Scientists estimate that one-third of the planet’s existing coral reefs could be lost in the next 30 years, largely due to rising ocean temperatures. Coral reefs contribute about $375 billion annually to the global economy by virtue of their biodiversity, which directly supports the commercial fishing, tourism and pharmaceutical industries. Reefs also play a role in protecting against coastal erosion and even saving lives and property by dampening the strength of waves that hit shore during hurricanes.

Now a group from FIU has discovered that some species of coral rely on specific genes that help them adjust during increasingly frequent cycles of warming waters. Their discovery is considered a scientific breakthrough.

A jump of as little as two degrees can cause serious damage by forcing out beneficial microscopic algae that live within coral tissue. The loss of algae turns the reef white in a process known as “bleaching.” White coral is fragile and more likely to die off.

But not every coral reef is threatened by temperature rise. This fact led biology professor Mauricio Rodriguez-Lanetty and his Ph.D. student Anthony Bellantuono to the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. The reef’s tremendous variety of coral—much greater than in South Florida—allowed the researchers to test many different species under simulated environmental conditions.

All species of coral share common genes, but only in some is a specific set of genes “activated” to produce a type of protective protein that helps the coral to acclimatize.

“Now that we have identified these genes, we want to see how the activation of these genes is controlled and what is happening in the genes of other coral species,” Rodriguez-Lanetty added, “especially in those species that don’t do well.” This has sparked his interest in tackling the logical next questions.

“Now that we know which genes really allow or facilitate acclimatization under certain stressing environments, how we can manipulate them in other corals?” Rodriguez-Lanetty asks. “How can we make those genes active so other corals can adjust,acclimatize favorably as well?”

Whatever form of potential “gene therapy” he might propose down the road, as part of a separate study, Rodriguez-Lanetty acknowledges that any manipulation of coral would have its detractors.

“That’s very controversial,” Rodriguez-Lanetty says. Conservation biologists prefer preservation techniques over artificial methods to promote species, mainly for fear of unintended consequences.

“But we are in challenging times,” Rodriguez-Lanetty says. “We have increasing environmental stress such as global climate change. So if there is some potential mechanism that some species have figured out to survive, why not facilitate that in other coral species?”

The FIU research has already received wide attention, including publication in a prestigious academic journal and a subsequent collection of articles related to ecological impacts of climate change.   ♦

Homepage photo CC-BY-2.0 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service – Pacific Region

In this digital age, the answer was clear: design an app to help people get around efficiently. Naphtali Rishe, a professor in the School of Computing and Information Sciences and the director of FIU’s High Performance Database Research Center, is leading the development. His groundbreaking work on TerraFly – a geographical-database management system recognized as one of the most advanced in the world – has helped attract high-level collaborators on a first-of-its-kind smartphone application. The app will help users navigate public transit, traffic and parking based on real-time information.

The U.S. Department of Transportation and others are funding the research, which should produce usable data within two years. FIU Magazine sat down with Rishe to learn more:

What is the purpose of the application you are building?

It will help on the roads by giving people navigation information based on real-time driving conditions. But it will also give them alternatives when there is congestion, such as “you can go park here and take transit.” It can also tell them where to park at FIU, whether that is their final destination or they want to park and use the bus from campus. It will tell you “go to this garage or lot, or park in neighboring Sweetwater.”

This sounds like a very comprehensive app that for the first time addresses multiple issues.

In the United States we have a car-driving population that’s very hard to convince to take a bus. This is unsustainable in the long term in big cities because there is not enough bandwidth on the highways. We don’t have enough thoroughfares for the growing number of commuters. In Europe people get from their home to the office without having to drive and park. Here in Miami people will still have to take their cars to the transit stations.

Related: UniversityCity is a plan for the future that starts today

So the app might be the way to convince people to give public transportation a try?

We’re going to entice them into taking public transit by helping them park. We’re going to time their parking to real-time departure of the bus. So, for example, we’re going to advise FIU students coming from, say, Miami Beach to park somewhere along the way and then tell them in real time when the bus is approaching.

What are the different components that will make creating this application possible?

This unique tool has several legs. One is TerraFly. Another leg is technology from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a software company that makes possible crowdsourcing of transportation-related data. Crowdsourcing is real-time monitoring of people’s phones with their permission. Their phone tells us where they are. With that information, we do statistical analysis to determine the probably of getting, say, a parking spot. Leg number three involves IBM, which is bringing aboard public transportation technology that they developed in Europe and deployed in Stuttgart, Berlin and other places and which they are willing to modify to make work here. And the fourth leg is our ability to acquire ultra-high-resolution aerial imagery and measurements. With a $600,000 grant from our partner Alta, we have 20 FIU students currently photographing the entire campus by flying air balloons remotely controlled by iPads and sending back thousands of images at ultra-high-resolution. These aerial images are over 10 times sharper than anything that was available in the world until recently. They will help us monitor traffic and allow real-time assessment and prediction of traffic and pedestrian flow.

This must have potential for other big cities.

Once we deploy it, and if it works, it will be a role model for the entire country. That’s why the Department of Transportation is so excited about this. What’s important to DOT is a replicable pilot. They want to see if this works and benefits UniversityCity, a tiny spot on the map of the United States. If that can work here and improve the experience for the local population and increase use of transit, then there is the potential of saving billions and billions of dollars across the country.   ♦

Greg Bossart Ph.D. ’95, Chief Veterinary Officer at Georgia Aquarium, gave a VIP tour of the aquarium before the event. Attendees networked with their fellow Panthers and enjoyed the music and flavors of Miami.

The tour’s next stop will be in Los Angeles in January, followed by New York City. To find out more, visit fiualumni.com.

Al ’74 and Maggie Lorenzo ’86 introduced Roary to the Guggenheim Museum Puppy in Bilbao, Spain.


1980s

Selina Smith ’82 recently became the director of the Institute of Public and Preventive Health at Georgia Regents University. She is also the deputy director of the Morehouse School of Medicine Cancer Research Program. In the past, Smith has worked and consulted for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Atlanta-based Minority Health Professions Foundation.

Kathleen Cooper Grilli ’84 was appointed general counsel to the United States Sentencing Commission. Grilli joined the commission in 2003 and has served as deputy general counsel since 2007. Previously she was staff counsel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., and before that a private practitioner and an assistant federal public defender in Miami.

Jorge J. Gonzalez ’88, president and CEO of City National Bank of Florida, and Mayi de la Vega ’81, founder, president and CEO of One Sotheby’s International Realty, were honored at the Ultimate Miami CEO Awards 2013 by the South Florida Business Journal in recognition of their achievements, vision and dedication to excellence as business leaders of Miami-Dade County.


1990s

Carolyn Zaumeyer ’90, MSN ’93, was invited to serve on the advisory board for hormone-replacement company BioTE Medical in Dallas. She has served as an adjunct faculty member at FIU, Broward College and Florida Atlantic University, and currently provides patient care at Women’s Awareness & Low T Florida in Fort Lauderdale.

Corry Westbrook ’93 is running for U.S. Congress in Florida’s 8th district as a Democrat. In addition to running for Congress, she works for the nonprofit conservation organization Oceana. Previously Westbrook worked for the National Wildlife Federation.

Ralph Rosado ’96 is executive director of the South Florida Community Development Coalition, a nonprofit membership organization in Miami-Dade County. Rosado holds a master’s degree from Princeton University and is currently completing a doctorate in city planning from the University of Pennsylvania.

Alex F. Vicencio ’97, a financial advisor at Wells Fargo Advisors in Miami, has earned the prestigious Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. Vicencio joined Prudential Securities in 1998 and is a member of the U.S. Chile Chamber of Commerce for Miami.

Raquel Regalado ’98 represents District 6 as a member of the Miami-Dade County School Board and chairs the Facilities and Construction Reform Committee. A parent of a child with autism, she has championed programs and services for special needs students, most recently securing funding from Humana for sensory rooms at three elementary schools.

Alfredo Riverol ’98, MPA ’00, MS 03, chief financial officer for the City of South Miami, was awarded the 2013 Outstanding Certified Public Accountant in Government Impact Award at the annual AICPA National Governmental Accounting and Auditing Conference in August of 2013 in Washington, D.C.


2000s

Stanley Wilson Ed.D. ’00 has been named dean of Nova Southeastern University’s College of Healthcare Sciences. He previously was associate dean for academic affairs, associate dean for rehabilitation services and chair of the physical therapy department at the school. Before that Wilson was associate professor and chair of the physical therapy department at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and assistant professor in the physical therapy department at FIU.

Maria Elena Alonso-Sierra ’01, MA ’05, published her first novel, The Coin, a romantic thriller set in the exotic French Riviera, in April 2013. She is former adjunct professor of English at FIU and has also taught literature and language arts at St. Louis Covenant School and Renaissance Charter Middle School in Miami.

Martino Succetti ’02, a guitarist and songwriter, has been with the band FatKingBulla since 2006. The band has released two acclaimed albums and performs live on a regular basis across the country and in South America. Succetti also plays backup for Cuban icon Willy Chirino and others.

Vivian Gonzalez MS ’04 is one of 10 finalists for the first-ever Grammy Music Educator Award. In January the music teacher from South Miami K-8, chosen from music educators around the country, will travel to Los Angeles to attend the Grammy Awards.

Aston Wilson Jr. ’05, JD ’11, opened his own law firm. Wilson, who played on FIU’s first football team, is an NFL sports agent and a criminal defense attorney.

Ruben Gutierrez ’06, MA ’08, formed Errez Design Inc. in 2009 with wife Katie. The firm’s work has been featured in the book The Tropical Cottage by Beth Dunlop, Small Home Decorating magazine and numerous design blogs. Current projects include a lobby and common area redesign for a Miami Beach condominium and a product display space for a hotel on Ocean Drive.

Nnamdi Jackson ’06, JD ’12, has joined the litigation practice group of Concepción Martinez & Bellido as an associate. He will focus on commercial litigation with an emphasis on tort defense.

Oscar L. Perez ’06 has joined Miami-based CareCloud, a provider of cloud-based practice management, electronic health recordkeeping and medical billing software and services. Perez is vice president of financial systems and operations. He is also a proud member of the FIU Alumni Circle.

Lourdes C. Cortizo-Acevedo ’07  joined the law firm of PobleteTamargo LLP as special counsel in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office focusing on immigration and nationality matters. Previously she served as the sole attorney for a Hispanic nonprofit organization in Alexandria, Va., that specialized in providing immigration legal services.

Adriana Vinent ’07, MBA ’10, and her husband Alberto Vinent CMBA ’12 welcomed son Alejandro on January 28, 2013.


2010s

Simone Worsdale ’10 is assistant director of communications for the FIU Office of Alumni Relations and handles email marketing, social media management and content management of FIUalumni.com. She married Andrew Pego ’12 on December 14, 2013.

