The digital magazine for faculty, staff, students and friends of Pensacola State College
April 15, 2021
Members of the Baars Family watch as Theo Baars III cuts the ribbon on the new Baars Technology Building at Pensacola State College.
The Pensacola State College Brass Ensemble played “Baars Fanfare,” a spirited melody written specifically for the occasion, as the ribbon was cut on the $15 million Baars Technology Building on Friday, April 9.

The 23,839-square-foot, two-story facility will be home to the College’s STEM programs, including cybersecurity, mathematics, computer science, and other high-tech fields of study. Classes will begin in the Baars Technology Building on May 12, the first day of the summer term.

“We’re so proud to be here in our newest facility that’s going to house one of our fastest-growing programs at the College – our Cybersecurity Center,” said PSC President Ed Meadows, addressing the packed-house of PSC administrators and faculty, as well as government officials, donors and other College boosters and supporters, including members of the Baars family for which the building is named. 

The new facility replaces the 60-year-old Mary Ellison Baars building, which was the College’s oldest structure. It was demolished in January 2019. The Baars family gifted the property to the College in the mid-1950s. 

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Left: PSC President Ed Meadows welcomes the visitors and introduces the distinguished guests. Right: Theo Baars III expresses gratitude to the College and speaks of the Baars Family legacy.
“On behalf of the family, I would like to express our appreciation,” said Theo Baars III. “(The College) did not have to retain the Baars name for this building but chose to. We appreciate that the Baars name will continue to be associated with Pensacola State College.” 

Also attending were Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson IV and Robert Bender, Chairman of the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners. Both the City of Pensacola and Escambia and Santa Rosa counties contributed funding to the project.

“We have to prepare for the future and when you look at this building you can see where we’re going,” Robinson said. “We can transform individuals through education. With a building like this, who wouldn’t be excited about where we go from here in our community?”

Bender said the Baars Technology Building will benefit not only the College, but the community.

“This is the future of our community,” he said. “For us to be able to recruit jobs, we need to have a place where we can grow them. We want people from Escambia County to be able to come here and get the tools to get some of these new technology jobs. This is what businesses look for.”  

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Left: Robert Bender, Chairman of the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners. Right: Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson IV.
After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, guests toured the facility with administrators and faculty and saw the various classrooms, tutoring facilities and even the secure Cyber Warfare Range, where vivid screens on the wall showed a virtual map of the world with various areas of cybersecurity threats lit up. 

PSC offers both associate and baccalaureate degrees in cybersecurity.

“There are more than 4,000 cybersecurity job vacancies in Northwest Florida,” Meadows said before the ceremony. “These are good-paying jobs. There will be no shortage of opportunities for our graduates who will be prepared for the workforce because of this new facility.” 

Ajax Building Corp. was the general contractor for the project, which was designed by Florida Architects. 

The new facility is Phase 1 of a project that will eventually include a Phase II west-wing building to house other high-tech programs such as advanced manufacturing. The total cost for both wings is estimated at around $35 million.

--Troy Moon
Kirk Bradley, dean of Baccalaureate Studies and Academic Support, conducts tours of the new Baars Technology building, including a student kiosk, left, and the Cyber Warfare Range, right.
Butch Branch – Milton L.I.F.E. Fitness Coordinator – retires after 23 years
Caresse Galiza has already started the celebrating – and the mourning – at Pensacola State College’s Milton campus.

Galiza, who has worked for more than 20 years at the Milton campus L.I.F.E. Fitness Center, is celebrating the career of longtime PSC instructor and L.I.F.E. Fitness Center Coordinator Butch Branch, who retires on April 30 after 23 years at PSC. She’s already festooned his office with dozens of colorful balloons and sticky note decorations. A week earlier, she decorated his office in tin foil.

But she’s mourning Butch’s departure as well.

“He means everything to this place," Galiza said. “He’s irreplaceable. I’m going to miss everything about him – his leadership, his friendship. He’s just…”

Her voice cracked a bit.

