FIU family walk new paths


From the editor

“Around here, we don’t look backwards for very long… we keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

— Walt Disney

This issue features some of the new paths being walked by our FIU family. Managing Editor Alexandra Pecharich has written an engaging story about StartUP FIU, the university’s nascent entrepreneurship hub. I’m hard-pressed to think of another major city that is as steeped in entrepreneurial values as South Florida. StartUP FIU is a welcome addition to the scene.

Freelance journalist Eric Barton has written a fascinating read about the College of Law’s Death Penalty Clinic. As the only organization in Florida dedicated to making sure defense lawyers in capital cases give their clients the most effective representation possible, the clinic and those involved are offering services that can literally save lives.

As this country ushers in its 45th president, faculty member and presidential historian Kevin Evans has penned a thought-provoking editorial reminding us that our country has been through tumultuous political times in the past, even as he points out an important difference between those times and today.

JoAnn Adkins, director of marketing and communications in the College of Arts, Sciences & Education, introduces us to FIU’s groundbreaking shark researchers determined to protect the world’s shark population.

One final note: As this issue was going to press, we learned that Joel Delgado’s story about David Kadko’s expedition to the Arctic (“Journey to the Top of the World”) was recognized with a Grand Prize in Writing for the Web in CASE District III. The regional annual awards competition honors the best communications work from private and public universities in the southeastern United States. Integral to the piece’s impact was the microsite — arctic.fiu.edu — created by our External Relations team. Featuring Delgado’s prose, the photography and videography of Tim Long, and the web design talents of our Digital Communications team, its vivid storytelling takes the reader/viewer along on Kadko’s grand adventure. If you haven’t checked out the site yet, please do. It will be well worth your time.

Always Blue and Gold,

Karen Cochrane

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