Yamily Arab ’11 won a $100,000 Pickering Fellowship. The grant will fund a two-year master’s program and two paid internships, one in Washington, D.C. at the State Department and one at an embassy abroad. Currently, she is on a Rotary Ambassadorial Fellowship completing a master’s program at the University of Manchester in England.

Mihaela Plugarasu MS ’11 has been promoted to associate director for strategy and communications at the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. In her new role, Plugarasu provides direct leadership over all communication, marketing and branding efforts.

Jesus Borrero ’12 works for the City of Sweetwater as a grants administrator. The job followed from his internship through the Honors College-Sweetwater Partnership program, where he worked in the mayor’s office.

Anthony Gonzalez ’12 and Claudia Gonzalez ’12 were married on August 10, 2013, at St. Catherine of Sienna in Kendall after seven and a half years of dating. Anthony is now attending law school at Nova Southeastern University, and Claudia is working on a master’s in public administration at FIU. She is currently the assistant director of administrative operations in the Office of the President at FIU.

Emma Lopez ’12 recently published an article in Latina Stylemagazine. She is currently a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Graduate STEM Fellow in Washington D.C. She has been accepted in the environmental engineering doctorate program at the University of South Florida.

Lizmarie Morales ’12 and Jose A. Lopez ’12 were married on July 5, 2013, after dating for seven years. Morales is in her first year of pharmacy school at Nova Southeastern University.

Jarrod Knowles ’13, who graduated with a degree in information technology, has written, directed and produced his second full-length movie in the What Lies Beyond horror series. Knowles began his journey by setting up a small production crew and enlisting a few FIU students to take acting roles. What Lies Beyond: The Beginning, premiered in October 2013 at O Cinema in Miami Shores.


In Memoriam

Donna Brown McDowall ’77 passed away on July 15 at the age of 69. She served as the nurse manager of the regional blood bank in Naples, Fla., and also as a nurse in various Florida hospitals prior to moving to Asheville, N.C. Her areas of concentration included medical-surgical intensive care and cardiovascular intensive care. She enjoyed all forms of music and often played and sang hymns. She also had welcomed into her home and adopted cats in need. She is survived by her husband of 27 years, Ian McDowall.

Rev. Mary Tumpkin ’86 passed away on November 15 at the age of 64. She was the founder and senior minister at the Universal Truth Center located in Miami Gardens and the president of the Universal Foundation for Better Living. She began her preaching career as a teenager and is considered a pioneer in the ministry for having started during a time when female ministers were a rarity. An avid fan of the Star Trek series, she was known for her colorful yet powerful sermons. She is survived by her son, Joseph Tumpkin Jr. 

In the spirit of the season, we asked the FIU community: What is the best gift you ever received?

In 2008, I walked past our Christmas tree every day for a week, getting more and more excited about the big box with my name on it. Finally the morning arrived and there it was: a Yamaha keyboard. I couldn’t wait to set it up and start playing. The first song I learned was either “When The Saints Go Marching In” or “Jingle Bells.” I believe that may just have been the best Christmas ever.

— Kelsie-Ann Barker, Freshman, Biology

***

The best gifts don’t always fit in a box, and for me education is the best gift. Thanks to my parents and their hard work, I’ve had the privilege of a great education. They’ve both worked so hard to support my sister and me through all our studies, which has motivated me to do well in school and make them proud.

— Yovani Larreynaga, Junior, Psychology

***

Back around 1972 when I was in college, my dad bought me a used 1969 Ford Mustang. Prior to that, I had this old, ugly gray Plymouth Valiant with push-button controls on the dash. It was so ugly that my fraternity brothers wouldn’t let me park it in front of our house. So when my dad bought me the Mustang, I was in heaven! I kept it for years. Finally, around 1980 I sold it and bought another “cool” car, a Datsun 280Z.

— Larry Lunsford, Vice President for Student Affairs and University Ombudsman

*** 

Travel is the best gift. My mother gave me my first overseas excursion: a visit to London, England, a month shy of starting high school. She is a firm believer that you learn more by traveling than by doing anything else, and the chance to wander and experience culture has definitely allowed me to grow. Since then, Paris, London, Athens and Pompeii are just a few of the trips I’ve taken.

— Jessica Azambuja ’13

***

One of the best gifts I ever received was a classical piano concert from my 8-year-old grandson. Ben wanted to give me something personal for my birthday. He came up to me during the party and said “Decca [his nickname for me], I have a special birthday present for you. I know it all by heart, but since it’s your birthday I want to make sure it’s perfect.” He then took out the sheet music and played three pieces for me, including “Ode to Joy.”

— Jessica Siskind ’04, Senior Director of Development, Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management

***

My favorite gift was a mini basketball hoop that my parents gave me for Christmas. It was a six-foot rim. There were so many times as a little kid where I’d see Michael Jordan or someone else hit an amazing shot in the waning seconds of a game on TV. Inspired, I’d go out to my garage, even though it was only 30 degrees, and shoot around for hours trying to perfect my fade-away. And, of course, I was counting down an imaginary game clock with every shot.

— Kevin Evans, Assistant Professor of Political Science

***

I like scrapbooks with memories and photos of good times. The most recent one was from a friend and chronicled a week of fun and adventures with pictures, quotes and inside jokes from our Miami-to-New York road trip. When I look at it, it makes me want to have another week like that again.

— Epi Jimenez, Senior, Computer Engineering

***

When I was about five years old, my siblings and I all got a stuffed animal for Christmas. My brother received a life-sized lion, my sister a colorful worm, and I received a pair of polar bears. I am not sure how it was decided who got which toy, but they became part of the family and we played with them forever and ever. My parents still keep those polar bears in my old room in their house in Germany. When I see them on return visits home, they bring back fond memories.

— Birgitta Rausch-Montoto MS ’13, Chief of Staff, Office of the Provost

• Co-owner, with wife Clarissa Morrelli, of Morelli’s Gourmet Ice-cream, a chain of three shops in Atlanta
• Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management
• Member, FIU Alumni Association

What got you started in your own business?

I always wanted to work for myself. I started my first business at nine years old. I lived in an apartment complex with one trash dumpster that was a very far walk away. I used to knock on my neighbors’ doors and charge $1 per bag to haul it off. It became very lucrative. At that young age, I always had 20 bucks on me.

How did you come around to the idea of an ice-cream shop?

I worked at Larry’s ice-cream shop when I was in high school in Tampa. I was the owner’s right-hand man. I made the most money, received the most compliments and worked the most hours. That was 1989, and from then on I knew this is what I wanted to do.

How did FIU’s hospitality program prepare you for success?

The beauty of FIU’s hospitality program is that the faculty were all in the business before they became professors. Anyone can teach from a book, but I remember the real-world stories. The lectures were just priceless. For example, Professor Mike Hurst, who’s passed away now, would explain something in the textbook and then he would go over what happened in his own business. Here he was, a former president of the National Restaurant Association, had what I guess today you would call a pub. He was telling us about chicken wings and how he had a promotion to bring people in by giving every third wing away free. I thought he was a genius.

What innovations have you undertaken to keep your seasonal business strong?

Unlike in Miami, starting in September the temperature drops and our sales decrease. So to keep winter sales going, one of our stores is located inside a gourmet hamburger place. I’m looking to do more things like that.

And who comes up with the innovative ice-cream flavors?

It’s pretty much me and my wife with another 10 percent of ideas coming from customers via our flavor challenge. Sometimes we walk down the grocery store aisle and see a flavor combination on another product and think, “That sounds really awesome,” and we make it. Bon Appétitmagazine named our ginger lavender ice-cream a top-10 must-try flavor-of-the-year in 2009. That idea actually came from a hand lotion. Every time people eat it they tell us it tastes like a spa—and it does! We have also made “Miami flavors” such as mango habañero. And in honor of my Brazilian wife, we rotate the Brazilian flavors sweet corn, passion fruit and the “Romeo and Julieta,” which is cream cheese and guava.

So what’s your favorite flavor?

My five-year-old daughter loves salted caramel, which is our biggest seller, and my three-year-old son likes strawberry. But my favorite is Almond Joy. It’s delicious.   ♦

Photo by Samantha M. Shal/Neighbornewspapers.com

When I was growing up, my mother was a busy and active volunteer, giving time to various service organizations and organizing church fundraisers. She did this when she didn’t have a dime in Cuba, and continued even when she was better off financially years later in Miami. That emphasis on helping others was reinforced through my high school, Belen Jesuit, with its message: Be a Man for Others. My fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, played a big role in solidifying my desire to give back by encouraging (sometimes requiring) my participation in charity fundraisers and community service projects.

I often have tried to explain to friends why they should give some of their hard earned money to charity. Usually, I receive a blank stare and a shoulder shrug. That reaction was confusing until I realized that giving to charity is a very personal decision. I decided to change my approach. I began to frame my discussions about charity around why I personally give and it definitely resonated more with my friends. While it may seem paradoxical, I realize that many of the reasons I choose to give are selfish ones – and that’s ok. I share some of those reasons with you with the hopes that you may explore your own reasons to give.

• I feel better about myself. There have been studies that show that your brain changes after an act of charity, large or small. One study that used MRIs was even able to identify a “warm glow at biological level” after people made a decision to give. I’ve never had an MRI after I decide to give back, but I can tell you that I have felt that warm glow. I don’t think that people who give are better than those who don’t. However, I do believe they may be happier in the long term.

• I am always rewarded in a tangible way. The warm and fuzzy stuff may be more important to me, but I can’t deny that it is also a great feeling to see your name on a plaque or to be recognized publicly in front of a group of people that you respect. In some cases, like silent auctions for example, you even get a cool product or service in return for your donation.

• Giving back makes a real impact. I used to think that if my gift was too small, it really wouldn’t help. Or that the money I gave would get caught up in administrative costs and the people in need would not benefit. In my experience, I have found the opposite is true in most cases. I have often asked to meet with some of the people I am trying to help to get their stories personally. Talking with them has reinforced my decision to give every single time.

• I give to causes I am passionate about. Education, the arts, health, kids’ programs. I am comfortable giving to those areas because I know how important they were for me. I want to provide that for others. Supporting your passions and the areas in life that impacted you the most makes paying it forward easy.

• I want to set a good example for my children. We all want the best for our kids. Some people have the mindset that every dollar they give to charity is one less dollar they can give to their kids. Indeed, I used to think that way as well. But then I remember my mom being generous of her time and money – even when she had little of both. I realize now that she did a lot of that for me. I believe I actually owe it to my kids to be charitable. In doing so, I am teaching them the same values that I was taught. I am helping them become something greater than themselves. Giving to charity has become another way I invest in my kids’ futures.

Tom Jelke earned a bachelor’s degree in English at FIU as well as a master’s degree in college student personnel from Bowling Green State University and a Ph.D. in higher education/student affairs from Indiana University. He is founder and CEO of t.jelke solutions, a higher education consulting firm. He and his wife Rebecca ’95 have two children, and they are proud to be donors to the FIU Foundation in support of leadership development, fraternity/sorority life and the English department.   ♦

Claire Raley ’78 was named senior vice president and community development officer by BankUnited in Miami Lakes.


