• Environmental author Peter Harnik will make a presentation in City Hall’s Renaissance Room today based on his publication “The Excellent City Park System: What Makes it Great and How to Get There.” Harnik authored “Inside City Parks,” a comprehensive look at the public recreation systems in the largest U.S. cities.The meeting starts at 1 p.m.
• Morley Towers has joined JSA Inc. as senior interior designer and project manager. Towers has over 28 years of commercial interior design experience with corporate, health care and education clients. She has been a member of American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and certified by the National Council of Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) since 1984.
• Marlene M. Spalten has been named vice president/executive director of Baptist Health Foundation.
• Bethel Baptist Institutional Church and Florida Community College at Jacksonville are offering summer school classes for high school students. Summer classes run for six weeks, June 7-July 16. Registration is scheduled for June 1-4 at Bethel Baptist. Cost is $150. For details, call Bethel Baptist at 354-1464 or FCCJ at 632-5094.
• The I.M. Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless will host Transformations, which highlights the success stories of the homeless who came to center seeking shelter and left with their lives transformed, Sept. 16 at the T-U Center. A reception and silent auction begins at 5:30 p.m. with the program beginning at 7:30 p.m. General admission is $33; Patron tickets are $77; and Host Committee seats are $350. To order tickets, call 359-0457, Ext. 251.
• The Clara White Mission’s Miracle on Ashley Street is today from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the mission. Celebrity chefs are preparing a buffet lunch. Tickets are $15.
• The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra has selected the winning composition for its Fresh Ink 2004 Florida Composers’ Competition. Daniel Crozier’s composition, “Capriccio for Orchestra,” was announced as the winner following its performance at the T-U Center. The Jacksonville Symphony will commission a new work by Crozier, a resident of Winter Park, Fla., to be premiered in the 2005-06 season.
• Ellis & Associates, one of Jacksonville’s largest integrated engineering services firms, has hired Brett Calloway, Michael Dominguez, John Holton Jr., Edward McCarthy and Bengie Ward as field technicians.
• The Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art’s young professional group, the Contemporaries, will host a happy hour Wednesday at the museum from 5:30-8 p.m. There will be live music and drink specials.