Category: Spotlight

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New International Instructors Boost Language Offerings at Stetson

Stetson University has collaborated again with the ALLEX Foundation to secure Asian language instructors and offer Mandarin Chinese courses.

ALLEX Fellow Renjing Lin joins Stetson University from Macau, China to offer Mandarin Chinese during the current academic year and through 2018-2019. His fellowship boosts Stetson’s ability to offer Mandarin to students consistently. Lin spent time teaching in Macau and Taiwan. His diverse experiences prepare him to bring multiple perspectives to the classroom.

“I really enjoy teaching here and a handful of students told me that they are also enjoying my class too”, said Lin. “I really like them and I am very happy that they are making progress day by day.”

Lin earned a Bachelor of Science degree in finance with specialization in financial engineering from the Unividade De Macua. Meizhou, his hometown, is in coastal Guangdong Province of southeast China that borders Hong Kong and Macau. 

The ALLEX Foundation enables universities to initiate or maintain high quality Chinese or Japanese language programs by providing professional trained, native Chinese or Japanese instructors. Lin is Stetson’s second ALLEX Fellow.

For a number of years, Stetson has collaborated with the Fulbright Program to attract Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistants (FLTAs).

As FLTA at Stetson, Eman Elsayed Eltaher Mahmoud Abdelhalim of Alexandria, Egypt, joins the community to teach Arabic during the 2017-2018 academic year. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Teaching English as a Second or Other Language (TESOL) from Notting Hill College in Alexandria, Egypt.  She also holds a certificate in negotiation and mediation from the Susan Marbarak Women’s International Peace Movement Institute for Peace Studies and the U.N. affiliated University for Peace.

Abdelhalim is already making an impact on campus. She recently served as a panelist at the Call for Action: Waging Peace discussion during Stetson’s celebration of U.N. International Day of Peace. She has a clear goal in mind as she continues to develop as a teacher.

“I want to make a significant change in the Egyptian education system to implement the modern and innovative techniques, especially for young learners”, she said.

Greici Buzzi joins Stetson from Brazil to teach Portuguese. Buzzi earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English/Portuguese. She currently works with Pamela Cappas-Toro, Ph.D., assistant professor of World Languages and Cultures (Spanish), to offer Portuguese 101 and Portuguese 102 courses which are open to all students.

Hailing from Rodeio, Brazil, a Santa Catarina municipality in the south region of Brazil, Buzzi applied to the FLTA program to achieve two goals.

“This opportunity puts together the two things I pursue the most at this moment: (a) learning more about the American culture and about the English Language itself; and (b) teaching Portuguese”, said Buzzi.

An avid music fan, she has played guitar and piano since she was six years old from which she has learned discipline, determination and patience.

Welcome to HatterNation!

Read about 2015-16 international language scholars
Read about 2016-17 international language scholars

Stetson’s language instructors are housed in the Department of WORLD Languages and Cultures. ALLEX fellows are in residence for two academic years and Fulbright scholars serve one year. Language instructors are required to engage in professional development by taking courses at Stetson. Fellows also participate in New Faculty Orientation and other new faculty onboarding activities. The language instructor residency program is coordinated by WORLD: The David and Leighan Rinker Center for International Learning.

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Stetson celebrates United Nations International Day of Peace

For almost a year, Roxanne Lewis of WORLD: The Rinker Center for International Learning, has been discussing Peace Day events at Stetson University. Together with Lindsey Graves of the Interfaith Initiatives and Kevin Winchell of the Center for Community Engagement, they executed a full day of activities aimed at examining ideals and threats to peace. Here’s a recap of our inaugural Peace Day event.

Ringing the Hollis Center Bell for Peace — 10 a.m.


United Nations International Day of Peace at Stetson University kicked off with a ringing of the Peace Bell in the same spirit that the U.N. heralds peace each year. The Hollis Center bell rang 10 times, once for each continent and once for each of Stetson University’s campuses and centers.

Qi Gong with Sensei Morris Sullivan — 10:30-11 a.m. | Hulley Tower
Sensei Morris Sullivan led a group of participants through the traditional practice of Qigong (Chi Kung), a form of martial art or medical or spiritual engagement. Participants learned basic traditional movements that integrated physical postures, breathing techniques, and focused intentions. Qigong expands and moves life-force/energy, Qi (pronounced chee), throughout the body. Surprisingly simple to do, the Qigong exercise generated much interest in Sensei Sullivan’s Thai Chi sessions offered in the Hollis Center each week.

Ball Pit/Labyrinth Walk — 11 a.m.-2 p.m. | Palm Court/Hulley Tower

A ball pit was assembled to encourage conversation and self-exploration. Participants took turns settling into the pit and selected a ball with printed questions to be used as conversation starters. Questions ranged in scope from “What is your favorite holiday and why?” to “What is the one worldwide issue that has to be fixed first?” One enthusiastic participant declared the ball pit experience was “a highlight of her time at Stetson so far!” One administrator posted on Facebbok , “Today, I spent 10 minutes in the ball pit with these awesome humans…I did not want to get out of the pool. It felt like such a loving and safe refuge in our crazy world.”

