Local investor James Babcock, a partner in upscale St. Augustine eateries Opus 39 and The Tasting Room, has pledged $250,000 in unrestricted funds to help the students of Flagler College

A relative newcomer to the Flagler College community, Babcock was inspired to help support the college after meeting and working with a number of Flagler students employed in the restaurants.

“I have been so impressed with the quality of the students who have become my friends and colleagues,” Babcock said. “They immediately caught my attention, and I started to think about how I could get involved with the college that’s helping to shape them.”

’08 alum worked on infamous TLC reality show

For Flagler alumnus Clark McCarthy-Miller, ‘08, being a producer’s assistant has meant working on miscellaneous commercials, small movies and television shows. But that all changed when a friend set him up on an interview with a family that would change his life — the now infamous Gosselins, stars of TLC’s reality show, “Jon and Kate Plus Eight.”

After interviewing for the position with four others, the Gosselins handpicked him to work on the show. McCarthy-Miller could be seen on the show’s highest-rated season four opener where he helped the Gosselin family prepare for a birthday bash for the sextuplets.

Flagler Professor’s New Book on Deaf Education Published

For years, Flagler College Professor of Education Carl Williams has worked overtime teaching deaf education to his students for one simple reason: There was never a single comprehensive textbook written for instructors in deaf education.

That prompted him to write “No Limits,” a first-of-its-kind instructional textbook on deaf education that correlates with the Council on Educating the Deaf standards and the Educational Content Standards in Deaf Education.

Flagler College Magazine won a platinum award in the 2009 MarCom Awards’ magazine/educational institution category, as well as a special merit award in the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education’s (CASE) District III awards competition.

Others MarCom platinum award winners included Carnegie Mellon University, John Hopkins University, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, University of Kansas, University of Pittsburgh and nine others. The MarCom Awards is an international competition for marketing and communication professionals. Entries come from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, PR firms, design shops, production companies and freelancers.

In what he called one of the high points of his career, Timothy Johnson, professor of religion and Liberal Studies Chair at Flagler, presented research at a prestigious conference at Catholic University of Milan this past September.

Johnson joined scholars from around the world at the conference, “Religiosity and Civilization, Religious Forms of Identity,” which was hosted by the university’s Department of Medieval Studies. He was one of only two Americans invited to attend — the other was from Princeton University.

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.”

A thrilling 2009 season that featured a 29-match winning streak took the Flagler College volleyball team many places over the course of the year.

It was only fitting that such a magical run ended with the team in St. Paul, Minn., site of the NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship, making angels in the snow.