UNIVERSITY NEWS • ALUMNI EVENTS • CLASSNOTES

UWF IS GOING

SUSTAINABILITY IS VITAL COMPONENT OF UNIVERSITY LIFE

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UWF Connection’s purpose is to keep alumni and friends in touch, informed and involved. The Connection is used to communicate with alumni, parents, donors and other friends of the university to inspire, foster and maintain interest in UWF.

Director of Alumni RelationsKC Etheredge, ’00

Editor/Director of CommunicationsJanice Cooper

Creative DirectorPola Young, ’02

Feature WriterConnie Marse, ’70, ’82

Contributing WritersJacklyn Alford, ’08Martha Lee BlodgettAlan Brian, ’05Kenda HembroughMatt RowleyLauren Smith, ’08

UWF PresidentDr. Judith Bense

Interim Vice President for University AdvancementDr. Kyle Marrero

Alumni Board of DirectorsTim Haag, President (MPA, ’85) PensacolaCaroline Hartnett, Vice President (BSBA, ’93) PensacolaMaureen Thurston, Secretary (BA, ’95) TampaLuke van Blaricom, Treasurer (BS, ’00, MS, ’03) OrlandoMark Alvarez, Student RepresentativeCharles Bare (BA, ’92, MPA, ’94) PensacolaJohn Gormley (BSBA, ’98) PensacolaStephen Hester (BA, ’91) Lewisville, TexasDr. Heidi Lannon (MPA, ’86) GainesvilleRobert L. Lee (BA, ’88) Powder Springs, Ga.Tim Moore (BA, ’05) PensacolaPaul Pratofiorito (BA, ’81) PensacolaDr. Stacie Whinnery (MA, ’89, EdD ’99) PensacolaHarriet Wyer (BS, ’92) Tampa

Contact UsWeb: alumni.uwf.edu E-mail: alumni@uwf.eduPhone: 800.226.1893Write: UWF Alumni Association, 11000 University Pkwy., Building 12, Pensacola, FL 32514

Support UWFIf you would like to make a gift to the University of West Florida, contact UWF Annual Giving:Online: uwf.edu/development/giving/giving.cfmDirect: Kenda Hembrough at 800.226.1893 or 850.474.2758 or khembrough@uwf.edu

The UWF Connection is published semi-annually by the Office of Alumni Relations and the Office of Marketing Communications. Address changes can be sent electronically to alumni@uwf.edu.

President’s Message

Your university continues to grow. This semester the enrollment of 11,200 students was historic. Our new online executive master’s in software engineering, master’s in social work, and the three year Executive Ed.D. program are all at capacity enrollment. These programs were created to meet regional needs and so it is a win-win situation. Our resi-dential life continues to prosper: we have 1,623 students living on campus this semester. And, a new 250-bed residence hall, named Heritage Hall, will open in fall 2010.

This year, UWF placed significant emphasis on visibility throughout the state, and it worked. Further, we are being recognized as a first-choice school. A component of this effort was the creation of the Top Five” Academic Merit Scholarships. For 80 University of West Florida freshman students, getting good grades has brightened their futures. The program, which was implemented for the 2009-2010 academic year, provides scholarships to students who earned a class rank of number one through five after the first semester of their senior year of high school in Florida public schools.

As we grow, we have to be mindful of how we affect our environment and the 1600-acre campus that we call home. Green living is a vital component of sustainability and UWF has taken considerable steps toward embracing sustainability measures in recent years: formalizing the process in 2008 with the adoption of a set of guiding principles and an eight-point program of initiatives. UWF recycled 33 tons of cardboard, and 74 tons of aluminum cans and plastic bottles last fiscal year. We are saving energy by purchasing Energy Star-rated equipment, replacing incandescent bulbs with florescent, and saving the old-fashioned way, simply turning off lights and computers when not in use. Read more about our initiatives on page eight.

Also, I’d like to ask for continued alumni support of our Athletic programs. The new face of Argonaut Athletics was revealed over the summer and he is fierce! Last year we won our 50th Gulf South Conference Title. Our teams are all ranked in the top 25. So, I invite you to come out to support our teams by attending our many games both home and away. Visit GoArgos.com for a complete listing of game times and venues.

Thank you again for your continued support of UWF and its programs. Serving as president is truly the greatest honor of my life!

Best Wishes,

Judith A. Bense, Ph.D, President

D E A R U W F A LU M N I A N D F R I E N D S :

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UWF launched an athletic awareness campaign, “Building Champions for Life” in Northwest Florida this fall. The campaign features Argonaut billboards, print ads and a new tv ad. To view all the billboards and athletic profiles, visit goargos.com.

COVER STORYUWF is Going Green: Green living is a vital component of sustainability. The University of West Florida has taken considerable steps toward embracing sustainability measures in recent years.

FEATURES 4 University News Admissions, Athletics, Continuing Education, Career Services, and Student Affairs

6 Development News Development Team, Creating Great Futures Campaign Update, Heritage Club, Rotary Scholarships, and Annual Fund

10 Alumni News Alumni Scholarship Classic, Alumni Events, Alumni Spotlight, and Homecoming 2009

12 Class Notes

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15 Special Feature— School of Science and Engineering Grand Opening

UWF students, faculty andstaff get into green living.

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Bense Will Continue to Lead UWF—Trustees extend appointment until 2012

The University of West Florida board of trust-ees voted unanimously to extend President Judy Bense’s appointment until March 2012.

“It’s absolutely thrilling and I am honored,” said Bense.

Bense became interim president July 1, 2008. And, in December the UWF Board of Trust-ees voted to extend her contract through the summer of 2010.

“UWF students love President Bense,” said Student Government Association President Amanda Clonts, “They feel she is there for them.”

Prior to the vote, trustees discussed Bense’s self-evaluation and the trustee evaluation of her performance. They also discussed input from the Faculty Senate President, the Staff Senate, and the Student Body President. The majority felt that Bense was right for the job.

“It’s wonderful to knowthat I will be able to facilitate UWF’s strategic goals and long

term plans into becomingreality. I’m ready to serve.”

