30th Anniversary History Book

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THE UNIQUE HISTORY OF A SINGULAR INSTITUTION Looking Back, Moving Forward Celebrating 30 Years of Excellence

BEACON COLLEGE AT 30:

“Beacon Hall” by Emily Marra

Table of CONTENTS 2 Preface

A letter from President Hagerty

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Chapter 1 Students of Determination; The Founding of Beacon College; Beacon College’s Creation Was ‘A Leap of Faith’; Beacon’s Formative Years a Group Effort; Transition at the Top; Majors, Minors Added, Early Campus Expansion; Highlights: Beacon College Navigators 5K; Reaching Students in Different Ways; Beacon Wins Accreditation, Opens Dorms; Early and Evolving Study Abroad Offerings; More Degrees, Quality Enhancement Plan Adopted; A Transition in Institutional Leadership and Governance; Beacon Hall Opens; George Hagerty Named Beacon’s Third President; Beacon Student Earns Internship at Walt Disney World; Anthrozoology Major Announced; The Future Chapter 2 The Beacon Undergraduate Model: A Larger Context; Envisioning the Whole: Innovating and Weaving the Core Elements; Reflections: Debbie Resnick; Beacon’s Teaching and Learning Model, The Learning Specialist Model; Highlights: Media Chapter 3

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Editor Darryl E. Owens

Knitting the Social Fabric; Graduate Profile: Davian Isom; Graduate Profile: Dr. Rosalyn Johnson; Graduate Profile: Hannah Walk; Graduate Profile: Nathan Plung; Annual Duck Hunt; Reflections: Debbie Townley; Highlights: Dean Logus Chapter 4 Campus as Catalyst; Highlights: 2016 Congressional Briefing; Highlights: Beacon Salon Series; Reflections: Deborah Brodbeck, President Emerita Timeline of Events Appendices Beacon College Graduates 1990-2019; Board of Trustee Terms of Service; 25th Anniversary Founders Day Honorees; The Life Abundant

Writers Chapter 1: Dan Tracy

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Chapters 2, 3, 4, Graduate Profiles: Loraine O’Connell Highlights and other features: Darryl E. Owens

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Reflections: Self-Authored

2009 COMMENCEMENT

Throughout the nation’s history, colleges and universities that have taken root and prospered have done so because of their “living” mission, their deeply held and animating raison d’être . Influential higher education communities are thus distinguished and recognized because of their special and enduring contribution to the public good. Nowhere is this axiom better manifested than on the campus of a small but growing college of just 30 years: Beacon College. Beacon’s enduring legacy is that of the first institution of higher education solely devoted to collegians with learning and attention issues (LAI) to be accredited regionally to award the baccalaureate degree. Dedicated people loyal to an abiding and singular vision and mission have provisioned the community’s journey to its 30th year milestone and to the reputational advantage the college now enjoys. Their vision: the creation of a competitive and rigorous liberal arts institution for bright and ambitious undergraduates who have unique learning profiles not well accommodated by American higher education, in general. The storyline of its founding, right through to its present and future is a compelling one waiting to be told. It is unmistakable when one enters the Beacon campus that something special is underway, although the well-maintained buildings and grounds evoke the traditions and purpose evidenced on any other noteworthy college or university across the nation. The “Beacon difference” is in the energy of the place, emanating from devotion to a common purpose, an unwavering commitment to robust (nation-leading) student outcomes, and the clear-eyed conviction of those in the community that our work is important and pioneering. There is an urgency in all that we do and for which we plan. We are pleased, as a gift from the community at this milestone moment, to share our history, what we have learned, how our distinct undergraduate model has evolved, and how we educate and serve today. Perhaps there is no better way to begin this exploration than by introducing our students. It is their stories that matter, and their aspirations that the college was founded to champion and for which to provide sure footing.

CELEBRATES 30 YEARS of the life abundant

Dr. George J. Hagerty, President Beacon College

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4 5 7 CHAPTER 1 Students of Determination The Founding of Beacon College Beacon College’s Creation Was ‘A Leap of Faith’ Beacon’s Formative Years a Group Effort Transition at the Top Majors, Minors Added, Early Campus Expansion HIGHLIGHTS: Beacon College Navigators 5K Reaching Students in Different Ways

Ary Brown (with Samantha Chavez ) tries out a seat in the Florida House of Representatives.

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Beacon Wins Accreditation, Opens Dorms Early and Evolving Study Abroad Offerings More Degrees, Quality Enhancement Plan Adopted A Transition in Institutional Leadership and Governance Beacon Hall Opens George Hagerty Named Beacon’s Third President REFLECTIONS: Dr. Robert “Dr. Bob” Bridgeman Beacon Student Earns Internship at Walt Disney World REFLECTIONS: Terri Ross

Cassandra Bergman delivers her 2019 Class Valedictorian speech.

