College is an environment of learning, ideas, and growth. The important thing to remember is that these aren’t confined to the classroom. One of Rollins’ great past Presidents, Hamilton Holt, realized that one of the great values of a college environment is the ability to bring together experts and novices, students and teachers to create meaningful dialogue. In 1931, he joined with prominent educational philosopher John Dewey to host a colloquy entitled “The Curriculum for the Liberal Arts College”. A symposium of great minds discussed the proper role of a liberal arts college and how best to structure one for the coming decades.
President Rita Bornstein continued the tradition of academic discussion with another colloquy in 1997 entitled “Toward a Pragmatic Liberal Education: The Curriculum of the Twenty-First Century.” More recently, current President Lewis Duncan has sought to make academia relevant outside the classroom and held a colloquy focused on the theme of “Liberal Education and Social Responsibility in a Global Community.”
My sophomore year, President Duncan brought in a cross-section of distinguished scholars from across multiple disciplines for a week-long convention of the minds. Notable speakers included experimental psychologist Steven Pinker, actress Anna Deavere Smith, Pulitzer Prize winning scientist E.O. Wilson, political scientist Francis Fukuyama, author Salman Rushdie, and Poet Maya Angelou. The experience was fantastic for a young college student to soak up their wisdom along with being able to interact with the presenters.
I was thrilled that President Duncan was making this a permanent focus of the college. He established the Winter Park Institute, in order to “establish an atmosphere of enlightened conversation and capture the synergy created when scholars share information, debate issues and shed light on a variety of significant, timely topics.”
The Institute is responsible for former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins coming to Rollins along with Grammy-winning jazz banjo player Bela Fleck and other notable visitors. Collins prides himself on making poetry accessible to everyone with such poems as Introduction to Poetry, On Turning Ten, and The Lanyard, which he read during a whimsical commencement for the class of 2008. His last discussion was with legendary songwriter Paul Simon in the Knowles Chapel, where Collins announced that he would be serving as a Rollins professor for the 2009-2010 academic year. As the Institute establishes itself in both the Rollins and Winter Park community as a leader in cultural significance, these enriching events will become even more common place.
Daniel has been involved with a wide range of activities over his first three years at Rollins. He has worked for Residential Life, the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership, the Dean of the Faculty, the Admissions Department and the Office of Public Relations & Communications.
Daniel has also taken advantage of the many opportunities for co-curricular education. He traveled to New Orleans with Rollins Relief and to Australia for a semester abroad. Daniel describes involvement at Rollins by saying, “Rollins has so many amazing opportunities for personal growth. I hope that my entries will help new students find everything they’re looking for.”
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