UWF President Judy Bense ❖

University News

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UWF Welcomes 80 “Top 5” Scholars—New Program Implemented for 2009-2010

For 80 University of West Florida freshman students, getting good grades has brightened their futures. UWF just awarded them with “Top Five” Academic Merit Scholarships. The new scholarship program implemented at UWF for the 2009-2010 academic year rewards students who earned a class rank of number one through five after the first semester of their senior year of high school in Florida public schools.

“This is part of an effort to make a quality university education accessible, as well as recruit and reward top-performing students in the state of Florida,” said Judy Bense, UWF president. “We are delighted to welcome these top scholars to UWF.”

Through the scholarship program, first-time-in-college qualifying freshmen who meet the academic requirements and enroll at UWF automatically receive the merit scholarship, which covers the tu-ition and associated fees of the student's bachelor’s degree or 120 semester hours of credit, whichever comes first. Students who also receive the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship may use those funds to cover the remaining costs of the college experience, including on-campus housing, transportation, a meal plan and/or books.

“Based upon an average full-time student taking 15 hours per semester, each ‘Top Five’ Academic Merit Scholar received approximately $4,212 this year,” said Pete Metarko, Associate VP of Enroll-ment Services. “UWF is thrilled to be able to offer this kind of support to deserving students.”

“You just can’t say no to 100 percent paid tuition at a college near the world’s best beaches,” said UWF Academic Merit Scholar Luke Killam.

In addition to the newly established “Top Five” scholarship, UWF continues to offer the John C. Pace Jr. Pace Scholars Award. Established 16 years ago by a bequest from the late John C. Pace Jr., this is the most prestigious award the university offers to qualified full-time incoming freshman students. To qualify, students must submit a separate application, which includes an essay and letters of recommendation. UWF also considers students’ academic qualifications, test scores, school and community leadership and volunteer service. Six scholars were selected for the 2009-2010 academic school year. Each will receive $5,000 annually, totaling $20,000 over four years while attending UWF. Over the past three years, 24 UWF students have benefited from this award. In all, last year UWF awarded more than $35 million in financial aid, 3,562 grants, 4,084 loans and 4,227 scholarships. ❖

Left: UWF welcomed 80 “Top 5” scholars this fall in an effort to make a quality university education acces-sible. Below: Recipients of the UWF’s John C. Pace Scholars Award receive $5,000 annually while attending UWF. Over the past three years, 24 students have benefited from this award.

UWF President Judy Bense

University News

Examining Climate Change—UWF Biologist Visits the Arctic Ocean

For University of West Florida faculty member Wade Jeffrey of the Center for Environmental Di-agnostics and Bioremediation, see-ing polar bears and beluga whales in their natural habitat is just one of the perks of his job. This past August, Jeffrey participated in a large oceanographic expedition to the Arctic Ocean where he joined 40 French, Canadian and U.S. scientists examining the effects of cli-mate change. The cruise was part of the larger program, “Malina,” led by Marcel Baban of the Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche. Jeffrey’s travel costs for the expedition were pri-marily paid through a UWF Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity Award.

“The overall goal of ‘Malina’ is to understand how biodiversity and biogeochemical changes are controlled by light penetration of the ocean and how they are affected by the changes of the climate in the Arctic,” said Jeffrey.

Jeffrey assisted in monitoring the growth of the bacterioplankton and determining the factors that control their diversity and growth, includ-ing light, nutrients, grazing, temperature and viruses.

“As the Arctic warms, the ice cover is being lost which allows more light to penetrate into the water,” said Jeffrey. “Light controls many biological and chemical processes in the ocean. Our goal was to determine how the higher light levels now seen in the Arctic are affecting the oceanic ecosystem.”

After a month of working 18-hour days, Jeffrey and his colleague completed more than 5,400 bacterial production assays. Jeffrey said the most obvious result that they saw as a direct effect of climate change was the amount of ice in the water where they were working.

To learn more about Jeffrey’s research, visit uwf.edu/wjeffrey/. For more information about the UWF Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation, visit uwf.edu/cedb/. ❖

UWF Athletics—Digital Age Aids Sustainability Efforts

UWF Athletics is embracing the digital age for many reasons, one of which is to cut down on its use of paper products and aid in the uni-versity’s sustainability efforts. In previous years, the sports information office had produced me-dia guides containing team rosters, schedules, bios, and other related information for all of its 13 varsity sports. Starting in the 2008-2009 academic year, media guides were eliminated for all but men’s and women’s basketball.

“More and more sports fans are receiving their information through the Web,” said Dave Scott, athletic director. “In Athletics we will do everything we can to not only keep pace, but be a leader in intercollegiate athletics in the digital age.”

The information contained in these publica-tions is still available however, and the Athletic Department has increased its efforts to direct fans, alumni and students to its official Web site, GoArgos.com.

The sports information office has also shifted its efforts to producing more content through new channels, including its official pages on Facebook, Facebook.com/GoArgos and Twitter, Twitter.com/GoArgos. Athletics has also en-gaged the community through increased audio broadcasts of athletics events and streaming video is on the horizon.

“In a video broadcast of the department’s fall sports media day in August, more than 2,000 users viewed the event online after its original airing,” said Scott. ❖

Reducing their Carbon FootprintContinuing Education Adopts Sustainable Marketing Plan

The UWF Division of Continuing Education and the Academic Technology Center are mak-ing an effort to reduce their carbon footprint by adopting a sustainable marketing plan and providing enhanced, online distance-learning educational opportunities. As part of its commitment to green marketing, continuing education is taking measures to help cut waste, pollution, and energy consumption in their marketing efforts.

The first step was migrating the printed course guide to an online-only digital version. Direct e-mail campaigns rather than paper mailings are guiding prospective students to the new digital course guide. In addition to offering the course guides online, continuing education is moving into the social media world, using outlets such as Twitter and Facebook as new channels of communication with current and prospective students.

