Past issues 2009
Aug/Sept 2009
Open Access, Not Open Exit with Santa Fe College and Jackson Sasser
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When Jackson Sasser came to Santa Fe College (SFC) seven years ago he was determined to make a great institution even better. Judging by the results, he has been successful.
“Our goal is to take individuals where they are academically and walk with them forward from that point,” he said. “Faculty members and students take this walk together. The college’s success comes from what happens in the classroom which is defined broadly today. I attempt to open doors for faculty members to do their magic. Faculty and staff walk together to a destination. That’s learning.”
Sasser says access to higher education lies at the heart of Santa Fe College. He said access includes many things but you must begin with a great faculty. From there it includes making the college available to the entire community. When he came to Santa Fe College, which was known as Santa Fe Community College until last year, there were four campuses – the main one in northwest Gainesville, the Andrews Center in Starke, the Kirkpatrick Center in northeast Gainesville and the Blount Center in downtown Gainesville.
Today there are three more locations to increase availability to higher education – the Davis Center in Archer, the Watson Center in Keystone Heights, and the Charles R. and Nancy V. Perry Center for Emerging Technology which is opening in Alachua this fall.
During his tenure Sasser has launched many initiatives to make a great institution better, but he says the most significant accomplishment has been to make sure that Santa Fe College continues....
JUNE/JULY 2009
The Man Behind The Mic
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Hiding behind the microphone is just not Storm Roberts’ style, and that is good news for the Heart of Florida.
While it may be common for radio personalities to spend little or no time in public beyond what they do behind the microphone, Roberts spends more time out there than he does on the air.
In his 23 years on the air at WKTK, Roberts has become an institution. And he may be responsible for raising more money for charitable causes in the Heart of Florida than any other individual in the area.
“People talk to me on the air,” he said. “It’s funny because I know their parents. I have always loved the people in this community. I like to say I have met everybody at least once. A lot of people know who I am. I am very approachable.”
The Detroit native was working at a rock and roll station in Miami, and he loved it. He and his wife, Judy, came to Gainesville for the same reason many other people do – the University of Florida.
“I started working at KTK, and it felt like home,” he said. “I love this work, and I really enjoy getting up at 4 a.m. to do it.”
It is often the case that radio personalities are nomads, but fortunately for all of North Florida that is not how it was with Roberts.
“I don’t want to live in Cleveland or Atlanta,” said Roberts. “This was a good fit for my career. As it turns out, we have always been ranked number...
Apr/May 2009
First Ladies of Florida Football
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You hear it all the time – a team, especially a football team, is like a family. It is probably truer at college than on any other level of the sport. And it may be as true at the University of Florida as it is at any college in the country – especially after two national championships in the last three years.
Well if it’s true, then it is also likely that the glue that holds the family together is the coaches’ wives.
The Gators are blessed with a group of coaches’ wives who have learned how to balance their real-life families and the extended family the football team provides.
Led by Shelley Meyer, Kathy Addazio and Vicki Strong this group of wives and mothers works hard to keep things normal, while also understanding that they are in a most abnormal situation. Shelley moved a family that included her three school-aged children from Utah to Gainesville after her husband, Urban, was hired as head football coach in December 2004.
The key to maintaining a normal life is to keep things as regular as possible, Shelley said.
“You can do that here,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like I am some kind of a celebrity. I can go anywhere in workout clothes and often do.”
One thing that helps all of these coaches’ wives is that they see themselves as a team – helping each other and doing many things together. One of the most significant activities they share...
Feb/Mar 2009
Fancy Nancy
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When Nancy Perry moved to Gainesville 30 years ago, she fell in love with the community immediately. That love is demonstrated by everything she does to make it a better place.
Perry, who moved here from Michigan 30 years ago and later married Charles R. “Chuck” Perry, the late owner of Perry Construction and PPI Construction Management, has figuratively adopted the community and many of its members.
“I am a great supporter of this community, just as Chuck was,” she said. “He had a belief that if you made it here, you spend it here. And that means more than just money. Chuck had three daughters when we were married. We had no other children together. Maybe that made relationships more significant in my life. When I was younger back in Michigan, I always sought out babysitting jobs.”
Perry moved to North Florida from northern Michigan along with 200 to 300 other employees and their families as part of the relocation of Bear Archery, a company that produced hunting bows. She ended up with what she described as the best job in the company – if your goal is to learn about your new community.
“Bob Kelly, who was president of Bear Archery at the time, asked me to work in community relations,” she said. “He was determined to make all these families feel comfortable in their new home, and he also wanted the company to be recognized as a good neighbor. The way he looked at it, he had moved a huge family down here, and he wanted us to do everything we could to make the employees happy. As a result, Mr. Kelly got me involved in everything.”
So, as part of her job, Perry learned about the community, and Bear Archery became involved in a variety of organizations.
“We participated in a number of church organizations and activities – especially those that our employees joined,” she said. “We were huge in the United Way, helped create the local Hospice, participated in...
DEC/JAN 2009
Rod and Dee Dee Smith: Rooted in the Community
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Rod and Dee Dee Smith are about as close as you can get to a North Central Florida power couple.
He recently made a strong run to be Florida’s governor and is now a partner in a prestigious Gainesville law firm. She founded a well-known local agency that helps to change the lives of abused children.
Yet to know the Smiths, say many of their longtime friends, is to know one of the most grounded, caring partnerships around.
Both of them came from farming families. Dee Dee was born on a farm in Alachua just north of State Road 441. Rod was born in Oklahoma and grew up on a farm in Loxahatchee. When they talk about how they got to where they are today, it is clear that they believe those similar backgrounds are critical factors in who they are.
“We have both had a great journey,” said Rod. “Neither of our fathers graduated from high school. But in one generation, Dee Dee became a lawyer during a period when it was just becoming more common to have women in the field, and I became a credible candidate for governor. This is a great country.”
Dee Dee agreed that the journey has been incredible, but she added something to the description.
“It has been a wonderful, but exhausting, experience,” she said.
Their rise from humble beginnings has followed a path marked by hard work and dedication, peaks of personal achievement and quite a few twists of fate.
Rod moved to North Florida in 1972 to attend law school at the University of Florida. He lived on the 400-acre ranch his parents, Warren and Elda Lee, had just purchased with plans to live there in the near future. In fact, Rod’s parents sold their farm in South Florida and moved to the Alachua farm in 1975.
Upon graduation from law school, Rod worked in Tallahassee for about a year before moving back and opening his own practice in Gainesville. In 1981, he moved his firm to Alachua and concentrated on representing firefighters and law enforcement officers from all around the state...