New student organization F-STEAM is gaining steam on campus despite the pandemic. President and founder Kyle Clarke recently announced the new academic club on radio show and podcast Flagler Footnotes with host Tonya Creamer. The acronym stands for Flagler College Science, Technology, Entrepreneurship, Arts and Mathematics. The club’s advisor is Professor and Dean of the School of Business, Education and Mathematics Kurt Sebastian.

On Election Night, Tuesday, Nov. 3, Associate Professor of Political Science and Dean of Academic Life Art Vanden Houten will appear on Action News Jax to lend insight on the election during the station’s live election night coverage. Vanden Houten has already appeared once this election season and will again appear the morning after the election for analysis and breakdown of results.

Some Flagler alums are seizing the moment we’re in to start their passion projects, businesses and nonprofits. We’ve asked a few of them to share about various aspects of their journey.

Beginning on Oct. 6, the Office of Institutional Advancement hosted the LEAD Fund “Putting for a Cause” event at the Royal St. Augustine putting greens. The event unfolded over a period of three days and raised scholarship funds for future Flagler students. Elite Putters Club co-hosted.

On Sept. 16, the Office of Institutional Advancement hosted a hybrid model meeting to introduce Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences Melissa Southwell, along with other science faculty, to the new Science Advisory Board. Those in attendance included representatives from Northrop Grumman, NASA, Gwanda, Bayfront Marine, LAN Associates, Carter Environmental Services, North Florida Land Trust and St. Johns River Water Management District, as well as a tech company, dentist, radiologists and environmental consultants.

The Flagler College Department of Visual and Performing Arts presents “The Wolves” on Oct. 29 and 30 at 7:30 p.m. The fall production is being live-streamed. “Admission” is $10 on the college’s ticketing site at tickets.flagler.edu.

The WFCF Endowment Fund was established to supplement the budgetary needs of WFCF Flagler College Radio 88.5FM “Radio with a reason.”

The Crisp-Ellert Art Museum (CEAM) and Flagler College welcome Elisa Harkins to the CEAM Artist Residency Nov. 9 – 21. As a part of her residency, Harkins will travel to St. Augustine along with her collaborator, the musician and activist Marcus “Quese IMC” Frejo, and both will engage with campus and the community in a variety of ways. Harkins will give a virtual performance on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 5 p.m., and Quese IMC will perform virtually on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 1 p.m. Both of these events, co-hosted by the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Art at Florida International University in Miami, are free and open to the public.

Flagler College Archives and Special Collections, along with the Lightner Museum present “Meet the Collections and Curators: Our Remembrance of the 75th Anniversary of World War Two” on Friday, November 6, 2020 from 1-7 p.m. at the Lightner Museum.

Local group Historic St. Augustine Research Institute (HSARI) recently awarded their annual William L. Proctor award of $1,000 to Dr. Susan Parker for her work “Oldest City: the History of Saint Augustine” (St. Augustine Historical Society, 2019) for its engaging fundamental survey work on St. Augustine’s story. HSARI hosts this juried award competition for writing focused in the areas of history, archaeology and historic architecture related to St. Augustine.

The Crisp-Ellert Art Museum (CEAM) and Flagler College welcome Sasha Wortzel as the CEAM Artist-in-Residence from Oct. 5-15, rescheduled from last spring. During her visit she will engage with Flagler College students, faculty, staff, and the St. Augustine community through virtual class visits and visits to local historical sites.

Flagler College honored its highest achieving students from the Spring 2020 academic semester with mailed certificates of achievement and a special letter. Both Dean’s List and President’s List were recognized; President’s List is the highest recognition awarding those who’ve achieved a 4.0 grade point average with at least 12 hours of graded credit.

The Flagler Office of Business Services started a project in 2017 to begin implementing safety measures in high-traffic areas of campus, which includes the addition of two pedestrian crosswalk signs with blinking light indicators.

In conjunction with our current exhibition "The Nameless Now: NEFL Artists Respond," on view from Sept. 4 through Oct. 24, 2020, the Crisp-Ellert Art Museum will co-host a panel discussion with Flagler College’s Black Student Association on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 5 p.m. in Flagler College’s Auditorium. The in-person portion of the event is limited to Flagler College students, staff, and faculty, while a virtual attendance option is available for everyone.

Flagler College was ranked fourth in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 Best Colleges guide for the Best Regional Colleges in the South. Flagler was also featured as thirteenth on the Best Value list in the south regional colleges category, as well as fourth for colleges in the south with a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching and second for “Most Innovative Schools” among southern colleges. For the first time, Flagler was ranked in the “Top Performers on Social Mobility” category, placing 26th.

The annual Flagler College/WW Gay Mechanical Contractors President’s Golf Classic presented by Ameris Bank will be Friday, Nov. 6 at King & Bear at the World Golf Village.

During a summer meeting of the Flagler College Board of Trustees, the Trustees conferred upon Dr. Susan Strauss, the title of Professor Emerita, effective immediately. Strauss retired after the completion of the 2019-2020 academic year after 20 years in education at Flagler College Tallahassee, of which she joined the faculty in its inaugural year.

Alumna Katie Garwood has brought home another award from her time at Flagler’s student newspaper. She was awarded third place in the “Best Feature Story” category for the college division for the Society of Professional Journalists.

From the safety and comfort of your own home, you can now explore the former Hotel Ponce de Leon virtually. The current home of Flagler College, the former luxury hotel famed for its Tiffany Windows, ornate murals and Spanish-Renaissance architecture, is closed to visitors in an abundance of caution during the pandemic.

The Princeton Review’s newest guidebook, “The Best 386 Colleges,” has again included Flagler College among the best American four-year schools. Flagler has also been included in the “Best Southeastern” colleges category.