Florida State University

Mr. John Fraser hawill provide consulting services as expert in the area of academic technology transfer and commercialization. Mr. Fraser is the Executive Director of Intellectual Property & Commecial Development at Florida State University and has been working with Florida A&M since September 30, 2004, as subcontractor to FAMU on the NSF Partnership for Innovation award TechLink, out of which this SBIR application arises (NSF Proposal #0438670). His expertise includes over 25 years covering all aspects of academic technology transfer, start-up companies and professional venture capital. In 1986, he co-founded UTC, a North Carolina based, technology transfer center for clients such as Georgia Tech, University of Maryland, College Park and other major research institutions. We sold the business in 1990. John is also President of The Association for University Technology Managers (AUTM) the global professional association for academic technology transfer ( www.autm.net ). Mr. Fraser has been working with Florida A&M University and has a wealth of knowledge. Mr. Fraser will assist with the overall direction and objectives of the project.

Dr. Jackson received her medical degree from Hahnemann University in Philadelphia and completed her residency training at Abington Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania. As part of her medical education, she performed medical research and won scholarships and awards. She also served as an OB/GYN faculty member for resident physicians at Abington Memorial. Dr. Jackson is the Clerkship Director for OB/GYN at the Florida State University (FSU) College of Medicine. She has been voted outstanding educator of the year for the past two years by the FSU medical students. Dr. Jackson is a member of Florida Medical Association, Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO), and Perinatal Pediatric Ethics Committee. She is Board Certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Mark Schlakman, Chairman, serves as a senior program director for the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University. Prior to joining FSU's faculty in 2002, Mr. Schlakman held several senior government positions at the state and federal levels, including special counsel to Gov. Lawton Chiles; advisor for Gov. Jeb Bush during his initial months in office; senior advisor to Governor Kenneth H. "Buddy" MacKay, Jr., when Gov. MacKay served as White House Special Envoy for the Americas during the final two years of the Clinton administration; and as a special advisor to US Senator Bob Graham before returning to Florida. During his tenure in Washington, D.C., Mr. Schlakman also served as a Foreign Affairs Officer for the US Department of State. Mr. Schlakman is a lawyer and member in good standing of The Florida Bar. He also serves as Vice-Chair for the Florida Association for Volunteer Action in the Caribbean and the Americas (FAVACA).

Allison manages all internal operations and external relations of WCF. She has been a member of the senior management team at WCF for over three years, with a focus on growth initiatives. Allison is actively involved in fundraising for women's causes, has been an advocate for children's rights, and holds a Bachelor's Degree from Florida State University in Political Science and English.

Amy is a Senior at Florida State University majoring in Social Work. This will be her 11th year at Love At Work, her fourth on staff. She has also worked with children in a group home on a mission trip in New Orleans. Amy is responsible for our increased work with other agencies to get our homeowners the additional help they need. Her interests include hiking and kayaking.

Audrey Vihlen is a Senior Interior Design student at Florida State University and is currently interning at JPA. Her duties include space planning, assisting in interior finish selection and meeting with product representatives. Audrey grew up in Leesburg, Florida and graduated high school in 2002. She plans to graduate from FSU in the Fall of 2005 with high honors. After graduation she plans to seek employment as an interior designer in Chicago or Atlanta. She is currently working with Jeff Smerling on the renovations of three Hancock Bank branches in Tallahassee, which includes: space planning including both low and high impact schemes as well as interior finishes. She recently finished assisting Hugh Bosely with the interior color scheme and finishes of Fancy Pants, a recently opened women's clothing shop located in the Manor at Midtown.

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Blake Draper works with the Director and Assistant Director on strategic planning for the advancement of the Claude Pepper Center's Intercultural Dialogue initiative. His primary purpose is to assist in establishing relationships between the Claude Pepper Center, universities, individuals, and foundations around the world. His duties include: donor research; development; and coordination of the Center's various programs and conferences. Blake is a graduate student at Florida State University, pursuing a Master's degree in International Affairs. His academic interests include international immigration, Latin American politics and society.

Bobby Bowden, a Birmingham native and head coach at Florida State University, announces he is removing his name from consideration as head coach of the Stallions. "I'd be very interested in the job except for one thing. I'm very happy here at Florida State. I've got a substantial five year contract," Bowden said. He might be interested in coaching professional football later in his career "if I can survive it, physically, and if college football begins to lose its challenge. That hasn't happened yet." Bowden said he only talked to Gould once last fall and the discussion was very general.