Anthrozoology Major Announced REFLECTIONS: Cyrus Van Galyon The Future

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Students of DETERMINATION

Cassandra Bergman and Ary Brown appear to have little in common. She is quiet, considers herself an introvert. He is outgoing, a good conversationalist. She is deliberate in her responses, thinks a bit before answering. He is not afraid to offer an opinion. She is brown; he is white. But they share an abiding bond in that both are students at Beacon College. Bergman is Beacon’s 2019 valedictorian, carrying a 4.0 GPA. She expects to attend graduate school as she pursues a career in

psychology. Brown is a senior in the midst of a coveted summer internship with Dell, Inc. in Round Rock, Texas. Both struggle with learning disabilities that led them to downtown Leesburg, Fla. and the Beacon campus. She has autism and a visual and auditory processing disorder that, in her words, causes her to be “slow on the uptake.” He has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and could not read with any proficiency until the fifth grade. Perhaps their strongest tie is the fact that they refuse to allow their learning difficulties to define them. They were convinced they were much smarter than how they might have been perceived by others. “It was just a matter of getting started. I’ve always had issues with getting my feet on the ground, getting my balance,” said Brown, who was raised by a single mother in Winter Springs, Fla.

“I just needed to know there was support for me,” said Bergman, who hails from just outside Philadelphia. And that’s why they intersected at Beacon, the nation’s first accredited college offering four-year degrees designed around the needs of students with diagnosed learning disabilities. Bergman is one of 85 graduates from a growing student body that stands at more than 400 and is projected to climb to as high as 500. Along with her mates, Bergman represents the largest graduating class in Beacon’s 30-year history. The streets Bergman, Brown and their fellow students walk, the dorms and apartments they call their home away from home, the classes they attend, the places they eat, drink and study — they are all a far cry from 1989, when Beacon was founded and humbly offered a single bachelor of arts degree (BA) in human services.

“It was just a matter of getting started. I’ve always had issues with getting my feet on the ground, getting my balance... I just needed to know there was support for me.” – Cassandra Bergman ’19

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The FOUNDING of

areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all places that are open to the public. Without the ADA, colleges were not required to accommodate learning disabilities. Some students who enrolled at Beacon had been beaten down by the education system and believed they were incapable of higher learning. Others had attended state or private colleges and universities that offered some assistance but not a comprehensive approach. Their self-esteem was at a low ebb. “They were told they should resign themselves to working at McDonald’s,” said Kathryn Jarvis, who taught at the college and served one year as Beacon’s interim president.

One of Beacon’s founders, Pat Horan Latham, said the college opened its doors during the fall of 1989 because of a stunning lack of alternatives. In short, she could find no institutions of higher education dedicated at that time to teaching students with special learning needs.

A prime example was her son John, who had difficulties with math, sequencing and organizational skills. “We thought he needed a school with a very strong learning disability program,” Latham said.

Patricia and Peter Latham with their son John , a Beacon graduate.

Sylvia Neill was well aware of the educational pitfalls for students like her son Blake who were not suited for traditional teaching methods. Blake enrolled at Beacon College in 1991. Neill and Kay Timmeny were elected to the Board of Trustees in March 1992, just two months before John D’Addario joined them on the panel.

Latham, her husband Peter, and Marsha Glines, the school’s first president — who formerly led the now- defunct DeSisto College in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. — incorporated the college in May 1989. Beacon operated under a temporary license issued by the Florida State Board of Independent Colleges and Universities. Board officials said at the time that Beacon was the only college in the country they knew of offering a four-year degree for students with learning disabilities. This was a full year before Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act. The measure prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all

Sylvia Neill

Neill, a homemaker, summed up her vision for Beacon this way: “We wanted a gentler mode, a regular school environment … [with] knowledge of disabilities. You’ve got to have a lot of compassion, a lot of patience.”

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“We wanted a gentler mode, a regular school environment … [with] knowledge of disabilities. You’ve got to have a lot of compassion, a lot of patience.” – Sylvia Neill

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Leap of Faith’ ‘A Beacon College’s Creation Was

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When the Lathams and other parents decided to start a school from scratch they had no idea where it would be and there was absolutely no guarantee such a plan would work. “It was a leap of faith,” Latham said. “I thought it would be a success, but I wasn’t sure at what number (of students).” Where to begin? First off, they needed a name. They batted around some ideas, but settled quickly on Beacon College . “Nice symbolic value,” Latham said, “in that it served as a beacon to students with learning disabilities.” They also were required to establish a corporation, obtain tax-exempt status, and secure a license from the Florida State Board of Independent Colleges and Universities.

