Set for June 18, the Start Your Own Business Workshop. The event is open to the public.

SPC’s Associate Professor of Marketing & Entrepreneurship Amy Sauers will lead the workshop. Local entrepreneurs Lou Brown, who owns a Midtown real estate business, and Reuben Pressman, who operates several area tech startups, will make guest appearances.

Participants will be able to learn about the college’s entrepreneurship and business courses.

The workshop runs from 5-7 p.m. in Room 108 at SPC Midtown.

For more information, please contact Marta Przyborowski at 727-341-7973.

The recording features the seven-member group O Som Do Jazz with Rio de Janeiro singer Andrea Moraes Manson and SPC faculty members Alejandro Arenas, Mark Feinman and Austin Vickrey, as well as Manson. The CD was recorded by MIRA graduate Melissa Harris and mixed by Manson and MIRA faculty Dan Hetzel.

The recording explores Brazil’s rich palette of rhythms and styles including Baiao, marcha, Bossa Nova, samba-jazz, chill, samba-funk and MPB. Songs are in Portuguese and English. Audio samples are available.

The group will celebrate the release of the CD at the Side Door at the Palladium Theater at St. Petersburg College on Thursday, June 20.

Among the many participants were community leaders:

• Beth Houghton, Executive Director, St. Pete Free Clinic
• Denise Kerwin, Director of Continuing Education, St. Petersburg College
• Gary Hendrickson, Health Information Technology Professional, Paperfree Free Florida USF Health

Working collaboratively through the morning resulted in a robust strategic plan consisting of 12 goals, assigned with champions, time frames and metrics in the areas of access to care, behavioral health, health promotion and disease prevention, and healthy communities and environments.  The Collaborative Labs accelerated process made this possible in less than half a day.

Follow Collaborative Labs on Facebook or on Twitter with #spcolabs.

SPC is the first state college in Florida to be selected for the award. Other postsecondary recipients in previous years include the University of Florida and the University of Central Florida.

Duke Energy made the announcement on Monday, June 3.

Rather than one 100 kW array, the college decided to install two solar photovoltaic arrays in order to maximize exposure, said Diana Wright, Director of Facilities Services. At the Clearwater Campus, the grant will pay to erect a parking structure upon which a 43 kW array will be installed. At the Seminole Campus, a 57 kW array will be a ground-mounted, free-standing structure.

The new systems will serve as educational and research tools that will also help offset the energy costs of each campus.

“The Facilities department is excited to start construction on a project that will increase community awareness, contribute to the environment through sustainable practices and also increase student exposure to new technology right in our own backyard,” Wright said.

“Duke Energy has a balanced approach to meeting the energy needs of Florida’s consumers in a cost-effective, reliable manner,” Joseph Pietrzak, Senior Program Manager for Duke Energy Florida, said in the letter. “The balanced approach includes energy-efficiency, renewable energy technologies, and state-of-the-art power systems. Through the SunSense program, this 100 kW solar project at St. Petersburg College is playing a key role in our efforts to educate our customers on renewable energy production.”

Duke Energy will award the college up to $515,803 to cover project’s installations and other related educational outreach costs.

Under the leadership of Seminole Campus Provost Dr. Jim Olliver and Business Department Chair Nicolle Panuthos, the collegewide competition provides SPC students an avenue to hone their entrepreneurial talents, sharpen their business acumen and enhance their presentation skills. Some of the college’s most innovative students vie for awards of $10,000 as they pitch their business concepts before a live audience and a panel of judges who select the top presenters and make the awards.

In preparation for the competition, students attend classes in the College of Business Entrepreneurship program where they learn to prepare competitive business plans. Along the way, they receive coaching and mentoring from college faculty, staff and community entrepreneurs.

“We are deeply grateful to the Silverberg Family Foundation for their support of what we feel will soon be the premier entrepreneurship development program in the area. The Silverberg Grant will provide our student entrepreneurs with the encouragement and support to develop the best new business plans,” Olliver said.

