As the nation begins its transition to electronic health records, this non-degree program will provide opportunities for healthcare specialists to learn about information technology, and vice versa. Already, 56 students have expressed interest in the program through its newly established website, a number which nears the program's stated goal of 150 students per year.

Being entirely online, Santa Fe's HIT Workforce Training Program will train students from a total of 50 counties, including 38 from Florida and 12 from Alabama. In six months or less, the participants can train in one of five workforce roles, including implementation support specialist, implementation manager, technical support staff, trainer, and information management redesign specialist.

Tuition ranges from $800 to $1,000. The program offers compensation for students who complete the program and begin working in relevant jobs. About half of what a student paid in tuition would be refunded through the stimulus grant. The college would benefit too, since it is scored on how many students graduate and find work.

The HIT workforce training program represents one in a wave of newly founded HIT programs. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information has issued a first-of-its-kind workforce training grant for HIT, and Santa Fe was one of three Florida schools to receive this federal funding. 

The need for these programs has been prompted by the Obama administration's mandate that by 2015 all paper health records must be transferred to electronic media as part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Santa Fe's HIT workforce training program received $1,070,000 in stimulus money to initiate the first two years of its program. 

The transition to electronic records will open up an estimated 50,000 new positions for trained professionals in health information technology, and is also expected to improve access and communication among healthcare professionals, thus reducing healthcare costs. 

For more information call Grant Coordinator Tracy L. Jones at 352-381-3780 or go online to www.sfcollege.edu/hit.

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This is a free, 12-hour course spread over three nights. RAD is a self-defense course designed specifically to teach women realistic defense tactics and techniques. RAD focuses primarily on enhancing awareness, risk reduction and avoidance skills, before progressing to the basics of hands-on defense training. 

The next RAD class will be held Sept. 9, 13, and 14 from 5:30-9:30 p.m. in Building S-29/30.

The class is free, but enrollment is limited to ensure the highest quality of instruction. Pre-registration is required. To register for this course, please contact Officer John R. Santos at 352-395-5452 or e-mail to rad@sfcollege.edu.

For more information about the RAD program, please visit our website at http://www.sfcollege.edu/pd/  and click on the "RAD Program" link on the homepage.

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The classes will blur the line between the Digital Media and Fine Arts programs. The final goal is to create the ability to do "real film production through the college," said Graphic Design Professor Marc Shahboz.

There are already courses taught on some of the more technical aspects, but Shahboz, who is the mainspring behind this new push, wants to create a more comprehensive program. 

Casting agent coming to campus Sept. 12

While the details of the new classes are still being hammered out, several events are already in play to support this new focus.

On Sept. 12, MGM casting agent Paul Weber (in photo) will be giving a cold reading workshop designed to help the working actor land roles. Weber is involved in TV and feature film casting and sees everyone from raw beginners to experienced stars like Dakota Fanning. He has taught the popular "The Working Actor, Get the Audition, Book the Job" at UCLA, and discusses the importance of this skill; people who don't do cold reading well don't get the job.

The workshop will be open to students of Professor Gregg Jones' TPP2260 Acting for the Camera class and will have a limited number of seats open for non-SF students at a price of $100 per seat. The workshop is co-sponsored by the Fine Arts and Digital Media departments.

48 Hour film competition slated for April

In April 2011, Digital Media will sponsor a 48-hour film competition. Five-person teams will have 48 hours go from idea to finished product and deliver a 3- to 5-minute film for judging. Teams will be given a prop, a line of dialogue, and a topic; they must supply their own creative inspiration.

The filmmaking program now has its own website at http://www.sfcollege.edu/film/ where updates and more information will be posted at they become available.

For more information, contact Marc Shahboz, 395-5347 or marc.shahboz@sfcollege.edu.

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This exhibit, which also features the work of SF students, Devin Cole and Lynn Paluga, is comprised of 2-D and 3-D art that has been created using recycled, re-purposed, and/or reconstructed materials. What we find is a creative art form that is both socially and environmentally responsible.

For more information please contact Krista Froiseth at krista.froiseth@sfcollege.edu. The gallery, which is in the Student Life conference room, is open Monday-Thursday from 8 a.m.-9 p.m. and Fridays, 8 a.m.-4 p.m., except when meetings are being held.

Web gallery from Opening Reception Sept. 2

Explore the CSI world of laboratory sciences and learn about the employment opportunities, salaries, and unique career personalities.  Additionally, faculty will discuss the successful academic path into each training program.

The tour for opportunities in emerging technologies will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Perry Center for Emerging Technologies in Alachua. (Map)

If you have questions, please contact Scott Fortner. 

I hope you will join me and lots of other child advocates and interested folks in making the wellbeing and education of our children the state's highest priority.

This new initiative is called the Children's Movement of Florida -- and is being spearheaded statewide by a large, influential and non-partisan group of state leaders.

This state tour will host 15 "milk and cookies" parties across the state starting in Pensacola and working down to Key West.

We would like to show our community and our state that Gainesville truly cares about its children by getting at least 1,000 people to participate. Hope you will join me in the one-hour rally on Wednesday, Sept. 8 in Gainesville to raise awareness of and support for the movement.

• Time: 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8
• Place: SF Northwest Campus, Gymnasim
• Goal: 1,000 people per location in order to attract the media and to make a statement to the Florida legislature that kids are our priority

Each site will attract families and advocates with refreshments, local bands and choirs, balloons, entertainment, local celebrities, milk and cookies, and buses to get folks to the event, etc. It is backed by grants from the Kellogg Foundation among several others. This is not a request for money and/or involvement in campaigns -- just an hour of your time and sending a few emails.

For more information email to david.abrams@childrensmovementflorida.org.

The first two seminars are described below. Select "read more," below for the entire series.

