FIU hosts Board of Governors meeting June 13-14
FIU will host the Florida Board of Governors meeting on Wed.-Thurs., June 13-14, in the Graham Center Ballrooms at University Park.

The Committees will meet as follows:

The Board meeting will follow around 10:45 a.m.

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College of Medicine names assistant dean for community and clinical affairs
FIU’s College of Medicine has named Dr. Fernando J. Valverde its assistant dean for community and clinical affairs. A South Florida managed care systems pioneer, Valverde has focused on patient access for primary care, prevention and educational services in the local community for the past 20 years. His appointment became effective May 1.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – to be involved in the formation of a medical school,” Valverde said. “It’s an educational, intellectual and social challenge for FIU’s College of Medicine and one of my responsibilities will be to help integrate the College with the local medical community.”

Dr. John Rock, the College’s dean and senior vice president for medical affairs, says Valverde “is vital for our program’s development. His impressive credentials in efficient delivery of care make him invaluable to our mission.”

Valverde, an internist, has led several physician practice management organizations (both locally and nationally) and been responsible for more than 100 employed physicians, 70 primary care centers and 500,000 primary care patient visits a year in South Florida. In his role as CEO and medical director of South Florida Prepaid Health Clinics, LLC, he has brought together approximately 30 primary care centers and 300 medical specialists to provide guaranteed care to South Florida’s uninsured.

The FIU College of Medicine expects to admit its first class in the fall of 2009.

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FIU breaks ground for new stadium
On May 25, FIU and Coral Gables-based Odebrecht Construction, Inc., broke ground on the school’s new on-site football stadium in a ceremony at the Golden Panthers’ old home, FIU Stadium at University Park.

“It’s a great day to be a Golden Panther,” Athletic Director Pete Garcia said. “This is an exciting day and there will be only one day more exciting than this – when we kick off the home season playing the University of South Florida in September of 2008 in our brand new stadium.”

Nearly 200 invited guests listened to comments from a platform party consisting of Garcia, FIU President Modesto A. Maidique, FIU Trustee and Administrative and Athletic Committee Chairman Al Dotson, Sr., head football coach Mario Cristobal and Odebrecht Construction CEO Gilberto Nieves, before the group grabbed blue-and-gold shovels and adorned hard hats for the ceremonial ground breaking.

When the stadium is completed, it will be the only Division I on-campus football stadium south of Orlando in Florida. It will be a “focal point, a destination for all,” Maidique said.

“FIU is committed to being a big-time program,” Cristobal said. “We are based on accountability, trust and on belief. Every single brick that goes into this stadium will have that motto in it. It’s not going to be long before it’s a packed house.”

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Alumni and students win at New Venture Challenge

Erica Courtney ’07 was named the winner in the Graduate/Alumni category of this year's New Venture Challenge Business Plan Competition.

The Eugenio Pino and Family Global Entrepreneurship Center announced during the College of Business Administration’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on May 16 the winners of this year’s New Venture Challenge Business Plan Competition.

Erica Courtney ’07 was named the winner in the Graduate/Alumni category. Biodiversity & Company, LLC, in partnership with an Ecuadorian non-profit organization and the local Chachi tribe, will build a state-of-the-art eco-lodge for birders and a research center in the Chocó rainforest of Ecuador where there are more birds per square foot than any other place in the world. The company’s strategy includes protecting the area, ecotourism, applied research and sales for non-timber forest products.

Other winners of this year’s NVC were:

• Jassiel Zapata’s QualicAID (undergraduate winner): A start-up company in the business of providing accounts receivable management and outsourcing services for health care organizations. The company will specialize in providing financial assessment services to patients in financial distress due to medical charges incurred.
• Russell and Kevin Otway’s Veterans Energy Solutions, LLC (undergraduate runner-up): Created by twin brothers and Iraq War veterans, Veterans Energy Solutions will offer energy consumption audits and renewable energy system designs. Their services include sales, installation and service of renewable energy systems.
• David Pernas and Kariym McHoney’s Federal Protection Services (undergraduate runner-up): Federal Protection Services will be a private company in the island of Trinidad and Tobago specializing in personal protection by previously trained U.S. Special Operations Army Rangers. In addition, the company will facilitate an individual’s acquisition of a weapon’s permit, provide training by weapon experts and provide competitive prices with valuable experience for the purchase of a weapon. (David Pernas also is an Iraq War veteran.)

