Pegasus Magazine Fall 2016 by University of Central Florida

The Magazine of the University of Central Florida

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EMPOWERING THE FUTURE At UCF, we believe that a big university produces big thinkers — like Albert Manero ’12 ’14MSAE. Since 2014, he and his team at Limbitless Solutions have provided free bionic arms for 18 children. This is the kind of lifechanging innovation that happens when a big university encourages you to imagine boldly. And it is why we’re launching IGNITE, a $500 million fundraising campaign, to continue providing opportunities that will transform our future. To read more about IGNITE, turn to page 22.

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Back (left to right): Wyatt Falardeau, Shaholly Ayers, UCF cheerleader Taryn Burke, Knightro and UCF cheerleaders Taylor Mort and Jay Hollman Front (left to right): Alex Pring, Madelyn Rebsamen, Julianna Linton, Zachary Pamboukas, Connor Moline and Anni Emmert U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 3

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INBOX

VICE PRESIDENT FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING Grant J. Heston ’13 ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT FOR MARKETING Patrick Burt ’08

Pegasus magazine was named 2016 Magazine of the Year by the Florida Magazine Association.

MANAGING EDITOR Laura J. Cole EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Eric Michael ’96 CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ron Boucher ’92 ART DIRECTORS Lauren Haar ’06 Steve Webb DESIGNERS Mario Carrillo Adam Smajstrla ’11 COPY EDITOR Peg Martin PHOTOGRAPHERS Steven Diaz Nick Leyva ’15 Bernard Wilchusky

THE CURRENT FORMAT OF PEGASUS is leaps and bounds from where it was. It is a really well-puttogether magazine. It is informative, in-depth and showcases the many things happening in the UCF universe. I feel now [UCF is] truly part of the global community. When I went to school, I didn’t feel that, but now? Wow! Every quarter I eagerly await the arrival of Pegasus. Keep up the good work!

» TUKZ TAACA ’94

I ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD to your awesome UCF magazine. It keeps me in touch with where it all came together for me in engineering many years ago. Thank you for all your hard work and support to all of us around the globe.

» JOHN DeROSIA ’84

THANK YOU FOR PUBLISHING the “Finding Balance” article in the spring issue of Pegasus and putting it on the front cover. If the second-largest university in the country is starting the conversation, maybe it will shed light on how important of a topic this really is.

» JENNIFER SKIRROW ’03

THANK YOU FOR THE ARTICLE on UCF’s Collegiate Recovery Community (“School + Sobriety,” spring 2016). As an addictions counselor, I almost cried for joy at UCF’s cutting-edge movement in creating CRC. God bless Brett Watson ’09 and all involved in getting this community up and running. They are saving and enhancing lives. Good luck and congratulations! I don’t know when I’ve been prouder of UCF.

» ROBERTA W. LYON ’84

Pegasus is published by UCF Marketing in partnership with the UCF Foundation, Inc. and UCF Alumni. Opinions expressed in Pegasus are not necessarily those shared by the University of Central Florida.

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pegasus@ucf.edu

Mail UCF Marketing P.O. Box 160090 Orlando, FL 32816-0090 Phone 407.882.1247

PRODUCTION MANAGER Sandy Pouliot ONLINE PRODUCER Roger Wolf ’07

THE ARTICLE “Knights in Space” (summer 2016) is absolutely brilliant. The team should be really proud of themselves.

» WILLIAM THOMAS VAN HEST ’05

I IMMEDIATELY CHOKED UP and caught my breath at the pictures and words on the two pages devoted to #ORLANDOUNITED and UCF Stands with Orlando (summer 2016 issue). I was in Orlando for my high school’s 50th anniversary. Three hours after dinner, the Pulse nightclub attack occurred not far from where I was staying. I look forward to your next edition to read the UCF community’s memories.

» KEVIN WADSWORTH JOHNSON ’71

I JUST RECEIVED THE LATEST edition of Pegasus. I was impressed by your handling of the shooting at Pulse. The spread with the photo of the student body gathered together was sensitive and sincere. It was made richer still by Dr. Hitt’s words from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In the wake of the shooting, it was art that strengthened my sanity. The healing powers of the creative force are tremendous. In my artistic journey, I created a painting called “49 Embers: One Act of Hate Fuels an Engine of Love.”

» KATHRYN TUCKER RAMSBY ’90

WEB PROGRAMMERS Jim Barnes Keegan Berry ’12 RJ Bruneel ’97 Jo Dickson ’11 CONTRIBUTORS Bree Adamson Jeffrey C. Billman ’01 Brian Carlson Deanna Ferrante Jay Hamburg Glenn Hubbard ’79 Gene Kruckemyer ’73 Geoff Levy ’11 Angie Lewis ’03 Ethan Long Adam Niklewicz Aileen Perrilla Kirk Wallace Susan White Paige Wilson PEGASUS ADVISORY BOARD Barb Abney ’03 Chad Binette ’06 Anne Botteri Richard Brunson ’84 Cristina Calvet-Harrold ’01 John Gill ’86 Michael Griffin ’84 Mike Hinn ’92 Gerald McGratty Jr. ’71 Michael O’Shaughnessy ’81 Dan Ward ’92

MAILBOX SUBMISSIONS Emails to the editor should be sent with the writer’s name, graduation year, address and daytime phone number to pegasus@ucf.edu. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium. Due to volume, we regret that we cannot reply to every letter.

MOVED RECENTLY? NEED TO UPDATE YOUR INFO? Cert no. SW-COC-002556

Update your contact information:

ucfalumni.com/contactupdates

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CONTENTS 6 In Focus 12 Briefs 14 Writing to Heal 15 The Feed 16 On Campus 18 1ON1 20 The Place Maker

Gravity Works After 20 motionless years, the pendulum in the atrium of the Mathematical Sciences Building is swinging again thanks to Eileen Swindling ’88. The accounting alumna created a $25,000 endowment to pay for the pendulum’s renovations and future maintenance. “At times when I was discouraged [while a student], I visited the pendulum as a reminder that even bad things pass,” she says.

21 Under Pressure 22 Igniting UCF’s Future 24 Ignite the Night 26 Neighborhood by Neighborhood 30 Helpers and Healers 38 AlumKnights 40 Class Notes 46 Why I Gave Back

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IN FOCUS

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REPTILE REFUGE UCF and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently reached an agreement to establish a permanent conservation research facility in Brevard County, Florida. UCF research was instrumental in the founding of the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge in 1991, and since its inception, the university has used the refuge as a base to monitor sea turtles and their nests 24 hours a day. The new agreement allows UCF to build a new facility at the refuge that will not only protect research equipment and house workers overnight, but also foster collaborations with visiting scientists and international research partners.

“We encounter more nests in our study area in one night than most U.S. nesting beaches see in an entire season.” — Kate Mansfield, assistant professor and director of the UCF Marine Turtle Research Group

$5 million

Amount of money UCF must raise in the next five years to build new research facilities

IMAGES COURTESY OF G. STAHELIN AND R. CHABOT

28,333

Number of sea turtle nests found in the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge in 2015

Years since the UCF Marine Turtle Research Group was founded

Miles of Brevard County seashore UCF researchers monitor every year

Number of sea turtle species found in the U.S., all of which are endangered or threatened

 To support sea turtle research at UCF, visit ucffoundation.org/marineturtles. All photos taken as part of permitted sea turtle research conducted by the UCF Marine Turtle Research Group.

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FIRST FROST The Knights lit up the scoreboard in their 2016 season opener against South Carolina State. The game marks the team's first win since 2014 and the first success for UCF’s new head coach Scott Frost, who joined the university’s athletic department late last year. With this win, Frost and the team’s offensive players rolled up the largest amount of yards gained in a game since 2014. And the defense secured the 23rd shutout by the Black and Gold in school history.

“Think about where we are as a team right now and where we have been. And then think: How high can we go?” — Coach Scott Frost to the UCF Football team after their first win of the season

38-0 36,260 639 91 462 1st Final score

Fans in attendance

Days since UCF’s last victory

UCF offensive plays

Total yards

Time the Knights wore white jerseys at home since 1984

T o view more photos from the game and hear Coach Frost’s post-game locker room speech, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.

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PHOTO BY BEN TANNER PHOTOGRAPHY

IN FOCUS

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ROOM WITH A WORLDVIEW Global UCF recently moved into its new home on Memory Mall. The program provides international students assistance during their journey to UCF and throughout their first year, including academic and cultural support to help students succeed at UCF and transition to life in the U.S. The 54,000-square-foot building is also home to the English Language Institute, UCF Abroad, and International Affairs and Global Strategies, and features 22 classrooms, a meditation room, collaborative technology lab and a testing site for TOEFL and the GRE.

“Being a student is hard enough, but being an international student is even harder. … Global UCF was there to support me every step of the way.” — Aninze Bernard Ozougwu, a sophomore from Nigeria

386 35

Total Global UCF students

Countries represented — from Angola to Zimbabwe

19 5 3.31 Average age

Students in the initial cohort

Average GPA

 Learn more at globalucf.com.

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Briefs RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

TRACKING ZIKA

College of Medicine assistant scientist Bradley Willenberg has invented a device that can detect disease-carrying mosquitos. Because the device doesn’t use electricity or require lab work, it can be easily used in the developing world to detect dengue fever, malaria and yellow fever. Willenberg plans to partner with the state to monitor the spread of the Zika virus in Florida.

84 672 3,625

Number of travel-related cases reported in Orange County* (Florida Department of Health)

Number of travel-related cases reported in Florida* (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Number of Zika cases reported in the country* (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) *As of printing

“The aspirations that we have worked on from day one are that we would have a first-rate, top-tier medical school. It is clear to me that we need a teaching hospital if we are going to achieve our highest ambitions for the medical college.” — President John C. Hitt, in regard to UCF's partnership with Hospital Corporation of America, the nation’s largest hospital company, to build a university-based teaching hospital in Lake Nona’s Medical City

REACHING ASTEROIDS With the help of UCF researchers, NASA launched a 4,650-pound fully fueled spacecraft into space for its first mission to collect an asteroid sample and return it to Earth. Known as OSIRIS-REx, the mission will hopefully provide scientists with information about how the solar system formed as well as how to prevent a potential asteroid collision into Earth.

$145.75 MILLION

IN RESEARCH FUNDING

RECEIVED BY UCF IN 2015–16 This all-time high in funding is a 9.3 percent increase from last year and includes $84 million in federal funding, $47.25 million from industry, and $14.46 million from state and local sources.

Reaching New Heights In September, the Florida Board of Governors unanimously voted UCF an “Emerging Preeminent Research University,” awarding an additional $5 million in state funds to the university. To qualify, universities must meet benchmarks in the areas of academics, research and student success. This designation allows UCF to work toward the “Preeminent Research University” status now held only by UF and FSU.

KILLING CANCER Annette Khaled, head of UCF’s Division of Cancer Research, has discovered a way to stop breast cancer from spreading. Combining chemical compounds and nanoparticles, Khaled created a treatment that targets cancer cells and prevents them from metastasizing in other areas of the body. SEVA Therapeutics, a preclinical biotechnology company, has licensed the therapy, and clinical testing could begin as early as 2017.

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NEW HIRES TREMON KIZER DIRECTOR OF ATHLETIC BANDS AND ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF BANDS Kizer comes to UCF from the University of Dayton, where he served as associate director of bands.

BRYAN KONIECKO WOMEN’S TENNIS HEAD COACH

Koniecko joins UCF Athletics after spending two years as the men’s tennis head coach at Brown University and securing an undefeated home season as associate coach for Ohio State’s women’s tennis team.

REMEMBERING

PULSE 1,951

Number of direct contacts CAPS has made with UCF students and faculty

Hours CAPS dedicated daily to crisis outreach efforts

Number of blood drives held on campus

424

GREG LOVELADY UCF BASEBALL HEAD COACH

Number of units collected

PROFESSOR AND LEAD OF THE GENOMICS AND BIOINFORMATICS FACULTY CLUSTER Formerly a professor at the J. Craig Venter Institute, Yooseph was on the original team that sequenced the human genome and has worked for Human Longevity in various roles.

UCF Assistant Professor Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz has created an ofrenda-style Pulse memorial for the National Museum of Mexican Art’s 30th annual Día de los Muertos exhibition, which runs through December 11 in Chicago. THROUGH WORDS:

The fall issue of UCF’s biannual literary journal, The Florida Review, features a curated section of reflections of the Pulse tragedy written by members of the Orlando community. THROUGH SERVICE:

In the weeks following the tragedy, the UCF community came together to help heal a grieving city. More than 50 volunteers aided in blood drives on campus, one of which marked the largest blood donor event in the university’s history. UCF’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) has been providing crisis response services to students and faculty since the tragedy and continues to offer support to those in need.

