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On the cover: Spring-Summer 2020
Campus & Community

On the cover: Spring-Summer 2020

By Alexandra Pecharich

June 12, 2020 at 5:37pm

In mid-March, life as most of us knew it took a dramatic twist. Students and professors stopped meeting in classrooms. Professionals hung up their business suits and began working in athleisure wear and slippers. Day visits to museums and evenings of live theater became fond memories. Gatherings with friends required clicking on a link and ajudsting the sound on one's laptop. 

Then in late-May, a social movement in support of racial equality, long overdue, took to the streets and social media as the United States reckoned with another instance of brutality against a black man. In every corner of the country, and much of the rest of the world, those who care about justice and equity took notice. At FIU, President Mark B. Rosenberg immediately vowed action in making FIU a leader in setting an example of how to combat racism and prejudice by introducing plans and establishing the Equity Action Initiative.

On the cover of the online-exclusive Spring-Summer issue of FIU Magazine, art director Aileen Sola-Trautmann MSM '18 has captured this unique moment in time by bringing together images that speak to what the FIU community has contributed to the common good during trying circumstances.

Serving our community: Bridget Pelaez MA ’17, assistant director for FIU’s Department of Emergency Management, conducts a COVID-19 screening at the drive-through facility adjacent to MMC and operated jointly between the university and the county. By May 21, more than 10,000 local residents had been served at the site, which is open seven days a week.
In charge: Dr. Eneida Roldan is medical director of the COVID-19 testing site adjacent to MMC. She is is a professor and chief executive officer of the FIU Health Care Network.
FIU hosted a student-led demonstration on June 6 in support of racial justice. Protesters gathered at MMC and took a knee in memory of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Members of the NeighborhoodHELP program, which includes medical students and others who offer services to low-income families, helped out those in need by delivering groceries during the pandemic.
Several colleges within the university stepped up to 3D print protective shields for local health care workers and firefighters. Using university-owned printers and relying on open-source code, students and faculty together delivered for those on the front lines.
More than 1,000 people attended the online Town Hall: Diversity, Unity and Action. Hosted by President Mark B. Rosenberg, the panel included several FIU faculty, administrators and students, among them Artrice Shepherd, president of the Black Student Union, H.T. Smith, director of FIU’s College of Law Trial Advocacy Program, and Carleen Vincent-Robinson, chair of the Department of Criminal Justice at FIU.
Members of the FIU chapter of White Coats for Black Lives showed their support at the June 6 demonstration on campus.
Physician assistants with FIU’s Green Family Foundation NeighborhoodHELP make house calls to families in need.
Hero in a mask: Health care MBA student Erika Barrios is a cardiac ICU nurse at Nicklaus Children's Hospital. She is taking care of pediatric patients born with congenital heart disease.
Kindergarten student Carlos Muñoz Barrera shows off a package of art supplies. The paint sticks, felt, glue, markers and more came courtesy of the Frost Art Museum, which partnered with local schools to deliver the items to students in need during the pandemic. “Having a moment for children to use their imagination, frees them up from the daily stresses that we've all been experiencing,” said Miriam Machado, the museum’s chief of education.