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FSC faculty/staff pursue academic projects 

LAKELAND, Fla. (May 8, 2003) - Florida Southern College faculty and staff engage in extracurricular academic pursuits throughout the year, giving presentations, publishing articles, and attending conferences. Following is a summary of their recent endeavors.

Dr. James M. Denham, professor of history, was invited to speak at the Society of Florida Archivists Conference April 30. Denham discussed "Documenting Florida's History: A Look at Polk County History." Denham's book, "Cracker Times and Pioneer Lives: The Florida Reminiscences of George Gillett Keen and Sarah Pamela Williams" (Columbia: University of S.C. Press, 2003), co-authored with Canter Brown, Jr., has been released in paperback.

Mary Flekke, instructional services librarian, attended the Society of Florida Archivists Conference April 30, presenting a speech on "Documenting Florida's History." The society's membership chair since 1999, Flekke begins serving as president for 2003-2004.

Randall M. MacDonald, collection development librarian, and Andrew L. Pearson, library director, published their essay "Seeking: Enthusiastic Artists" in the Greenwood Press volume "Expectations of Librarians in the 21st Century," (April 2003). 

Dr. Susan Opt, communication professor, participated in the Popular Cultural Association Conference in New Orleans April 16-19, presenting "The Continuing Voyage of NASA in Film" and "Film VII: As Seen in the Movies: NYC, USOs, NASA." 

Dr. Mary Pharr, English professor, attended the 24th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. in March. She was invited to serve as a panelist on "A Century of Vampire Film and Fiction." 

Dr. Rebecca Saulsbury, English professor, attended the American Comparative Literature Association Annual Meeting in San Diego April 3-6. She presented a paper on "Cross-Cultural Conversion of the 'Foreign' Body in Maria S. Cummins' 'El Fureidis.'"

Dr. Claudia Slate, English professor, has been selected to attend a National Endowment of the Humanities Summer Institute for College and University Teachers at Harvard University July 7 - Aug. 1. The institute's topic, "African American Struggles for Freedom and Civil Rights, 1866 to 1965," introduces teachers to new and recent scholarship that will enable them to integrate this history into the mainstream of U.S. history. 

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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