Flagler College is one of 27 NCAA Division II member institutions to be honored as part of the Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence for achieving a four-year Academic Success Rates of 90 percent or higher. This is the eighth year of the program.

Flagler College will hold its fall commencement ceremony Saturday, Dec. 15, for graduating seniors. Approximately 153 students will receive diplomas at the Flagler College Gymnasium.

Just in time for the holidays, historical tours of Flagler College’s Hotel Ponce de Leon will begin to run on the hour, every hour, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. beginning Monday, Dec. 17. The expanded tour schedule will last until Dec. 31.

Flagler College has entered into an agreement with China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU) for faculty and student exchange. The agreement was signed on Monday, Nov. 26 and is effective immediately with programs set to begin in the spring semester of 2019. CFAU is the preeminent university for producing diplomats and foreign affairs and policy specialists in China.

The Crisp-Ellert Art Museum announced its biannual exhibition of work by the graduating Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Arts candidates in the department of art and design. The exhibition will open with a reception for the artists on Thursday, Dec. 13 from 5 until 8 p.m. It will be on view on Friday, Dec. 14 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and on Saturday, Dec.15 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. The opening reception and following showings are free and open to the public.

by Jayda Barnes, '20 Autumn Stanish, ’19, has taken on several projects to understand the circumstances of homelessness in St. Augustine. Stanish, an English major, began by writing a book for her honors program senior capstone project, which detailed anecdotal accounts of living in St. Augustine by members of the city’s homeless community. Under the working title, “Street People: Monologues from the Homeless of St. Augustine,” the book seeks to uncover Stanish’s questions on why homelessness is an issue in St. Augustine and why many people of the homeless community are drawn to St. Augustine as their city of residence.

On Saturday, Dec. 1, all are invited to hear readings from the book series "The Adventures of Charlie Pierce” by Harvey E. Oyer III. The event is free and open to the public starting at 11 a.m. in the Lewis Auditorium with a lecture, meet and greet and book signing.

The Flagler College Women of Vision Advisory Board, whose mission is to provide scholarships and opportunities for women attending the college, has recently welcomed five new members. They are Liz Dolan, Paula Hutson, Barbara Mahoney, Sandy Meeks and Shannon Murray. The newly elected members represent various constituencies, including friends of Flagler College, alumni, donors and community leaders.

The Flagler College winter concert will take place on Monday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. in the Rotunda of the college’s Ponce de Leon Hall, 74 King Street. The performance will include an eclectic mix of holiday music, both sacred and secular.

By Jayda Barnes, ‘20 Peyton Lescher, ’22, recently won the Sing Out Loud Festival “What’s Hot” contest. The Sing Out Loud Festival, a multi-day and multi-venue event in St. Augustine, hosted a competition via app where artists participating in the festival could receive likes on their artist page. With 115 likes, Lescher won the contest, scoring her a performance at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre.

Architectural Digest Magazine has ranked Flagler College seventh on its new list of ‘50 Most Beautiful Colleges in America.’ Tops on the list was Yale University, and the list also included notable campuses like Princeton, Stanford, Georgetown, Notre Dame and many others.

by Jayda Barnes, '20 “The Oldest City Underwater,” a film by Flagler alumna Mallory Hopkins, ’18, was recently accepted to the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) and the St. Augustine Film Festival. The two festivals are managed by the same CEO and festival director, Gregory von Hausch. The film explores the realities of sea level rise in St. Augustine, Fla.

For one group of students in Professor Tracey Eaton’s Advanced Reporting class, today is like their final exams. The process of reflection begins tomorrow as students evaluate and reflect on their performance with their project.

On Nov. 13, several members of the Flagler College faculty will discuss the impact of World War I. The discussion and panel, titled “100 Years After the Armistice: Evaluating the Transnational Legacy of the First World War” is part of the Flagler College chapter of Phi Alpha Theta’s outreach programming.

On Nov. 1, 1993 at 6:59 a.m., the Flagler College radio station, WFCF 88.5, broadcasted over the radio waves for the first time. This year on Nov. 1, WFCF celebrated its 25th anniversary with a block party with Flagler College students, faculty and staff. Alongside the radio, the station’s manager, Dan McCook, also celebrated his 25 years with the college.

On Friday, Oct. 26 the Colloquium on Culture and Religion in La Florida began with a Tibesar Lecture from Dr. John Worth of the University of West Florida. His presentation was titled, “Exploring the Franciscan Legacy in Spanish Florida: Historical and Archaeological Evidence.”

The Flagler College department of art and design has announced a 24-hour “Designathon” to begin Friday, November 16 at 5 p.m. Event organizers are planning for it to become an annual fixture on the calendar for local nonprofits to have their design needs realized.

The Flagler College School of Creative Arts and Letters is sponsoring the production of “The Witness” performed by Lee Weaver on Wednesday, Nov. 14 and Thursday, Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the Flagler College Lewis Auditorium.

More than 300 Flagler College students, faculty, staff and alumni participated on Saturday, Oct. 27 for a day of community service. The Reach Out Raise Up event is student-organized each semester by Flagler College Volunteers (FCV).

Elaine Povich, senior staff writer for Pew Trusts’ Stateline news service, will be speaking at Flagler College in the Lewis Auditorium on Tuesday, Nov. 13 on state powers. Her talk, titled "“The Return of the Federalist: The Power of States in the Obama and Trump Eras,” is part of Flagler College’s Forum on Government and Public Policy series.