A large percent of course offerings are now offered online. This follows in the footsteps of UWF’s Online Campus. Online campus stu-dents encompass nearly 25 percent the student body. With more than 2,000 UWF students enrolled only in online courses, fuel consump-tion once used to attend class is saved.

A recent study by The Stockholm Environ-mental Institute and the UK’s Open Uni-versity Design Innovation Group found that compared to traditional campus college courses, distance-learning courses consumed nearly 90 percent less energy and produced 85 percent fewer CO2 emissions. These energy reductions included a 92 percent reduction in travel-relat-ed environmental impact and nearly 50 percent reduction in paper and print consumption. ❖

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Wade Jeffrey’s view of the Arctic in a large oceanographic expedition this summer to study climate change.

Online campus students encompass25 percent of the student body.

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Development News

University of West Florida President Judy Bense appointed Kyle Marrero as interim vice president for University Advancement after Dean Van Galen left the university to become chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Marrero hit the ground running in August, focusing on institutional marketing and the development of an updated 18-month divisional timeline that provided a continued presence both in awareness and recruitment throughout central and Northwest Florida.

“Dr. Marrero is deeply-rooted in the Pensacola Arts Community and I am confident he will continue the positive momentum set over the past year in the area of University Advancement,” said Bense.

Marrero joins the well-established UWF Development team made up of Martha Lee Blodgett, director of Development; Gretchen Van Valkenburg, associate director of Development; and Kenda Hembrough, manager for the UWF Annual Fund. Combined the team brings more than 72 years of experience in the field of development and alumni support.

“The development team did an incredible job surpassing the campaign goal of $35 million,” said Marrero. “Our focus for the remainder of the campaign through December 2010 will be to steward current donors, develop new partnerships (programmatic and corporate) and develop greater community relationships. Specific areas of focus will be athletic awareness, the Maritime Museum and Research Center, the Johnson Scholarship Challenge, First Generation Scholarships, the School of Science and Engineering Grand Opening and programmatic support.”

Marrero’s already strong working relationship with Blodgett and the devel-opment team led to the purchase of 18 new Steinway pianos, making

UWF a prestigious “All-Steinway” School and the naming of the Warren and Helen Wentworth “All-Steinway” Piano Program.

During his short tenure at UWF, Marrero has been involved in fund-raising and grant endeavors totaling more than $2 million in future scholarship and equipment purchases. His university service activities have included the UWF Integrated Marketing Team, College of Arts and Sciences Chairs Leadership Group and Chair Mentoring Team and he currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Rehabilitation Foundation of Northwest Florida.

Marrero joined UWF in fall 2005 as the director of the School of Fine and Performing Arts and chair of the Department of Music. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in vocal performance from Bowling Green State University and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan. As artistic director of Pensacola Opera, Dr. Marrero led the company tripling its annual budget and doubling its patronage in nine years. ❖

UWF Development Team Ready for New Challenges under Leadership of Kyle Marrero

N.S. BassettE. Dixie Beggs* and Lenora Beggs

Elizabeth BennettTerrence Berling

Ronald and ValMae BesserJohn Cavanaugh

Jon CherryK.C. and Lori Clark

Donald M. and Gillian ClauseLacey CollierChester DavisJane Dysart

C.W. and Marny GillulyRuth GodwinAnn GriciusTim Haag

Dr. James Harding IILester and Lee Harris

Calvin HauffeKyle Holley

Kevin and Beth JanserBob Kimball

Lucy and Stephen Kozak

John “Fuzzy” Krasowski

Robert John and Phyllis Jane LaLondeLarry and Ella Manziek

Constance MarsePatricia Marse

Jerry MaygardenJames Morrow Jr. and Melba Smith Morrow

Kathleen O’DonnellEva Oldham

Donald PartingtonRobert Ray

Richard RogersRobert Rosasco

Paul RungeStanley SchmerkenJoan Marie Seifert

Ray and Ellen ThriftF. Norman and Elizabeth Vickers

Jennifer WeldonLaura White

Patricia WindhamMark Wise

Joe and Betty Zimmers

*Deceased

Alumni and Friends Plan Future Gifts to UWF

A thoughtful and prestigious group of alumni and friends are planning to provide future gifts to the university through their estate provisionsimpacting future generations of students. These planned gift commit-ments, made with the assistance of their professional advisors, are estimated to be in excess of $15.5 million.

As a result of their vision and thoughtful planning, these individuals are now members of the University of West Florida Heritage Club—the gift society designed to recognize and thank these friends for including UWF in their estate plans.

If you would like information on how to become a member of UWF’s Heritage Club, please contact Martha Lee Blodgett, Development Director, mlblodgett@uwf.edu or 850-474-2712. ❖

UWF Heritage Club

From L to R: Martha Lee Blodgett, director of Development; Kyle Marrero, interim vp for university advancement; Kenda Hembrough, annual fund manager

and Gretchen VanValkenburg, associate director of Development.

Development News

Rotary Club of Pensacola Endows Need-Based Scholarship

Scholarship support for UWF students from Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties has in-creased thanks to the generous support of the Rotary Club of Pensacola. At its Sept. 1 meet-ing, Club President Margaret Stopp presented two $60,000 checks, one to the University of West Florida and one to Pensacola Junior College.

“Rotary International has a long commitment to basic literacy and education,” said Stopp.

“This commitment was adopted by the Rotary Club of Pensacola many years ago when club funds were directed to support students seek-ing higher education. The Board of Directors recently decided this commitment could be strengthened by establishing endowments at the UWF and PJC Foundations. As the endowments grow and as state matching funds become available, more students at both our local institutions will be served. This allows the club to achieve its goal of supporting students seeking higher education in our community.”

The generous gift to UWF will establish a need-based scholarship endowment for qualify-ing students maintaining a 2.75 GPA and living in Escambia or Santa Rosa County. The first awards from this new endowment will be made in fall 2010. ❖

Go Green, Give Green!

All across campus, University of West Florida students and employees are reducing their environmental impact by implementing sustainability programs. When it comes to the annual fund at UWF, online giving is at the center of sustainability. The university is work-ing to encourage and receive gifts online so that paper communications can be reduced, as well as related expenses. That’s why the Office of Development recently launched a new Web site: uwf.edu/ImpactYourPassion. The new site allows alumni and friends to explore more than 100 giving opportunities at the university.

