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| NFCC Foundation and Alumni Association |
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Guests gather under the century oak at the Mansion during festivities |
College selects Outstanding Alumni for 2005
Under a century-old oak tree on the steps of an antebellum mansion, friends and family of North Florida Community College gathered to honor their own May 3, 2005. President Morris G. Steen, Jr. greeted nearly 300 guests to the historic Wardlaw-Smith-Goza Conference Center as the college recognized distinguished alumni of the college.
“Many of our alumni have distinguished themselves in their careers and in their communities,” said President Steen. “It is only appropriate that our college acknowledge and honor their achievements. Today we are honoring 20 outstanding alumni of the college.”
Outstanding Alumni were:
Matt Brown, Tallahassee, Fla.;Dr. Bill Brothers, Live Oak, Fla.; Capt. Benjamin F. Folsom, Jr., Dumfries, Va. and formerly Hamilton County. From Madison County, Fla.:Carson Cherry, Susanne Sanders Griffin,William Gayl O’Hara, Ted Sanders, James R. Searcy, Terry Ragans Sherrard, Letoy Regans Stewart, Jim Taylor, and Thelma Mae Thompson. Betina S. Hurst, Mayo, Fla.; Jim Norton, Jr., Monticello, Fla; Arthur Burle Porter, Eustis, Fla. From Taylor County, Fla.: William Edward Brynes,Daryll Gunter,Rev. Wallace Holmes,Rev. Delton Daniel Lundy,and Shirley York Titus(deceased).
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Dr. Revels' award winning book about Civil War women |
NFCC alumna wins book award
Authors with NFCC connections - two alumni and a professor emeritus - swept the 2005 Florida Historical Society book awards...
Dr. Tracy J. Revels, NFCC alumna and professor of history at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., received the 2005 Rembert Patrick Award for Best Scholarly Book in Florida History from the Florida Historical Society. Revels won for Grander in Her Daughters: Florida’s Women During the Civil War, published by the University of South Carolina Press, 2005.
A Madison, Fla. native, Revels often uses the NFCC Marshall Hamilton Library for research and credits the library staff in the book’s acknowledgements.
Revels’ book rescues from historical neglect the stories of Florida women who suffered Civil War traumas and privations commensurate with women throughout the Confederacy. Drawing in large part on primary source discoveries, she recounts the experiences of wives and widows, Unionists and secessionists, black female slaves and their plantation mistresses, business owners and refugees.
Revels writes that no matter their political allegiance, these women lived dual lives, divided in loyalties between what they often perceived as the competing interests of their nation and their families.
Revels holds a Ph.D. in history from Florida State University and is the author of Watery Eden: A History of Wakulla Springs. She lives in Spartanburg, S.C.
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Joe and Mark Akerman penned this history of Cracker King, Jake Summerlin |
Akerman team takes Tebeau Book Award
The writing team of dad, Joe Akerman, and son, J. Mark Akerman, won the Florida Historical Society’s Charlton Tebeau Book Award for Jacob Summerlin: King of the Crackers.
The award was for the best general work in Florida history.
Jacob Summerlin was a well-known and highly respected cowman in the Sunshine State during the antebellum and reconstruction eras. He was a resident of Bartow and Orlando. Summerlin was credited with establishing the first public school in Bartowand in Orlando he was regarded as the father of the city’s extensive park system.
Joe Akerman retired from teaching history at NFCC in 2003, but can still be found in the classroom as an adjunct instructor.
[Editor’s Note: Both Mark Akerman and Dr. Revels attended NFCC at the same time. Professor Joe Akerman taught history to both young authors.]
Joe Akerman’s published works include Florida Cowman: A History of Florida Cattle Raising and American Brahman. He is a recipient of the Dorothy Dodd Award by the Florida Historical Society and serves on the Society’s board of directors. He and his wife, Princess, reside in Madison, Fla.
Mark Akerman, a Madison native and NFCC alumnus, is a school administrator. He holds two degrees in history from Appalachian State University and a M.Ed. from Florida A & M. He has researched and published articles on the Civil War. He resides with his wife, Angela, and children, Cole and Emma, in Greensboro, N.C.
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