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FSC names 68th honorary chancellor

LAKELAND, Fla. (Jan. 10, 2002) - The Rev. Jerome King Del Pino, Ph.D, General Secretary of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM), will be honored as the 68th Honorary Chancellor for Florida Southern College. Ceremonies will take place in Branscomb Auditorium on March 15 at 10:10 a.m.

As General Secretary, Del Pino is the chief administrative officer of GBHEM, responsible for program/staff selection, policy planning, and financial administration. The GBHEM works on behalf of the United Methodist Church to provide training and support for those entering the ministry and to oversee United Methodist institutions of higher learning.

"We welcome Dr. Del Pino to Florida Southern." said FSC president, Dr. Thomas Reuschling. "His visit underscores our relationship with the United Methodist Church and gives us a wonderful opportunity to discuss the meaning of church-related higher education in today's world."

Del Pino holds master's and doctorate degrees from Boston University and several academic awards, including, from Boston University School of Theology the Charles E. Jefferson Fellowship for excellence in preaching and the Lucinda Bidwell Beebe and the Rev. Edmund Beebe Fellowships; and from the Fund for Theological Education, Inc. the Rockefeller Doctoral Fellowships and the Black North American Doctoral Fellowship for Dissertation Research.

In addition to his work with GBHEM, Del Pino has served as a United Methodist pastor and superintendent, visiting lecturer, and teacher. He has participated in and presented at numerous
seminars in America and abroad, and has been a member of over thirty professional and community-affiliated church committees. He served as vice president of the Board of Directors, Massachusetts Council of Churches from 1989-91, and as president from 1991-95.

In addition to his address to Florida Southern's 1700 students, Del Pino will participate in a small group question-and-answer session and attend a luncheon in his honor.

Florida Southern has awarded the title of Honorary Chancellor since 1934. Among the recipients through the years have been such nationally recognized figures as Walter Cronkite, Bob Hope, Gerald Ford, Chris Wallace, Terry Waite, Robert James Waller, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Local honorees have included Jack M. Berry, Charles H. Jenkins, Sr., Truman and Marie Miller, and J. Lanier Upshaw.

About Florida Southern College
Florida Southern is a four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors and a master of business administration degree accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Located in Lakeland, Fla., the college is home to the largest, single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.

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