1980s

Kenneth Christopher MPA ’83 was appointed associate vice president for academic affairs at Park University in Parkville, Mo., where he previously was associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and associate professor and chair of the department of criminal justice administration. Prior to moving to Missouri in 2006, Christopher was an adjunct faculty member at Lynn University and St. Thomas University in South Florida and served as chief of security for the Port of Miami and a captain with the Miami-Dade, Police Department.

Pablo E. Garcia ’85 is a proud Panther papa who, with his family, recently saw son Alex Garcia off to FIU for his freshman year.

Julio C. Jaramillo ’88 took office in July as the first vice president of the Florida Bar Foundation, a statewide charitable organization that provides leadership and funding for justice in Florida. He is a fellow of the foundation and previously served as a board member. Jaramillo, who practices in the area of civil litigation, was a founder of the Colombian American Bar Association and has served as its president. He has worked pro bono for the Dade County Bar Association’s “Put Something Back” program.

Lissette Campos ’89 is director of community affairs for WFTS-TV in Tampa-St. Petersburg. She recently attended the National Association of Broadcaster’s Service to America Awards Ceremony to accept the 2013 “Service to Community” Award on behalf of her station, which was honored for its annual domestic violence awareness campaign. The proud Panther cites her FIU journalism professors among the people influential in her success.

Ernie Diaz ’89 was named regional president of TD Bank in Florida. Miami Today featured him as “Miami’s Achiever” in its May 9 issue.


1990s

Helene Ballmann Dudley ’90 received the Lillian Carter Award from former President Jimmy Carter on May 15 in Atlanta. The award honors outstanding senior volunteers who have kept alive President John F. Kennedy’s dream of international service.

Christine Allen ’91 recently retired from the Miami-Dade County Public School System after 30 years of service. She will now teach religious education at Indian River State College as a staff member for InterVarsity Campus Ministry. As an elementary school teacher, Allen was elected Teacher of the Year on three occasions and won Florida State Educator of the Year once. She’s been recognized in the Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers publication twice in the last decade.

Janet Bond Brill MS ’92, a noted nutritionist, launched her third book, Blood Pressure DOWN, from Three Rivers Press, in May. The book is a compendium of multiple evidence-based lifestyle techniques proven to reduce blood pressure.

Kevin Brown ’93 was promoted from senior manager to principal at EY, a professional services organization. Brown has more than four years of experience serving various industries. As a principal, he will continue his commitment to quality client service and building a better working world on a daily basis.

Pano Karatassos ’93 announced the planned opening of Lobster Bar Sea Grill in Ft. Lauderdale. The restaurant will be the 17th for the Atlanta-based Buckhead Life Restaurant Group run by the Karatassos family and its third in Florida, where fans rave about Chops Lobster Bar and City Fish Market in Boca Raton.

Eduardo Lamazares ’93 has been named account executive at Appirio, an information technology consulting company headquartered in San Francisco.

Tamara Hanson ’96, writing under the pen name Ciara Knight, has published five novels in two and a half years. Most recently, she released Escapement, the first book of the Neumarian Chronicles, which is an Amazon bestseller in the science fiction, fantasy and young adult categories. Her debut novel, The Curse of Gremdon, was released to great acclaim and secured several distinctions as did Book I: Rise From Darkness, a young adult novel in her Battle for Souls series. Hanson balances book signings, blogging and social media while raising three boys.

Frances Arber Yurkevich ’96 and husband Michael Yurkevich welcomed baby boy Gavin Markus on January 26.

Cesar Gonzalez ’97, chief of staff to Florida Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, was cited as one of “5 Staffers to Watch in Immigration Reform” in National Journal.

Angie Puentes-Leon ’98 and husband Jesse Leon ’03 welcomed a baby boy to the family. Agustin was born on February 25 and joins his big sister Grace, age 4. Dad Jesse, a sales account director at Discovery Networks Latin America, is juggling fatherhood with training for his second Ironman next year. He finished the Ironman Arizona 2012 triathlon with a time of 14 hours, 28 minutes and 40 seconds.

Kamala Wright ’98 is the owner of Edit Your Image Massages, a mobile massage company. Wright also works full-time for the Miami-Dade Police Department in the Fiscal Administration Bureau.

John Fiumecaldo ’99 is a senior paralegal with the Defender Association of Philadelphia and also represents first-time offenders in an accelerated rehabilitation program. Prior to moving to Philadelphia 11 years ago, he was a paralegal and investigator in the Miami-Dade County Public Defender’s Office.

Charles B. Sachs ’99 was named principal and wealth manager by Private Wealth Counsel. He was most recently a principal of Evensky & Katz Wealth Management.


2000s

Alexander Binelo ’03 was named a fellow of the Miami Foundation, a program that focuses on building individual’s knowledge, networks and abilities to increase their community engagement and impact. He is currently a director at Morrison, Brown, Argiz & Farra, LLC.

Carla Rosell ’03 and Jessica Mercado were married on June 27 in the Manhattan city clerk’s office. The two are currently doctoral candidates in the department of English at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Juan M. Burgos ’04 was promoted this year to supervisory contract specialist with the United States Coast Guard in Miami. Previously he was a contract specialist with the U.S. National Park Service in Homestead.

Silka M. Gonzalez ’05, president and founder of Enterprise Risk Management, was featured in an article titled “Enterprise Risk Management: Taking on the hackers” in the Miami Herald.

Xiuramys Rodriguez ’06 received a 10-Year Service Award from Big Brothers/Big Sisters earlier this year. She marvels that the “little sister” she met and mentored since the age of 7 is today a lovely 17-year-old.

Jason Tarazi ’06 was promoted earlier this year from principal recruiter, commercial banking, to recruiting manager, commercial banking, for Capitol One in Washington, D.C.

Jason Auricchio ’07 and Cristina DeVito ’07 were married in July. He is a managing associate/financial advisor with Mass Mutual-DBS Financial, and she is an occupational therapist at Miami’s Alfano Center.

Michael Macias ’07 was named small business relationship manager for TD Bank in Coral Gables. He previously was business banking manager at SunTrust Bank.

Dr. Sarah Bryan Reynoso ’07 and Francisco Reynoso ’07 were married in June 2013 after meeting while completing their undergraduate physics degrees at FIU. She recently received her Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and works with Intel. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in medical physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and currently performs research at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, as part of his doctoral dissertation project.

Lindsay Rosenthal ’07 won the Ms. Foundation for Women 2013-2014 fellowship and started working in the foundation’s advocacy and policy department in September. Rosenthal identifies the best strategies for increasing access to health care services for girls currently in, or transitioning from, the juvenile justice and foster care systems. In 2010 Rosenthal earned a master’s degree in humanities from the University of Chicago. She has advocated on behalf of youth and, especially, girls in a number of positions and served as an intern for the White House Domestic Policy Council.

Natalie Ogando ’09 is the new director of 20|20 Research’s focus-group facility in Miami. She has been with the company for six years and oversees operations and manages recruitment for a sister facility. A research company that supports the technology and field service needs of market researchers, 20│20 Research has pioneered a number of online and facility-based qualitative research techniques.


2010s

Lily de la Calle ’10 launched a bilingual advertising agency. LD Creative provides advertising services, including graphic design, copywriting and social media management for small to medium-sized businesses in South Florida. “We’re very excited to take advertising in Miami to the next level and to help local businesses make their mark,” says de la Calle, who is the creative director.

Pamela Ferratjans ’11 was named business banking development officer by TotalBank. She previously was a licensed banker at JP Morgan.

Rebecca Burton ’12 was called one of the “new, young and up-and-coming science, health and environmental writers and reporters” by industry trade publication Scientific American in its online SA Incubator. Burton, who was active in the South Florida News Service and later participated in the Scripps Semester in Washington, is currently pursuing a master’s in science/health communications at the University of Florida.


In memoriam

Elizabeth “Betty” J. Boyd-Beu ’74 passed away on November 15, 2012, at the age of 95. After earning her degree in criminal justice from FIU, she went on to earn a master’s degree and, at the age of 75, a Ph.D. in education. She began her professional career as a civil servant, taking assignments in Bermuda and Honolulu. She accepted the position of education officer at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska and eventually retired from Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, where she served for 32 years.

Barbara G. Heiman ’74 passed away on July 30 at the age of 83. A psychologist, she founded and ran Introductions, Inc., one of the first matchmaking businesses. A true techie until the end, Bobbie remained sharp, knowledgeable, fiercely independent and, according to her family, “feisty.” She was a go-getter who always was eager to lend a helping hand and reveled in her grandchildren.

O’byne Hedgecock Rexrode ’83 passed away on January 8 at the age of 82. She graduated from the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management in her 50s, after which she returned to her native Tampa and became a food service manager for the Hillsborough County School System. Her family stated that she was very proud to have received a degree as a “senior” student and grateful to FIU for the opportunity.

Jeanne Kates ’82, MA ’84, passed away on July 8. Prior to enrolling at FIU, she and her husband built a successful agriculture business in south Miami-Dade County and raised to two sons. With a pair of degrees from FIU, she took a position in the department of political science, where she taught courses in international relations and comparative politics and, notably, took charge of FIU’s Model United Nations program. For years she trained team after team in the art of negotiation and compromise, and honed students’ skills in both oral and written communications. From her earliest days leading FIU’s contingent to the New York competition, the delegation annually distinguished itself and won awards. Her former colleagues attribute the program’s continuing success to her legacy and the foundation she built. Kates was recognized by the university with a medallion at the spring 2005 commencement, soon after which she retired. 

Hurricane season is here, and FIU’s Director of Emergency Management Amy Aiken has prepared this FAQ to help you understand the facts about being prepared for an emergency at FIU.  Whether you live on campus or commute, pay close attention to the information in this post and stay safe.

When is the official start of hurricane season?
June 1

How long does hurricane season last?
6 months, June 1 – Nov. 30

What exactly is a hurricane?
A hurricane is a large, spiraling tropical cyclone that can pack wind speeds of 74 mph to more than 155 mph. A category 3 storm is considered a major hurricane.

What’s the difference between a tropical storm and a hurricane?
Wind speed. Tropical storms have sustained wind speeds of 39 to 73 mph.

A hurricane is coming and I live on campus. What should I do?
Make plans to go home or stay with a friend.

I live in a residence hall and can’t go home. What should I do?
Shelter will be provided for residential students in the common areas and hallways of EH. You will be safe, but it isn’t the most comfortable place to be. You’re better off going home or staying with a friend in a house that is protected.

What should I put in my emergency disaster kit?
Water, food, lots of batteries, flashlights. For a complete list, visit dem.fiu.edu

How much water do I need?
At least three gallons. One gallon per person, per day, for a minimum of three days.

Do I need cash?
Better get some before the storm. If electricity is out, ATMs and credit card machines won’t work.