First settled in 1857 by Evander McIver Lee, Leesburg was incorporated in 1875, the name coming from its founding family. Once known for its watermelon production, Leesburg also sat on the northern fringe of the state’s once- thriving citrus industry. But as agriculture faded over time, Leesburg became more of a retirement destination. By the late 1980s, downtown Leesburg was burdened with empty storefronts, having lost tenants to a $26 million regional mall that had opened at the turn of the decade. “I thought about the things that we could offer over the other areas,” Lovell told the Orlando Sentinel in 1989. “We have recreational facilities, restaurants, [and] drugstores for them to get their medication, and a bank all within a block of their proposed location.” City leaders were eager to accommodate Beacon, too, hoping the school would grow over time and help reinvigorate the compact business district by filling up some vacant buildings and injecting youthful vigor into the town. Lovell’s pitch was persuasive and the fledgling college was planted in Leesburg. “It was a nice, small town,” Latham said. “It has proven to be a good fit for everyone.” Perhaps the biggest hurdle facing the founders was finances. In addition to paying annual tuition, books, and room and board payments of roughly $17,500 per student, the founding parents raised about $50,000 in short-term

loans as seed money for the school. The loans were repaid as they came due, Latham said. The initial funds enabled the college to hire staff and to purchase one building and lease others, including dormitory space. Their efforts won a temporary license to operate from the state, which also asked for and received proof that Beacon had committed students, an administrative structure, faculty and a library. “A lot of time went into planning and making the initial arrangements,” Latham said. “I thought it would be a SUCCESS, BUT... at what number (of students). ”

Location was another major question. The parents considered a number of places in the greater Orlando area before choosing Leesburg. They liked Central Florida because they believed the warm weather and proximity to Orlando would attract students. Then Leesburg City Commissioner Robert Lovell volunteered to scout out possible landing spots within his community, which sits between two large lakes, Harris and Griffin, at the head of the Ocklawaha River system.

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Everyone, it seemed, pitched in: Leesburg leaders on such matters as issuing a special-permit zoning law alteration to allow the school to operate in a commercial district; Beacon instructors and students adjusting to new surroundings; parents giving their time and money. Sylvia Neill, for instance, answered phones for several weeks during the summer of 1992. Neill often was the initial voice prospective students — or their parents — would hear when inquiring about Beacon that summer. “A lot of hard work went into it,” said Neill, who spent 14 years on the Beacon board, including two stints as chairwoman. Of course, the founding parents had little choice but to be heavily involved during the startup of Beacon. If they did not lend their collective hands, many of the unglamorous but necessary chores would have gone undone, which could have crippled Beacon College during its critical formative stage. BEACON’S FORMATIVE YEARS: a Group Ef fort

Marsha Glines in the president’s office.

First Beacon graduating class

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“We had limited funds,” Latham said. “So we did everything we could do to make it work.” Marsha Glines said Beacon embraced a teaching approach that

Blake Neill enjoyed Beacon. “They treated us well,” said Blake, who has some autistic traits and labors to express himself through language. He graduated in 1997 with a degree in general studies and a minor in computers. Now living north of Dallas with his mother, Blake, 46, has worked in security and retail and is contemplating going back to school to further his education. Beacon, Sylvia Neill said, gave her son “a lot of confidence and independent skills.” The college’s first year was difficult, but exhilarating as well, Glines said. The budget was lean, meaning there was no room for monetary mistakes, regardless of how small. Most importantly, the students and instructors had to figure out how to make new teaching and learning methods work. “We just all clicked and worked multiple tasks,” Glines said. “If we had to paint walls, we painted walls. We knew everyone and everything, whether we wanted to or not.”

The initial class of students, Glines said, was “an incredible group.” They were cheer ful, adaptable and eager to learn, in her estimation. Beacon’s first class produced nine graduates from a total student body of 36. The college operated out of a building that was purchased and several leased buildings, including a one- time restaurant and a former dress shop that eventually was torn down and replaced in 2013 with Beacon Hall, a two-story state-of-the-art building that houses the president’s office, other administrative offices, and classrooms and serves as the school’s signature landmark. Glines often cooked Sunday brunch for students in the building once known in Leesburg as the Total Affairs Restaurant. Sitting at the corner of Main and Canal Streets, the structure — one of the few remaining examples at the time of pebble architecture in Florida — served as a dining hall, the library, three classrooms, study rooms, and faculty offices during Beacon’s first year. The modest beginnings did not faze Glines, who liked to point out to anyone who would listen that Beacon’s first graduating class of nine was the same size as Harvard University’s inaugural year back in 1642. “Everybody starts somewhere,” she told the Orlando Sentinel during an interview at the conclusion of Beacon’s first year in 1990.

was weighted more toward education as opposed to therapy.

Marsha Glines

The overarching theme would be personalized instruction, figuring out the best way to reach each student. No more one size fits all. “We brought a different pedagogy,” she said. “We brought college-level courses. Everybody deserves a shot at college.” Glines saw Beacon as a place that would welcome students who did not fit into the traditional college concept of attend a lecture, take notes, study and hope to pass the next test. Classes would be small, she pledged, ensuring professors could spend quality time with the students, figuring out what instructional style worked best for each individual. She envisioned Beacon as a “celebration of students who are wired differently” and encouraged her charges to do volunteer work in and around Leesburg. “It should be social,” she said of Beacon’s student life. “It should be uplifting. It should be positive.”

The overarching theme would be personalized instruction, figuring out the best way to reach each student. No more one size fits all.