Higher education performance in Florida (Florida Board of Governors)

Supplier of engineers to aerospace and defense industries for the second year in a row (Aviation Week)

Universities that best serve the country (Washington Monthly)

OLYMPIC KNIGHTS

Lovelady comes to UCF after guiding the Miami Hurricanes to two College World Series championships as assistant coach before his promotion to head coach at Wright State University.

SHIBU YOOSEPH

THROUGH ART:

KNIGHTS ON TOP

Chris Seilkop ’92

Steve Anderson ’05 ’07MA

Phil Dalhausser ’02

Aline Reis ’11

With the Rio Paralympics, Seilkop has secured his place as Team USA’s first four-time, men’s sitting volleyball Paralympian. A three-time Olympian, beach volleyball player Dalhausser won gold in 2008’s Beijing Games but exited the Rio Games after a loss to Brazil.

For number of patents secured by public universities in 2015 (National Academy of Inventors)

KITEBOARDING CLUB UCF won the national club championship for kiteboarding.

Anderson, a referee for the National Basketball Association, was the only American to officiate at the Rio Games. Formerly an All-American goalkeeper for the Knights, Reis played on the women’s soccer team for Brazil. The team made it to the bronze medal finals, but lost 2-1 to Canada.

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BY PAIGE WILSON If you could write a letter to your younger self, what would you say? Ryan Skaryd ’15 used this writing prompt to change his students’ view of mental illness. Through a UCF Literary Arts Partnership with Wraparound Orange, an Orange County agency that supports families with youths with mental health issues, the 23-year-old creative writing graduate student spent 12 weeks this summer teaching students ages 18 to 25 the craft of storytelling. That age is a crucial time to help students deal with major life transitions, which can trigger mental illness, says Terry Ann Thaxton ’93 ’95MA, a creative writing professor who has been organizing similar literary partnerships since 2003. “Mental illness is a chronic illness that doesn’t end,” Thaxton says. “There is no cure for mental illness, but there is treatment. And we can’t wait until it’s too late to start treating.” The topic is personal for Thaxton. She was raised with a brother who is intellectually disabled and has a 36-year-old son who lives

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with Asperger’s syndrome, major depressive disorder and severe anxiety. Thaxton knew Skaryd was well-equipped to teach these summer classes because of his professionalism and his willingness to discuss his own struggles, including being a caregiver for a family member. Skaryd’s secret for reaching students is simple: honesty. “A lot of my reading examples are people who are brutally honest about their mental health journey, whether that’s with obsessive compulsive disorder or [something] as simple as anxiety [about school],” Skaryd says. One of his students initially wanted to write about a family member, but by the end of the summer session, she turned in a diary-style piece exploring her own mental health instead. “She tracked down her thoughts about depression and self-image in a really relative tone,” Skaryd says. “[These students] can write freely and fearlessly without being judged about anything that they go through,” he continues. “Because at the end of the day, other people are going through the same thing, if not very similar.” Thaxton’s influence extends to former facilitator Kristi DiLallo ’13 as well, who is using creative writing to help young women in Rikers Island prison. Through a program with the Center for Justice at Columbia University, where she recently earned an MFA, DiLallo is teaching inmates to have open conversations about perseverance.

DiLallo is no stranger to the prison system. At the age of 6, she stepped into a jail to visit her incarcerated parents. (Her mother remains in prison.) This used to be a source of shame for her, but now she’s using her story to help others tell theirs. Her students tend to underestimate DiLallo at first — suggesting that she’s privileged and unable to relate. But she’s found that transparency is key in getting through to them. “Once I say what I’ve written about and what I’ve experienced, it really changes the dynamic, and the students will share more in their writing,” DiLallo says. “They’ll read more out loud [and] they’ll be more honest.” As a teenager, DiLallo used her own life as inspiration for fiction, but never shared her writing until her first teaching position through UCF’s Literary Arts Partnership program. During her junior year, she partnered with Orange County Academy in Bithlo, Florida. More than half the class had at least one incarcerated parent, but the students didn’t know DiLallo’s story. After a helpful nudge from Thaxton, DiLallo gained the courage to read her story to the students, who responded with tears and hugs. “It was such an amazing moment for me when I realized that teaching is so important, and telling my story is important, and so is getting these kids to tell theirs,” says DiLallo. “And if this is how I have to do it then I’ll totally go in on the first day and tell people that this is my story, and that it’s time for you to write yours.”

ILLUSTRATION BY KIRK WALLACE

Whether it’s breaking the stigma of mental illness or overcoming childhood hardships, a UCF professor and her students are helping others heal through creative writing.

Find more @

The Feed

today.ucf.edu

Construction Central UCF is building new roads, buildings, restaurants and parking garages on campus. bit.ly/ucf-constructioncentral

@UCF

@University of Central Florida

SNAKE IMAGE COURTESY OF ALEX ROBERTSON (UCF).

Snake Specifics UCF scientists help discover a new venomous snake species. bit.ly/ucf-snaking-specifics

Check This Out The John C. Hitt Library’s 21stcentury transformation has begun. bit.ly/ucf-check-this-out

A Shuttle Success Story Student shuttle riders can now track buses via a GPS mobile website. bit.ly/ucf-shuttle-success

Researching Relationships UCF received a $9.6 million grant to research the effects of relationship education on low-income families. bit.ly/ucf-researching-relationships

WHAT’S TRENDING ON... UCF TODAY No Debt, No Problem Almost half of UCF undergrads are leaving school debt-free. bit.ly/ucf-no-debt Fostering Greatness How one former foster child overcame the odds and earned her degree. bit.ly/ucf-fostering-greatness Moving On Both students and parents face new challenges come move-in day. bit.ly/ucf-moving-in

TWITTER

FACEBOOK

Jun 24 @UCFAlumni Congratulations to UCF

University of Central Florida

alumna Erin O’Flaherty, the new Miss Missouri! We’re so proud of you, @MissAmericaMO!

August 13, 2016

Aug 17 @UCF_Football Frost: We talk very little

about last year. We focus on what we’re doing today. Rise & Conquer today. #ChargeOn Aug 19 @UCF It’s

Last Saturday, 12 Peruvian engineering students visited UCF for the first time, for their commencement. In a first-of-its-kind international partnership between UCF and Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola in Lima, five women and seven men became the program’s inaugural graduating class in industrial engineering, with all of the courses taken in their home country. #ChargeOn #UCFgrad

#NationalAviationDay & alum Anthony Fox ’03 jumped out of a plane w/ the U.S. Army Golden Knights! #UCFgrad Aug 25 @UCF We’re partnering in a new

DOWNLOAD the digital edition of Pegasus at: bit.ly/ucf-pegasus

#nationalproject to increase first-year student #success #RFY Aug 26 @UCFKnights You know

season is near when the sounds of the @MarchingKnights are heard from the Bounce House! 8 Days ...

1.5K

153 comments

Britney Lossio Love being Peruvian and a Knight!!! #chargeon August 13, 2016

Omkar Bhate UCF = diversity! August 14, 2016

Kris Michelle Hugo Same! Love this so much. August 15, 2016

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AUG.

Sorority members welcomed new sisters home during Bid Day.

JULY

Former Central Florida Future staffers gathered at the Reflecting Pond to say goodbye to the publication, which printed its final edition after 48 years of service.

AUG.

Knightro and menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basketball coach Johnny Dawkins were on hand to formally induct new students into UCF.

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The Class of 2020 carried, lugged and rolled their belongings onto campus as part of Move-in Day 2016.

AUG.

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At FanFest, Knights fans met coach Scott Frost and the UCF Football team.

AUG.

Geek Squad founder Robert Stephens welcomed students to the College of Business Administration during this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Welcome to the Majors.

JULY

The UCF community commemorated the lives of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling during a Black Lives Matter vigil.

JULY

The UCF Police Department honored the 49 people killed during the Pulse nightclub shooting with a new cruiser.

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none New UCF head basketball coaches Johnny Dawkins and Katie â&#x20AC;&#x153;Coach Abeâ&#x20AC;? Abrahamson-Henderson discuss their passion for the game, why they became coaches and how they motivate their players.

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Coach Dawkins: How did basketball become a passion? Coach Abe: My mother really wanted me to be a swimmer, but my dad saw I was getting tall, so he shot basketballs with me. I swam in high school and won state championships, but my father passed away when I was about 12 so I wanted to continue [playing basketball] for him. I played in high school and because I was 6'3" and super strong, I started getting recruited by a lot of schools, so I had to pick between swimming and basketball. We didn’t have the money to send me to college, so through basketball, I got to go to school for free, and that was huge. Coach Dawkins: I got into basketball at an early age. My father and his brothers would go out and play pickup ball quite a bit, and I was always intrigued by these great stories about what they accomplished. I just wanted to get involved, so on those Saturday mornings, I would literally go sleep downstairs in front of the door so they couldn’t leave without me, and then I was able to go see them compete, and I just became more fascinated by the game. I love to compete, and it just kind of grew from there. Coach Abe: Why did you become a coach? Coach Dawkins: I’ve always loved this game. I started playing at an early age and was able to have success, which was great. I realized how fortunate I was. Coaching was a way for me to give back to the game. It’s my way of saying thanks to all the coaches that came along in my career to help motivate me, not just in how I shot the basketball or defended it, but in the type of person I became. Coaches play an instrumental role in young people becoming great citizens, not just terrific basketball players.

Now, the story of how I actually made the transition is kind of interesting. I was at Duke University studying to be an athletic director and about six months into the program, Coach K [Mike Krzyzewski] came to me and said, “Hey, Johnny, you ever think about coaching?” As you know, when someone’s coaching you, they’re your coach for life, and so I said, “Well I guess I’m coaching now.” I transitioned pretty much that week to coaching, and I’m just happy he saw that in me because now that I’m in this profession, I can see how much I can affect young people’s lives.

I really wanted to give back. It’s not about the wow factor or being on TV or about you or me. It’s about these young people.

Coach Abe: Besides Coach K, who’s your biggest role model?

Coach Dawkins: It wasn’t difficult to choose UCF, to be quite frank. The potential this university has — I’ve watched it from afar, and it has everything. This place was built for success, and I mean built to win. And I don’t mean just in our sport, but it’s built to win in everything — academically, athletically. What’s not to like? It’s in a beautiful location in Florida. The people here have been amazing. The community is behind the programs. … It’s a place where you can really leave your legacy. For a coach like me, those are things I look forward to. If anybody’s ever watched my career, I don’t jump from place to place. I like to make a place my home, and I think that can happen because I really believe in what I think we can accomplish here.

Coach Dawkins: My father. [He] started me off playing basketball. I really [paid attention to] what he showed me on the basketball court [and] his work ethic. My father has gone through a lot. He was a Washington, D.C., bus driver in the ’70s and ’80s. He was military, a Green Beret, so [it was] a little disciplined in our household, and I appreciate everything he taught me. Coach Dawkins: What got you into coaching? Coach Abe: It’s funny because I went to Duquesne University to get my master’s [degree] because I wanted to be an athletic director. I wanted to stay in sports, but I did not want to be a coach. Most of us who have played the game at a high level don’t want to coach because we see what our coaches go through. But I felt like a lot of young women weren’t very empowered, and I could see they didn’t have a lot of great role models as women. When I got into [coaching], I found that I could really empower these young women and try to help them academically and [athletically].

Coach Dawkins: Absolutely. Talk about your core values for your program. Coach Abe: Number one — family first. And that’s not my family — it’s the university family, it’s the Athletics Department family. It’s our women’s basketball family. I try to lead that way in terms of how [my team] views themselves. Academics is second, and basketball is third. Coach Abe: Why did you pick UCF?

