Campus & Community

Palm Beach State College staff received several awards at the Association of Florida Colleges 69^th Annual Meeting and Conference, including five for excellence in communications and others for leadership and service.

The awards were presented at various times during the conference held Nov. 7-9 in Orlando. Jim Robinette, instructional designer on the Palm Beach Gardens campus, received a Presidential Leadership Award for renting a truck and driving non-perishable food collected at last year’s conference in Palm Harbor to Key Largo for Hurricane Irma victims. The food was collected as part of the AFC conference service project by employees at the 28 colleges in the Florida College System, and Robinette stepped up to oversee the delivery logistics.

Jane Fisher, program director for the Surgical Technology program, received the Region V Unsung Hero Award for going above and beyond to support the PBSC AFC Chapter in her role as the vice president for the Lake Worth campus. She was heavily involved in the chapter’s membership campaign, which led to more than 100 new members. The chapter received a Membership Growth Award for its success.

Sofia Toledo, administrative assistant II at the Boca Raton campus, received the Unsung Hero Presidential Award for her hard work and dedication to collaborating and coordinating with AFC staff to provide support for statewide events.

The College Relations and Marketing staff received five Awards of Excellence from the AFC Communications and Marketing Commission in four categories.  The awards were chosen from among 180 entries in multiple categories for the competitive process open to communications staff at the 28 colleges. They include:

First place

• Article in a College Produced Publication for the “Big Ivy, Big Dreams” story about alumnus Karl Sully Guerrier written by Joyce Edelstein, college relations and marketing specialist.
• Magazine for the fall 2017 edition of Contact designed by Kari McCormick, visual communications manager, and that featured alumni profiles and stories written by CRM writers and photographed by CRM staff.

Second place

• Article in a College Produced Publication for “The verdict is in: One of America’s top trial attorneys” on attorney and alumnus Theodore Babbitt written by Tabatha McDonald, news and media relations coordinator.
• Article/Pitch Resulting in Publication for a news release on spring 2018 PBSC graduate Alexis Vazquez written by McDonald and that led to extensive local and nationwide print and TV media coverage.

Third place

• Video/Digital Promotion for a video featuring a graduate of PBSC’s Welding Technology program, who, within one year of graduating, became a job foreman and site supervisor. It was produced by Karina Silva Santisteban, media technology coordinator.

Dr. Tunjarnika Coleman-Ferrell, dean of academic affairs on the Boca Raton campus, presided over the conference as the outgoing president of AFC, the professional association of the 28 colleges,  their boards, employees, retirees and associates, and the employees of the Division of Florida Colleges. The mission of the Association is to actively promote, represent and support members and institutions as they provide their students and the citizens of Florida with a world-class college system.

While Coleman-Ferrell is ending her term on the state board’s executive committee, Ray Coulter, PBSC locksmith who served this year as vice-president elect for regions and chapters, will officially move into that role for 2019.