The Magazine of the University of Central Florida
SUMMER 2015
Hello, UCF. E X PA N D I N G your
HORIZONS
means EMBRACING NEW CONCEPTS,
EXPERIENCES
and PEOPLE who
help us grow to become
BETTER HUMANS.
READ ON.
A student works to solve a problem by putting chalk to blackboard in the Mathematical Sciences Building.
VOLUME 22 • ISSUE 1 • SUMMER 2015
PEGASUS
MAILBOX
PUBLISHER University of Central Florida AVP MARKETING Patrick Burt, ’08 MANAGING EDITOR Michelle Fuentes
THERE ARE SEVERAL emergency funds recently created through the UCF Foundation, Inc. that address this very issue: the Wilfredo Lopez-Ojeda Emergency Grant in The Burnett Honors College and one in the College of Nursing. There is still opportunity to help students in the other colleges and across the university. Kudos to biomedical sciences professor Wilfredo Lopez-Ojeda for investing not only his time but also resources to help struggling students! Bridget Holt, ’05, associate director of development, The Burnett Honors College via Facebook
WE’RE HEARTENED by the efforts @UCF is making to reach out to #homeless students.
Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida via Twitter
GREAT ARTICLE about the homeless college students.
UCF is amazing for what they provide and do for ALL their students. Lori Pearce Langin, ’88, via Facebook
AS SOMEBODY who took in a student that was about to THANK YOU VERY MUCH for including the article
be homeless, I couldn’t agree more. We all have to do more!
“Invisible Struggles” (Spring 2015). I have heard of the homeless situation in colleges, but was unaware of the extent, especially at UCF. My husband and I are interested in having one of these homeless students live with us. I am a UCF grad, and we live about 7 miles from campus. We have a spare room and bath and would like to extend an invitation to a student. How do we go about proceeding?
Glenn Martin, ’92, via Facebook
Appreciatively,
VERY GOOD ARTICLE. I’m glad there is help, and we are
SOME PEOPLE need to fail and struggle in order to learn.
Hi Aryna, Thank you for reaching out and for your very generous offer. It makes us proud when our alumni are willing to help out at UCF and within our community. For ways to support UCF students, visit ucffoundation.org. Thank you again for caring about your fellow Knights.
Front-cover illustration by Jonathan Burton
4 | SUMMER 2015
Julie Cummings Carter, ’99, via Facebook
Datasha Green Dukes, ’05, via Facebook
EDITOR’S RESPONSE:
Opinions expressed in Pegasus are not necessarily those shared by the University of Central Florida.
students. I had no idea that was a problem on college campuses.
addressing it. Go Knights.
Aryna Ryan, ’12
Pegasus is published by UCF Marketing in partnership with the UCF Foundation, Inc. and the UCF Alumni Association.
I WAS SO TOUCHED by the article on the homeless
pegasus@ucf.edu
Mail UCF Marketing P.O. Box 160090 Orlando, FL 32816-0090 Phone 407.882.1247
If private people want to be charitable, great, but it is ultimately up to the individual to make the best choices in order to thrive. Joshua Ellsworth, ’06, via Facebook
I WAS HOMELESS twice during college. People are always looking for handouts. It’s not the school’s job to help, it’s a community issue and I don’t mean the government, either. Richard Wheatley, ’12, via Facebook ©2015 University of Central Florida. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Pegasus is a registered trademark of the UCF Alumni Association.
Cert no. SW-COC-002556
ART DIRECTORS Lauren Haar, ’06 Steve Webb EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Eric Michael, ’96 COPY EDITOR Peg Martin PHOTOGRAPHERS Michael Chen Steven Diaz Jessica Keller Bernard Wilchusky PRODUCTION MANAGER Sandy Pouliot ONLINE PRODUCER Roger Wolf, ’07 WEB PROGRAMMERS Jim Barnes RJ Bruneel, ’97 Jo Dickson, ’11 CONTRIBUTORS Jim Abbott Jonathan Burton Juan Cendán Holly Dickmeyer, ’08 Kjerstin Dillon Mary Frances Emmons Susan Frith Mason Holly, ’14 Kentaro Kanamoto Zenaida Kotala Gene Kruckemyer, ’73 Geoff Levy, ’13 Angie Lewis, ’03 Anne Lottman Tim McDonagh Wendy Spirduso Sarubbi Carol Saunders PEGASUS ADVISORY BOARD Barb Abney, ’03 Chad Binette, ’06 Anne Botteri Richard Brunson, ’84 Cristina Calvet-Harrold, ’01 Jeff Garner, ’89 John Gill, ’86 Michael Griffin, ’84 Mike Hinn, ’92 Zack Lassiter Gerald McGratty Jr., ’71 Michael O’Shaughnessy, ’81 Karl Sooder 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? Changed your email address? Update your contact information: ucfalumni.com/contactupdates
To host Richard Nixon’s 1973 commencement address, the UCF Reflecting Pond was drained and filled with graduates after the Secret Service decided it would be the best venue to safeguard the president. For a timeline charting 45 years of UCF commencements, turn to Page 46.
CONTENTS In Focus 6 Briefs 12 On Campus 13 Global Impact 14 Anatomy Lab of Dreams 16 Mining Mars 18 Old-School Tools 20 Opening Doors at Juilliard 21 Sensory Overload 22 Horizon Cuba 24 Fever Pitch 28 Level Up to Learn 32 AlumKnights 36 Back in the Day 46
IMAGE COURTESY OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
PEGASUS MAGA ZI N E
$688,049.19 That’s the amount raised by nearly 1,300 volunteers who stayed on their feet for 20 continuous hours to benefit Greater Orlando Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals for Knight-Thon 2015. During the 19th annual dance marathon, which took place in the CFE Arena from 11 a.m. March 28 to 8 a.m. March 29, students bonded through the experience, “Miracle Children” visited, morale dances revived volunteers at the top of each hour, and the total amount raised was revealed as the marathon concluded.
“We were extremely ambitious with this goal, but I have a lot of confidence in the UCF student body. The amazing thing about Children’s Miracle Network is that most of the money is raised $1 at a time.” — Drew Strochak, Knight-Thon student director
$500,000 $392,831 1,291 517 22 5 2015 fundraising goal
Amount raised by Knight-Thon 2014
Total number of Knight-Thon participants
Number of Knightro high-fives (estimated)
Number of “Miracle Children” appearances
Number of lost/abandoned shoes
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IN FOCUS
IN FOCUS
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PLASTIC PROBLEM To raise awareness about the problem of plastic trash, approximately 150,000 discarded bottles were dumped into the UCF Reflecting Pond April 8. The collective effort of the Student Government Association, UCF Recycles and the student organization I.D.E.A.S. for UCF began at 4:30 a.m. when 108 volunteers began emptying bins of the recycled items into the normally off-limits campus landmark. Students drawn to the disturbing sight were encouraged to sign a pledge to reduce their personal waste and energy consumption.