Charles Figley, Ph.D. is a psychologist, family therapist, and Professor in the School of Social Work at the Florida State University since June 1989. He is founder and director of the FSU Traumatology Institute (formerly the Psychosocial Stress Research and Development Program). Among other achievements, the Institute initiated the Green Cross Projects, following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and played an important role in humanitarian efforts in New York City immediately following the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks. He established the Green Cross Foundation and the Academy of Traumatology to support the emerging field of traumatology. He is formerly Professor of Family Therapy and Psychology at Purdue University (1974-1989). Professor Figley received both graduate degrees from the Pennsylvania State University and his undergraduate degree from the University of Hawaii, all in the area of human development. His latest books (2002) are Treating Compassion Fatigue (Brunner-Routledge) and Brief Treatments for the Traumatized (Greenwood Press). In 2000, Dr. Figley won four significant awards recognizing his achievements: (1) His Florida State University Traumatology Institute was named Outstanding Program Award for 2000 by the University Continuing Education Association; 2) Florida State University President's 2000 Continuing Education Award; (3) Florida Association for Marriage and Family Therapy's 2000 Community Service Award and (4) National Organization for Victim's Assistance (NOVA's) highest honor to a researcher, the Shaffer Research Award. In 2004, Dr. Figley was awarded a senior Fulbright Research Fellowship to conduct research in Kuwait and follow-up on his work that as started in 1992, shortly after the liberation from and end of the occupation by Iraq.

Christopher Walker, M.D., received his medical degree from The University of the West Indies and completed training in family medicine at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He completed his obstetrics and gynecology residency training at The University of Kansas Medical Center, and received further training in laparoscopic surgery in the Midwest laparoscopic training laboratory for two years. Dr. Walker joined Loch Haven OB/GYN in 2003 and serves as the medical director of the Mother-Infant Postpartum Unit at Florida Hospital. He also serves as the assistant clinical professor at Florida State University and the obstetrics and gynecology residency program. Dr. Walker has published papers in medical journals and won research awards. He also was recognized as being "The Most Outstanding Obstetrician" at Florida Hospital in 2006 and 2008. He is board-certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is a member of the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists.

Conrad Gleber is Associate Professor of Art at Florida State University, where he teaches the history and critical issues of new media. His artwork uses digital audio and video in public environments to elaborate the shift of focus in art discourse from object to process. He helped to found the New Media Caucus and is on the board of the International Digital Media & Art Association.

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Recipient of the first ASCAP Deems Taylor award for broadcast journalism, David Dubal has won numerous awards including the coveted George Foster Peabody award. He also received a proclamation from mayor Guiliani for his services to music in New York City. During 1999 he was heard every Sunday at WQXR as host of the program The American Century - a series devoted to American music. He was music and program director of the radio station WNCN (New York City) and was also producer and commentator of innumerable special broadcasts. Mr. Dubal has been on the faculty of the Juilliard School since 1983 and the Manhattan School of Music since 1995. At Juilliard, his series The World of the Piano is one of the most popular classes in the Evening Division. David Dubal has conducted master classes worldwide including: Seoul National University, the Berne Conservatory in Switzerland, and in Brazil and Israel. Mr. Dubal has judged many international competitions including a series of 6 lecture-recitals at the 1989, 1993, 1997 Van Cliburn competitions. The Dubal Collection of Interviews is at the University of Maryland. He is a Housewright Eminent Scholar at Florida State University. Currently Mr. Dubal is heard every Wednesday night at 10:00PM on WQXR in his program: Reflections From The Keyboard, The Piano in Comparative Performance. His new book, The Essential Canon of Classical Music was recently published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. In May, 2006, Mr. Dubal received an honorary Doctor of Music from the 64 colleges of The State University of New York.

Dennis Scarry is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of Florida. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He also holds memberships with the National Society of Accountants and the Florida Society of Association Executives. He serves on the Business Nuts and Bolts Committee of the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce. He is an adjunct instructor for Florida State University. He teaches Income Tax Planning for the Center for Professional Development's Certified Financial Planning program. He volunteers his time coaching flag football and working on the committee for the United Way Charity Golf Tournament. He helped start and continues to help run the Men's Ministry program at Good Shepherd Catholic Church. He and his beautiful wife Jennifer have been married 19 years and they have two sons, Brad and Kyle.

Dogan Yuksel is a doctoral student at the Florida State University?s Multilingual Multicultural Education program. His research interests include use of literature in language teaching, literary discussions, learner and teacher uptake, task-based language teaching and Sociocultural SLA.

Dr. Hans S. Plendl: Ph.D. (1958, Yale University). Member of Physics Department faculty, Florida State University (1956-1995). Senior Fellow, Institute for International Cooperative Environmental Research, FSU (1995-2002). Professor Emeritus, FSU (1995- present).

Holly Hanessian is a mid-career sculptor who creates objects, site-specific installations and artist's books. Her work uses text and the book form as a way to convey meaning based on life experiences that result from both choice and chance. Hanessian's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including the Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Canada, the Ningbo Museum of Art, Ningbo, China and the Yixing Ceramic Museum of Art, Yixing, China. In addition to her studio art practice, she is an associate professor of Art at Florida State University, where she directs the ceramics program within the Art Department. As an artist and educator, she has given lectures and workshops at over 25 different colleges and universities as well as having been featured in several magazines and books including, The Ceramic Narrative by Matthias Ostermann and 500 Ceramic Sculptures by Glen Brown.

