DIVISION OF COMMUNITY

RELATIONS

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA

Winter 2014 Volume V, Issue 2

Community Connections

Inside this issue:

Fiesta Bowl 1

State of the University

2

Florida Lottery/ Bright Futures Scholarship Social

2

CASE District III Award

2

Global Issues Conference

3

Downton Abbey 4

Global Food Systems

4

Upcoming Events

5

Around the Community...

6

UCF kicks off next 50 years in historic fashion

2013 was a historic year at UCF, in many ways: The university celebrated its 50th anniversary, the inaugural College of Medicine class graduat-ed, the school played its first season in the newly-formed American Athletic Conference, and the football team finished the regular season 11-1, going 8-0 in conference play and including wins over marquis opponents from the SEC and Big Ten conferences.

With each successive victory, the spotlight on UCF’s football program intensified. As the team moved up in national rankings each week, UCF fans across the country were able to cheer the Knights on to victory from the comfort of their homes as numerous games were selected for na-tional broadcast.

One standout moment for Knight Nation was the headline-making play by wide receiver J.J. Worton, fondly refer- red to now as “The Catch” (Worton sub- sequently won the ESPN Sport Science Center Newton Award for best catch). The Knights capped off the regular sea- son by capturing the American Athletic Conference championship and securing a program-first BCS bowl berth in the 2014 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

Thousands of Knights faithful travelled to Glen-dale, Arizona, to watch UCF take on the Baylor Bears on January 1. Though the Knights were widely regarded as underdogs—a position they found themselves in several times during the sea-son—they emerged victorious in a 52-42 upset over the Bears.

The win catapulted the Knights into the Associ-ated Press top 10 final rankings for the season. Walt Disney World hosted a UCF victory parade at Magic Kingdom—treatment usually reserved for Super Bowl winners. And City of Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer declared January 27 “UCF Knights Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Champions Day.”

Quarterback Blake Bortles summed up the season, “It’s awesome to be a part of this. We weren’t highly touted guys out of high school, but we came to UCF on a mission.”

#ChargeOn

50th anniversary celebration honored with CASE District III award

Hitt: State of the university is strong; UCF primed for greatness

Page 2 Community Connections

The Office of Constituent Relations was a winner at the CASE District III Awards in February for the submission of “UCF’s 50th Anniversary Celebra-tion: A Knight to Remember.”

CASE, which stands for the Council of Advancement and Sup-port of Education, recognized UCF in several categories, including a special merit award in the Pro-grams and Projects—Communications and Marketing—Special Event category. The award is for a “special event designed to introduce or support a specific

university program or event, or institutional priority.” The entry was assessed on its stated goals and how successfully those goals were met. It was pitted against entries from educational and pro-fessional institutions across the southeastern United States. In 2011, the Constituent Rela-tions team won two CASE District III grand awards for the College of Medicine opening celebration. They were also the recipients of the 2010 CASE District III creative partnership award for that event.

UCF president John C. Hitt gave his annual State of the University address in September, delivering remarks to faculty, staff and students, as well as business and com-munity leaders and elected officials in attendance.

Dr. Hitt discussed the opportunities and challenges at UCF, along with his vision for the university’s future. Hitt stated, “As we begin our next 50 years, I am proud to re-port that the state of our university is strong – and that UCF is primed for greatness on many fronts.”

Remarks were also given by Dr. Reid Oetjen, chair of the Faculty Senate, and Melissa Westbrook, president of the Student Government Association. To celebrate UCF’s 50th anniversary, university founders and original faculty and staff members were honored at the event.

The Florida Lottery hosted a re-ception on UCF’s Memory Mall in October for students who are recipi-ents of the Bright Futures Schol-arship.

Last year, 25,495 students received the Bright Futures Scholarship and in fall 2013, more than 90% percent of all UCF freshmen who were Florida residents benefitted from the scholar-ships.

The Bright Fu-tures Scholarship Program, which is primarily funded by the Florida Lottery, was created in 1997 by the Florida Leg-islature to assist students in pursu-

ing postsecondary educational and career goals. Since the program's in-ception, the Florida Lottery has con-tributed more than $4.29 billion to send more than 650,000 students to college.

The event was coordinated through the Office of Constituent Rela-tions.

Florida Lottery celebrates Bright Futures scholars

The Constituent Relations team was recognized for their work on “UCF’s 50th Anniversary Celebra-tion: A Knight to Remember” at the CASE District III Awards in February.

