Community connectionsUniversity of Central Florida Division of Community Relations

ucf, smart sensors, and central florida’s new economyHundreds of business and community leaders gathered at the Ballroom at Church Street on March 27 to hear from UCF President John C. Hitt, Osceola County Manager Don Fisher, and UCF Vice Pres-ident for Research and Commercialization MJ Soileau about the university’s newest col-laboration: a public-private partnership with Osceola County and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council to establish the Florida Advanced Manufacturing Research Center.

This state-of-the-art research and incubation facility will be home to smart sensor developers, allowing Central Florida to tap into a burgeoning market estimated to be in the trillions in the coming years. Dr. Hitt referred to a recent study analyzing the potential economic impact of the proposed advanced-technology manufacturing clus-ter, describing it as a “landmark effort to create thousands of new jobs and to further energize the economy of our region.”

Pointing to the success of the semiconductor industry in Austin, Texas, and Silicon Valley and the nanotechnology industry in Albany, New York, Dr. Soileau encouraged attendees to contact their elected officials in support of the project, saying, “Someone will do this. The market potential is too great for it not to happen. Why not this time in Osceola County?”

Additional event photos are available here.

In This Issue: Page 1• Smart Sensors• UCF Celebrates the Arts

Page 2• Hitt Honored as History Maker• Martinez Leads Go Red Campaign• UCF Community Council: Greek Life• Students Negotiate Cyprus Solution

Page 3• WUCF TV Event: Last Days in Vietnam• Founders’ Day• CBA Real Estate Conference• Kurdish Studies Conference

Page 4• WUCF TV Event: The Homestretch• Around the Community

June 2015Connecting the University and the Community

We talk a lot about partnerships here

at UCF—we even trademarked the

slogan “America’s Leading Partnership

University®.” By joining with those in

government, business, and philan-

thropy, we are able to accomplish

more than any single entity could on

its own. These achievements include

expanding educational opportuni-

ties, tackling social issues, facilitating

global conversations, making the

arts accessible to all, and generating

high-paying jobs, all of which benefit

our community as a whole.

As President Hitt says, “In true part-

nerships, each partner makes import-

ant contributions toward the goal—and

all the players benefit.” We are proud

of our role in making Central Florida

such an exceptional place to live, work

and play, and we look forward to many

more successful collaborations in the

years to come.

Yours in partnership,

Helen

Letter from helenHelen Donegan, Vice President, Division of Community Relations

UCF Celebrates the Arts

More than 500 community and university

leaders gathered for an opening night recep-

tion of the UCF Celebrates the Arts festival

in the DeVos Family Room of the Dr. Phillips

Center for the Performing Arts on April 10.

President John C. Hitt, College of Arts and

Humanities Dean Jose Fernandez, and UCF

School of the Performing Arts Director Jeff

Moore spoke about arts at UCF and shared

a video montage highlighting UCF student

artistic talent. The UCF Jazz Chamber Group,

directed by Jeff Rupert, performed, and giant

banners of UCF student artwork adorned the walls while guests enjoyed a view of the

Orlando city skyline. Guests interacted with live student art exhibits as they entered the

Dr. Phillips Center main doors and explored the hallways on their way to the DeVos room.

After the reception, guests attended a sold-out performance of Icarus at the

Edge of Time in the Walt Disney Theater. Icarus, based on a children’s book written by

physicist Brian Greene, was narrated by Star Trek Voyager and Orange is the New Black

actress Kate Mulgrew, and accompanied by the UCF Symphony Orchestra. Mulgrew and

Greene mingled with guests at a meet-and-greet reception following the performance.

The Office of Constituent Relations coordinated this kick-off evening to the festival with

other members of the UCF Celebrates the Arts planning committee. This was the first day

of a six-day UCF Celebrates the Arts festival at the Dr. Phillips Center. More than 13,600 free

advanced tickets were reserved, and at least 10 of the shows were sold out, including the

Icarus performance. More than 1,000 UCF students, faculty and partners showcased studio

art, music, theatre, dance, gaming, animation, photography and film at the festival.

More: http://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/show-time/ and http://today.ucf.edu/ucf-

celebrates-arts-2015-take-guests-journey-edge-time/.

ucf community council: fraternity & sorority life updateThe UCF Community Council kicked off its 2015 programming on April 8 at the UCF Fraternity and Sorority Life Building for a presentation on Greek life at UCF by Student Development and Enrollment Services Asso-ciate Vice President, Dr. Kerry Welch.

Dr. Welch works closely with the Office of Student Involvement, Greek Life, Student Leadership Development, Student Neighbor-hood Relations, and Community Support Services, as well as coordinating assessment and strategic planning efforts for the division. Dr. Welch shared several impressive sta-tistics about UCF’s Greek-letter organizations, including: 38,614 and $189,274.73—the number of community service hours completed and the number of dollars raised for local charities by the Greek community in the 2013–2014 academic year, respectively.

