District Board of Trustees Names the Santa Fe College Fine Arts Hall after Jackson Sasser
January 22, 2020
January 22, 2020 – The Santa Fe College District Board of Trustees announced at their meeting on Tuesday that they will rename both the College's Fine Arts Hall and Center Road in honor of retiring President, Dr. Jackson N. Sasser. The Fine Arts Hall will now be known as the Jackson N. Sasser Fine Arts Hall and Center Road will become Sasser Lane. There will also be an artist commissioned to create a sculpture of Dr. Sasser representing his passion and commitment to student success and inclusion.
Sasser has encouraged a culture of success that has led Santa Fe College to incredible heights, including being named the number one community college in the nation by the Aspen Institute in 2015, earning the state's highest "gold" performance rating in 2018 – 2019 for high graduation and retention rates, expanding the College's international outreach, adding three new academic centers in Alachua, Archer and Keystone Heights, and building the College's Fine Arts Hall. Blake Fletcher, Chair of the Board of Trustees, stated, "We are inspired by Dr. Sasser and his influence on this College. Naming the Fine Arts Hall and Sasser Lane after him is a token of our appreciation and a reminder to current and future students, faculty and staff about how much Dr. Sasser has meant to both this College and our community."
By changing the name of the Fine Arts Hall to the Jackson N. Sasser Fine Arts Hall, all four of SF's Presidents now have buildings on the Northwest Campus named after them. Most recently, the library was named after Lawrence W. Tyree, SF's third President; the administration building, named after the College's second President, Alan J. Robertson; and the building that houses admissions, financial aid and other student services is named for the College's first President, Joseph W. Fordyce.
Sasser announced his retirement in January 2019, with a retirement date of January 31, 2020. Following his announcement, the College began a nationwide search to replace Sasser, who served as President since 2001. In October, the Board of Trustees selected Dr. Paul Broadie II to be the College's fifth President. Dr. Broadie will assume the presidency on February 1, 2020.