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Beacon grew slowly after the first year, adding students in single digits rather than droves, in part because money remained scarce, but also because the school was establishing its reputation and was still laying its educational foundation. For year two, Glines and the board added facilities and expanded its degree offerings to include an associate of arts degree (AA) in human services. Enrollment remained steady, at nearly 40 students. Jarvis characterized the early years as “intimate” because virtually everyone referred to each other on a first-name basis. There seemed to be no secrets on campus. “You knew the students. You knew the families. You knew the stories. You knew them so well,” she said. In 1991, Glines left Beacon for what is now Lynn University in South Florida. Glines was replaced for the school year by Jarvis, whose official title was chief executive officer. Jarvis saw her mission as “not letting the wheels come off.” She concentrated on working for accreditation and shepherding the senior class to graduation. TRANSITION at the Top

Patricia and Peter Latham

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By 1992, the board was focusing on leadership, program development and growth. At a board meeting that year in Washington, D.C. (where the Lathams, Neills, and Timmenys lived), Neill suggested bringing in Deborah Brodbeck as a consultant. Neill had known Brodbeck for years, going back to a period when they both were living in Westchester County, NY. At the time, Brodbeck was immersed deeply in the field of learning disabilities and had diagnosed Blake Neill’s issues when he was a five- year-old. “… (N)ot many people full understood how expressive and written language affected how a kid learns at that time and she fully did,” Neill said. “I was impressed with her from the ver y beginning.” As was the board. After Brodbeck delivered her repor t, the trustees offered her the college presidency. “She (Brodbeck) did so well, we kept her,” Neill said. “We liked her philosophy and decided to hire her.” Pat and Peter Latham and Kay Timmeny also were impressed with Brodbeck’s knowledge of learning disabilities, as well as her enthusiasm and energy. The transition in 1992 involved a great deal of work, over a period of months, on the par t of Brodbeck, the staff, and board members. The Lathams ser ved on the Board of Trustees from 1989 until 1993 and, after the leadership change, left to pursue other projects, including co-authoring and contributing to more than 10 books on learning and attention disabilities. Pat Latham now is an arbitrator handling commercial, employment and securities cases.

Neill, Timmeny, and D’Addario also served on the board during the transition and for many years thereafter. Jarvis was offered a teaching position, but declined, opting instead to complete her Ph.D. in higher education at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Jarvis retired this summer as an academic support counselor at the Mercer University School of Medicine in Savannah, Ga., following a long career at Auburn University. Brodbeck, who earned a Master of Science degree in the field of education studies from Fordham University in New York, was pursuing a doctorate in psychology at the time she was approached by Neill. She readily interrupted her studies to sign on with Beacon. So began a 19-year run piloting Beacon, a tenure that lasted a decade longer on average than most college presidents. Like Glines, Brodbeck did not hide away in her office, but was out on the small campus, meeting students, motivating staff, doing whatever needed to be done to make the day a success. She immersed herself in all things Beacon. “We didn’t have any money so ever ybody did ever ything we could to make it work,” she said during a speech at Beacon College’s Founder’s Day Celebration in 2014. Characterizing the college as “an amazing stor y,” she said Beacon’s steady growth during her time in office was “not because of a single person. It was because of the collective us … We could not have done it if we had not done it with passion, a passion to contribute to the field and to provide oppor tunities that just weren’t there.”

Kathryn Jarvis

Deborah Brodbeck

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Now called the Center for Student Success , the building housed learning specialists (then called academic mentors) and peer mentoring — critical support for new students becoming acquainted with unfamiliar surroundings and new educational concepts. The idea is that the learning specialists work closely with the incoming students, helping them with everything from scheduling classes to improving study habits, but always setting and reinforcing the collegiate expectations to which every Beacon student is held. Over time, the specialists reduce their involvement as the student grows more confident and assumes more control over his/her life. Bergman and Brown have been helped out by the learning specialists, as well as by their peers and older students. The two have returned the favor by counseling their younger cohorts though peer mentoring. Brown also has served as a Beacon ambassador, showing prospective students around campus, as well as helping his mates in the dorms as a housing coordinator. He tries to set a good example, too. “Messing around and not taking things seriously is not an option,” he said. In 1996, Beacon administrators felt confident enough in the school’s academic standing to apply for regional accreditation

from the Commission of Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC). Beacon met 12 of the 13 criteria necessary for the coveted certification and readily committed to constructing a library building, the main shortcoming noted by the agency. Attending Beacon at that time was Christopher Marinakis, who has a nonspecific learning disorder that makes art, science and math difficult subjects for him to master. “I couldn’t draw a stick figure if my life depended on it,” said Marinakis, who graduated in 1997 with a BA in liberal studies. Now an administrative assistant with a public utility in Cape May, N.J., Marinakis is a part-time DJ on the side, specializing in music from the 1950s and 1960s. His interest in music was sparked partly by engaging in karaoke sessions while a student at Beacon. The college, he said, was the right school for him because young adults who understood what it was like to struggle with education surrounded him. No one looked down on him or thought less of him because he learned in a different way. Like Marinakis, his fellow students all had faced learning struggles, giving them a common link. Marinakis, in fact, quickly became popular with his classmates. He was one of the few students who had a car — a red 1991

Eileen and George Marinakis

During Brodbeck’s first year, a BA and AA in general studies became part of the curriculum. That August, the college rolled out its academic mentoring program. As student enrollment grew, the college hired a coordinator in 1995 to oversee the program, a popular offering that still resonates with students. MAJORS, MINORS ADDED, Early Campus EXPANSION

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Eileen Marinakis said after visiting the campus she saw evidence of what she called the three P’s: passion , perseverance and partnership .

