Community: Speakers - Seminole State College of Florida

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Seminole State College
100 Weldon Boulevard
Sanford, Florida 32773-6199
407.708.4722

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Seminole State is just minutes from Central Florida's world-class attractions, including Walt Disney World and Universal Studios Orlando.

Speakers

Seminole State College presents speakers representing diverse views and interests, as well as panel discussions of topics in the news. This page features previous speakers who have given presentations at the College. All of these events are free for currently enrolled Seminole State students and to the community. For a list of upcoming speakers and events, please check the College Events Calendar.

Bill Ivey, arts advocate and former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts
Date: Jan. 29, 2013 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Fine Arts Concert Hall Topic: "The Importance of the Arts" Sponsor: Arts and Communication Department; co-sponsored by the Humanities Department and Academic Affairs Mr. Ivey, author of "Arts Inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights," discussed the importance of the arts to society.
Dr. Ken Crews, founding director of the Copyright Advisory Office, Columbia University
Date: Sept. 28, 2012 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Multipurpose Room Topic: "What Copyright Means to You" Sponsor: Seminole State Library Dr. Crews conducted two interactive forums about recent developments in fair use and how they apply to higher education.
Koko Tanimoto Kondo, Hiroshima Survivor and Peace Activist
Date: Sept. 20, 2012 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Fine Arts Concert Hall Topic: "Surviving and Enduring" Sponsor: Seminole State Humanities Department in conjunction with the University of Central Florida's Global Perspectives Office Mrs. Kondo discussed her life as a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and talked about her father, Kiyoshi Tanimoto, one of the six people profiled in John Hersey's book "Hiroshima."
Clifton Taulbert, Pulitzer Prize-Nominated Author
Date: May 3, 2012 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Fine Arts Concert Hall Topic: The entrepreneurial mindset Sponsor: Center for Economic Development and Workforce Central Florida Taulbert and Gary Schoeniger discussed the power of an entrepreneurial mindset, as described in their book "Who Owns the Ice House?"
Gary Schoeniger, Entrepreneur
Date: May 3, 2012 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Fine Arts Concert Hall Topic: The entrepreneurial mindset Sponsor: Center for Economic Development and Workforce Central Florida Schoeniger and Gary Taulbert discussed the power of an entrepreneurial mindset, as described in their book "Who Owns the Ice House?"
Billy Collins, Poet Laureate
Date: March 27, 2012 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Multipurpose Room Topic: Tuesday Voices special event Sponsor: English Department and Seminole State College Library Collins, Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001-03, spoke as part of Tuesday Voices, Seminole State’s open-mic poetry reading series. Collins read from his works and answered questions.
Tom Hayden, 1960s Activist
Date: March 15, 2012 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Concert Hall Topic: President Obama and Lessons of the Sixties Sponsor: Humanities Department and the Art & Phyllis Grindle Honors Institute Hayden spoke as part of the College’s Living History Series. He has spent more than 50 years as a social and political activist, including 18 years in the California Legislature. He was the primary author of the Port Huron Statement, the 1962 manifesto that launched Students for a Democratic Society.
Woodie King Jr., Theater Director
Date: Feb. 5, 2012 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Fine Arts Theatre Topic: The intersection of language, music and history in "The Piano Lesson" Sponsor: The Arts and Communications Department Black theater icon Woodie King Jr. directed Seminole State College's production of August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson," which was staged Feb. 3-5 and 9-12. The renowned founder and producing director of New Federal Theatre in New York City has worked with some of the world's best actors, including Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington and Phylicia Rashad, as well as the late Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
Ian Cheney, Documentary Filmmaker
Date: March 2, 2011 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Concert Hall Topic: Sustainability Sponsor: Student Activities and the Career Development Center Filmmaker and eco-activist Ian Cheney showed his film “The Greening of Southie,” about Boston’s first residential “green” structure, the Macallen Building. He discussed how it united a tight-knit, working-class community and spurred construction workers and environmentalists to think about the city of the future. After the collegewide screening of the film, Cheney gave a presentation and answered questions.
Daniel Ellsberg, Author and Lecturer
Date: Feb. 17, 2011 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Concert Hall Topic: Government secrecy Sponsors: Humanities Department and Student Activities Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who copied and leaked to the media the top-secret “Pentagon Papers” -- documenting decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War -- discussed his own experience as well as the WikiLeaks controversy, and held a question-and-answer session.
Ron Soodalter, Author
Date: Nov. 16, 2010 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Multipurpose Room Topic: Human trafficking Sponsor: The Art & Phyllis Grindle Honors Institute Ron Soodalter, author of “The Slave Next Door” and numerous magazine articles, spoke about the reality of human trafficking and slavery in the United States.
Mathew Staver, Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman
Date: Sept. 15, 2010 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Concert Hall Topic: Constitutional privacy Sponsors: Seminole State's chapter of Phi Theta Kappa and the Legal Studies Program's Law for Lunch Bunch Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University’s School of Law, discussed the separation of church and state; the fourth, fifth and sixth amendments; and privacy rights.
Bobby Seale, Civil Rights Activist
Date: March 24, 2010 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Gymnasium Topic: Activism Sponsors: Social Science and Humanities departments; the Office of Diversity and Equity, Student Government Association, and the Art & Phyllis Grindle Honors Institute. Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panthers, discussed his days as a '60s political activist and his more recent efforts on behalf of people combating social injustice.
Norm Lewis, Broadway Performer and Seminole State Alumnus
Date: Jan. 14, 2010 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Fine Arts Building Topic: Auditions Sponsor: Instrumental Music Program During a three-hour master class, Seminole State alumnus Norm Lewis coached music students in the art of auditioning for a musical theater production. Lewis closed the evening with a concert in the Concert Hall as part of Heritage Jubilee, a celebration of African-American achievement.
Jay Blake, NHRA Team Owner
Date: Nov. 25, 2008 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus CFADA Professional Automotive Training Center Topic: Overcoming obstacles to success Sponsor: Automotive Technology Program Jay Blake, blind crew chief and owner of the National Hot Rod Association's (NHRA) Permatex Follow a Dream race team, spoke to automotive students about overcoming obstacles and pursuing their goals through teamwork, persistence and optimism.
Roger Newman, Pulitzer Prize Finalist
Date: Jan. 23, 2008 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Concert Hall Topic: Civil liberties, surveillance and terrorism Sponsor: Faculty Institute Newman, biographer of Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, won the Scribes Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography. He discussed freedom and technology in a time of crisis against the commands of the Constitution.
Robin Lippincott, Novelist and Seminole State Alumnus
Date: Nov. 29, 2007 Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Multipurpose Room Topic: Readings from his novel “In the Meantime” Sponsor: English Department Robin Lippincott, who says he discovered his love for writing at Seminole State, read from “In the Meantime,” his novel about the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. His work has appeared in “The Paris Review,” “Fence,” “The New York Times Book Review,” “The Literary Review” and many other journals and anthologies.