The UWF Phonathon also has plans to go green this semester by encouraging credit card gifts over the phone. Rather than mailing out a pledge packet, a thank you letter will be sent to those who make phonathon gifts by credit card. This has the potential to cut paper usage in half and for substantial savings in postage.

“No matter what area of education or life you are passionate about—health care, the environ-ment or the arts—you can impact that passion with a gift to UWF,” said Hembrough.

How can you participate? Alumni and friends can help UWF go green in several ways:1. Provide us with your e-mail address and/ or phone number so that we can reduce paper communications and related expenses. E-mail khembrough@uwf.edu.

2. Visit uwf.edu/ImpactYourPassion and make your gift online today. When you make your gift online, you help UWF reduce paper usage and expenses involved in annual fund mailings.3. Make your credit card gift over the phone at 1-800-226-1893. Just like online giving, giving by phone involves less paperwork than giving by mail. ❖

Men’s Basketball Receives Major Boost

The naming of alumnus Bob Stinnett ’69 as the new men’s basketball coach at UWF has gener-ated a lot of community excitement and major gift support for the basketball program. Dur-ing the press conference to announce Stinnett’s selection as coach, Joe Ambersley presented UWF President Judy Bense with more than $43,000 in private gifts.

The contributions will help provide scholarship support for student athletes, enhancements for travel, including the possibility of national and international basketball tournament play, increased recruiting efforts and support for other programmatic needs that have not been met with the existing budget.

“While all gifts to the university are appreci-ated, special recognition is worth mentioning for those individuals and corporations who stepped up and boosted men’s basketball at UWF with gifts of $10,000 or more,” said Gretchen Van Valkenburg, associate direc-tor of Development. “Special thanks to the Ambersley Family Foundation, Bob and June Stinnett, and Sonny and Lucille Tillman.”

To provide a gift to men’s basketball or any UWF Athletic program, visit the athletic Web site at goargos.com. ❖

From L to R: Martha Lee Blodgett, director of Development for UWF; Judy Bense, UWF president; Ed Meadows, PJC president; and Patrice Whitten, executive director of Development and Alumni Affairs

for PJC, accept checks for $60,000 each from the Rotary Club of Pensacola. The gifts will provide scholarship support to UWF and PJC students in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties.

Bob Stinnett, men’s basketball coach

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UWF IS GOINGSUSTAINABILITY IS VITAL COMPONENT OF UNIVERSITY LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Connie Marse

Kermit the frog had it right forty years ago. “It’s not that easy being green.”But like the frog concluded, it is important, and it is beautiful. In 2009, it has

become the color de rigueur. Green is the smart (and healthy) thing to be.

Green living is a vital component of sustainability. The University of West Florida has taken considerable steps toward embracing sustainability measures in recent years.

Each Wednesday fat 64-gallon waste containers filled with paper slated for recycling stand at the curbs around campus, serving as a visible re-minder of UWF’s efforts. This activity yielded 80 tons of paper last year. What is not apparent at first glance is everything else the university does.

The campus sustainability effort received more formal status in May 2008 when the faculty senate adopted a set of guiding principles and an eight-point program of initiatives.

“The university realizes sustainability is a journey and will take time to become more sustainable,” the guidelines point out. “The institution has an opportunity and an obligation to exercise leadership in promoting and reinforcing environ-mental responsibility....” Benchmarking the best practices of government and environment groups is among the promised strategies.

The initiatives are comprehensive, addressing everything from energy consumption, water use, land use, hazardous materials, recycling, trans-portation, purchasing and building construction.

The university currently recycles corrugated cardboard, aluminum, steel and a variety of mixed paper.

Serious paper recycling began about 10 years ago, according to university officials. In addition to the tons of white paper, UWF recycled 33 tons of cardboard, and 74 tons of aluminum cans and plastic bottles last fiscal year.

Electronic equipment waste, including comput-ers and monitors; florescent lighting; printing toner cartridges; oil and oil filters; and batteries, ranging from auto to lithium and cadmium for

computers and cell phones, make the UWF re-cycling list. Most of the items are recycled at no cost to the university, and UWF actually receives a small amount of income from recycling.

UWF is saving energy by purchasing Energy Star-rated equipment, replacing incandescent bulbs with the florescent variety, and saving the old-fashioned way, simply turning off lights and computers when not in use. In fact, as many as rooms have motion sensors installed that turn lights on and adjusts HVAC levels when some-one enters and readjust when the room is vacant.

Other sustainability-related purchases include 100 percent recycled-content paper and plant-derived inks, low V.O.C. (volatile organic compound)-omitting carpeting and paint, use of Green Seal-certified products such as hand soap and environmentally friendly, peroxide-based cleaning products that meet Green Seal standards.

The university is migrating toward xeriscaping— landscaping in ways that reduce or eliminate the need for supplemental irrigation, including preservation of green spaces and the use of indig-enous plants use that require little watering.

Since April 2007, the university has been mem-ber of U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit organization committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for our nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings. The organization boasts more than 20,000 member companies and organizations, and more than 100,000 LEED-Accredited Professionals. The council, the driving force of an industry project-ed to soar to $60 billion by 2010, brings together a diverse alliance of builders, environmentalists, corporations, organizations, elected officials, concerned citizens, teachers and students in pursuit of a socially and environmentally responsible quality of life.

LEED is Green Building Council’s nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green build-ings. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water sav-ings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. The university’s “Building Design and Construc-tion Standards” include the goal of a minimum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver rating for new construction. The most recent UWF building to come on line—the Child Care Center—is expected to receive a LEED Silver designation, as are two buildings slated to open in 2010: the Science and Engi-neering Building and Heritage Hall, the campus’s newest residence hall.