Dr. Smith is a member of the Melanoma/Sarcoma, Gastrointestinal and Breast Cancer Departments at M. D. Anderson - Orlando. Additionally, he is on faculty as an assistant clinical professor at Florida State University. Dr. Smith was chief surgical resident at Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he completed an internship in general surgery. He earned a medical degree from the University of Florida. Board certified in general surgery by the American Board of Surgery, Dr. Smith is a diplomat of the National Board of Medical Examiners. Also, he serves on the board of directors for the Central Florida Chapter of the American Cancer Society. A fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Smith has made multiple presentations and has been published in several journals, including the American Journal of Surgery.

Jerrilyn McGregory, Associate Professor of Folklore in the Department of English at Florida State University, specializes in African-American literature and folklore. She is the author of Wiregrass Country, about the folklife of the wiregrass region of north Florida, as well as numerous articles in scholarly journals. Her specific research areas include: regional folklore, African American folklore, African American literature, African Diaspora Studies, onomastics, and Boxing Day celebrations.

Jessica Lowe is a doctoral student in Women's Studies at Florida State University. For the past four years, she has worked for the Florida National Organization for Women as their lobbyist in Tallahassee. While with Florida NOW, she was privileged to work on a number of issues related to women's rights, LGBT rights, civil rights, education, and public health. Additionally, she teaches a film course at Florida State University entitled, "Multicultural Film." Currently, she is taking a hiatus from her dissertation on the presentation of high-achieving women in film and television in order to work for Healthcare United. While not teaching or engaging in political activism, Jessica likes to ride and show her horse, Devo, and spend time with her border collie, Hero.

Dr. Tucker graduated from medical school from the University of Alabama School of Medicine in 1980. He completed his internship at Carraway Methodist Medical Center and remained there to complete his general surgery residency in 1985. Dr. Tucker completed a peripheral vascular fellowship at Lehigh Valley Medical Center in 1986. Dr. Tucker maintains his board certification in surgery through the American Board of Surgery. He obtained his Florida medical license in 1996. Dr. Tucker is a member of several medical and surgical societies including the American College of Surgeons, Escambia County Medical Society, Pensacola Surgical Society and Carraway Surgical Society. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor with Florida State University.

Dr. Kerr received his educational training at Indiana University. He has been a Professor of Marketing at Florida State University since 1969 and is a Past Chairman of the Marketing Department at Florida State University. He is also a Past President of the Southern Marketing Association, the principal investigator for surveys with allied societies and a Marketing Analyst at General Electric Company. In addition, he is the Director of the Small Business Institute and Small Business Development Center at Florida State University.

Jonathan is currently a graduate student and teaching assistant at Florida State University, studying with Dr. Chris Moore. Jonathan earned his Bachelor's Degree in Music Performance at the University of Kentucky, where he studied with Mark Clodfelter on a full scholarship. He performed as Principal Trumpet of both the UK Symphony Orchestra and the Wind Ensemble. While in school, he also performed with the Lexington Philharmonic, Johnson City Symphony, Asheville Symphony Orchestra, and the Brevard Chamber Orchestra. Jonathan was a member of the American Wind Symphony Orchestra in the summer of 2004 and attended the Aspen Music Festival in the summers of 2005 and 2006, where he studied with Raymond Mase, Kevin Cobb, and Louis Ranger. Other teachers have included Matthew Inkster, Amy Cherry, and James O'Donnell.

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In her role as Program Director, Grantmaking, Karen Garrett oversees LINC's grantmaking in its Creative Communities and Artography programs. Prior to joining LINC, Karen Garrett was the Senior Program Assistant and Exhibit Coordinator at the Nathan Cummings Foundation for seven years. Karen's responsibilities included coordinating the efforts of the Program Assistants at the Foundation, maintaining the grantmaking procedures manual, processing and monitoring grant requests, coordinating and participating in Arts and Culture grantee meetings and interfacing with the Arts and Culture Education Team of the Foundation's Board of Trustees. As the Exhibit Coordinator, she was responsible for three in-house exhibits a year at the Foundation, all representing social justice issues. Before joining the Foundation in 2000, Karen served in several capacities on the staff of the dance company, Urban Bush Women. She began her tenure as the Office Manager and then served as the Company Manager and Interim Director. She was also fortunate enough to be Faculty/Participant Coordinator for the Company's groundbreaking Summer Dance Institute at Florida State University, which is now an annual event in Brooklyn, NY. Garrett is a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College where she received a BFA in Dance.

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Kristin is currently enrolled at Florida State University pursuing her Masters in Sports Marketing. Kristin will be taking the roll of our Birthday Party coordinator, as well as leading some of our marketing campains.

Larry Kientz is a member of CampusWorks Senior Leadership Team, Senior IT Executive, and Corporate Director for Staff Development and Training Services with CampusWorks. Larry has over 20 years of Information Systems Management and applications experience and has an extensive background with Information Technology in higher education. Larry spent many years in the higher education and public sector IT management services and administrative systems field with CampusWorks and SunGard Pentamation and SCT Corporations and as founder and CEO of TreSun Corporation. Through his affiliation with the above companies and CampusWorks, Larry has been responsible for the planning and implementation of complex integrated administrative systems projects and robust network and telecom infrastructure environments for scores of higher education/public sector clients. Larry is accomplished in higher education information technology management, organization analysis and technical staff evaluation and mentoring. Larry has been responsible for and mentored several hundred of IT management and technical staff throughout the course of his career, and is also recognized as an authority in higher education/IT leadership and strategic planning. Larry is also knowledgeable in strategic, tactical and business continuity planning, and budget planning for large IT enterprise services. Currently, in addition to supporting a number of CampusWorks' staff development and training assignments, Larry is also working with the Florida State University to prepare a strategic technology business plan for the independent affiliated - Northwest Regional Data Center, which services Florida State University, Florida International University, Florida Atlantic University and other educational institutions in the State of Florida. The Center's technology services offerings include mainframe hosting, telecommunications services, server hosting, ASP hosting and business continuity services to both educational and governmental agencies throughout the State of Florida.