For more information on the New Venture Challenge, visit http://nvc.fiu.edu or call 305-348-7156.

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Golden Panthers excel in marketing competition
A team of School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC) students called Domino Effects Communications won second place in the U.S.-Canada division of the International Advertising Association’s worldwide InterAd XI competition. The event, which was held in May, saw the FIU team competing against 50 other entries in the U.S.-Canada division.

Emmanuel Amador ‘07, Velma Ferguson, Kathleen Oliva ‘07, Christine Chutino ‘07, Ivan Sevillia ‘07, Annia Mendez-Villamil ‘07 and Tania Berg won international recognition for their integrated marketing communications campaign to support the United Nations’ Millennium Program, an effort to eradicate poverty worldwide.

The students were advised by Professor Rosanna Fiske and alumna Stephanie Leavitt ‘05 of public relations firm O’Connell & Goldberg.

This is the second time an SJMC team has won international acclaim. Two years ago, an SJMC team placed first in the U.S.-Canada division and second worldwide in the same competition.

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Discontinuation of remote desktop access to FIU workstations
In order to secure FIU's information resources, the ability to directly access FIU-networked computers from off-campus networks via Remote Desktop Connection will be discontinued on Monday, June 18.

Employees who are required to access their workstations from an off-campus network will need to obtain a Virtual Private Networking (VPN) account. Once a VPN account is activated, employees will be able to install the VPN client that will allow access to their workstations through a secure remote desktop connection.

For instructions on how to obtain a VPN account, visit http://vpn.fiu.edu. For more information, call the UTS Support Center at 305-348-2284.

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Baseball: Former FIU center fielder Chris Dunn signed a free agent contract with the Florida Marlins in May. Dunn opted to forego the Major League Baseball Draft as a fifth-year senior in 2007 and had yet to be assigned.

The Parker, Colo., native led FIU’s team and set career highs in several categories, in spite of missing nearly 20 starts due to injury. He batted .394 with six home runs and 32 RBI, and led the team with 55 runs scored, 17 stolen bases, a .619 slugging percentage and a .478 on-base percentage.

A pre-season All-Sun Belt Conference (SBC) selection, the Golden Panther did not garner post-season conference honors. But he finished the season hitting .411 with five home runs and a .689 slugging percentage in 21 conference games to lead the team.

In addition to his success on the field, he also graduated with a degree in business administration and was a member of the 2006 Sun Belt Academic Honor Roll four times in his academic career. Prior to coming to FIU in the fall of 2004, he was a NJCAA Academic All-American at Central Arizona College.

A 2007 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award candidate, Dunn earned Second Team All-SBC honors in 2006 and was a 2007 pre-season All-SBC pick.

Football: FIU’s Sept. 15 football game against the University of Miami has been set for 3:30 p.m. at the Orange Bowl in Miami and will be televised nationally by ESPNU.

For season tickets and more information, call the FIU Ticket Office toll free at 1-866-FIU-GAME or 305-348-4263 in Miami-Dade County.

An * designates Sun Belt Conference games. Home games are marked bold. All home games are scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. at the Orange Bowl. All dates and times are subject to change.

Volleyball: Head coach Danijela Tomic announced the receipt of national letters of intent from setter Natalia Valentin and outside hitter Ines Medved, each of whom will play for the Golden Panthers starting this fall.

“We are very happy and excited about our two new additions to our team,” Tomic said. “They each possess a wealth of international experience and will really complement what the rest of our players bring to the court.”

Valentin is a teammate of current Golden Panther sophomore Yarimar Rosa on the Puerto Rican Junior National Team; both will spend this summer at the World Junior Championships in Thailand. Valentin helped lead the team to a third place performance at the 2006 North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation Continental Women’s Junior Championship in Monterrey, Mexico, which qualified Puerto Rico for this summer’s event.

