The digital magazine for faculty, staff, students and friends of Pensacola State College
November 8, 2019
Buffi Bailey sits outside a downtown cafe, sipping a caramel latte and looking over her computer screen as the sounds and scents of the city swarm around her. Bailey, a doctor of nursing at Pensacola State College, is working. The café is a typical work environment for Bailey, who leads PSC’s RN to BSN program that allows working nurses to earn a bachelor degree. Unless she decides to set up shop at a different café for a workday. Or at a local bookstore. Or her home office. Never the classroom. As Troy Moon learns in his conversation with Bailey, Pensacola State’s RN to BSN program is only available online, like most nursing bachelor’s degree programs offered at colleges and universities nationwide.
B iweekly wasn't enough; 'The Pirate' brings you PSC news every week
Remember a couple of weeks ago, when we told you that there was too much PSC news to maintain "The Pirate" as a monthly publication and that we'd have to go to every two weeks? Well, that schedule didn't last long. We realized very quickly that we'd have to take the plunge and make "The Pirate" into a weekly digital magazine.

What does that mean to you, the reader? It means NEW articles every week, features and profiles about the College and its faculty, staff and students that you'll be seeing for the first time.

So look for "The Pirate" in your inbox every Friday. And thanks for reading. Your input always is welcome. Send comments, questions or suggestions to snichols@pensacolastate.edu.
Doug Bates, PSC Foundation Board president, said that when he was a student at then-Pensacola Junior College, he never knew the impact and need for generous donors such as Jan and Ron Miller. “I didn’t know what was going on – that there were people out there like you making this possible,” Bates told them at a recent press conference. “But I’m sure glad that there are folks like you out there. Goodness gracious.” Recently the Millers named Pensacola State College the sole beneficiary of the $2.5 million Charitable Remainder Unitrust the couple established after selling their longtime business, Arco Marine, earlier this year.

“PSC does a great job," says Troy Watts , a Marine Corps veteran who is president of the PSC Student Veterans Association. “Anytime a veteran needs something, PSC is always there for them.” As a way of showing appreciation for the College, as well as an advance celebration of Veterans Day, the SVA, with support from PSC’s Veterans Upward Bound and Veterans Student Support Services, prepared a delicious barbecue lunch for PSC students, staff and faculty on Nov. 5. The lunch featured burgers, hot dogs, ribs, sides and even two patriotic cakes created by the PSC Culinary Arts Program – one was decorated as a U.S. flag; the other cake featured the service emblems of U.S. military branches. Troy Moon was there, and provides interviews and video.

Take a fascinating tour of the process it takes to make a premier veterinary technician as the Pensacola State College Veterinary Technology Program presents an Open House, 3-7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13, on the Warrington campus. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet the Vet Tech Program instructors and tour the College’s state-of-the-art facility in Building 3200 at 5555 W. Highway 98, Pensacola. The event also includes financial aid information, student organization exhibit and animal ambassadors. The two-year program covers a wide range of subjects including animal behavior and husbandry, clinical procedures, anesthesia, lab diagnostics, medical and surgical nursing, radiology, dentistry and office management..

For Michael Johnston, it's about 'loving the data'
Institutional Research director has a passion for helping others
The whiteboard in Michael Johnston's office is covered with equations and graphs and charts and statements and boxes around equations and asterisks by equations.

But while it looks, to the layman, very much like a clever prop from "A Beautiful Mind," it's a source of joy to Johnston, whose face fills with glee as he describes the chaos of scribbles.

"I love modeling, modeling is a big part of what we do," Johnston says, pointing to his handiwork on the whiteboard. 

"Being able to take a scenario and develop a probability scheme to determine the likelihood of something happening, that to me is great. That is as close to fortune telling as you're ever going to get."

Johnston, 37, is PSC's executive director of the Institutional Research Department, as well as the College's State and Federal Reports Coordinator. He has been referred to, lovingly, as PSC's "Data Guy."

Yes, Johnston crunches numbers, but he quickly points out that, "Data is not always numbers. I love data, because data tells stories in a unique way that removes all passion and any relativity."

A lack of passion and relativity, however, does not mean a lack of fun, not when the data comes from Johnston.

"I can bring a little bit of experience in a lot of different fields, which makes it a lot easier for those as not as familiar with numbers to become acquainted and to start loving the data," he says. "Otherwise it can be really intimidating."

He prides himself on being able to tailor the results of his research to the person requesting it.

"Some people are graphics-ordered, some people are very numbers-oriented," Johnston says. "Some people are very visual and they see the numbers, some people would rather look at a bar graph so they can say, 'This bar's bigger than the rest. Why is that one bigger than the rest?' So I can take the data and manipulate it into a visualization that makes sense, without having to spend hours and hours reading it."

In the three years since he helped launch the Institutional Research Department, Johnston has worked with departments throughout the College.

"From fundraising to athletics to student affairs to academics, the data is everywhere, and it's so impressive to be able to take all these different data sets and unite them and then make sense of them and understand the etiology and then the structure behind them," Johnston says.

"Michael loves PSC," says PSC President Ed Meadows. "He loves our students, he's a very caring person. He helped lead the charge for a Virtual Tutoring Program that became a national Bellwether recognized program. He sees the need for our data to represent the institution in a correct way. He's helped us in a lot of ways, such as where data is tied to budgeting, tied to appropriations, funding allocations, helping to make sure that the College is getting its fair share. We place a lot of confidence in the office of institutional research to make sure the data we submit is correct, so we can optimize our finding from the different state sources and the federal government."

