STETSON UNIVERSITY
Office of the Provost
stetson.edu/provost
NEWSLETTER SPRING 2014
Message from Dr. Beth Paul, Stetson University's
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
This has truly been an
exciting and productive
year! To highlight and
celebrate a few of our
faculty, student and staff
initiatives, along with events
and programs at Stetson, I
introduce our first
.fc£ji )LwM Newsletter from the Office
of the Provost. The first newsletter covers this year's
Model Senate event, the recently created Office of
Grants, Sponsored Research and Strategic Initiatives
(or "The Grants Office"); and the 2014 Summer
Grant Awards that support our faculty in scholarship
and research activities. Surely, one could write a
book-length publication to showcase all that is
happening throughout Stetson's academic program.
I hope the examples showcased here inspire and
delight you.
We plan to begin by publishing the newsletter once
every semester and invite your ideas for future
articles. Please send your suggestions to RickTysor
and Robin Carter.
Thank you for all that you do to create a vibrant
University dedicated to excellence in education. The
work we are collectively doing makes a difference in
the lives of our students today, and will shine in the
transformative lives they lead for years to come.
Best wishes for a reflective and productive summer.
Model Senate
Stetson University hosted its 43rd annual Floyd M.
Riddick Model U.S. Senate from March 13 - 15,
2014. Over 100 students from Stetson University and
multiple other schools from across the nation
gathered in the Carlton Union Building to learn
about the legislative process through a hands-on
approach. The model senate is one of the many
programs that support Stetson's core value of
Personal and Social Responsibility. It is the nation's
first senate established at an institution of higher
education and has grown through the years to
become a major event that attracts national
speakers, but how did it begin?
Upon returning from a Model U.N. meeting in
Miami, John Fraser (one of Dr. Bailey's former
Political Science students) asked Dr. Bailey if it would
be possible to start a model congress at Stetson.
Because of the size of Congress, it was quickly
decided to go with the smaller Senate. Dr. Bailey
sought help from Howard Baker, a Republican
Senator from Tennessee. Baker then contacted the
Parliamentarian of the U.S. Senate, Dr. Floyd Riddick,
who helped modify the rules of the real Senate to
work for the model senate. Stetson's model senate
was officially founded in 1971.
In the model senate, students are randomly assigned
to a Senator by the planning committee. The
students assume the roles of their Senators and
strive to play their parts as accurately as possible. In
one particular year, a student showed up in a wheel
chair and white hair to represent Senator John
Stennis who had been
wounded by an attacker.
This practice of
representing Senators is
still going on today. In fact,
there are judges who
identify the five students
who most closely
represent their Senators
and these students are
recognized during a
banquet on Saturday, the last day of the senate.
Not only do students play their Senators as
accurately as possible, but the entire model senate is
replicated as closely as possible to the real Senate.
Students have the opportunity to be involved in