Coach Dawkins: How about you, coach? Coach Abe: I found out you were coming [to UCF], so I had to come so I could work with you. To be honest, it’s the exact same reasons that you [mentioned]. I’ve always wanted to live in Florida, so when I got the call, I was really intrigued. There’s so much new energy. I talked to some of my role models, and Joanne McCallie at

Duke said, “You have to work with [Dawson].” I’m going to sneak in and watch some of your practices — I want to learn from you. Coach Abe: How do you motivate your players, and how do they motivate you? Coach Dawkins: One, I think we try to live what we do. When student-athletes see adults do things the right way, they want to emulate that, so I think that’s a motivation. … If you’re thinking of tactical motivation, we’ve had amazing guest speakers, such as the Navy SEALs, come in and [talk to our student-athletes about] some of the things they’ve gone through. I’m really big about [instilling in players that] in this life and in this game of basketball, it’s about getting outside your comfort zone. They motivate me every day. … You don’t become a student-athlete here without earning it. You earn it not just because you are a good basketball player but because of what you’ve done in the classroom. … It’s difficult to do all the things they do and to live up to everyone’s expectations, and so that really motivates me. Coach Dawkins: How do you determine student-athlete success? Coach Abe: For me, it’s making sure they’re empowered when they graduate. I want them to be able to leave this university with a lot of apples in their basket, and not just [having come] to UCF and played basketball. … We do a lot of mentoring for our young women on “What are you going to do the next 55 years of your life?” It’s not just these four years. How are we going to use this great university to propel you into your future? I want them prepared for life. That’s success to me.

To watch the video interview, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.

N -HENDERSO AHAMSON KATIE ABR etown: Cedar Rapids, Iowa Age: 49 Hom ical a, B.S. in phys University of Iow Alma maters: n tio tra nis ts admi education, spor ucation rsity, M.S. in ed Duquesne Unive e: tim ing Play rsity of Georgia 1986–88 Unive rsity of Iowa 1988–90 Unive rsity Résumé: quesne Unive tant coach, Du 1990–92 Assis rsity of Maine ive Un h, ac co tant 1992–94 Assis and recruiting sistant coach 1994–2000 As rsity ive Un a State n State coordinator, Iow coach, Michiga ad he te cia so 2000–02 As ty University i State Universi coach, Missour 2002–07 Head -recruiting co d an h ac co tant 2007–08 Assis hington iversity of Was coordinator, Un iana University head coach, Ind te cia so As Albany, SUNY at 2008–10 ty rsi ive ad coach, Un 2010–2016 He

JO HN NY DAW KI NS

Age: 52 Hometown : Washington, D.C. Alma mater: Duke Uni versity, B.A. in politic al scie

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Playing time: 1982–86 Duke Univer sity 1986 10th overall pic k in NBA Draft by San Antonio Spurs 1986–89 San Antonio Spurs 1989–94 Philadelphia 76ers 1994–95 Detroit Pist ons

Résumé: 1998–99 Assistant coa ch, Duke University 2000–08 Associate hea d coach, Duke Univer sity 2006–08 Player person nel director, USA Bas ketball Senior National Team 2008–16 Head coach, Stanford University

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Jennifer Marvel ’12 shares six ways to build a better community. BY ERIC MICHAEL ’96

Start at Home

My husband and I bought a house in Audubon Park in 1990. I believe in supporting local businesses, so one day I was shopping at Park Ave CDs and by the register there were hand-cut flyers

urture Homegrown N Businesses

I think a great neighborhood is built on [the] backbone of its independent businesses. Really great communities have great local businesses with a lot of community involvement, and that’s reflected in [Audubon Park]. I think of some of the vibrant neighborhoods in New York City — they have great one-off restaurants, cafés and bookstores. If there are only big chain [stores], it’s really not an interesting place to live.

mbrace the E Decision-makers

It’s enormously beneficial to involve your community’s decision-makers. For us, it’s critical to have the kinds of partnerships where there’s someone in [a local] store, restaurant or church who can tell you, “Yes, you can hold an event here,” or “We’ll participate in this.” We try to do projects that draw people in based on what they’re passionate about, as long as it fits under our mission. It just so happened that [in Audubon Park], there was an interest in sustainability, environmentalism and supporting local businesses.

et a Reasonable S Scale

It’s better to start small and manageable, and then build — whether it’s an event, a class or promoting what someone else in the community is doing. We tried to identify things that were unique about Audubon

Park that we could wrap our arms around with our limited resources — and then we began experimenting. Today we're partnering with other organizations, either for-profit or nonprofit, where we have a shared interest. And I think it’s so important to set a three-month maximum window for projects. Anything longer than that and it doesn’t feel real, which allows you to drag your feet.

reate Popular C Programming

I can’t overemphasize how important programming is to the building of a community. Programming is anything planned that brings people out into the community and engages them with one another and local businesses. It can involve anything that reflects the culture of your community and reinforces who you are and who you would like to be. It doesn’t require a multimilliondollar investment. We’ve

held gardening classes, wine tastings, cooking classes. We rely on partnerships. By teaming with local merchants in conjunction with local nonprofits and groups, you can do a ton of community building. It’s a huge placemaking plus.

Spread the Word

People love being connected [and] knowing what’s going on. We’re very active on social media, and we have an email newsletter that highlights what we have coming up in our programming and what’s happening with the local schools, public arts, news. I try to make it as useful and compelling as possible so people feel invested in our community. And I always include a personal note so that people know there’s a real person on the other end of the line.

ILLUSTRATION BY ETHAN LONG

Jennifer Marvel ’12, executive director of Orlando’s Audubon Park Garden District, has a passion for placemaking. Her work in the eclectic neighborhood northeast of downtown combines public engagement with new business development and forward-thinking urban planning to inspire economic, environmental and social sustainability. As a result, the district was recognized with a 2016 Great American Main Street Award from the National Main Street Center. But what does it really take to build a strong community?

that read, “Do you want to make a better community?” I wish I had saved it because it was really life-changing. I was at that first meeting [of the Audubon Park Garden District] and at every one since. Then our director gave notice, and she recommended me for the job, [which] I’ve been doing since September 2012. If you’re willing to do the work, you can create the kind of community you want to be a part of.

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Artifact Under Pressure

Artists come to Flying Horse Editions for serious printing power.

BY ERIC MICHAEL ’96

urking in the corner at UCF’s Flying Horse Editions printmaking studio is a hulking hydraulic press that seems more at home in a gritty factory. In fact, it could easily be mistaken for a sculpture among the fine art that adorns the austere, white-walled workspace. But the industrial machine is an important — and highly sought-after — tool for the rotating roster of international artists who come to the collaborative research workshop in downtown Orlando. “It’s really been an asset that adds to the capabilities of the studio because it can be used to make complex relief prints,” says Theo Lotz, director of Flying Horse Editions, a nonprofit publisher of limited-edition prints, books and objects by renowned artists. “As a research center, we want to expand the creative possibilities for our visiting artists, and they always seem to find some new way of using it.”

HERE’S WHAT MAKES THE PRESS SPECIAL:

PRECISE POWER Traditional presses, which use a traveling bed to apply a single color of ink, can be difficult to control and can create a blurry image with some kinds of printing processes. This press applies pressure straight down, enabling a more precise print with several blocks in multiple colors. “It can be a very fast and liberating way for an artist to work,” Lotz says.

CRUSHING IT The press uses a 90-gallon hydraulic system to create up to 300 tons of force through a single massive plunger. Lotz found the machine through a heavy machinery sales broker in Los Angeles. “It must have turned heads on the back of the flatbed truck on I-10,” he says. “Then two huge forklifts picked it up off the truck and brought it into the studio. It was an amazing dance of heavy machinery.”

CUSTOM CONTROLS Because the fine art printing process requires greater fine-tuning than the machine was originally designed for, Siemens offered to “trick out” the controls and donated a sophisticated electronic system valued at around $15,000. “We can set it so precisely now that we can print something onto an egg,” Lotz says.

LOW-TECH SOLUTIONS The high-tech control system still employs a few key analog components, including an old-school pressure gauge and a measurement device that uses a delicate wire to help set the distance between the press and the paper. “This hydraulic press is really a very simple machine,” Lotz says. “I was told that it was used to make metal light fixtures.”

CREATIVE OPTIONS Artists typically use a woodcut, which can be created by hand or with a laser cutter, to hold the ink to create a print. However, some artists have been inspired by the machine’s crushing capabilities and are using nontraditional materials, including Rolex watches. “Since this isn’t a familiar piece of art-making equipment, artists are intrigued with what they can do with it,” Lotz says.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 2 1

UCF launched a $500 million fundraising campaign — the most ambitious in the university’s history.

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“Ideas ignite here — led by students, nurtured by the faculty and powered by philanthropy. Together, we reimagine the future.” — President John C. Hitt

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A note from your campaign chair As Knights, we dream big. It’s the reason UCF,

with the potential to fundamentally change the

which consisted of a bold idea and a patch of

future of UCF.

scrub pine just five decades ago, is today the nation’s second-largest public university.

At its heart, this campaign is not about dollars — it’s about people, the best and the brightest

But we aren’t strictly expanding. UCF is emerging

people. And it’s important to understand how

as an entirely new category of university. One that

these contributions will impact them.

defines itself not by who it excludes, but by who it includes. One that defies assumptions about

The IGNITE Campaign will channel our collective,

what a large university can or can’t do. One that

scalable energies and resources toward three

knows scale and excellence can coexist to create

priorities:

maximum impact. And one that is determined — or, better yet, destined — to build a brighter tomorrow.

S T U D E N T S U C C E S S – From orientation to graduation, our goal is to prepare students for

But we are not alone in our aspirations and

rewarding and successful lives. This begins with

expectations.

scholarships and other forms of aid to keep UCF affordable and accessible for all.

As UCF increases its presence on the national stage, we are competing for talent with more

A C A D E M I C E X C E L L E N C E – It is essential

prominent institutions, both public and private,

that we attract, retain and reward top educators

that are far better funded.

and innovators through endowed professorships and other resources that fuel academic enterprise,

This is a fact, not a fear. And it fuels the motivation

reduce UCF’s student-faculty ratio and propel

to achieve our biggest dreams. By harnessing the

groundbreaking research that will solve

same visionary spirit that sparked UCF’s founding

tomorrow’s problems.

more than 50 years ago, we are charging forward with undaunted confidence and distinction.

A B E T T E R F U T U R E – Our latest endeavors, UCF Downtown and a new teaching hospital,

Pushing into new frontiers requires an

are the largest in a long history of UCF-led

unprecedented level of philanthropy — even more

partnerships with public impact, from health care

extraordinary than the commitment that helped

and veterans’ services to coastal conservation.

FIVE

THINGS

YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE IGNITE CAMPAIGN

The campaign goal is $500 million.

We have already raised $274.9 million.

Every gift of every size counts. To date, 66,348 donors have contributed.

launch UCF in 1963. Back then, 89 community leaders invested $1 million of their own resources

By challenging ourselves to raise $500 million, we

to buy land for the new campus. Today, we are

are doing more than securing a prosperous future

setting our sights significantly higher.

for the university. We are establishing a culture of philanthropy and an understanding that private

IGNITE: The Campaign for the University of

giving is crucial to our success.

Central Florida is an intense, focused and strategic effort to raise $500 million.

UCF’s generous alumni, friends and partners have always shared our mission to serve. And

Some of you may recall our first campaign,

right now, we are counting on the spark of your

Central to Our Future, which ran from 1999 to

unrivaled support to IGNITE our destiny.

Gifts will support financial aid, professorships, research and special programs.

2006. Thanks to a dollar-for-dollar state match at the time, we raised $366 million primarily for

Won’t you join us?

facilities like Bright House Networks Stadium and the Health Sciences Campus at Lake Nona. So, why now? And how is IGNITE different? As a comprehensive campaign, IGNITE is broader and

Rick Walsh ’77 ’83MS

more ambitious. It seeks to elevate our university

IGNITE Campaign Chair

You can contribute by visiting igniteucf.org.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 2 3

IGNITE

On September 16, UCF celebrated the public launch of IGNITE, a $500 million fundraising campaign.

$68 MILLION* S O F T WA R E F O R ENGINEERING STUDENTS T H AT I S U S E D I N M O R E THAN 140,000 GLOBAL C O M PA N I E S SIEMENS * C O M M E R C I A L VA L U E

$5 MILLION

GREGORY ELIAS

E N T E R TA I N M E N T M A N AG E M E N T PROGRAM

G R E G O RY E L I A S

J E S S E WO L F E ’ 1 5 , F O U N D E R O F O ’ DA N G H U M M U S

“The pride we all feel in UCF dominates this evening. On behalf of our entire UCF community: Thank you.” — PRESIDENT JOHN C. HITT $7 MILLION UCF DOWNTOWN AND FOR UNDERWRITING THE IGNITE GALA EVENT DR. PHILLIPS CHARITIES

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MICHAEL MORSBERGER, V P F O R A D VA N C E M E N T AND CEO OF U C F F O U N D AT I O N

“Today, I have a beautiful family and a job that pays the bills and helps us to live our American dream. But most of all I have hope — hope for tomorrow, hope for every new day.”