Left: Florida Lottery representatives recog-nize Bright Futures Scholarship recipients at the annual ice cream social in October. Above: Bright Futures scholars enjoy the cele-bration.

UCF president John C. Hitt, second from left, is joined by first lady Martha Hitt, far left, and several university found-ers at the State of the University address in September.

Page 3 Volume V, Issue 2

Global Perspectives conference examines global issues, local impact

Food Security: At Home and Abroad; Now and Later

UCF’s annual Global Issues Con-ference, held on November 7, exam-ined the concept, “What is Global is Local.” After a morning keynote, the first panel focused on the power of food, as well as food security and food sufficiency.

Presenters included Ricardo Sal-vador, Senior Scientist and Director of the Food & Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists; Jonathan Foley, the Director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota; and modera-tor/ presenter Gabriela Othon Lo-throp, market director for East End Market, a neighborhood market and food hub in the Audubon Park Garden District of Orlando, Florida.

Salvador discussed the idea of food security, stating that a country can be “food secure, without being food suffi-cient.” America, he cited, is a food sufficient country, but still has many who still go hungry. Salvador asked the audience, “Who are the hungry and why are they hungry?” His an-swer was that people of color are dis-proportionately hungry in the United States, and that will not change until it is acknowledged and addressed.

Foley focused on food security for the future. He suggested that there are five questions we should always strive to answer: How can we grow food without tearing down the world’s forests? How can we deliver better nutrition to people who need it? How can we increase efficiency? Can we control the supply and demand of food? Are bio-fuels an efficient use of our resources, namely water? When asked for an example, Foley described the drip irrigation method Israel em-ploys. He said that Israelis cannot afford to be wasteful with their water, but Americans have more so they use more.

Lothrop pulled the discussion into a local context by discussing some of the agricultural woes of the Central Florida area. One of her main con-cerns was Floridians “killing off our own water supply,” such as Lake Apopka, by overuse of chemicals and

fertilizers to grow “tomatoes for the whole Eastern seaboard.” Con-tinuing with the tomato story, she pointed out that underpaid and even slave labor is used to harvest the crops. Lothrop urged the audi-ence to be aware eaters and to understand the impacts of their choice of food.

-Christine Comfort, Lawrence J. Chastang Global Fellow, UCF

*****

Understanding Conflict in the Middle East

Ambassador Gary Grappo re-cently spoke at the annual Global Is-sues Conference at UCF on November 7. Speaking on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, Grappo expressed the need for what he called “activist democracy” to help the ailing region. He highlighted three major problems facing the region: unemployment, the lack of civil institutions and rampant sectarian violence, using the Syrian conflict as an example.

Grappo is the former Head of Mis-sion of the Office of the Quartet Rep-resentative, the Honorable Tony Blair, in Jerusalem. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to Oman from 2006 to 2009. Additional posts include Portu-gal, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Nicaragua and Washington, D.C.

In keeping with the conference’s theme of “What’s Global is Local,” Grappo discussed the need for Middle Eastern countries to solve their local problems first. Solving these domestic issues will, Grappo argued, establish conditions for democracy. In bringing peace to the region, tribal and sectari-an issues must be addressed first and foremost.

Grappo stressed the need for U.S. diplomatic intervention in the region, using the Syrian crisis as his example. Citing the unchecked sectarian vio-lence in the country, Grappo cau-tioned against inaction, stating “unresolved conflicts do not resolve themselves.” An end to the Syrian crisis would have multiple positive effects, he argued. For example, Iran’s path to the terrorist group Hezbollah, which runs through Syria, would be

severed. Grappo also discussed the challeng-

es facing the U.S. and its allies in the Middle East. He warned that the Syri-an conflict is increasingly viewed as a “religious war” by leaders in the re-gion. Historically, the costs for ending religious wars are very high. Grappo summed up the issue: “Differences are okay. Killing because of our differ-ences is not.”

Grappo concluded by discussing U.S. relations with its Middle Eastern allies, and particularly the recent rift with Saudi Arabia. He noted the im-portance of retaining ties with the Kingdom, underscoring that a “loss of trust is lethal.”

