PEL Students win Enactus USA award; Alumni News; Faculty/Staff news

A team of PEL students is moving on from a regional competition to the national level; we share how two PEL alumnae have impacted their communities since they graduated more than 30 years ago; and we congratulate a PEL staff member -- who also is a PEL alumna -- on a major accomplishment!

(l-r) Tonya Zalick, Yolanda Carter, Stephanie Krebs, and Stacy Sansoucie
work on their Enactus project earlier this Spring.

PEL students Yolanda Carter, Stephanie Krebs, Stacy Sansoucie, and Tonya Zalick, this year's Eckerd Enactus chapter president, teamed up to enter the 2017 Enactus USA competition and are now eligible to enter the national competition being held in Kansas City in late May. PEL teams under the guidance of Professor Naveen Malhotra have represented Eckerd College in regional competitions and at some national conferences since 1995.

Students begin the projects in Malhotra's Students in a Free Enterprise (SIFE) course, then take on the Enactus challenge as an extra-curricular project after the course has ended.

The outside (back on the left, front on the right) of the portfolio created by the 2017 Eckerd PEL Enactus team

Enactus--Entrepreneurial Action Us--is an international organization involving more than 48,000 undergraduate and graduate students; the Enactus USA group "connects student, academic and business leaders through entrepreneurial-based projects that empower people to transform opportunities into real, sustainable progress for themselves and their communities" according to the organization's website.

Last year, Enactus USA offered a virtual competition where teams submitted video presentations, along with the portfolio. This year,the virtual competition included a live Q&A session after the video presentation. Teams are judged on their effectiveness in conducting a needs assessment and in seeing opportunity, in taking entrepreneurial action, and in enabling progress by measuring direct and indirect outcomes that empower people and improve livelihoods in a sustainable way. Teams also receive feedback on their ability to communicate their projects and the results.

This year, the Eckerd PEL team's projects included teaching preschoolers about recycling and taking them on a visit to the local recycling center, helping Boys & Girls Club members and Girl Scouts create marketable hydroponic gardening kits to improve people's access to fresh vegetables, helping college students and recent graduates connect with employers offering paid internships in the IT field, and helping senior citizens market their artwork within the local community.

The inside of the 2017 Eckerd PEL Enactus team's portfolio

Alumni News

Kathie Tanner Erwin '82

Kathie Tanner Erwin '82 (Concentration in Society, the Media, and Politics), who subsequently earned an M.A. in Counseling from Liberty University, and an Ed.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Sarasota (now Argosy University), is an Associate Professor and Associate Coordinator of MA Counseling Programs for Regent University. Erwin also is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, National Certified Counselor and National Certified Gerontological Counselor. Recently she was awarded a Diplomate in Clinical Mental Health for Geriatric Counseling.

She has contributed to a number of journals and has written seven books, including Group Techniques for Aging Adults: Putting Geriatric Skills Enhancement into Practice, 2nd Edition (Routledge, 2013) and an ethical thriller, Taylor Kendall: Evil Inc.( Par Press, 2010).

Erwin has volunteered as a Field Traumatologist with Green Cross Academy of Traumatology serving in India, Trinidad and Ukraine. She returns this fall for third season as guest lecturer in the Nord Mag Gerontology Institute at University of Iceland.

Recently, Erwin was named to the Fulbright Specialist Roster for a three year tenure. As a Fulbright Specialist, Erwin will serve with an international university on the project she designed for training geriatric group therapists, developing community based group programs and education in trauma related issues for older adults.

 Erwin is the mother of twin daughters (one currently an Eckerd College student) and four grandchildren. She has previously served as President of the Eckerd Alumni Association and as Alumni Trustee.

Note: [04/25/17] This section was edited to include the information just released about Erwin's being named to the Fulbright Specialist Roster.

Virginia J. Scott '85 at the PEL Alumni
Reception in March

Virginia J. Scott ’85 (Human Resources) is retired after a long and fruitful career in the social services fields. Scott began teaching in the early 1960s, earned an A.A. in 1964 in Early Childhood Development from Gibbs Jr. College, which later became part of St. Petersburg Jr. College, taught in the 1965 pilot program for Head Start in St. Petersburg, and became a program manager for Pinellas County Head Start. By 1974 she was training others in her work with the Pinellas County License Board for Children's Centers and Family Day Care Homes.

Eventually she became a program consultant responsible for staff development and training with the Juvenile Welfare Board -- JWB minutes from the mid-1980s show the Board recognizing Scott several times for her work -- all while she was serving on various boards and committees, while she and her husband were raising two children, and while she was taking courses at the University of South Florida. Scott transferred those credits to Eckerd College and finished her degree in the PEL program.

"I had taken courses at USF in psychology, criminology, and education. PEL allowed me to combine those interests and earn a degree in Human Resources," Scott explained when she visited the office recently. "That degree opened doors I never expected, and I ended up working in all three fields."

In 1994, the Florida Bar recognized Scott's service
on the Grievance Committee of the Sixth Judicial Circuit.

Scott worked for several years as a training specialist at the USF/Florida Mental Health Institute's Professional Development Center in the Department of Mental Law and Policy. In 1990, Scott was invited to testify before the Racial and Ethnic Bias Commission of the Florida Supreme Court as to the importance of sensitivity training for state workers. From 1991-1994, Scott was appointed to the Florida Bar's Sixth Judicial Circuit "D" Grievance Committee, which investigated complaints against lawyers and reported findings to the Florida Supreme Court. Scott also served as a lay member on Bayfront Medical Center's Institution Review Board.

Over the years, Scott also has been actively involved in various community and national organizations including Hospice, Congregations United for Community Action, the National Black Child Development Institute , and the National Council of Negro Women. In 1991, Scott was invited by the director/manager of Tyrone Square Mall to lead mall managers and security officers in cultural sensitivity training sessions to help serve mall patrons more effectively and to prevent confrontations from escalating. Eventually, Scott traveled throughout the state, training employees at other malls owned by the DeBartolo Corporation.

Scott became a family life and community educator with Family Service Centers, Inc., and, later, a guidance counselor at Academy Prep Education Center before retiring in 2011.

Scott quoted former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's statement (2013):

"The essence of America ... is an idea: That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things. That it doesn't matter where you came from but where you are going."

Note: 04/24/17 This section was edited to correct the name of the college from which Scott received her A.A., to clarify Scott's work at Tyrone Square Mall, and to add an image of the award Scott received from the Florida Bar.

 

Faculty/Staff News

Congratulations to Alaina Tackitt '08 (Humanities), who successfully defended her dissertation titled "(Age)ncy in Composition Studies" this past month. Tackitt has earned her Ph.D. in English, Rhetoric and Composition at the University of South Florida, Tampa, and will graduate in May. Tackitt had previously earned an MLA (Master of Liberal Arts). Tackitt is the academic advisor at the Tampa campus and is PEL director of writing services.