Peace Wall — Throughout the day | Multiple venues

An 8×4-foot Peace Wall was created by the Stetson community to represent the community’s desire to live and work in a place of peace. Students, faculty, and staff were encouraged to leave a message of peace on the plywood wall. The Peace Wall will be on display at WORLD, the Cross-Cultural Center, and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life on a rotating basis between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Drop by to view it and add your peace message.

Lunch + Conversations: Cultivating Personal Peace, Conflict Resolution, and Women in Peace and Conflict — 12-1 p.m. | Conrad Hall


Participants enjoyed a catered lunch and facilitated conversations on one of three topics. Sensei Morris Sullivan led Cultivating Personal Peace, Kevin Winchell facilitated Conflict Resolution, and Amber Finnicum-Simmon led Women in Peace and Conflict. Almost 50 students and staff engaged in passionate, provoking, and respectful discussion on emotionally-charged topics. Students grappled with concepts that challenged values and worldviews. This event attracted the largest crowd of the day’s events.

Four Directions Ceremony with Stetson’s Organization for Native American Revitalization (SONAR) — 1:15-1:45 p.m. | Sorority Row Gazebo
Stetson’s SONAR conducted a traditional Four Directions Ceremony. As decedents of Native American tribes, SONAR students invited participants to form a circle which is symbolic of the world. They asked for blessing and peace from the four cardinal directions — East, South, West and North — and from Father Sky and Mother Earth. The ceremony is a ritual clearing bad spirits and evil and a call for peace and security. One participant said she felt this program was “deeply spiritual, authentically executed and extremely well presented”.

Meditation Flash Mob with Stetson’s Mindful Meditation Club — 5:30-6 p.m. | Stetson Green
At 5:30 p.m., Stetson’s Meditation Club took over Green with a Meditation Flash Mob. Club members posed cross-legged or in prone positions on the ground and began a mass meditation session. Passersby were encouraged to join. The event emphasized the importance of personal peace and wellbeing and highlighted a growing group of students engaged in consistent practice of serenity.

A Call to Action: Waging Peace — 6-7:30 p.m. | Rinker Welcome Center

The culminating event of Peace Day 2017 featured a five-person panel on pressing issues of Peace – personal, global and in daily work. Panelists agreed that peace is requires hard work from engaged, motivated people. Following the presentations, participants recorded how Stetson community members foster and grow peace. Ideas collected will be integrated into programming by WORLD, Interfaith Initiatives, and the Center for Community Engagement. Panelists included Jora Young, retired staff at The Nature Conservancy; and from Stetson University: John Richardson, public safety officer and U.S. Military Veteran;  Eman Fathallah, Fulbright Scholar of Arabic and instructor of Arabic; Maxwell Droznin, AmeriCorps VISTA and community engagement coordinator; Kevin Winchell, associate director of community engagement; and moderator Rajni Shankar-Brown, associate professor of education and Jessie Ball duPont Chair of Social Justice.

Peace Day 2017 occurs at a great time because on September 26, 2017, we will celebrate and examine our core values during Values Day. We are excited about welcoming our keynote speaker, acclaimed author and media entrepreneur Irshad Manji to discuss “The Diversity Dilemma“.

A number of activities counted as Cultural Credit events.

Annually, International Peace Day is observed across the globe on September 21. The General Assembly declared that date as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among nations and peoples. For more on Peace Day at Stetson, contact Roxanne Lewis, international student and scholar services coordinator at WORLD: The Rinker Center for International Learning.

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Traveling an ancient pilgrimage route across Northern Spain

Religious Studies Professor Phillip Lucas, Ph.D., and six students unfurl a Stetson University banner at Muxia, Spain, once considered the end of the world to Europeans, during a trip May 16-30.

The group traveled the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route across Northern Spain to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, where, according to legend, St. James the Apostle is buried.

Left to right are: Lynette Dominicci, Sophie Williams, Vanessa Lipscomb, Professor Lucas, Kevin Sullivan, Ruel Mannette and Lynn Walsh.

The trip was organized through Stetson’s WORLD: The David and Leighan Rinker Center for International Learning and C.I.E.E. (Council on International Educational Exchange) and allowed students to study the historical, architectural, economic and religious dimensions of the Camino de Santiago. The Rinker family generously contributed to a fund that provided scholarships to these students, Lucas wrote in an email.

“The students had a fully engaged international experience that included tours of churches, monasteries, archaeological sites, and museums. They also walked over 110 kilometers in five days. This gave them the opportunity to interact closely with pilgrims from all over the world, many of whom had been walking over 800 kilometers! They participated in pilgrim rites like having their pilgrim’s passport stamped in each town, attending pilgrim’s religious services, eating together at small cafes along the way, and hugging the statue of St. James at Santiago Cathedral,” Lucas wrote.

Below, the students visit Ponferrada and see one of the last surviving castles of the Knights Templars, who patrolled the Camino and protected pilgrims in the Middle Ages. The Stetson students are: Kevin Sullivan, lying down, and, from left to right, Lynn Walsh, Vanessa Lipscomb, Ruel Mannette, Lynette Dominicci and Sophie Williams.

Adapted from Stetson Today, June 2, 2017