Something 'pinteresting' from the DSC Library

The Daytona State College Library has gone full bore into the world of social media, first with Facebook and Twitter, then YouTube and Google+, and now perhaps the most digitally alluring newcomer to the virtual social scene – Pinterest.

That’s right, Pinterest. Not sure what it is? Just text any 20- to 50-something female (the social media site’s largest demographic) and you’re likely to hear comments like, “OMG, I love it,” or “Yes, it’s my new BFF.” Whatever the sentiment, many of 10.4 million users who have discovered Pinterest since it first launched late in 2010 (making it the fastest growing social media site in history) spend lots of time – an average one hour and 17 minutes per week – browsing a seemingly endless collection of boards organized by different subjects, tagging the ones that interest them and pinning them to their own Pinterest pages. Pinterest features literally millions of visual representations of such things as film, music, books, fitness, gardening, home décor, recipes, fashion, cars, motorcycles: you name it, Pinterest has a visual for you to pin, share and call your own.

But college and university libraries across the country also are finding value in the site as a repository of resources that can help students navigate a welter of information and data available for academic research.

Among Association of Florida Colleges institutions, Daytona State College’s library has jumped out among the leaders in leveraging the power of Pinterest to serve students, according to Emerging Technology Librarian Cheryl Kohen and Baccalaureate Studies Librarian Rachel Owens. The two recently presented Daytona State’s Pinterest initiative during a webinar of the Florida Virtual Campus, a regional library consortium.

“We started looking at Pinterest and noticed a trend that academic and public libraries were starting to create their own pages,” Kohen said. “We have so much content that we felt this was a good way to create a more fun and engaging way to reach out to our students.”

The library’s Pinterest site contains a large selection of graphical images that link to such resources as demographic data, historical references, consumer reports, medical journals and academic search engines. Users also can find Daytona State College facts and historical data, faculty publications, listings for new books, as well as what their Pinterest friends and faculty are reading.

But perhaps the most practical for students are links to discipline-specific research guides currently in development for most college academic programs. “For example, if you are a culinary management student, rather than going to the library’s homepage and getting lost in our 104 databases, you can go to the culinary management research guide and you would know which databases to use,” Kohen said.

So far, the library has published 30 research guides and hopes to have more than 100 available to students by fall semester. All will be accessible from the library’s website, but also easily accessible in a convenient and visually pleasing way on Pinterest.

And everybody knows that visually pleasing is always the most pinteresting.

Daytona State student earns national award

Michael Lee

Michael Lee, a Daytona State College Adult High School graduate and current associate of arts university transfer student at the college’s New Smyrna Beach-Edgewater Campus, has been awarded second place in the American Psychological Association’s Psychology Teachers at Community Colleges (APA PT@CC) Student Presentation Contest.

The national award stems from a research project the 20-year-old Lee produced for Dr. Elaine Perea’s Abnormal Psychology class in which he interviewed and videotaped a woman suffering from schizophrenia, as well as her mother and her daughter. The video, called Mind Over Mother: Schizophrenia vs. Motherhood, focuses on the challenges of being a single parent suffering with a mental illness and the toll it can take on the entire family.

In the video, Lee’s primary subject is a woman who worked for a telecommunications company for 27 years and, while she had often been in and out of therapy, she was not formally diagnosed with schizophrenia until later in her career. The video reflects on the insidious, gradual nature of some forms of schizophrenia and how its symptoms can eventually rob someone of their ability to function in society. It also highlights the hope that proper medication and treatment can bring to those suffering from mental illness.

Lee said his interest in psychology goes back to when he was very young. “I always loved helping people and I like to teach myself new things,” he said. “Psychology is something that’s fun to me. It makes you think about yourself.”

He plans to attend the University of Central Florida upon earning his A.A. degree at Daytona State, hoping to ultimately earn “at least” a master’s degree in clinical psychology.

Dr. Perea sees great promise in Lee, and feels his future is as wide open as his ambition and desires.

“Michael is a talented young man and his interview and video went well beyond the expectations of the assignment,” she said. “I was delighted to see the enthusiasm and commitment that he displayed, not to mention his awareness of the course content. He was able to highlight important aspects of the interviewee’s illness while allowing the viewer to gain a sense of her humanness.”

Lee will be presented his award, along with a cash prize, on Aug. 4 at the APA’s annual convention in Orlando.