Linda Schrader is an Associate Professor in Educational Policy and Evaluation in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Florida State University. Previous to this appointment in 2001, Linda was an evaluation consultant for 20 years and was responsible for directing research and evaluation studies for various educational and human service organizations at both the federal and state level. She currently serves as the Chair of the AEA Teaching of Evaluation TIG and has a long history of involvement with the Southeast Evaluation Association (SEA) as a charter member in 1986 and President ten years later. She currently serves as the SEA Affiliate Liaison to AEA.

Mark Winegardner was born and raised in Bryan, Ohio, near Exit 2, a town of 8,000 which supplies the world with its Dum-Dum suckers and Etch-a-Sketches. His parents owned an RV dealership there, and every summer he traveled with his family across the USA in various travel trailers and motorhomes. By the time he was 15, he had been in all 48 contiguous states. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Miami University and went on to receive a master of fine arts degree in fiction writing from George Mason University. He published his first book at age 26, while still in graduate school. He has taught at Miami, George Mason, George Washington, and John Carroll Universities, and is now a professor in the creative writing program at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. Winegardner has won grants, fellowships and residencies from the Ohio Arts Council, the Lilly Endowment, the Ragdale Foundation, the Sewanee Writers Conference and the Corporation of Yaddo. His books have been chosen as among the best of the year by the New York Times Book Review, Chicago Sun-Times, Los Angeles Times, the New York Public Library, and USA Today. His work has appeared in GQ, Playboy, Ploughshares, TriQuarterly, DoubleTake, Family Circle, The Sporting News, Witness, Story Quarterly, American Short Fiction, Ladies Home Journal, Parents and The New York Times Magazine. Several of his stories have been chosen as Distinguished Stories of the Year in The Best American Short Stories.

Mary Elizabeth Neal is a student at Florida State University, pursuing a M.M. in composition and studying with Ladislav Kubick. She received her B.M. in composition from Birmingham-Southern College where she studied primarily with Dorothy Hindman and Charles Norman Mason. She attended the 2005 Czech-American Summer Music Institute in Prague studying with Ladislav Kubick. She has attended master classes with performers such as double bassist Robert Black, the Goliard Ensemble, the Atlas Saxophone Quartet, the Korona Guitar Qvartet, and composers such as Chen Yi, Eric Whitacre, Michael Torke, Eric Ewazen, Neil Rolnick, and Ellen Zwillich-Taffe. Her music has been played by the Bach Festival Chamber Choir (Rollins College), Birmingham-Southern College New Music Ensemble, and the Birmingham Art Music Alliance. She is a member of the Birmingham Art Music Alliance and the Florida State University student chapter of Society of Composers, Inc.

Dr. Hanline is an Associate Professor in the Department of Childhood Education, Reading, and Disability Services at Florida State University. She teaches courses in the Special Education doctoral and Education of Students with Exceptionalities teacher preparation program focusing on children birth to 5 and children with severe disabilities. She is currently directing a U.S. Department of Education personnel preparation grant focusing on the development of infant/toddler personnel preparation and co-directing a U.S. Department of Education project of national significance, the purpose of which is to develop modules to educate early child care providers about positive behavior support. She publishes regularly in peer-reviewed professional journals; engages in national, state, and local service activities related to individuals with disabilities; and presents at international and national conferences.

Michael Hix, a Doctoral student at Florida State University, recently completed double Masters degrees in Voice Performance and Historical Musicology at the Florida State University. While at FSU, he sang several principal roles with FSU Opera, including Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress and Don Alfonso in Cosi fan Tutti. Other notable performances include La Traviata, Don Giovanni, Noye's Fludde, Die Fledermaus, Le Nozze di Figaro, Rigoletto, Carousel, and Oklahoma. Hix has sung with Opera Birmingham, Opera del Sol, Ashlawn-Highland Opera Festival, Tallahassee Symphony, Southeastern Symphony Orchestra, Tupelo Symphony, and Furman Opera Theater. As an oratorio soloist, Hix has performed Mendelssohn's Elijah, Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, Vaughn Williams' Hodie, and has been a featured soloist with the Tallahasseee Bach Parley and the Florida State Baroque Ensemble. Hix's concert and recital career include solo performances throughout the United States, Austria, and Switzerland. In 2002, he studied in Dresden, Germany as a Rotary International Cultural Ambassador. As a musicologist, Hix is interested in opera, art song, film music and twentieth century music. He has presented his research for the Southeastern chapter of the American Musicological Society and was awarded the prize for best student paper. Hix was recently awarded the Simonton Literary Prize for his research. Since 2002 Hix served as professor of music at the Baptist College of Florida. He is married to Soprano/Musicologist Margaret Jackson. They have two, hairy, four-legged children named Moses and Sophie.

