NOVEMBER2000

COMPRESSION

Florida High construction

FSU President Sandy D'Alemberte and SouthWood developers broke ground Sept. 29 in Tallahassee for Florida State University School, the new "Florida High."
The school is expected to open in fall 2001 on a 50-acre site within the new mixed-use development east of Capital Circle Southeast. It will be a key component of SouthWood's "Education Village," which will include a variety of kindergarten through adult education opportunities.

FSUS-Florida High, a research school, is currently located on the FSU campus. The move to SouthWood will free up about 24 acres on campus and allow the construction of a high-tech facility designed with the lab school's research mission in mind.

The school currently enrolls about 1,170 students, who are selected to represent the demographic makeup of Florida in terms of gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and academic ability. In its new location, about 500 additional seats will be reserved for SouthWood residents.
The new school was financed through a public-private partnership approved last summer by the Florida Legislature, Board of Regents, Cabinet and Gov. Jeb Bush. The remaining money needed - about $24 million - was financed through bonds.

Foundation gets an ombud

A former FSU professor and dean has been named ombud of the FSU Foundation.

Robert Spivey, who has also been president of Randolph-Macon Women's College, is the first to fill the new position at FSU. He started FSU's religion department and was a professor of religion from 1964 to 1976. He was dean of the FSU College of Arts and Sciences from 1977 to 1978.

"The foundation serves many different constituents, including donors, faculty members, program directors and deans," said Foundation President Jeff Robison. "Designating a person to help represent and balance all their interests will help us address concerns more effectively."

An ombud, usually called an ombudsman, provides third-party counsel and acts as a liaison between an organization and those it serves. The job is growing in popularity at universities nationwide.

FSU takes on child care

The Gwen Cherry Child Development Center - named for the first African American woman elected to the Florida House of Representatives - has become an important project for the FSU department of family and child sciences and the Family Institute in the FSU College of Human Sciences.

The child care center is for state employees, and the agencies involved include the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Department of Management Services.

The Gwen Cherry Center opened in 1991 and was operated by Big Bend Community Coordinated Child Care Inc. (now Kids Inc.) until 1994 and by Chappell Schools Inc. until November 1999.

Since then, steady improvements have been made by Christine Readdick, the center's project director and an FSU associate professor of child development.

The staff turnover has diminished in a profession where caregivers average only six months on the job. Turnover has been lowered by increasing employee salaries, instituting a pay scale based on educational levels, providing health insurance and giving employees stipends to attend college and vocational classes.

The faculty in the center have been designated as "educaregivers" and have backgrounds in child development, early childhood education and other fields. The center also has an artist-in-residence.

The center has undergone physical improvements in the past year, including refurbishing the playground, increasing the indoor and outdoor space per child, annexing a larger kitchen and converting the old kitchen into an art studio. An adjacent baby cottage is scheduled to open in the spring of 2001.

Medical computers

Florida State's medical students are using hand-held computers that organize what they learn from patients.

Students can call up information on illnesses and drugs from the little computer on the spot, and keep a running tally of their clinical experience.

Myra Hurt, acting dean for FSU's new medical school, said she expects the FSU medical school to be the "most wired" in the nation.

FSU grads in the N.Y. Times

Two FSU law-school graduates were recently in the New York Times Magazine.

Claudia Kemp (JD '00) and Paolo Annino (JD '83) were interviewed for a September story on juveniles sentenced as adults.

Kemp is working on an appeal for Jennifer Robinson - who, at 13, was sentenced to nine years in an adult prison. Annino is representing her in the appeal. They're trying to get the girl, now 17, transferred to a juvenile facility.

Another FSU name was prominent in the New York Times a few weeks later, in an Oct. 1 story about Khidhir Hamza, who earned a Ph.D. in physics at FSU in 1969.
See page 1 of the Florida State Times for a story about Hamza and his recently published book, "Saddam's Bombmaker."

Garnet and Gold Boys

Florida State's Garnet and Gold Boys, Josh White and Kevin Fulmer, have graduated and passed their glitter on to two new sparkling cheerleaders.

White, 22, is now enrolled in the FSU law school; and Fulmer, 23, is pursuing a master's degree in management information systems at FSU.

In their places since the North Carolina game have been Scott Wilson, a junior, and Ben Morrison, a sophomore.
White and Fulmer started the tradition after the two met as freshmen, covered themselves with paint and glitter and raced around the stands leading cheers.

They recruited their replacements from FSU's Baptist Student Ministry, where they are members.

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