by David Chapman
Staff Writer
In a career that’s spanned more than 30 years working within the community college system, Florida Community College at Jacksonville President Dr. Steven Wallace has helped create opportunities for students, faculty and community organizations as well as overseen overall growth in the university system.
But his involvement in turning FCCJ into a state college, Florida State College at Jacksonville, ranks high on his list of achievements.
“It’s the most interesting thing I’ve done in my entire career,” said Wallace. “It’s going to allow so many more opportunities.”
With the name change, the school will become a part of the state college system and able to offer more four-year degrees and reorganization.
That’s not the only thing Wallace has his eyes on in Tallahassee, though, as he’s made several trips during the session in recent weeks. Like many other university leaders, he’s looking at the proposed budgets by the State Senate and State House of Representatives.
“We’re (universities and colleges) getting killed in the House,” said Wallace. “The Senate’s (proposed budget) is not as bad.”
The two factions must agree on a balanced budget by next week.
Outside of the efforts involved with the change, Wallace’s days are filled with meetings and different forms of correspondence — lots of each.
“There really isn’t a typical day,” he said.
Almost every breakfast and lunch is business related, he said, involving staff, students, community leaders and others. Between those, he’s been making the rounds speaking — the most recent last Friday — to groups and individuals about updates to the name change.
Add in having two cell phones, three voice mails and four e-mail accounts – with an average of 300 e-mails a day — all serving different functions and Wallace is often catching up while at home each night.
“It’s hard,” said Wallace, laughing while referring to juggling so many different forms of correspondence, “but we’ve developed the system and it’s needed .... each call or e-mail is for certain things and without each account, it’d be overwhelming.”
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