“The proposals received from our faculty covered a wide range of subjects and disciplines,” said Frances Neu, SPC VP of Advancement and Foundation Executive Director. “Given the caliber of the proposals, the Silverberg family had a very difficult choice to make.”

The annual Silverberg Endowment Grant was first awarded in 1982 and provides up to $5000 to help support, enhance, enrich and develop programs that benefit SPC, its students and the local community. The Business Plan and Elevator Pitch Competition will be held in April 2014 on the college’s Seminole Campus.

“Nearly 60 percent of black male students attending college for the first time successfully completed their courses — up from 42 percent the previous year,” the article reported. “For Hispanic male students new to college, the success rate jumped from 53 percent to nearly 70 percent.”

“We have transitioned ourselves to a student-centered college. We have changed,” said Tonjua Williams, the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs.

“I think the attention to good practice, to fully executed good practice, had waned,” said SPC President Bill Law, who joined the college in 2010. “When I got here, they said every new student goes through orientation. It’s online. I don’t know what the record is for how fast you can click through something, since there’s no right or wrong answers, but that’s what was sufficing for orientation. That’s not a good practice.”

Participants will receive training in Citrix VDI-in-a-box software, a new generation of software to create virtual desktops users can access from any location.

The event, from June 17 -21, is being held in partnership with Florida State College at Jacksonville and Countryside and Gibbs high schools. Up to 20 high school students, who pre-registered for the event, will be participating.

SPC also has purchased the server hardware to begin offering virtualization courses in upcoming semesters. New courses offered will be:

• the EMC Information, Storage, and Management (ISM) course
• the VMware VSphere Install, Configure, Manage5.1 course

These are the industry standard introductory courses to cloud computing and desktop/server virtualization. Both courses will be offered fully online using NDGs NetLAB+ appliance.

For more updates on SPC’s College of Computer & Information Technology, read The CCIT Bulletin.

Join St. Petersburg College at an information session on Wednesday, June 12, 5:30-6:30 p.m. for the Educator Preparation Institute (EPI) – a one-year professional teacher certification program for professionals with a bachelor’s degree or higher.

SPC’s state-approved Educator Preparation Institute is a sequential, three-semester program leading to Florida Professional Certification. The Institute is primarily for students with a non-education bachelor’s degree or higher who want to become Florida certified teachers.

This session will be held at the Clearwater Campus in the (ES) building room 104. Financial Aid now available. Please RSVP online or call 727-791-2521 for more information.

Check out menus and information about the company at www.naturestable.com.

Nature’s Table employees expect to be on site, doing the final set up on Monday and Tuesday and welcome SPC staff and students to stop by and say hello. The cafe plans to open on Wednesday, June 12.

Details on a week-long official opening celebration will be announced after the initial few days of operation.

]]> http://newsspc.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/natures-table-coming-to-the-epicenter/feed/ 0 newsspc Nature's Table http://newsspc.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/florida-trade-joins-transformative-change-initiative/ http://newsspc.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/florida-trade-joins-transformative-change-initiative/#comments Fri, 07 Jun 2013 13:54:33 +0000 newsspc http://newsspc.wordpress.com/?p=3997 ]]> Florida TRADE, the recent $15 million grant program that St. Petersburg College is spearheading to train workers in advanced manufacturing, will join the Community College Transformative Change Initiative, led by the Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) at the University of Illinois.

This is an independent evaluation and scaling project related to the Department of Labor’s Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grants.

The initiative is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Lumina Foundation for Education the Joyce Foundation and will allow SPC to accelerate opportunities for expanding and replicating its manufacturing training program institutionally, statewide and nationally. The initiative allows institutions to share transformative policies, processes and practices with one another and lead a national dialogue on community college transformative change. The initiative will also research what works to advance the role that community colleges play to meet the evolving needs for a highly skilled workforce for our country.

SPC was awarded the Florida TRADE grant last year as part of the Labor Department’s TAACCCT grants for Round 2. Through the grant, SPC will lead 12 community and state college partners in Florida to develop and implement technical training programs and services for displaced and unemployed workers, incumbent workers, students and returning veterans that will lead to employment and potential promotions in the manufacturing sector.