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“A great university shapes a great city.”

— B R U C E C H A M B E R S , A N I R A Q WA R V E T E R A N W H O C O M P L E T E D T R E AT M E N T F O R P T S D

— BUDDY DYER, CITY OF ORLANDO MAYOR

AT U C F R E S T O R E S , W I T H D E B O R A H B E I D E L , DIRECTOR OF THE PROGRAM

BARBARA JENKINS ’83 ’86MEd ’96EdD, SUPERINTENDENT OF ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

$1 MILLION TO SUPPORT MULTIPLE GRAMMY AWARD-NOMINATED SINGER MICHAEL FEINSTEIN

UCF RESTORES — T R E AT I N G P T S D AND ANXIETY JIM ROSENGREN ’81

CRYSTAL MINCEY, MOTHER OF A STUDENT WHO IS THE FIRST IN

KNIGHTS ON HORSES CARRIED TORCHES

HIS FAMILY TO GO TO COLLEGE

TO OFFICIALLY LIGHT THE SPIRES, NOW PERMANENT FEATURES ON KNIGHTS PLAZA.

$1 MILLION

NIGHT THE KENNETH WHITE AND

THE $1.5 MILLION E X PA N S I O N A N D R E N O VAT I O N O F U C F B A S E B A L L S TA D I U M J O H N D AV I D EULIANO

JAMES XANDER

PROFESSORSHIP IN ECONOMICS

GLENN HUBBARD ’79

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 2 5

Twenty-three years and $12 million ago, Harris Rosen revitalized Tangelo Park. Now he’s doing the same thing in Parramore. BY JEFFREY C. BILLMAN ’01 his past spring, a group of about 100 Jones High School students were summoned to an assembly in the school auditorium. “What did we do?” thought Jenny Simon, who graduated from Jones earlier this year. As it turned out, they weren’t in trouble. In fact, they were about to receive news that, for many of them, would be life-changing. The students were all residents of Parramore, a predominantly African American neighborhood just west of downtown Orlando, across Interstate 4 and the aptly named Division Avenue, markers of segregation that separated white from black. According to James Clark, a UCF history lecturer, this history is intrinsic to understanding

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why the neighborhood has long been synonymous with blight and crime. Start with the fact that Parramore was named after a Confederate Army captain. Add to it that in the first half of the 20th century, blacks were forced to give up their homes in east Orlando and move into public housing in Parramore, where they suffered generations of institutional neglect. That’s not to say the city hasn’t tried. The millions spent on initiatives to lure commerce, improve housing, reduce crime and develop the Creative Village tech hub — which will be anchored by UCF’s new downtown campus — attest to officials’ efforts. Some of it was successful. “When I first was there, [there was] more of the drug dealing,

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Jones High School students who live in the Parramore district will have their college expenses entirely paid for — tuition, housing, books, everything — as long as they graduate and are accepted to a state university, community college or vocational school in Florida. police being around our neighborhood,” says Simon, 18. “Over time, a lot of that has changed.” But problems persist: unemployment near 25 percent, incomes nearly a third of Orlando’s average, lackluster graduation rates, violent crime. According to a survey reported by the Orlando Sentinel last year, nearly one-third of the neighborhood’s children lost a parent to incarceration or death in the previous 12 months. This is the world in which those Jones High students grew up, the world in which they and their parents tried to imagine a brighter future. Simon, then a senior, had tried to get a softball scholarship, but that didn’t pan out. “I was in the auditorium,” she says, “stressing about how we were going to pay for college.” By the time the students left the auditorium, she didn’t have to worry about that anymore. None of the Parramore students did. Their college, they were told, would be entirely paid for — tuition, housing, books, everything — as long as they graduated and were accepted to a state university, community college or vocational school in Florida. “I didn’t really believe it at first,” says Chris Chong, who plans to attend UCF next fall. “I felt like there was a catch somewhere.” But there wasn’t. In another Orlando neighborhood, something similar had been happening for the past 23 years. Now, Tangelo Park barely resembles its former self: Property values are up, crime is down and families are moving into the community rather than fleeing it. More than 90 percent of Tangelo Park students earn a high school diploma, and almost 150 have used a scholarship to earn a college degree.

“We’ve broken the cycle,” says Chuck Dziuban, director of the Research Initiative for Teaching Effectiveness at UCF and the school’s liaison with the Tangelo Park program. “What you see is this remarkable change in the community.” And now the man behind that program hopes to replicate its success on a larger scale, this time in Parramore, where he expects to spend $3 million a year. In May, he awarded the first 15 scholarships. Harris Rosen is 77, white-haired and still vigorous. For more than a quarter of his life, he has been a generous philanthropist — supporting not just the Tangelo Park and Parramore programs, but also donating $18 million to UCF in 2000 to help fund what is now the Rosen College of Hospitality Management. But he didn’t start out that way. Forty-two years ago, he started with a two-story Quality Inn that he has since expanded into a hotel empire along Orlando’s International Drive. Nearby is Tangelo Park, a small neighborhood of about 3,000 named for the orange groves that once grew there. A quarter century ago, like so many other disadvantaged neighborhoods, Tangelo Park wasn’t somewhere you went if you didn’t have to. “Let’s just say it was a community that needed some help,” Rosen says. “It was not safe; teachers were told that they [had to] leave right after classes.” “I could virtually sit in my office and see drug deals going down across the street,” recalls Bob Allen, then the principal of Tangelo Park Elementary. His school — a D school, bordering

Located just west of downtown, Parramore is a predominantly African American neighborhood and is among the oldest neighborhoods in Orlando.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 2 7

on an F, he says — was broken into about once a week. The neighborhood’s homes, many owned by out-of-state landlords, were in various states of disrepair. Families — almost all black, almost all poor, many single-parent households — came and went; more than 90 percent of elementary school students moved away from Tangelo Park. “The thing is, if you can’t keep [children] in the schools, you can’t educate them,” Allen says. Indeed, fewer than three in five Tangelo Park kids were graduating from high school. Tangelo Park’s not like that now. The mobility rate is near zero. GPAs hover around 3.0. Crime is down more than 50 percent. In 2014, every single Tangelo high school student received a diploma. It’s easy to mistake correlation for causation — after all, crime rates have fallen and graduation rates have risen in underserved communities all over the country. It’s also easy to reduce Tangelo Park’s success to that of a wealthy white man parachuting in to save a struggling black neighborhood. But prior to Rosen’s arrival, residents were already rallying to improve the neighborhood. Even so: “Mr. Rosen, he had infused that hope we were looking for,” Allen says. One afternoon in 1993, Rosen had an epiphany. “I heard a voice say, ‘It’s time for you to thank God for everything that has happened to you,’ ” he says. “I asked myself … what to do. ” Then it came to him: education. His parents’ families had immigrated from Eastern Europe, and he’d grown up poor in New York City’s Lower East Side; nobody in his family had gone to college. “My mom and dad would sit down with my brother and me and say, ‘Education will level the playing field,’ ” he says. He called school board member Bill Spoone, Dr. Phillips High School’s first principal, and early education expert Sarah Sprinkel and told them he wanted to send more kids to college. “If you want to prepare youngsters for college,” Sprinkel told him, “you need to start them early.” The sooner they start preschool, Sprinkel said, the better they’ll do in kindergarten, then elementary school, then middle school, then high school. “It’s an advantage they’ll never lose.” So the program they created offered both college scholarships and a preschool program for children age 2 and up. It was a simple setup, but it was also revolutionary in its scope: Instead of a broad-based investment over a few years, Rosen’s investment would be narrowly focused over a few decades.

“You have to think [about] one community vertically,” Dziuban explains. “This is the philanthropy of you just don’t write a check and walk away.” The question was, which community? Orange County Commissioner Mable Butler suggested Tangelo Park. “This community needs help,” she told Rosen. “And they are actively involved in trying to change things ... so they are ready for new ideas.” Rosen was sold on Tangelo, but Tangelo wasn’t immediately sold on Rosen. “Typically, in our community, [investors] want to come in and sell you a bill of goods, and then look for something in return,” says Allen. “The community, of course, was a little skeptical.” After Rosen announced that he would immediately award scholarships, the Tangelo residents came around quickly. Twenty-four Dr. Phillips graduates received a scholarship that first year. The program did something else unorthodox: Instead of building a new preschool, Rosen decided to put several small preschools — six students for every teacher — inside people’s homes. He paid for the renovations and equipment and made sure the providers were certified and insured. It didn’t take long to see improvements. “The mobility rate went from 95 percent to about 42 percent in a couple of years,” Allen says. “The following year, we became an A school.” The mobility rate went down primarily for two reasons: One, young mothers were able to work or go back to school, which increased their financial stability; and two, people now had an incentive to stay in Tangelo Park — and, perhaps, to move there. Kamillia Crawford ’16 was born in Tangelo and was the first of her family to use the scholarship. Earlier this year, she was one of 20 undergraduate students awarded the Order of Pegasus, UCF’s highest student academic honor. She recently flew to California to begin a stint in the Air Force and plans on attending law school. For Crawford, the scholarship was a safety net. After her first year at UCF, she didn’t even need it. She had Pell Grants and Bright Futures, Air Force ROTC and multiple academic scholarships; and as a resident assistant, she received free housing and a stipend. This, Dziuban says, isn’t unusual. The program encourages students to seek out other scholarships

For the first 10 years of the Tangelo program, Rosen didn’t talk much about it, nor did he bother collecting data on the program’s results. “I believed that it would be misinterpreted,” he says. “That if … people started hearing about us, they would think ‘Rosen is doing it because he wanted a pat on the back.’ ” Then someone pointed out something rather profound: By not talking about what he was doing in

“You say, if we have income inequality in America, and we certainly do ... how do you correct that? Education will level the playing field.” — Harris Rosen

“If you want to help an underserved community, you focus laserlike on the underserved community and ask yourself, ‘What can we do to help?’ ” — Harris Rosen

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and sources of financial aid. “If nothing else works for [Rosen scholars], they have a scholarship,” he says. “But they’re getting other [assistance]. So basically Harris is spending less and less money on the scholarship program.” In other words, the program helps Tangelo students help themselves. “I probably wouldn’t have gone to UCF right away without scholarships,” says Kira Leach, a current UCF student majoring in psychology and a 2014 valedictorian at Dr. Phillips. “Neither of my parents graduated from college. … It opened up a lot of opportunity for me that wouldn’t have happened without a scholarship.”

Tangelo, Rosen was keeping secret something that had proven results. “My hope now is that when … we talk to The New York Times or we’re on a TV show, that lurking in the shadows is someone who will say, ‘That sounds like a great program. Let’s give Harris a call and see if we can get things moving in Philadelphia,’ ” he says. He decided to approach the private sector, but to do that, he needed numbers. Even the most altruistic philanthropists want to quantify what their investment will do. Dziuban commissioned a study, and the results were remarkable: For every dollar Rosen spent in Tangelo, the community received $7 in benefits. He had the data. He had the template. “If you want to help an underserved community, you focus laserlike on the underserved community,” Rosen says, “and ask yourself, ‘What can we do to help?’ It’s not rocket science. … You say, if we have income inequality in America, and we certainly do … how do you correct that? Education will level the playing field. Listen: A kid grows up in Flatbush and goes to Harvard, and another kid grows up in Winter Park and he goes to Harvard. Who cares where they came from if they both graduate, right? … And not only that, when they graduate, they’re no longer underserved or disadvantaged, they’re

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“Neither of my parents graduated from college. ... It opened up a lot of opportunity for me that wouldn’t have happened without a scholarship.” — Kira Leach, a UCF psychology student and Tangelo Park scholarship recipient advantaged, because they’re sitting around a table with their colleagues, and, of course, the question arises, how much money do you owe? And so our kids are sitting there quietly, smiling and saying, ‘We don’t owe a penny.’ So from underserved to advantaged in four years.” That’s certainly the case for Brikti Tsegaye. “I know that a lot of people … I’ve met in college that didn’t grow up in Tangelo Park, they took out every sort of loan available,” says Tsegaye, a pre-nursing major at UCF and a Tangelo Park scholarship recipient. “Loans aren’t something I have to worry about paying.” But Rosen’s most poignant pitch is personal, a letter from a fifth- or sixth-grader he received earlier this year, thanking him for the breakfast buffet he provided Tangelo students immediately before the FCAT. “Mr. Rosen,” the letter begins, “I just want to tell you how much I loved the breakfast. It made me so strong. I know that I killed the FCAT. But most importantly, I love the strawberries. And Mr. Rosen, you are like a strawberry. So sweet.” “And what is that worth?” Rosen asks, his eyes alit. “What is that worth? Getting a letter from a young lady who says I’m like a strawberry.”