The Council also welcomed 2015–2016 chair Garry Capton, vice president of univer-sity partnerships at FAIRWINDS Credit Union. Capton replaces outgoing chair Susan Vernon-Devlin, vice president of public relations at Massey Communications.

2 | COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

Students Negotiate for Cyprus Solution

On February 6, students from UCF, Rollins College and Stetson

University participated in the International Strategic Crisis Nego-

tiation Exercise. The exercise was organized by the UCF Global

Perspectives Office and the U.S. Army War College. The partner-

ship developed from a series of conversations between John C.

Bersia, Special Assistant to the President for Global Perspectives

at UCF, and Col. Martin Clausen, the War College’s director for

its Strategic Leader Experiential Education Division. Col. Clausen

began the exercise by telling students, “We are no longer at UCF.

We are now at the United Nations in New York City. You are no

longer students, but delegates from your respective countries.”

Over the course of two days, seven teams of students worked

together to create negotiation strategies to ease tensions

between Greek and Turkish Cypriots at a simulated U.N. peace

conference. Retired Ambassador Harriet Elam-Thomas, who

directs UCF’s Diplomacy Program, served as the exercise’s U.N.

Special Representative. Referencing her own experience work-

ing with Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, she encouraged students

to pursue compromise without overlooking the positions and

goals of their countries. Amb. Elam-Thomas said the students

“demonstrated what all of us hope will be the case, that a younger

generation of leadership on both sides with fresh new approaches

may facilitate future negotiations and allow for the resolution of

the four-decade crisis.” While the results of the exercise did not

“solve” the situation in Cyprus, students experienced firsthand the

interplay among diplomacy, the military, the economy and social

welfare.

Hitt Honored as History Maker

The Historical Society of Central Florida

awarded UCF President Dr. John C. Hitt the

2015 John Young History Maker Award on April

23. More than 400 community and university

leaders gathered in the Pegasus Ballroom of the

UCF Student Union to honor President Hitt and

the John Young History Maker Past awardee,

Bert Roper. Among the guests and speakers

were Orange County Mayor Theresa Jacobs and

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

The John Young History Maker Award honors select Central Floridians whose life-

time achievements have made an impact on the Central Florida community. It is named

after Captain John Young, Central Florida’s “hometown hero,” who commanded the

Apollo 16 mission in 1972 and became the ninth person to walk on the moon.

Dr. Hitt is UCF’s second president to receive the award. UCF’s first president, Charles

Millican, received the award in 2010. The Office of Constituent Relations provided logisti-

cal support for this year’s event, held for the first time on UCF’s main campus.

Martinez Spearheads Heart Association Education, Fundraising Effort

On May 8, the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel

was filled with more than 400 guests, all in

their best red attire, at the Greater Orlando

American Heart Association’s Go Red For

Women Luncheon. The event, co-chaired

this year by Associate Vice President of

Community Relations Maritza Martinez, is

part of the American Heart Association’s

national movement to end heart disease

and stroke in women.

“We’re raising awareness about car-

diovascular diseases in women, which is

the number one killer. Many times women

are the caretakers, looking after every-

one else but themselves,” said Martinez.

“We hope to inform and educate women,

but most importantly give women the

resources they need to take proactive

steps and be healthy.”

Celebrating its tenth year in Central

Florida, the luncheon raised more than

$250,000 and featured a special address

from national Go Red For Women spokes-

person, Paula Chavez. Nationally, the

American Heart Association’s Go Red For

Women movement has raised over $85

million for women-specific cardiovascular

research and education.

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS | 3

reflections on vietnamOn April 22, WUCF TV hosted a screening and discussion about Last Days in Vietnam, an Academy Award-nominated film chron-icling the chaotic final days of the Vietnam War. Following the screening, John C. Bersia, UCF’s Special Assistant to the President for Global Perspectives and host of WUCF’s Global Perspectives show, moderated a panel of distinguished guests: Col. Gerald Berry, Col. Joe Kittinger, Mr. Tuoi Van Lu’u and Dr. Hoi Van Do. The former two fought for the U.S., and the latter two served with the South Viet-namese Army. Bersia asked each to discuss their last days in Vietnam and share their reflections on the war, thirty years later.

kurdish studies conferenceAcademics from all over the world gathered at UCF on January 27 for a special event, “On the Outside Looking In: A Kurdish Studies Conference.” This was the first conference in a pair of collaborative, interdisciplinary forums organized by UCF and Soran University. A wide array of topics covered by present-ers allowed attendees the opportunity to “look in” on pressing Kurdish issues.

Presentations included “When States and Societies Fall Apart: Kurdistan and the Middle Eastern ‘State of Violence’” by Hamit Bozarslan of France’s École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, as well as “Kurdis-tan, Iraq and the Emerging Middle East” by Steven A. Cook, Hasib Shabbagh Fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, among many others. Conference attendees also had an opportunity to view an interactive exhibit of black and white photos titled, “What We Lost in Sinjar,” by photographer Robert Leutheuser.