Should I charge my devices?
Fully charge all of your electronic devices before a storm in case electricity is lost, and keep extra batteries if possible.

What about access to gasoline after a storm?
Fill your tank before a storm. If electricity is out, gas pumps won’t work.

I am trying to reach my parents but my cell phone will not work. What should I do?
The cell towers often get overloaded. We recommend sending a text. Often a text will go through when a call won’t. If cell towers are down, landline/analog telephones will often still be functional.

How will I know my family is safe if I can’t reach them?
Identify an out-of-state friend or relative that everyone can call to check in with. Write down the number.

How will the university communicate with me about a hurricane?
We know when a hurricane is coming, so the university will use your e-mail, the main FIU website and FIU News to relay information. We will also update Facebook and Twitter.

How will the university communicate if there is no power?
Tune in to local media. You should have a battery-powered radio on hand to get important information.

What should I do about any prescription medication I have?
Be sure to fill all prescriptions prior to a storm. 

Where can I get a list of gas stations and supermarkets that have generators?
Go the lower portion of this page for the most updated lists and be sure to print them: http://www.miamidade.gov/fire/consumer-survival-kit.asp

I have food in my fridge. Should I cook it before the storm?
Yes. Cooked food will last longer if the power goes out.

Should I crack open a window to reduce the pressure inside a house or building?
No. This is a common misconception. We have learned that if you do this, hurricane-force winds can get into your structure and create lots more damage.

If a hurricane is coming, when will the university close and how soon will it reopen?
The decision to close the university will be made in plenty of time for students, faculty and staff to make preparations and get home before the storm is expected to arrive. FIU will reopen when it is safe to do so. As soon as that information is available, it will be posted on FIU’s main website, FIU News, Twitter, Facebook, sent out in an e-mail and shared with local media.

I heard that the Biscayne Bay Campus (BBC) is in an evacuation zone? Where should I go?
FIU will send buses to the BBC  to bring any student who can’t go home to Modesto A. Maidique Campus.

Tony Argiz ’74, chairman and CEO, Morrison, Brown, Argiz & Farra, LLC, was featured in the article “3 Leaders Offer Tips” in the February 2013 issue of Florida Trend.

1980s

Jim Beley ’81 has been general manager of the Umstead Hotel and Spa near Raleigh, N.C., for the last four years. He and his wife Ellen have four children.

John Koster ’81 is a regional president at Northern Nevada for Caesars Entertainment in Nevada.

Frank S. Rappazzo ’81 has joined the Miami-based Professional Bank, which provides personal and business banking services tailored for professionals and others. Rappazzo will lead the expansion of the bank’s residential lending department. Previously he worked in top positions within the residential and commercial mortgage lending divisions of an array of global and local banks in South Florida.

Holly Ward ’82 is the accounting manager at the Resort at Fairfield Harbour in North Carolina.

Richard O.B. Makopondo ’84 is the associate dean of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the Kenya Polytechnic University College in Nairobi, Kenya.

Paul Skrobot ’84 is the director of operations for Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. He was a board member of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, Broward Chapter for two years until mid-2012.

Brian Weston ’84 now owns 20 Hooters restaurants following the opening of his newest outlet in Phoenix, which seats more than 450 and featured 22 flat screen TVs, a wraparound indoor/outdoor patio and a fire pit.

Bertila Soto ’86 was named chief judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida in February. She is the first woman, first Cuban-American and first FIU graduate to serve as chief judge of the circuit.

Eric Schwartz ’87 is based in Philadelphia, where he serves as an account executive with Singer Equipment Company, the fourth largest equipment and supply distributor to the food service industry in the U.S.

John Masi ’88 is a professor at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. His consulting business, Hospitality Performance Partners, recently completed the development of a formal wine and spirits training course for crewmembers who work on international yachts.

1990s

Jan Rozenveld ’90 is general manager of the Ace Hotel in New York City.

Michael Internoscia ’91 was named director of sales for the Marina Palms Yacht Club & Residences in January.

Anthony Leone ’91, president of Energy Kitchen, just opened his 15th restaurant and his first in South Florida, on Ponce de Leon Boulevard in Coral Gables.

Hussein Shawbaki ’91 is the operations manager of the royal palaces, home to members of the Jordanian royal family of the Royal Hashemite Court.

Pedro Cevallos ’92 was named executive director of College Bridge in the summer of 2012. After graduating from FIU’s College of Education, he earned his MS from Penn State and doctorate in educational leadership and entrepreneurship from UCLA.

Constantino Papadopulos ’93 is general manager of Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Hialeah-Miami Lakes.

Jose E. Cueto ’96 was named senior vice president of the corporate banking team of First Bank.

Christian Dammert ’96 is director of operations for Shula’s Steak Houses.

Adriana Para-Simon ’96 is director of sales and marketing for Holiday Inn Coral Gables.

Tim Andriola ’97 and Rodrigo Martinez ’90, the masterminds behind the highly acclaimed Timo restaurant in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., are working on another eatery just two doors away.

Stephanie S. Thomas ’99 was the recipient of the 2013 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Scholarship-South Florida Chapter. Thomas is currently pursuing her Master’s of Science degree in Health Informatics and Management Systems at FIU. 

2000s

Andreas Schreiner ’00 and his business partners have opened their third Pubbelly restaurant on South Beach, this one focused exclusively on steak.

Melissa Tapanes Llahues ’00 has been named a full partner and shareholder of the firm Bercow Radell & Fernandez. She is among the youngest female equity partners in South Florida. In addition, she serves as chairwoman of the City of Doral’s Design District steering committee and chairwoman of the FIU President’s Council World’s Ahead Faculty Award Committee. She was recently named to Brickell Magazine’s “20 under 40” list.

Darah Zeledon MS ’00 recently debuted her first book, Girl with the Crooked Smile: Stuck in a Moment, released by Sterling Publishing Group. “It’s a moving, cross-cultural read that suggests a paradigm shift in the way we handle life adversity,” she said. A portion of the proceeds will go to Florida Initiative for Suicide Prevention in the name of Zeledon’s brother, Adam Silverman, who committed suicide in 2006.

Matthew W. Slotkin ’01 has become director of insurance recruitment for American Recruiters. He leads a team in finding and working with the top 20 percent of insurance professionals to help them find increasingly better opportunities within the field. He is married to Heather and has three children, Nathanael, Josephine and Sarahbeth.

Art Davis ’02 is a broker and the owner of Platinum Plus Realty in Miami.

Holly Ursino ’03 is the senior sales manager at The Ritz-Carlton New York at Battery Park in lower Manhattan.

Claudia S. Santiano ’04 became the vice president of the client management group for Professional Bank. In this role she leads the bank’s new-business development efforts. Before joining Professional Bank, she served as assistant vice president and sales director and in other top executive roles for other local banks.

Juan D’Arce ’05 has been named co-chair for the Corporate Social Responsibility Subcommittee of the Adecco Group North America. The group will develop local and national partnerships with community leaders, organizations, schools and businesses in the communities served by his company. D’Arce is a member of the Leadership Miami Committee and a teaching fellow of the Florida Supreme Court Teaching Institute.

Kevin Codorniu ’05 is assistant executive housekeeper for Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort.

Jesille Peters ’05 is the marketing officer for the division of tourism and transportation for the island of Tobago.

Elena Balsinde ’06 and Cesar Martinez ’08 were married on June 30, 2012, at St. Agatha Catholic Church followed by their reception in the Graham Center Ballrooms at the Modesto A. Maidique Campus.

Carlos Carranza ’06 was named real estate analyst with Holliday Fenoglio Fowler. Previously he was an analyst at Rialto Capital Advisors.

Diana Beltran ’07 is working on a master’s degree in sustainability management at Columbia University in New York City. She manages environmental programs for Wyndham Hotel Group and Wyndham Worldwide.

Onica Charles ’07 led FIU students during spring break in March on a mission in her native Guyana, where the group helped spruce up a nursery school. The next month she took a separate, non-FIU group to Durban, South Africa, to assist with outreach at a health clinic. Charles is the founder and CEO of International Children’s Outreach, a charity that caters to youngsters around the world.

David Irizarri ’07, MS ’11, recently began working as director of information technology and services for Northwest Medical Center in Margate, Fla. Previously he served as associate director of IT for Plantation General Hospital.

Michelle Jean ’07 is recruitment and placement specialist for Club Med.

Michael Macias ’07 was named small business relationship manager for TD bank in Coral Gables. Previously he was business banking relationship manager at SunTrust Bank and small business banker at Fifth and Third Bank.

Kristina Sanchez ’07 and Christopher Mur ’10 were married on March 23 after an almost eight-year courtship that began at FIU. Kristina is the production manager in FIU’s publications office and pursuing her master’s degree in English. Christopher is a technical support engineer at Pace Americas.

Angie Fajardo ’08, a journalist in West Palm Beach, and her husband Leo are working to get the Grabit Robot into general production and distribution. They funded their creative project through Kickstarter and are hoping their multi-purpose holder, useful for either home or office, will take off.

Luis Garcia ’08 is the director of operations at the Villas at Doral, a Marriott Vacation Club hotel not far from FIU’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus.

Zachary Weil JD ’09 was recently interviewed by GQ Magazine Australia for his film Taste It: A Comedy About the Recession. The Miami-based film earned an “Award of Merit” in July 2012 at The Indie Fest, an international awards competition for independent filmmakers worldwide. The film is scheduled for an online release this April. He is currently developing a web series called Writer’s Block.

2010s

Angelica M. Lagunas ’11 works as a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at South Miami Hospital, where she is launching a project to help decrease the need for early blood transfusions in pre-term babies. Lagunas is also enrolled in a dual degree graduate program from which she will earn both master’s and doctoral degrees in nursing with a focus on neonatal care.

Jose Pagilery ’11 is now covering small business on a national beat as a staff reporter for CNNMoney.com. Those who want to stay in touch with Pagilery and follow his stories can do so via Twitter @jose_pagilery.

Sanjeev Udhnani ’12 served as an intern in FIU’s Office of Federal Relations in Washington, D.C., during the spring term. He previously advocated for FIU at the state and federal level as vice president of the Student Government Association. He has also interned in the FIU Office of the Treasurer and with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This summer he is planning to bike ride from California to the nation’s capital on behalf of Push America, which raises awareness of and funds for children with disabilities.

In Memoriam

Ann Showell Mariner ’76 passed away on January 27 at the age of 61. A graduate of the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, she returned to Ocean City, Md., where she spent her entire professional career working in the family business, the Castle in the Sand Hotel. She became a co-owner of the business and saw its expansion into the Bahamas as the Green Turtle Club. She and husband A. Reginald Mariner II also created Mariners Country Down in Berlin, Md., a seasonal venue for weddings and other events.

By Ryan Jones | Photos by Doug Garland ’10

Richard Pitino calls it the “one-day plan.” It is not a complicated thing.