Please click on a name or picture on the left for more information on our Board of Directors. Mickey Damelio is a Teacher of the Visually Impaired, and Orientation and Mobility specialist for Leon County Schools. Mr. Damelio is an adjunct professor with Florida State University, where he teaches two classes each year. Mr. Damelio received his master's degree from Florida State University in 2005 in Visual Impairments Education, with an emphasis on Orientation and Mobility, and Early Intervention. Mr. Damelio has always been interested in developing nations and their people. In the summer of 2008, Mr. Damelio was asked to consult with a school for the blind in Hu , Vietnam. The school was interested in bringing their teaching practices in line with the best practices of the field of Visual Impairments. While in Vietnam, Mr. Damelio was inspired to improve the lives of children with disabilities in developing nations, and came back to Florida to create and organize Ability Beyond the Horizon. Mr. Damelio will be entering the Doctoral program in FSU with an emphasis on international work with people with disabilities. Mr. Damelio is also the owner of Tallahassee Freecycle, a not for profit organization in Tallahassee of more than 5000 people that reduces landfill waste, as well as serving as Secretary on the board of Directors of Birdland, a not for profit in Tallahassee, FL that works in the rehoming of unwanted companion parrots, and education of people with companion parrots.

Monica has worked at the Claude Pepper Center at Florida State University since 1997. Prior to that period of time, she worked for the organization which developed and funded the initiation of the Center providing administrative and program management support. She is responsible for the administrative, financial and human resource operations of the Center and works with staff to develop and implement its programs, symposia and conferences.

Nathan has been with Crossbridge since our opening day in February of 2005. He is currently a full-time graduate student at Florida State University in the Humanities Department.

Dr. Neil Shea Crispo is Senior Vice President Emeritus of Florida TaxWatch. He served as Senior Vice President for Research and Operations at TaxWatch from 1991 through 1998, and afterward served as Vice President for Research Development through 2000. Dr. Crispo is a Courtesy Professor and Intern Coordinator at the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University. He is also President of Y-HAT Inc., an association for the Provision of Research & Educational Resources. He specializes in Civic Association Leadership, Strategic Planning and Accountability, Non Governmental Organizations, State/Local Government Policy & Finance, and Education Policy. Dr. Crispo has held several administrative and faculty positions in higher education during his thirty three year career in Florida s community college and state university systems. He served for fifteen years as an officer in the United States Coast Guard both on active duty and in the active reserve, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and was assigned to the position of unit commander. He holds a Bachelors degree in Social Science and a Masters degree in Sociology from Florida State University, and a Doctor of Education in Education Administration from the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Crispo has been and is currently noted as a Heritage Foundation Policy Expert.

Paula Harmon is a multi-talented and recognized artist who trained at Florida State University and has been practicing her craft for over 25 years. Her artwork is focused on the vibrant color of stained glass. Working for years in architectural stained glass, she has recently explored an interest in the ancient art of mosaic. Her final creations are a lively and colorful, individually custom-framed expression of the artist using glass and found objects. In addition to her work with stained glass, Paula is an accomplished painter working with acrylics and watercolor. Paula's work is on display in Tallahassee at the LeMoyne Art Foundation, Nomads, and The Explorer's Club. Her work "Old City Jail" currently hangs in the office of the Secretary of State' of Florida in Tallahassee. Locally, her work can be seen at the Sea Oats Art Gallery on St. George Island. Paula's awards include the prestigious FNCC/AIA Biennial Design Award for Excellence in Craftsmanship.

Peggy Sharpe is Professor of Portuguese at Florida State University where she teaches courses on Brazilian language, culture, literature and film. Her scholarly publications include Espelho na rua: A cidade na ficcao de Eca de Queiros (1992), the edited volume Entre resistir e identificar-se: Para uma teoria da pratica da narrativa brasileira de autoria feminina (1997) and the translation of Rosiska Darcy de Oliveira's In Praise of Difference: The Emergence of a Global Feminism (1998). She has also published numerous critical editions and scholarly articles on the subject of Brazilian women writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The recipient of two Fulbright awards to Brazil , Sharpe has taught and conducted research at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, and Universidade Federal do Maranhao. She has also held elected positions in the Modern Language Association, the American Portuguese Studies Association and American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.

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Randall G. Holcombe, Ph.D., of Tallahassee, Florida, is DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics at Florida State University. He is the author of 12 books and more than 100 articles in academic and professional journals. His books include The Economic Foundations of Government (1994) Public Policy and the Quality of Life (1995), From Liberty to Democracy: The Transformation of American Government (2002), and Entrepreneurship and Economic Progress (2006).

Dr. Robert A. Holton is President and founder of MDS Research Foundation and Syncure Cancer Research Foundation. Dr. Holton is also co-founder of Taxolog, Inc. and serves as Chief Scientific Officer and as a Director. He has been a professor of chemistry at Florida State University since 1985. From 1973-1985, he served as professor of chemistry at Purdue University and Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Dr. Holton's research work since 1973 has been in the area of organic synthesis of complex molecules.

