Contact: Public Relations
(863) 680-4118

New faculty members join FSC

LAKELAND, Fla. (Aug. 21, 2002) - Florida Southern College is pleased to announce its new faculty members, profiled below. They will be welcomed by leading officials of Publix Super Markets at a luncheon on Aug. 27 at 12:30 p.m. The lunch will be followed by a tour of Publix's corporate offices. 

John T. Crow

John Crow begins his second year at Florida Southern College, but this year he joins the ranks of the regular faculty in English as Associate Professor of English and Director of the Computer Lab. Crow received his undergraduate degree in Russian from the University of Oklahoma and his Ph.D. in applied linguistics from the University of Texas/Austin. He began his academic career at the University of North Texas, where his accomplishments included founding the Intensive English Language Institute and serving on a Fulbright Lectureship in the former Soviet Union. He has published on technical writing, language acquisition, and psycholinguistics. In 1987, Crow relocated to the Virgin Islands where he joined the computer industry as a programmer. Later he became the president of Computer Support Services, Inc., specializing in custom designing computer business applications. During this past year, Crow set up the peer-to-peer network in the English writing lab, developed an on-line student survey, and served as the principal investigator in a Verizon grant to develop an ESL program in English. Crow continues to split his appointment at Florida Southern College with computer science.

Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos

Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos comes to Florida Southern College's Department of Chemistry and Physics via Canada and Greece. A Canadian citizen, Kalogeropoulos has been a visiting assistant professor at Ryerson University in Toronto since 1997. He received his Ph.D. from Syracuse University in New York, where his doctoral dissertation was titled "On Applications of Algebraic Topology to Quantum Field Theory." As a graduate student, he was feted for outstanding performance as the leading teaching assistant. Other visiting appointments have included the Isaac Newton Institute of Mathematical Sciences (Cambridge, UK, summer 2001), Centennial College (Toronto), and Hobart and William Smith Colleges (New York). He has taught electronics, physical science, and calculus-based physics including mechanics, fluids, electricity and magnetism, waves and optics, quantum mechanics, and nuclear physics. His B.S. in physics was earned at the University of Athens in Greece.

Susan Kaye Opt

Susan Opt joins the Communication Department after seven years at the University of Houston/Victoria, in Victoria, Texas, as an assistant and associate professor. She received her Ph.D. in communication from the Ohio State University, and her dissertation was titled "Popular Discourse on Expert Systems: Communication Patterns in the Acculturation of an AI Innovation." She brings with her extensive teaching experience in the University of Maryland's European Division (Germany), Barry University, the University of West Florida, and Franklin University (Ohio). Along with her academic credentials in public relations, group dynamics, corporate communication, and interpersonal communication, Opt has also worked professionally in journalism and communication as a general partner in a public relations consulting firm, as a free-lance writer for a number of newspapers and magazines, and in textbook publishing. Her publications include works on rethinking communication (a Myers-Briggs reinterpretation), cultural myths, and story-telling. She received her B.F.A. in theatre arts management from Wright State and her M.A. in journalism from The Ohio State University.

David A. Rose

David Rose joins the Mathematics and Computer Science Department as a seasoned veteran of academe. Rose received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of South Florida and began his career nearby at the University of Tampa. Leaving Florida, he continued his career at Francis Marion College in Florence, S.C., and East Central University and Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma. He then returned to his native Florida to serve as professor of mathematics and chair of the mathematics department of Southeastern College in Lakeland. His teaching fields include mathematics, engineering calculus, real analysis, and mathematics of business, the social sciences, and liberal arts. He has published in "The College Mathematics Journal" and he continues to serve as a referee for articles in a number of professional journals. 

John Thomasson

John Thomasson, who received his Doctor of Musical Arts in voice performance, has served as associate professor of voice, voice area coordinator, and opera workshop director at Shorter College in Rome, Ga., since 1995. His doctoral work included a dissertation titled "A Brief Biography of Viktor Ullmann and an Overview of 'Der Kaiser von Atlantis'." He also took part in an apprentice program with the Des Moines Metro Opera and studied during 1984-1989 at the Hochschule für Musik und darsellende Kunst "Mozarteum," in Salzburg, Austria. He has taken master classes in Atlanta, Salzburg, Karlsruhe, and Paris. His awards include the Goldovsky Fellowship for the Annual Harrower Summer Opera Workshop (2001), induction into Pi Kappa Lambda, a prize of the Ada Sari International Vocal Competition (Poland), and the Gianna Szell Stipendium for study in Salzburg. He is a frequent performer, stage director, musical director, and opera set designer. His teaching fields include studio voice, music theatre literature, French and German diction for singers, and vocal pedagogy. 

Marcie W. Pospichal, Director, Academic Support Services

Marcie Pospichal, a 1985 alumna of Florida Southern, joins the college this fall as Director of Academic Support Services. After graduating from FSC summa cum laude in psychology, Pospichal earned her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Vanderbilt University in psychology (neuroscience) with a minor in biology. Remaining in the Nashville area, she worked as a research associate in the Vanderbilt University department of psychology, editorial assistant for the "Journal of Comparative Neurology," coordinator of graduate studies for the Center for Molecular Neuroscience, and assistant director of Programs in Neuroscience Education. Her work at Vanderbilt included counseling students, designing curricula, grant writing, serving as a liaison with departments throughout campus, and establishing university and community programs on "Brain Awareness." Her research includes work on hormones and behavior, brain development, and functional recovery after injury. Pospichal will be overseeing new student and transfer student advising and registration, academic support services, and monitoring the progress of students in academic difficulty. As such, she is a key individual in the college's retention activities. She will continue her relationship with the FSC psychology department where she has been teaching as an adjunct since last year. 

About Florida Southern College
Florida Southern is a four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors and a master of business administration degree accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Located in Lakeland, Fla., the college is home to the largest, single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world. 

###