Daytona State assists with FBI national academy training

Daytona State’s School of Emergency Services this month partnered with the FBI National Academy Associates (FBI NAA) Florida Chapter to provide advanced training to more than 135 law enforcement personnel.

The college’s criminal justice staff and faculty coordinated the training modules that were presented during the July 15-18 conference held at the Daytona Beach Shores Resort and Spa. Tim Girard, assistant chair of defensive tactics for Daytona State’s criminal justice training program, also is the Florida area representative of FBI NAA.

The association delegates who participated in the retraining program included representatives of 60 police agencies from around the state, as well as the FBI, the Transportation Safety Administration, Florida Attorney General’s Office, the Jacksonville Aviation Authority and private security firms.

Among the topics covered were identity theft and investigating missing child and abduction cases. William Berger, U.S. marshal for the Middle District of Florida, also was a keynote speaker at the event.

The conference was chaired by South Daytona Police Chief Bill Hall.

The FBI NAA is a non-profit, international organization of nearly 18,000 senior law enforcement professionals. It provides a wide range of leadership and specialized training, as well as an opportunity for professional law enforcement officials to share ideas, techniques and experiences. Its membership is limited to law enforcement leaders who have completed the FBI’s prestigious National Academy Program.

Former Daytona State VP returns to head Foundation

Kay M. Burniston has been appointed executive director of the Daytona State College Foundation, overseeing all Foundation initiatives, including fundraising and scholarships.

Kay Burniston

Burniston is no stranger to Daytona State. From 1988 to 1990, she served as assistant vice president for development, managing federal, state, corporate and private foundation grant programs, annual and deferred giving, alumni affairs and what was then the Daytona Beach Community College Foundation. In 1990, she was named vice president for planning, research and development, extending her areas of responsibility to include development of the college’s five-year strategic plan, information services, public relations and marketing. 

During a particular four-year period when Burniston was overseeing the college Foundation, assets increased from $3,531,301 to $9,474,747.

From 1998 to 2001, Burniston was dean of institutional advancement and assistant to the president for planning and research at Mercer County Community College, West Windsor, NJ.

She returned to Florida in 2002, joining St. Petersburg College first as associate vice president for baccalaureate programs and later as vice president for baccalaureate programs, academic effectiveness and university partnerships until returning to Daytona State this month to lead the Foundation.

Burniston holds a master of public administration degree from the University of Central Florida and a B.A. in sociology/psychology from Western Michigan University. She also has had extensive leadership training at Harvard University’s Institute of Educational Management.

Notables. . .

New arrivals and advancements

Karla Moore

Karla Moore has been named the dean of academic and administrative assessment and planning. She will provide leadership and expertise for academic assessment as part of a coordinated institutional effectiveness framework of planning, assessment and evaluation.

Moore has been with Daytona State since August 2010, coming from the University of Central Florida, where she was part of the Engineering Technology department. Her background is in industrial engineering, with an M.S. and Ph.D. in industrial engineering and management systems. She has more than eight years of experience as a faculty member developing and assessing student-learning outcomes and using results for implementing change.

In her new role, Moore will assist academic programs and non-academic planning units in identifying appropriate outcomes, indicators and evaluation measures for assessing outcomes at the program and institutional levels. In addition, Moore will be responsible for supporting accreditation efforts in documenting institutional effectiveness, student achievement and continuous improvement.

Suzette Cameron

Suzette Cameron has been named director of campus services for the Deltona Campus.

Cameron has been with the college since February 2008 in the position of deputy chief of campus safety. In her new position, she will coordinate student support services at the Deltona Campus, facilitating outreach activities with the college’s admissions office, as well as working closely with area businesses, service organizations and other groups within the community.  Cameron holds a B.A. in public administration, and a master’s in criminal justice/critical incident management from St. Leo University.  

Clarence McCloud

Clarence McCloud has been named director of campus services for the New Smyrna Beach-Edgewater Campus.

In his new position, McCloud will coordinate student support services, facilitating outreach activities with the college’s admissions office, as well as working closely with area businesses, service organizations and other groups within the community.

McCloud has worked at Daytona State for 16 years as an adult education instructor, while also providing oversight of the Adults with Disabilities Grant for the School of Adult Education and the Florida Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.

