Conference new look at Old World

Brandon Krampert
In Motion Staff Writer

Faculty of Florida high schools, colleges and universities gathered at Daytona State College for the third academic conference, this year titled “A New Look at the Old World” in early February.

For the third time it was organized by Ray Cornelius, Chair of the Department of World Languages and Speech at DSC.

Included in the speakers’ lineup was a talk on Islam with old and new perceptions, one on Russia about the cold war and jazz and another on Columbian indigenous music related to European opera and classical music.

“That’s where I got the idea of a new look at the old world. There is also a talk called ‘Don’t Reinvent the Wheel,’ about a new way to look at textbooks so I thought all of them fit in,” Cornelius said before the event.

The first conference he organized was about teaching classes online in 2013 and one on Latin American studies in 2014.

The conference started with a continental breakfast provided by the college and Amy Locklear, Vice President of Academic Affairs at DSC spoke shortly afterwards.

“Welcome to Daytona State College. We’re thrilled to have you here and hope you have a wonderful day enjoying the campus and the facilities, as well as all the wonderful discussions and enlightenment that you’re going to experience today. This is exactly the kind of event we love
Conference new look at Old World to see on our campus. I know that you’re all engaged with the renewed commitment in higher education and relevancy to today’s learner,” said Locklear.

Lunch was provided by publishers Vista Higher Learning.

Presentations were held throughout the day from Keith Boswell of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Director of the Language Institute; Dr. Emrah Sahin of the University of Florida, Turkish Studies Program Coordinator at the Center for European Studies; Dr. Mary Risner of the University of Florida, Associate Director of the Outreach and Business Programs at the Center for Latin American Studies; Lisa Booth of the University of Florida, Assistant Director of the Center for European Studies; and Dr. Mercedes Meier of Miami-Dade College, Professor of Spanish.

The presentation topics respectively Strategies, a lobbying firm from Orlando upon
requests made by the board in January with the approval of the Foundation to approach state lawmakers and to obtain more funding for DSC projects. LoBasso personally interviewed three firms.

“Moving forward on this model will be a very effective model for the college. All in all, we will realize about a $278,000 savings to the college versus having our own government relations office or department,” LoBasso said.

He also met with the University of Central Florida’s Trustee Alan Florez and Vice Provost of the Regional Campuses Jeffrey Jones to emphasize an interest to join the Direct Connect program, which would make it easier for DSC students to transfer to the university.
The member colleges Eastern Florida State College, Lake Sumter State College, Seminole State College of Florida and Valencia College will be meeting in March to further discuss the program. Since then, LoBasso has sent letters to each of the presidents in attempts to speed up the process of becoming a member.

The board at DSC updated LoBasso’s contract since his appointment as interim president whose initial annual salary was $186,681. They increased his salary by $39,000.

Near the end of the meeting, Vice Chair Forough Hosseini gave an update on the search for a full-term president. The 17-member committee comprised of representatives from current DSC students, graduates, faculty, the Foundation, other DSC employees and local businesses met for the first time in mid-Febraury. Hosseini indicated in her report that the committee has agreed to what qualities they’re looking for in a new president who can fulfill the needs to the college and the students and worked on a timeline for the task ahead.

During January’s board meeting, she said that she expected the search to take up to nine months.