USFSM to join upcoming Giving Challenge

Each year, USFSM joins hundreds of local charitable organizations in the noon-to-noon fundraising blitz. For this year’s event, Student Ambassadors will set up a command post on campus to track donations and send out messages of gratitude through social media. Donations will go toward scholarships.

Additionally, ambassadors accompanied by Rocky will fan out across the region to visit donors and rally support.

“This is a great opportunity to show your appreciation for local students in the form of a tax deductible donation to our campus through the USF Foundation,” USFSM Regional Chancellor Karen Holbrook said. “The funds raised during this event will pay for college scholarships, and each contribution we receive has the potential to double, or grow even higher, through generous matching donations. That means even a small contribution can make a big difference in someone’s life.”

Since 2012, Giving Challenge donors have provided more than $28 million in unrestricted funding to nonprofit organizations in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and Desoto counties.

The last Giving Challenge in September 2016 raised more than $13.4 million – the most ever – for 559 local nonprofits, including USFSM. The campus received $6,825 in direct contributions, but that amount jumped to $18,775 because of generous matching grants from The Patterson Foundation and the First Generation Matching Grant Program.

For the 2018 Giving Challenge, The Patterson Foundation has committed to a 1:1 match for all unique donations — up to $100 per donor, per organization. On top of that, contributions designated to USFSM students who are the first in their family to attend college will be matched 2:1 by the First Generation Matching Grant Program. That means a $100 contribution can become a $600 contribution.

The Giving Challenge is presented by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County with giving strengthened by The Patterson Foundation. Additional support comes from the Manatee Community Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, William G. and Marie Selby Foundation and the Herald-Tribune Media Group.

For more information about the 2018 Giving Challenge, visit givingpartnerchallenge.org.

Arts-integrated teaching symposium set mid-May

Teachers and future teachers will benefit from an arts-integrated teaching symposium May 18-19 at USF Sarasota-Manatee.

This free conference, sponsored by the Florida Center for Partnerships for Arts-integrated Teaching (PAInT), will feature workshops to help educators create arts-integrated strategies, develop partnerships with arts organizations, design collaborative lesson plans and use arts integration to build community.

Guest speakers include A. Hasan Davis and Jeanette McCune. Davis, a motivational speaker, is the author of Written Off: How One Man’s Journey through Poverty, Disability and Delinquency is Transforming the Juvenile Justice System. McCune is the director of school and community programs at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Other speakers include Dr. Helene Robinson of USFSM; Kelli Maldonado, director of education and community engagement at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall; Karen Bell, outreach and education manager, the Circus Arts Conservatory; and Dr. Denise Davis-Cotton, coordinator of the Florida Center for Partnerships for Arts-integrated Teaching (PAInT).

The conference will be held at USFSM’s Selby Auditorium, 8350 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota.

For more information or to register, visit http://bit.ly/aisymposium.

USFSM Regional Chancellor to discuss region’s biotech future

USF Sarasota-Manatee Regional Chancellor Dr. Karen Holbrook will discuss her vision for scientific research in the region during a meeting Wednesday, May 16, of the Sarasota-Bradenton chapter of BioFlorida.

Dr. Holbrook, who has a strong history in the life sciences, will speak at about 6:15 p.m. She is expected to discuss the future of the region’s life sciences industry as well as USFSM’s plans to develop a science and research building with teaching laboratories, research labs and classrooms. Afterward, Dr. Holbrook will answer audience members’ questions.

Jason Gaskill, the chapter’s business co-chair, will offer opening remarks. Nancy K. Bryan, president and CEO of BioFlorida, will provide closing remarks.

BioFlorida represents 6,000 establishments and research organizations in the biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical technology (devices and diagnostics), health IT and bioagriculture sectors that collectively employ nearly 83,000 Floridians.

The meeting is scheduled May 16 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at USFSM’s Selby Auditorium, 8350 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Registration is $45 for non-members, $25 for members and $15 for students.

To register, visit bioflorida.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1094362&group=.

For more information, visit bioflorida.com.

USFSM business students inducted into honor society

Twenty-five USF Sarasota-Manatee students – the largest group yet – were formally received last week into the nation’s top honor society for business students.

In a brief ceremony Thursday at USFSM’s Selby Auditorium, the students were presented certificates and a pin signifying their acceptance into Beta Gamma Sigma.

“This is the honor society for business students. Anyone who’s been in business will recognize the significance of membership in BGS,” College of Business Dean James Curran told the students as he urged them to include their Beta Gamma Sigma membership on their resumes.

