A Run for Lynn 2020
There is Khalique Ahmed, the professor and 2010 Faculty Member of the Year co-winner. And then there is Khalique, the runner. He’s done many runs on behalf of Lynn – during Founder’s Day, Alumni Weekend, etc. But this time he’s honoring Lynn’s 2020 strategic plan, by running 2020 kilometers during 2009-10. That’s like running one full marathon a week; it’s like running from Boca to New York. That’s a lot of running. You can follow him on Twitter (at Lynn2020Run) or you can literally follow him and join him in his daily runs.
Lynn alum Live with Regis and Kelly
Joanna James, a 2009 graduate from the masters program in Lynn’s College of International Communication, is making waves in the national media with her new invention - “Love Handles” - a universal exercise device that attaches to any baby stroller or carriage and gives the user an upper body / core workout while strolling.
Even Kelly Ripa loves “Love Handles.”
Joanna and “Love Handles” were also featured on Live with Regis and Kelly and Access Hollywood last week.
Getting “Love Handles” started wasn’t easy. Since finishing classes in December, Joanna’s been busy inventing, finding an attorney, engineer, manufacturer, insurance agent, financing and ultimately creating a successful business. “Although ‘Love Handles’ is completely separate from my Communication Studies background, my studies at Lynn have helped with many facets of developing the business,” said Joanna. “It helped me realize how to utilize various media to successfully convey a message - from defining and correctly packaging selling points, marketing them, using new media [like Facebook] to strengthen your presence and visibility and of course all the daily written and oral transactions that can either make or break deals in terms of negotiations, contracts or letters of interest.”
Where in the world are Lynn students this summer? Everywhere.
Lynn has a well deserved reputation as being one of the country’s most “international” campuses. We are regularly recognized as having one of the highest concentration of international students among peer institutions. But Lynn is also well known for sending students far afield once they arrive.
The summer is a popular time for making those treks abroad, and this summer is no exception. According to Nicolette Orezolli, Lynn’s assistant director of study abroad, students are again spending their summers on independent and faculty-led trips overseas (and on the seas too). Among their destinations:
Dublin, Ireland
Sydney, Australia
Shanghai, China
Salzburg, Austria
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Italy
South Africa
And one student is even in the Semester at Sea program, visiting Canada, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Egypt, and Morocco.
Travelers… if you’re out there… have fun! Oh… and take pictures!
(By the way, more changes are afoot here at Lynn to further deepen our international focus and programs. Stay tuned for more on that…!)
Lynn’s got a new, fly ride
While driving around town make sure to keep a sharp eye out for Lynn’s new van wrap. The van was officially unveiled to President Ross and some key VP’s this afternoon…
President Ross and Vice President of Marketing, Michele Morris, checking out the new van
The wrap was designed by Lynn’s multi-talented graphic designer, Andreia Brunstein. It includes Lynn’s trademark flags, a key message for local, prospective students: “Stay Closer to Home. Go Farther in Life,” and encourages everyone to visit our blogs and Facebook page.
Lynn's Van Wrap
In the trenches…
If you’re on campus this summer, you can’t help but have noticed all of the activity. There’re two construction projects in full swing (tennis facility and arts center), Pine Tree campers hustling all over, etc. But did you also notice the trenches? Many of you have (I’ve been hearing from you!).
So here, reading public, is your explanation, courtesy of Aaron Stanger in our information technology division. Aaron tells me that the trenches, cut with commendable precision, are for updating the campus network infrastructure and tying in our new, high tech performing arts center.
Said Aaron: “The trench you see is the first step towards connecting the (arts center) to our telephone and data networks. We are installing several conduits that will provide pathways for copper and fiber connectivity back to the Green center, not only for the PAC, but future connectivity needs, as well. When completed, these pathways will serve not only the PAC, but future expansions, while providing a redundant pathway across campus, making our network more robust and giving us the ability to better serve the Lynn community. We are excited to see these improvements, and look forward to having a faster and more reliable network here on campus!”
Good news, all. Thanks Aaron.. and IT!
Another Knight going pro
Gabe MacDougall capped an outstanding Fighting Knights career with a NCAA championship and MLB draft pick
Just a little over a week after winning a NCAA Div. II championship, Gabe MacDougall is achieving another dream, as he was drafted by Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals. The Fighting Knights’ senior left fielder was selected with the 11th pick of the 27th round last week.
“I still haven’t come down from us winning a national championship and this just adds to all of the excitement,” Gabe told Lynn sports info director Chad Beattie. “Since I was a little kid I said I was going to be a pro baseball player and this brings me one step closer” to achieving that.”
Alexandre was selected 12th overall by MLS's Real Salt Lake
MacDougall is the second of two Fighting Knights to get drafted by U.S. professional teams this year. Jean Alexandre was selected 12th overall in the 2009 Major League Soccer SuperDraft by Real Salt Lake. He was the highest drafted athlete in Fighting Knights history while becoming the third player to be drafted into the MLS.
