2007-2008 Academic Year

• Named by U.S. News & World Report as the “Nation's #4 Ranked Public Liberal Arts College” in its America’s Best Colleges, 2008
• Recognized as the Nation’s #1 Value in Public Higher Education for the third consecutive year in The Princeton Review’s America’s Best Value Colleges, 2008 Edition
• Ranked #5 in the nation by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance in their listing of the Top 100 Public Colleges and Universities, the 5th consecutive “Top 10” ranking for New College in Kiplinger’s
• Opened five new student residence halls (205 beds) in fall 2007 built to LEED standards for “green” buildings, the first major project completed under the new Campus Master Plan
• President Michalson signed the Presidents’ Climate Commitment, guaranteeing that New College would take steps to achieve climate neutrality and reduce greenhouse gasses and the carbon footprint of the campus
• President Mike Michalson elected president of the Southern University Conference, a select membership organization of 53 university presidents; he also served as vice-president of the Florida Association of Colleges and Universities, representing public and private institutions statewide, for 2007-2008
• Cook Library selected as repository for Dr. Helen N. Fagin Holocaust Collection, gift marked by ceremony attended by Director of National Holocaust Museum William Parsons
• Maintained one of the highest per capita rates of success nationwide with five Fulbright awards for 2008-09 and 30 since 2000
• Fulbright grants for 2008-09 awarded to: Mariah Arnold, for marine biology and aquaculture in Malaysia; Jonah Butler, for constructed wetlands research in the Philippines; Anthony Circharo, for foreign policy in China; and Erin Boggs and Nausherwan Hafeez, for teaching English in Germany and Malaysia, respectively
• Third-year student Joshua Abbott received a prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for 2008-09, one of only 321 Goldwater Scholars selected nationwide in math and science fields
• Third-year student, Jolene Elberth, was awarded a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship through the U.S. State Department to study Spanish and Latin culture in Bolivia in 2008
• Third-year student Ryan Tisdale received a scholarship to attend the Ecological Society of America’s federally-funded SEEDS artic ecology field trip to Alaska in May 2008
• Awarded National Science Foundation funding under the summer “Research Experience for Undergraduates Program” for 12 current students at research sites across the country and other federal agency funding for six additional student research projects
• Received Congressional approval for nearly $750,000 in federal funding to establish a strategic languages resource center and a public archaeology laboratory at New College
• Assistant Professor of History Carrie Beneš received the prestigious Rome Prize in Medieval Studies from the American Academy in Rome for 2008-09
• Associate Professor of Sociology Sarah Hernandez awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for study and teaching in Mexico for 2008-09
• Assistant Professor of Literature Robert Zamsky received a grant from the Florida Humanities Council, funded in part through the National Endowment for the Humanities, to research literary connections between Florida and the Caribbean
• Reappointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs Julie Morris again was named to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council
• State of Florida approved purchase of approximately four acres adjacent to the College’s East Campus on U.S. 41 and University Parkway from the Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority; the parcel is leased for the next few years to the Sarasota Classic Car Museum
• Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies Susan Marks received a $7,000 summer fellowship from the Wabash Center for Teaching & Learning, funded by the Lilly Endowment
• Professor of Psychology Gordon Bauer elected as Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science
• Professor of Biology Sandra Gilchrist received grants from the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program for K-12 Teacher Workshops (for the 6th year in a row) and from LI-COR Biosciences for a DNA analysis system
• Alumnus Adam Tebrugge, ’82, Sarasota public defender, received the NAACP 2007 Public Service Award
• The Sutras of Abu Ghraib, Notes from a Conscientious Objector in Iraq, by alumnus Aidan Delgado, ’06, published by Beacon Press of Boston
• Adjunct Professor of International Relations Nat Colletta received a $20,000 grant from Gulf Coast Community Foundation to establish a peer-mediation conflict resolution support program at Venice H.S. through collaboration of New College students with the Institute of Multi-Track Diplomacy, Alexandria, VA
• Participated with other local businesses and organizations as institutional sponsor of Harper Hill/Big Brothers-Big Sisters of the Suncoast Mentoring Awareness Day, February 2, 2008
• Awarded grants from U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security’s Law Enforcement Terrorist Prevention Program through Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement: $75,000 for additional emergency security telephones, a public address system, and a web-based emergency paging system; and $150,000 for computerized security for the Heiser Natural Sciences Complex
• Directed by New College Assistant Professor of Political Science Frank Alcock, the Marine Policy Institute at Sarasota’s Mote Marine Laboratory released its first Policy Assessment and Recommendations on red tide research
• Professor of Biology and Environmental Initiatives Meg Lowman elected Vice President of the Ecological Society of America
• Premiered compositions of students Alejandro Castano, Adele Fournet, and Brian Oberlander through performance collaboration with Florida West Coast Symphony
• In its ninth successful season, New Music New College showcased contemporary local and national recording artists, including Kathleen Supové, the Sylvia Smith Percussion Duo and The JACK Quartet
• Graduating senior Danielle Smith received a $4,000 Longboat Key Garden Club scholarship
• Awarded membership in the Consortium for Faculty Diversity in Liberal Arts Colleges, based at DePauw University, New College will host Postdoctoral Fellow David Gray next year
• Provost and VP for Academic Affairs Sam Savin and student Jose Godinez-Samperio named two of “25 People to Watch” for 2007 by Biz 941, local business publication