ROBERT OLEN BUTLER has published ten novels--The Alleys of Eden, Sun Dogs, Countrymen of Bones, On Distant Ground, Wabash, The Deuce, They Whisper, The Deep Green Sea, Mr. Spaceman, and Fair Warning--and four volumes of short fiction--Tabloid Dreams, Had a Good Time, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, which won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and his most recent, Severance, from Chronicle Books. Butler has also published a volume of his lectures on the creative process, From Where You Dream, edited with an introduction by Janet Burroway. Among his numerous other awards are a Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction, the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and two National Magazine Awards in Fiction. His stories have appeared widely in such publications as The New Yorker, Esquire, Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, Zoetrope, and The Paris Review and have been chosen for inclusion in four annual editions of The Best American Short Stories, eight annual editions of New Stories from the South, and numerous college literature textbooks. He is the Francis Eppes Distinguished Professor holding the Michael Shaara Chair in Creative Writing at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.

Dr. Reiser is a founding board member of the Institute for School Innovation. He is a professor in the Instructional Systems program at the Florida State University, and has served as department chairperson. Dr. Reiser is the co-developer of Project TEAMS (Technology Enhancing Achievement in Middle School), and is widely recognized for his work in instructional systems design. He has written four textbooks, and published over 50 journal articles on instructional design and technology.

Roger Kaufman is professor and director, Office for Needs Assessment and Planning at Florida State University where he has received a Professorial Excellence award. He also has served as Research Professor of Engineering Management at the Old Dominion University; Norfolk; Virginia and associated with the faculty of industrial engineering at the University of Central Florida. In addition; he is Director of Roger Kaufman & Associates. Previously he has been professor of human behavior at the United States International University (now Alliant International University); professor of education at Chapman University; and also taught courses in strategic planning; needs assessment; and evaluation at the University of Southern California and Pepperdine University. He was the 1983 Haydn Williams Fellow at the Curtin University of Technology in Perth; Australia. Roger serves as the Vice Chair of the Senior Research Advisory Committee for Florida TaxWatch. His Ph.D. in communications is from New York University; with additional graduate work in industrial engineering; psychology; and education at the University of California at Berkeley and Johns Hopkins University (MA). His undergraduate work was in psychology; statistics; sociology and industrial engineering was at Purdue and George Washington (BA) universities. Before entering higher education he was Assistant to the Vice President for Engineering as well as Assistant to the Vice President for Research at Douglas Aircraft Company. Before that; he was director of training system analysis at US Industries; Head of Training Systems for the New York office of Bolt; Beranek & Newman; and head of human factors engineering at Martin Baltimore and earlier as a human factors specialist at Boeing. He has served two terms on the U.S. Secretary of the Navy's Advisory Board on Education and Training. His clients--working in the areas of strategic planning; change management-change creation; quality management; needs assessment; evaluation; distance learning; and organizational improvement include or have included: Accenture; Gallaudet University; Tricon Global Industries (Pizza Hut; Taco Bell; KFC); Chase Manhattan Bank; New Zealand Universities Academic Audit Unit; Los Alamos National Laboratories; Prairie View A&M University; AT Catholic University of Chile; Nova Southeastern University; Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting (World headquarters and Australia); Polytechnic University of Ecuador (ESPOL); MIM Holdings; Ltd.; World Bank; Accounting Firms Associated; Australian Public Service and Merit Protection Commission; Australian Treasury; Florida Power & Light; the Australian Department of Defence; First Union Bank; the Leon County (Florida) School Board; Central Statistical Office (UK); EastConn Regional Education Service Center; Unisys of Australia; US Department of Education; Microsoft; Universidades Tecnologicas (Mexico); Shell Oil Company; Florida Department of Education; Niagara Wires Division of NiagaraLockport; American Association of School Administrators (AASA)--National Academy of School Executives (NASE); IBM; Valencia (Florida) Community College; Equifax; Box Hill Institute of TAFE (Australia); US Department of Veterans Affairs; National Open University of Venezuela; Simon Bolivar University; Venezuela American Society for Curriculum and Development (ASCD); Parke-Davis; Pioneer Cement; M&M Mars; Sydney Water Board; US Coast Guard; Perez Companc S. A.; the Florida Department of Health & Rehabilitative Services; New Zealand departments of Minister & Cabinet; Treasury; Army; State Services; and Science and Technology; Institute of Educational Technology/Ministry of Culture and Education of Argentina; Texas Instruments; Otago Polytechnic (New Zealand); Florida Governor's Office of Planning and Budget; Sun Microsystems; Bank of Boston (Argentina) Train-Koeln (Germany); Fireman's Fund Insurance; Wellington (New Zealand) City Council; Moran Towing; March of Dimes; Bankers'...