“I’m getting emotional," she said, fighting back tears. “I can’t say anything else right now. I can’t.” 

Branch, an affable, outgoing fella, has that effect on people. And it’s going to be the people of PSC that he misses the most.

“The people I work with and the students are going to be what I miss most," Branch said. “I work with a great group of people. The administrators have always given us a lot of support, and so have the people in the community who come here all the time. That’s what I’m going to miss. This College means a lot to me and my family.”

He isn’t the only Branch at PSC. His wife, Jeanne Branch is an assistant professor in the Business Department and their daughter Michelle Branch is a PSC Financial Aid coordinator.

“It’s not just me," Branch said. “PSC has been important to the whole family. The whole community even.”

Branch, a Navy veteran, is a PSC – actually, it was Pensacola Junior College then – alumnus himself. 

He taught at PJC as an adjunct professor from 1986 through 1990, earning a PSC Teaching Excellence Award in 1989. The Branches left Pensacola for 16 months, returning in late 1991. Branch then returned to PSC as an adjunct instructor and again was honored with a second Teaching Excellence Award in 1996. In 1998, he became coordinator of the Milton L.I.F.E. Fitness Center.

“It’s a great facility that’s important to the community," the 76-year-old Branch said. “It’s an awesome place that requires a lot of attention to oversee.”

He won’t be overseeing the facility come May, but he still plans to see it plenty. His retirement plans?

“Hoping to come out here as much as I can to exercise" said Branch, who lives in Pensacola. “I’m hoping to still start my day out here as often as I can.”
Amber Carey is known as one of Pensacola State College’s best instructors. Students love her. Administrators and fellow faculty admire her. And in 2020, she was inducted into the Academy of Teaching Excellence.

Yet for all her hard work and accomplishments, the PSC Spanish instructor and Robinson Honors Program coordinator wasn’t sure she was at her best during the past year as the pandemic changed the way teachers taught, challenging them to find new ways to connect with and serve their students.

“I was so worried that I wasn’t doing as well as I should be with the pandemic and the hurricane,’’ Carey said. “You hope you’re doing well but it was a tough year and I wasn’t sure.”

She’s being tough on herself. Just ask PSC cybersecurity student Allison Dugas. Dugas’ essay on Carey was one of three national winners of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development’s (NISOD) Student Essay Contest. 

Students who entered the essay contest were asked to write an essay about a faculty or staff member, or administrator, who inspires students to be academically successful. 
The COVID-19 Moderna Vaccine Clinic is underway today, April 15, in Building 3600 at Pensacola State College Warrington Campus. The clinic continues until 3 p.m. and is open to PSC students, faculty, staff and the public. Appointments are required. Call Community Health Northwest Florida at 850-439-3358.
The Choral Society of Pensacola will perform "Love Songs: The Liebelieder Waltzes of Johannes Brahms" at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 15, on the patio behind Building 1 at the Pensacola State College Pensacola campus. The Liebelieder Waltzes are a set of songs in 3/4 time for mixed chorus and piano four-hands, under the direction of Peter Steenblik, who assumes the position of artistic director at the beginning of the 2021-2022 season. The program features pianists Isabelle Areola and Hyunjoo Kim, as well as the women’s ensemble, conducted by Isabelle Peterson. Admission is free, but donations are welcome. Pandemic protocols will be observed, with singing in masks and standing six feet apart. Audience members are asked to wear masks, bring their own seating, and maintain social distancing.
Pensacola State College provides high-quality, low-cost education to the residents of Northwest Florida through university transfer, workforce certificates, degrees, continuing education, corporate and professional development, and televised programming through the WSRE Public Broadcasting Service.

The PSC Foundation seeks to enhance the College’s ability to provide these services through a five-year campaign, "Your Community - Your Legacy," focused on supporting student scholarships, academic programs, faculty and staff professional development, and facility and technology infrastructure.

Click the button below to learn more about the campaign and to make your donation!