-William George, Prince Moham-mad Bin Fahd Program for Strategic Research and Studies, UCF

*****

Sponsors of the Global Issues Con-ference included the UCF Global Per-spectives Office, UCF Prince Moham-mad Bin Fahd Program for Strategic Research and Studies, The India Cen-ter at UCF, UCF Diplomacy Studies, UCF Middle Eastern Studies Pro-gram, UCF China-Taiwan Cross-Strait Program, UCF Kurdish Political Stud-ies Initiative, UCF Global Peace and Security Studies Program, UCF Al Ghazali Islamic Studies Program, UCF Human Trafficking Awareness Program, UCF Isle of Man Small Countries Program, Chastang Chari-table Foundation, The India Group, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, UCF Political Science Department, UCF International Services Center, UCF LIFE and the Global Connec-tions Foundation.

Jonathan Foley, left, and Ambassador Gary Grappo, right, address the audience at UCF’s annual Global Issues Conference in November. (photos courtesy of UCF Global Perspectives Office)

Page 4 Community Connections

Downton Abbey comes to UCF

Jessica Fellowes treated an audi-ence of over 200 people at UCF to “An Afternoon with Downton Abbey” on September 30. Niece of Lord Julian Fellowes, the show’s creator, Jessica Fellowes is a Downton Abbey insider and author of two supplementary books about the show, The World of Downton Abbey and The Chronicles of Downton Abbey.

During the presentation, which was hosted by the Global Perspectives Of-fice, Fellowes discussed the different aspects of the show, including her uncle’s inspiration, the characters, societal norms and particularly the role of women in England after World War I.

Fellowes noted that her uncle’s por-trayal of women at that time was rep-resented in the three daughters on the show: Mary, Edith and Sybil. Mary, she explained, represents the woman who married for her position, while Sybil supported women’s suffrage and value in the workplace. Fellowes shared that her favorite character was the middle daughter, Edith, and said that she represents “women with the biggest change in expectations for the time.”

Fellowes described how women in

England at that time, particularly up-per class women, were expected to marry and have children. After the war, she continued, much of the social hierarchy was destroyed; the upper class began to associate more with the lower class, and women gained more independence because so many men died or returned home injured.

She highlighted that “everything has changed in our social framework over the last one hundred years.” She con-cluded on the thought that in spite of advancements in technology and changes to women’s place in society, people were just “as complicated one hundred years ago as they are now.”

A member of the audience asked if any radical changes were coming to the next season of Downton Abbey. Fellowes responded by denying any major changes to characters or plot but acknowledged the biggest change would come by way of the show’s cos-tumes and design.

In addition to the Global Perspec-tives Office, sponsors and partners included the UCF Book Festival 2014 in association with the Morgridge In-ternational Reading Center, UCF Col-lege of Education and Human Perfor-mance, UCF Diplomacy Program, UCF Global Peace and Security Stud-ies Program, Chastang Charitable Foundation, CliftonLarsonAllen, Or-lando Area Committee on Foreign Relations, WUCF TV, UCF Political Science Department, UCF Interna-tional Services Center, UCF LIFE and the Global Connections Foundation.

- Brandon Kelley

Global Perspectives staff take a “universal” look at food systems

In late January, GP staff members attended a special small group conver-sation on global food systems with

former Miss Universe, Mpule Kwelagobe. The discussion was host-ed by the East End Mar-ket and the Rollins Col-lege Social Entrepre-neurship and Sustaina-bility Initiative, and in-cluded interested mem-bers of the community. "There is a danger of the single narra-tive," Kwelagobe warned, which became evident as she discussed the work of her organi-zation. Green growth, gender equality, wom-en’s and youth empow-

erment, and sustainable development are just some of the issues included in the MPULE Institute for Endogenous

Development's work to champi-on agriculture-led development in Africa. As founder and CEO of the institute, Kwelagobe underscored the importance of building your "tribe" - farmers, private corporations, educa-tional institutions, government agen-cies, etc. - to convey different parts of the interrelated and interdependent issues. When asked what she took away from the discussion, GP Public Affairs Coordinator Jessica Gagnon an-swered that "global issues can be so complex; we could never hope to bet-ter understand them through sound-bites and news clips. Having time and a space for conversations like these helps us connect, through our com-munity, to important global issues, such as food systems, and realize our role in the process."

Karen Phillips, UCF Pegasus Health assistant director of communications and public relations, gives Community Council members a tour of the Pegasus Health facility.

