UNF receives major gift from Lastinger family supporting Florida history programs and scholarships

The University of North Florida's College of Arts and Sciences (COAS) recently received an impactful gift from philanthropists Allen and Delores Lastinger to create new initiatives that will transform how the University engages with Florida's rich history. The gift will help advance the goals of the Allen Lastinger Center for Florida History through the creation of new professorships, research support and paid internships for undergraduate and graduate students.

A transformational gift received in 2023 was the catalyst for the Allen Lastinger Center for Florida History at UNF, which will hold its grand opening in the spring of 2025. It will be an interdisciplinary center for academic excellence housed within UNF's Thomas G. Carpenter Library. It will house the Lastinger's donated collection of unique and historic Floridian artifacts, books and maps. Most of the collection will be digitized and globally available to UNF faculty and students and audiences outside of UNF who wish to learn about Florida history.

The Lastinger family gift will provide dedicated resources to facilitate student research and creative projects related to Florida history and culture. Additionally, the Allen Lastinger Florida History Fund is an endowment to support paid internships for students seeking opportunities in public history, archaeology and culture studies. The funding will be used for limited positions within the Allen Lastinger Center for Florida History and to support UNF student internships at local historical societies and other sites where Florida history is being examined, preserved and exhibited.

"We are deeply grateful to Allen and Delores Lastinger and the Lastinger Family Foundation for their generous gift which will help advance research into the rich history and culture of Florida," said Dr. Kaveri Subrahmanyam, UNF COAS dean. "It will also have a transformative effect on student success by providing undergraduate and graduate students unique, hands-on learning opportunities through their work with the Lastinger Collection at UNF."

Three COAS faculty members have been named Allen Lastinger Annual Professors, recognizing and amplifying their research and scholarly activities in fields of study linked to Florida history and culture. The gift supports these professors in expanding their research and scholarship, travel expenses, community and conference presentations and student researcher support.

Dr. Keith Ashley is an archaeologist and associate professor of anthropology, engaged in long-term research of the Indigenous people in northeastern Florida and their connections to other groups before and after European arrival in the 16thcentury, while also leading important archaeological excavations with students in the region.

Dr. Denise Bossy, associate professor of history and North American editor-in-chief of Ethnohistory, specializes in Florida and Indigenous history, with award-winning publications including "The Yamasee Indians: From Florida to South Carolina," and is currently working on a National Endowment for the Humanities-funded project on the Mocamas, Guales and Yamasees of Northeast Florida.

Dr. Laura Heffernan, professor of English and one of the founding directors of UNF's Digital Humanities Institute, specializes in 19th and 20th-century literary and archival histories; she co-authored the award-winning The Teaching Archive, developed local history curricula and internships, secured National Endowment for the Humanities funding for the Viola Muse Digital Edition, and is currently authoring a book on the Negro Writers Unit of the Florida Federal Writers Project in Jacksonville.

Allen and Delores Lastinger have been committed donors to UNF since 1990 when they established the Lastinger Endowed Scholarship to support students pursuing careers in education.

To learn more about fundraising opportunities for the Allen Lastinger Center for Florida History, contact Kathleen Leone, academic & student affairs senior director of development, at [email protected]; for fundraising opportunities related to supporting faculty and student research into Florida history and culture, contactAnne-Marie Campbell, COAS director of development, at [email protected].