitled
Mixed Media
Until it was removed for the exhibit,
this work hung in the reception area of the PEL offices.

Margaret Brommelsiek ‘80 (Art History and Design) subsequently earned an M.S. in Communication and a Ph.D. in Arts Education/Arts Administration. She is an Instructor in the School of Nursing and Director of Interprofessional Education charged with developing a humanities-based IPE program for the health sciences schools at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). Brommelsiek has more than twenty years of experience developing interdisciplinary and interprofessional programs and curriculum connecting the fine arts with the life and health sciences. The image included in this exhibit is part of Brommelsiek’s 2014 one-person show, Books of Common Prayer, presented in Elliott Gallery at Eckerd College and was given to the College at the conclusion of the exhibition. (http://sonhs.umkc.edu/directory/margaret-brommelsiek/)

1990s

Pamela Jones ’92 (Visual Arts) subsequently earned her MFA through the University of South Florida and teaches Visual Problem Solving in the residential program at Eckerd College. Jones also works as an admissions and outreach counselor at the College and is the site coordinator for the Florida campus of the National University of Health Sciences. The untitled work included in this slide show hung in the PEL office reception area for many years. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamela-jones-137a8a20)

Betsy Orbe Lester ’93 (Visual Arts) subsequently earned her MFA through the University of South Florida, and she also teaches Visual Problem Solving in the residential program at Eckerd College. Her work has become part of a number of permanent collections and was included in the 2015 issue of the Eckerd Review. (http://theartlofts.com/betsyorbelester/) 2000s

Laura Irmis ’06 (Visual Arts) currently teaches 3-D studio art at Boca Ciega High School in Pinellas County, is a freelance graphic designer and fine artist, and is a certified childbirth trainer and postpartum doula. (http://laurairmis.com/#about)

Pamela Callender ’07 (Visual Arts, minor in Human Development) subsequently earned her MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. Until recently, Callender was the house curator for the Fogartyville Community Media & Arts Center in Sarasota. Her art-making practice is shaped from years of experience as a dance educator in the Florida public school system, as a regional sports director (and Frisbee competitor and adjudicator) for Wham-O, California, and as cargegiver to her mother and home. In the fall of 2016, Callender taught a course in Environmental Art at Eckerd College. (http://www.pamelacallender.com/index.html and www.becomingagardenho.com)

Lori Loveberry George ’08 (Visual Arts) studied printmaking at Ringling College of Art and Design (1983), owns and operates a decorative painting business in Sarasota, is a teaching artist with the Sarasota County Schools and Sarasota County Libraries, and is a member of the Association of Florida Teaching Artists (AFTA) . (https://artiststelltheirstories.blogspot.com/2015/10/lori-loveberry-george-mixed-media.html and http://loveberryart.weebly.com/)

Annie Culbertson ’09 (Visual Arts). No information available.

Debra Mixon Holiday ’09 (Visual Arts), who also holds a B.A. in English from the University of South Florida, is a printmaker and mixed media artist currently living in St. Augustine. She exhibits her work across the Southeastern United States. (http://www.debramixonholliday.com/)

2010s

Kirk Daniel Palmer ‘10 (Visual Arts) served more than twenty years in the USMC, including a tour as a Middle East Foreign Area Officer and Arabic linguist at the American Embassy in Caro, Egypt, before deciding to pursue the creative life more fully. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Eckerd College, recently earned his MFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and lives and works in St. Petersburg. (https://www.kirkdanielpalmer.com/)

Jim Rolston ’12 (Visual Arts) transitioned from working as an executive for public utilities to working as an artist and as an advocate for the arts. Rolston works from his studio in St. Petersburg and serves on the boards of the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance and the Dunedin Fine Arts Center. (http://redzenart.com/about-the-artist.html and https://vimeo.com/144921454)

Angela “Angie” Marshall ’12 (Visual Arts) worked as a web designer for corporations and is currently a Technology and Digital Multimedia teacher at Braden River Middle School in Bradenton. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/angie-marshall-81b22477/)

Lisa Sibley ’12 (Visual Arts) subsequently earned her MFA in Visual Art Photography from the Lesley University College of Art and Design (formerly The Art Institute of Boston) in Cambridge, Mass. She is a photography artist, educator, and juror, teaches photography at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center), and her work appeared in the 2015 and 2017 issues of the Eckerd Review. (http://lisasibley.zenfolio.com/about.html)

Karen Mitchell Tremmel ’12 (Visual Arts, Sculpture) works in many media from her studio in St. Petersburg and has, for many years, written a newspaper column, “Back to Nature,” which appears locally in the Tampa Bay Newspapers (Seminole Beacon, et al.). (https://www.linkedin.com/in/karentremmel/ and http://www.mymuddypawsstudio.com/)

Michael della Penna ’13 (Visual Arts, Art History) is working toward an M.A. in Luxury and Fashion Management from Savannah College of Art and Design. He owns Della Penna Fashion in St. Petersburg. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dellapennafashion/)

Ralph Samples ’14 (Visual Arts). No information available.