From left: Jessica Gagnon, Mpule Kwelagobe, Stephanie Jarvis and Jocelyn Figueroa at a discussion on global food systems in January. (photo courtesy of UCF Global Perspectives Office)

Downton Abbey insider Jessica Fellowes discusses the show’s characters and the role of women in post-World War I Eng-land at UCF in September. (photo courtesy of UCF Global Perspectives Office)

Upcoming Events

Page 5 Volume V, Issue 2

Join host Dr. Diane Trees on Sundays at 9:00 a.m. as she tackles issues of regional and national significance on Metro Center Out-look. Don’t miss her exclusive, in-depth interviews with Central Flor-ida’s business leaders and elected officials. Check local listings for encores and additional information: http://wucftv.org/. And keep up with the latest Metro Center Outlook episodes and news by following the show on Facebook and Twitter.

March 2 - March 16 Pre-empted for WUCF TV pledge week.

March 23 Topic: The Affordable Care Act...how will it affect Florida's health insurance carriers, physicians and the state economy?

March 30 Topic: The film industry in Florida…what is the economic impact of the film industry, and what is Central Florida’s role in keeping the state competitive?

The UCF Global Perspectives Of-fice proudly presents the following university-wide and community events in spring 2014. Please check website for updated schedule.

Lou Frey Institute Symposium “From the Chambers to the Cloud: Connecting Citizens and Local Governments” March 10, 2014 9:15 a.m.—3:00 p.m. UCF Student Union, Pegasus Ball-room

Naomi Tutu, race and gender justice activist, and daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu “Striving for Justice: Search-ing for Common Ground” March 20, 2014 3:00 p.m.—4:30 p.m. UCF Student Union, Pegasus Ballroom

UCF Community Summit on Environment and Global Cli-mate Change March 25, 2014 3:00 p.m.—5:00 p.m. UCF Student Union, Cape Florida Ballroom

Central Florida Global Economic Forum “Winning Strategies in Today’s Marketplace” April 1, 2014 8:00 a.m.—2:00 p.m. UCF Student Union, Key West Ballroom

UCF Book Festival, featuring Andre Dubus April 5, 2014 9:00 a.m.—3:00 p.m CFE Arena Open to the public

Tal Dehtiar, founder of Oliberte Footwear and so-cial entrepreneur “The Business of Doing Good and Doing Well” April 10, 2014 3:00 p.m. —4:30 p.m. UCF Student Union, Cape Florida Ballroom Open forum

Viviana Hurtado “The Wise Latina” April 11, 2014 Time: TBD Location: TBD Campus and community meet-ings; please check website for updates

UCF Downtown 36 West Pine Street Orlando, FL 32801

Phone: 407-235-3935 Fax: 407-317-7744

E-mail: community relations@ucf.edu

DIVISION OF COMMUNITY RELATIONS

UNIVERSITY OF

CENTRAL FLORIDA

Connecting the university and the community.

Around the Community…

UCF president John C. Hitt, right, is joined by fellow panelist, Seminole Coun-ty Public Schools superintendent Walt Griffin, left, and moderator Mark Sardo, center, at the Oviedo-Winter Springs Chamber of Commerce Education Update luncheon in October. (photo courtesy of Oviedo-Winter Springs Chamber of Commerce)

Community relations is

the art and science of

generating and

enhancing constructive

relationships with

groups of individuals on

whom the university

depends for support.

UCF mascot Knightro, center, joins members of the City of Orlando Mayor’s Mar-tin Luther King, Jr. Com-mission at the MLK Parade in January.

Check out our website:

communityrelations.ucf.edu

For more photos and the

latest updates:

Counterclockwise from left: UCF president John C. Hitt, athletics director Todd Stansbury, and head coach George O’Leary join Mickey Mouse as grand marshals of a special parade held in honor of the 2014 Fiesta Bowl champions at Disney’s Magic Kingdom in January. (photo courtesy of UCF Athletics Communications)

Ambassador Harriet Elam-Thomas, UCF Diplomacy Program director, was inter-viewed by The Huff-ington Post for the article “Art in Diplo-macy (...Not ‘as’ Di-plomacy)” in Octo-ber. (photo courtesy of University of North Texas)

Associate vice president Maritza Martinez, right, addresses Winter Park Chamber mem-bers, community leaders, and residents at Mayor Ken Bradley’s State of the City address in January. (photo courtesy of Winter Park Chamber of Commerce)

Metro Center director Dr. Diane Trees, left, interviews Faron Kelley, right, director of marketing at runDis-ney and ESPN’s Wide World of Sports in January. (photo courtesy of WUCF TV)