“It’s easy to disregard facts and figures about garbage, but it’s difficult to ignore thousands of bottles floating in front of you.” — Emily Dovydaitis, SGA health and sustainability coordinator
105,040
Pounds of plastic kept out of landfills by UCF Recycles (April 2014–15)
1,365,711
Pounds of recyclable materials collected and processed by UCF Recycles (April 2014–15)
33%
Percentage of discarded metal, plastic, paper, cardboard, glass, batteries and other materials recycled at UCF
75% 2014
UCF Recycles rate goal by 2020
Year UCF was named one of the most environmentally responsible colleges in the nation, according to The Princeton Review’s “Guide to 332 Green Colleges”
U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 9
IN FOCUS
10 | SUMMER 2015
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LIMITLESS POTENTIAL In April 12-year-old Wyatt Falardeau from Vero Beach, Florida, became the latest recipient of a robotic arm from Limbitless Solutions during a special behind-the-scenes experience organized by the nonprofit and Blue Man Group at Universal Orlando. Wyatt was the fourth recipient of a robotic arm created by the bright group of UCF students who volunteer their time at Limbitless Solutions. In June the team had four other arms in production and was in the process of reviewing more than 200 requests. The students work out of the Manufacturing Lab in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. The group hopes to eventually be able to help children all over the world.
“We started out wanting to create a memorable experience for Wyatt, but in the end, I’m certain we are the ones who will never forget it. Limbitless Solutions is changing the world, and we’re honored to support them any way we can.” — Wes Day, captain for Blue Man Group at Universal Orlando
U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 1 1
NEWS AND NOTES
Briefs
WINNER’S CIRCLE
Knights women’s athletic teams scored big this season in the American Athletic Conference. SOFTBALL
TRACK & FIELD
ROWING
GOLF
• Won both the regular season and American Athletic Conference (AAC) Championships titles — first time in program history • Junior Shelby Turnier named to the 2015 NFCA Division I AllAmerica First Team — first All-American in program history • Senior Mackenzie Audas first UCF player to be named to Capital One Academic All-America Team
• Sophomore J’Nea Bellamy named Most Outstanding Track Performer at the 2015 AAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships — won 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash • At the same event, Bellamy, Kirsten Nieuwendam, Christal Peterson and Briana Vaughn won 4x100-meter relay and senior Sandy Jean, ’14, won 400-meter hurdles
• Won the 2015 AAC Championship — first in program history • Senior Ginni Dunlop, ’15, sophomore Lauren Aiello and freshman Ivana Krkljus named to AAC all-conference first team • Becky Cramer and her staff named AAC Coaching Staff of the Year
• Won the 2015 AAC Women’s Golf Championship — first conference title since 2000 • Sophomore Ashley Holder named AAC Women’s Golf Player of the Year for second consecutive season • Laura Sojo named AAC Freshman of the Year • Emily Marron won American Women’s Coach of the Year
NEW LEADERS Michael Morsberger, vice president for alumni relations and development, takes charge of fundraising and alumni relations as CEO of the UCF Foundation after tenures at George Washington University and Duke University. “It is clear to me that UCF at age 50 is at an inflection point in its remarkable history, and the next decade will surely prove to be very exciting.” Pamela Carroll, dean of the College of Education and Human Performance, comes to UCF from Oklahoma State University, where she served as dean of OSU’s College of Education and director of professional education. “My imagination was captured by the sense of possibility and energy that UCF exudes across the campus.” Karen Morrison, former NCAA director of inclusion, is UCF’s new chief diversity officer. “There are a lot of places on campus that work with diversity. … I want to be their ally.”
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, 13 632
The number of tickets reserved for 10 sold-out shows during UCF Celebrates the Arts, the university’s inaugural festival at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, April 10–15
JAMMIN’ WITH THE STONES On June 12, UCF’s Chamber Singers performed with the Rolling Stones at the 65,000-seat Orlando Citrus Bowl as part of the band’s 15-city North American tour. “They regard this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sing with some music legends. The band started more than 50 years ago, and they’re still going strong. This is a big deal!” says David L. Brunner, director of choral activities.
17 & GRADUATED “I never was really trying to be the youngest graduate, but being such a young graduate is something I’m proud of. I’m just a normal [alumnus],” says Adrian Gilliam, ’15, who earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science at age 17.
LEITH, POPULATION: 24 Christopher K. Walker, ’08, won the Florida Film Festival’s special jury award for nonfiction storytelling with the documentary “Welcome to Leith.” The film, which Walker co-directed with Michael Beach Nichols, tells the story of Craig Cobb, a white supremacist trying to take over small-town Leith, North Dakota.
MARCH
2
APRIL
Cyclists took over campus roads and enjoyed safety seminars, off-road trail rides and other two-wheeled events during UCF Bike Week.
18
Terry McMillan, author of Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back, was the keynote speaker at the annual UCF Book Festival.
APRIL
10
Physicist Brian Greene and actress Kate Mulgrew fielded questions before the performance of “Icarus at the Edge of Time” at UCF Celebrates the Arts.
ON CAMPUS APRIL
17
When inclement weather forced a move into the Pegasus Ballroom, the annual Symphony Under the Stars took on a new dimension with a choreographed light show.
CULTURAL EXCHANGE
From Africa to South America and beyond, UCF students and alumni are working to improve the world as Peace Corps volunteers. BY JIM ABBOTT
W
; RTLETT, ’15 HEIDI JO BA ENCH, ’07 URTESY OF HON FR AT HN IMAGES CO JO HILL; AND JEREMY CA
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hen UCF campus Peace Corps recruiter Carlos Rojas, ’11, tells students about the impact they can make by volunteering with the global service organization, his pitch is simple: “It’s gold.” “What you know as an undergrad can go a long way in an impoverished country,” he explains. “[Peace Corps volunteers] become the liaisons of information from the outside world.” Rojas, a former Peace Corps volunteer with a bachelor’s degree in political science, spreads the word about these opportunities in monthly campus meetings and classroom visits. About 35 UCF students are selected for the program annually, a little more than half of the applicants. A simplified application that offers students greater influence over their deployment destinations has increased interest, he says. “We target classes where the Peace Corps would be relevant to the degree,” Rojas says. “A lot of education majors want to teach abroad, so the Peace Corps fits into that goal. In health care, the Peace Corps allows [students] to apply theories learned in the classroom to the real world. For students who want to go to graduate school, it provides real-life experiences to add to their academic research.” Such experiences abound in his and others’ stories within the Knight community.
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Finding a Home in Cameroon
Teaching with “The Simpsons” in Colombia
Bridging a Cultural Gap in Moldova
For Rojas, the Peace Corps answered his big question about life after college: “What did I want to do?” He says, “I wanted to see the world; I wanted to learn new languages; I wanted to help people. In the Peace Corps, I could do all of that.” Rojas volunteered in a remote village in the western African nation of Cameroon, where he taught English and Spanish to children and adults. “You travel two hours deep into the desert,” he says. “Then, out of nowhere, this deep, lush village opens up. The culture is almost completely communal, an approach to life I wasn’t accustomed to.” He also helped villagers with farming, health tips and business ideas. In one memorable instance, he introduced a deaf student to sign language. “It was like giving this man the [winning] lottery ticket,” says Rojas. “He told me, ‘Wow, this is my language!’ … It was changing his life.” During his service, Rojas was able to immerse himself in the region’s Fula language and culture and learn to cook, a skill he had generally avoided. “You go in there as a volunteer, and it feels like you’re there for work or vacation, but at some point, it stops feeling like that,” he says. “It starts feeling like you’re at home.”
