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. 

Maritime archaeologist Dr. James Delgado will reveal the secrets of three underwater shipwrecks discovered in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, Oct.10, as part of Flagler College’s Ideas & Images series. His presentation is titled “Sunk by a Hurricane:  The Discovery and Exploration of Three Deepwater Shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico” and will be held in Lewis Auditorium from 7 p.m.

Two new media artists, a poet and an engineer have collaborated to create a 20-minute mix of live video, text, animation and sound that prompts audiences to consider what experiences are “live” and to reimagine their most familiar selves. The multi-disciplinary performance, by Matt Roberts, Dengke Chen, Terri Witek, alongside sound engineer Amandine Pras, is titled “implement for removing foreign bodies” and will be held at Flagler College’s Crisp-Ellert Art Museum on Friday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m., in conjunction with First Friday Art Walk.

Flagler College has once again been ranked second in U.S. News & World Report’s 2018 Best Colleges guide for the Best Regional Colleges in the South, behind High Point University in North Carolina. This year, the college was also ranked sixth on the Best Value list in the South regional category for offering high-quality programs at an affordable cost. 

Veteran Washington correspondents David Lightman and William G. Douglas will give a talk at Flagler College on Thursday, Oct. 5, on the political conflicts over the federal budget, debt limits, immigration and tax reform, and the impact those conflicts could have on next year’s midterm elections. Their talk, titled “The bumpy road ahead for Congress: A look at the 2018 elections,” is part of Flagler College’s Forum on Government and Public Policy series and will be held in Lewis Auditorium.

Dr. J. Michael Butler, Flagler College’s scholar on race relations in the South, will be a featured author at this year’s Florida Heritage Book Festival on Saturday, Sept. 23. The event, free and open to the public, will be held at Flagler College on Saturday, Sept. 23.

Dear Students, Faculty, Staff, and Flagler Families,

Update on residence halls reopening and classes resuming