It may be a sports cliché, but for a first-time head coach, treating each game, each practice, and each drill as an opportunity to improve is the only sane option. That’s especially true at a young, ambitious program, where tradition is being built right before fans’ eyes. Whatever Pitino’s long-term goals, he insists that success this season, and for the foreseeable future, will be measured in 24-hour increments.

“People ask about my five-year plan, but I’ve got a one-day plan,” says Pitino, who in April became the seventh head coach in FIU hoops history. “We’re trying to build a culture of hard work, and we’re going to do it the right way. We’re just trying to take it one day at a time.”

It’s a philosophy that seems to fly in the face of impatient, impetuous youth, and thus might seem unlikely from one of the youngest coaches in Division I basketball—unlikely, at least, until you remember Pitino’s lineage and experience. The 2005 Providence College graduate (he served as a student manager with the Friars), he’s the son of Rick Pitino, the University of Louisville head coach with more than 600 career victories and an NCAA championship to his name. And in his relatively brief coaching career, the younger Pitino has worked as an assistant for both his father and for Billy Donovan, the University of Florida coach who has won a pair of national titles with the Gators. If genetics and time spent under top-notch mentors are any indication, Pitino knows what he’s doing.

And while it’s far too early to judge by results, Pitino’s players are happy to vouch for their new coach.

“On the court, he’s always on us trying to get that little bit extra out of you. He always pushes you to the limit,” says Gaby Belardo, a senior guard who transferred from Canisius. “But he really is that person that transforms every time he gets off the court. He’s a great guy, he has a smile all day.”

“For us, it’s not so much his name, but the experience he has,” adds senior forward Tola Akomolafe. “He’s energetic, he’s extremely well organized. But he’s a really fun coach, too. He’s putting the spirit of fun back into the game for us.”

Video: CollegeInsider.com’s All-Access with FIU

It’s the template for any successful coach in modern college athletics: One who can strike the ideal balance between pushing his players to excel and letting them find the joy in teamwork, competition and victory. For Pitino, finding that balance is about work ethic, preparation and execution; it’s also about style. “I want to play a fast, high-octane style—I want to press, I want to run up and down the court,” he says. It’ll be fun for fans and players alike—and if he can get the right student-athletes to fit that style, it’s likely to win a lot of basketball games.

His credentials make clear why president Mark Rosenberg and athletic director Pete Garcia chose Pitino; knowing how he wants his teams to play, and the sort of players he needs to do it, helps explain why Pitino chose FIU. “I didn’t know much about FIU when Pete called, but I always knew with my first job, I wanted a place that could be attractive for recruiting,” Pitino says. “With Miami, you’re talking about one of the best cities in the world. When I came on campus, I was blown away by how developed it was, how big it was, how many students, just how many opportunities there are for these kids.”

With Conference USA play set to begin next season, and recently renovated facilities on par with any in the nation, the Panthers have plenty to offer potential recruits. Now, they have one of the brightest young coaching minds in the game. Pitino, who spent last season as Louisville’s associate head coach, is eager to do his part. “Going through last year, where I had a lot of responsibility, I just had a confidence about me,” he says. “It was the first time that I felt I was really ready.”

Now settled in Miami with his wife, Jill, and their young daughter, Pitino has his chance to prove it. Yes, it’s his first time in charge, but he’s learned beside two of the best coaches in the game. Yes, he’s young, but he emphasizes the benefit of being not far removed from the stresses and expectations of the young men he now leads. And no, FIU basketball isn’t yet on the level of Louisville or Florida. But as Pitino said upon his introduction, “The sky is the limit with this university.”

The plan is to get there by reaching a little higher every day.  ♦

Not too shabby a way to go through college – playing sand volleyball.

By Pete Pelegrin | Photos by Josh Ritchie

The brand that Podschweit, Stepanova and the rest of the inaugural FIU sand volleyball team will play this spring is a far cry from the bikinis and golden tans that some might have envisioned. For starters, when the NCAA established it as a collegiate sport last year, modest clothing was regulated. And, as the world discovered during the Olympics (when it was called “beach volleyball”), this is a fast-moving sport that demands high endurance. Unlike indoor volleyball, which has each team sending six players onto the court, sand volleyball is a killer two-on-two game.

The sport captured international headlines during the 2012 Summer Olympics when Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings won a third straight gold medal for the United States, and there’s buzz at FIU.

“A lot of people tell me it’s a great sport. It’s in the Olympics,” Podschweit said. “For the most part, when people find out about beach volleyball at FIU, they’re excited to see what it’s all about.”

When FIU officially starts its first season in March, the Panthers’ five doubles teams will be led by Rita Buck-Crockett, a two-time Olympian and 2011 Volleyball Hall of Fame inductee.

“We have everything,” Buck-Crockett said. “We’ve got small players that are really crafty. We got big players that can bang the ball, and then we have players that can do both.”

A key asset the Panthers have going into the first season is three-time All-American Stepanova, an FIU graduate student originally from Latvia. Also a seasoned indoor player, she brings a wealth of experience, including competitive play in the first-ever NCAA sand volleyball Final Four last year when she was an FSU undergrad.

“I felt I had an advantage when I got here because I had already played a year of sand volleyball,” Stepanova said. “With that extra year you learn how teams play and what I need to improve on.”

None of that is lost on Stepanova’s teammates.

“She is amazing. I have learned so much from her,” Podschweit said. “Personally, I like playing against her more because that makes my defense better. She knows exactly where the defender is going every time she puts the ball away. So I’ve made it a point before I go up to swing to look across the court to see where the defenders are.”

The Panthers will play most home matches at new courts on the Modesto A. Maidique Campus, and FIU will also host some “home” tournaments on South Beach.

“South Beach is huge,” Stepanova said. “People are going to be there and see there is sand volleyball at FIU. So we’re excited.”  ♦

Skip to decade: 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s

1970s

Carlota M. Van der Eijk ’77 is the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Managementrepresentative to the FIU Alumni Association.

1980s

Raj K. Singh ’80, the general manager of the Sea View Hotel in Bal Harbour, Fla., was appointed chairman of the Greater Miami & the Beaches Hotel Association.

Craig A. Hulford ’83 is the area general manager for the New Orleans Hotel Collection, which includes the Bourbon Orleans, Hotel Mazarin and the Hotel Le Marais.

Gonzalo E. De Varona ’85 is the president of Viva Gaming LLC, which recently opened an office in Miami.

Carlos J. Martinez ’85, Miami-Dade County public defender, received the UM Law Leadership Award last fall in recognition of his dedication to public citizenship and leadership. Martinez was recently re-elected, unopposed, to a second term. He has instituted numerous programs to help troubled youth get back on the right track. He also has been active in addressing the crisis of minority children going from school to prison, protecting the confidentiality of juvenile records and ending the indiscriminate shackling of detained children in juvenile courtrooms.

Raimundo Lopez-Lima Levi ’86, the founder and managing partner of Lopez Levi, a Coral Gables-based boutique international tax and consulting firm, oversaw the company’s acquisition of the Homestead-based firm of Pierce & Bowen, CPA. Lopez Levi & Associates’ new addition will enable the firm to serve its “growing commodities and agriculture practice.”

Margaret A. Benua MS ’89 is the general manager of the Dream South Beach Hotel.

1990s

Michael Cooper ’91 was promoted to hotel manager of the three InterContinental properties serving the Cleveland Clinic.

Suria D. K. Plante ’96 is the area manager for South Florida and the Caribbean for the InterContinental Hotels Group.

Rafael E. Martinez-Pratts ’97 is assistant director of the Small Business Development Center at UCF. He is responsible for managing the center’s satellite office in Kissimmee, Fla., and providing consulting services, seminars and workshops designed to assist clients in Osceola County with starting or growing more successful businesses.

2000s

Matthew J. Kuscher ’00 opened LoKal Burgers & Beer on Commodore Place in Coconut Grove, Fla.

Cossette Fernandez Larrea ’02, MS ’04, a certified public accountant, has joined Markham Norton Mosteller Wright & Company P.A. as a member of the tax team.

Viviana Leyva ’01, MS ’03 is director of HR Operations for the Eden Roc Renaissance Miami Beach.

Michael A. Hernandez ’04, MPA ’11 and his wife Christine welcomed a son, Brian Michael, on Sept. 26 in Pembroke Pines.

Duty D. Greene ’05 and Kristina D. Medina ’07, both College of Business graduates, were married on April 14, 2012, at St. Jude Church on Brickell Ave. in Miami.

Mfonobong Essiet ’06, a second-year medical student at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science – Chicago Medical School, has completed her reign as Miss Black Florida 2012. She went on to compete in the Miss Black USA pageant and says the pageant experience helped her come out of her shell. It was an opportunity “to reach a wider audience with a positive message about making progress in society.”

Heather Radi-Bermudez ’06, MS ’12, and her husband Mark welcomed their first son, Endre Christian, on July 26.

Janet Dacal ’07, whose Broadway credits include Wonderland (she played a grown-up Alice) and In the Heights (she originated the role of beautician Carla), recently wowed South Florida audiences with what one reviewer called her “glorious voice” during a musical production at the Miracle Theater in Coral Gables.

Jouvens Jean ’08 is the chef de cuisine at the Atlantico Restaurant at the new St. Regis resort in Bal Harbour, Fla.

Paul McCall ’08, MS ’10, a former winning quarterback for FIU, is working toward a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering at FIU and has earned recognition for his scholarly work from the Air Force Research Laboratory at the Kirtland Air Force Base. His dream is to be an astronaut.

Christopher E. Crenshaw CRME ’09 is the vice president of strategic development at Smith Travel Research.

2010s

Stephanie Navas ’10 and sister Kristine Navas ’11 have combined the skills they learned at the College of Business Administration and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, respectively, by launching Closet Deep, an online clothing boutique that combines the sisters’ “trendy, edgy and classic styles.”

Stephany Alvarez-Ventura ’11 earned a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant for her first place finish in the Outstanding Thesis in Food and Agricultural Sciences Competition 2013.  Read more about Alvarez-Ventura’s research on FIU News.

Juan Sebastian Gil ’11, who majored in political science and graduated from the Honors College, has embarked on graduate studies and research at the prestigious Oxford University, where he will pursue a master’s degree in Latin American studies. His long-term plans include obtaining a doctoral degree in international relations and dedicating his career to diplomacy.   ♦

In greeting the FIU community for the first time on Jan. 4, Turner made a point of talking the football players in the room about why he loves being a head coach. “I love the relationships you build with student-athletes and their families. They are ones that last forever,” he said.

Turner also acknowledged the achievements of his predecessor Mario Cristobal, who led the team to its first winning season, two bowl invitations, and first bowl victory. He instilled in his players a culture of discipline and hard work. Two of them were drafted into the NFL, including superstar TY Hilton ’12, who is having an outstanding season with the Indianapolis Colts. The history of this university can be told through the stories of our founders and builders, individuals like Cristobal with the drive, talent and vision to create success. We, the fans, thank him for giving us some of the most pride-filled moments in university history.

