A Commitment to Resilience: The New College Challenge Officially Launches

October 26, 2022 – Sarasota

Today, scores of attendees – New College students, faculty and staff,  elected officials, as well as business, community and Florida higher education leaders – gathered for the official kickoff of The New College Challenge.

The event, hosted along the New College bayfront, is the launch of a bold initiative focused on coastal, economic and social resilience in higher education and beyond. 

“I’m excited that you’ve joined us at this important moment for our college and our community as we begin a unifying year-long initiative to dream big and innovatively,” said New College President Patricia Okker, Ph.D., welcoming the crowd to a two-hour brunch event with lauded panelists and speakers.

“New College has the opportunity to be the academic and intellectual epicenter of our community,” said New College Challenge guest panelist Teri Hansen, the president and CEO of Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation. 

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, the New College Challenge launched with increased urgency.

“If ever there was a time to embrace new solutions, it is now. Whether through the unprecedented disruptions in the world of work, pressures on higher education, or the urgency of coastal resilience, this is no time for the status quo,” Okker said. “Our launch of The New College Challenge today is, at its heart, a commitment to resilience of all kinds and to the transformations necessary to achieve that resilience.”

Chancellor of Career and Technical Education, Kevin O’Farrell added, “What I think New College can continue to do is to invoke and inject this idea of entrepreneurship across all of our disciplines because it allows people to see differently.”

Additionally, the Tuesday event welcomed three expert panelists to discuss the topic of resilience. 

The panelists: Taryn Sabia, an associate professor of research at the University of South Florida and the co-founder of the urban design collaborative Urban Charrette, Inc.; Teri Hansen, the president and CEO of Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation; and Kevin O’Farrell, Ph.D., the chancellor for the Florida Department of Education’s Division of Career and Adult Education. 

Special guest William C. Dudley, a New College alumnus and the former president/CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, also discussed the topic of “resilience” from an economic/financial perspective. “One size does not fit all, you need a lot of different people with a lot of different perspectives – let’s do the work and we’ll have a great future together,” said Dudley.

“My vision for the future of New College continues our story of transformation,” Okker said, “to create the best environment for our students who have big, bold ideas and who stand out to employers as the resilient problem solvers of tomorrow.”