Jeffrey C. Billman ’01 ’10MA graduated from UCF with a B.A. in journalism and an M.A. in political science. He is currently the editor in chief of INDY Week in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

Clockwise from top left: Current Jones High School senior Chris Chong plans to attend UCF next fall; a Tangelo Park resident with Harris Rosen; Rosen shakes hands with a recent graduate during Jones High School’s commencement this past spring; Rosen (center) at Jones High School’s graduation with students who were awarded full scholarships as part of his program.

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HELPERS

AND

HEALERS BY LAURA J. COLE

he tragedy at Pulse has affected us all in some way, no matter who we are or whom we love. The people who were there that night were just as diverse a group as the people who responded in so many ways in the days, weeks and, now, months after the attack. For many, it will never be possible to think about Orlando without at least a note of sorrow for the 49 people killed that morning. But beyond the sheer destruction and loss of life, the story continues as one of hope

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PARA LA VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL, VISITE UCF.EDU/PEGASUS. PHOTOS BY BRIAN CARLSON

and healing. The people who responded to the incident — providing police protection, medical assistance, therapy, whatever was needed — are our helpers and healers, allies and advocates. They are the ones who have worked tirelessly to make our community and world safer and more inclusive — on June 12 and every day before and after. Not surprisingly, of the thousands of people who responded after the attack at Pulse, many have a UCF connection. Here, in their words, are their stories.

THE CALL AURA SOFÍA FUENTES

’13MD

third-year surgery resident

Orlando Regional Medical Center

“I WOKE UP EARLY IN THE MORNING TO SEVERAL PUSH notifications on my phone, all saying the same thing — that there was a shooting at Pulse nightclub.

THAT MORNING WE JUST ALL RAN TO THE TRAUMA BAY. HONESTLY, AT THAT POINT, WE HAD NO IDEA WHAT WE WERE DEALING WITH. WE WERE JUST TRYING TO GET EVERYONE STABLE, SAVE AS MANY LIVES AS WE COULD.”

“I WAS [RESPONDING TO A CALL FROM SEMINOLE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE],

when another call came across the radio advising that there was an active shooter in downtown Orlando. It was clear that they were still in need of assistance.”

HEATHER FAGAN

’13

deputy chief of staff Orlando Office of the Mayor

ALAN ELLIOT

’06

corporal UCF Police

MY PHONE WENT OFF AT LIKE 2, 2:30 in the morning [when] one of my partners texted me and said, ‘We have multiple gunshot wounds; please come and help if you can.’ My wife got on her phone and she goes,

THE FIRST THING THAT I COULD THINK OF DOING WAS TO CONFIRM WITH AS MANY OF MY CLOSEST FRIENDS AND LOVED ONES [AS POSSIBLE] TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY WERE OK.” CARLOS GUILLERMO SMITH

government affairs manager Equality Florida

’03

I ACTUALLY GOT THE ‘OH MY GOD. PHONE CALL ABOUT 3:30 SOMETHING BAD in the morning. The mayor’s special assistant Dave Arnott — who is a detective within the police department [and also] the liaison to the mayor’s office — was the one who called me. I didn’t know the ultimate death count. I didn’t know any of that; I just knew it was ongoing.”

IS GOING ON IN SOME NIGHTCLUB DOWNTOWN,’ so I put my clothes on and ran to the hospital.”

ABOUT 6 IN THE MORNING, I GET

a call directly from Christine [Mouton, director of UCF Victim Services]. ‘They want you to go to ORMC now,’ so I get off the phone with her, I flip on the news, I run in the shower, get dressed, and I head immediately to ORMC. … I was the first advocate there.”

CORETTA COTTON

’94

victim advocate

UCF Victim Services

MATTHEW LUBE

critical care surgeon ORMC

surgical clerkship director

UCF College of Medicine

“I WAS IN BED ASLEEP WHEN MY PHONE RANG, and it was the night shift supervisor. He told me he had limited information but that there was an active shooter downtown and that explosives detection dogs were needed. He asked if Jogy, my K-9 partner, and I could come in. I told him to send me the address and immediately jumped out of bed, threw my uniform on, and we got in the car. … When I realized the address was Pulse, I immediately [was worried] about my friends.”

CHRISTOPHER HOLT

’07 ’10MS

officer

UCF Police

THE RESPONSE THE FIRST TASK I WAS ALAN ELLIOT ASSIGNED WAS TO START setting up an inner perimeter with crime scene tape. [Later, I went with Officer Holt and K-9 Jogy] to Southern Nights to perform a preventative K-9 sweep of that nightclub and secure that location.”

“THE NEWS MEDIA WERE STILL NOT CLEAR ON WHAT HAD HAPPENED.

CASSANDRA LAFSER

’04

press secretary Orlando Office of the Mayor

I [WAS THE FBI VICTIM SPECIALIST’S] HELPER for the day at ORMC. We ended up doing a lot of the death notifications. I wasn’t verbalizing those, but I was in the room for at least five of them, just

“I spent most of Sunday just making sure people were where they needed to be, keeping in touch with the news media and what they were saying, and then coordinating and

OFFERING

SUPPORT TO

GETTING READY FOR THE REST OF FAMILIES WHO THE WEEK KNOWING THAT, BASED WERE OBVIOUSLY ON MY EXPERIENCE, THIS WAS NOT GOING THROUGH THE HARDEST GOING TO BE A ONE-DAY EVENT. DAY OF THEIR That was my Sunday, 21 hours of coordinating.” CHRISTINE MOUTON

’98 ’01MS

director

UCF Victim Services

LIVES.”

regional coordinator

JESSICA FARNAN

Florida Crisis Response Team

They were already surrounding the scene while the incident was still unfolding. Even before the first press conference, I started getting calls and emails from local, national and even international media outlets asking for information, interviews, any fact that they could report on, and it stayed like that for days.”

‘JUAN [GUERRERO] WAS SHOT

“WHEN I GOT TO THE HOSPITAL, I WENT UP to the ICU and walked over to the operating room. I saw one of my partners, and he just said, ‘Stay here. We’re going to send somebody up.’

MY HEART SANK.”

BASICALLY, FOR THE NEXT SIX OR EIGHT HOURS, I JUST STAYED IN THE OPERATING ROOM.” MATTHEW LUBE

IN HONOR — of — THE PULSE V I CT I M S

STANLEY ALMODOVAR III • 23 AMANDA ALVEAR • 25 OSCAR A. ARACENA-MONTERO • 26 RODOLFO AYALA-AYALA • 33 ANTONIO DAVON BROWN • 29 DARRYL ROMAN BURT II • 29 ANGEL L. CANDELARIO-PADRO • 28 SIMON A. CARRILLO • 31 LUIS DANIEL CONDE • 39 CORY JAMES CONNELL • 21 TEVIN EUGENE CROSBY • 25

victim advocate

UCF Victim Services

AS SOON AS I WOKE UP, I FRANTICALLY STARTED texting friends to make sure they were safe. Many were but then I saw a post from my friend Brandon on Facebook saying he and his boyfriend Eric were at Pulse but had managed to escape. I messaged him, and he told me

AND IS IN THE ER. DREW [LEINONEN] IS MISSING.’ DAVID THOMAS MORAN

’14MFA

lgbtq activist

“[THE CENTER] WAS THE FIRST PLACE THAT MOST of us went to, essentially, for our grassroots response from the entire community, not just LGBTQ, but really the Orlando community as a whole.” CARLOS GUILLERMO SMITH

DEONKA DEIDRA DRAYTON • 32 LEROY VALENTIN FERNANDEZ • 25 MERCEDEZ MARISOL FLORES • 26 PETER O. GONZALEZ-CRUZ • 22 JUAN RAMON GUERRERO • 22 PAUL TERRELL HENRY • 41 FRANK HERNANDEZ • 27 MIGUEL ANGEL HONORATO • 30 JAVIER JORGE-REYES • 40

ucf ph.d. student

AROUND 7:30 [A.M.],

I CALLED 211 TO LET THEM KNOW THAT HISPANICS WOULD NEED COUNSELING. We have over 30 therapists that are mobile and bilingual, and we are available to help out. They directed me to go to The Center to register the counselors.”

DENISSE LAMAS

’00 ’01MSW

founder

Hispanic Family Counseling

adjunct instructor UCF School of Social Work

JASON BENJAMIN JOSAPHAT • 19 EDDIE JAMOLDROY JUSTICE • 30 ANTHONY LUIS LAUREANO DISLA • 25 CHRISTOPHER ANDREW LEINONEN • 32 ALEJANDRO BARRIOS MARTINEZ • 21 JUAN CHAVEZ MARTINEZ • 25 BRENDA LEE MARQUEZ MCCOOL • 49 GILBERTO RAMON SILVA MENENDEZ • 25

I VOLUNTEERED TO CREATE THAT GOFUNDME SITE, AND WE SET A MODEST

goal of $100,000, and then $200,000, and then $500,000, and then before you know it, this was the fastest GoFundMe site to reach $1 million, the first ever to reach $2 million, and now we’re at $7.8 million with over 120,000 contributors from 120 countries.” IDA ESKAMANI

’12 ’16MPA

former development officer Equality Florida

state youth vote director For Our Future

“THE DAYS FOLLOWING PULSE, MY K-9 JOGY AND I CONDUCTED MULTIPLE SWEEPS TO HELP KEEP EVERYONE SAFE AT THE VIGILS. WE ARE HERE TO HELP AND SUPPORT THE COMMUNITY.” CHRISTOPHER HOLT

THE CENTER OFFERED “ONE THING THAT WE DROP-IN CARE FOR ANYONE, LEARNED IN SOCIAL

WORK IS THAT WE MEET THE CLIENTS

and it was around any kind MARY MANN ’04 ’05MSW of need. Sometimes, that need was just for people instructor UCF School of to be in the same place Social Work and support each other. Through The Center and Zebra Coalition and then also Hope and Help Center of Orlando and Two Spirit Health Services, people were making lists of counselors who were willing to volunteer. My friends and I got on that list.”

I DID A LOT OF

‘BARRICADE THERAPY,’

[where] you would kind of lean on the barricades [used] to keep people out of the street. I would sidle up there and go, ‘How are you doing?’ They would tell you how fine they were while tears were running down their face. They would talk to you as long as you were casually hanging out.” TRACY WHARTON disaster services responder American Red Cross

assistant professor UCF School of Social Work

KIMBERLY MORRIS • 37 AKYRA MONET MURRAY • 18 LUIS OMAR OCASIO-CAPO • 20 GERALDO A. ORTIZ-JIMENEZ • 25 ERIC IVAN ORTIZ RIVERA • 36 JOEL RAYON PANIAGUA • 31 JEAN CARLOS MENDEZ PEREZ • 35 ENRIQUE L. RIOS JR. • 25

where they are. At that time, they were unable to come out of their homes, so we had to meet them where they were: in their homes, where they felt safe.” DENISSE LAMAS

“MONDAY, I VOLUNTEERED HERE [ON CAMPUS] AT THE blood drive. That was really nice [after the] horrible thing on Sunday [to] see our UCF community coming together, and you’re telling them, ‘There’s a twoor three-hour wait.’ They’re like, ‘That’s OK. I’ll wait.’ ”

KATHY DEVAULT

’01 ’08MPA

director of strategic partnerships Orlando Office of the Mayor

LAUREN PORTAL

’11

victim advocate

UCF Victim Services

“We had the Family Assistance Center open for eight days, and in eight days we had 1,200 representatives from 35 agencies to serve those who needed it. We [had] 956 individuals come through, and those 956 individuals represented 298 families.

WE HELPED TO SERVE ALL OF THE 49 DECEASED’S FAMILIES.” JEAN C. NIVES RODRIGUEZ • 27 XAVIER EMMANUEL SERRANO ROSADO • 35 CHRISTOPHER JOSEPH SANFELIZ • 24 YILMARY RODRIGUEZ SOLIVAN • 24 EDWARD SOTOMAYOR JR. • 34 SHANE EVAN TOMLINSON • 33 MARTIN BENITEZ TORRES • 33

“ONCE THE FBI HAD DONE THEIR INITIAL INTERVIEW with the people who were coming in and got the preliminary information on the form, [the role of the Florida Crisis Response Team] was to assign an advocate to that family and make sure that they were accessing all of the services that they needed. Because unfortunately, when you’re out there, you don’t know what’s available and [you] just really don’t have a clear understanding of what your needs are over and above the immediate need of ‘I need to bury my family member.’ ” CHRISTINE MOUTON “WE DID HELP OUT AT THE FAMILY ASSISTANCE CENTER, WHICH COMPARED to that first day [at ORMC] was so JESSICA FARNAN helpful for my healing. At the Family Assistance Center, people were giving away flights and paying for rent and utilities and all the things that people really needed at that time, so it felt really good to be able to help the people who came in navigate those resources.”