The university recently established the Office of Environmental Sustainability, headed by Director of Plant Operations and Maintenance Larry McGrady. McGrady, who holds a LEED accred-ited professional designation, is working with a University Affairs Division Task Force to develop a Green Guide aimed at meeting that division’s goal of sustainable operation. The guide includes a checklist modeled after a Green Building Council checklist that will provide departments with goals to achieve sustainable practices. It is hoped that the model eventually can be adopted throughout the university.

UWF also conducted a greenhouse gas emissions study last year that will allow the university to chart progress in that area and will be posting reports to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

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How well is UWF doing? “Since sustainability encompasses everything from green procurement to recycling to energy efficiency to utilizing non-impacting sources of energy to reduction of staff travel to reduction of paper usage to care of our physical campus flora and fauna, I think it would be difficult to give an overall level of satisfaction that covers all these ar-eas,” said Mike Dieckmann, senior associate vice president for University Affairs. “I think overall we have a ‘good start’ in many of these areas, but a long way to go yet. That is why University Affairs created the divisional Environmental Sustainability Task Force.”

A related initiative, according to Dieckmann is a Workplace Flexibility Taskforce. This group has been piloting procedures for flexible work place and work schedule arrangements for UWF employees.

“By reducing travel demands on employees, we promote environmentally friendly practices,” said Dieckmann.

A Campus Sustainability Best Practices paper published last year by the Massachusetts Execu-tive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, provided a sampling of green accomplishments at institutions nationwide. UWF is mirroring a number of the practices and considering adop-tion of others.

At Harvard University (Mass.) dormitories, students turned off their computers, lights, appliances and heat before leaving campus for the Thanksgiving holiday, saving about 329,000 kilowatt hours of electrical energy, the equiva-lent of the amount needed to power 5.5 million standard incandescent 60-watt light bulbs for one hour. UWF’s IT Help Desk posts tips for green computing on its Web site: uwf.edu/help-desk/eco.

Smith College (Mass.) replaced its 60-year-old steam plant, saving $1.8 million a year in costs with a seven-year payback, and cut greenhouse

gas emissions in half. UWF reduced energy consumption by replacing hot water and summer boilers in its central plant. Overall, the university lowered its consumption of electricity last fiscal year by nearly 873,000-kilowatt hours, a 2.46 percent decrease.

Like Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, UWF recently eliminated food trays from the campus dining hall. The initiative reduces food waste, as well as water and detergent consumption during the cleaning process.

Wright Community College (Iowa) uses sunlight to heat water for its cafeteria and science labs,

and University of Wisconsin-Green Bay uses the system to heat its indoor swimming pool. UWF harnesses sunlight to power emergency blue light stations and pedestrian crossing lights. Establish-ment of a campus solar farm in partnership with Gulf Power is the subject of a recent grant appli-cation. The project proposes to demonstratethe electric system of the future.

Ripon College (Wis.) gives a free bike, helmet, and bike lock to the first 200 incoming freshman who agree to leave their cars at home for the first year. UWF runs its own bike-share program. The campus Cycling Club refurbishes donated bikes, paints them yellow and distributes them around campus for anyone to ride.

UWF is also beginning to work sustainability into the classroom. Although no formal disci-pline currently exists, that may be changing.

Matt Schwartz, assistant professor in Environ-mental Studies, recently surveyed faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences to learn how sustainability is integrated into their classes. He thinks there is a good possibility that a broad interdisciplinary program can evolve.

“Thirty-six faculty identified courses or course components that relate to sustainability,” said Schwartz.

Ecotourism is one of the existing courses. The classes taught by Shaun Boren are expected to complete a group project dealing with sustain-ability. One class began developing a “green guide” for students.

Glenda Mayo, B.S. ’94, M.S.A. ’05, who teaches a sustainable construction course, cautions that sustainability still a complicated subject. Rating systems such as LEED are useful, according to Mayo, “because they at least provide a mecha-nism by which to gauge the efforts.”

“Sustainability is like a big wad of bubble gum,” said Mayo. “The more you chew the bigger it gets.”

...continued on page 14

“Reducing the university’s carbon footprint does not always involve

making large financial investments. Our work-habits have an impact, too.

Simply turning out lights when leaving an unoccupied room and recycling your

plastic bottles, aluminum cans and waste paper makes a real difference.

Reducing carbon and making UWF a sustainable campus is up to all of us.”

Larry McGrady, director, UWF Office of Environmental Sustainability.

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Thank you to the following sponsors that helped to make the event a success:

Chambered Nautilus Sponsor—GEICO

Caroline Hartnett • Carr, Riggs & Ingram • Chartwells • Coastal Moving and Storage •

The Lewis Bear Company • Morette Company • O’Sullivan Creel • Sandy Sansing Automotive • UWF Bookstore

UWF National Alumni Association Hosts Third Annual Scholarship Classic

Sixty–four golfers teed off Oct. 2 at the University of West Florida’s Third Annual Alumni Scholarship Classic held at Scenic Hills Country Club in Pensacola. This year’s tournament champions were Steve Bedford and Marty Stanovich in the Alumni/Community Division. Branden Farmer and Justin Ford were the champions of the Student Division. Each champion won an all-expense paid trip to Las Vegas to play in the National Collegiate Golf Championships.

Congratulations to our winners and good luck in Las Vegas! The real winners of the day were UWF students. More than $9,000 was raised from the tournament for scholarships. Save the date for next year’s tournament, Sept. 24, 2010.

1. Bill Healey, Bill Eckert, Jennifer Pandolfi, Dave Scott

2. Winning alumni/community division team—Marty Stanovich and Steve Bedford

3. Brian Varner putts as his teammates Greg Threadgill, Rollin Etheredge and Randy Bobbitt watch

4. Mort O’Sullivan putts as Jason Crawford watches

5. Winning student division team—Branden Farmer and Justin Ford

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2

4

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Scholarship Classic player Michael Bragg

Alumni News

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Upcoming Alumni Events

February 20104-5—School of Science and Engineering Grand Opening Celebration

18—Washington, D.C., Area Alumni Event

March 201018—Tallahassee Area Alumni Event

26—Annual Alumni Awards Celebration

26-27—UWF Festival on the Green

May 20101—Commencement

12—Tampa Area Alumni Event

13—Orlando Area Alumni Event

June 2010

24—Emerald Coast Area Alumni Event

Check the alumni Web page for current event information at alumni.uwf.edu and join us on Facebook at facebook.com/UWFAlumni.