Plymouth Sundance with white racing stripes. Along with his newfound friends, he went on numerous road trips, the group pooling money for gas, allowing them to travel to restaurants or theme parks. “We were each other’s buddy- buddy system,” he said. “My opinion was everyone seemed to be on the same page.” He came to Beacon because his parents, Eileen and George , were looking for a place where the faculty had high expectations for the students, regardless of their learning difficulties. Eileen Marinakis said after visiting the campus she saw evidence of what she called the three P’s: passion, perseverance and partnership. After meeting with professors and students, the Marinakis family were convinced they had found the correct school for their son. “We knew this was a step in the right direction,” said Eileen Marinakis, who would end up serving on the college’s board for 12 years, including five as the chair. The main conference room in Beacon Hall bears the couple’s name.

Leave it to Mother Nature to make the launch of the Beacon College Navigators 5K Run/Walk memorable. The inaugural event — staged to raise funds both for the college’s intramural sports program and also to help fund the Mitchell Pospyhalla Memorial Scholarship — originally was scheduled for October 2016 in conjunction with Beacon’s Parents Weekend. Hurricane Matthew, however, scuttled that plan. Rescheduled for February 2017, runners and walkers over the 3.1-mile course trod over sidewalks, slalomed around Lake Harris, huffed past scenic historic homes, and slogged up Florida molehills that a couple of miles into the race seemed like mountains. In the end, Ortelio Bosch enshrined his name in the record book as the overall winner of the college’s inaugural middle-distance race. Bosch, 48, from Savannah, Ga. finished in 21:50.17. Brienne Sharff, 34, of Eustis, Fla., earned the top female finish (sixth-best overall). She clocked in at 25:39.42. The Fourth Annual Beacon Navigators 5K Run or Walk, helmed by director of fitness and athletics Steven McDaniels, is scheduled during Parents Weekend during the 30th Anniversary week-long celebration. BEACON COLLEGE NAVIGATORS 5K HIGHLIGHTS

By the time Christopher Marinakis graduated, Beacon had undergone another series of incremental steps that enhanced the college, including leasing an education building, buying property for a future administration building, enlarging the library and moving into a renovated learning resource center, which also housed computer and academic mentoring programs. Around that time, Dr. Terri Ross came to Beacon to teach anthropology and environmental studies. “I just loved it,” she said. “It was challenging, but rewarding, and never boring.” Total enrollment was inching toward 50, with the average class size between seven and ten students.

Unless Mother Nature has other plans.

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Terri Ross

Reaching Students IN DIFFERENT WAYS

Ross quickly realized what Glines and Brodbeck had preached: She had to tailor her teaching to each student because she was dealing with a variety of disabilities, including visual impairments, auditory issues, ADHD, seizures and other issues. “I needed to be astute, to watch,” she said.

Van Galyon joined the full-time faculty staff three years after Ross. He taught art, mentored students and provided crisis counseling. He previously had been leading a once-a-week art appreciation class. After he became immersed in his classes and meeting with students, he said he had to adjust dramatically his teaching methods, just like Ross. “I tore up my syllabus and had to rethink my approach,” said Galyon, who retired three years ago after 17 years at Beacon.

Galyon realized he could not reach someone with reading issues the same way he could communicate with a student confronted by auditory problems. “You have to change modalities through the class period,” Galyon said. Ross, now retired after 20 years at Beacon, said she would change her approach in class every 20 minutes or so, switching, for instance, from offering clear, concise notes for those with strong visual skills to encouraging robust

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discussion to keep those with ADHD involved in the class. She was not averse to having students get out of their chairs to move around if such activity kept them engaged. She also offered students options on how they wanted to tackle a subject: Did they want to read, have instructions read to them, a combination of both? Ross, who has a Ph.D. in anthropology, said her summer fieldwork with Native American cultures helped her teaching at Beacon because it provided her with insights about how people learn in different ways. Often dealing with Pueblos and Navajos as an anthropologist, she said, she discovered “they have different traditions of passing on information — storytelling and oral — rather than reading. They know the lyrics to songs without reading them.” Ross took her anthropologic knowledge and applied it to Beacon. Occasionally, she would even release a peppermint scent in her classroom to engage the students. Galyon, in turn, would offer up slides during his lectures, take questions, write out instructions, then have his students draw and work with clay, all while he played music in the background. His students often sat

in desks arranged in a U formation, allowing Galyon to be among them rather than statically in the front — a common teaching technique at Beacon. In addition to teaching the subject matter, Ross said, she also tried to build up the self-esteem of her students, especially those in their freshman year and away from home for an extended period for possibly the first time in their lives. Both teachers subscribed to the theory that there were four ways to reach students: visually, kinesthetically and through hearing and experience. “It will continue to evolve as a reflection of further research,” Ross predicted.

