They are a people without a country — more than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees who were trapped between a nation that disowned them and another that wouldn’t take them.

For two decades they languished in United Nations refugee camps with nothing but bamboo huts covered by plastic tarps and meager rations, toiletries and other essentials. Then in 2007, the United States and other countries agreed to end their plight and take in the refugees. More than 22,000 have already immigrated, settling in cities across the country like Jacksonville, Fla.

Religion At the Extremes

Flagler Assistant Professor’s Book Tries to Make Sense of Religion Being Used to Justify Violence

Osama bin Laden and Mohandas Gandhi are two names you wouldn’t expect to share the same cover of a book.

While the first is an international pariah whose acts of terrorism have brought fear, suffering, hatred and war, the second chose a path of absolute nonviolence as he waged his own “battles” to free India from British Imperial rule.

Professors Abroad: Tracey Eaton in Bolivia

The red-eye flight to La Paz, Bolivia, took Communication Instructor Tracey Eaton far from the classrooms of Flagler College to a place where it isn’t uncommon for journalists to be threatened, intimidated or even attacked.

“I have a lot of respect for journalists in Latin America,” he said. “They deal with challenges that a lot of Americans never see in the United States. Their lives are threatened. They’re sometimes shot, killed and tortured.”

Watchdog for the public

Alumnus John Krieger works in Washington, D.C., to safeguard public interest issues

Want to know what it’s like to testify before Congress? Alumnus John Krieger, ‘02, will tell you in one word: terrifying.

“They make the chair that you sit in two times too low so you feel like a kid at the adult table,” he said. “The senators all sit extremely high up. It’s a very daunting experience. It’s something that I’m extremely proud of, but it was just so scary.”

Music + Math = Funky ‘Musiplication’

Alumna’s funk- and soul-influenced album teaches kids math and gets wide airplay on Sirius XM Satellite Radio

It began simply enough: a collection of songs about math meant to help school kids learn their multiplication tables. But 2000 alumna Kat Vellos never expected the funky little album — with its hip-hop beats put to math-infused tunes and her own soulful voice — would end up in regular rotation on Sirius XM Satellite Radio.

Called “Musiplication,” the independent album released in 2008 weaves stories about canoeing pandas and superheroes with everyday multiplication.

Cuba: Looking back, and forward

Communication professor talks about his days as a journalist in Havana, Cuba, meeting Fidel Castro and his thoughts on the future of the communist island

There’s a marker on the tip of Key West that proclaims Cuba a mere 90 miles south of American soil. As tourists stare out across the water trying to catch a glimpse of the communist nation, it seems as if the gulf between these two nations is bridgeable and small.

But distances can be misleading, as communication professor Tracey Eaton will tell you, and there is much more between the two countries than just water and miles.