Even in a foreign land, there are glimpses of home. While teaching English in Santa Marta, Colombia, Heidi Jo Bartlett, ’15, discovered that her most valuable instructional tools were familiar pop stars and TV characters from the U.S. “American songs are very popular,” Bartlett says. “All the fourth- and fifth-grade girls really loved One Direction. I had to look them up. And my host [family] brother would watch ‘The Simpsons.’ ” Bartlett, who recently earned her master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at UCF, used song lyrics as a foundation for grammar lessons. She played scenes from popular American movies and TV shows to illustrate how people interact. “I wanted to make it more real, to show that people actually use [language this way],” says Bartlett. And the Colombian teachers she assisted reacted positively to her innovative methods. “They were happy that I was able to give them different ideas about what can make class interesting. “The culture is different,” says Bartlett, adding that afternoon siestas are routine, and it’s not unusual to cancel classes for bad weather. “You learned to work around things, so it was a good experience in resilience.”
During his time in the eastern European country of Moldova, Johnathon French, ’07, taught English in middle schools, colleges and retirement homes, an assignment that altered his preconceived notions about Peace Corps service. “You always have this idea of living in a hut, although that wasn’t my experience at all,” says French, who is currently pursuing a master’s degree in TESOL. “Still, there’s this romantic idea of giving up everything to help other people.” French spent three years in a nation that borders Romania, a destination he had longed to explore. “I’ve had a fascination with Romanian culture and language since I was a child,” he says. “I’ve always wanted some reason to go there, to study there.” His host family drilled him in proper Romanian language, which they used to discuss their cultural differences. French hopes to develop educational programs for nonprofit organizations abroad, a career that will be bolstered by his Peace Corps experience. “I learned to integrate into another culture,” he says. “It’s empathy, really. You’re struggling to survive — to speak in a foreign language every day. I know what that’s like.”
Testing Theories on a Chalkboard in Madagascar Before graduate student Jeremy Cahill could teach English to high school students in Madagascar, he had to learn 16 dialects of Malagasy, the language of his students. “Aside from it being a show of respect, it allows you to form relationships with people and become part of the community yourself,” says Cahill, who is completing his master’s degree in TESOL. He explains, “You’re not an outsider. You’re living there for two years. “There were so many people who helped me with so many things,” says Cahill, who returned to his graduate classes at UCF with real-life teaching examples that expand on his academic research. “They helped me with my classes, invited me into their homes. I ended up getting more help than I ever gave. “It was chalk and a chalkboard and 70 students,” he says. “It was a chance to experience what works, what doesn’t work. What are my strengths? What are my weaknesses? Now that I’m studying the theories of learning languages, it has really helped me a lot because I have that experience to draw on.”
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FACULTY
Anatomy Lab of Dreams
A College of Medicine professor designed this ultimate facility so students can learn with state-of-the-art technology. BY WENDY SPIRDUSO SARUBBI
P
rofessor Andrew Payer will never forget the 25-year-old patient who entered his office days
before a stage 4 brain cancer surgery that could buy the man time — or kill him. The patient said that if things didn’t work out, he wanted to donate his body to Payer’s medical school lab in Galveston, Texas. “If I end up [in your lab],” the patient said as he left Payer’s office, “tell your students I was a good guy, and I hope they learn a lot from me.” The man died on the operating room table. Months later, when a new class of medical students saw his cadaver and remarked on his youth, Payer told them about saying goodbye to the man and relayed his message. Now a professor of anatomy at the College of Medicine, Payer runs the state-of-the-art Anatomy Lab, where he continues to tell this story to convey to his students the importance of the donation that their “first patients” have made. Because to Payer, the Anatomy Lab experience is more than an exercise in cataloging organs and body structures — it’s about understanding life, death and humanity. Payer has taught anatomy for almost 40 years and describes UCF’s innovative facility as the lab of his dreams, where technology complements an integrated curriculum incorporating basic and clinical sciences. Memorizing body parts won’t make students good physicians, Payer says. Instead, students need to understand the clinical impact of disease and aging so they can care better for their patients.
DR. DETECTIVES As part of the Anatomy Lab curriculum, medical students do not know their cadaver’s cause of death — instead, they spend 17 weeks on a detective mission to determine it. They then present their findings to faculty judges, including former Orange-Osceola Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jan Garavaglia. “These [students] are made to think … about what they’re finding and put it in a bigger perspective,” she says. “It’s a wonderful thing they’re doing. It’s very novel. ... These are the people that we need to take care of us as we get older, so it’s important that we have a good medical school.”
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FOUR HIGH-TECH TOOLS THAT UCF USES TO EMPOWER MEDICAL STUDENTS:
1
Digital Anatomy Table
2
Bigger-Than-Life Organs
3
iPad Education
4
CT Scan Collaboration
The latest innovation is the Anatomage Table, which allows students to virtually isolate and visually dissect countless 3-D layers of a digital body. Push a button, and you see every bone in the skeletal system or the web of nerves leading to the brain. Make a digital cut with your finger, and you see a cross section of a patient’s liver. Scan your patient’s head, and see images of every muscle, nerve and artery around the eye. Using an interactive display, students can quiz themselves. The table also allows students to use digital instruments like needles and probes to see how they actually pass through tissues and muscle. Such innovation helps fourth-year students visualize how they will do surgery before they ever enter an operating room. The lab’s 80-inch, high-definition, touch-screen monitor allows faculty and students to compare giant anatomical images in stunning detail. Students can compare a textbook drawing of a heart with a CT scan of their cadaver’s heart, allowing them to understand the human body’s individuality. Detailed images also show how muscles, arteries and organ systems connect and interact, allowing students to work together to solve anatomical issues. Team learning is a key part of the medical school’s curriculum, helping students understand that health care is most successful when people work together. Apple AirPlay technology allows Payer to capture images of unique pathologies with his iPad and project them to every computer screen in the room. Each of the 20 dissection tables has a high-definition screen overhead, and screens also line the lab’s walls. Students don’t have to crowd around one dissection table struggling to see — they look up from their stations and get a detailed lesson. A recent “first patient” had lung cancer that had spread. Thanks to technology, all 120 students saw the cancer and how its metastasis had infiltrated the body. Every year, Central Florida radiologist Dr. Rick Ramnath and his partners at NeuroSkeletal Imaging take full-body CT scans of every cadaver donated to the College of Medicine. The donation gives students experience in medical imaging and a detailed look at clogged arteries, artificial hips and cancerous tumors before they start dissecting. Scans can be viewed on the computer screens at each anatomy table to increase learning opportunities. Ramnath’s donation is inspired by Dr. Deborah German, dean of UCF’s medical school. German was the associate dean for students at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine when Ramnath was a student, and he says she made sure students got the most out of medical school. “When I heard [Dr. German] was coming to be dean of Orlando’s new medical school, I had to reach out and do my part to help,” he says.
