The digital magazine for faculty, staff, students and friends of Pensacola State College
August 7, 2020
Jorianna Mallow just had one request of her mother, Kristie Chelico, on the first day of school.

“Just wait a week until you tell anyone you’re my mother.”

That would be hard for Kristie. After all, she is a talker. And she wanted to tell everyone in each of her nursing classes that she and Jorianna were mother and daughter. And that they were going to become nurses together.

And they did, both graduating from Pensacola State College’s Nursing Program on Aug. 1, two days after they received their nursing pins at the PSC Department of Nursing Pinning Ceremony.

“It was very strange," Jorianna said. “My Mom is outgoing and likes to talk. I usually keep to myself. The first day of school, I’m always nervous. My Mom is fine talking in front of a class. I’m the opposite. Like ‘Don’t look at me.’ So I asked her to at least wait a week until she told everyone. Because she would get up there and tell her whole life story.”

Kristie admitted she would.

“I’m very outgoing," she said. “I’m a talker and I like people. I would have told them everything.”

But she kept her word to her daughter. In fact, some of their fellow students didn’t find out until the end of the program.

“A few of them said, ‘Now it all makes sense’,” Kristie said. “Because they could tell we were close.”

Troy Moon spoke with the mother and daughter and filed this entertaining interview.
A mission of all Pensacola State College staff is to serve the students. But sometimes, the students are the staffers themselves.

Katja Lunsford, an administrative assistant at the College’s South Santa Rosa Center, and Theresa O’Quinn, senior executive assistant to the vice president of business affairs, were among the graduates recognized at Saturday’s 2020 Spring and Summer Commencement ceremony. Neither was able to attend the ceremony at the Pensacola Bay Center, but their names were on the program, and more importantly, their names are on their diplomas.

Both earned Bachelor of Applied Science degrees in Business and Management. O’Quinn’s area of concentration is Organizational Administration. Lunsford’s concentration is Human Resource Management.

“I had been working on my bachelor’s degree for years," said Lunsford, a married mother of three. “But I stopped to have a child, and just couldn’t concentrate on both. And my family comes first.”

Pictured above: Lunsford
New Pensacola State College police chief is also an alumnus
Robert Goley is also retired U.S. Army colonel, long-time law enforcement officer

There’s a new lawman in town to keep the peace. 

OK, it’s not that dramatic.

Pensacola State College isn’t a town, after all. But it is a community. And it’s a pretty peaceful community as it is. So new PSC Chief of Police Robert Goley wasn’t hired so much to police the students, faculty and staff as he was to protect the PSC family. After all, he’s been part of the family since he came to then-Pensacola Junior College as a teenager just after graduating from Pensacola Catholic High School in 1980. 

“He has a polish to him," said Tom Gilliam, PSC Vice President of Administrative Services and General Counsel. “He’s very laid back and down-to-earth, but at the same time he has that polish. He’s a great fit for Pensacola State College.” 

Goley began his new job on Aug. 3 after spending two years with the Valdosta State University Police Department, where he was also the university’s Emergency Management Specialist. He spent 25 years with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and is a retired U.S. Army colonel, serving both in active duty and reserve forces. 

While in the Army, he served in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in the Middle East. He also deployed to Panama, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, and the Horn of Africa. 

Now, he’s back home. 

“It’s my hometown," Goley said from his office on the Pensacola campus, though he's PSC’s head honcho for all campuses and centers. “And this is my alma mater. I still have family here. I love the people and have a lot of friends here. I’m really happy to be back.” 

Both Goley and Gilliam said policing college and university campuses is different than normal community policing. 

“I said this in my interview, an academic environment is different," Goley said. “You need to encourage civil debate on campus and get to know each other. There’s a lot of social mistrust of law enforcement in general right now, so we need to be more inclusive. And a college campus is naturally inclusive. We’re part of PSC. The students and faculty are going to see us, and they get to know us. We need to be seen as an asset and not an adversary.”

Gilliam agreed, saying part of a college police officer’s job is much more about protecting students, faculty and staff than policing them.

“He’s worked in higher education and knows this environment," Gilliam said. “I believe that Chief Goley’s recent experience in higher education gives him an insight into the needs of a college and its students, and his dual careers in law enforcement and the military give him the law enforcement and leadership skills necessary to supervise our Public Safety Department.”

Goley’s educational resume as a student includes an Associate of Arts degree from then-PJC and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from the University of West Florida. His is currently working toward his Master of Science degree in Leadership and Emergency Management from Grand Canyon University. 

“I’m going to be getting out of law enforcement one of these days," Goley said. “So I really would like to help shape and mold the next generation of officers. We want to be partners on campus. That’s the goal.” 