Founders’ Day Honors Excellence, Service

Hundreds of university and community

friends and family gathered to honor

faculty who have demonstrated excel-

lence in service to UCF and its students

at the Founders’ Day Honors Convo-

cation on April 1. More than 150 faculty

members were recognized for out-

standing teaching, advising, research,

professional service, and librarianship,

including UCF Reach for the Stars recip-

ients for highly-successful early-career

research and creative activity and Peg-

asus Professor Award recipients, UCF’s

highest honor of excellence.

Faculty members who have com-

pleted 20, 30, 40, and 45 years of ser-

vice and who recently retired or who are

retiring soon, and those designated with

the title emerita or emeritus were also

recognized for their dedicated service.

Eleven students who demonstrated

exceptional ability in a particular area

of study were featured in videos high-

lighting their accomplishments. Each

student was chosen by a committee

within their college and presented

their award by the dean of that college.

Four Honors in the Major students who

wrote the most outstanding theses

were recognized for their achieve-

ments. The event concluded with a

moment of silence in honor of UCF’s

second president, Trevor Colbourn,

who passed away on January 13.

For a complete list of honorees visit

https://provost.ucf.edu/2015-founders-

day-honors-convocation-honorees/.

More at http://today.ucf.edu/ucf-

celebrates-best-brightest-founders-

day/

CBA Conference Explores Future of Central Florida’s Real Estate Market

The UCF College of Business

Administration hosted its third

annual real estate conference,

“Developing Opportunities: The

Future of the Central Florida

Real Estate Market,” on May 6.

Following addresses by City of

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and

UCF President John C. Hitt on the

development of UCF’s downtown

Orlando campus, Dr. Diane Trees,

director of the UCF Metro Center,

moderated a roundtable discus-

sion on significant projects and

trends in office, retail, multi-fam-

ily and tourism development

in Central Florida. Panelists

included Dan Holladay, manag-

ing director of the International

Consortium for Advanced Manu-

facturing Research, John Walsh,

CEO of Port Canaveral, James

Russell, executive vice president

of The Pizzuti Companies, and

Omar Quddus, president and

managing partner of Digital Risk.

The conference was pre-

sented by the UCF College of

Business Administration Dr. P.

Phillips Institute for Research and

Education in Real Estate and Dr.

P. Phillips School of Real Estate.

University of Central Florida Division of Community Relations UCF Downtown | 36 West Pine Street | Orlando, FL 32801Phone: 407.235.3935 | Fax: 407.317.7744 | Email: communityrelations@ucf.edu

communityrelations.ucf.eduFor more photos and the latest updates, like us on Facebook.

Around the Community

UCF representatives and members of the Oviedo-Winter Springs and Greater Sanford Regional chambers of commerce met with Florida Lieutenant Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera during the annual Capitol Connection trip to Tallahassee on April 14–15.

On April 11, more than 5,000 students, parents, teachers and staff visited UCF’s main campus for the 2015 Florida Odyssey of the Mind State Tournament. The Office of Constituent Relations works with Odyssey of the Mind staff, the CFE Arena, and the UCF Student Union each year to coordinate the annual state tournament which brings some of Florida’s brightest young minds from kindergarten through college to the University of Central Florida campus.

Knightro joined Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and city commissioners in kicking off the 31st annual MLK Holiday Parade on January 17. UCF had two entries in this year’s parade, with nearly 100 students participating.

Seminole County high school students made business presen-tations to the Oviedo-Winter Springs Chamber of Commerce Young Entrepreneurs Acad-emy investor panel on May 20. Representatives from the UCF Business Incubation Program and the Blackstone Launch-Pad served on the panel and helped disburse $7,500 in start-up funding to 14 new companies.

The eighth annual Heart of Florida United Way Women’s Leadership Luncheon on February 26 featured New York Times best-selling author Cheryl Strayed and raised more than $150,000 for educational pro-grams focused on increasing literacy in local schools. Vice President of Community Relations Helen Donegan founded the Women’s Leadership Council in 2007 to address critical problems impacting women and children in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties.

wucf tv event tackles teen homelessness, high school dropout crisis

WUCF TV presented a special preview of the film The Homestretch on April 13 at the Orlando Public Library. The Homestretch follows three homeless teens as they fight to stay in school, graduate,

and build a more stable future. Through haunting images, intimate scenes, and first-person narratives, the teens take us on their journeys of struggle and triumph. As their stories unfold, the film explores their plight within the larger issues of poverty, race, juvenile justice, immigration, foster care, and LGBTQ rights.

Following the screening, Dr. Diane Trees, host of WUCF TV’s Metro Center Outlook, led a panel discussion on the plight of homeless students in Central Florida. Panelists included Dexter Fox-worth, director of the Zebra Coalition, Andrae Bailey, CEO of the Central

Florida Commission on Homelessness, and Christina Savino, Orange County Public Schools homeless education specialist. “We have 13,000 registered homeless children in Central Florida,” said Bailey. “We need caring people on the front lines to help reverse those numbers, but they are only as good as the top leaders encouraging them.”

The Homestretch is part of American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, a public media initiative supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to help local communities across America address the high school dropout crisis.