Liza Ryan

In the spring term, Liza Ryan, adjunct faculty of Natural Science at the St. Petersburg College Clearwater Campus, read an article about integrating music in the classroom and saw it as an opportunity to help students contribute to the classroom experience. She decided to experiment with how she could utilize this new learning tool in her own classroom.

“Being a science teacher, I didn’t see immediately how I could meet this challenge,” said Liza Ryan, who thought about how she could apply this modality to her own classroom. “I had a BSC 1005 Biology for non-science major class that semester, which provided me with an opportunity.”

Students soon began to take interest, including Dean Brown, who has a passion for music.

“I asked Dean if he could provide me with a couple of songs that I could play before class and during our 10 minute break,” Ryan said. Dean obliged and sent two songs that she then played for the students. “Dean continued to send me new songs each week and built a library of ‘biomusic’ over the course of the semester. At least one of the arrangements was created by Dean himself.”

Other students began to contribute to the classroom experience in a variety of ways:

• Justin Hagerty, a poet, wrote lyrics for Brown’s compositions.
• Jennifer Thorp, an American Sign Language interpretation major, signed the poems for the class.
• Catherine MacDowall, a vegan, gave a presentation on genetically modified foods.
• Christina Synodis, whose goal is to become a college professor, served as the instructor’s right-hand assistant with the course and the classroom experiment.

The classroom experiment continued to grow to include everyone in the class, finally culminating in a website that was created by Lisa Milian, a technology management major. The site houses students’ contributions and includes some student projects and Top 5 Facebook Posts from the students’ required weekly posts.

“It was very difficult to choose because the students did such a tremendous job that there were so many incredible articles and information to choose among,” Ryan said.

(Photo courtesy of St. Pete Pride)

This June, St. Petersburg College will make its inaugural appearance at the St. Pete Pride festival and parade on Saturday, June 29. St. Pete Pride, which draws over 100,000 people each year, celebrates the unity, visibility, self-esteem and a positive image of and among the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community of Tampa Bay.

The GLOW (Gay, Lesbian Or Whatever) Club at the Seminole Campus will be organizing the college’s participation in the PRIDE parade. Faculty and staff are encouraged to join with the students and walk with PRIDE this year. Want to support this event and walk with SPC in the parade? Register today.

The parade begins at 10 a.m. and participants are asked to arrive around 9:15 a.m. Please wear an SPC T-shirt to show your college pride.

Have questions or need more information? Contact Sheree Greer at (727)394-6169 or Matthew Stewart at (727) 302-6409.

The meeting kicked off with an engaging presentation by Paul Hindsley, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Eckerd College, on social and ecological systems and their effect on land use, neighborhoods, transportation and community involvement. Following the presentation, Andrea Henning, Executive Director of Collaborative Labs, facilitated a collaborative brainstorming activity to develop the “Smart Growth National Model” for St. Petersburg.

“Smart Growth” is a community planning concept which focuses on the redevelopment of urban, suburban, and rural areas using creative ideas that prevent sprawl and preserve land and critical environmental areas, while providing a high quality of life to residents. Smart Growth communities are economically competitive and protect the environment.

More than 25 participants developed dozens of ideas within the “10 Smart Growth Principles” in a short period of time resulting in realistic goals for 2015 related to transportation, multi-use areas downtown and agriculture zones.

Follow Collaborative Labs on Facebook or on Twitter with #spcolabs.

Learn how to cope with math anxiety, hear from students about balancing school and everyday life and register for a chance to win an iPad mini at St. Petersburg College’s upcoming open house Next Stop: SPC.

The open house will be held on Thursday, June 20, from 2-7:30 p.m. at the EpiCenter.

Next Stop: SPC will give new and current students a glimpse into the college’s certificate, associate and bachelor’s degree offerings.

Participants can get help with:

• Applying to college
• Advising and registration
• Academic programs
• Financial aid

Next Stop: SPC also will include featured sessions on ways to:

• Overcome math anxiety, 4 p.m.
• Explore online learning tools, 5 p.m.
• Balance school and life (panel discussion), 6 p.m.