Professor Andrew Payer leads a trio of students through a virtual dissection of a digital cadaver on the Anatomage Table, the newest high-tech tool in the College of Medicine Anatomy Lab.
MINING
MARS
THE RED PLANET is a frigid, hostile environment, but for Kelly Lai, ’15, it’s a paradise — for revenge.
And like the plot of a science fiction movie, the UCF aerospace engineer has created a robot to do her
bidding in a personal redemption quest at the NASA Robotic Mining Competition.
I
n 2014, Lai was part of UCF’s first team to compete in the annual contest, which challenges teams around the country to create remote-controlled mining machines. But a complete mechanical failure prevented them from competing. “I was so upset because a lot of the judges were NASA engineers who graduated from UCF, and they actually called us the home team,” she says. “Failing was heartbreaking, so I came back with a vengeance.” For the 2015 competition, which took place May 18–22 at Kennedy Space Center,
Lai hand-picked a multidisciplinary team with expertise from engineering to marketing and accounting, and spent nearly a year designing and building a new machine. Unfortunately, a communications glitch fouled their final run, but a new UCF team will return in 2016 — and Lai will continue to follow her personal calling to the stars. “My passion is space exploration,” she says. “To produce a robot that can mine [materials] to create water or make soil for plants to help sustain life on Mars — that’s what I live for.”
THE COMPETITION From an enclosed control room, remote operators have 10 minutes to navigate a closed course and gather at least 10 kilograms of basaltic regolith simulant (ash) and icy regolith simulant (gravel) to be deposited into a collection bin. Other competition categories include a systems engineering paper, a slide presentation and demonstration, an outreach project promoting STEM education to schoolchildren, and team spirit. The team that collects the most material and earns the most category points wins.
“XKADRILL”
(NAMED FOR THE POKÉMON CHARACTER) DIMENSIONS Height: Length: Width: Ground clearance: Weight:
29 inches 28 inches 18 inches 5 inches 44 pounds
6
5 2
3 1 4 SIDE
REAR
FRONT
ILLUSTRATION BY KENTARO KANAMOTO
CONTROL
2 ELECTRONICS HOUSING
4 WHEELS
The pilot uses a laptop computer to drive the robot and activate drilling and dumping mechanisms via a Wi-Fi connection.
A polycarbonate box sealed with a rubber gasket protects sensitive electronics from penetrating ash that can foul the delicate instruments. Inside, a BeagleBone Black circuit board uses microcontrollers to run all systems.
At 8 inches in diameter and 2 inches wide, the rubber-treaded VEX Robotics wheels create enough traction to move the robot through soft ash. Each wheel is powered independently by a dedicated CIM motor, allowing the pilot to maneuver the fixed wheel with a skid-steering technique.
1 POWER SOURCE A lithium iron phosphate motorcycle battery — routed through a distribution board that uses fuses to feed appropriate voltage to each motor — provides enough power to run all electrical systems.
3 ACTUATOR SYSTEM A scissor jack system powered by a linear actuator moves the drill and hopper assembly up and down to control ground clearance, drilling depth and dumping into the collection bin.
5 DRILL Powered by an electric motor, a rotating, 4-inch diameter steel auger used commercially to drill postholes penetrates the layer of ash to mine the
high-value gravel beneath. A PVC housing helps to carry the material up and into the collection hopper.
6 HOPPER Made from aluminum sheet metal with a polycarbonate lid and sides, this triangular collection bin uses gravity to assist the removal of excavated material through a rear dump door operated by a remote-controlled motor. An LED light array signals green while mining until a red light indicates full capacity.
THE KAPLAN COLLECTION
artifact Perfektum Hypodermic Syringe, 1922 This reusable glass syringe was sterilized after each injection and the screw-on needles were sharpened by hand, a task performed by College of Medicine volunteer faculty member Dr. Lawrence Kaplan when he was a boy. “If you didn’t use the right sharpening motion, you would get burrs on the needles,” he remembers of the painful mistake. “When there was a burr on the needle, I would hear about it — literally.”
Old-School Tools
The Kaplan Collection of antique physician’s instruments creates a historical context about technology for UCF medical students.
A
s students in white coats filter into the state-of-the-art Clinical Skills and Simulation Center at the College of Medicine, they pass an arresting reminder of the profession’s low-tech past by the front door. In three walnut and glass display cases, a collection of severe metal instruments, oversize silver syringes, amber glass medicine bottles and other fading antique tools of the trade offer a thoughtprovoking historical context to the advanced technology with which they’ll learn their craft in the computerized classroom.
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Emergency room specialist and volunteer faculty member Dr. Lawrence Kaplan donated the antique instruments that were used by his father, Dr. Abraham Kaplan, who practiced out of his home office in Brooklyn, New York, from the 1940s to the 1960s. “If the medical students saw what my dad used to practice medicine, they would think it’s barbaric,” he explains. “It’s good for them to see how technology has progressed and to understand how things may wind up changing in the future. I hope they will learn from [the collection].”
Physician’s Binocular Loupe, 1954 These metal-framed, high-magnification glasses were used for fine detail procedures, such as inspecting wounds and sewing sutures. “[My father] actually wore these when he stitched up my arm when I was 12 years old,” says Kaplan.
Empire Ear Syringe, 1906 This stainless steel syringe, which measures about 2 inches in diameter and came with removable rubber tips, was used to irrigate the ear for cleaning and treating infection. “That’s still something that’s used today,” says Kaplan. “It’s a great example of a classic design that didn’t need to be changed.”
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Opening Doors at Juilliard
How a UCF industrial engineer solved a big problem at the world-famous performing arts school. BY JIM ABBOTT
A
t the Juilliard School in New York, the search for open rehearsal spaces has been a constant problem at a campus where aspiring actors, musicians and dancers outnumber available practice rooms by almost 7 to 1. Many students and teachers had conceded that the issue might be impossible to resolve, but that didn’t stop operations manager Adam Gagan, ’12. Using skills he gained through his M.S. in industrial engineering, Gagan devised an online reservations system that streamlines how students find open practice rooms on campus in real time. “One of my bosses told me not to waste too much energy on it,” says Gagan, who started working at Juilliard in May 2014. “[My boss said], ‘This is a problem that we’ve had for years at this school.’ But I was fixated on it.” To understand the situation, Gagan met with Juilliard’s Student Council and student focus groups, faculty members and administrators. He researched the reasons that a short-lived, paper-based reservations system had failed in the face of complicated student rehearsal needs. “You cannot give these students a time limit,” Gagan says. “You can practice piano for up to six hours. With a wind instrument, two hours is usually the maximum. Also, students have preferences for certain rooms. Voice students, for instance, can’t be in a room with curtains.” Gagan’s solution was an online system that allows students to see what practice rooms are available, sign up for them at centrally located kiosks, and, once in a room, take short breaks without forfeiting the space. Students can also check room availability on their cellphones with a companion app. A pilot program successfully tested the system in 10 of Juilliard’s 90 practice rooms this past spring, and the system is expected to be fully operational by fall. “Knowing immediately if there are any rooms available and which ones are available is so great,” says Juliann Ma, who is finishing a master’s degree in piano. “Plus, if you’re in rehearsals with multiple people, you can immediately notify them.” For Gagan, whose passions for engineering and acting had once been competing interests to be indulged separately, the reservation system represents the connection between science and the arts that he envisioned when he arrived at Juilliard. “Industrial engineering is about making things more efficient, consolidating things,” he says. “I knew I wanted to pull my interests together, but I didn’t know how. I figured out a way to do it.”
