Seminole State College Speaker Series

• Date: April 9, 2026
• Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus, building C (C-108) or watch live via streaming video  
• Topic: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) - Emerging Crime Threats and How You Can Make a Difference 

Dr. Randall Atlas, internationally recognized practitioner of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED), explored how the spaces we live, learn, and work in can be intentionally designed to reduce crime and increase personal safety. He examined how to identify risks and vulnerabilities in everyday environments — from college campuses and shopping centers to neighborhoods and public spaces.

• Date: Oct. 9, 2025
• Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Library (building UP) or watch live via streaming video. 
• Topic: The Words We Keep*
• Sponsors: Campus READ & Florida Blue Foundation

Erin Stewart, author of The Words We Keep, discussed on how to use poetry and words to write about tough topics like mental health. This event was in partnership with Campus READ, a program sponsored by the Seminole State College Libraries that encouraged students to engage with library services across the college campuses and online. 

• Date: Feb. 13, 2025
• Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Building C or watch live via streaming video  
• Topic: Career Success in Healthcare: Seminole State Alumni Panel
• Theme: Your Learning Partner for Career Success: Seminole State Alumni Stories

Four Seminole State alumni who found success in the healthcare field returned to the College to share their experiences and to highlight how Seminole State prepared them for career success. The panel featured the wide array of jobs that a career in healthcare can lead you.

Panelists:

• Dr. Raji Akileh, DO - Co-Founder and CEO of MedEd Cloud
• Vicki Dominquez - Adjunct Professor, Pharmacy Technician Program at Seminole State
• David Gonzalez - Facility Administrator, Davita Kidney Care, Inc.
• Teresa Rogers - Assistant Professor, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Physician Assistant (PA) Program

• Date: Nov. 13, 2024
• Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Building C or watch live via streaming video 
• Topic: Fireside Chat with Seminole State Alumna Isa Adney
• Theme: Your Learning Partner for Career Success: Seminole State Alumni Stories

Isa Adney, award winning writer and documentary producer, returned to the College to speak on how her time at the Seminole State and in the Grindle Honors Institute helped her along the way. Adney has since written three books and her fourth book, The Little Book of Big Dreams, is available now. Copies of the book were given away to the first 30 students who attended her presentation at Seminole State. 

• Date: Oct. 3o, 2024
• Location: Heathrow Campus Atrium or watch live via streaming video  
• Topic: Construction and Interior Design: Seminole State Alumni Panel
• Theme: Your Learning Partner for Career Success: Seminole State Alumni Stories
• Sponsor: TRANE^®

To celebrate Careers in Construction Month, this event featured four talented alumni who shared their journeys from Seminole State to a thriving career in construction and interior design. 

Panelists:

• Kali Fuller - Universal Creative Assistant Facility Design Manager
• Dominic Gundacker - PCL Construction Operations Lead, Special Projects
• Jorge Martinez - Dimit Architects Senior Interior Architect and Designer
• Tim Smith - Wharton-Smith, Inc. President/CEO

• Date: Nov. 1, 2023
• Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus
• Topic: Artificial intelligence (AI) and How it's Redefining the Nature of Work 
• Theme: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence

Dan Turchin presented on how AI will impact how we work and focused on the state of generative AI. He explored questions around the time-saving benefits of AI, what could go wrong with AI and what skills are future-proof. 

• Date: Jan. 30, 2024
• Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus
• Topic: AI and Our Minds of the Future
• Theme: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence 

Karl Lillrud presented on how AI can make everyday tasks quicker and smoother, helping everyone get more done with less stress. With more than 27 years of experience in the field, Lillrud shared how AI can help you in school and future jobs, but also spoke about why it is important to double check the information AI provides. 

• Date: April 10, 2024
• Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus
• Theme: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence

A panel of workforce professionals gathered to share how artificial intelligence is impacting and influencing their work. From healthcare to the legal field to advertising, the panelists shared how they are using AI and what they expect from their employees regarding AI skills.

Panelists:

• Ian Johnson - attorney at Losey PLLC
• Rohit Pawar - director at KPMG
• Michael Schmidt - vice president of strategic innovations at Orlando Health
•  Adrian Tennant - chief strategy officer at Bigeye 

• Date: March 30, 2023
• Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Building C watch live via streaming video  
• Topic: Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds about Animals and Food

Hailed as the “conscience of the food movement” by TIME magazine, Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, spoke at Seminole State about the impacts of our destructive food system. He outlined current issues and discussed ways to lighten our environmental footprint, attain better health, and live as kindly as possible by making informed and conscientious food choices.

• Date: Feb. 23, 2023
• Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Building C watch live via streaming video  
• Topic: Unearth Your Trauma

The Seminole State Speaker Series hosted mental health advocate M Abeo for a presentation on unearthing your trauma. How many of us had to learn to care for ourselves differently during the pandemic quarantine? M shared their personal story regarding how learning to care for their plants showed them where they were neglecting their own self-care. M Abeo (they/them) is a mental health advocate, speaker, podcast host, producer and photographer and creator of the Faces of Fortitude movement.

• Date: Jan. 25, 2023
• Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Building C watch live via streaming video  
• Topic: Afrofuturism as Embodiment of Sankofa
• Partner: Annual Zora Neale Hurston™ Festival of the Arts and Humanities (ZORA!® Festival)

Partnering with the ZORA! Festival, Seminole State welcomed Dr. Chesya Burke, assistant professor of English and U.S. Literatures at Stetson University to campus. She presented on how Afrofuturism is the Embodiment of Sankofa, a Ghanaian word that means "it is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being left behind." She discussed the tenets of Afrofuturism, Sankofa and the importance of reaching back to never forget Black complex voices of the past.

• Date: Nov. 1, 2022
• Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Building C watch live via streaming video  
• Topic: Roundtable on Gender, Labor and Leadership

This roundtable featured local women who, in many ways, have found success in business and lead within our communities. The purpose of the panel was to discuss the impact, struggles, experiences, challenges and equity issues/non-issues of women in the community with respect to labor and leadership.

Panelists:

• Christi Ashby - Founder, editor and publisher, Orange Appeal
• Trina Gregory-Propst - Chef/Owner, Se7enbites
• Virginia Poe - Public Art Commission of Sanford (Chairman), Member of Florida Cultural Alliance
• Dr. Laine Powell - Founder and Executive Director, Tech Sassy Girlz
• Shelly Weir - President and CEO of the Florida Institute of CPAs (FICPA) 

• Date: Oct. 26, 2022
• Location: Sanford/Lake Mary Campus Building C watch live via streaming video   
• Topic: Flutist or flautist? Artist or content provider? Finding my way to the middle way: An autobiographical account through story-telling, spoken word and music, of how a Puerto Rican Artist found his way to self-acceptance and sense of purpose

Acclaimed flutist Nestor Torres performed with the students during Seminole State's Jazz Night and presented on his music career and how his culture and experiences growing up show themselves through his art. Born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Nestor Torres moved to New York City, where he pursued classical flute studies at Mannes School of Music, jazz at Berklee College of Music, and classical and jazz at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.