Both teachers subscribed to the theory that there were four ways to reach

Van Galyon

students: visually, kinesthetically and through hearing and experience .

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By the turn of the century, Beacon was ready to grow. The administration purchased 2.75 acres for construction of student housing and became a candidate for final accreditation approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). Three minors were added: computer information systems, education and psychology. The year 2003 was momentous for Beacon College. Fourteen years after opening, it was granted regional accreditation by SACSCOC, cementing the school’s status as a respected four-year college. The Beacon Village apartments opened as well, at a cost of more than $2.9 million. The complex offered one, two, and three bedroom units that could house 124 students. That left plenty of room for growth because the Beacon student body at the time stood at 85. The apartments, a few blocks from Main Street and the campus classrooms, offered independent living, but also close proximity to BEACON WINS ACCREDITATION, Opens Dorms

Beacon College Village Apartments

fellow students, providing a more inclusive, communal atmosphere. Previously, the school leased apartments for student housing in Leesburg, running a shuttle service from various locations to the main school buildings. The apartments, a few blocks from Main Street and the campus classrooms, offered independent living, but also close proximity to fellow students. This provided a more inclusive, communal atmosphere. College-owned apartments were the key to Beacon’s ability to grow because students had plenty of housing options near their classes and the revenue helped stabilize the school finances, said Dr. Vincent Ziccolella, who spent more than 23 years on the school’s board.

Brodbeck agreed the dorms played an important role. “That laid the foundation for the future of the college,” said Brodbeck, who helped raise $200,000 to pay for the property and closing costs. Ziccolella came to Beacon during the late 1990s at the behest of Brodbeck. She once was a student of his at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, NY. Even then, she shared Ziccolella’s interest in teaching students with learning disabilities. Like Brodbeck and the Beacon staff, Ziccolella is a firm believer in personalized instruction and maintaining small class sizes. His teaching convictions are based on vast experience being the superintendent for nearly a quarter century

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Beacon in Tuscany students visit Prato, Italy.

of the Greenburg-Graham School District. That’s a K-12 school district in New York state for residential students with learning disabilities and emotional challenges. Ziccolella, a Beacon board member emeritus, said his time at the college has been rewarding because of the slow, steady growth and watching students excel after they often had been discouraged while attending their previous schools. “These kids are great,” he said. “There’s a lot of success stories at Beacon.” Shelly Chandler joined the staff in 2003, too. Now Beacon’s provost, she started out teaching psychology and human services. She quickly honed in on the unique nature of the students and the atmosphere they created at Beacon.

Another major step in Beacon’s development occurred in 2000 when the college launched The Cultural Studies Abroad summer program. The offering kicked off with its first adventure, “Tale of Two Cities,” with students visiting Paris and London. The program’s name later was shortened to Travel Abroad to differentiate it from study abroad. Former vice president of academic affairs, Dr. Terry Murphy, broached the proposal. He believed students should be given the chance to travel and experience life outside of their comfort zone. Time management, building relationships, spending money wisely, confidence-building and improved self-awareness were among the goals of the project. Murphy now teaches at Lake- Sumter State College. Ross helped organize the first trip abroad but didn’t attend because of her summer fieldwork. Galyon, meanwhile, served as among the first mentor/chaperones and accompanied more than 30 students on a two-week trip through England,

Ireland, and Wales. Chandler has run the program since, taking groups of up to 40 on 14 different trips. The focus of the tours typically are cultural or historical, but also are used to scrutinize the environment or for scientific exploration, as was done during trips to the Galápagos Islands and Alaska. Other destinations included Spain, Russia, Sweden, Italy, Greece, England, Ireland, Australia, Hawaii, New Zealand, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Japan. Beacon expanded its global education menu in 2017 with a 12-week semester of study in Tuscany, Italy. Beacon’s academic host is the Prato campus of the Università degli Studi di Firenze (University of Florence). Each semester’s coursework is organized around a central theme, with instruction provided by both Beacon faculty and local educators and experts. Students live and study in the heart of Prato, a medieval city, with regular trips to various historic and contemporary sites of interest. So far, 76 students have spent a semester in Tuscany.

“They (students) have always been at the center of what we do,” she said. “They all have different learning styles.”

Dr. Shelly Chandler

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Sandy Novak tutors a student

During 2005-06, Beacon continued expanding its curriculum by creating a major in computer information systems (with an information systems track and digital media and web design track); plus two minors, one in English/literature, the other in history. In 2008, Beacon College adopted a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) as part of the reaffirmation process for accreditation. The QEP focused on critical thinking and the college chose the Paul/Elder model for teaching critical thinking because the staff believed it was clear, concise, and relevant to the needs of the school’s special mission. During their visit, accreditors praised the Beacon QEP as “one of the best blends of theoretical research and practical application” ever presented to SACSCOC. Staff members are convinced that teaching students with learning disabilities to think critically is the essence of the mission and philosophy of Beacon College. It demonstrates, they say, the college’s commitment to creating a learning environment that enhances the opportunities of Beacon graduates in the workplace, while assisting them in realizing their potential. Beacon hit its 20th anniversary during 2009. By that time, enrollment had continued rising and was approaching 130 MORE DEGREES, Quality Enhancement Plan Adopted

Walter Zielinski

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Students enjoy a meal at the Chopping Block

students. The financial picture had improved, too, allowing the school to expand its facilities and acreage. A free celebration open to the public was held in early December 2009: the Starry Night Open House at Beacon’s downtown office. “I think people within the community, within the county, within the region have heard of Beacon College, but have no idea what it is we actually do,” vice president for institutional advancement Walt Zielinski said at the time. “So, we’re celebrating our 20th, inviting people in and sort of alleviating the mystery of what is Beacon College.”