How to Solve a Problem Like an Engineer (ACCORDING TO ADAM GAGAN)
1 First you have to fully understand the problem. Meet with everyone involved, from provider to end user. Research the history of the problem and the solutions that have been tried in the past.
2 With sufficient information
gathered, use a minimalist approach by consolidating findings to answer the following questions: (1) What is the exact problem you are trying to solve? (2) What factors are causing the problem? (3) By what constraints do you have to abide?
3 Develop your solution, but
remain flexible. Your solution will evolve over time. Prepare for the possibility that it will be shot down completely. Don’t lose hope; get back to the drawing board.
After you’ve developed your 4
solution, find ways to break it. Contingencies, loopholes, gaps, ambiguities and escapes should all be addressed. Create controls to lower the chance of failure.
5 When pitching your solution,
don’t take all the credit. Show how the expertise and insight of the stakeholders you consulted provided you with all the dots you needed to see the holistic view. All you had to do was connect the dots.
PHOTO BY GEOFF LEVY, ’13
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THE DARK SIDE OF TECHNOLOGY
Opinion
Sensory Overload
The proliferation of technology can create dangerous distractions in the operating room. Deadly Consequences
By Carol Saunders, Ph.D., professor of management, College of Business Administration
As the proliferation of technology continues to profoundly impact our daily lives in many positive ways, we also need to recognize its detrimental effects — even in the hospital operating room (OR). The dark side of OR technology and the overload it creates can range from mild user frustration to patients’ deaths. In 2007, a Chicago man died under the precise “hands” of a surgical robot manned by a surgeon who had never operated the equipment on a living subject. This tragic event illustrates the darkest side of health information technologies (HIT), which include medical devices that support health care professionals. The ensuing multimillion-dollar lawsuit from the 2007 malpractice partially laid the blame on the overconfident surgeon who had been inadequately trained. Yet this surgeon operated in a health care environment that does not require certification to operate the extremely complex equipment that is finding its way into modern ORs around the country. The Computer Journal estimates that a surgeon needs to perform 200 to 750 operations using a robotic surgical system to be considered proficient in that system. Although the benefits of robot-assisted surgery may be great, the research I have done with my Dutch academic colleagues, Anne Rutkowski of the Delft University of Technology and Jon Pluyter of Tilburg University, has focused instead on HIT’s dark side, especially sensory overload from OR technology. Equipment in the OR emits an amazing amount of visual information and sounds. A recent New York Times article noted that electronic monitors in one hospital’s five intensive care units produced more than 2.5 million alerts in a single month. To make things worse, standards for the equipment are deficient to the extent that a sound emitted by one piece of equipment may signify that all is well, while a similar sound on another machine is an alarm demanding immediate action. Alarms were rated as the No. 1 health technology hazard from 2012 to 2015, according to the ECRI Institute.
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My colleagues are working with a professor of health care safety at a Dutch hospital to devise ways to train medical interns and residents in new OR technologies. We are studying a team-based training approach that is similar in concept to what is used to train airline flight crews. Members of surgical teams need to understand and respect each other’s roles in order to work well together. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed training regimen for laparoscopic surgery, we used a thermal imaging camera to visually capture the facial skin temperatures of the residents performing the surgery. We had hoped the thermal imaging camera could assess the overload of residents training with virtual reality simulator platforms designed for laparoscopic surgery. Indeed, the residents who performed very poorly on the surgery reported feeling overloaded, and the temperatures around their eyes were significantly higher than those of residents performing very well on the surgery. Interestingly, the temperatures of the residents performing exceptionally well were also very high — but in their foreheads, and those residents did not report feeling overloaded. We believe that they were cognitively absorbed in their tasks and found the laparoscopic surgery to be pleasantly challenging. Medical errors in the U.S. cost an estimated $3.5 billion annually, according to a study published in the Information Systems Research journal. More than half of health care errors (51.7 percent) are related to surgery, and these errors may lead to disability (5.5 percent) or even death (6.2 percent), as noted in the Quality & Safety in Health Care journal. Though our findings are preliminary, they suggest that HIT in the OR can have drawbacks. If medical team members are not well-trained in a technology, they can endanger patient safety. In the hands of an overconfident, inadequately trained surgeon, HIT can result in injury or death. To reduce the potential hazards of the use of HIT in the OR, it is important to train medical personnel both individually and in teams. In addition, patient safety could be enhanced if certification is required to operate complex HIT, and standards for alarms and displays for OR equipment is established and implemented.
Human Solutions
By Dr. Juan Cendán, assistant dean for simulation and professor of surgery, College of Medicine
Research has suggested a number of concerns related to the presence of, and reliance on, advanced technologies in the medical environment — specifically, in the OR. As a surgeon, my clinical practice coincided with a great expansion of OR technologies. The miniaturization of imageprocessing devices allowed for the development of minimally invasive operating techniques that could be performed using altered standard instruments (e.g., scissors made small enough to fit in a tiny wound) or remarkably complex platforms like the surgical robot. These technological advances have led to a reconsideration of the risk-benefit analysis for every revised procedure — and the process has not been easy.
ILLUSTRATION BY TIM MCDONAGH
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The concern for me has not been the technology itself but, rather, in the training of the end user and the nuanced development of judgment related to the use of the technology. It has been customary practice for a surgical device manufacturer to develop a new tool, market it to the user, and train the user in some sort of workshop or seminar, thereby clearing the road for its use in patients. This type of training does not generally test for competence and typically does not assess the judgment of the user. Instead the sessions tend to focus on confirming that the clinician can utilize the instrument. Although that is an important outcome of the manufacturer-provided education, the more important discussion should center on questions such as: Given this new instrument’s capabilities, what would you do if it misfired? How would you handle the complication of this instrument not turning off? What if the instrument was stuck inside the patient? These types of
questions are not frequently addressed when a new device or instrument is first presented to the medical community; the issues only become evident after there are complications once it is in use. Competence and judgment are much harder to assess than attendance at a weekend symposium. I agree that in the hands of a poorly trained surgeon HIT can lead to catastrophic consequences, much like a poorly trained pilot could place many individuals in simultaneous peril. The medical community has drawn many analogies to the airline safety movement in the past and, although many are appropriate, the surgical environment has its nuances. A number of well-meaning efforts to incorporate checklists and other airline industry standards in the OR have proven to simply be added bureaucracy. The overall improvement in patient outcomes has been difficult to ascertain and many checklist boards sit unfilled in our operating rooms. Team training has also received a lot of attention
and, in many cases, is absolutely critical. We see the positive impact of team training in cases where complex and specialized equipment is used, for example, in procedures requiring cardiopulmonary bypass. In these cases, many individuals with specific training must work in a highly synchronized series of steps to carry out a procedure, and in cases of unanticipated complication they must be able to troubleshoot together. Technology is generally not the problem. Training metrics must be developed that assess the ability to apply clinical judgment to the use of a device along with competence in its use, and comparisons or models of training in other complex systems should inform OR/HIT training. This training should not be left to the equipment manufacturer alone. The market drive in our medical system has led to a tremendous revolution in technology that has been useful, but it has at times been delivered to end users prematurely.
