FGCU

The University Police Department is conducting an active assailant training exercise from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 25, in Biscayne Hall, part of FGCU’s South Village residential area. A simulator that portrays the sound of gunshots may be heard throughout the training.

Earlier this year FGCU named its new Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Colin Hargis, to take over the role after the past director, Ken Kavanaugh, stepped down in December, 2023 after serving about 15 years in the role. Hargis comes to FGCU after spending about a decade at North Carolina State University, where he worked his way from associate athletics director for ticket sales and operations to senior associate athletics director for external relations. Hargis takes the helm of a young athletics program with 15 intercollegiate athletics teams and about 300 student athletes. And he brings with him his knowledge of the world of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) which he managed at North Carolina State University, and part of what he’ll focus on here at FGCU.

The Northwest Florida State College Board of Trustees next week could name Henry Mack, a former senior chancellor at the state Department of Education, to serve as interim president as the college searches for a replacement for outgoing President Devin Stephenson.

Some Florida state universities have ramped up security and issued advisories for graduation ceremonies, amid an already heightened police presence on campuses because of a wave of student protests.Florida Gulf Coast University, on a webpage including advisories for people who will attend commencement ceremonies over the weekend, has a general reminder that guests should “be respectful and courteous of others” and lists items such as signs that are prohibited.

In the midst of the Israel-Hamas conflict, a group of FGCU students has taken a stand to support the people of Gaza. FGCU For Palestine was founded last October following the thousands of Palestinian deaths after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel’s Gaza settlements that killed over a thousand Israelis and took hundreds hostage.It started when a member of the Biden administration doubted the Palestinian death count released by the Gaza Ministry of Health. A few people started reading the names of the killed Palestinians on FGCU’s library lawn, but the death toll became too large to share every casualty.

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.

A plan to build housing as a way to attract faculty and staff to the university was part of FGCU's Board of Trustees meeting this week. The project is just in the informational stages but could lead to a number of units being built to the south of Gulf Coast Town Center, about two miles from the FGCU campus.

On the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University, as it was across North America, people stopped for a few hours Monday and, after taking a few safety precautions, got a glimpse of the moon's shadow traversing the sun.

Craig Kowalski has accepted the position of Chief of Police for Florida Gulf Coast University and will begin work officially on April 15.The acceptance was announced Thursday by David Vazquez, Vice President of Administrative Service and Finance.

Local masters student Susannah Cogburn receives $5,000 as a research stipend from the Guy Harvey Foundation for marine research.