Alumni Spotlight—Ken Pathak

Ken Pathak, ’96, BS System Science, leads the Software Engineering and Informatics Division (SEID) at the Information Technology Laboratory for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The staff in his organization (100+ engineers and scientists) builds business applications for the Department of Defense to support war fighters and civil works.

Pathak credits UWF with having an incredible impact on his career: stating that UWF gave him the education of a larger university in an intimate setting.

“The open communication with the faculty from all departments helped me better define my likes and dislikes and helped identify by weaknesses in an un-embarrassing way,” said Pathak. “I felt that I belonged somewhere and was just not a number, which was a big boost to my self-worth as I scouted for my first job.”

Pathak started out his career in the U.S. Air Force where he worked as an avionics engineer on reconnaissance aircrafts. After separating from the military, he worked in the private sector for 15 years in the telecommunications industry in various capacities ranging from a software developer to marketing director.

One of the hobbies Ken took-up after graduation was flying. “I am a private pilot and can often be found in the friendly skies buzzing around in a Cessna 172 or 182—hey, there is no speed limit up there,” he said. ❖

Homecoming Tailgate Party—Support UWF Athletics A wonderful group of alumni, family and friends came out to the Annual Homecoming Tailgate Party to support UWF athletics Oct. 23. UWF’s men’s soccer team was defeated 5 – 0 by William Carey University. The same evening, UWF’s women’s soccer shut out University of North Alabama 4 – 0, leaving their record undefeated for the season and maintaining their No. 1 national ranking.

The new face of Argonaut athletics is here! Read

more on back cover.

Ken Pathak

UWFCONNECTION12

71Robert Harriman, MEd educational leader-ship; ’79, BA Psychology, was recognized by the UWF College of Business. Harriman has helped create a service-oriented culture of excellence among employees at Baptist Health Care. He is committed to providing the highest level of customer service and satisfaction, best technol-ogy and superior quality health care for patients and families.

74Chales L. Hoffman, BA accounting, was one of 14 Northwest Florida attorneys recognized as 2009 “Florida Legal Elite” in Florida Trend magazine this summer.

Sandra Rush, BA elementary education; MEd educational leadership, ’91, accepted the posi-tion of Warrington Middle School principal. Montclair was previously the principal of Mont-clair Elementary School. While at Montclair, Rush demonstrated leadership by bringing the school from an “F” ranking to an “A” ranking school.

75 Ann Smith, BS health, leisure, and sports; BA elementary education, ’81; MA elementary edu-cation, ’84, Became the principal of Semmes Elementary. Smith lives in Gulf Breeze and was previously the principal of Weis Elementary.

79Deborah Malishan, MEd, became the princi-pal of Montclair after having served as the dis-trict director of elementary education. Malishan lives in Pensacola.

81Phillip Wright, BS management became CEO of Santa Rosa Medical Center in Milton.

82Michael Nelson, BS management, accepted the position of executive vice president for the National Association of Enrolled Agents in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 1. The NAEA is a professional society of tax preparers qualified to represent taxpayers before the IRS.

83 James Broughton, BS business teacher educa-tion, Med, ’97 took the position of assistant principal at Bellview Elementary. Broughton, who lives in Gulf Breeze, was previously the as-sistant principal at Myrtle Grove Elementary.

84Barbara Quarells, BA special education; MA special education, ’92; EdS, ’00; EdD, ‘05, became the assistant principal of Blue Angel Elementary. Quarells lives in Pensacola.

85Paula Woodham, MEd, accepted the posi-tion of assistant principal at West Pensacola Elementary. Woodham, who was previously the assistant principal of Bellview Elementary, is currently living in Pensacola.

87Linda Maletsidis, MA elementary education; MEd, ’93, took the position of district director of elementary education. Maletsidis lives in Pen-sacola and was the principal of Pleasant Grove Elementary before taking her new position.

88Wilson Taylor, BS health, leisure and sports; Med educational leadership, ’99, was selected to serve as assistant principal at the first turn-about school in the Escambia County School District—Warrington Middle.

89Terrence Harris, BS health, leisure and sports, has been hired as the new basketball coach of his alma mater, Pensacola High School. Ter-rence has also coached basketball at Pensacola Junior College and Washington High School. Terrence lives in Pensacola.

Pamela Mullen, BA special education, MEd, ’01, became the principal of Pleasant Grove Elementary. Mullen, who lives in Pensacola, was previously the assistant principal of Cordova Park Elementary.

91Brenda Gillen, BA communication arts, launched Writing Matters, LLC, a service to provide writing, editing and proofreading ser-vices. Gillen was previously a managing editor at the University of Denver, where she earned a master’s degree in 2006.

95Dana (Miller) Tougas, BSBA finance, married John Tougas on March 28, 2009, in Pensacola. Dana Tougas works for Hewlett Packard in Atlanta. The couple lives in Athens, Ga.

96Connie Farish, EdS, became principal at Weis Elementary after having served as district con-tinuous improvement model coordinator. Farish lives in Cantonment.

97Alana Synhoff, BS marine biology, was ac-cepted to the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine program beginning fall 2009.

c lass notes . . .

02 Karen Szulczewski, BA communication arts, was recognized at the Northwest Florida Public Relations Association Image Award Ceremony for her work on a BBB Foundation campaign: “To support your BBB’s vision of an ethical marketplace.” Szulczewski earned the professional designation of Accredited in Public Relations by successfully completing the Examina-tion for Accreditation in Public Relations. Szulczewski serves as president of the Pensacola Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association and as a member of the Northwest Florida Financial Crimes Task Force.

02 Jaimie Woodard Crawley, BA com-munication arts, and her husband welcomed home their daughter, Caden Journey Crawley, Oct. 18. The family lives in Milton.