Leadership Institute website

Session I: Understanding the true meaning of leadership.

If everyone agrees on what good leadership is, there would be no need for a two-party system, football coaches would never be fired, and my dog would obey me. My dog needs treats, coaches need wins, and the talking heads on TV need jobs. Why are there so many differences of opinion? How does this affect leadership effectiveness?

Date: Sept. 15, Time: 2 p.m., Location: S-326/327

Session II: Assessing your leadership potential. 

My only qualification for chairing this committee is that I was absent for the meeting when officers were elected. I have two years to serve. Is my self esteem about to take a dive? What kind of legacy will I leave behind me? Are there any hints that can indicate whether I will be successful?

Date: Sept. 29, Time: 2 p.m., Location: S-326/327

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"I have started a new club, Scrabble Lovers of Gainesville, and I want to invite interested members of the SFC family to join. If you love Scrabble like I do, then you know exactly why I started this group! And you also know why you want to join this group...to play Scrabble, and to play Scrabble, and to play Scrabble. So join the group! Then plan to come to the monthly meeting.

First meeting is Sept. 7

"The meetings will be held on the first Tuesday of every month from 5:30 until 8:30 p.m. The first meeting is September 7. Bring your Scrabble board, bring your Scrabble dictionary, and bring your A-game. (Don't worry if you don't have your own board and dictionary, I will bring a few). The meeting room at the Tower Road Library has been reserved for 3 hours. This means that each person can get in at least three (two-player) games during each meeting.

• Game #1 will be from 5:40-6:30 p.m.
• Game #2 will be from 6:35-7:25 p.m.
• Game #3 will be from 7:30-8:20 p.m.

You can pick and choose which games you want to play. Just show up in time for the time slot that interests you. Players will have 25 minutes each for every game. That way, each game between two people lasts no more than 50 minutes. Feel free to bring your own snacks! Note: This group is open to the public. So, inform and/or bring along Scrabble lovers that you know.

For more information, call Naima at 352-395-4477.

Scrabble Lovers of Gainesville online

Currently there are two UF online degree programs promoted through Santa Fe: a BS in Business Administration offered through the College of Business Administration and a BS in Sport Management from the College of Health and Human Performance.

Additional degrees are anticipated as UF continues to grow its distance learning programs, and Santa Fe looks forward to expanding this exciting academic partnership.

The Center will serve as a clearinghouse where students can receive information and advice about the wide variety of programs open to them. It will also provide space for advisors and recruiters from many UF colleges to make presentations about their programs and for distribution of information on a continuing basis. Two study-rooms allow UF students enrolled in online programs to collaborate on group projects or meet with faculty as needed. This joint-use facility will be monitored by staff funded by both institutions.

Dedication scheduled for Sept. 1

Please join us for the hour-long dedication beginning at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 1. SF President Jackson Sasser, UF Provost Joe Glover, UF Dean Steve Dorman, and SF Provost Ed Bonahue will all give welcoming remarks. Please RSVP to Cheryl Farrell at 395-5181 if you plan to attend. A continental breakfast will be served beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Invitation in PDF format

David Crown is in the midst of his second career and first love: art. The retired physician laid down his stethoscope in 1982 after 35 years in practice, moved to Gainesville and picked up a paintbrush. 

His new show is focused on one art form that has fascinated him more than any other: mezzotint. This ancient type of printing was developed in the 1600s and became very popular until the early 1800s. The name comes from the Italian mezza tinta, meaning middle tone. The standout feature of mezzotint is its ability to create rich, velvety blacks. No other method can match it, says Crown.

Crown is the director of the International Mezzotint Society, which he founded 14 years ago. For this exhibition, there will be 135 mezzotint prints. Some are color but most are black-and-white. By nature, the scale tends to be small. The largest is 9" by 12"; the smallest is ½" by ½".

"Big can be beautiful, but small can be exquisite," says Crown. 

The exhibition will be up through Nov. 4. The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Gallery Director Jayné Grant at 352-395-5464 or jayne.grant@sfcollege.edu. The Santa Fe Gallery is open weekdays, noon-4 p.m.

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Theatre Santa Fe

Comprised of a deftly blended series of encounters between a group of strangers who assemble at the site of John Lennon's assassination, the play captures the sense of shock and uncomprehending loss that followed that awful event. The play was first produced by the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, N.J.

The Story: 

The action of the play takes place on the street in front of the Manhattan apartment where John Lennon was killed. Deeply moved and shocked by this awful event, many New Yorkers spontaneously assembled there to pay tribute to their slain idol, and it is from the interwoven stories of a cross section of people that the author builds his play.

Included are a young advertising executive and a "women's libber" who had both been at Woodstock, a group of high school students preoccupied with romantic disputes and entanglements, a pair of Vietnam vets with larceny in mind, an elderly Jewish man from a neighboring building who mistakenly thinks that the murder victim was Jack Lemmon, and a hip, young, would-be comic who is the son of the old Jewish gentleman's doorman.

Through the interaction of these people—sometimes humorous, sometimes moving, sometimes menacing—the author points out the larger significance of the event which has brought them together; the shock wave which was felt across the nation by this further evidence of the violence and ugliness lurking in our communal soul.

 "…we're transported right back to that December 1980 day of mourning when the songs of an era took on sad, new ironies, and when no one could think of the right words to express an inexplicable loss." —NY Times.

Come learn what respiratory care therapists do in the intensive care unit (ICU) by getting hands-on experience performing tracheal intubations, arterial aspiration, and manipulating mechanical ventilators.

The Class of 2011 will be there to answer any questions you may have about this exciting career opportunity.

• Contact: Paul Stephan at 352-395-5706
• Info Packet for A.S. in Respiratory Care