Professor hospitalized after accident

By Kelly Gibbs | gargoyle@flagler.edu

Assistant Professor of Business Administration Nick Panepinto is out of intensive care after being involved in a serious car accident last week.

He sustained major injuries in an accident that occurred Nov. 18 at 3:32 pm, the worst of which was a broken pelvis. He was airlifted to Shands at Jacksonville from the scene.

According to Lieutenant Bill Leeper, spokesman for the St. Augustine Highway Patrol, a white Toyota Passenger driven by Kent Andrews, 54, was heading south on A1A and after running a red light, hit Panepinto and his scooter head-on. Other than a charge for running a red light, no other charges have been filed against Andrews, who did not have any injuries.

Panepinto is recovering at Shands and said he’s looking forward to getting out of the hospital and recovering. “It’s looking like four or five more days and then there will be some rehab and then it’s looking like I can’t walk for three or four months, so it’s going to be a bit of an ordeal. I want to get back to teaching as soon as I can,” Panepinto said.

Yvan Kelly, associate dean of academic affairs, discussed how the remainder of Panepinto’s courses will be taught and graded. “We have some professors that are going to give lectures and administer the exams and then we’re going to take the grades up there and he’s going to determine the final grades because he really knows the students.”

Panepinto has been teaching at Flagler for 22 years and this semester he was teaching Principles of Advertising and Marketing Operations.

When asked if there was anything he’d like to say to his students, Panepinto replied, “I’d like to thank them for their understanding. They expect me there every day and I can’t make it and I’ll do what needs to be done on my end to try to make sure they still have a good semester.”