Associate dean’s research debunks idea of bias in NBA scheduling

Was there some kind of nefarious conspiracy at work in scheduling NBA basketball games? That was the question Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Yvan Kelly answered last fall in research published in the “Journal of Sports Economics.” His article was titled, “The Myth of Scheduling Bias with Back-to-Back Games in the NBA.”

Kelly, a former economics professor and scout for the Seattle Supersonics, employed game theory to analyze five seasons of data from NBA schedules to see if there had been any potential scheduling bias. His research was prompted by a noticeable pattern: certain teams were playing games two nights in a row, and most of the time they would lose the second game.

The Flagler College women’s golf team won the Peach Belt Conference Championship in April by just three strokes over Armstrong Atlantic State University.

Senior Kaitlyn Edwards tied for fourth place with a 15-over 157. She shot an 8-over 79 in the final round and recorded one birdie and 11 pars. Edwards, who qualified for the NCAA Division II South Regional Championships, finished 42nd in that tournament.

Rarely does climbing into garbage dumpsters bring with it awards for excellence in journalism. But that’s exactly what it did for Flagler grad Haley Walker, ‘09, who won first place for Online In-Depth Reporting in the Society of Professional Journalists’ regional Mark of Excellence competition.

Her piece, written for an advanced reporting class and run in Flagler’s online student newspaper, The Gargoyle, chronicled her search through local dumpsters for food that is still edible if cleaned properly.

For her story, Walker learned proper “dumpster-diving etiquette” from the volunteer organization Food Not Bombs and ate solely from the trash for several weeks. Dumpster-divers recover food that is thrown out to make fresh, hot vegan and vegetarian meals to be served in outside public spaces, primarily for the homeless.

Walker said she became engulfed in the experience. “It became a thrilling hunt, and I was immediately flooded with enthusiasm as more and more edible food was found,” she wrote in the story.

On June 6, 41 Flagler students, along with history professors Michael Butler and Wayne Riggs, crossed the English Channel on the 66th anniversary of the D-Day invasion when thousands of Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, France.

It was part of a two-week study-abroad trip through Europe that followed the path of Allied forces from England to the liberation of Berlin. The trip hit especially close to home for senior art major Mary Harvey. Both of her grandfathers fought in World War II, including one who landed in Normandy.

Harvey blogged throughout the trip, and you can read more about her experience at http://WWII.flaglermagazine.com.

It’s off to Harvard for Flagler student Katherine Wrisley, who received a full scholarship to Harvard Divinity School, along with a Presidential Scholarship that will cover $10,000 of her living expenses.

Wrisley has several other accomplishments under her belt as well. Not only did she maintain a 4.0 grade point average, but her paper, “Optimistically Embracing Creation,” was published in the January/March 2009 issue of “The Cord, a Franciscan Spirituality Journal.”

Wrisley said a class called The Gospel According to St. Francis, taught by Dr. Timothy Johnson, professor of religion and chair of liberal studies at Flagler College, changed the way she views theology.

Flagler College has appointed Mark Whittaker to serve as vice president of institutional advancement. Whittaker comes to Flagler from Stetson University College of Law where he held the position of vice president for college relations. He was also vice president for university relations at Stetson University in Deland for 15 years.

Whittaker has extensive experience in higher education fundraising, having served in senior-level development positions at Stetson, Hollins University, Rhodes College and Sweet Briar College. He has considerable experience in capital campaigns, comprehensive development programs, alumni relations, planned giving, special events, marketing and communications, and government relations.

Did you catch it? A brief scene on NBC’s action-comedy “Chuck” that included a photo of Flagler College’s Ponce Hall — the centerpiece of the campus and a National Historic Landmark.

It was the March 29 episode titled “Chuck Versus the American Hero,” and it popped up about three and a half minutes into the show when Chuck, now a member of the CIA, journeys to Washington, meets with a general for orders and is given a dossier with his next mission. The location: an Italian villa that is played by a picture of the Ponce.

Society for Advancement of Management team earns ninth national title

The case: help one of the world’s leading digital mapping companies navigate the growing, but treacherous landscape of personal GPS systems.

That’s what Flagler’s chapter of the Society for Advancement of Management (SAM) did to win its ninth Management Case Competition title in April.

English adjunct professor Laura Lee Smith recently had one of her stories “This Trembling Earth” selected for publication in the prestigious anthology “New Stories from the South: The Year’s Best, 2010.” Smith’s story will also appear in the journal “Natural Bridge.”

The story takes place in a small town near the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. Coping with the arrival of a newborn, colicky grandson and two older, dependent children, a family is immediately thrown into conflict and turmoil. The mother, who narrates the story, is faced with making an unsettling decision between helping her criminal son or doing what she knows is right.

In what is expected to be the first of many art and cultural exchanges, students from St. Augustine’s sister city, Aviles, Spain, spent part of the summer restoring murals in Flagler College’s historic dining hall.

The students were from the Aviles School of Art, and the restoration marked the start of a relationship between Flagler and the Spanish school.