Archives: Off Campus
Watson on Palin resignation: ‘Now is not the time to abandon your constituents’
Dr. Watson at an American Studies lecture last year.
Dr. Robert Watson, coordinator of the American Studies program here at Lynn University, is on the rolodexes (or should I say, Blackberrys?) of journalists far and wide who are on the front lines covering state and national elections, presidential moves, etc. And with good reason. Watson is always ready and willing to use his nearly encyclopedic knowledge of political events past to help define and discuss how current events may, as a result, play out.
Of course, this reputation has its downside. And here it is: while most of us were on our way home for a holiday weekend last Friday, Watson was holed up in his office taking phone calls from MSNBC in New York, the Palm Beach Post, Sun Sentinel, WPTV (NBC) and others. And why was he missing dinner (and a solid start to the July 4 holiday)? Friday was the day Alaska Governor Palin unexpectedly announced she was resigning her position.
And Watson had plenty to say on the subject. After I threw my own barrage of questions at him, he offered some of the following thoughts (which I crudely pulled together, sorry Robert!)
“Now is not the time to abandon your constituents and state residents if you are their governor,” Watson says. Given the state of the economy, he argues, the timing leaves much to be desired for Alaskan residents.
In April, Watson told the Washington Times – after a particularly tough publicity week for the former vice presidential candidate – that her public life was becoming “like a train wreck in slow motion. In politics, perception is reality … and all of this feeds into the very ugly caricature of her on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ which has been exploited and will continue to be. It seems to me that if it doesn’t stop soon, I think it could eventually turn into a major political liability.”
Of course, he allows, that tough week and others may also have led to Palin’s decision to forgo her last 18 months. But then again, Watson says that perhaps it’s the call of the lecture circuit (where Palin, as both governor and candidate, was wildly popular). Others have opined that she was leaving to prepare for her 2012 presidential bid. But Watson doesn’t believe that.
“The safe money is that she is not resigning to run for president.” Walking away from her elected position this early, and at this time, does more harm to that aspiration than good, he believes. Not that everyone in her party is upset, Watson says. “Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich, and Mitt Romney are pleased that Palin is out of the way, at least for now.”
Interested in keeping up with Dr. Watson or reading his biweekly Sun Sentinel columns? Find him on Twitter – @ProfessorWatson.
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…!)
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.
Junior Rob Nobrega joins Prof Watson, McGovern at Truman’s ‘Little White House’
McGovern, Watson and Hechler photo, taken by The Citizen newspaper in Key West, Fla.
Ran into Junior – and budding politico – Rob Nobrega the other day in the caf. Rob’s around all summer working with Pine Tree Camps. But before he got started over there, and just a day or so after finishing his exams, he was squeezing in some time for a trip to Key West for the rededication of President Truman’s ‘Little White House.’ The event was arranged by our own Dr. Robert Watson, a Truman fan and author, who sits on the board down there.
In addition to soaking up some Key West sunshine, Rob was rubbing shoulders with the big names on hand including former presidential candidate and Congressman George McGovern and former Truman aid Ken Hechler. This wasn’t a new experience for Rob, of course. Lynn hosted Hechler on campus two years ago and his class did an interview with McGovern by phone this past semester.
The action was caught by The Citizen, the local paper in Key West. The photo above shows George McGovern on the left, Dr. Watson in the middle, and Ken Hechler on the right.
Lynn all a’twitter about education grad
Good news yesterday from the Ross College of Education here at Lynn University. Alum Margaret McFarlane is one of 15 finalists for Palm Beach County’s Beginning Teacher of the Year Award. The award is presented annually to an outstanding elementary, middle, and high school first year school teacher employed by the school district. Considering that our county is roughly the size of some countries and states, Margaret’s beat out some stiff competition for this honor. Congrats! (And Margaret, if you’re reading, we’d love to hear how it feels – and how you’ve enjoyed your first year in the classroom!)
By the way, my first response to this news today was to tweet. That’s something I’m doing (and hearing) increasingly these days. And no, it’s not that I’ve sprouted a tail feather. Not yet anyway. I was tweeting on Twitter, the micro-blogging site that everyone is finally starting to use in a big way. Among them, Lynn University. If you’re on Twitter yourself, look us up and start stalking us (or in Twitter parlance, “follow”). We’ll follow ya back. As on Facebook and elsewhere, we promise to respect the trust and only give you the kind of news and updates that keep us in your good graces!