Participants should be sure to attend for a chance to win an iPad mini. Follow SPC on Twitter to get more updates and information.

Safe Zone is an educational program to raise awareness of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer & Questioning (LGBTQ) issues and contribute to a campus climate of inclusion at SPC, by preparing members of the college community to support LGBTQ faculty, students and staff and take active steps toward reducing and preventing harassment, discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

The goals of Safe Zone:

• Promote acceptance and a positive campus climate for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) at SPC
• To increase the campus community’s understanding and awareness of LGBTQ students, faculty and staff
• To provide a greater sense of safety for LGBTQ students, faculty and staff
• To act as a resource for information related to combating homophobia and heterosexism and other LGBTQ misinformation and misconceptions
• Provide a way for allies – supportive students, faculty and staff – to visibly indicate that they are safe contacts for LGBTQ students

June schedule for Safe Zone workshops:

• Monday, June 24, Noon – 3 p.m., Downtown
• Tuesday, June 25, 9 a.m. – Noon, EpiCenter
• Wednesday, June 26, Noon – 3 p.m., Clearwater
• Thursday, June 27, 9 a.m. – Noon, Seminole
• Friday, June 28, Noon – 3 p.m., St. Petersburg/Gibbs

Register for a Safe Zone workshop today. Each person who attends the session and becomes a Safe Zone ally will receive a door cling and button.

For more information, contact either Matthew Stewart at (727) 302-6409 or Bridgette Willis at (727) 341-3082.

The college annually reviews its Emergency Management Plan, which goes into effect if a storm threatens. The plan details alert systems, communications methods and proactive actions.

As the season nears, students are encouraged to:

• Bookmark the SPC Emergency Preparedness page on your computer. This is where alerts and updates will be posted as a storm nears.
• Make note of the emergency hotline number, 866-822-3978, in your phone or address book. Alerts and updates also will be recorded there.
• Update your personal Emergency Cell and Text Options in MySPC to be sure you receive official college communications during storms.
• Install the Hurricane Web application to your mobile device for quick emergency information at your fingertips. See the mobile web app installation instructions.

Communicating in an emergency

When an emergency poses a potential threat to life and safety, the college will broadcast emergency notifications to students, faculty and staff. The college’s main website at www.spcollege.edu is the official source of college information regarding the status of the institution. Officials will also use the SPC Emergency Preparedness page for emergency communications.

You can choose how you want to be notified by the college in emergency situations. In an emergency, the college calls your home phone number on file first. You can also receive these messages on your cell phone and have the option to receive text messages.

To add your cell phone in MySPC, students should  log in to MySPC and look for My Personal Information. One of the menu options will be Emergency Notification. Enter your cell phone number, confirm whether you want to receive text messages and click save.

You also can opt-in or opt-out of the text system by texting any of the following messages to 68453: subscribe, opt-in or yes. To opt-out, simply send a text to the same number and indicate stop, quit or unsubscribe.

“In his never-ending exploration of the complex origins and underpinnings of American music, he has forged a four-decade career by gathering and distilling countless musical traditions from a range of geographical and cultural sources,” according to the article.

Allison Curtis

Curtis, who was selected as a Chancellor Student of the Month, is pursuing her associate in arts degree at SPC and hopes to work  in the psychology field.

In April, Sovocool was named the winner of the Jack R. Lamb ESE Rookie Teacher of the Year district award from the Suncoast 176 Chapter of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC).

Bridgette Mill (Photo from the Tampa Bay Business Journal)

Bridgette Mill, the president and publisher of the Tampa Bay Business Journal, has been appointed to serve on the college’s Board of Trustees, Gov. Rick Scott’s office reported Thursday.

Mill, 42, of Seminole, has served as a board member of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Association and on the Board of Fellows for the University of Tampa, according to a press release from the governor’s office.

“St. Petersburg College is on the cutting edge of meeting the workforce needs of the Tampa Bay business community, and the future of economic development for our region,” Mill said according to an article in the Tampa Bay Business Journal. “I am proud to have been selected to be part of such an important organization that will lead us to be the No. 1 state in the country to live, work and play.”