Cal Brown ’16 (Visual Arts) worked as an advertising agency art director and creative director and attended St. Petersburg (Junior) College and the University of Florida before graduating from Eckerd College.

 Anne W. Anderson was director of blended and online learning in PEL 

and was co-editor of The PEL Connector.

Reunion Weekend 2017: PEL alumna honored by Women's Resource Center; Event photos, and more!

(L-r) Eckerd College President Dr. Donald R. Eastman III,
Maureen Donovan-Dobiesz '02, and Professor Catherine Griggs at the
Awards Breakfast during Alumni Weekend in March 2017.
Photo courtesy of Eckerd College

Reunion Weekend 2017 was filled with activities, and PEL people participated in many of them. To view photos from each of the events, click on the link above, choose an event album, and scroll through the images. Click here for PEL Alumni Reception photos.

PEL Alumna Honored

Maureen Donovan-Dobiesz '02 was presented with a Women's Resource Center Professional Achievement Award at the Awards Breakfast during Alumni Weekend last month.  Donovan-Dobiesz graduated with a B.A. in American Studies from Eckerd College’s Program for Experienced Learners.  After graduation, she began working at Healthcare IQ, a data analytics company empowering hospitals across the country by providing advanced analytics to create efficiencies and innovative solutions. As the EVP of administration, her critical thinking, management skills and leadership have guided the company through a period of exponential growth.

Donovan-Dobiesz also is the director of Phoenix Venture Philanthropy Foundation, which invests in and supports nonprofit organizations that deliver significant social impact, environmental awareness and education. Phoenix provides business mentoring and leadership insights.

In awarding Maureen Donovan-Dobiesz the Women’s Resource Center Professional Achievement Award, the College recognizes her commitment to women’s professional advancement by hiring qualified women. She is an early supporter of Emily’s List, which works to elect women to positions in local and federal government. Donovan-Dobiesz also supports Eckerd’s Environmental Film Festival, an annual week-long program that has greatly enhanced environmental awareness within the community.

PEL Alumni Reception  

 

(l-r) Donna Littell '75 and Dana Cozad '69

PEL people filled the Lewis House atrium and porch on Saturday, March 10, at the PEL Alumni Reception. Organizers Angie Jones '12 and Donna Littell '75 greeted guests as the sounds of live piano and guitar background music drifted through the area and a slide show played pictures culled from recent and not-so-recent PEL events.

After a time of catching up with friends and colleagues -- and of enjoying the plentiful hors d'oeuvres -- PEL Executive Director Amanda Hagood welcomed the group and thanked the alumni gathered for the many ways they enrich the campus community, the local Tampa Bay area, and the world at large. Hagood recognized a number of PEL people people present for their years of service to the program: Dana Cozad '69, who worked in PEL in many administrative and teaching positions from PEL's beginning in 1978 and continuing to teach until just recently; Margret Skaftadottir, PEL's associate dean of faculty, who has been with PEL since 1992; Patti Cooksey '97, who has worked in various positions in PEL since 1997; Alaina Tackitt '08; and long-time faculty members Professors Catherine Griggs, Naveen Malhotra, and Tom Krzesinski.

Connie Murphy '08 shared how PEL reshaped her life.

"Everyone has a PEL story to share," Hagood noted before inviting Margret Skaftadottir to introduce the evening's speaker, Connie Murphy '08, who currently works as a program manager for the Veterans Health Administration.

Murphy shared how her PEL experience radically reshaped her life, causing her to consider a career in government rather than the private sector where she had been working. Murphy went on to earn a Master of Public Health degree from Emory University in Atlanta and worked for the Center for Disease Control for a time until returning to the St. Petersburg area.

PEL people filled the tables in the atrium at Lewis House
and in the porch area.

 Following a short time of remembering, many in the gathering moved over to the James Center for dinner.

To see images from the 2017 PEL Alumni Reception, click HERE:

To see the slide show of archive images, click HERE.

Other Events

Jake Halterman '09 attended the Dean's Luncheon on the Arts
on Saturday afternoon . . .

. . . and the PEL reception and evening dinner, with his wife, Paula.

Donna and Clint Day '07 enjoyed both the PEL reception
and the dinner . . .

. . . as did Diahan and Bernard "Roc" LiLavois '10.

Professors Naveen Malhotra and Patti Cooksey '97
with Bernard "Roc" LiLavois '10

Alumni Weekend photos are courtesy of the College and were taken by local freelance photographer Lisa Presnail.

Cheers -- and see you all next year!