Medved has played on the Croatian Junior National Team since 2004 while also playing for her club team AOK Mladost. With the national team, she helped lead Croatia to a second-place showing at the European Junior Championships in France this past year and was selected to play in the World Junior Championships this summer. Medved declined to accompany the team. Instead she opted to come to FIU to allow herself plenty of time to adjust and prepare for the fall season.

In addition to Valentin, Rosa and Medved, Ukrainian sophomore Olga Vergune also competes on her country’s junior national team. Like Medved, she will be attending class at FIU over the summer and will not play for Ukraine at the World Junior Championships.

FIU completed one of its most successful seasons in school history this past year. The Golden Panthers matched their best-ever record in Division I play, 24-8, grabbing a share of their first Sun Belt regular season title and finishing runner-up in the Sun Belt tournament. FIU’s 24 victories was a nine-win improvement from the previous season.

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ARTS/CULTURE:

Through August 2007 – “(Lo & Behold) (Mira & Ve)”: In celebration of Art Basel Miami Beach 2006, The Wolfsonian-FIU invited Lawrence Weiner to create a site-specific artwork in response to the museum’s extensive collections of art and design from 1885-1945, its location and its place in the community. The installation begins high atop the museum’s façade and continues inside the building, lining the walls of the lobby and culminating at the lobby fountain. Its presentation in both English and Spanish is in recognition of Miami’s diverse culture and its large Hispanic community. At The Wolfsonian-FIU (1001 Washington Ave., Miami Beach).

EMPLOYEE TRAINING/WORKSHOPS:

Tues.-Thurs., June 12-14, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. – TIAA-CREF Sessions: The Division of Human Resources presents these TIAA-CREF one-on-one counseling sessions that will help you find the right allocation mix for you, understand investment choices available to you and learn about TIAA-CREF retirement income flexibility. For more information or to register, call 1-800-842-2003, ext. 3522, or visit www.tiaa-creff.org/moc. In PC 224 at UP.

Tues., June 12, 2-3:30 p.m. – “Expanding Your Comfort Zone: Strategies for Developing and Demonstrating Cultural Competence in Academic Advising”: The Academy for the Art of Teaching presents this National Academic Advising Association-sponsored webinar, featuring Blane Harding, director of Advising, Recruitment and Retention for the College of Liberal Arts at Colorado State University. Among the topics Harding will discuss are the dynamics of a changing population and the impact this has on education and advising, as well as the concepts and strategies for culturally competent advising. In GL 120W at UP.

Wed., June 13, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. – Temporary Employee Insurance Information Session: The Division of Human Resources presents this information session wherein Vista Health Plans, Preferred Medical Plan and Care Access Health Plan will answer questions regarding their respective health plans and will assist temporary employees, vendors and their dependents in the enrollment process. You will be able to enroll in the plan of your choice, review the premium rates to be paid directly to the insurance company and select a primary care physician and other health care providers. For more information, visit www.fiu.edu/hr/HealthPlan.html. In GC 241 at UP and WUC 245 at BBC.

LECTURES/FORUMS:

Thurs., June 14, 7:30 p.m. – “’Charla’: A Chat with José Martí”: The Cuban Research Institute presents this monologue set to music inspired by the work of José Martí, written and performed for the Road Scholars Program of the Florida Humanities Council by Chaz Mena. Admission is free and open to the public. To RSVP and for more information, call 305-348-1991. In the Wertheim Performing Arts Center at UP.

Fri., June 15, noon – “The Influence of Italian Opera on the Cuban Bolero and Canción”: The Cuban Research Institute presents this lecture, featuring Noriko Manabe of the CUNY Graduate Center. Manabe is the recipient of a 2007 Díaz-Ayala Travel Grant sponsored by the Institute and the Libraries at FIU. To RSVP and for more information, call 305-348-1991. In DM 358 at UP.

MISCL:

Tues., June 12, noon – Birthday Bash by the Bay: The Office of the Vice Provost invites faculty/staff, students and alumni to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Biscayne Bay Campus, featuring performances by alumna and American Idol finalist Nadia Turner and alumnus Noel Brown & Tribal Love Entertainment. There will be a barbecue and cake for all to enjoy. In the patio of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at BBC.

For more events listings, visit the FIU Events Calendar.

For previous issues of ThisWeek@FIU, vist our newsletter archive.

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