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Sandra Simonds is a Phd student in Creative Writing at Florida State University and the author of four chapbooks. Her poems are forthcoming in Volt and the Seneca Review. She runs a poetry journal called Wildlife. You can email her at

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Shirley Close was born in Oklahoma and received a Master of Music degree in Voice from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Olivet Nazarene University. She has received many honors for her singing including the Martha Baird Rockefeller Foundation. She was a winner of the San Francisco Opera Regional Auditions, the Oratorio Society of New York Competition, and the NATS Singer of the Year (Southern California Chapter). Ms. Close has spent the majority of her career as a mezzo-soprano, but on the advice of Sir George Solti made the transition to dramatic soprano. She has performed opera, concerts and oratorio for the past thirty years in Europe, America and Asia. Highlights of her operatic career include performances at the Bavarian State Opera (Munich), Cologne Opera, Bayreuth Festival, Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dusseldorf, Duisburg, Salzburg, National Theater of Mannheim, Opera du Rhin (Strasbourg), Opera de Nantes, Opera de Nice, Festival d'Orange, the opera companies of Washington, Dallas, Atlanta, Glimmerglass, Mobile and others. She covered Isolde at the Seattle Opera, Brunnhilde at the Chicago Lyric Opera, Kostelnicka in "Jenufa" at the San Francisco Opera and at the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan (Ozawa). Additional roles she has performed are Kundry, Ortrud, Tosca, Santuzza, Elizabeth and Venus, and in concert: Brunnhildie. As a mezzo-soprano, she performed Amneris, Aldagisa, Azucena, Fricka, Waltraute, and Fenena. She has sung under many renowned conductors including Ricardo Muti, Daniel Barenboim, Wolfgang Sawallisch, James Conlon, Pinchas Steinberg, Michel Plasson, John Nelson, Dennis Russell Davies, Julius Rudel, Michael Gielen, Sir David Willcocks, Louis Langree, Hans Graf, David Atherton, Egon zu Gutenberg, Marek Janowski. Ms. Close is currently Associate Professor of Voice at Florida State University in Tallahassee. She was honored in 2003 as the recipient of the Maggie Sloan Crawford Award given by Olivet Nazarene University to women who have excelled professionally and who are a role model to young women. Other recipients have been Sandra Day O'Connor and Elizabeth Dole.

Throughout the nearly three decades of her performing career, Suzanne Farrell was the most influential American ballerina of the late 20th century, as well as the exquisite muse of one of the undisputed masters of ballet. After retiring from the stage in 1989, she emerged as one of the world's most inspiring ballet teachers and directors. She was one of George Balanchine's most celebrated muses, and today is a repetiteur for the George Balanchine Trust, the independent organization founded after the choreographer's death by the heirs to his ballets to oversee their worldwide licensing and production. Since 1988 she has staged Balanchine's works for a range of companies, including the Berlin Opera Ballet, the Vienna State Opera Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet, as well as American companies throughout the United States. Since the fall of 2000, Ms. Farrell has been a full-time professor in the dance department at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. Suzanne Farrell was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and received her early training at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music before moving to New York City at the age of 15 to pursue a career as a ballet dancer. George Balanchine handpicked Suzanne Farrell for his company when she was only 16, after she spent a year as a Ford Foundation scholarship student at the School of American Ballet. Her unique combination of musical, physical, and dramatic gifts quickly ignited Balanchine's imagination. Balanchine went on to invent new ballets for her including Diamonds, Chaconne and Mozartiana, in which the limits of ballerina technique were expanded to a degree not seen before or since. For a generation, she danced and redefined the standards of everything from one of the earliest Balanchine ballets, Apollo, to his very last creation, Variations for Orchestra. From 1970 to 1975, Ms. Farrell performed with Maurice Bejart's Ballet du XXe Siecle in Brussels, Belgium before returning to New York City Ballet where she performed for the remainder of her performing career. By the time she retired from the stage in 1989, Ms. Farrell had achieved a career that is without precedent or parallel in the history of ballet. During her 28 years on the stage, she danced a repertory of more than one hundred ballets, nearly a third of which were composed expressly for her by Balanchine and other choreographers, including Jerome Robbins and Maurice Bejart. Her numerous performances with Balanchine's company (more than two thousand), her world tours, and her appearances in television and movies have made her one of the most recognizable and highly esteemed artists of her generation. She is also the recipient of numerous artistic and academic accolades. Ms. Farrell began her association with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1993, working with the Education Department. In 2001, she created the Kennedy Center's own ballet company, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, and serves as Artistic Director. Committed to carrying forth the legacy of George Balanchine through performances of his classic ballets, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet announced the formal creation of the Balanchine Preservation Initiative in February 2007. This initiative serves to introduce rarely seen or "lost" Balanchine works to audiences around the world. Many of these works have not been performed in nearly forty years. The Initiative is produced with the knowledge and cooperation of The George Balanchine Trust. To date, the Company's repertoire includes nine Balanchine Preservation Initiative Ballets including Ragtime (Balanchine/Stravinsky), Divertimento Brillante (Balanchine/Glinka), and Pithoprakta (Balanchine/Xenakis). The company enjoys annual engagements at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In addition to her work for the Balanchine Trust, she is active in a variety of cultural and philanthropic organizations such as the New York State Council on the...

