This celebration of African-American culture started four years ago when Comcast Digital Cable, a FAMU contributor, came up with a new way to celebrate Black History Month. With the aid of Saundra Inge, associate director of student affairs, FAMU created the Kuumba Fest. “We aimed to fill the social and educational portions of our program and teach more and more students about African culture,” Inge says.

If you’re looking for entertainers such as comedian Arnez J., great home-cooked soul food, or sounds of FAMU’s very own famous Marching “100” Band, then the Kuumba Fest is for you. “Not only do they have a carnival during the day, but various organizations come together to put on a renowned show for the public at night,” says Katrina Mariner, a Comcast marketing representative. Gospel choirs, sororities, and individual student volunteers provide modern hip-hop tunes, prize giveaways, and performances presenting different aspects of African-American culture.

It didn’t take long for companies such as HBO, BET, Sony, and MTV to hear about the fiesta. They wasted no time in rallying support by setting up tables to give out CDs and magazines. HBO showed original February black history movies in the Rattler’s Den, a room in the student union used as a theatre; BET conducted HIV testing; and MusicChoice premiered the Def Jam Vendetta video game at the festival.

The Kuumba Fest party doesn’t end until the sun comes up. The festival presented an episode of the TV cooking show “Soul Food,” premiering Showtime’s version before it came out on cable. “We’ve had all different kinds of acts before, from poetry to fashion shows,” Mariner says. “Our main goal is to showcase an array of talent.”

Individual FAMU students got their Kuumba Fest tickets through the event organizers, while campus organizations received their invitations through the mail. After the day portion of the festival, FAMU turned its attention to the night show, with the 1,200 filled seats in the auditorium.

Following the show, there was a VIP reception at the Foster Tanner Recital Hall. Student organizers send up to 400 invitations to various Tallahassee educational, business, and political leaders, including the mayor and other legal representatives. At the reception, they were entertained by the music department.

So put on your cocktail dresses and fancy suits and come out for a night at FAMU’s Kuumba Fest. “We draw our presentation from the community and the people,” says Jayson James, a junoir at FAMU. “It’s just a festival you can’t miss.” —OB

Contact Inge at saundra.inge@famu.edu, Mariner at 850-350-5744, or James at 850-599-3400.

In 1989, Artistic Director Shapiro Hardemon was asked to choreograph a dance organization on campus. He first noticed that something was missing in his group of female dancers and instructed each girl to bring in a male dancer to spice up the club. The first auditions in February 1989 established who was on the Strikers dance team. Eight years later, Hardemon formed another campus dance club-the Mahogany Dance Theatre. Since then, both groups have impressed and entertained across the nation.

These hip-swaying, body-popping, two-stepping groups have strutted their stuff on popular shows such as MTV’s Fame or Shame and BET’s Spring Break, and performed at New York’s Apollo Theater. From ABC to CBS, the groups are locally and nationally recognized for their talent. “They’re one of the most requested organizations in the business,” Hardemon says.

Contact Jones at 850-599-3334.

“Even before the 9/11 terrorist attacks I, along with other professors from FAU’s business school, recognized a need in the world’s economy for businesses to plan for unexpected events such as business contingency plans. We started to develop a program that would allow graduates to go into fields dealing with crisis management,” says Dr. Mantha Mehallis, a professor in the school’s department of management.

Experts in the field of crisis management teach students not to be afraid to get their hands dirty problem-solving. The professors developing the program met with government and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials in Washington, D.C., who helped them identify leaders in worldwide crisis management. The professors then approached these leaders and asked them to teach a class at FAU through the new program.

One of the program’s classes, Crisis Contingency and Continuity, has a field portion, which requires the students to spend one weekend in survival training with the U.S. Army. Army personnel force students into situations where they have to utilize their negotiating skills. This event teaches students how to deal with anything that might possibly infringe on the daily operations of business practices. Because of this class and its included survival weekend, FAU became the first business school in the United States to receive the Army’s Patriotic Civilian Award.

“Our graduates have gone into many different fields, “ Mehallis says, “Some grads opted to go into high positions of the Army, Secret Service, and FBI, but mainly our students enter the business field. Many corporations are now establishing new positions for emergency management.”