And now Turner will usher FIU’s football program into the next era of success as we move from theSun Belt Conference to Conference USA. I look forward to cheering from the stands as FIU football continues to rise under Turner’s leadership.

Finally, we at the FIU Magazine said goodbye in December 2012 to Associate Editor Martin Haro ’05. Martin was my former student in the School of Journalism and after he graduated, was by my side for many years building the magazine you are reading now. When I moved to Japan in 2008 for my husband’s Fulbright Fellowship, Martin took the reigns of the magazine in my absence. He wrote countless stories and in the process, built lasting relationships with many alumni, students, faculty and staff. I already miss him, as do many others, and I thank him for all his hard work and good humor.

Until next time,

— Deborah O’Neil MA ‘09

Job seekers today generally have it tough, but college graduates see the doors open much more often than their less-educated peers. While real challenges remain even for those with degrees, the picture continues to improve. Since the start of the recession, the number of jobs for those holding a bachelor’s or higher has increased by 2.2 million.

Nationally, just one in two new college graduates will find full-time work within a few months of walking across the commencement stage, and many of those will take jobs that do not require bachelor’s degrees. At FIU, statistics for recent graduates mirror the national numbers.

To put future grads in an even better position to land the best jobs, the university is fostering new opportunities to help them stand out. Going beyond the traditional career fairs and resume writing workshops—important staples that students increasingly rely on in a tight economy—FIU is placing greater emphasis on providing the kind of hands-on, real-world experiences that resonate with prospective employers across all sectors.

Through internships, fellowships and partnerships with public and private organizations, FIU is creating pathways to employment. The new Office of Engagement was established, in part, to help students to go into the community and hone marketable knowledge and skills. Building on the type of collaborations that academic units and the Office of Career Services have often tackled, Engagement is actively tapping local and national companies, governments and nonprofits that welcome student talent while offering training, mentoring and, in the ideal scenario, a paycheck.

“The value for students is in the hands-on application of academic knowledge before applying for a position” says Douglas Wartzok, provost and executive vice president. “Internships also provide students with unique connections to professionals in the field and potential employers.”

Internships

Irma Becerra-Fernandez, interim vice president for engagement, emphasizes that students participate in a variety of different kinds of internships. These include activities that offer a taste of what a student might like to consider in a future career, as well as activities, such as in the colleges of nursing and education, that are required for graduation. Some the university helps find, and others students research on their own. “In self-reported data,” Becerra-Fernandez says, “nearly 40 percent say they had an internship before graduation.”

A university-wide initiative aims to increase that number by consolidating and centralizing information about available internships. The goal: establish, as early as May, an online portal that will give employers seeking talent and students seeking opportunities access to a single resource that can result in a perfect match.

A student’s foray into meaningful work can pay off big. Approximately 60 percent of 2012 college graduates who took part in paid internships received at least one job offerfiu , according to a study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Jesus David Borrero ’12 understands that progression well. He was one of ten students who went to work for the City of Sweetwater in the fall of 2011 as part of an ongoing agreement that FIU brainstormed and struck with the mayor’s office.

“If it wasn’t for the internship, I would not be working at the city now,” says Borrero, an Honors College graduate who majored in political science. Time spent taking residents’ phone calls, assisting the mayor’s chief of staff and interacting with several city departments eventually led to a full-time post as a grants administrator. “The hands-on experience I obtained as an intern is what made me the most qualified for this position when it opened,” he says.

Miami-Dade County government also looks to FIU as a source of potential hires. Each semester internship administrator Lee-Ann Dizon comes to campus to interview students with majors as varied as English, public administration and civil engineering to fill as many as 25 internship slots.

“An underlying goal is really, hopefully, to hire these students in the future as opportunities arise,” says Dizon, who encourages students to stay in touch after their semester with the county ends. “We give sfflpriority to our interns. Our top management was once interns.”

In the fall the university held its first-ever internship fair, and in November it introduced its newest opportunity: the Connect for Good internship program. That collaboration with Catalyst Miami will pair up to 50 students each semester with 30 local nonprofit organizations.

Corporate Partnerships

FIU actively develops innovative, customized university-corporate partnerships to advance shared goals. FIU’s central Career Services office and the various academic units have established relationships to help facilitate organizations’ engagement with students.

Insurance giant State Farm, for example, has for several years supported activities that align with its corporate mission while promoting invaluable hands-on learning opportunities.

In 2010 the company provided a grant to the College of Business for the State Farm Literacy Lab, which gives FIU students a chance to work directly with local high school students to teach them the skills to make informed personal financial decisions. In 2012 the company made a donation in support of FIU’s Discovery Lab in the School of Computing and Information Sciences, where computer science majors conduct research and develop programming to solve real-world challenges.

Don Dye, a college relations recruiter for State Farm, says the company’s monetary contributions come without strings. “State Farm’s culture is, when we make a gift, we don’t expect anything from it. It’s not a quid pro quo; it’s good will,” he explains. But he agrees that the awareness that comes with having a name on campus serves the company well at recruiting time.

This summer 12 FIU students will be among a national group of 200 that participate in State Farm’s internship program at the headquarters in Bloomington, Ill. Half of the FIU contingent will work in the IT department, an area the company is eager to fill with high-quality candidates.

“We have an ongoing need for the best talent,” Dye states, “and FIU’s is a top-five computer science program.”

Over in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, a university-corporate collaboration has essentially turned FIU students into experienced reporters with the goal of helping them obtain proficiency—and clips—that will lead to paying jobs. The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post and The South Florida Sun-Sentinel have together partnered with the school to create the South Florida News Service, a source for student-produced news. In a typical semester, more than 40 articles and 20 videos by students are printed or posted online by the newspapers, and the plan is for students to expand their coverage from strictly local happenings to national and even international news in the near future.

Participation in this and other opportunities at the school—such as the Hispanic Media Futures program, a partnership with Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo that offers training and mentoring to journalism, advertising and public relations majors—has become critical to finding work after graduation, explains Teresa Ponte, chair of the departments of journalism and broadcast.

“Through the South Florida News Service, employers are paying attention to our students,” Ponte says. She stresses that only those with some fieldwork in their background have any hope of securing paid positions, as on-the-job training no longer exists in the journalism industry.

“[New graduates] have to come in knowing more than the basics,” Ponte says. When it comes time to meet with interviewers, “Unless you have good hands-on experience, you won’t even get a call.”

Already several students have acquired jobs as a direct result of their work for the news service, and still others have parlayed that experience into internships and freelance assignments.

The mutual benefits of corporate partnerships are further visible in the creation of the Florida Power & Light customer-service center on the Modesto A. Maidique Campus, a satellite call center that is staffed solely by students. The unique operation allows FIU students to begin a career path with one of the state’s largest employers while still in school.

Entry into the program is competitive and rigorous—applicants give formal presentations as part of the interview process, and only 15-20 percent will make it—but once accepted, students can look forward to high-level mentoring and a chance to shadow professionals in the local corporate office.

Such situations provide an ideal learning environment for students, but employers likewise reap huge rewards. While many feel a civic responsibility to support the training and career aspirations of the next generation, all keenly understand that giving hungry young people a solid trial period in which to prove themselves is simply good business.

In FPL’s case, setting up the call center has proved invaluable for the company. “The main reason we did this was to create a student pipeline from FIU to FPL,” explains Andres Martinez, manager of operations. More than 20 students have already been offered positions as managers and business analysts upon graduating.

Federal Connections

FIU’s Washington D.C.-based Office of Federal Relations in the past year has stepped up efforts to help meet students’ growing interest in serving in federal agencies.

“We’re doing what we’re doing at the right time,” says Carlos Becerra, director of the office, who cites President Obama’s August signing of an executive order calling for the hiring of more minorities. “We have a diverse student population, so we’re positioned well.”

FIU leaders have met with officials at the Department of State to explore stronger research and fellowship opportunities and will do the same at the departments of Homeland Security and Defense, among others. The goal is to attract federal grants similar to two of the university’s largest: one from the Department of Energy (DOE), the other from NASA. These support not only high-level faculty research but also student fellowships that combine on-campus education with work at government sites.

Seventy-eight students to date have participated as DOE fellows, including Rosa Elmetti ’08, who majored in biomedical engineering. She spent a semester at DOE headquarters in Washington, D.C., an experience that helped her land a full-time job with the agency, where her work today involves identifying appropriate technologies for environmental cleanup abroad.

“I felt I was given the right tools to go into that environment,” says Elmetti, who adds that her insider knowledge of the DOE’s mission was a plus when vying for the highly competitive job. “If you’re not confident in what you know and what you can provide to the organization, then the opportunity is going to go to somebody else.”

A Culture of Work

And while internships and fellowships provide the type of concentrated activity that helps a student stand out at interview time, “regular work” has its place too.

The Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management has an office charged with keeping its more than 2,000 majors employed throughout their academic years at a wide array of companies within the industry. One-on-one career development training, industry networking events and a dedicated job-search engine provide year-round support for a student body that must work 1,000 hours as part of graduation requirements and an additional 300 hours for internship credit. The school places great emphasis on real-world exposure, with the goal of putting students on track to land management-level positions after completing the program.

“We encourage them to get a job as soon as they can,” says Diann Newman, assistant dean for student services. “The sooner they prove how great they are to their company or industry, the sooner they will be able to move to a higher position.”

Most FIU students, regardless of their majors, work throughout their academic years, some of them full time. Even when the work does not correlate directly with their career aspirations, the time invested can pay dividends in terms of instilling discipline, acquiring job references and building a professional network.

That work experience, when coupled with any “educationally purposeful activities” can lead to new graduates’ eventually finding employment in their area of interest, says Engagement’s Becerra-Fernandez. She includes in the latter category everything from study abroad programs, service-learning courses and undergraduate research opportunities to, for arts majors, participation in on-campus performances and exhibitions.

“As part of a broad category of experiential learning, all of that counts.”   ♦

Employers interested in hiring interns or recruiting FIU students or graduates to fill open positions should contact FIU Career Services at 305-348-2423.

By Steve Fain

In February 2012, we launched the Ignite campaign, the first university-wide internal fundraising effort in FIU history. Today, we celebrate the fact that 2,313 employees raised more than $2 million in a few short months.

This campaign asked faculty and staff to make a commitment to supporting our university through donor directed giving. This program allows faculty and staff to identify areas within the university they wish to support and direct their gift to that precise area. But, more than that, faculty and staff were encouraged to unleash their imaginations and passions to create and support meaningful projects as giving opportunities within the campaign.

I agreed to chair this campaign because I believe in community and I believe in giving back. In my office there is a poster on the wall posing three questions raised by the Talmudic scholar Hillel: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am only for myself, what am I? And, If not now, when?” As chair of the Ignite campaign, I consider these challenges regularly; and in one way or another, I pose these questions to our FIU community.

