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Dr. Raymond DePaulo began as a student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1968 and went on to become an M.D. in 1972 and then did his residencies there. He founded the Affective Disorder Clinic in 1977 and these days he’s co-director of the Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Center. He was on the Florida Gulf Coast University campus to give a talk for the university’s Provost’s Seminar Series so stopped by the studio for a conversation about his work and career and the changes he’s seen over the past 58 years. He also spoke with the Naples Discussion Group while he was in town.

Pine Island was cut off from the mainland during Ian when the bridge that passes through Matlacha was washed away. In the true spirit of Pine Island, residents immediately got to work helping each other, and coordinating resources and volunteers. But, it quickly became clear that the collective recovery effort was going to need to be formalized to support long-term recovery efforts. And so the Greater Pine Island Alliance was formed in December of 2022, and they have not stopped in their mission to return every survivor to their home.

John Lack has had a front row seat to the development of some household names in media during his four-decade-long career in media. He was Chief Operating Officer of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment from 1979 to 1984 where he was mandated to develop cable channels for specialized audiences. That led to the Movie Channel, Nickelodeon, and MTV. After moving to Fort Myers about a year ago, Lack decided he wanted to teach and is now doing just at FGCU where he’s an adjunct professor in the Department of Communication and Philosophy, teaching a course called Media Perspective.

Model UNs are academically rigorous simulations that teach students diplomacy, international relations, and how the United Nations works. At Model UN conferences student delegates study a United Nations member country, research topics of global interest, and work to get resolutions passed on that country’s behalf. Our guest today is a past-participant who is now in her first year of medical school at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Daniela Barata Herrera was born in Cuba, and lived in Chile as a young child before her family came to the United States. She first discovered Model UN at Cape Coral High School where she graduated in 2017. She’s in town to give the Keynote address at this year’s competition so we brought her into the studio to talk.

Edward McGovern spent 22 years in local law enforcement with the Hallandale Beach Police Department. He retired as a major in 2020, but as far back as 2017 he began to see the need for law enforcement to bring communication tech into the modern age. So, he founded CERA-Critical Event Response Applications. It’s an app-based system that allows police to see the big picture view of what’s unfolding, and to communicate directly with people who are experiencing the mass shooting event, like students, teachers, or employees.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological condition where a person’s immune system attacks the protective covering of nerve fibers in their central nervous system. MS can greatly impact an individual's life, from just mobility issues making daily activities difficult, to relationships and emotional well-being. Treatment generally focuses on managing symptoms and slowing disease progression through medications, physical therapy, lifestyle modifications, and support services. The Multiple Sclerosis Center of Southwest Florida has been providing support services to people with MS since 2000 — all for free. To learn more we talk with the center’s CEO, Kay Jasso.

A natural part of living in Florida is sometimes interacting with wild animals — including Florida black bears. Wildlife officers trapped and tranquilized a black bear on Monday near downtown Fort Myers. Bears are pretty wily and mostly move around at night so most people have probably never even seen one, or even know that we have black bears in this part of Florida, let alone wandering through our neighborhoods. We talk with a bear expert with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission about bears in Florida, how they behave, and what we can do to minimize neighborhood interactions with them.

Here in Florida, when a youth’s bad behavior brings them into contact with law enforcement there is a chance they will be diverted into a program that will keep them out of the juvenile justice system — providing their offense is a misdemeanor and generally non-serious. The goal is basically to address behavioral needs of youth during their first contact with law enforcement in order to try and keep them out of trouble in the future — and keep them from winding up with a criminal record so early in their lives.

Dr. Aysegul Timur officially took the reins in her new role as president of Florida Gulf Coast University on July 1, 2023. Prior to serving as president she was Assistant Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Strategy and Program Innovation. Overall, she’s been a part of the FGCU community since 2019. Dr. Timur is the FGCU’s fifth president, and she is the university’s first female president since its founding in 1997. We sit down with her as she approaches her first year as president to get an update on how things are going so far.

Stephen Cavitt’s bio begins by saying he’s always chasing the next great story. He’s been an instructor at Florida Gulf Coast University since 2018, teaching English, Creative Writing, and Interdisciplinary courses as well as advising the university’s Creative Writing Club and is a Faculty Mentor with the WiSER Research Assistant Program. His sci-fi novella, The Distance Between Stars, came out in April, 2025 and was also released as a podcast audiobook. It's the first entry in what he calls the Und Wars series. It tells a story of survival after Earth is devastated by Aliens called the Und. It’s told through short monologues by everyday people who escaped and are headed into space to try to start over.