Double Eagles
February 02, 2026
Double Eagles” are individuals who work and have earned degrees at FGCU. They use their professional expertise and academic knowledge to help shape the university in unique and meaningful ways. Across campus, you’ll find Double Eagles in classrooms, offices and labs. Read below to learn more about your fellow colleagues who are making an impact.
If you would like to submit a Double Eagle to be featured, send an email to newsletter@fgcu.edu.
“Double Eagle”? Let your colleagues know you’re a proud FGCU alumni by adding your graduation year in your email signature! Here’s an example: Kim Wallace ‘06, ‘09 | Senior Director of Alumni Relations
Dr. Eric Otto, professor and chair of the department of integrated studies, is one of three FGCU faculty members who make up the Immokalee Road Band.
Dr. Eric Otto ‘00
Professor and Chair, Department of Integrated Studies
(Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies)
What inspired you to return to FGCU as an employee? I started at FGCU as a junior in 1997, after spending three years at a community college where I had yet to discover any academic, career or life passions. Back then, FGCU required all students to take a suite of courses in what was called “the integrated core,” including classes like “Issues in Science & Technology,” “Issues in Culture & Society” and “Issues in Ecology & Environment.” I took the latter course with the great English professor Dr. Joe Wisdom, and it was in that class that everything clicked for me. I had never been much of a reader, and I was a pretty average student before then, but I connected so deeply with Dr. Wisdom’s teaching and mentorship that I became an English major.
I returned to FGCU in 2007 to teach in the interdisciplinary studies minor, which was keeping the flame of that original integrated core burning. I saw in that minor—and now in the integrated studies major – the continuation of FGCU’s founding vision: encouraging students to engage more deeply with the world by thinking across disciplines and connecting ideas. Being part of that tradition now as a faculty member feels like coming home. I get to help students experience the same kind of discovery that changed the course of my own life.
How does being an FGCU graduate and employee shape the way you engage with and contribute to the university community? I’ve never lost sight of FGCU’s original guiding principles, its strong commitments to free inquiry and expression, diversity as a source of vitality, environmental consciousness, and interdisciplinary learning. Those values shaped the academic culture that helped my peers and me find ourselves — not just our careers, but our varied ways of thinking and engaging with the world. When I returned to FGCU as a faculty member, I was inspired to carry those same principles forward by guiding, challenging and supporting students as they explore their own paths. Having experienced the impact of FGCU’s mission firsthand, I strive every day to live that mission by helping students experience the same sense of discovery and connection that continues to inspire me.
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