With this fall’s Senior Conservatory theme of “Decades,” Flagler College Theatre Arts students are preparing to showcase their talents through personal accounts from the 1980s, tackling the topic of the New Millennium or overcoming obstacles millennials face.

Flagler College will be hosting its eighth annual Flagler Creates! festival, featuring handmade items by the college’s students, faculty, staff and alumni on Saturday, Nov. 18. A portion of proceeds from participant donations will help finance student scholarships through the Flagler College Annual Fund. More than $6,000 has been donated to the fund since the event started in 2010.

Flagler College dedicated its newest residence hall in honor of former President William T. Abare, Jr. on Oct. 25 with a ribbon cutting. The building, named Abare Hall, is part of a $23 million complex on Malaga Street adjacent to the FEC Residence Halls on the banks of St. Augustine’s San Sebastian River. It houses 159 students in 75 suites.

This October marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of St. Augustine’s most beloved “plein air” painters, Emmett Fritz.

Flagler professor Dr. Kelly Enright was recently featured on a BBC Radio program that explored the history of the relationship between man and the water-loving rhinoceros.

Flagler College Theatre Arts students will be performing a staged concert production of the heartwarming holiday classic “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” from Nov. 15 to 19 in Lewis Auditorium.

The Flagler College Writers-in-Residence series kicks-off its annual talks with a visit by Cary Holladay, the author of seven volumes of fiction. Holladay will read from her latest work, "Horse People: Stories," on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 6:30 p.m. in the college's Markland House. The event is free and open to the public.

Flagler College recently welcomed Dr. Jessica Stowell as the college’s new director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness. As director, Stowell will assist academic departments with evaluation and assessment and provide support for program reviews, accreditation visits and reporting to government and other external agencies.

The “Spotlight” series offers a glimpse into the lives of those who work behind the scenes to provide an enriching experience for Flagler College students. Faculty and staff featured in the series will be included in periodic faculty and staff newsletters.

The annual Flagler College/WW Gay Mechanical Contractors President’s Golf Classic presented by Ameris Bank will be Friday, Nov. 17 at the World Golf Village’s King and Bear Course.

In November, the Crisp-Ellert Art Museum and Flagler College will present an exhibition of recent work by full- and part-time faculty in Flagler College’s Department of Art and Design. The exhibition will open with a reception for the artists in conjunction with Art Walk, on Friday, Nov. 3 from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. The exhibition continues through Dec. 2.

On Nov. 9, Dr. Robert Riggs, associate professor and chair in Religion and Politics at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, will discuss the early foundations of Middle East political tensions by focusing on the competing claims of Jewish, Arab and Turkish nationalists. His presentation, titled "Nationalism, Sectarianism, and Identity Politics in the Middle East: Reconsidering the Legacy of the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916,” is part of Flagler College’s Ideas & Images series.

Super Bowl champion and 1991 national champion Mark Brunell will speak at the Flagler College Crimson & Gold Banquet Thursday, Nov. 16 in the Hotel Ponce de Leon’s elegant dining hall. The event starts at 6 p.m. with a social and a silent auction. The dinner follows at 7 p.m.

On Tuesday, Oct. 17, the Crisp-Ellert Art Museum’s Artist-in-Residence Jamilah Sabur will discuss with Flagler College’s Anthropology Professor Dr. Lori Lee the intricacies of racial inequality, memory and migration, through the relationship of Sabur’s artwork and Lee’s historical, archaeological research. The conversation will take place in the college’s Flagler Room at 7 p.m. An overarching concern within Sabur’s work has been how bodies negotiate their way in space, both in interior spaces and exterior spaces. This theme, and how it relates to relevant social, economic, and environmental justice issues, crops up repeatedly in Sabur’s sculpture, performance and video works.

Flagler College alumna Lorna Bracewell, ’05, has earned a prestigious award for the best feminist political theory paper in the country.

Ben Taub, a staff writer with The New Yorker magazine, will be speaking at Flagler College on Tuesday, Oct. 24 on migrant smuggling across the Sahara and the Mediterranean, jihadism in Europe and Syria and a war crimes investigation into Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad. His talk, titled "Smugglers, Jihadis and Spies: A brief guide to fraught encounters," is part of Flagler College’s Forum on Government and Public Policy series and will be held in Lewis Auditorium.

Before Hurricane Maria struck his home country of Dominica, Flagler student Nickel Cuffy tried to contact his family members, to warn them of the powerful storm charging toward the island nation. But efforts, he said, “were futile.”

The public will have an opportunity to step back in time to view the fashion of Hotel Ponce de Leon guests, on Saturday, Oct. 7, when Flagler College – formerly the luxury hotel – shares its archives in the Flagler Room, once known as the Women’s Grand Parlor Room. The event is free and open to the public and will run from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.

With around 60 student clubs and organizations, Flagler College has to have someone in charge of such groups, and that’s where Kristina Lombardo comes in. Previously the assistant director of Residence Life, Lombardo is the new director of Student Activities. She is the person behind events such as the infamous Harry Potter Week and Flagler Fest, just to name a few. “College is such a crucial time in students’ lives, and I enjoyed my college years so much, so I want to make sure our students enjoy their time as well,” Lombardo said.

On Sept. 11, the morning after Hurricane Irma struck, Paige Armstrong awoke with a sense of déjà vu. The president of Flagler College Volunteers had just lived a similar day less than a year ago when Hurricane Matthew unleashed its fury on St. Augustine. And now, after evacuating to Orlando, she was faced with returning to her community again to help people get back on their feet.