George Eouse, World of Decor president and CEO, just might be onto something: fight the recession by helping to fight hunger.

World of Decor, an Orlando-based fine-furnishings retailer and full-service auction house, has partnered with Kids Against Hunger, an international nonprofit food relief program that has shipped more than 100 million servings of nutrient-rich food to destitute children in 60 countries. Working with Kids Against Hunger to fight hunger across the nation and the world, World of Decor has pledged to help supply one million meals in 2010. To achieve that goal, the company is hosting a series of auctions called “A Celebration of Life,” with a portion of all sales going to support the company’s “One Million Meals” campaign.

Eouse says the recession has taught him a lesson — good businesses shouldn’t be judged by their balance sheets and revenue alone, but also by their ability to make a difference in people’s lives. With one child dying every six seconds from hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations, that’s potentially a huge difference.

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Seminole State College, formerly Seminole Community College, is one of the fastest-growing two-year colleges in the nation for several reasons. Obviously, among them is aggressive community marketing.

Already successfully garnering several recent local partnerships, this month the Fine Arts Department is launching Arts Matters, a lunchtime series of lectures and musical performances at the Sanford/Lake Mary Campus designed to explore various musical genres. All performances are free and open to the public. The intent: engage both students and the community in appreciation of all kinds of music.

The series begins Jan. 20 with “Songs Throughout the Ages: Vocal Coaching of Old Standards,” followed by “Early Influences on the Beatles” on Feb. 17.

Ever wonder about music of the Baroque era or the Fab Four? Now is your chance to learn.

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More on the topic of recession strategies, the University Club of Orlando expects its membership growth to increase as much as 10 percent this year, as part of a nationwide trend called the “Tree House Effect.”

Huh?

The Tree House Effect, explains Susan Greene, general manager of the University Club, is a reflection of the recessionary downturn. For kids, a tree house is a safe harbor during trying times, a place for retreat and reassurance. Greene’s hope is that professional clubs such as the University Club can serve the same purpose for businesspeople. And there is some evidence to support the theory. National figures show that member use of professional clubs, athletic clubs, country clubs and similar safe places is growing as the economy continues to shrink.

Play friends in these tree houses, she adds, share a common goal—social networking—which she labels the “most important strategy we can use when we need to enrich our lives.”

I’m off to the gym.

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It’s certainly not taking long for Dr. Daniel P. Kelly to make a name for himself in Orlando.

The professor and scientific director of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, which arrived last year, was awarded the American Heart Association’s 2009 Basic Research Prize “for groundbreaking investigations describing cardiac metabolism in the normal and diseased heart, including the impact of obesity and diabetes.”

Trained as a cardiologist, Kelly became fascinated, as a young physician–scientist at Washington University in St. Louis, with the rare inborn errors of mitochondrial metabolism that can cause heart failure and sudden death. Through his pioneering work, he has since become instrumental in defining the way nuclear receptors, which represent a new class of drug targets, serve as regulators of cardiac muscle development and function.

And we have him right here in Orlando.

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If you’re a student and want to find campus events, get class listings, locate faculty and staff on campus, and even find out what's on the dining menu, Stetson University has an app for you.

The technology of the iPhone and iPod Touch, of course, offers many students the ability to record lectures, manage tasks and stay up to date on projects. Stetson, though, is among a handful of schools nationwide, and the only one in Florida, to harness this power and bring it to a whole new level by developing a university-specific iPhone application. The application, available free for download from iTunes, was previewed on campus in April, released in July and approved by Apple in October.

Better yet, it was developed by students. In the semester-long preview project for undergraduates in spring 2009, Stetson’s academic and administrative departments partnered with AT&T and Apple Corp., with the companies contributing funding, service and equipment.

The class was run just as a business would do it when developing a new software product — experiential learning at its best.

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More accolades for local healthcare providers: Orlando Health has been awarded the Eclipsys Circle of Excellence Award for technology innovation in the treatment of patients with sepsis.

Sepsis, an infection-induced organ failure condition, is the 10th-leading cause of death in the United States. Severe sepsis is associated with a 20 percent to 50 percent mortality rate among patients, and it represents an annual cost of nearly $17 billion. Eclipsys, a leading developer of advanced integrated clinical, revenue cycle and business process improvement software; clinical content; and professional services, presents the award annually to healthcare organizations that demonstrate innovation and achievements in those areas. Orlando Health was recognized for process improvement that is helping to meet an internal goal of decreasing the relative risk of mortality by 25 percent.

Expertise and effectiveness. Just what we want, and need, in healthcare.