Mill fills a vacant seat on SPC’s Board of Trustees and is appointed for a term starting May 30, 2013, and ending May 31, 2015, the governor’s office reported.

The eight-week course is a collaboration by SPC and Pinellas County SCORE that helps veterans and their families start and run a business.

The meeting’s main objective was to help create more local manufacturing jobs and develop training programs for  people to obtain the manufacturing skill sets needed for these jobs. Many local leaders in or connected to the manufacturing industry and education attended including:

• State Rep. Kathleen Peters
• Dave Outlaw with the National Tooling and Machining Association
• SPC President Bill Law

SPC is in the process of creating fast-track training and certification programs to meet the needs of local manufacturers.

Follow Collaborative Labs on Facebook or on Twitter with #spcolabs.

Gareth Mason speaks during the workshop on Thursday, May 23.

Internationally known ceramic artist Gareth Mason led a workshop at the Clearwater Campus ceramics studio on Thursday, May 23. His visit to the Clearwater Campus marked the second visiting ceramic artist lecture. Tara Wilson, an artist from Montana, visited Feb. 27-28.

Mason is a Fellow of the Craft Potters Association, Brother of the Art Workers Guild, London, and a member of the International Association for Ceramic Art Education and Exchange. At the Clearwater Campus, he conducted a day-long demonstration and lecture for students in the art department. He spoke about his conceptual development in his work, as well as anecdotal stories relating to his practice and experiences.

“These experiences are great for our students to see other artist working and gain valuable insight to the diversity of practices in ceramics,” said Jonathan Barnes, Academic Chair for Humanities and Fine Arts at the Clearwater Campus.

Mason’s work is being featured this month in an exhibition at the Mindy Solomon Gallery in St. Petersburg. His work is exhibited regularly in solo and group exhibitions in England and Europe.

A “Field of Flags” was planted at the Seminole Campus as a tribute to the fallen. Association members held a memorial flag raising at the quad at the St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus.

Marc Davis, a SPC student veteran and a member of the SVA at the St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus, wrote this address for the group’s 1st Annual Memorial Day Address:

As we prepare to observe Memorial Day this year, let us take a moment to look back and reflect upon the reasons why this day is so sacred to so many Americans. Memorial Day is a day that we are meant to pay tribute to the memory of those who “made the ultimate sacrifice” by laying down their lives while defending not only their fellow comrades in arms, but our great nation
as a whole. The courage of the brave men and women who answered the call to duty shall forever be revered and honored.

From the battlefields of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Beirut, Panama, Somalia, Iraq,
Afghanistan and countless others where American heroes laid down their lives, comes a cry from their spirits: “Let us not be forgotten. Do not let my sacrifice be in vain.” Our pledge to those spirits is “No my brother, we will not forget you.” This is a solemn promise from those of us who had the honor to stand side by side with these great Americans. With this promise, we are bound forever by blood to uphold.

In this day and age, it can be said that many Americans have forgotten the true meaning of this special day. For some, it’s just another day off of work; for others, a day at the beach or a barbeque. This is not what Memorial Day is supposed to be about. Let us embrace the true meaning of Memorial Day once again and demand that those who went on before us be given the respect and honor they so truly deserve. It is with these words I ask that you take time this Memorial Day to give thanks and honor the memory of the fallen. It is with these actions that we, as Americans, can be united in cause and heal as a country, not as individuals.

It is with these closing words that I say once again to my departed brothers and sisters “I have not forgotten, I will never forget.”

Vicki Westergard

Vicki Westergard, St. Peterburg College’s Executive Director of eCampus and Web and Instructional Technology, was voted Chair-Elect for 2013-2014 at the May 21 meeting of the Florida Virtual Campus (FLVC) Members Council on Distance Learning and Student Services.

Westergard has been the SPC representative to the FLVC since it was created by the Florida Legislature in July 2012. Since 2005 she has served as the SPC representative to the Florida Distance Learning Consortium, one of four previously independent organizations that comprise the Florida Virtual Campus.