JONATHAN ANTONIO CAMUY VEGA • 24 FRANKY JIMMY DEJESUS VELAZQUEZ • 50 JUAN P. RIVERA VELAZQUEZ • 37 LUIS S. VIELMA • 22 LUIS DANIEL WILSON-LEON • 37 JERALD ARTHUR WRIGHT • 31

THE HEALING

IN A TYPICAL DISASTER, FOR EACH PERSON WHO was there and was injured or is deceased, it might impact six people. But in this particular community because of it being LGBTQ, there were a lot of chosen family members.

THEY ESTIMATE THAT IN THIS PARTICULAR DISASTER, FOR EACH PERSON WHO WAS KILLED, INJURED OR THERE THAT NIGHT, IT IMPACTS BETWEEN 10 TO 12 PEOPLE.”

THE FIRST TWO WEEKS, WE

PROVIDED COUNSELING TO 312 PEOPLE.

Mind you, now we have 51 people directly involved with Pulse that we are seeing on a probably twice-a-week basis.”

KATHY DEVAULT

DENISSE LAMAS

JUAN RAMON GUERRERO 1993–2016

ucf student

Dear Juan, MY BABY BROTHER, MY MENTOR, MY LOVE, MY WORLD, MI BEBÉ. From the moment you were born, you stole my heart. One of the biggest pleasures I have had in this life was watching you grow into the dedicated and kind man that you became. I know I’m your sister, but I’ve also felt so much like a mother to you. I remember telling you things like go to school, get good grades, work hard, be responsible, get a good job, make investments, set up your retirement. You exceeded any expectations I ever had for you. You worked full time at SunTrust so you could pay for college on your own. You had reached your third year of college at UCF, and you had no student loans or any debt. Brother, that is admirable. It hurts to know that you are no longer part of this world in the physical sense. While I am trying very hard to not allow hate to consume my heart, it is hard not to. There are so many things that I still want to do with you: go to a club together, go shopping, buy those investment properties together, open a business together, go to a concert, play a game of pool with just you, go on that trip to St. Augustine we talked about so much. Your niece, Chanel, and little nephew, Eric, miss you so much. As their mother, it breaks my heart to see their pain and not be able to take it away or find a way to explain it to them. But I can’t. You did not deserve to be stripped of your life in this manner. I know that I always told you that what does not kill you will make you stronger, but honestly bro, I am starting to question that philosophy. I did not want to be stronger than I was, and I feel that losing you has made me weaker. What I wouldn’t give to have you here. What I wouldn’t give to switch places with you and for you to be enjoying your life. Everyone says that you had a good life, and that you’re in a better place and that time heals all wounds, that things will get better — but I resent that, and I certainly do not believe it. Every morning, I wake up thinking the world is just as it should be until I’m reminded again that you are no longer here. I can’t call you. I can’t hug you. I can’t tell you how much I love you. But I do. So much. To seeing you again soon. Your sister, CELIA RUIZ

WE DID A LOT OF DEBRIEFINGS EARLY ON but people are coming in for individual treatment now and saying, ‘I heard you talk about symptoms going away. I’m one of the ones where the symptoms aren’t going away,’ so we are continuing to see people now.”

DEBORAH BEIDEL founding director UCF RESTORES

pegasus professor

UCF Department of Psychology

“WE HAD A NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO COMPLETED suicide in the first few weeks. … What really is hard for me is that with all those people on that list, with 665 [counselors] willing to volunteer their time, we couldn’t help everybody.”

TRACY WHARTON “I feel like every step forward I take in coping with the fallout of the Pulse hate crime, I take three steps back. You think you are beginning to make sense of things and then something happens and knocks you clear off your feet.

IT’S HARD NOT TO INTERNALIZE THE PAIN AND GRIEF OF THE LOVED ONES OF THE 49,

especially Drew’s and Juan’s families and close friends.”

DAVID THOMAS MORAN

“FOR US,

IT’S STILL A JOB

WE’RE FOCUSED ON.

We just started distributing funds to victims in September, and we continue to work on establishing some type of permanent memorial somewhere in our city.” CASSANDRA LAFSER “YOU’RE TAUGHT TO LET VICTIMS VENT AND YOU’RE validating their feelings. You’re not going to be like, ‘Well, at least you’re alive,’ because you know what? That’s not what they’re feeling right now. They’re like, ‘Really? I was just shot in my legs.’ ‘I was hiding in the bathroom for a couple of hours watching people die on top of me.’ ”

LAUREN PORTAL

I THINK HEALING MAY LOOK

DIFFERENT FOR DIFFERENT PEOPLE. I’ve definitely encouraged people, especially those who experienced [trauma], to seek out therapy and counseling. Even for those who weren’t injured, recovery is going to be a long process.”

CORETTA COTTON “NO ONE, ABSOLUTELY NO ONE, IS ABLE TO SAY WHAT another person is going through and say, ‘OK, you should be over it by now.’ That’s completely inappropriate.

NOBODY CAN MEASURE WHAT THAT LENGTH OF TIME MIGHT BE FOR ANOTHER PERSON.” CHRISTINE MOUTON

PEGASUS M AGAZ I NE

THE MEMORIES “[THERE ARE CERTAIN] MEMORIES THAT I’LL

NEVER FORGET:

The amount of law enforcement that showed up and how well everyone worked together. Watching the unmarked black police truck make runs from Pulse to ORMC. All the violence that occurred and seeing the pain on people’s faces. Hearing dispatch give live updates from 911 callers. The line of ambulances and fire personnel waiting to help the victims, and them standing side by side with police, taking cover when gunfire was exchanged between the SWAT team and the shooter. What the scene looked like once daybreak came.”

HONESTLY, FOR US TO BE ABLE TO SAVE THAT MANY LIVES, WE REALLY NEEDED A LOT OF SURGEONS.

The night before the shooting, our fifth-year residents graduated. The next night, our attendant starts calling them, saying, ‘Hey, I really need you guys to come in. We need all the help we can get.’ All of our chief residents that graduated showed up, even though they were not even part of the hospital, technically, anymore. That was a huge help.”

AURA SOFÍA FUENTES “There is a personal moment for me, from 3:30 a.m. to about 7:30 a.m., when we went to the first press conference. You’re in this room, and there are no windows, and you’re insulated a little bit to this incident. You open that door, and it is light outside. You see all the press, and you realize the magnitude of this.

THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING.

“I remember probably one of the biggest things that spoke to me during the Lake Eola vigil was when the owner from Pulse [Barbara Poma ’90] said that she was going to rebuild, that she was there for her employees, she’s there for the people that love Pulse.

THAT REALLY TOUCHED ME.” JESSICA FARNAN

And it is our job to make sure the world knows what is happening, and that they feel reassured.”

ALAN ELLIOT

HEATHER FAGAN

IT WAS KIND OF AMAZING to see the outpouring from our community. Even at the city’s Emergency Operations Center, there were so many different people, businesses, even a Girl Scout troop, that came by to deliver food and coffee or care packages with handmade cards, even bringing therapy dogs just because they wanted to do something and help. That community support was probably one of the most critical things that kept so many of us going.” CASSANDRA LAFSER

I WENT DOWN TO THE VIGIL AT LAKE EOLA, AND AS WE WERE standing there and they were reading off the names of the victims, I heard people behind me really sobbing. There were actually four or five young people there. A couple of them were in UCF shirts, and I just opened my arms to the girl right behind me, hugged her, and she hugged me so hard and so long. All I could think of was when I was her age, I was trying to figure out what classes I was going to take in the fall, and here she was obviously having lost someone, and her entire emerging adulthood [was] just shattered by the horror of this whole event.”

“I REMEMBER FOR A GOOD TWO OR THREE WEEKS, I WOULD GO

out to dinner and all these people are laughing. Why are you laughing? Our city was brought down. We have 49 less people here, and we have all these people hurt in the hospital, and you’re here having a good time. That’s my own issue.”

LAUREN PORTAL

MY LAST MEMORY OF PULSE IS SEEING DREW AND JUAN TOGETHER ON THE DANCE FLOOR.

DAVID THOMAS MORAN

We all hugged and danced together. That’s an important memory for me — knowing that the last time I was there, I saw them and we were dancing and having a great time.”

DEBORAH BEIDEL

“I SPOKE AT THE UCF VIGIL. WOW. THERE were a lot of people from the community at large on all three levels of the Student Union. It was just awe-inspiring. To me, it was a personal sense of validation that

WE’RE HERE

TO HELP.” CHRISTINE MOUTON

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 3 5

THE REST OF THE WORLD WAS

NOT SEEING

PEOPLE LINED UP FOR A

MILE TO GIVE BLOOD. WHEN PULSE HAPPENED, RATHER THAN LETTING OURSELVES BECOME DIVIDED, we stood shoulder to shoulder and embraced our differences. Orlando finds strength and pride in its diversity, and we approached this crisis the same way. All the different communities came together — the LGBTQ community, the Latino community, the Muslim community, direct service organizations — to say that we’re going to get through this stronger than when we came in.” IDA ESKAMANI

“I HAD SOMEONE COME IN WITH THEIR PARENT because they felt like because of Pulse, because they knew that this counseling was [available at The Center], because of the acceptance that was out now, they felt like they could finally come and talk to someone about their questions around their gender expression and gender identity. That, to me, is huge.” MARY MANN

A FEW WEEKS AGO, A FEW OF THE PATIENTS CAME BACK TO SEE ME IN the office. They were just so grateful and wanted to take their picture with me. That was really nice because a lot of times, when you’re taking care of patients in the ICU, they are on a ventilator; they are sedated. So it was really nice when they came back, and they had healed.” MATTHEW LUBE

They were not seeing 665 people on a list to volunteer. They were not seeing that we had 14 sites where we were doing counseling around the clock. They were not seeing football teams turning out to bring water to people standing in line and the businesses downtown bringing food to whoever was working a shift somewhere.” TRACY WHARTON

CHRISTOPHER ANDREW “DREW” LEINONEN ’07 ’09MA 1984–2016

ucf alumnus

Chris, FOR 32 YEARS, YOU WERE THE PERFECT HALF TO MY EXISTENCE. I was a single mom and you were my only child, and together, we were the Chris Leinonen team. You were and are very much loved, by me and all of your friends. I wish too often that I could change places with you. Every day, I want you back. But I know that’s impossible, so I go on and live with the grief, knowing that you suffered the ultimate loss. I’ve asked myself why so many times, and the answer I keep coming to is that you were gay and had figured out how to be happy — something your killer could not do. Somehow, I’ve been given the platform to let people know who you were and what you stood for. One of those things, for sure, was education. You loved UCF and your time there. You spent two years there as an RA, and being a social director suited you well. And you loved Orlando. Even after going to grad school for clinical psychology in Daytona Beach, you were always back here. Of course you were. You came home to Orlando to complete your supervised hours and stayed here after getting your therapist’s license. You still had a half century of life yet or more to live. You deserved to have that time. Between you and the 48 other people killed that night, your killer eradicated potentially 2,400 years of life. 24 centuries. No regular citizen should have the right to have a weapon that can kill so many people so quickly. Your death has forced me to become a mother who has to try to inspire elected officials to pass commonsense gun laws. Your murder demands it. At the Disarm Hate rally, I met Matthew, whose sister was killed at Sandy Hook. During the four years since that shooting, he’s been trying to convince Congress to make a change — without success. I can’t help but think that had our elected officials done something, you might still be alive. Even so, I live with the pain that any changes we make now won’t bring you back. Still, I fight this fight for you, for your partner, Juan, and for the 47 other victims in Orlando and the thousands of others who die from senseless violence every year. I will continue this fight because it’s not a matter of whether or not there will be another mass shooting — it’s when. You would be proud to know that while I fight to change the laws to protect lives, five of your friends are working on spreading love and acceptance through The Dru Project, a nonprofit they created to develop gay-straight alliance programs in schools. That sounds so basic, but it’s often overlooked in our educational programming. Instead of coming up against walls fighting for commonsense gun laws, they are addressing the love side of our existence. Your murder was senseless and should have been avoidable, but I promise your death will not be in vain. Your mom, CHRISTINE LEINONEN

JUAN GUERRERO AND DREW LEINONEN

THE FUTURE EVEN THOUGH PHYSICAL SCARS

[and] medical issues take a while to heal, I think the emotional aspect is what’s really going to affect us in the long run. But I think as long as we realize that we’re in this together, we should be fine.” AURA SOFÍA FUENTES

“I HOPE WE CAN JUST BE AMERICANS AND HUMAN BEINGS AND PUT AWAY THE POLITICS AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT

GUN VIOLENCE.”