Dr. Lynch is a Professor Emeritus in Economics research at Florida State University. His distinguished career has included positions as the Director of the Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis at FSU, as an Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Public Administration, Urban and Regional Planning and Economics at FSU. Dr. Lynch also led the Florida Everglades Restoration Project for economic impact assessments; he acted as the economic damage expert witness on Florida's Tobacco lawsuit; and he was staff director for the Florida Academic Task Force on Hurricane Catastrophe Insurance. In additions, Dr. Lynch was Chief of the State Center for Health Statistics, Assistant Director of the Florida High Speed Rail Transportation Commission and Chief Environmental Economist for the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation. Dr. Lynch received his doctorate in Economics from FSU in 1984, his Master in Science in Urban and Regional Planning from FSU in 1974 and his Bachelors degree in Economics from FSU in 1971.

Dr. Thomas A. Taylor, AICP, Associate Director has been with the Florida Conflict Resolution Consortium since 1990. This program was created by the legislature to address critical problems facing Florida by promoting and supporting the use of mediation, facilitation and other collaborative processes. Dr. Taylor has worked with public and private parties to seek solutions to case-specific conflicts and policy disputes, and to reach consensus on strategic plans and visions for organizations and communities. His projects range from facilitating a few people for a few hours to multi-meeting processes that take over a year, large groups with as many as 2000 in one meeting and one with a settlement of over five hundred million dollars. Hundreds of elected officials, administrators, staff, mediators, attorneys and others have participated in his trainings. Dr. Taylor has a Ph.D. in Environmental Design and Planning and is also an adjunct professor of Urban Planning at Florida State University. Prior to coming to the CRC he was a professor at the University of Oklahoma, a practicing planner, consultant and trainer.

Virgil Suarez was born in Havana, Cuba in 1962 and moved to the Unites States in 1974. He is the author of six collections of poetry, most recently, Palm Crows (Univ. of Arizona Press), Banyan ( LSU Press), and Guide To the Blue Tongue (Univ. of Illinois Press). He is the co-editor of the anthologies American Diaspora: Poetry of Displacement, and Like Thunder: Poetry of Violence in America, both published by the University of Iowa Press. His work has been featured in a wide variety of national and international literary journals. He divides his time between Key Biscayne and Tallahassee, where he teaches at Florida State University.

William A. Hillison, Ph.D., CPA, CMA, is a Professor of Accounting at Florida State University, where he holds the Andersen Chair. His primary teaching duties include graduate and undergraduate auditing and systems courses. He is a member of the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, American Accounting Association, and Institute of Management Accountants. He has had articles published in many journals including the Journal of Accounting Research; the Journal of Accounting Literature; the Journal of Accounting Education; Cost and Management; The Internal Auditor; Advances in Accounting; the Journal of Accountancy; the CPA Journal; the Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance; ABACUS; and The Journal of Forecasting. Dr. Hillison coauthors CPA Review: Auditing and Auditing & Systems Exam Questions and Explanations.

Yaacov Petscher, Ph.D. is an Associate in Research at Florida State University and the Director of Research at the Florida Center for Reading Research. Dr. Petscher is an expert in measurement and quantitative methods and has published in the fields of psychometrics, student reading development, gifted identification, effectiveness of interventions, and grief and loss. In his spare time, Dr. Petscher enjoys the blessing of helping his wife raise their daughter, and is active in his community teaching about his Christian faith.

Dr. David Duany, long time Windermere resident and owner of All About Kids Pediatrics cares for children in our Windermere office. Dr. Duany has been in practice in the community for over 20 years. He is well known for his involvement with the Olympia Pop Warner football league and is currently a member of the medical staff of Florida State University. Dr. Duany is an avid golfer who spends much of his free time on the greens. He and his wife Beth have two older children Dave and John. His area of special medical interest revolves around sports medicine.

James Bruce holds the Bachelor of Music Education from Florida State University where he served three years as Drum Major of the FSU Marching Chiefs and two terms as President of Kappa Kappa Psi National Band Fraternity. He has been Director of Bands at Manatee High School since 1988 where his bands have received Superior ratings at FBA band evaluations for the past eighteen years. He has served as the director of the Manatee Community College Symphonic Wind Ensemble and has been the director of the Florida State University Marching Band Leadership Camp for the past twenty eight years, having trained hundreds of drum majors and student leaders from across the country. He is a past district chairman of the Florida Bandmasters Association and serves as an adjudicator and clinician throughout the state of Florida. In 2004 he was honored to serve as a band adjudicator for the New Year's Day Parade in London, England. Mr. Bruce, and his wife Cindy, an accomplished flutist and teacher, perform with the Sarasota Pops Orchestra. Mr. Bruce's professional affiliations include Music Educators National Conference, Florida Music Educators Association, and The Florida Bandmasters Association.

After successfully serving in a variety of key roles for organizations throughout the United States and around the world, Mr. Jordan has utilized his well-rounded knowledge and global experience to dramatically improve and turnaround not only small businesses, but also Fortune 500 companies. He serves as a faculty fellow of Florida State University and focuses his research on industrial and organizational psychology and on the interesting and emerging field of financial psychology.