But there’s been more action still. Fighting Knight alums Nano Short and Tyrell Burgess also signed pro contracts this year, with Short joining the Rochester Rhinos of the United Soccer League and former men’s soccer player Tyrell Burgess signing a two-year deal with the USC’s Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
Congrats guys! We’ll be watching, and rooting for you.
Performing arts center sprouting ever skyward
Snapped a new pic of the Wold Performing Arts Center today. All the exterior walls are up. The campus skyline is forever altered… in a good way.
In what apparently looked like an old Buster Keaton scene, the folks in Academic Affairs told me last week they watched from the library’s third floor as a construction worker dramatically tiptoed across the top wall line. There’s not even a roof on the thing and they’re already putting on a show!
By the way, the boys (and girls) are back in town. Pine Tree Camps is in full swing. The lakes, playing fields and classrooms are lined with little people for the 31st straight summer. We’ll get some pics up shortly.
Knights Named National Champs in Baseball - not Singing
While many students are enjoying a relaxing summer vacation, Lynn’s baseball team has been working hard - winning national championships. “It was just another game,” said star pitcher Dan Wright who helped lead the team to a 2-1 victory over Emporia State to claim the 2009 NCAA Division II National Championship at the College World Series last weekend.
On Monday, the team was welcomed back to campus with a reception in the caf. “When we walked in here, I got chills all the way down my spine,” said Christian Chavez, a junior on the team. Since Saturday’s game, the guys have been smiling - and even singing. Good thing they weren’t going for a national championship in singing!
On a serious note, the team deserves every second of the praise their getting. Not only did they win the 19th national title in school history, but they also scored the first national crown for Lynn’s baseball program. The team went 8-0 in the NCAA South Region and National Tournament, defeating eight consecutive nationally ranked opponents and closing out the year 23-6 against teams ranked in the top-25.
A thoughtful voice tackling what Miami Herald called ‘the sex offender mess’
Dr. Jill Levenson, associate professor and chair of human services at Lynn University, is sometimes in the unenviable position of being on the right side of a tough issue. A licensed clinical social worker who got her start 20 years ago as a child protection social worker, she is a nationally known expert on sexual violence and has become a respected authority on, among other things, laws aimed at protecting children while punishing, tracking and rehabilitating sex offenders.
Yesterday morning’s Miami Herald included an editorial by Fred Grimm that dissects South Florida’s own ’sex offender mess’ - a problem that some believe is the result of housing restrictions that have kept registered offenders clustered in tight communities and, as is the case in Broward County to our south, in a homeless sect nestled under an interstate overpass.
In an effort to find a better way to protect the county’s children, Broward recently created an independent commission to examine new alternatives. Chairing the commission is our own Dr. Levenson, whose work has shown, among other things, that rules imposing housing restrictions on sex offenders can sometimes create more problems than they solve (as may be the case in Fort Lauderdale).
In his editorial today, Grimm applauded the work of this commission.
“The task force charged by the Broward County Commission with finding a way out of the conundrum created by sex offender residency restrictions has listened to experts, crunched numbers and discussed a dismaying array of unintended consequences,” he wrote.
“They discussed better solutions than laws that forced registered sex offenders into homelessness; that left parole officers with no alternative but to send them to live under a highway bridge; that encouraged sex offenders to cluster in neighborhoods with less restrictive ordinances.
…
They pushed beyond the emotional stuff and dug for what made sense.
It was the kind of thoughtful examination needed to sort out a complicated and volatile problem.”
What stuck out to me were those two words: “thoughtful examination.” If you know Dr. Levenson, you know those two words fit her well. She applies her more than two decades of field work and expansive research to projects aimed at finding real solutions. Sometimes, this approach - favoring research over knee jerks - has drawn scrutiny from some corners where voters and lawmakers favored fast action to a slower, if more productive, approach. But more and more people in government (as in Broward County) and the media (like Grimm) are seeing the value in that method.
I, for one, was glad to see this approach (so common to university faculty in general but especially, Dr. L) gaining traction here at home. Bravo Jill! And best of luck to you and the commission.
They must’ve heard that Lynn commencement runs on Dunkin’
In this week’s Lynn Minute employee news teaser, Debbie Stern reported that Lynn University’s 44th commencement was apparently run “on Dunkin’.” Actually, it wasn’t “apparently” so, it was. I would know. I have two extra pounds on my frame to show for it! (Waving, shaking hands and running cameras doesn’t burn as many calories as I thought.)
Well, Dunkin’ Donuts is doing its part to keep educators in Palm Beach County happy. According to the Palm Beach Post’s Twitter feed (@pbpostednews) local Dunkin’ Donuts are handing out free mugs and coupons for coffee and donuts to the first 100 teachers it sees next Wednesday, May 26. Get more details online.