“HATRED, BIGOTRY AND RACISM ARE KILLING US. IT IS WHY THE BLACK LIVES MATTER movement is so important. It is the motivation behind the fight for LGBTQ equality. It’s the reason why hate violence is on the rise against Muslim Americans and against those in law enforcement.

IT’S KILLING US ALL, AND THAT IS WHY OUR WORK TO DISARM HATE AND UPROOT BIGOTRY IS SO IMPORTANT.” CARLOS GUILLERMO SMITH

WE HEAL BY STICKING TOGETHER AND BEING A COMMUNITY. WE SUPPORT each other and get past all of these prejudices out there. If the tragedy at Pulse changes people and helps them get rid of their prejudices toward gay people then at least something positive can come from it.

WE ARE ALL HUMAN. LET’S [ORLANDO IS A REMEMBER THAT, AND LET THIS CITY] THAT VALUES TRAGEDY BE A TURNING POINT DIVERSITY, FOR THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY.” CORETTA COTTON

we are a city that does have a large Hispanic population, that does have a large LGBTQ population. We have a mayor who fights for those populations every single day, and so from that perspective, I think that we’re in a place where we are going to continue to love one another and reach out to one another.”

CHRISTOPHER HOLT

MARY MANN

“A HUGE

PART OF MY

HEALING is really thinking about intersectionality in my own advocacy work. We have to not only be inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, but also race, ethnicity, disability, immigration status, gender, age, religion and language.” DAVID THOMAS MORAN

THE DOOR’S BEEN OPENED, AND I WOULD LIKE US TO MAINTAIN this sense of community care and this kind of collectivist support, no matter what your identity is. I think we move forward by holding people accountable as well. For me, when I hear people in places of power, decision-makers, make promises, I’m going to hold them accountable.”

KATHY DEVAULT “I’M VERY PROUD OF ORLANDO, BUT I ALSO KNOW THERE’S A lot of work to do and we need folks to continue to stay engaged. Change doesn’t happen by accident.

WE HAVE A SAYING IN THE LGBTQ MOVEMENT, WE SAY ‘LOVE IS LOUDER,’ BUT LOVE IS ONLY LOUDER WHEN WE RAISE OUR COLLECTIVE VOICES.” IDA ESKAMANI

That’s what I tell people to tell kids, that

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE BAD PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, BUT THERE ARE MANY,

MANY MORE GOOD PEOPLE.

And the good people are going to work together to make sure the bad people don’t win.” DEBORAH BEIDEL

ALUMKNIGHTS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEOFF LEVY â&#x20AC;&#x2122;11

3 8 | FA L L 2 0 1 6

PEGASUS M AGAZ I NE

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

BY ANGIE LEWIS ’03

Amanda Stephen ’08 is the newest inmate on Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black.

go after roles that I feel I can play, not just because it says late 20s, African American girl, medium to large build. We look at a character and see the details in the character that she feels that I can pull out. … It takes open minds on the casting end, on the producing end, and on the actor’s end to look beyond that. Thankfully we have a lot of people in the industry now who are more open to that. It’s still a struggle, don’t get me wrong. But I look toward what’s possible and what I can do on my end rather than submitting to what the industry standards are.

itting in the audience of a Theatre UCF performance of A Chorus Line, Amanda Stephen ’08 had an epiphany. “That’s what I’m supposed to be doing,” she thought. The next day, she added a theatre studies major to her interpersonal/organizational communication major. “Every semester was packed,” she explains. “But I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I’m glad I did it because it helped me push to do more than just what’s required, and I think that helped me in life.” And push she did. Since graduating, Stephen landed the role of Alison Abdullah in season four of Orange Is the New Black, the Netflix original series that has won four Emmy Awards and been nominated for 17. “When I auditioned, the breakdown read: ‘African American Muslim, late 20s/early 30s, has a sense of humor,’ ” she says. “I’m honored to be playing Alison as a black Muslim, and I don’t take it lightly. At the same time, my job is to make her relatable and show that she’s not so different from everybody else.”

Above: Amanda Stephen ’08 (second from left) as Alison Abdullah with Uzo Aduba as Crazy Eyes, Danielle Brooks as Taystee, and Adrienne C. Moore as Black Cindy in Orange Is the New Black.

IMAGE COURTESY OF NETFLIX

Q&A How do you feel your education has helped you in your career?

The communication [major] has helped me navigate different personalities, different ways of thinking and different views. The arts side and acting prepared me with a lot of tough love. How did you get the role of Alison Abdullah?

My manager called me on a Friday and told me I had an audition on Monday, which was a blessing because you usually don’t get a weekend to prep for an audition like that. … I formed Alison — who she is and how she fit into the world in Orange. Monday, I went into the offices and auditioned. I heard back on Friday from my manager that I got the role. I started to scream and jump around the house and gashed my bum on the side of a table.

What was your favorite scene to film this season?

My favorite scene has to be when Crazy Eyes, Black Cindy and I are trying to get a picture of Judy King [a Martha Stewart-like character] coming out of the shower. We block her exit without her knowing, and Black Cindy’s trying to get a picture with her. Who’s your favorite character on the show and why?

Oh, I love them all. I can’t. I will say I’m a big Red fan. Kate Mulgrew is great. … I was a big [Star Trek:] Voyager fan, so I can’t help myself. This year’s Oscars received a lot of criticism for not including African American actors and directors. How do you feel the industry has treated you so far in your career?

I’m fortunate to have a manager who has the same views as I do, where we

What’s your dream role?

I’d love to play Titania from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. When I get older, I would love to play Ma Rainey from August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. But I think a role that I feel so connected to, that I feel like I was made to play, I don’t know if it’s been written yet. If someone were to make a TV show or movie about your life, what would the title be?

The Most Ambitious Hot Mess There Ever Was What causes are you passionate about?

Women’s rights, changing systemic racism, and ending police brutality toward the black community and people of color What’s something most people don’t know about you?

I’m originally from Montreal and have dual citizenship. Read more at ucf.edu/pegasus.

U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 3 9

CLASS NOTES

1973 Leo Brosche retired after 36 years at Florida Power/Progress Energy. Roger Martindill retired from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

1981 Eric Solomon was recognized as one of Atlanta’s top doctors by Atlanta Magazine.

1983 Colette (Honsa) Matthews was credentialed as a school nutrition specialist.

1984 Zachary Holladay recently celebrated 20 years with Hewlett Packard.

in Teaching at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he is an associate professor of graphic design.

1987 Robert Green celebrated 25 years as the city manager of Auburndale, FL, and has been elected president of the Florida City and County Management Association.

1996 Mark Schellhase graduated from Leadership Boca 2016.

1998

Nicholas Conte is the economic development/community redevelopment area manager for Holly Hill, FL.

Gregory Kuzma is the chief operations officer at Ascend Performing Arts in Denver.

1992 Tracey Mertens, owner of Dendera Public Relations, was the recipient of two national awards for her work on behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard.

1993

Robert Morrison was elected international secretary/treasurer by the American Society of Appraisers.

Lourdes Mateo de Acosta was named senior vice president of communications at República, a cross-cultural advertising and communications agency.

Douglas Barrett received the President’s Award for Excellence

Jeffrey Unchapher is supervising field producer for HGTV’s Tiny House Hunters and House Hunters.

1991

Elise Legg is a proposal coordinator at Hanson Professional Services in Orlando.

1986

graduated with a master of strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College.

Brian Ray, a command chaplain in the Army Reserve, recently

2000

James Proce was named among the Top 10 Public Works Leaders of the Year by the American Public Works Association.

2004 Cory Czyzewski was promoted to director of investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Dena Kology and Heather (Friedman) Rice ’05 launched MasterPeace Apparel, a company that donates 10 percent of its profits to women in need.

2005 Derek Nankivil is a staff engineer for Johnson & Johnson.

Earl Filmore Jr. was promoted to director of military affairs at Bethune-Cookman University.

2006

Thomas Hernandez was awarded the SIOR designation by the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors.

Chris Collings was promoted to operations manager at Harris Corporation's Mission Networks business.

2002 Toni Howard Lowe was invited to The United State of Women Summit in Washington, DC, for her work to further gender equality and was selected as a Nominated Changemaker by the White House.

Krista (Peckyno) Thompson was presented a BusinessWomen First Award by the Pittsburgh Business Times. Jackie (Scholl) Sanchez is the director of health information and technology at Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida.

2007

“I grew up doing trivia leagues in high school and was also a part of the UCF Honors College bowl team, so I always knew I wanted to be on Jeopardy!”

Richard Regnier is a project manager with Load King.

2008 Cristina Dzialo recently opened Elevated Fitness in Orlando. Rishi Immanni is a senior project manager at Dewberry in Atlanta. Mary Myers’ paper, “The Hoosier Schoolmaster of the Air,” was published by The Journal of Radio & Audio Media. Nadia Persaud is a community coordinator at the Chicago office of Zynga, a video game developer.

Courtney Paulson ’11 won the July 29 episode of Jeopardy! after correctly answering the final clue in the category Colleges & Universities. The statistics major, who earned a Ph.D. in business statistics from the University of Southern California and is now an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, returned to defend her title on September 12, but ultimately fell to her opponents. Read more at ucfalumnitoday.com.

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Megan (Policastro) Picataggio is an associate at the Orlando office of Ball Janik. Seth Watts is the director of development for the College

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“I still pinch myself every day that I get to come to work and not only be around these amazing people but actually help their vision come to life.”

Lauren Niederhiser ’12 is fulfilling her childhood dreams — and helping bring others’ to life — as a project manager at Walt Disney World Imagineering. Working with general contractors, artists and Imagineers, she plays an integral role in taking new attractions like Epcot’s Frozen Ever After and the Magic Kingdom’s Seven Dwarfs Mine Train from concept to reality. of Design, Construction and Planning at the University of Florida.

2009 Wilcley Lima was a contestant on the May 30 episode of Jeopardy!

Alexander Ramos is a regional account director for Express Scripts. Amanda Roesch is an associate at Levinson & Capuano in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

2011

David Ling accepted a pulmonary and critical care fellowship with the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, NM.

James Gilmore is the manager of university business at Navigate Research in Chicago.

Chris Morata was promoted to vice president of product for Qgiv, an online fundraising tool for nonprofits.

Spencer Ledgard is a structural engineer for Specialty Engineering Consultants in Boynton Beach, FL.

Kristine Stack is the Central Florida regional marketing director of Premier Sotheby’s International Realty.

Ryan Rapolti is the president of Magic Telecom.

2010 Chris Castro was named director of sustainability for the city of Orlando. Castro was profiled in the fall 2013 issue of Pegasus for his work with nonprofit IDEAS For Us. Jennifer Jacobs opened Wandering Whisk Bakeshop in St. Petersburg, FL.

2012 Ali Kamalzadeh is a research and writing specialist in the Appellate Division of the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Middle District of Florida’s Orlando office. Chris Pombonyo was named the 2017 Seminole County Teacher of the Year and received a Macy’s Magic of Innovation Award.

2013

2015

Nichole Bailey is an ICU RN at Christiana Care Health Systems in Newark, DE.

Codeye Woody is the director of legislative and congressional relations for Orange County Public Schools.

Nina Phuc Truong is an annual giving coordinator at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Ashley (Wilson) Knapp was promoted to an associate with Baker Barrios Architects.

2014 Ashley Frederick was promoted to alternative text resource specialist at the University of Georgia’s Disability Resource Center.

2016 Amy Bonilla Torres is a sourcing specialist with NextEra Energy in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Mallory Dotson is a catering and convention services intern at Walt Disney World. Shanna Simpler is a financial analyst with Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati.

In Memoriam

Barbara Hood ’71 died on March 31, 2016.

Wayne Hardy ’74 died on June 29, 2016.

Linda (Mettel) Tomlinson ’72 died on January 28, 2016.

Hosam Amr Elghannam ’12 died on February 27, 2016.

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ALUMKNIGHTS

Weddings

& BIRTHS

A my Ballot ’90 married Hector Deju on January 24, 2016.