At the end, instead of receiving a traditional MBA in a subject like accounting, graduates receive an MBA specializing in dealing with crisis situations in the business field. Since the 15-month MBA program’s official start in fall 2002, it graduated its first class of 15 this past December. In June 2004, 23 candidates are planning on graduating from the program. —JT

Contact Mehallis at 561-297-0052 or mehallis@fau.edu.

“It’s a very high achievement for a school to have, especially being as young as it is,” says third-year business student Courtney Piana. “There have been people who have transferred to FGCU because of it.”

The world’s highest standard of business school achievement, AACSB certification, places FGCU in elite ranks, among the top 25 percent of approximately 2,000 accredited business schools in the United States.

“Our record pace for achieving accreditation is due to the vision, goal setting, and passion of our dean, Dick Pegnetter,” says Gerald Schoenfeld, Jr., chairman of the management and marketing departments. “He recognized the value that accreditation provided and every faculty hire, program design, and curriculum development was undertaken with the standards of accreditation foremost in mind.”

Schoenfeld says the faculty and staff at FGCU’s College of Business view accreditation as a partnership between the students and the community. “We’ve attracted good students in part because they recognize the College of Business’ commitment to achieving accreditation and to providing academic excellence,” he says.

Schoenfeld says accreditation is what attracted himself and his colleagues to FGCU’s College of Business. “Accreditation reinforces that the team efforts and long hours spent in creation of the College of Business has been a worthwhile and satisfying endeavor,” he says. “The faculty and staff see the achievement of accreditation not as an ending point but rather as an important stepping-stone down our path to be nationally recognized for academic excellence in business school education.” —LD

Contact Schoenfeld at gschoenf@fgcu.edu.

While many students may have to deal with an old crabby librarian, HP students study while enjoying the company of Mozart or B.B. King at the Honor's Classics Lounge. With study sessions every other Sunday, they forget about stressing before tests.

Most students spend hours listening to their instructors but barely know them outside of the classroom. At the HP, students meet their professors on a more personal level at "Dinners with the Faculty." They also get to meet the head honcho at the end of the spring semester during "Dinner with the Dean."

If students ever want to throw something out of frustration, this is the place to be. Frisbee fans at the HP can release their stress and practice their hobby at the same time with the Ultimate Frisbee Club.

And when they're not up to their eyeballs in homework, HP students change out of their sweatshirt and grab a "mocktail." While playing dominoes or a hand of cards, students also have the opportunity to interact with students from different cultures, areas of study, and academic levels. "It's rewarding to see diverse students with a common interest come together and form a close community,” says Caryl Grof, assistant dean. ”The residents work together, play together, and support one another. Their enthusiasm is contagious; they're an exceptional group of students.”

This is only a taste of all the fun activities held at the HP. Students can also be part of the recycling program, take part in the annual Honors College Convocation, or march in the Honors College Parade of Nations. For new students, the freshman experience class is a perfect way to break the ice and become part of the family.

Contact Grof at grofc@fiu.edu.

Criminology and criminal justice students jump at the chance to work their magic underwater. The UCSI program works with the criminal justice system by preparing students to properly collect evidence for presentation in court. “It teaches an analytical type of thinking process that involves the scientific method to relate to investigation scenes,” says Tom Kelley, director.

Forget watching those late-night episodes of CSI on television-FSUPC has the real thing. Not only do criminology majors get involved, but U.S. marshalls, the police department, and the sheriff’s department all train for two weeks to develop the basic skills of underwater investigation.

Nearly 30 to 40 percent of students get involved in this one-year-old program. “The popularity of the program, considering the campus size, has been extremely high,” says Mark Feulner, an instructor.

The UCSI program has worked with a variety of investigations throughout the country, including underwater examination of a recovered body from a New York lake, research in the collapse of the Hathaway Bridge, and investigation of the Columbia Space Shuttle remains. “Every underwater crime scene is different,” Feulner says. “It all depends on the nature of the scene.”

Word travels fast when talking about fish and fingerprints in the same sentence. That’s why students from Maryland, Mississippi, Louisiana, and even England have inquired about the program. Professionals from all over nation, including marine biologists, criminologists, the coast guards, and underwater archeologists, have participated as well.

“Our goal is to teach the proper ways of collecting data underwater so that it may be properly presented in a court of law,” Kelley says. “The program creates a relationship with all of the disciplinary areas of criminal investigation.” —OB

Contact Kelley at tkelley@pc.fsu.edu or Feulner at mfeulner@pc.fsu.edu.