He was proud of Beacon’s mission: “We don’t have traditional students here; we only have students with learning disabilities. So their comfort factor is outstanding.” Zielinski was the first person Beacon hired with a major directive to raise money. He courted donors large and small, including foundations and companies, to invest in Beacon. Annual contributions to the school went from an average of $90,000 to $300,000, improving the school’s bottom line and setting the stage for more growth.

During 2010, Beacon announced construction plans for administration and education buildings, including the intention to buy the old Chopping Block Restaurant, 117 W. Main St., for a dining hall. It now serves as the school cafeteria, serving three meals a day during the calendar year. Leading the board of trustees during the second half of Brodbeck’s tenure were Dr. Richard O. Williams of Colorado (2002- 2014) and Sam Battaglia (1998-2011). Both chairs were intimately familiar with Beacon and its value and unique standing in American higher education, as both their daughters graduated the college.

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In January 2011, Deborah Brodbeck retired as president after an accomplished 19-year tenure, with the board of trustees honoring her with the designation of president emeritus. She was “phenomenal,” Ziccolella said, at getting the school up and running, tending to details large and small. During Brodbeck’s presidency, the college expanded the Main Street campus from two to six buildings and constructed the first Beacon-owned student housing, the Beacon College Village Apartments. In 2003, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges awarded Beacon accreditation and in 2008 reaffirmed its standing. She also guided diversification of curriculum and majors to enhance the academic program. “Beacon built a community effort that sustained the college during the early challenges of a young institution,” Brodbeck reflected. “This community and commitment to the mission ensured the foundation for the college’s survival and provided the opportunity for future generations of students to attend.” A TRANSITION in Institutional Leadership and Governance

Deborah Brodbeck

[Courtesy of The Orlando Sentinel]

In its search for new leadership, the board sought to strengthen both the fabric of institutional governance and to select a president dedicated to growth, sustainability, and heightened academic standards. In short, “someone with a broad vision,” said now Trustee Emeritus Bruce Vincent, who joined the board in 2008. In the interim, Vincent helped rewrite the board’s bylaws referencing the printed advisements of the national organization, the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities (AGB). Together, the board members reformed their organizational structure and moved to promote vigorously Beacon College as one of the best programs in the nation for students with learning differences. Brodbeck’s immediate and temporary replacement was Dr. David Dunlop, who was a retired college president living in the Villages development north of Leesburg. Dunlop was formerly president of Shepherd University in Iowa from 1996 to 2006, and

remained in a college presidency until his retirement from Mitchell College in Connecticut shortly before coming to the aid of Beacon College. Dunlop stayed on for a few months until Dr. John Hutchinson was hired. Hutchinson, who holds a doctorate in speech pathology and speech science from Purdue University, came to Beacon for the 2011 school year with more than 35 years of experience in higher education as a teacher and administrator. Before Beacon, he served as commissioner of higher education for the Montana University System and was president of two private colleges — Thomas University in Georgia and Lincoln College in Illinois — and one public university, Northern State University in South Dakota. Upon his arrival in Leesburg, he quickly went to work to build upon Brodbeck’s legacy. “She had a lot of compassion and she cared deeply for Beacon,” Hutchinson said.

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President Hutchinson at Beacon Hall ribbon- cutting ceremony.

During his transition as president, Hutchinson saw his job as building trust between the new administration and the student body that was nearing 185 members. As he began his tenure, the college was poised for the next phase of development with a strong financial base and a $1.3-million-dollar reserve for the construction of Beacon Hall and expanding the campus. Hutchinson pored over the plans for the construction of Beacon Hall and, after considerable deliberation, the board — with the counsel of engineer George Marinakis — brought in a new development team that revamped the blueprint for what would become the college’s signature building. Also under Hutchinson’s watch, psychology and business management became new majors and the school bought the Woodward

Although his tenure carried the “interim” tag, Hutchinson said he never looked at the posting as being a short-term caretaker whose main job was merely to keep the school running until the new president was named. His intent was to make Beacon better. “I really felt ver y good about where we were when I left,” said Hutchinson, now living in Ozark, Mo. and a senior consultant with the executive search firm RH Perr y & Associates. During the tenures of both Dunlop and Hutchinson, the board of trustees, then chaired by Eileen Marinakis, consulted regularly with staff, developed a comprehensive institutional vision, established a search committee, led by trustee Dr. William Somerset, and contracted with a firm to conduct a national search for the next president.