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HORIZON CUBA What thawing relations between the United States and Cuba could mean for both sides on this 90-mile political, economic and social divide.
ILLUSTRATION BY JONATHAN BURTON
BY MARY FRANCES EMMONS “Let me tell you a story,” says Cuban-American poet Cecilia Rodríguez Milanés, “so you know where I’m coming from.” Born in the U.S. to Cuban parents, the UCF associate professor of English first traveled to the island in the late 1970s, “when Castro opened doors to the exile community.” She remembers visiting family in Havana and in the much poorer interior, where her relatives made do with thatched roofs and dirt floors. “When you think of campesinos [farmers], that’s exactly what they were,” she says. “Very little backyard, a chicken or two — that’s all they owned. Everything else belonged to the pueblo, the government.” Fast-forward to 2011 and another trip to Havana. She noticed that a cousin her age had an Acer computer “just like mine, with a huge monitor, and I was, like, ‘What?!’ ” “So of course we had to go to the interior. But there, their lives had not changed. They were just as poor as they had been,” with open pipes where faucets should have been and a toilet that worked “with a bucket,” she says. “That’s a contrast I didn’t expect to see.” This tale of two Cubas — of the divide between the bold and eager to modernize and the vulnerable and impoverished — is what Cuba experts in the UCF community warn will be one of the many challenges faced by the U.S. as it tries to overcome 50 years of distrust and move toward a new normal.
Not So Fast
On Dec. 17, 2014, pundits everywhere hailed a thawing in the five-decade freeze between the United States and Cuba, dissolving the last remnants of the Cold War. But many authorities are sounding a more cautious note: It may be a long while until there’s a true flow of ideas, goods and travelers between these neighbors separated by 90 miles of open water and more than a century of misunderstanding. “I’m not sure how much of a thaw we’re really going to see,” says international relations researcher Paul Vasquez, a lecturer in the Department of Political Science who is of Cuban ancestry. “Totally open trade and tourism won’t be possible in the immediate future because of laws passed on our side. “A host of technical details could be stumbling blocks to whether we move ahead,” Vasquez says, citing Republican opposition in Congress, the future of the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay and support for Cuban dissidents — although the removal of Cuba in May from a U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism eliminated one major hurdle to normalization. Vasquez predicts that internal politics in the U.S. may play a greater role in how the process unfolds than any discussions between the two nations. “It’s more of a thawing than a thaw,” says Rosen College of Hospitality Management Professor Robertico Croes, who studies international tourism demand on small economies. “There’s always been a fascination with Cuba in the U.S. and the challenge it represented, especially with the large Cuban population in Florida,” says the associate dean of administration and finance. “From a tourism perspective, it’s something new and different; it [has fired] the imagination of Americans — for 50 years — and they will want to visit, for sure. “In the long term, a lot depends on how things on the ground play out,” says Croes. “What will be the real policies of the Cuban government? That’s the wild card here.”
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THE FUTURE OF U.S–CUBA RELATIONS
“IN THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN OUR POLICY IN MORE THAN 50 YEARS, WE WILL END AN OUTDATED APPROACH THAT, FOR DECADES, HAS FAILED TO ADVANCE OUR INTERESTS, AND INSTEAD WE WILL BEGIN TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS BETWEEN OUR TWO COUNTRIES. THROUGH THESE CHANGES, WE INTEND TO CREATE MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE AMERICAN AND CUBAN PEOPLE, AND BEGIN A NEW CHAPTER AMONG THE NATIONS OF THE AMERICAS.” F R O M P R E S I D E N T B A R AC K O B A M A’ S STAT E M E N T O N C U B A P O L I CY C H A N G E S , D E C . 1 7, 2 0 1 4
Ironically, according to Vasquez, the convictions that led the Obama administration to make this overture may hamper its progress. “Obama has tried to deal diplomatically without making a sustained, public media offensive in the U.S. as to why [restoring relations] might be a good thing,” he says. “Without effort at home to remind the public what those reasons are, it makes it easier for critics to take potshots.”
More Harm Than Good?
Assuming that normalization proceeds, the effect of re-establishing relations is likely to be complicated for Cubans and may bring more harm than good, some UCF experts fear. The possible positive effects are easy to comprehend: The introduction of retailers like Wal-Mart and The Home Depot could mean “Cubans will finally have access to goods that they could not afford previously,” says associate professor of economics Mark Soskin. “It will be a huge boon to their quality of life and standard of living.” But according to Cuban history expert Luis Martínez-Fernández, the personal cost of that prosperity may be higher than the average Cuban is prepared to pay. “Having followed the way in which the thaw is coming along, I don’t see positive change for the Cuban people,” says the UCF professor of history, who was born on the island and raised in the U.S. and Latin America. For foreign capital to succeed in Cuba, “it will depend on continuation of an authoritarian regime that limits Cuban
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labor, limits labor unions, limits Cuban workers,” Martínez-Fernández explains. He says U.S. businesses are motivated to enter Cuba not out of humanitarian or democratic interests but “to create a miniature floating China 90 miles from the U.S. coast.” Soskin agrees that much depends on whether Cuba decides to take “a China path,” which he describes as when countries enact a business plan that “shortcuts what the U.S. does, leaving out some of the messy things like democracy” and a free economy. “My biggest concern is we’ll go back to 1898,” says Martínez-Fernández. “Cuba was bankrupt, and the Cuban elite had been impoverished by 30 years of war. [The elite] lost control, and U.S. capital flowed in without the ability of Cubans to contest. It created an economy of enclaves.” Returning U.S. investment could re-establish such enclaves — enormous resorts, major port facilities, “areas in which U.S. capital dominates, similar to how the sugar plantations used to be,” Martínez-Fernández explains. “What I see is a rather unholy alliance between extreme capitalism and authoritarianism on the island. It’s a wonderful opportunity for Raúl [Castro] to prop up an insolvent regime without having to yield any power. Cuban dissidents have been vocal in warning that the U.S. should not give
allowances to the Cuban government without demanding better human rights.” “Cuba needs the United States more than the United States needs Cuba,” says Cuban-American José Fernández, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities. “The issue of human rights in Cuba must be at the top of the agenda.” The price of normalization for the Cuban government could be higher expectations of exactly those sorts of rights, says political scientist Vasquez. “I would expect the Cuban government will change its policies to help the average Cuban or face greater threat of revolution. Normalizing takes away the Cuban government’s biggest excuse. They can’t use Uncle Sam as the fall guy.” Writer Rodríguez Milanés also worries what the future may bring. “What I would hope is that the island doesn’t get divvied up again by corporations,” she says. “Multinationals have no allegiances. How do we help [the Cubans] without destroying all their resources?”