There were many who understood the significance of the Ignite campaign and the idea of giving back. School of Journalism and Mass Communication Dean Emeritus Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver committed $1 million and established The Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication. Provost and Executive Vice President Douglas Wartzok and his wife Sue, who is a university librarian, contributed to sustaining the Amernet String Quartet in the School of Music. The staff in Human Resources created the Berta D. Villares Book Scholarship Award to honor a special colleague and to help purchase textbooks for FIU faculty and staff using FIU tuition waivers.

Others earmarked their gifts for specific funds and endowments, including $83,652 directed to the First Generation Scholarship Fund by 228 members of our FIU family. Those dollars support students who are the first in their families to attend college and donations are matched by the state. This year marked the first time since the program’s inception that FIU surpassed the state match allocation for the First Generation Scholarships. In all, FIU raised more than $1 million and, through Ignite, FIU employees were essential to that success.

In every corner of the university, passions were ignited as 100 new fundraising projects were created by individuals and groups committed to advancing particular efforts and interests. For example, the College of Architecture & The Arts created a fund to support the FIU Debate Team, as well as 10 scholarship funds to support students in an array of majors. They have already raised nearly $9,000. Building on a grant secured by Professor Diana Valle-Riestra, faculty and staff in the College of Education have established a collaboration with Miami-Dade Public Schools and Parent to Parent of Miami called Panther LIFE. This project allows students with intellectual disabilities to audit classes at FIU and experience college in ways many previously thought was out of reach. So far $20,000 has been raised to support the students of Panther LIFE.

There is a group committed to a five-year development plan for improving and sustaining the 11-acre Nature Preserve on the west side of the Modesto A. Maidique Campus. This band of passionate FIU citizens have thus far raised in excess of $5,000 in support of their vision.

FIU’s “Igniters” understand the importance of giving something back to the institution that not only employs them, but also contributes to a quality of life experience unique to FIU. I have derived great satisfaction from working with those who were excited about igniting a dream, a cause, or a project through directed giving.

Today, I believe that the spirit of philanthropy is rising within FIU. Strengthened by our success, I believe that as we begin to move into year two of the Ignite campaign more and more of our colleagues will recognize that they do make a consequential difference when they give back. I believe we enrich our community when we Ignite the spirit of philanthropy across the university.

These are exciting times at FIU and the Ignite campaign is one energy source that fuels this excitement. At the launch of the campaign, President Mark Rosenberg observed that although other major universities often conduct faculty and staff fundraising campaigns, FIU had never. He went on to explain that we were afraid to ask. When we did finally muster the courage to ask, we were gratified to find so many who participated with enthusiasm and generosity.  ♦

Steve Fain is a Founding University Professor, a professor emeritus in the College of Education and an Honors College Fellow. He is also chair of the university’s Faculty & Staff Campaign. To make a contribution, visit the Ignite website.

On a warm and humid April day in 1513, Juan Ponce de León saw the vibrant colors of a blooming landscape and dense greenery from his ship. He had found a new land to conquer. A land he supposed had riches and resources to no end. A land that he would claim for Spain, “la madre patria.” And, most importantly, a land that he would give a Spanish name, to commemorate “la Pascua Florida,” in honor of the Easter season.

“La Florida,” as he named the land, was home to nearly 350,000 natives that belonged to more than two dozen tribes, including the Seminoles, the Ais, the Tequesta and the Mayaimi. It is suggested that Ponce de León landed somewhere between Cape Canaveral and Jacksonville and was most likely met by the Timucua, who were a peaceful and agricultural society.

This year, Florida commemorates the 500th anniversary of Juan Ponce de León’s arrival with cultural and artistic events across the state. At FIU, award-winning historian and Professor Sherry Johnson has released a book on the subject. The Frost Art Museum will host a yearlong series of exhibitions on the theme of the 500th Anniversary. And the Office of Engaged Creativity in the College of Architecture + the Arts is hosting a large-scale participatory art project called FLOR500 (view slideshow).

While Ponce de Leon’s time in Florida was short, his impact was significant. In 1521, on his second attempt to sail through the modern-day Caloosahatchee River to establish a colony, the Calusa denied entrance to the conquistadors. This battle proved deadly for Ponce de León, who was wounded by a poisoned arrow and retreated to Cuba, where he later died.

The Spanish explorer and soldier is credited with establishing the oldest European settlement in Puerto Rico, being the first to arrive in the continental U.S., discovering the Gulf Stream, and, most importantly, introducing the great influence of Spanish culture and language that is still prevalent in the state of Florida. Yet, Ponce de León’s name has become synonymous with the Fountain of Youth.

Historians note that written history of Ponce de León’s unfulfilled search for a legendary spring that gave people eternal life and health didn’t appear until many years after his death. The origin of the legend is traced back to the docks, where Spanish sailors exchanged tales of battles and riches. Perhaps it was a rumor created by ship captains to encourage would-be sailors to enlist in the sometimes treacherous and deadly journey to the New World. What is known for sure is that the legend has endured almost as long as Ponce de Leon’s arrival.  ♦

*Special thanks to Sherry Johnson for contributing to this article.

As a professor, you bring to the table something other than your ability to do research and to teach. You bring a personal aspect. Even as a little girl starting out in low-income housing, I had the biggest ability to dream and always believed that, despite obstacles, staying positive would allow me to achieve more. As a nontraditional student with two small children and a job as a secretary, I completed my undergraduate degree at night. While working toward a master’s degree, I heard about an organization that encourages minorities to pursue a Ph.D. in business. I attended a conference, called the Ph.D. Project, on the subject and soon after applied and was accepted to several schools. Getting a Ph.D. allowed me to fully understand that the world is an ocean of knowledgeinto which I should continuously cast my fishing line to discover more. Today I facilitate seminars for FIU’s College of Business under a new program for undergraduates called the Ph.D. Pipeline. In any organization you want diversity, and currently minorities are severely underrepresented on the faculty of business schools across the country. Our primary message is that getting a Ph.D. is challenging but also rewarding. I believe that if you are self-disciplined and self-motivated and can persevere, you have the needed foundation. Everything else can be learned. I don’t go into class talking about my background or race. I teach the same material as everyone else, but I think seeing me gives all of my students another image of what a professor can look like and perhaps a vision of what they might achieve.

See more Worlds Ahead faculty profiles >

• Sports Reporter, WSVN Miami
• Lifetime Member, FIU Alumni Association
• Bachelor’s in mass communication (broadcast journalism)

Q: What are your fondest memories of FIU?

A fond FIU sports memory is FIU’s upset of Michigan in basketball in 1998! I’m glad I was there to witness it!

Q: When did the news bug bite you?

A: I’ve always loved sports, and when I realized I wasn’t the strongest, or fastest, I thought, “Why not do the next best thing?” That’s when I decided I wanted to cover the fastest and the strongest athletes and get paid for it.

Q: You got your first TV job at ESPN as a production assistant. What was it like to step into that world for the first time?

A: Everyone knows it can be tough to break into this business. I took that job with a plan and a gamble to get in front of the camera, and it worked out. I worked my tail off to get to the next level, and it totally paid off.

Q: Which stories do find the most satisfying?

A: The human interest stories are by far my favorite. I really enjoy reporter involvement stories where I’m in the trenches.

Q: Has covering sports taught you anything about human nature?

A: Yeah, people like it when you are yourself and not a big stiff. I do my best to relate to whomever I’m interviewing and it seems to work for me.

Q: You served our country in the U.S. Army for three years. How, if at all, has that influenced the way you work?

A: Serving in the U.S. Army has helped me be a more rounded and responsible individual. I can honestly say that my discipline was instilled by my parents but refined by the U.S. Army. Every good reporter must have more than talent. Patience and discipline are important professional traits in this business.

Q: Is there a sport that – in your dreams – you would have liked to take up professionally?

A: Growing up I always wanted to be a professional baseball player. I really wanted to be Darryl Strawberry.  ♦

Read about more Very Important Panthers.

Photos by Doug Garland ’10

The Alexander brothers – FIU alumni Juan Carlos ’04, Nicholas ’07 and Andrew ’12 – are bound by the sweet stuff at home and at the office. The three work together at Tierra Nueva Fine Cocoa & Chocolate Specialists, a company founded in 2009 by their father, John.

“It’s fun seeing my brothers every day,” Andrew says. “I don’t really know a lot of people who get to say that. We’re close anyway, so it’s great to be in business with one another. It’s one of the perks.”

In collaboration with one of their international partners – Brazil’s Cruz family, which has a 130-year legacy of expertise in cocoa and chocolate – the Alexanders are well on their way to cornering the private-label market in South Florida.

Chocolate creations

At their 50,000-square-foot Miami Gardens headquarters, their 44-person-strong team can produce as much as 1.6 million pounds of chocolate each month. That includes the store brands sold by well-known South Florida retailers like Sedano’s supermarkets and Navarro pharmacies.

“We can provide a service for smaller stores. Our minimum order isn’t what Hershey would want,” says Nicholas, explaining that the company accepts orders to manufacture as little as 3,000 pounds at a time – about five palettes – and even has an in-house designer on staff to develop customized packaging for clients.

“We’re involved with the product every step of the way,” Juan Carlos adds.

The company’s goods reach well beyond the local community: Tierra Nueva makes, among others, the Norwegian Cruise Line chocolate bars, sold shipboard in the gift shop, and the Chocolate Rico peddled to tourists in Puerto Rico.

Based on their own feasibility study and the potential they see in private labeling – currently only 3 percent of chocolate made in the United States carries a small-brand name, as compared with more than 30 percent in Europe – the brothers feel very confident moving forward.

“We’re going to keep growing because a lot of people are looking for something at a value-brand cost with a premium taste,” Nicholas explains. “We see a long, fruitful future in this.”

A family affair

A Cuban exile who has called South Florida home since 1959, John Alexander could not be prouder that three of his five children have chosen to take ownership in one of his companies. (He has another son, Eric ’08, who works for his grandfather, and a daughter, Sophia, who is attending college in Boston.)

“They’re all learning the business, and you want someone to carry on what you’ve started,” says the patriarch, whose diverse portfolio included a freight company in the ’80s and now comprises export for duty-free ventures and travel retail enterprises. “Working together makes dinner very interesting.”

Dinnertime talk often centers on the business – or FIU Football.

“I’m a football fan,” Juan Carlos blurts out.

“He is!” Nicholas confirms. “He’s always telling stories about his time at FIU and taking me to the games.”

That camaraderie partly explains how the three have done so well in a relatively short time. In 2011 sales increased by more than 50 percent, and they have visions of continued growth this year.

Three heads for business

But love can get you only so far in business. Smart decisions and an innovative spirit form the base of their success.

“My father has also done a very good job of giving us responsibility and entrusting us with handling it,” says Nicholas, who takes care of the finances while Andrew covers sales and merchandising and lawyer Juan Carlos tends to legal issues. “These are all large responsibilities. We feel the pressure of not letting him down, as well as the pressure of working together.”

Understanding what’s been given to them has imbued the brothers with drive. Together they are manufacturing and marketing a promising new non-chocolate product. Tierra Nueva Coffee Thins use coffee beans in place of cocoa beans to create a unique pick-me-up. The sweet squares won a confection-industry award last year.