The nation’s elite honor society for business students, BGS dates to 1913 and is recognized with chapters worldwide. Only 10 percent of business students nationally are invited to join the elite organization.

Senior Sara Scherer said she was thrilled to join and planned to include her membership on her resume when she graduates this summer.

“It’s exciting and a great honor to be a part of this society,” she said. “It signifies excellence in business education, and it’s nice to be recognized for all your hard work.”

Likewise, graduate student Ildiko Nyeste said she was pleased at her new membership in BGS.

“It’s a great honor. It validates the work I’ve done,” said Nyeste, who brought her teenage son to the induction ceremony. “I thought I would teach him by example.”

Three others received honorary inductions for accomplishments in business and support of USFSM: Tracy O’Neill, a USFSM alum and Chief Administrative Officer at CPA firm Kerkering Barberio & Co., and Steven Roskamp of Freedom Senior Management, were both received into the BGS chapter. Bob Bartz, former president of the Manatee County Chamber of Commerce, was posthumously inducted.

In addition to Scherer and Nyeste, also admitted into BGS were:

Undergraduate students

Christina Ballard

Rosa Castro

Ydelmis Cutino

Miriam Dougherty

Sarah Jongsma

Constanza Lanata

Callisa Mickle

Stephenie Odierno

Geri Salomon

Sara Scherer

Donna Smith

Jennifer Trotter

Nicole Wiecek

Graduate students

Kristina Bacheva

Evan Barniskis

Stephanie Chen

Hasena “Stacy” Dukhi

John Holdway

Lisa Hughes

James McClure

Amanda Means

Ildiko Nyeste

Tyler Wilcox

Bledar “Ben” Yzeiri

Cara Zambella

Prof. Lipscomb elected treasurer of aging studies association

Dr. Valerie Barnes Lipscomb, associate professor of English at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, has been elected Treasurer of the North American Network in Aging Studies (NANAS), an international professional organization. As treasurer, Dr. Lipscomb will oversee the group’s finances and budgets and advise the Membership Committee.

NANAS encourages interdisciplinary inquiry not into the medicalization of growing older, but into what it means to grow older, said Lipscomb. The organization has attracted individual and institutional members from the United States, Canada and Europe.

According to the group’s website, NANAS’s mission is to “facilitate sustainable interdisciplinary collaborations and methodologies that bridge the medical and social sciences and the humanities, supporting research that increases understandings of the cultural meanings of the aging processes across the lifespan in order to challenge stereotypes and provide creative approaches that improve the health, care, and quality of life for people aging into old age.”

A USFSM faculty member since 2006, Lipscomb focuses her scholarly inquiry on age studies. Among her publications is a monograph, Performing Age in Modern Drama, published in 2016 by Palgrave Macmillan, which also published a volume she co-edited, Staging Age: The Performance of Age in Theatre, Dance, and Film (2010). Her age-studies work also appears in a variety of international academic journals. Lipscomb also serves on the Executive Committee of the Modern Language Association Age Studies Forum.

Dean Moreo co-authors article on hotel managers’ job satisfaction

Congratulations to Dr. Patrick Moreo on the publication last week of his article “Hotel managers’ job satisfaction: Is control more important than structure?” published by the Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality and Tourism (April 2018).

Dr. Moreo, dean of USFSM’s College of Hospitality & Tourism Leadership, co-authored the article along with Lisa Moll and Nadia Nazlan.

The article examines the relationship between hotel managers’ job satisfaction, their individual locus of control (LOC) and their perceptions of the organizational structure in which they work. It also explored the relationship between LOC, organizational structure and certain demographic variables.

Finally, the authors provided recommendations on the types of candidates hotels should hire and how employees should be managed after they’ve been hired.

Gentry, Szempruch volunteer at CMTA symposium

Kudos to Sarah Gentry and Jessica Szempruch for assisting at the recent Tampa Bay Area CMTA Branch mini-conference at St. Anthony’s Hospital in St. Petersburg. The conference featured two speakers and drew more than 100 attendees. Gentry, an instructional media technologist at USFSM, and Szempruch, a library specialist, welcomed attendees, facilitated registration and provided technical support.

USF Health sponsors the Rare Disease Clinical Research Network, which includes a patient contact registry (genetic information) for all Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) patients. Currently, two USF faculty members conduct research on CMT disease.

CMT disease afflicts the nervous system and is characterized by the gradual loss of muscle tissue and touch sensation over areas of the body. The Tampa Bay Area CMTA Branch shares resources, ideas, CMT-related information and personal experiences to build life-long friendships and support. Learn more at www.cmtausa.org.

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