A Sweet Deal
The effects of a relations thaw on the U.S. are likely to be less obvious, because of differences in the size of the populations and economies, according to Soskin. And Americans could be in for some surprises. One positive change could be lower prices in U.S. restaurants and grocery stores, the economist explains. Soskin says the trade embargo has contributed to U.S. consumers paying among the world’s highest sugar prices, and the warming relationship could help that situation. “There’s an enormous movement back to sugar in the U.S. as a preferential ingredient of choice. An end to the embargo would mean a substantial decline in prices for all kinds of food products in supermarkets and eating places, as well as export opportunities for U.S. food manufacturers.” On the downside: According to Croes, the U.S. is already seriously late to the party in Cuba. “Right now Cuba has a lot of tourists already, from other countries,” he says. “Cuba already knows about tourism. Will [businesses] like Travelocity be allowed to operate there? Will companies like that be allowed to participate in the process? Will the market be allowed to function?”
“The issue of human rights in Cuba must be at the top of the agenda.”
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Then there’s the question of Cubans living in the United States. “What will happen with their compensation, the expropriation of their property [from 50 years ago]?” Croes asks. “All these are open questions right now.”
The Heart of the Matter
The rift between Cuba and the United States isn’t just political — it’s social, cultural and highly emotional. And according to some Cuban-Americans, each side has an image of the other that may be hard to give up. “Americans who are not of Cuban descent have a hard time understanding what it’s like to have your family torn apart,” says Cristina CalvetHarrold, ’01, a first-generation Cuban-American. “They only see the island as a new place to vacation, not what their dollars will support by visiting.” For her mother, Olga Calvet, ’71, an exile born in Cuba who now serves as chair of the UCF board of trustees, rapprochement with the Castro regime strikes close to the bone. “You have to understand that no matter what transpires, there are still a lot of feelings exposed after all these years,” Calvet says. “[Many people] lost everything they had worked for, lost family, had to start lives all over again as exiles. It hurts. Those feelings are very raw.”
“I’m not from there, but I am. That’s my heritage, my husband’s heritage, my children’s heritage. I would love to be able to go back and forth, to have normal relations — not just country to country, but people to people.” It doesn’t help that a generation after the revolution, Americans not of Cuban descent often don’t have a cultural context for the situation, Rodríguez Milanés explains. “There’s always been this beautiful, romantic image of Cuba that came from people who were capitalists and upper-class people [who] went there as their playground — this paradise in the Caribbean with casinos and resorts and shows,” she says. “When the revolution surged, it became a romantic leftist paradise. So many writers I admire talked about revolutionary Cuba as a great thing, and I was like, ‘No, you don’t really know what it’s like.’ ” Today Rodríguez Milanés is living the duality faced by the Cuban diaspora. “People sometimes say, ‘When did you leave Cuba?’ I guess I never left,” the American-born writer explains. “I’m not from there, but I am. That’s my heritage, my husband’s heritage, my children’s heritage.
I would love to be able to go back and forth, to have normal relations — not just country to country, but people to people.” And how to achieve that? “We need to listen to what Cubans want. Not the leaders, but the people on the street, in the interior, in the market,” Rodríguez Milanés says. “I know they want freedom to express themselves, to not be afraid, to communicate with loved ones, to travel.” Listening with a poet’s ear, Rodríguez Milanés seems to capture what Cubans and Cuban-Americans both hope and fear, expressed in the last stanza of her poem “Cuban American Manifesto”:
“Just because I let you in my house don’t mean you can take my stuff because mi casa no es tu casa and mi corazón, my soul is not for sale.”
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IMAGES COURTESY OF ORLANDO CITY SOCCER CLUB
FEVER PITCH
UCF alumni are building a community of passionate soccer supporters in Orlando. BY ERIC MICHAEL, ’96
ON MARCH 8, THE ORLANDO CITRUS BOWL BECAME A SEA OF PURPLE. “Hearing more than 60,000 people singing a chant that I started was overwhelming.”
T
he inaugural home match of the Orlando City Soccer Club attracted a sold-out crowd of 62,510 fans outfitted in the team’s signature color to cheer on their Major
League Soccer debut. In MLS history, the attendance feat was second only to the 1996 league opener of the LA Galaxy, which drew 69,255 spectators to the Rose Bowl. For the rising Central Florida franchise, which launched in the third-tier USL Pro league in 2010, the landmark match versus the New York City Football Club represented an ascension into the big leagues of professional soccer.
For longtime supporters, the traditional international term for soccer fans, the game was a coming-out party — especially to the many involved in Orlando City’s two organized supporter clubs, the Ruckus and Iron Lion Firm. “The whole experience was surreal,” says Ruckus president Jerry Updike, ’01. “The visual spectacle alone gave me goose bumps, knowing the humble beginnings from which we came.” “Everything that we had done in the past was magnified tenfold at that game,” Iron Lion Firm co-founder Jared Ambrose, ’15, remembers. “Hearing more than 60,000 people singing a chant that I started was overwhelming.” For Orlando City vice president of marketing Teresa Tatlonghari, ’95, the sight was a satisfying confirmation that the three years of work she’d invested in building a community around the club was paying off — big time. “I broke down in tears,” she acknowledges. “The sense that everyone was here for the same purpose — and being a part of it personally — was a very emotional moment.” Driven by a media campaign dubbed “Fill the Bowl,” the massive show of support for the team was the result of Orlando City’s grassroots strategy for growing its fan base. With the assistance of Julio Lima, ’83, of Orlando’s Say It Loud! advertising agency, Tatlonghari and her marketing team have helped nurture the growth of the club’s passionate supporter community organically, because in the world of soccer, the traditions, rituals and spirit of the supporter clubs create the culture of the team. “Soccer fans are more passionate than many other sports fans,” says Lima. “There’s no fooling them, so we have to understand their wants and needs and give them something real.”
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HOW TO MAN THE WALL
But what have been the keys to this success? Here are three ways they’ve built an army of support:
PRESERVE THE FLAVOR OF “FOOTBALL” Instead of trying to Americanize the fan experience by interrupting the action on the field with halftime shows, cheerleaders and T-shirt cannons, the City club has been careful to preserve
what has made soccer one of the most popular sports globally. “We have to be aware of other clubs from around the world in order to stay relevant to the game and to our audience,” says Lima. From the group chants that engage entire sections to the drum corps that play in the stands, they encourage the established rituals and customs from Europe, South America,
the Caribbean and other international hubs of the sport’s culture. “We have fans from all over the world here in Central Florida, so we pay respect to their rich traditions,” says Tatlonghari. “There is one American part of our experience — tailgating.”