A native of Canada, Johnston moved with his family to Stuart, Florida, when he was 7. He went to public high school in Stuart, getting his first job at a local pharmacy when he was 17. Throughout his educational career he continued working at different pharmacies, learning both the trade and the business.

Johnston attended the University of Miami, where he was determined to find an engineering program that suited his tastes.

He passed on environmental engineering, however, when "I found out it's all wastewater treatment."

He switched to civil engineering but said no thanks after too many semesters in the sun making concrete.

He settled on a mechanical engineering degree and got a job with the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.

As it turned out, Johnston soon realized he didn't like being an engineer, environmental, civil or mechanical.

"I was too siloed," he says. "I was in a cubicle, with little interaction with people and I like working with people." He moved to Pensacola, a place he had visited before and which "reminded me of how Stuart used to be."

He was an adjunct instructor at both the University of West Florida and PSC and received his master’s in statistics at UWF. He also was offered the opportunity to teach at the college of pharmacy at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee.

"So, I bounced around a little bit," Johnston says. "I had the opportunity to come here to PSC about three years ago when they wanted to start an institutional research department independent of all the other departments."

The College had a serious need for such a department, Meadows says.

"It verifies the data for required submissions of data turned in to the federal government," he says. "Michael and his staff are very diligent in making sure the data is correct. Over the last several years, because of the focus on performance funding, it's important that we get the right data sets for the right students in the right categories. Michael and his staff are invaluable to the college because of this."
Johnston also is a devoted volunteer, on an international scale. Adorning his office wall, as well as his social media profiles, are photos of him sharing a happy time with a group of orphans at an orphanage/clinic in Haiti that he visits whenever possible.

"I love doing international work," Johnston says. "Some people can do a great job at vacationing. I can't. I can't just go sit on the beach somewhere and be happy."

His volunteerism led him to Pensacola's Health and Hope Clinic, where he oversees the pharmacies and mentors pharmacy students. He also uses his pharmaceutical contacts to obtain inexpensive medicines that he sends to clinics around the world. He spends several hours a day before and after his PSC workday at Health and Hope.

"I love being able to help others," Johnston says.

That love for helping extends to his PSC duties.

"Not everyone majored in statistics," Johnston says. "So I want them to understand the data I present, and if I'm presenting in a way that doesn't make sense to them, I don't want to offend them or intimidate them, I want to make sure it works for them."


-- Mike Suchcicki
Pensacola State College Theater Director Rodney Whatley has been selected for induction into the Florida College System Activities Association (FCSAA) Hall of Fame. Kelly Warren, FCSAA executive director, will induct Whatley into the Hall of Fame just before the College's 7:30 p.m. performance of “The Producers” on Saturday, Nov. 9, in Ashmore Auditorium on the Pensacola campus. Whatley has been the director of theater and theater program coordinator at Pensacola State since 2005. He also has served as an adjunct faculty member at Pensacola Junior College, Jefferson Davis Community College and the University of West Florida.

Tickets are now on sale for Pensacola State College’s production of “The Producers” to be staged Nov. 8-10 and Nov. 14-17 in Ashmore Auditorium. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 8-9, and Nov. 14-16. Matinee performances are set for 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10 and Nov. 17. The Ashmore Auditorium is Building 8 on the Pensacola campus, 1000 College Blvd. Troy Craig and Ethan Price will play leads Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, respectively, in the production based on the musical adapted by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan from Brooks’ 1967 movie, “The Producers.”
An emergency medical technician raised an implement for all to see and asked, "Who wants to put a tube in his nose?" Several of the spectators rushed forward, eager to try. The technician selected a young woman and showed her how to slip the flexible plastic tube into the airway of the subject, a plastic training mannikin. Then he helped her attach a round breathing bag onto the tube, then demonstrated for her how to squeeze the bag. "There," he said with a smile as the young woman pumped the bag. "Now you're breathing for him." The young woman smiled and stepped aside for the next in line, one of several dozen high school students from five Northwest Florida counties and Baldwin County, Alabama, who attended the 23rd Annual Pensacola State College Health Career Fair on Oct. 25 at the Warrington campus.

M assage therapy students offer free chair massages to PSC employees
The Pensacola State Employee Wellness Program invites PSC employees to enjoy a free 10-minute chair massage by PSC massage therapy students during one of three upcoming sessions. The first session is from 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13, in Building 4000, Room 4018 on the Milton Campus. Session two is from 1 to 3 p.m. Monday, Nov. 18, in Building 3700, Room 3728 (McMillian Auditorium) on the Warrington Campus. Session three is from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4 in Building 3, Room 312 of the Pensacola Campus. Sign-up is required. Email La Rita Brigham at lbrigham@pensacolastate.edu or call extension 1310.
Looking for PSC gear and garb? Now you can procure your merch from the safety and comfort of your own home, thanks to the new PSC Online Store. Here's how to find it.

There's never an idle moment at Pensacola State College, whether you're into art, athletics, drama, music, science, technology, engineering, dance, movies, books or just plain socializing. Make plans to make plans with our online Calendar .

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