Each year the Member Council on Distance Learning and Student Services Chair rotates between a state college and a university representative. University of Central Florida representative Thomas Cavanagh, 2012-2013 Chair-Elect, will become the Chair in July for 2013-2014. Following the established rotation, Westergard will assume the role of Chair in July 2014.

As Chair-Elect, Westergard will also serve on the Florida Virtual Campus Advisory Board until June 2015.

Two SPPD officers and the fugitive died in the confrontation in St. Petersburg that day. The officers showed “tremendous courage under fire,” officials reported, and were nominated for the award. The honorees are:

• Sgt. Karl Lounge Jr.
• Officer Timothy McClintick
• Officer Max McDonald
• Officer Douglas Weaver
• Deputy U.S. Marshal Scott Ley
• Sgt. Thomas Baitinger (Posthumous)
• K-9 Officer Jeffrey Yaslowitz (Posthumous)

Among those who will be attending are U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, William “Bill” Berger with the U.S. Marshal’s Office, Middle District of Florida, St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster, and SPC President Bill Law.

The ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. May 31 in the Florida Room of St. Petersburg College’s Allstate Center, 3200 34th St. S, St. Petersburg.

The M-List “distinguishes schools that are preparing workers up to industry standards in advanced manufacturing,” according to the organization.

The Manufacturing Institute is an affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers and a research, education, workforce and services group supporting U.S. manufacturers.

“To remain competitive in the global marketplace, manufacturers require a highly skilled workforce—from the production floor to the design studio to the C-suite. The select schools on the M-List have arranged their coursework around industry standards, and they make sure students earn credentials that are in the NAM-Endorsed Manufacturing Skills Certification System,” the institute reported. “With such a trusted standard, it takes the guesswork out of hiring the welders, machinists, production workers, and other key positions that make manufacturing hum.”

SPC opened the area’s first Collaborative Center for Emerging Technologies in August 2012. It is an open manufacturing factory work environment to train tomorrow’s engineering technology and manufacturing employees. The industry partners worked closely with the college to secure funding and to provide technical expertise, materials and equipment.

See a complete list of the charter members.

From left, Devera Niemann from Wells Fargo, Lori Ketola from PwC, Eric Walls from Bloomin’ Brands and Cheri Settle from Temp Wise speak at the Ask the Experts panel and networking event.

Recruiters from Bloomin’ Brands, Bright House Networks, Jabil, PwC, Temp Wise, and Wells Fargo shared their expertise with students from the Business and Computer and Information Technology colleges in St. Petersburg College’s Collaborative Labs on Tuesday, May 21.

Students learned employer preferences regarding resumes, interviewing, and making a good impression in the workplace. Other topics including self-branding, networking and job searching were also discussed in this panel and networking event.

After two employer panels where students asked questions, there was time for networking with students, faculty, staff and employers.

Watch this video from the event where Gary Jones from Jabil answers a student question regarding cover letters and interviewing. Also seen are Jerry Pahl from Jabil and Chloe Lee from Bright House Networks.

© Francoise Gilot (French, b. 1921) My Family in Brittany, 1974 35×29 in. Color lithograph, ed. 33/50 On loan from the Patrick and Jackie Terrail Collection

Tampa Bay Times Art Critic Lennie Bennett reviewed the current exhibit of works from Pablo Picasso and Francoise Gilot, now on display at the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art.

“Francoise Gilot: A Print Retrospective” includes 34 pieces from 1962 to 1992. All are from the collection of her friends Patrick and Jackie Terrail, who once owned the legendary Ma Maison restaurant in Hollywood, according to the review. Picasso’s works are from the museum’s collection and that of collector Lothar J. Uhl.

The college is targeting students who would be coming to SPC with credits and are willing to attend class in the fall, spring and summer semesters. It has identified 271 eligible high school seniors and hopes for an initial class of 30 to 60 students. The degree will focus on technology development and management, with bachelor’s concentrations in data analytics and software development.

Bay News 9 also aired a news report about the program.