13 FALL2009

98Charlene Fearon, BS marine biology; MEd middle-level education, ’01, was named the re-cipient of the 2009 National Marine Educators Association’s Outstanding Teacher Award.

Alex Gorecki, MBA and Kristi (Mattson) Gorecki, MBA have formed Gorecki Business Services, LLC, a marketing and business devel-opment consulting firm. Alex Gorecki is also vice president of business development of Clini-cal Colleagues, which provides hospital-based anesthesiology management services nationwide.

Regina Lipnick, MS health, leisure and sports; EdS, ’04, became the assistant principal of Ferry Pass Middle. Lipnick lives in Milton.

99Erin Burris Berg, BA English, married John Berg on May 29. Berg is attending her last year of law school at Jones School of Law. She is a law clerk at Dan Stewart and is currently living in Virginia.

00Julian Hebert, BS computer science, was recently issued a second patent from the United States Patent Office. Herbert is currently employed with the Department of Defense as a lead scientist with the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Va.

01 Matt Knowles, BS health, leisure and sports, re-ceived a MA degree from UAB in Birmingham. Knowles is employed at Samford University as an athletic trainer. He married Alicia Davis on July 25, 2009.

Jonathan Warren, BS finance and account-ing, joined Lauer & Associates as an estate and retirement planning specialist. Warren is a certi-fied financial planner.

02Betsy Huhn, BS health, leisure and sports, was promoted to recreation supervisor for the City of Pensacola Parks and Recreation Department. Huhn is responsible for planning, organizing, scheduling and supervising the activities of Gull Point Community Center.

05Pamela Broughton, BS management, has been named director of Malena’s Mini School as its first Appleseed Preschool Teacher of the Year. The reward was given by a nonprofit known as Every Child a Reader in Escambia. Broughton lives in Cantonment and has been involved with Malena’s for three years.

Jacob Jordan, BS health, leisure and exercise science, married Heather Riley, BS account-ing ’09, on July 11 in Milton. Jacob currently teaches physical education at Jay Elementary in Jay. Heather works for Joshua C. Durst Ac-counting.

Eva Papastratides, BA criminal justice; MS health education ’08, lives in France where she works for Interpol.

Lindsay Pieler, BA communication arts, joined E.W. Bullock Associates as a public relations coordinator and administrative assistant. Pieler’s responsibilities include developing public rela-tions strategies, event planning, copywriting, social media for agency clients. She currently lives in Pensacola.

06Kendra Dezarn, BA communication arts, has been named campaign director for United Way of Santa Rosa County. Dezarn lives in Milton and currently serves on the board of Santa Rosa Young Professionals in addition to being an active volunteer.

Laura Hatton, BS accounting, earned the des-ignation of certified public accountant. Hatton lives in Cantonment.

Jessica Retherford, BS vocational education, married Jonathan Fillingim on July 25, 2009. Retherford is currently employed as a teacher at Pace High School.

07Joseph Edge, BA Philosophy, completed U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Com-mand, Great Lakes, Ill. During the eight-week program, Edge completed a variety of training which included classroom study and practical instruction on naval customs, first aid, firefight-ing, water safety and survival, and shipboard and aircraft safety. An emphasis was also placed on physical fitness.

c lass notes . . . 70 Joe Moore, has been named co-president of the International Thriller Writers by the organization’s board of directors. Moore is an international bestselling author whose novels have been translated into 23 languages. Moore is married to UWF alumni Carol Hensel Moore ’70, BA elementary education. He writes full time from their home in South Florida. His most popular body of work, the Cotten Stone Thriller series which he co-authored with Lynn Sholes, has received accolades from critics and fans from around the world. The Grail Conspiracy, the first of the four books in the series, was named Book of the Year by “ForeWord Magazine.” Moore describes their books as high concept apocalyptic thrillers with a big dose of the supernatural thrown in. He and Sholes recently completed their fifth novel together, The Phoenix Apostles-the first thriller in a new series.

07 Tonya (Rasor) Nascimento, MA mental health counseling, married Eber Nascimento June 20, 2009, in Niceville. Nascimento is pursuing her doctorate in sport psychology at Florida State University. Her husband is the owner of True Way Construction, which specializes in tiling, wood floors and roofing. The couple lives in Niceville.

90 Jaime Richards, BA criminal justice, a Pensacola native and magna cum laude graduate of UWF, was recently named Eleventh Circuit survey editor of the Mercer Law Review Editorial Board for the 2009-2010 year. Richards is a member of the 2010 class of the Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law, a top 100 law school with the nation’s leading legal writing program.

08Malcolm (Mike) Cornell, BS business admin-istration, married Nichole Good on June 13, 2009.

Jim Henderson, MS administration, senior vice president of Career and Technical Education for the Louisiana Community and Technical Col-lege System, was chosen as the new chancellor for Bossier Parish Community College.

Rachel Phillips, BA mathematics, married Blaine Wisdom on July 25. Phillips lives in Milton.

Kisron Niles, BS engineering technology, joined Missile Defense Agency contractor Mil-lennium Engineering and Integration located in Colorado Springs, Colo., as a systems adminis-trator. Niles, who started working on a master’s degree in electrical engineering this fall, was also approved for “interim secret clearance.”

Gissella Sotelo, BA criminal justice, was accepted in the Walden University nonprofit management master’s program and also was accepted into the Peace Corps.

In Memoriam

69Helen Gardner, BA elementary education, died June 14. Gardner taught at Gulf Breeze Elementary School for six and a half years and at an American school in Libya, Africa. Gardner lived in Gulf Breeze and was a volunteer at Gulf Breeze Hospital and Samaritan Hands.

70Woodrow Herring, MBA, died June 12. Her-ring worked as a sales associate and later as a member of management for a heater and air conditioner company. He was also the co-founder of Energy Systems which was estab-lished in 1982.

72Charles Sheppard, BS health, leisure and sports, died in July in Ocala.

