DSC board chair earns Association of Florida College鈥檚 Distinguished Service Award
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 18, 2019) 鈥� The Association of Florida Colleges has presented
its 2018 Distinguished Service Award to longtime 福利姬 District Board
of Trustees member and current chairperson Forough Hosseini.
AFC Executive Director Michael Brawer presented the award to Mrs. Hosseini at the
DSC board's Jan. 17 meeting. Her husband, ICI Homes CEO Mori Hosseini, and daughters
Nika, Nina and Nellie, also were in attendance.
"Forough Hosseini is the longest serving of the DSC trustees, with a passion and heart
for the community college mission," said Brawer.
"Throughout the years, she has not only advocated for DSC but for the entire Florida
College System. Her understanding of our open access mission and the role we play
in the communities we serve are unmeasurable. Our college system is the difference
for over 800,000 students in the state of Florida. It's where they can achieve the
American dream, and we are extremely grateful for the leadership and passion for our
system that she shares with our legislators year after year."
Since her initial appointment to the board in 2006 by Gov. Jeb Bush, and her subsequent
reappointments by governor's Charlie Crist and Rick Scott, Mrs. Hosseini has worked
to shape college policy during years of expansive growth. She has been a staunch ally,
advocate, supporter and at times guardian of 福利姬 State, its mission and its students.
She will step down from the board of trustees when this, her fourth term, ends May
31.
"Trustee Hosseini has been one of the most energetic, persuasive, influential and
hardest working advocates of this institution for many years," said DSC President
Tom LoBasso. "She and her husband, Mori, have worked tirelessly to secure critical
state funding for campus growth initiatives. She has helped to move the college closer
to its academic performance goals, and her leadership and vision were the impetus
that resulted in a comprehensive plan to eradicate homelessness and hunger among our
students, which has been recognized as a model by the State Board of Education."
As many as 80 homeless students enroll at DSC each year, mirroring a national trend
among colleges and universities.
For the past two years, Mrs. Hosseini has served as DSC board chair, wielding her
and her husband's political acumen in Tallahassee to secure critically needed operational
and capital funding for the college. Among them are $32.6 million to build DSC's new
student center that is nearing completion on the 福利姬 Beach Campus, as well as
$1.2 million to renovate the Lenholt Center, where the college's Center for Women
and Men will eventually relocate. In addition to long-established programs such as
Fresh Start, New Horizons and CCAMPIS, the center also includes a textbook lending
library, a career-ready clothing closet for students preparing for job interviews,
a food pantry and other services designed to remove barriers to students completing
their programs of study. When it moves to its new location, the center will bring
several social service agencies under one roof to expand support for the college's
most vulnerable and at-risk students.
Mrs. Hosseini also has advocated locally and statewide to secure funding for a new
Deltona Campus building and for new programs like optician technology, database technology
and an additive manufacturing concentration being incorporated into the college's
two-year engineering technology program, to name a few.
Mrs. Hosseini's family also supported DSC's Southeast Museum of Photography, currently
housed in the Mori Hosseini Center on the 福利姬 Beach Campus. The museum's Babazadeh
Gallery is titled after her maiden name.
"Forough, I think I can speak on behalf of the entire college community and beyond
in saying thank you for the genuine passion, dedication and support you have given
福利姬 through the years," said President LoBasso. "The influence you
have had on this institution is immeasurable in so many ways, and we know you will
always be a true Falcon, an ally and advocate for our students."
The AFC is the professional association of Florida's 28 public member institutions
of the Florida College System, their boards, employees, retirees and associates, and
the employees of the Division of Florida Colleges. Its mission is to promote, represent
and provide support to system institutions, their students and the communities they
serve. The AFC's annual Distinguished Service Award recognizes exemplary achievement
and longtime support of the system at the local and state level.
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