COMPRESSION
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Circus has a fan
When FSU's Flying High Circus performed at Callaway Gardens in Georgia for the 38th time last summer, it won an admiring column from the Atlanta Con-stitution's columnist Rheta Grimsley Johnson.
She focused on Chris Hairston, 22, a senior in business, whom she described as "a juggling, bicycling, suspendered star," and "a friendly, burly, bear of a man who can keep an admirably straight face with four coeds balanced on his head and handlebars."
"You have to wonder if Real Life will ever measure up to the four years that Chris, and the other students, have spent with the circus," Johnson wrote. "Years sweet as pink cotton candy. Valuable friendships formed, sometimes marriages made. Exciting trips (to the Bahamas every other year for the Rotary Club) are part of the Flying High package."
She noted that the performers also "work their talented tails off," at the circus and in class.
"A few of the college performers become circus professionals," she noted. "But most move on to other pursuits, desk jobs in big offices where the circus is merely a misty childhood memory."
For Chris Hairston? He plans a career in communications and computers. - Margaret Leonard
Superstar faculty
Florida State recruits and hires superstars for its own faculty, but it also occasionally prepares them for other universities.
At the University of Oklahoma, for example, Robert Zmud, 52, has been appointed to the $4-million Michael F. Price Professorship in the College of Business. His salary will start at $165,000.
"The appointment of Robert Zmud demonstrates that the resources provided to the College of Business by Michael Price will be used to attract faculty members of truly national stature," Oklahoma University President David Boren told the Daily Oklahoman.
How did Zmud become a top scholar in the field of management information systems? His time on the faculty of Florida State was probably crucial. After he helps educate those people out West for awhile, he may want to come back where he belongs. - Margaret Leonard
Scholar goes undercover
A former officer in the Los Angeles Police Department, working on a Ph.D. in FSU's School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, has used his expertise to help NBC's Dateline expose police brutality. Diop Kamau, the Ph.D. candidate, went undercover for Dateline's two-part series, which was aired in August. Kamau's undercover methods have brought him acclaim and criticism. - Mark Riordan
Investing in the theater
A couple of Florida State grads live in New York and make money - for themselves and about 40 others, many of whom are fellow Seminoles - investing in the theater.
Jeffrey Hass (B.S. 1984) and Dan Markley (B.A. 1983), established one of the first private mutual funds specializing in theatrical investing. The Select Entertainment Fund, Hass said, "provides ordinary investors with the opportunity to invest in commercial theater.
"As principals of the Fund, Dan and I go to backers' auditions, review scripts and meet with producers in order to find shows in which to invest the Fund's capital."
Some of the plays the fund has invested in are "Art," on Broadway (winner 1998 Tony Award for Best Play); "Beauty Queen of Leenane," on Broadway (winner of four 1998 Tony Awards); and "Rent," on London's West End (1996 Tony Award for Best Musical).
Hass and Barkley seem to be having a great time as insiders with money, and they apparently don't need any more help with it, even from Seminoles.
"Please note that the Fund is closed to new investors and cannot accept any additional capital," Hass said. - Margaret Leonard
New major
Jim Cobbe, chairman of FSU's department of economics, has announced a new major in the undergraduate program, "applied economics." Cobbe called it "an alternative to the traditional economics major." - Margaret Leonard
Busy Athlete
Former FSU quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward, who has a new book out (see page 6), also has a new service project. Ward has initiated a reading program for youths in Thomasville, Ga. - Margaret Leonard
Help for brain injuries
Brain injuries, most commonly caused by automobile accidents, often require extensive rehabilitation, and the outcome may depend on observations by nurses in acute-care units.
Jeanne Flannery, a professor in the FSU School of Nursing, has developed a new way to measure the recovery of recently injured patients.
"It's imperative that nurses in acute-care units be able to assess the patient's ability to function," Flannery said.
Flannery has developed a checklist for nurses to record the patient's behavior and responsiveness during early post-trauma. The rehabilitation team can use the report in planning the patient's treatment. - Jamie Stephenson
FSU in the top 50
For a great education at a low price, FSU is one of the top 50 universities to attend, according to Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine.
Other universities that ranked with FSU include the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Virginia, Georgia Tech, the University of Florida and the University of Michigan.
The study looked at tuition (in- and out-of-state), room and board, four- and six-year graduation rates, rate of return for sophomores, freshmen SAT scores and admission rates.
Of 600 schools originally selected, Kiplinger picked 200 based on the SAT scores of the 1997 freshman class.
"It's the schools that are most in demand by strong students, and therefore most able to pick and choose, that tend to offer the best quality overall," the report said.
The ranking is good, but some magazines have placed FSU even higher. In 1996, for example, the U.S. News and World Report called Florida State the nation's most efficient university, a ranking reached by surveying academic quality and dividing that score by the school's spending per student. - Amy Welch
Students at work
Tomorrow's stars on television weather broadcasting may be remembered as getting a great start during Hurricane Earl, when they were meteorology students at FSU and spent a couple of sleepless days and nights reporting the weather.
The Big Bend's public radio and television stations covered the storm continually from the threat, early on Wednesday, Sept. 2, that Earl would hit land on the Panhandle Coast and head north - until well after Earl did that late the next day. The public radio and televsion staffs had the help of reporting and analysis by meteorology professor Jon Ahlquist and a group of his students.
Ahlquist and the students got credit for great work from Pat Keating, general manager of the Public Broadcasting Center, who said they did "some of the best storm reporting I have heard or seen.
"In the future when we see these students on The Weather Channel and other networks we will remember the night Earl struck Tallahassee."
- Margaret Leonard