76Pat Van Brussel, BA Psychology, died in August 2007 after a long struggle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

85Sara Whitehead, MA special education, died May 4. Whitehead was a member of the League of Women Voters, the West Florida Canoe and Kayak Club, and the Florida Trail Associa-tion. She was a lifelong Democrat with a firm commitment to equal rights and opportunities for all.

89Daniel Everman, BA systems science, died June 6. Everman was a computer programmer, web designer and a software engineer. He also wrote instructional manuals for computer programs and was a member of Unity of Pensacola.

91Jennifer Pilley, BA Mathematics, died Sept. 10. She worked for Verizon. She is survived by her husband, Brad, two daughters, Ashleigh and Haley Pilley.

92Roger Fry, BS industrial technology, died June 27. Fry served in the U.S. Air Force for 16 years. After retiring from the Air Force, Fry owned and operated Prestige Pavers.

00Joyce Aldridge, BA interdisciplinary humani-ties, died July 21. Aldridge, a former UWF staff member, lived in Pensacola.

03Deryl Lynette McQueen, BA interdisciplinary social sciences, died July 26 in Pensacola.

07Jennifer Joy Gisel, BA psychology, died May 16. Gisel was employed as a counselor at Twelve Oaks rehabilitation center in Navarre.

Estate Gifts—Since July 1, 2004, numerous alumni and friends have notified UWF that the university is included in their estate plan. These generous individuals are making plans to endow scholarships, enhance facilities and strengthen programs. If you have included UWF in your estate plan, or if you need information on estate planning, contact Martha Lee Blodgett, director of Development, at (850) 474-2712 or e-mail mblodget@uwf.edu.

Going Green... continued from page 9If you’ve ever been asked “Paper or plastic?” at the checkout, you can appreciate the complex-ity. Paper bags require tree cutting and use four times as much energy to produce as plastic. Plastic bags will populate landfills for up to 1,000 years and also harm marine animals that mistake them for food. Now there’s a better solution. Reusable bags (many made from recycled plastics) are in vogue.

The first Earth Day occurred on April 22, 1970. We’ve been slowly turning green ever since. Learning more, changing our strate-gies, doing more. We’ve learned for one thing that it’s not that easy being green, but as Kermit also taught us at the time, it is what we should aspire to be. ❖

Class Notes

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90 Bill Cleary, MBA, vice president and director of client relations at Landrum Professional Employer Services, was appointed as a board member for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Florida agency. His term as a board member is three years. As a board member, Cleary will help ensure the agency’s compliance with established polices, budget guidelines, and the development of strategies to help BBBS serve more Northwest Florida children. BBBS board members serve as ambassadors for the agency and will represent the mission and the issues facing children and youth. Cleary also has a personal mission he hopes to accomplish during his term. “I want to help the organization reach its goal of making 1,000 “matches” between adults and the kids that are waiting for someone to care about them,” he said.

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Imagine the benefit of enabling students to immerse themselves in a 3-D virtual reality world to excite and engage them in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

What about the opportunity to view science on display through glass-walled laboratories and testing facilities? How about boosting student engagement through interdisciplinary and collaborative learning? The University of West Florida is answering these questions and many more with the grand

opening of the new School of Science and Engineering in February 2010, a celebration worthy of the entire Northwest Florida community.

The school will initially focus on academic disciplines that will contribute to a strong pre-engineering sequence. Those programs include computer science, computer information science, electrical engineering, computer engineering, mathematics and statistics, physics and software engineering. The interdisciplinary approach to the curriculum will stress collaborative learning and integrated problem solving with projects that range from

robotics and gaming to cyber security and energy independence.

S C H O O L O F S C I E N C E A N DE N G I N E E R I N G G R A N D O P E N I N G

F E B R UA RY 4 A N D 5 , 2 0 1 0

G R A N D O P E N I N G E V E N T S :

~ Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

~ Building Tours

~ Technology Expo (UWF Conference Center)

~ Breakout Sessions with UWF Alumni/ Industry Experts (SSE auditorium)

~ Alumni Reception

~ Engineering Week Banquet—Annual celebration of the engineering profession throughout North- west Florida and is hosted by IEEE, SWE, and FES. (Ticketed event held in UWF Conference Center)

All events located at the School of Science and Engineering (SSE) unless listed otherwise. For more information or to receive an invitation, visit uwf.edu/sse/alumni or contact Gretchen VanValkenburg at gvalkenb@uwf.edu.

~ Donor Gala—Ticketed event, with proceeds benefiting the School of Science and Engineering.

~ Featured Speaker—Peter Diamandis, Founder of the X Prize Foundation. (Free and open to the public, UWF Field House)

The X Prize Foundation offers a big cash prize for a specific accomplishment, stimulates competition and excitement around some of the planet’s most important goals. Peter’s background is in space exploration—before the X Prize, he ran a company that studied low-cost launching technologies and another company that took civilians on rides into the up-per atmosphere. Although the X Prize’s first $10 million went to a space-themed challenge, Peter’s goal now is to extend the prize into health care, social policy, education and many other fields that could use a dose of competitive innovation.

February 4, 2010 February 5, 2010

Grand opening featured speaker Peter Diamandis(on right) with Steven Hawking in a zero gravity flight.

Non-profitOrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 183Pensacola, FL

University of West Florida11000 University ParkwayPensacola, FL 32514

UWF New Athletics Logo Unveiled The University of West Florida has a new look! The new face of Argonaut Athletics was revealed over the summer. The new marks were designed by

Rickabaugh Graphics with input from university staff. The committee involved in the design process was formed by selected members of

the Athletic Department and University Marketing Communica-tions. “As we’ve taken positive steps to advance Argonaut

Athletics,” said UWF Athletic Director Dave Scott, “it only seems appropriate that we develop a more progressive image for the future.”

UWF has contracted with Strategic Marketing Associates to license all UWF logos, and SMA is responsible for releasing the new marks to licensees across the nation, which will then distribute the merchandise to additional retail outlets. Visit the UWF Bookstore to purchase new merchandise. Show your Argo Pride!

This issue of Connection is being distributedelectronically and is being printed with soy inkson paper certified by the Forest Stewardship

Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.