P amela Abernathy ’96 married John Holloway on July 31, 2015.

Danielle Coulson ’08 married Dylan Perez ’08 on April 9, 2016.

S hana Kelley Carson ’98 and husband Matthew welcomed Margaux Rose on August 18, 2015.

Sarah Florio ’08 married Jarrett Desmond ’09 on March 18, 2016.

K risten Bazley ’99 married Brian Bennett on April 13, 2015.

Vik Khamare ’08 married Carrie McShane on January 1, 2015.

G loria Salsamendi Lucas ’00 and husband Deric welcomed twins Caroline and Catherine on April 18, 2016.

Chrystal (Rurut) Mudd ’08 and husband Andrew welcomed James Lewis on April 20, 2016.

Michael Suarez II ’08 married Kiara on March 19, 2016.

Amy (Robinson) ’09 and husband Greg Earl ’07 welcomed Adeline Harper on April 23, 2016.

Lesley Siwek ’09 married Jason Hellriegel ’10 on October 17, 2015.

Emily Cutting ’10 married Tymothi Claude ’09 on May 29, 2016.

Danny Eisenshtat ’10 married Jillian Zales on May 25, 2016.

Megan (Lewis) ’10 and husband Kevin Bodshaug welcomed Spencer on June 10, 2016.

Victoria Morgan ’10 married Kelly Daacon ’06 on August 28, 2015.

Paige Piper ’10 married Paul Borah ’12 on December 12, 2015.

Victoria Root ’10 and Steve Ceballos ’16 welcomed Divina Hope on May 29, 2016.

Brooke Benson ’11 married Justin Long on December 19, 2015.

Dawn (Brooks) ’11 and Spencer Stricklin ’12 welcomed Daxton on June 17, 2016.

M ichele Miller ’01 married Anthony 6 Venturini ’01 on December 1, 2014. D avid Press ’03 and wife Laura welcomed 7 Ella Page on April 18, 2016. T om Kunzen ’04 married Jeannette McCree 8 on January 16, 2016. Y aniv Ness ’04 and wife Yanet welcomed 9 Giana Aliza on March 23, 2016. R oshonda Carter ’05 married Jerelle Gainey 10 on January 22, 2016. C hristopher Casconi ’05 and wife Laura 11 welcomed Charles Christopher on August 31, 2015.

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S ara (Bokee) Hobson ’06 and husband Cale welcomed Sienna Marie on March 4, 2016. A ndrea Levin ’06 married Rinaldo Stephens ’09 on July 18, 2015.

Rose Beetle ’07 married Kyle Jones on December 30, 2014.

S avannah Carpenter ’07 married Christopher Kernc ’07 on June 18, 2016.

B ecky Gordon ’07 married Christopher Matthew ’07 on January 16, 2016.

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Karol Melero Campbell ’07 and husband Nathan welcomed Hazel Julianna on March 28, 2016.

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ALUMKNIGHTS

Weddings & BIRTHS

A licia Doland ’11 married Aaron Lee on 32 October 3, 2015.

R ichard Rampi ’11 married Nicole Diaz on March 12, 2016.

D estiny (Acampora) ’12 and Jorge Frigulis ’04 welcomed Jordi David on June 26, 2016.

R achel Farinas ’12 married Alexander Lewis ’11 on May 25, 2014.

J ennifer Gasparri ’12 married Kenny McCoig ’04 on August 21, 2015.

D asha Gonzalez ’12 married Gabriel Kuret on April 27, 2014.

J essica Johnson ’12 married Shawn Naumann ’09 on April 10, 2015.

G abriella Alava ’13 married Thiago Fleury ’14 on May 7, 2016.

C hristina Colbert ’13 married Gary Smiekle ’12 on March 4, 2016.

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Amanda Maier ’13 married Roman Rodriguez on May 14, 2016.

B everly McClung ’13 and James Keesee welcomed Gemma Valjean on April 8, 2016.

J essica Ortega ’13 married Will Furiosi ’13 on June 11, 2016.

A lexa Suhich ’13 married Joris Montero ’11 on March 5, 2016.

Allison Bartholomew ’14 married Nick Wiesler on March 19, 2016.

Asodeh Pakniat ’14 married Henry Joseph Magner IV ’11 on March 21, 2016.

Michael Arnold ’15 welcomed William Michael on March 7, 2016.

C indy Davis ’15 and husband John Story welcomed twins Charlotte and Olivia on February 11, 2016.

L acey Hasson ’15 and husband Scott welcomed twins Savannah and Mackenzie on February 13, 2016.

D anielle Tapley ’15 married Alex Vila on November 12, 2015.

E vija Vilde ’15 married Jeremy Shulman on 48 April 30, 2016.

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NCAA COMPLIANCE The following is an NCAA notice that must be in this issue of Pegasus to meet UCF and NCAA requirements. In February 2012, the University of Central Florida was placed on probation by the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions for violations involving the impermissible recruiting activity of outside third parties, impermissible benefits, an impermissible recruiting inducement, unethical conduct, failure to monitor and lack of institutional

Authors ALUMNI

Kenneth Vickery ’70 wrote 2025: Five Days in Paradise.

Erik Guzman ’96 wrote The Seed: A True Myth.

control. The university’s probation runs through February 9, 2017. In addition to the imposition of the probationary period, additional penalties were imposed. Those additional penalties include public reprimand and censure; a postseason ban

Myrna Ossin ’73 wrote Lists for Living, Lists for Life.

Jami Bartlett ’98 wrote Object Lessons: The Novel as a Theory of Reference.

for the men’s basketball program following the 2012–13 season; reduced numbers of initial scholarships and total scholarships in football and men’s basketball each year for three years; a reduction in the number of coaches permitted to recruit off-campus at

Leo Mallette ’75 wrote The Rancho Mirage Matchbook Company.

any one time for two years; a reduction in the available number of recruiting evaluation days and recruiting person days for two years; a reduction in the number of official paid visits for two years; head and assistant men’s basketball coaches were prohibited from recruiting in July 2013; vacation of all men’s basketball victories in which an

Charles Grist ’76 wrote The Perdiccas Scroll under the pen name John Marling March.

ineligible student-athlete participated during the 2008–09, 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons; head men’s basketball coach Donnie Jones was given a show cause order

J.J. White ’76 wrote Nisei.

and was required to complete additional

Beth Fiedler ’11 wrote Managing Medical Devices within a Regulatory Framework. Kandi Steiner ’12 wrote Weightless.

J. Bradley ’01 wrote Pick How You Will Revise a Memory. Lisa Meeks ’01 wrote Parties, Dorms and Social Norms: A Crash Course in Safe Living for Young Adults on the Autism Spectrum. Allen Gorney ’03 wrote The Scottish Bitch under the pen name Jameson Tabard.

rules training. In response to the infractions, the university has increased its athletics compliance staff as well as its overall compliance of

John Catron ’83 wrote Embracing Protestantism.

Andrew Knott ’03 wrote Fatherhood: Dispatches from the Early Years.

educational and monitoring efforts. UCF has instituted the use of compliance and recruiting software for all athletics programs, and a greater emphasis has been placed

Scott George ’84 wrote GPS — Guiding Principles for Success.

on educating coaches, student-athletes, staff and fans on the rules and regulations concerning representatives of athletics interests (“boosters”) and third-party representatives. In addition, the University

Corinda (Prater) Marsh ’91 wrote Illusions of Honor: The Truth and the Myth.

Loma (Evans-Stinston) Moser ’04 wrote This No One. Ashley Inguanta ’09 wrote Bomb.

Compliance, Ethics and Risk Office now shares a dual-reporting structure with the university’s chief compliance and ethics officer as well as the vice president and director of athletics. UCF will continue its efforts of promoting a culture of compliance throughout the university community and its goal of becoming a national model for athletics compliance.

YOUR NEWS

Stacey (Collard) Horan ’93 wrote Sycamore Lane.

Amanda Harding ’10 wrote Moochie Moochie Moo Moo.

Christie (Surin) Drawdy ’95 wrote The Adventures of Harley, the Sugar Glider.

Josh Calcanis ’11 wrote What This Means to You: A Millennial’s Take on Getting Ahead.

Send us your announcements and high-resolution photos (minimum 3 megapixels, 300 dpi). Submissions are included as space permits. Class notes may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium.

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Pegasus Class Notes P.O. Box 160046 Orlando, FL 32816-0046

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Moved recently? Changed your email address? Update your contact information: ucfalumni.com/contactupdates

Bruce F. Pauley, professor emeritus of history, wrote Pioneering History on Two Continents: An Autobiography. The book draws on his family and personal history to examine the lives of Volga Germans during the 18th century, the pioneering experiences of his family in late 19thcentury Nebraska, and the dramatic transformations that influenced the history profession during the second half of the 20th century.

WHY I...

WHY I GAVE BACK UCF economics professors helped me make the connection between my studies and my passion. Now, I want to return the favor. When I think about how I prepared for my career as an economist, I feel fortunate for opportunity — opportunity leading to my appointment as dean of Columbia Business School and taking me into meeting rooms as an advisor to then-President George W. Bush, the Federal Reserve Board and many leading CEOs. That opportunity began during my time at UCF. It was there I grew to love economics. Although I recently endowed a professorship in economics at UCF, when I arrived here in 1976 I wanted to become an engineer. I loved my advanced math classes at Apopka High School, and I was excited to take my first steps into the profession. Everything seemed to be falling into place, so I was almost shocked at what happened next. I had enrolled in an introductory economics course taught by Professor James Xander. I did not know what to expect, but it changed my life. Xander was a brilliant teacher who cared about his subject and his students, and he amazed me by connecting economics with my main interest — public policy. He really opened my mind. I saw how mathematics and analysis could be tools to not only construct impressive skyscrapers and innovative machinery, but also build healthy, secure families, businesses and nations. In that aha moment, I saw economics transformed from abstract theories into a toolkit for solving problems. It suddenly seemed a valuable way to cut through all of the

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BY GLENN HUBBARD ’79

noisy opinions of political debate and get to the core of public policy options. When I followed up with courses from Professor Kenneth White, I was completely converted to business and economics as a career. White somehow managed to infuse statistical and numerical analysis with humor. He made us laugh out loud, and students could not wait to attend his classes. But as he entertained us, he also educated us about the vital need to make complex issues clear. Why? Because so many lives depend on economic decisions and seemingly small differences in economic growth rates. Those two professors taught me that patient, prepared and compelling teachers can reshape our dreams. Decades later, as I teach my students at Columbia University, I reflect on my experiences at UCF. I often reinforce the idea of economics as a toolkit to help make good decisions

I often tell my academic colleagues that our job is to save souls — to help students learn to appreciate the power of economic knowledge. As a writer of textbooks such as Economics, I know we need to approach the subject in the clear, engaging ways that first enlightened me at UCF. That’s why I chose to honor my former professors with a chair endowed in their names for $1 million. We need more professors like James Xander and Kenneth White and more people who are passionate about economics. I don’t know if there’s another kid from Apopka whose destiny will be shaped by a UCF economics course exactly the way mine was. But I do know that the more young people there are who understand both the basics of our national economy and their own personal finances, the more secure our future will be. And the more our students use their

The more our students use their knowledge to create jobs and bring better goods and services to market, the stronger our economy will grow. about careers, retirement, and how we spend our time and energy as a family, corporation or nation. Economics is both global and personal. Economics, as anyone who studies it at a basic or advanced level should know, can be a guide through all the emotional and partisan appeals that surround these central issues. If we want to know whether a trade deal will help or hurt Main Street, economics provides methods for finding and interpreting that data. Or at least clarifying the choices. If we want to compare the cost of federal job training programs with other options for people to get ahead, economics helps us develop toolkits to show how to analyze that as a nation. If we want to know if it is personally worth it to borrow money to fund advanced training, economics teaches us how to compare costs and interest on loans against future earning potential in the field we choose.

knowledge to create jobs and bring better goods and services to market, the stronger our economy will grow. Thinking back on my early days at UCF always evokes pleasant memories. It was such a small place in the late 1970s. But I’ve never forgotten how attentive and caring my professors were. And it reminds me of how much I owe this university that continues to attract so many talented people. I admit to feeling a little lost on today’s sprawling campus, but I’ve never lost my pride in being an alum. UCF is still my school; it’s still the place that changed my future.

Glenn Hubbard ’79 is the dean of Columbia Business School in New York, a highly sought-after consultant and a well-known commentator in newspapers, magazines and television.

ILLUSTRATION BY ADAM NIKLEWICZ

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