Synopses & Reviews
The University of Central Florida has stood at the edges of Orlando for 40 years, a major institution of research, culture, education, and professional development stitched into the fabric of one of the nation's most dynamic and influential metropolitan areas. Conceived in 1963, at the height of America's fascination with the space program and less than an hour from Florida's Space Coast, the school began as Florida Technological University, a vast and remote tract of wild palmettos and swampland that held the promise of a cutting-edge "Space University." But 1963 was the same year that Walt Disney made his fateful fly over Central Florida and chose the location for Walt Disney World, a decision that would ultimately transform the entire region. Florida Tech found itself growing along with the surrounding community in size, prominence, and power into a diverse institution that no one in those early years could have envisioned. Renamed the University of Central Florida in 1979 to better reflect its broad curriculum and its strong marriage with the region, the school has blossomed into the prototype for the modern metropolitan university.
Review
Title: Professor's book shows the history from FTU to UCF
Author - Gretha McCandele
Publisher: Central Florida Future
Date: 12/2/2009
As a senior creative writing major in 2001, Jason Haffner knew most of the undergraduate students in his fiction workshop.
He recognized every face with the exception of a newcomer, Nathan Holic, a senior majoring in advertising/public relations with a minor in English.
It was only when Holic wrote his first story about a father struggling to understand his sons that everyone learned what to expect of him, Haffner said.
"I'll never forget that feeling," he said. "It blew us away."
Eight years have passed, and Haffner is now an English teacher at Apopka High School, but he still remembers what he discovered that day.
"No doubt, he was the most talented guy," Haffner said. "He turned out to be the best writer of all of us."
Holic is now a creative writing visiting instructor at UCF.
In October, he published University of Central Florida, the first book to illustrate a complete history of UCF.
According to Arcadia Publishing, the book uses more than 200 photographs to illustrate UCF from its beginnings in 1963 as Florida Technological University to how the university is today.
Holic said he decided to write the book because he wanted to write what he wanted to know about UCF. He was fascinated by its rich culture and the lack of knowledge about it.
"As a university, we've always been so forward-thinking that we haven't really sat back, taken a deep breath and asked: How did we get here? What's the story? Who are the people that made all of this possible?" Holic said.
The book reveals the roots of traditions and programs such as Spirit Splash and the football team that students have taken for granted, Holic said.
Holic said the Office of Student Involvement traced the origin of Spirit Splash to 1994, but a group of students said they jumped into the Reflecting Pond in 1995. The event first began to be called Spirit Splash and received the support of SGA in 1996.
"I think it's important to note that the tradition was organic, natural, because students have always treated the Reflecting Pond as a symbol for the university," Holic said.
The start of the football team was one of the most interesting discoveries during the research for the book, Holic said. Players paid for their own dorm rooms, had to bring their own equipment and practiced by using old rusty blocking sleds that were donated from other schools.
"Like Spirit Splash, we tend to take our football team for granted," Holic said. "We're a big university, so we just think we should have a football program, and it should be dominant."
Holic said he has always been a reader and a writer, but his interest in writing became more defined in high school. After earning his bachelor's degree at UCF, Holic came back to UCF to work on his master's degree in creative writing.
His short stories have been published in The Portland Review, The Roanoke Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, the Mangrove Review, Fiction Fix, The Cypress Dome, The Florida Review and Revelations, according to his blog, www.nholic.blogspot.com.
Mark Pursell, professor of mythology and storytelling at Full Sail University, attended the MFA in creative writing program with Holic. Pursell said Holic is the perfect writer for a book about the history of UCF.
"His creative inspiration is the social bubble — a novel that explores different layers of society, social and cultural forces," Pursell said. "His strength is to create well-defined characters."
Haffner also attended the MFA in creative writing program alongside Holic.
Haffner said the publication of this book is not only the beginning of something greater for Holic, but also for the rest of his fellow creative writing program graduates.
"For all of us that went through this program, his publication increases the value of our degree," Haffner said.
Review
Title: New book chronicles UCF's colorful history
Author - Jen Glantz
Publisher: Orlando Sentinel
Date: 11/24/09
Tradition means a lot to Nathan Holic, a UCF alumnus and visiting instructor in the English department. A 2002 grad, he remembers his first Spirit Splash, his days on the Orientation Team, and the close ties he made through his fraternity, Phi Kappa Phi.
Put an English teacher and tradition together and some stories are going to come out. After the University of Central Florida celebrated its 40th year of classes in 2008, Holic decided to tell the story of the university by writing a book.
"UCF: A Campus History was released in stores last month. Holic teamed up with the UCF Alumni Association to write the book, which maps the history of the university from when it was started as an idea -- Florida Technological University in 1963 -- to when the campus opened in 1968 until now.
"This school is very forward-thinking," Holic said. "From the start, the motto was 'reach for the stars.' UCF is concerned with what we are going to be over what we are."
After conversations with others about some of the unique things about UCF, Holic wondered if anyone had recorded the history of the university. He only found an outline recorded in 1974 that covered the first 11 years of the university.
Holic then partnered with the UCF Alumni Association to set up interviews with key alumni and to collect photographs for the book.
Judy Creel, editor of Pegasus, the UCF alumni magazine, helped Holic proofread his book and said that a project like this helps alumni see the progress of the campus since they graduated.
