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News & Impact Stories

Private support is often the difference between a good university and a truly great university. Private support plays a profound and positive role in our students’ success. Donor support creates learning, service and research opportunities for Florida State students and faculty, and it helps make FSU one of the nation's top universities. Your gifts express support for FSU’s values, community, history and future.

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a student wearing a blue shirt walks onto FSU Panama City's campus on a sunny day

FSU PC announces $500k gift, new programs

Author: Eryn Dion, News Herald Reporter

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Oh what a difference 35 years makes.

From its humble beginnings in the 1970′s, when Bay District Schools, the business community and Gulf Coast Community College petitioned the legislature for a university in Bay County, to 1982, when the campus opened with “just a few buildings” and a resident faculty of four, to today, Florida State University Panama City has grown into an education hub for the county and the region.

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Ryan Dorrell, Dave Romine and Jeff Alagood

Alumni-run AgileThought pays it forward with generous support for MIS students

Author: Barbara Ash (excerpt from Florida State University College of Business News)

Successful alumni Dave Romine, Ryan Dorrell and Jeff Alagood hope recent gifts to the College of Business will spark the same kind of student collaboration and synergy that led them to create AgileThought, a Tampa-based information technology company.

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Aggie and Jeff Stoops

College of Social Work receives gift to establish new center

Author: Lauren Antista

A substantial gift from a family foundation formed by two Florida State University alumni is helping the FSU College of Social Work establish a new center dedicated to generating knowledge that leads to effective policies, services and research for the benefit of communities, families and children.

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Soaking up the sun: FSU, alumni partner to install solar panels on campus

Author: Susan Hansen

Florida State University is moving forward on the path of solar sustainability — thanks to three alumni and FSU Sustainable Campus.

The alumni, Justin Vandenbroeck, Chris Diaz and Scott Minos, provided and installed 12 solar panels to their alma mater, all pro bono.

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Renovation of the FSU Jim Moran Building

Excitement builds as $100 million Moran gift comes to life at FSU

A year and a half after Jan Moran and The Jim Moran Foundation gifted a record $100 million to FSU, the support is transforming the university and creating opportunities for students and business owners for generations to come.

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Florida State University College of Education

Woman honors college chum with scholarship

Author: Aileen Mack

(excerpt from The Gainesville Sun)

Over 50 years ago at her freshman orientation, Pam Green couldn’t sleep and was walking around her dormitory at 2 a.m. when she ran into Sally Rhoden. They were both wearing purple hurricanes T-shirts but from their respective high schools in different states.

The accidental meeting sparked a conversation that lasted the rest of the night — and a friendship for years to come.

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Phil LaBrecque, 68, of Tampa passed away on April 11, 2017.

Generous donation creates scholarship for FSU hospitality students

Author: Robert Branciforte

(excerpt from Florida State University News)

Florida State University’s Dedman School of Hospitality announces the creation of a scholarship honoring an FSU alumnus who leaves a legacy of supporting others.

The Phil LaBrecque Memorial Scholarship will serve as a lasting tribute to LaBrecque, who earned a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management with a minor in marketing at Florida State in 1970. He died in April at the age of 68.

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Marc and Carol Gill

Passing It on: A Legacy to FSU

(excerpt from FSU Foundation Gift Planning)

For Carol Gill, Florida State opened up a world of possibilities.

“Growing up, I didn’t know anyone who went to college,” says Carol, 67, of San Antonio, Texas. “I was the first in my direct line to go.”

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Earldine Ankiewicz

$1 million estate to fund 20 new FSU Panama City scholarships

Author: Erica Martin

(excerpt from FSU Panama City)

A $932,000 gift from the estate of Earldine Ankiewicz will allow FSU Panama City to award at least 20 new scholarships starting in fall 2018.

Ankiewicz, who passed away Jan. 29, 2016, named the scholarship fund after her deceased son and daughter. The “Alex Alfred Ankiewicz and Lucy Elizabeth Ankiewicz Scholarship Endowment” will award scholarships to students enrolled in majors within Florida State’s College of Business or College of Education.

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Alumna Endows Scholarship to Honor Musician Sister

Gentle. Artistic. Perfectionist. This is how Florida State University alumna Jan Kaminis Platt (B.A., ‘58) describes her younger sister, Bobbie Lou Kaminis (B.A., ’64). Raised in Tampa, Florida, Bobbie Lou excelled in the arts and went on to attend Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. However, her distaste for the cold weather lead her to transfer to Florida State University where she continued her studies.

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