Alumnus Mike Galluzzi works to eliminate redundancies in America’s space program while NASA transitions from the shuttle to the moon and beyond

Mike Galluzzi, ’88, is in the business of space. And right now the space business is in a period of transition.

The current shuttle program is set to retire by September 2010, leaving a gap in human space transportation for at least a few years while the new “Constellation” program takes off. Constellation’s plans echo the heyday of the space program with exploration of the moon and eventually manned missions to Mars.

For alumni, going to Flagler meant being constantly surrounded by architectural gems and detail work that was the hallmark of the former Ponce de Leon Hotel — today a National Historic Landmark. But while you might have seen them every day, how well do you remember all of those intricate accents around campus? Test your memory — and take a stroll down memory lane — by naming where the architectural details pictured here are found on campus.

Click on the image to get started.

Photos by Scott Smith, ’04

Theater seems so … well … dramatic. But it’s not all bright lights and adoring audiences. What you see on stage is the culmination of a lot of hard work behind the scenes before anyone takes a seat. Before the actors even step on stage, there’s plenty of pre-performance preparation from make-up and cast meetings to line rehearsing and psyching themselves up in a host of unique ways.

English professor Liz Robbins talks poetry, publishing and truth

It’s hard to define “success” in the publishing world these days. As major publishing firms struggle to turn a profit, it’s more difficult than ever to get a traditional contract. Meanwhile, self-publishing companies – which let anyone print their work, for a fee – are rapidly expanding. But the books they publish sometimes reach just dozens of readers – as opposed to, say, a million.

Flagler Assistant Professor of English Liz Robbins is finding success somewhere in between those two extremes. Her first full-length book of poetry, “Hope, As The World Is A Scorpion Fish,” was published by small, Nebraska-based The Backwaters Press in 2008 and has sold more than 1,000 copies.

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.”

A new environmental science minor arrives at Flagler during a season of political and economic change

“Can I swab a shrimp?”

A young woman in chest-high waders is ready to join the activities of her companions, who are gently swiping cotton along specimens: anchovies, tiny crabs, shrimp. On a strip of shore by the dam at Guana-Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, Flagler College assistant professor Terri Seron’s biology students have gathered little squirming things from a net with latex-clad hands.

Fans of the hit ABC series “Lost” probably don’t realize there’s a connection between Flagler College and the show’s resident bad guy Benjamin Linus, played by Michael Emerson — unless, of course, they were at Flagler in the 1980s and took a drawing class taught by the now-famous actor.

A close friend of Art and Design Professor Don Martin, Emerson has visited the campus several times to talk with students since shooting to stardom. So as this highly anticipated season of “Lost” gets rolling, Flagler Magazine asked 2006 alumnus and “Lost” fanatic Tom Iacuzio to catch up with Emerson and discuss everything from teaching at Flagler to playing a character who loves to make viewers squirm.

New history professor brings passion for Southern history and Civil Rights to Flagler

Look to the walls of J. Michael Butler’s office and you’ll learn pretty quickly about his research interests. Posters for Lynyrd Skynrd hang next to public signs from the segregation era. There’s a Robert E. Lee ceramic Jim Beam flask, a Frederick Douglass hand puppet and a vial of “authentic” Elvis sweat.

A history buff with a penchant for studying Dixie rock, Butler might be best known for his interest in civil rights, which has been his primary area of research over the years. This mild-mannered Southern gentleman with a heavy Alabama accent becomes animated when talking about history.

Alumnus Greg Teisan, ’88, returns from military duty in Kabul

In the civilian world, Greg Teisan works as a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company. But in Afghanistan, he held responsibilities that ranged from organizing a bazaar for local merchants to coordinating polio and tuberculosis vaccinations for thousands of people.

During his year as a major in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps, the ’88 Flagler alumnus spent most of his time arranging training, supplies and other logistics for medical missions and emergency health care. Teisan had been a member of the National Guard for nearly 20 years, living in South Carolina with his wife and two children, when he was asked to deploy to Afghanistan.

Audio Slideshow: Alumnus Greg Teisan Narrates His Year in Afghanistan

It began 40 years ago with a plan that must have seemed a bit crazy to some: Take a former luxury hotel that had seen better days and convert it to an all-women’s liberal arts college in the heart of the Nation’s Oldest City.