And while they’re thinking big in every aspect of their business, the Alexanders hold the company very close to their chocolate-soaked hearts. There’s no talk of growing the place to sell it off, for example.

“We want to pass this to our future generations,” Nicholas says. “We don’t look at making a dollar for tomorrow. We look at it for our family and the future of our family, so that we can all enjoy what we’ve been able to do here in the United States.”  ♦ 

Facts and figures

If you enjoyed this story and would like to receive FIU Magazine online, subscribe here: go.fiu.edu/subscribe.

With Sylvester on violin and Baptiste on viola, Black Violin has come a long way since their 2005 Apollo Theater Legend title. The School of Music alumni combine their passions of classical music and hip hop to create a unique sound that crosses genre boundaries.

“We’re actually rapping with our instruments,” Sylvester told  FIU Magazine  in 2007 . “I’ll come up with a beat and Wil finds a concept for it, or vice versa.”

Click here to read our full profile on Black Violin.

Here is a clip of their performance:
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Watch their latest music video below:

When I came to FIU in 2002 I didn’t know FIU Magazine existed, let alone that I would work in External Relations, the division that produces the magazine and FIU News, for almost seven years.

Heck, I didn’t know – I didn’t get – that one day I’d be expected to be an alumnus. I mean, sure, I knew everyone who had a hand in my going to college was looking ahead to graduation day, but that’s about it.

I chalk that up to never learning about the art, the compromise, of being an alumnus. I was born and raised in Lima, Peru, and after high school, I was on a plane to Miami, sitting in class first at Miami-Dade College and then at FIU. I essentially stayed gone and in the 305 from that moment on. Until now – I am back in Peru.

In the years in between, I didn’t participate in high school reunions because A) my friends started having them two years after we graduated and B) life happened. I got busier with school – I was very into finishing in four years (it took four and a half). I started working. And I was sorting me out. Not much of an alumnus there.

An opportunity, a community

In January 2006, I joined FIU as a staff writer. I had kept in touch with Deborah O’Neil, whom you may know as our magazine’s editor. I took a class she taught in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. I was there only when I absolutely had to be, but my assignments were always in, on time, and, evidently, on the right track. I promise I was working, not skipping.

For that entire first year working at FIU I was an Alumni Association member, and I didn’t know it. I remember being told something about it at commencement, but I didn’t register it, and I certainly didn’t take advantage of it. Miami-Dade started sending me mail at home around that time. I had moved twice by then, so I couldn’t help but wonder how they knew where to find me. Ditto for FIU. They weren’t asking for anything. They just wanted to engage me.

Working at FIU, I heard a lot of stories like mine – about Panthers who had that other quintessential college experience, the “juggling-act” one. Eventually, I learned how to be an alumnus by osmosis. I became a Panthers fan and rooted for them at FIU Stadium even though half the time I didn’t know where the ball was. Cheered on the volleyball and basketball teams, too.

Being an alumnus, I came to learn, is about gratitude. College really is the perfect time to get to know yourself, and I had a perfect set of circumstances, personally, to do that. I had a lot freedom, and FIU gave me even more. Deborah didn’t have to be so understanding with my not being in class, but that’s the culture at FIU, in a way – they work with students so they can succeed.

I heard and wrote a lot of stories in my time at FIU Magazine, but I cannot pick a single story as a favorite because we all found our bliss the blue-and-gold way, which, to me, means a whole lot of different ways. I honestly can’t say I liked writing about the doctoral student who was named 2013 Teacher of the Year more than I did writing about the alumna who has her own cupcake business or the race car driver who’s combining classes with his need for speed.

I can’t even say the three issues I oversaw on my own – ish – back in 2008-’09 are my favorites because I seriously think my entire time at FIU was my fave. I will say that getting all silly with my colleagues, President Rosenberg and Roary on the set of our Friends parody was all kinds of unrivaled fun.

Spreading the love

The point is, it was a privilege to be at FIU, which is why now that I’m back in Lima for a spell, I plan on reminding as many of my fellow Peruvian Panthers of the same.

The FIU Alumni Association doesn’t have an international chapter set up in Lima. I am going to start making some noise down here – roaring, if you will – to help change that. It’s the least I can do to give back because without FIU I doubt my time in South Florida would have been half as enjoyable as it was.

There are thousands of us FIU alumni out in the world, doing really cool things.

Those are my favorite stories: the ones I haven’t heard yet.

— Martin Haro ’05

FIU Magazine featured the Education Effect as its cover story in the Winter 2011-12 issue.

Nearly two years in, the effects have certainly been felt. Since the program began, the number of freshman students from Northwestern attending FIU has tripled, and the school’s grade (based on FCAT scores) has risen to a B from a D.

According to the blogger, Marcus Bright, plans are underway for another partnership between FIU and Miami-Dade County Public Schools, this time with Education for Better America (EBA), to increase awareness of higher education and reduce drop-out rates.

Here’s to more future Panthers!

Read the HuffPo article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcus-bright/partnership-between-miami_b_2452788.html

— Angeline Evans

A Cuban-America poet’s urgent search for home brings him back to Miami.

By Steve Watkins | Photo by Michael Upright

Richard Blanco is home now, back in Miami after a six-year journey that launched the award-winning poet and FIU double-graduate into what was supposed to be the “real America.”

“The great prodigal return,” he calls it, the irony evident in his voice – not only about the places he’s been, but about the place he’s come back to. The journey has shaped much of Blanco’s recent poetry, and his evolving sense of identity as a writer, as the son of Cuban immigrants and as an American.

Blanco, now 39, came to the United States in 1968 from Spain with his Cuban-born parents when he was 45 days old. He grew up in a Cuban neighborhood in Miami, worked in his uncle’s mercado, and learned all his parents’ stories about their lives in a Cuba he never knew, but to which he would someday return. Or so he was taught.

When he finally did visit Cuba, on a trip with his mother when he was in his late 20s, he was drawn to the people and places he had heard so much about, but he also experienced a keen sense of disappointment that the place that was supposed to be his true home, wasn’t.

In 1999, Blanco tried a different direction: this time north.

When many Cuban immigrants leave Miami to visit anywhere else in the United States, they say they’re “going to America.” The problem with that America – the one Blanco thought he knew from the Anglo TV shows he watched as a boy – is that once he was there, teaching at Central Connecticut State University, the idyllic America of his imagination didn’t exist any more than his parents’ native Havana – at least for him.

What he found instead was a complicated New England city – Hartford – working class, racially and ethnically mixed, dirty and deprived. “I was expecting sleigh rides, Jingle Bells,” he recalls. “Boy was I wrong.”

A child of exile

The struggle for him now, in what has been a lifelong search for home, is that the Miami of his childhood has been transformed from Cuba Norte into a “Pan-Latino” metropolis that, as Blanco wryly describes it, “changes every 24 hours.”
On the one hand, Blanco, acknowledges being frustrated, “robbed of my city,” and says he feels the way his parents must have felt when they were finally allowed back into Cuba to visit, decades after fleeing on one of the famous Freedom Flights in 1968.

On the other hand, Blanco recognizes that in many ways, his life as a child of exile – conceived in Havana, born in Madrid, raised in Miami – has been “the quintessential American experience.”

“There are real consequences to being a child of exile,” he says. “There’s always an absence of home. You have instilled in you a sense that home is this place you have to go back to, to regain, and you’re always looking for that place.”

That search has been a dominant theme in Blanco’s life, and in his work.

The old Miami, and what Blanco calls “the myth of a Cuban home,” have been the subjects of much of the poetry in his two published collections.

Since his return to South Florida, though – and to his career as a civil engineer, designing roads, parks and schools – the search has seemed less urgent. He’s found common cause in his dual careers as an engineer and as a poet – both, as he now sees, defined by issues of place and, through that, issues of identity.

And in a heady achievement announced late last year, Blanco received a prestigious “Beyond Margins Award” from PEN , the international writers’ organization, in recognition of his work. Some 130 books of poetry by writers of color were nominated for the 2006 awards; Blanco’s second book of poetry, Directions to the Beach of the Dead, published in 2005, was one of five winners.

“The award taught me that I am a Cuban-American writer,” Blanco says. “It’s not what I write about, it’s who I am. I’m not just working on ‘Cuban stuff.’ And it’s the quality of my work that is significant, not just the subject matter.”

A poet’s journey

Blanco credits FIU – a near-constant for him, virtually since childhood – with helping launch both his careers. He lived half a mile from the campus while growing up in nearby Westchester, at the time a neighborhood in transition. “You could tell where the Anglos lived,” he jokes, “because there were still trees in their yards that weren’t for consumption.”

In 1986, he enrolled at FIU, and he graduated with a civil engineering degree in 1991. Two years later, uncertain about his vocation, and motivated by what he calls “naïve arrogance and creative impulse,” he applied for admission into FIU’s Masters of Fine Arts program in creative writing. He was turned down, but invited to take courses as a special student and reapply a year later.

So that’s what he did.

Blanco’s first class in the MFA program, in 1993, was also the first class taught at FIU by the newly hired Campbell McGrath, a critically-acclaimed writer whose achievements include six books of poetry, most of America’s top poetry prizes, and a treasured MacArthur “Genius” grant.

Blanco and McGrath connected from the start.

Blanco describes McGrath as “the little editor in my head.” As for McGrath’s teaching style: “Just enough praise to give you confidence,” says Blanco, “but not too much to keep you from reaching.”

The first assignment on Blanco’s first day of class with McGrath was to write a poem about America. Blanco’s effort, “America,” later became the first poem in his first published collection, which won the prestigious Agnes Starrett National Poetry Prize in 1998 and was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press.

Blanco’s next assignment became the second poem in that book, and the pattern continued throughout McGrath’s inaugural poetry class and the classes that followed until Blanco graduated in 1997.

McGrath says he’s still impressed by Blanco’s accomplishments. “When Richard’s first book came out, it included every poem he wrote in those years,” he says. “I don’t get many students who will publish even one out of five of the poems they write for classes. What Richard did was remarkable.”

And what Blanco has done since then has been no less so, with the PEN and Starrett prizes, poems in “Best American Poetry,” and numerous other grants, fellowships, and awards. He has helped boost the FIU MFA program, already recognized for its prominent faculty, into the top tier of creative writing programs in America. And he has continued to see his alma mater – and McGrath – as touchstones for support in what can be the lonely business of poetry.

Blanco recently called McGrath for advice as he pondered the next phase of his career on the heels of the PEN Beyond Margins award.

“I call Campbell at least once a year when I’m freaking out,” Blanco says. “We have lunch and he picks me up for another year of writing poetry.”  ♦

Steve Watkins teaches creative writing, journalism, and Vietnam War literature at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va. He is the author of a non-fiction book, The Black O: Racism and Redemption in an American Corporate Empire, and the recent short story collection My Chaos Theory.