Even if
you’re not on Twitter you can check us out at: www.twitter.com/LynnUniversity
Biking is BIG
Have you noticed how Bicycling is BIG these days? It used to be that you rode a bike because you couldn’t drive; well now you shouldn’t drive, but instead ride your bike. We’re not talking motorcycles here, just the regular two-wheel manual peddle version.
I bring this up because lately, everywhere I turn, a bike pops up. March is Bike Month; This week is Bike to Work Week; Lynn is instituting a Green Ride initiative encouraging people to ride bikes to work (that started with St. Patrick’s Day Go Green event); we have our newly formed Lynn Cycling Team, riding 150 miles to benefit MS; a friend of mine’s husband has taken up cycling and rode for an AIDS fundraiser and is so hooked on it, he rides 50-100 miles as his “lazy” Sunday morning activity.
It took me a long time to learn to balance on those two wheels. I remember my mom trying to teach me time and again and I just couldn’t get the hang of it. Finally, at age 11, I found myself up and riding (my mom let go!) and I got a brand new purple two-wheeler for the holidays that year. So, I’m not sure you’ll see me cycling – my VW convertible gives me plenty of wind in my hair and fresh air in my lungs. But there’s no doubt that it certainly is good for the environment and good for you.
Lynn on the little screen
With the Oscars on my mind and a few pieces of news to share, I thought I’d pass along some links for Lynn University people and events on the little screen. First, a month or so ago CSPAN aired its recording of our second Dialogues of Innovation speaker, Princeton professor and author Melissa Harris-Lacewell. That lecture, filmed before a packed house in January, is now available online – check it out. (And yes, I realize they list the lecture as having occurred at Princeton in the preview window – but the actual segment that aired gets it right.)
The star of 'Burn Notice'… that is, the star after our own Mr. Simpson.
Potentially more exciting than that (hard to imagine as that is), one of Lynn’s own had a role in Friday’s episode of the USA Network hit ‘Burn Notice.‘ Drama department chair Adam Simpson was on the show (see full episode online) playing a boat captain and trafficker. If you’re in a hurry, you can find Adam by back tracking 17:28 from the end. Adam, you may remember, was one of the faculty members that led the January Term course that performed original works off Broadway in NYC this year.
Also on the tube on Friday was residence hall director Christina Johnson who ‘won’ SGA’s “Kiss a Pig” competition Friday afternoon. CBS 12 was there to catch Christina in the act of a six second smooch – possibly the longest six seconds in recorded history. I’m without a link at the moment but once I get it I’ll upload. We’ll definitely have it on the Lynn University Facebook page in a day or two. Check it out.
ESPN ESPY’s and Summer X Games in future for Lynn student just back from J-term
Sports Management professor Chad Barr and his students have been back on campus for two weeks now after their January Term trip working the ESPN XGames in Colorado. That is – except for one of them. Word is that Bradon Briggs got left behind in Denver. On purpose!
X Games organizers were so impressed with Briggs’ work that they asked him to stay on longer to finish out the competition. His professors and dean back here in Boca promptly signed off on the assignment (which kept him out of the first few days of Spring classes). He’s catching up on his work now. And he’ll need to – cause he’s got more work with ESPN on the way. Rumor has it ESPN has asked him to join them for its annual awards show – the Espy’s – in a few months, and also to intern with them at this summer’s snow-less X Games. (This further proof that Lynn is THE place to go if you want a career on the business side of the sports industry!)
Speaking of the J-term trip, there’s a new video up on the Web with photos. Check it out:
Lynn students putting in long hours at the XGames
Just got a report from Aspen, Co. forwarded my way. Seems the sports management class of Dr. Barr’s is knee deep in work (and snow) on site at ESPN’s X Games. One member of the J-term class pulled together a quick video chronicling day one (orientation and some field work).
The class will be working day and night for the coming week (hours 7 a.m. to as late as 8 p.m. each and every night). Word is no one’s even pulled on skis yet they’re working so hard!
Check out the video at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eglOzkocWXs
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