In 2013, along with pursuing SACSCOC approval for what would become the school’s sixth major and planning for the renovation of the Mason Art Center, Hutchinson’s two years and two months on the job were highlighted by the opening of the 8,000-square-foot Beacon Hall. Shelly Chandler, who led a number of tours of the building after the ceremonial ribbon cutting, hailed it at the time as a big “wow.” “Everything is so modern, so new,” she said back then. She was showing off the building’s interior, which was designed with high-tech color and lighting and temperature amenities to accommodate students with learning disabilities. The $2.36 million hall featured blue carpeting with minimal patterns to provide calmness; items made from materials with low odors; soft lighting; a constant temperature setting of 72 degrees; advanced audio and BEACON HALL OPENS

visual tools and classroom areas with U-shape arrangements of desks to facilitate optimal collaboration and discussion. “We followed what researchers said we should do to make it more conducive to learning,” Chandler explained. Among those in attendance were U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster (FL-10), Sen. Alan Hayes (S-11), Rep. Larry Metz (H-32), Beacon College Board Chair Eileen Marinakis, fellow board members, President Hutchinson, and several area leaders from Central Florida’s political, educational, business and philanthropic circles. “This represents Beacon’s commitment to its mission, to the community of Leesburg, and to the quality of its educational programming,” Hutchinson said, then added the new facility “sets the bar” for future construction on campus.

Street Apartments, increasing student housing by 33 beds.

Interim President John Hutchinson

2012 Beacon College Board of Trustees

[Courtesy of The Orlando Sentinel]

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The Beacon Hall open house was followed by the news that Dr. George J. Hagerty had been chosen by the board to be the school’s third president — though three interim presidents had been appointed over the years to lead the college for shorter spans. At the time, Hagerty was the president of University Advisors International, Inc., having previously served as provost and university professor at Hellenic American University in Athens, Greece, from 2009 to 2011 and president of Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire from 1995 to 2009. The holder of master’s and doctoral degrees from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and a former official in the U.S. Department of Education, Hagerty was chosen from a list of more than 100 applicants. GEORGE HAGERTY Named Beacon’s Third President

Drs. George and Oksana Hagerty at inauguration ceremony

Hagerty said he knew Beacon was the place for him after walking the campus and meeting the people, from the board and staff, to students and Leesburg residents. He called his wife Oksana, a Ph.D. educational and developmental psychologist in her own right, and told her his search for a new position had ended. “In reinforcing the attractiveness of the Beacon opportunity to her,” he said, “I expressed that, ‘it is the smallest, it is the poorest, but it has the best darn mission … and the college has a lot to teach American higher education.’ I have not changed my perspective since the day I assumed Beacon’s presidency.” Board chair Eileen Marinakis said Hagerty’s “extensive leadership experience in higher education and government, as well as his record of achievement in the field of special education and belief in Beacon’s mission

were important factors in our decision. It was, however, his creative energy, entrepreneurial acumen, academic standing and insight, as well as his repertoire of administrative and external advocacy skills that make him an ideal president for Beacon College.” Chandler called Hagerty a visionary: “He can picture things he wants done and he goes after it.” One of his first tasks, she said, was empowering the staff to handle more duties and search for new ways to reach students. Left unsaid about Hagerty was that he could empathize with Beacon’s students in a way that few administrators can. He is legally blind. One of the first questions he asks when he meets a student is “What is your workaround?” In other words, he wants to know how he/she copes with their disability.

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For Andrew Field, who enrolled at Beacon the same year that Hagerty came on board, the workaround is memorization. Along with a speech impediment and anxiety, Field also struggles with his short-term memory. So, prior to taking an exam, he would memorize the answers to the most likely questions he would face. “This was the only way for me to get a good score on the tests,” he said. Hagerty began losing his sight when he was 19 and a freshman in college because of a rare disease of the retina. He was completely blind in his left eye at 25, then at the age of 42 — while the president of Franklin Pierce University — the disease returned and claimed the central vision in his right eye. “I must say with all candor that my eye issues have never slowed me down,” he said, “but rather served as an abiding motivator to move ever onward.” Though being blind differs greatly from a learning impairment, Hagerty said, he understands firsthand the good and bad of living with a disability in a world full of people with no diagnosed issues. “On the positive side,” he said, “any perceived limitation can become a strength with motivation, focus and a supportive community. Less than positively, however, is coping with issues of self-confidence, independence, and being recognized for the disability, not the person. I not only empathize with our students, I have experienced parts of their journey in many ways.” Hagerty’s workaround? It included orientation and mobility (cane) training, working with speech-to-text and text-to-speech programs, as well as relying heavily on voice as a way to recognize others. “As I am unable to read facial expressions,” he joked, “I stay away from poker.” Over the course of his first six years at Beacon’s helm, the college’s enrollment has more than doubled (435 undergraduates in fall 2019) and the campus has been revitalized (with 10 construction projects and

2017 Beacon College Board of Trustees

Train depot turned Beacon Fitness Center

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