-- Troy Moon
Experts teach importance of collaborations during nonprofit webinar
During a recent webinar, Dr. Kimberly Krupa, director of Achieve Escambia, asked the virtual attendees, "What are your biggest collaboration challenges?"

She opened a browser window on an interactive polling website, and asked participants to enter questions by typing on their phones.

One by one the challenges appeared:

"Getting data."

"Letting go of control and trusting the partner."

"Resource constraints."

"Finding time to communicate."

"Getting everyone on the same page."

"Managing the workflow."

These were but some of the challenges for which Krupa and two other trainers attempted to provide solutions in the webinar, "Collaborations That Work: Building Your Collaborative Team for Big Wins," presented earlier this week by PSC’s Nonprofit Center for Excellence and Philanthropy.
"Collaborations take time," said one of the other trainers, DeDe Flounlacker, executive director of Manna Food Pantries. "They don't happen overnight. And you're not necessarily going to see your outcomes overnight. It just takes time."

Collaborations are important in the nonprofit world, as organizations often find the need to combine resources and manpower to tackle an issue or reach a specific goal. As an example, Flounlacker described the Tummy Bundles program that Manna conducts at Montclair Elementary School in collaboration with Boys & Girls Clubs. Manna provides healthy meals for the students in Boys & Girls Clubs' after-school program. Boys & Girls Clubs, in return, provides Manna with health survey data they already were compiling on the students.

"This was a very successful partnership, because one, it had very positive effects, with most of the families having increased their food security, having been in the program; two, most of the children's BMI improved as well; and then three, there were positive educational outcomes as well."

But not all collaborations are going to be as successful, Flounlacker said.

"Collaborations are hard," she said. "I mean, if they were easy then everybody would be doing them. But now collaborations are more important than they've ever been after COVID-19. Many of us have been impacted when it comes to having to cancel events that have been a funding stream for us. We just don't know what's going to happen as it relates to donations in the long run. So collaborating is really important."

She offered tips on setting up a successful collaboration:

"Make sure expectations are defined on both sides. What is it that you need to get out of this collaboration and what is it that your partner needs to get out of the collaboration? Also, have the confidence that your partner can execute and deliver as well as you will be able to execute and deliver."

Krupa spoke about the differences between collaboration and collective impact. Collaboration, she said, provides ways to change an existing system; for example, co-location of services or case-management streamlining. Collective impact, on the other hand, transforms the system itself.

"So, rather than improving and tweaking and looking at short-term data, really wanting to get to that long-term population change more than a 10-percentage-point improvement."

Both methods are needed, Krupa said. "This isn't an either-or type of situation."

The third trainer was Chandra Smiley, CEO of Community Health of Northwest Florida. She said that there were several questions an organization must ask itself when considering a partnership.

"Does the mission and vision complement each other and is there an alignment? Is there a target population that overlaps or is shared? What does the partnership do in helping to promote the mission or helping to expand the capacity to serve the population that you're sharing? Finally, is this a short-term or a long-term relationship?"

Whatever the level of the relationship, there needs to be constant scrutiny of the collaboration, Smiley said.

"You should constantly and continuously be evaluating that partnership," she said. "And you need to have flexibility, to be able to shift and change so that you have the opportunity for the partnership to evolve."

For information on how to watch the recording of this seminar, contact 850-484-1568 or creed@pensacolastate.edu.

Pictured above, left to right: Smiley, Krupa, Flounlacker

-- Mike Suchcicki
Pensacola State Student Services offices to be open on Saturday, Aug. 8
Pensacola State College’s Student Services offices will be open 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 8, to help students take care of last-minute business.

It’s not too late to register for the Fall semester. Classes begin Monday, Aug. 17.

Students can visit the Pensacola, Milton and Warrington campuses and South Santa Rosa Center in person or log onto PirateQ at PensacolaState.edu/PirateQ to get help online.

Students can finalize their financial aid packages, meet with advisors to get registered for classes, and speak with staff in various student support areas ─ Student Support Services, Veterans Support Services, Career and Technical Education, American with Disabilities Resources office, or the Educational Opportunity Center to get help with the college application or Free Application for Federal Student Assistance (FAFSA).

Parking decals and College IDs will be available in the Public Safety office, located in the Delaino Student Center, Building 5, on the Pensacola campus.

Also, testing will be offered on the Pensacola campus on a limited basis.

  • PERT appointments can be made on RegisterBlast for Saturday. To register, go to www.registerblast.com/pensacolastate/exam
  • There is a 25-appointment maximum. The office cannot accept walk-ins.
  • Appointments are first come, first served.
  • Students must have valid photo ID. Dual Enrollment students also must have Test Referral Form
  • PSC follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, so visitors must wear a face mask and practice social distancing protocol. The College also cannot store personal items during testing.

For more information or assistance, call 850-484-2000.