"Some colleges take 100 years to change in ways we have changed in 10," Creel said.
After collecting initial information, Holic set up a group on Facebook that allowed UCF alumni to answer questions that he posted on the page. Members could also leave wall posts with their own stories about how traditions were started when they attended UCF.
"I noticed through Facebook that cool stories come out from disagreement," Holic said. "I posted a status asking if anyone knew when Spirit Splash began and I got conflicting stories. History is not always neat."
Holic started the Facebook group in December of last year. The group has 646 members that include UCF alumni who served in Student Government, the Orientation Team and other student organizations as well as current students of the university.
Holic also started a blog where he posted interesting facts about UCF accompanied by historic photographs. Holic utilized the blog as a way to get in contact with more alumni so they could share their stories with him and he could keep them interested in the school's history.
To verify the information, Holic worked with the UCF Libraries Special Collections and University Archives department to get recorded facts and information to help tell the story of UCF.
Senior archivist April Anderson said that the department has memorabilia stored from the past 40 years.
"We are very big on ephemera and memorabilia," Anderson said. "But we also have a full run of the Central Florida Future, an audio and video collection, a very, very large photographs collection, various books including yearbooks and various collections dealing with the history of the university, our presidents, clubs and organizations, colleges on campus, etc."
The book, which retails for $21.99 and is published by Arcadia Publishing, give readers a real "flesh and blood look into the university that they won't find in brochures, Holic said.
The book is full of interesting photos and anecdotes from UCF's past. There's a picture of a dark-haired Joe Biden, 30 years before he became vice president, speaking at commencement in 1978. A photo of traffic backed up three miles on what was then two-laned FTU Boulevard -- now University Boulevard -- in 1968 is a reminder that some things never change. Then there's the story of Rita Reuter, the 58-year-old homecoming queen who put the university on the map in 1977 when she was featured on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
Warren Jackson, a student employee at the Barnes and Noble bookstore on campus where the book is available, said that many customers preordered the book before it was released. Since the book has been out, Jackson has seen a lot of customers buy it on impulse.
"I see lots of alumni pick up the book probably to use as a resource to relive their past days as a student and the memories they want to cherish forever," Jackson said.
Holic says that UCF has a unique history that not many people fully know and hopes that the book will open the eyes of those, old and young, who call UCF their home.
"People will realize this is a school that things have not come easy for," Holic said. "But we have worked hard and that is the story of our school."
Holic will hold a book signing Dec. 12 from 1 to 3 p.m. at UrbanThink! bookstore, 625 E Central Blvd., in downtown Orlando.
Review
Title: Campus history - and Mystery
Author - Nathan Holic
Publisher: Pegasus: UCF Alumni Magazine
Date: Sept/Oct 2009
One afternoon last autumn, as I was piecing together the complete history of UCF, I searched through old photos in University Archives with senior archivist Judith Beale, trying to trace the origins of Spirit Splash. You can't write a history book about UCF without detailing the start of the school's greatest tradition, but strangely, we couldn't find anything definitive.
Fittingly, this was around Homecoming Week, and the campus was engulfed in the usual mayhem. I remember thinking that Spirit Splash, like so many other events on this campus of 50,000+, had grown into something larger than anyone could have imagined: a festival, almost, boasted about to incoming students during campus tours, and attended by radio stations, newspapers and magazines that sought not simply to witness the pep rally, but also to capture the spectacle of thousands of young men and women cramming into the Reflecting Pond, chanting, dancing and cheering. Perhaps no other UCF event has been more extensively photographed.
And yetà no one seems quite able to narrate the particulars of how Spirit Splash came about. Ask one student, and he'll tell you that it has been around forever. Ask an alumna from 1988, and she might remember pep rallies at the pond, but no splashing. Ask an alumnus from 1970s FTU, and he might tell you about illegal late night swims, but not a word about Spirit Splash.
Separating rumors from reality was tough because early newspaper accounts offered only sparing Homecoming coverage. Judith and I pored through old Central Florida Futures, going year by year to see if and when students began jumping into the pond. Throughout the '70s and early '80s, the Homecoming parade weaved between the pond and the library, with pep rallies at the steps of Millican Hall. Students gathered on the patio and on the greens surrounding the pond, so, occasionally, the newspaper ran a photo of a student in the water. But never anything conclusive. One story from 1997 sent us on a wild goose chase, as it maintained that Spirit Splash had existed for 12 years. An e-mail from the Office of Student Involvement traced the event back to 1994, but other students insisted that they began the tradition in 1995.
Such is the nature of history: It is rarely clean and easy, and we don't always know when we are witnessing the birth of tradition. During my time researching this book, I learned that the flowering of myth and legend is sometimes just as important to a campus culture as the indisputable names and dates of record.
The University of Central Florida campus history collects the full fourdecade story of UCF's rise to prominence, including the story (stories?) of Spirit Splash. It will be available first from the UCF Alumni Association (see www.ucfalumni.com), and on Oct. 26 at Barnes and Noble on campus and major bookstores across Central Florida, as well as online at www.arcadiapublishing.com.
About the Author
Author Nathan Holic is a visiting instructor at the University of Central Florida and holds a master's of fine arts in creative writing. This book was made possible not only by the collections of the university archives, but also by the four decades of alumni who have contributed their own personal materials.