Brandon Krampert
In Motion Staff Writer
During Daytona State College’s Board of Trustees meeting in February, representatives from Prosser, Inc. conducted a third and final presentation on the site selection and exterior design concept for the new student center on the main campus, an estimated $24 million project.
Justina Newman / In Motion
As for site selection and exterior concept design, Prosser conducted a months long process to gather and assess input to build a consensus from meetings to surveys with the board, the Facilities Planning Advisory Council and students. It will be placed adjacently to the Hosseini center, building 1200 and requires the demolition of building 110. Some of the architectural ideas incorporated have been described as modern, innovative and eclectic with an overwhelmingly glass exterior.
At a past presentation Shawn Bliss, Vice President of Prosser, Inc. explained that the building will feature a hardscape plaza setting with plant materials, benches and clear walkways that will be connected to the Hosseini Center but also very accessible from the rest of the campus. The exterior concept design has been influenced by both the Hosseini Center and the student center at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, which has been recognized as best educational building by the Florida Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
During the portion of the board meeting on finances, DSC Interim President Thomas LoBasso clarified that the school itself has $5.2 million that can be appropriated toward the project excluding state funds that may be available.
In other news, DSC hired Southern included the role of textbooks in foreign language classes, new insights into teaching Islam and Europe in the humanities, increasing convergence between the humanities and industry to better serve students, a history of jazz during the Soviet Union and increasing student engagement in foreign language classes, by means of using technology such as E-Portfolios.
Cornelius stressed the importance of events for professional development within academia. Not only is it required by the College, but it’s also something they can benefit from and he is happy to provide that opportunity. It also serves as an event to help secondary teachers become re-certified to teach.
After the conference came to a close, meeting sessions for the Foreign Language Association for District Managers of Education, Florida World Languages in Colleges and Universities and the Florida American Association of Teachers of French were held.
Cornelius was recently elected president of FWLCU. He explained the relevance of academic associations to the conference, saying, “If you want to be successful, you want to have as many people have a hand in it. The reason we get this many people is that I send it out to the groups I’m involved in that I know of that have a shared interest.”
He also mentioned that he wants other educational and language associations to be more involved in future conferences.
Attendants at the conference were a mixture of math faculty from DSC, administrators of language departments, high school faculty, a middle school French teacher, college professors and speech and language faculty. There were roughly 60 people in attendance throughout the day.