He holds a B.S. in elementary education from Bethune-Cookman University and an M.S. in leadership with a minor in education and human services from Nova Southeastern University.

Campus Safety supervisors complete leadership training

Eight Campus Safety supervisors recently completed an internal leadership program sponsored and supported by Daytona State’s Leadership Development Institute (LDI).

The 2012 Campus Safety Leadership Program was developed by the department’s former deputy chief, Suzette Cameron, who this month was named director of campus services for the college’s Deltona Campus.

Participating supervisors included John Banker, David Dattoli, Jacquie English, Russ Gibbons, LaKesha Green, Nancy Hodge, Brenda Merritt-Smith and Rick Simpson. The training included classroom sessions on such topics as executing and taking responsibility for decisions and actions, as well as mentorships and reflective assignments. The group also met with Daytona State President Carol Eaton; Daytona Beach Police (DBPD) Chief Mike Chitwood; and Daytona State’s Robin Barr, associate vice president of human resources; Tom LoBasso, senior vice president of student development and institutional effectiveness; and Miguel Rivera, director of student disability and counseling services.

“This program was very successful and helped to continue our efforts to build a solid foundation for the Campus Safety leadership team,” Cameron said. “I’d like to particularly thank (Campus Safety Director) Bill Tillard and LDI’s Dr. (Eileen) Hamby for their support.”

Tillard and Dr. Eaton recognized the group during a graduation ceremony on July 25. Also attending was DBPD Deputy Chief Steve Beres, who spoke about the community partnership between the college and the police department.

Institute for Health Services offering nurse refresher courses

The Institute for Health Services at Daytona State College is offering a new selection of short-term courses designed specifically for non-practicing licensed LPNs and RNs who plan to return to the profession or those who are interested in exploring a new specialty.

New classes ranging in length from a half day to several weekends are scheduled throughout August and September.

They include:
• RN-MD Relationships – Aug. 3
• Review of the Cardiovascular System – Aug. 9
• IV Therapy Certification – Aug. 10
• Gerontology: Legal and Ethical Issues – Aug. 29
• Advanced Nursing Skills Lab – Sept. 15
• Best Practices for Wound Care – Sept. 20

All classes are approved for continuing education credits. Nurse Refresher courses are not offered for college credit to complete a degree or certificate. LPN and RN degree seekers may review the application process at www.DaytonaState.edu/nursing.

A complete listing of Nurse Refresher and other continuing education courses offered by the Institute for Health Services can be found at www.DaytonaState.edu/ihs/.

For more information and to register, call (386) 506-3522 or email robersj@DaytonaState.edu. 

Education commissioner honors Volusia advocates

Les Potter, chairperson of Daytona State’s School of Education, was among those honored this summer in Tampa at the 25^th annual 2012 Commissioner's Business Recognition Awards ceremony sponsored by the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Education Foundation.

Potter was honored along with members of the Career Connection Consortium Business Cadre of Volusia County, which was recognized for its many contributions to Volusia County’s Education Academies.



Attending the awards ceremony were, from left, Dr. Margaret
Smith, superintendent of Schools, Volusia County; Les Potter,
chairperson, Daytona State's School of Education; Judy Conte,
Volusia County School Board member; Dr. Gerard Robinson,
Florida education commissioner;  and Volusia County Cadre
members Janet Kersey, Liz Taylor and Tom Besaw.

Among them is a Teaching Academy partnership with Atlantic High School that sets high school students on academic tracks to become educators. It is among 34 career academies which fall under the umbrella of the Volusia school system’s Career Connection Consortium.  More than 20,000 Volusia students a year participate in career academies.

The event celebrated private sector engagement in public education and recognized more than 75 organizations and individuals throughout the state for their commitment to improving the academic success of all students. The 2012 award recipients reflect a broad cross section of Florida business interests, whose successful alliances and innovative partnerships with Florida’s schools have created unique learning opportunities, promoted academic achievement and addressed community needs.

The Business Cadre membership includes more than 200 business leaders throughout Volusia County, who have been key advisors, promoters and recruiters for the school district’s career academies.

Organized in 1994, the Cadre provides resources, internships, advocacy, equipment, financial support and expertise to area schools and their students. Its  five-year strategic plan is designed to increase business input into the development and redesign of Volusia’s career and technical education programs and career academies, helping schools keep pace with the demands of the business community.