Florida State's School of Theatre, for the second year in a row, has been named one of the best 10 graduate theatre programs in the nation.
The ranking by U.S. News and World Report compares public and private universities. FSU's theatre school, in ninth place, was the only Florida school, public or private, that placed in the top 10 for any graduate program.
In theatre, Yale was first; N.Y.U. second; Carnegie Mellon, N.C. School of the Arts and the University of Washington tied for third; American Conservatory Theatre (Calif.) and the University of California at San Diego tied for sixth; the University of Texas at Austin, eighth; and five schools tied for ninth: FSU, Boston University, Brandeis, Rutgers and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The rankings came from a survey of deans, administrators and senior faculty of accredited schools.
FSU's flagship publication, the Florida State Times, is on the Internet. Some time ago we heard that the University of Florida was about to put its flagship publication on the Internet. We're kind of proud that we got there first. But we really like the idea that our publication is now available to millions of people around the world.
To get to the Florida State home page, point your browser web to http://www.fsu.edu/. Then, to get to the Florida State Times, click on welcome and click on publications. -- Frank Murphy
Hurricane Opal dealt a painful blow to FSU's branch campus in Panama City, but not a mortal one. Dean Larry Bland said power, water and phones were out, some buildings were flooded and the parking lots and grounds were a mess, but the buildings escaped structural damage. The campus closed for three days and reopened Oct. 9.
In Tallahassee, 644-INFO, a special telephone information line set up by University Communications, received a whopping 57,000 phone calls during a 24-hour period. The new helpline, which was updated frequently, gave callers the latest information on how the storm would affect the operation of the university.
Students looking for a college with more than academics, athletics and social life have a little help now. The John Templeton Foundation in Radnor, Pa., offers college shoppers a list of 124 "character-building colleges."
FSU, of course, is on the list. It was based on information supplied to the foundation by Jon Dalton, vice president for student affairs, who gave an account of FSU's community service by students and faculty, honor code, Statement on Values and Institute on College Student Values. The 124 schools were ranked by the votes of more than 300 participating colleges.
The John Templeton Foundation was organized in 1987 by Templeton, an international investment counselor who wanted to "forge greater links between the sciences and all religions."
Want to know the other 123 character-building colleges and read the self-descriptions (in essay form) that won them the title? Write the foundation at Three Radnor Corporate Center, Suite 230, 100 Matsonford Rd., Radnor, Pa., 19087, or call 610-687-8942.
An expert on retirement transition and older workers has been named to head the Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy at FSU.
Dr. Melissa Hardy, a professor of sociology and an associate with the institute since 1985, has studied retirement, pensions, income inequality and the causes of poverty in old age. She is writing a book about retirement in the auto industry.
Charles Cnudde, dean of the College of Social Sciences, said she is "an outstanding scholar and educator."
Jo Ann Plachy, a law student who was accused early this year of trying to hire a hit man to kill two people, has pleaded no contest to charges of solicitation for murder.
Prosecutors had videotapes of Plachy soliciting a police informant to kill her husband and a law-school secretary who had caught her cheating on a final exam. Plachy was a second-year law student near the top of her class at the time.
Plachy, 50, won't be getting her law degree. Instead, she's sentenced to 48 months in prison.