GIVE THE FANS WHAT THEY WANT
According to Tatlonghari, giving the supporters a voice — and listening to it — has been instrumental in the growth of the City supporter community. The club’s fan advisory council, which offers direct feedback to the team, is made up of volunteer season ticket holders from every section of the stadium and age segment. And to allow the fans to create their own traditions organically, her team closely monitors social media, blogs and the reactions of gameday crowds to tweak their strategies. “We’re very in tune with how our fans are engaging with us,” Tatlonghari says. “It’s part of our culture as a club.”
IMAGES COURTESY OF ORLANDO CITY SOCCER CLUB
KEEP IT LOCAL AND GIVE BACK
Keeping the supporters at the center of their focus, Tatlonghari says the club creates opportunities to interact with — and benefit — the Central Florida community. It’s not uncommon to see Orlando City president Phil Rawlins mingling with supporters during the pregame tailgate scene. The club’s street team attends multiple events weekly, from farmers markets to outdoor festivals. They recruit new fans and pass out the purple lion logo magnets that have helped spread awareness of their brand via automobiles throughout the region. And the club’s nonprofit, the Orlando City Foundation, develops youth soccer programs in underserved areas and supports children’s initiatives combating childhood obesity, abuse and homelessness. “Community service has always been ingrained in the club’s culture,” Tatlonghari says. “It’s a huge part of what we do.”
What to expect in the loud and rowdy supporter section of an Orlando City Soccer Club match. The supporter section of an Orlando City Soccer Club match, aka “The Wall,” might be unlike any American sporting event you’ve ever experienced. “If you [go] there expect your view to be obstructed because of flags or people jumping and chanting,” says Ruckus president Jerry Updike, ’01. “Singing and chants all game long — 90 minutes, no sitting.” Blending international traditions from around the globe with a burgeoning American enthusiasm for the game, the Ruckus and Iron Lion Firm supporter clubs incite fan fervor in the south end zone of the stadium to inspire the team to victory. “It’s a unique experience unlike any other sporting event in the U.S.,” explains Iron Lion Firm co-founder Jared Ambrose, ’15. “We’re all here to support and push the team, and with every race, creed and orientation singing together as one — it’s a really beautiful thing.”
THE MARCH
Escorted by a corps of drummers, the supporter clubs gather in the tailgate area before kickoff and march into the stadium in a raucous display of solidarity.
THE CHANTS
Led by supporter group leaders called “capos,” spirited songs and chants are choreographed to the action on the field. And it’s an all-hands-on-deck endeavor in the supporter section.
THE DRUMS
To add a heart-pounding cadence to the chants, drummers keep time for the supporters and increase their amplitude in hopes of bringing the rest of the stadium onto their bandwagon.
THE SMOKE
A special privilege afforded to the supporter clubs is the use of smoke from designated (and safety-conscious) positions at strategic points in the game.
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THE GAMIFICATION OF LEARNING
GAMIFICATION
LEVEL UP TO LEARN ENERGY
ENERGY
ENERGY
ENERGY
SKILL
SKILL
SKILL
SKILL
EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE
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Is gamification a futuristic fad, or does using video games to teach children promise a meaningful advance in education? UCF experts explain why we aren’t seeing more games in school — yet. BY SUSAN FRITH An adventurous boy was playing in the laboratory when an explosion shrank him to the size of a Bunsen burner. Now he bounds through the air, picking up molecules and combining them into chemical compounds to put out a fire or blow up a wall — all part of his quest to get through the lab and return to his normal size. That’s the premise behind “Compounded,” an educational video game for eighthgraders designed by students at UCF’s Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA). “Compounded” is different from the entertainment games the graduate students typically learn to make during their time at FIEA. “We’re all here because we want to make the next ‘Halo,’ ” says programmer Lia Cuella, but this assignment to create an educational game relevant to current state curriculum took extra research. “We started looking up the Florida Standards [for education],”
she says. “Then we had to make sure our great idea would actually teach something to the kids instead of just being a game.” According to Tom Carbone, FIEA’s technical director and the instructor for Game Lab, which gives students the opportunity to develop nontraditional games, “We wanted to open students’ eyes to the notion that the steps they’re learning about entertainment games directly apply to educational games.” As video games become more ingrained in American culture — 97 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds play video games, and Americans spent more than $15 billion on them in 2013, according to market information company NPD Group in its Games Market Dynamics report — businesses and the military have latched on to the technology as a motivational and training tool. “It’s just a natural outgrowth that it would start spilling over into the educational field for kids,” says Kent Gritton, co-founder of the Serious
Games Showcase & Challenge, which recognizes educational game development. Technology forecaster Daniel Burrus calls the “gamification” of education one of the 25 “gamechanging hard trends that will create disruption and opportunity” over the next five years. Popular games like “Minecraft” have been modified for the classroom and used to teach everything from geometry to world cultures, while schools devoted to game-based learning, such as Quest to Learn in New York and the PlayMaker School in Los Angeles, have sprung up along the educational landscape. But significant game use remains the exception rather than the rule in American schools. “If people are engaged, they’re more likely to learn,” says Atsusi “2c” Hirumi, UCF associate professor of instructional technology and editor of Playing Games in School: Video Games and Simulations for Primary and Secondary Education. “It makes sense to try to utilize [game] concepts to
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“Then we had to make sure our great idea would actually teach something to the kids instead of just being a game.” LIA CUELLA, FIEA graduate student improve education,” he says. “But if we want to make lasting significant changes, we have to reinvent the whole system.” UCF experts agree on the potential of gamification, a buzzword that vexes many game designers because it has come to mean everything from using game mechanics like leaderboards and badges in nongaming situations to the physical act of playing video games. But as scholars and producers ramp up their efforts to create and bring to market new educational games, the question on many of their minds is: Are schools going to level up with game-based learning, or will the trend eventually go the way of Atari?
POWERING UP EDUCATION
Cuella has been entranced with video games since she discovered the role-playing game “Kingdom Hearts” in fifth grade. Now she’s learning how to make her own games, but “Compounded” required a different mindset. Her team of eight classmates (four programmers, three producers and one artist) began with an ambitious list of the chemical compounds they wanted to include — from rocket fuel and Windex to glucose to make their animated character run faster — but had to scale back their ideas. “I don’t know any kids who would remember that C6H1206 equals glucose,” Cuella explains. Eventually, they settled for simpler compounds. Dealing with the factual demands of educational games can frustrate designers’ creative urges, Carbone says. But the most cutting-edge games manage to slip in educational content without being obvious. “Learning without trying to learn — that’s the highest-level goal,” he says. “That’s more difficult than it sounds.” “How do you present that content without breaking the flow of the game?” asks Hirumi, who studies how to integrate games into the curriculum. “You can’t just say, ‘You’ve finished your homework. You can go play this game.’ ” This is the type of question he confronts with his work in the UCF College of Education and Human Performance’s Instructional Design and Technology program.
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Hirumi’s students learn to collaborate effectively with game designers as part of their training. “I’ve found that if game designers lead the game development process, the game can be fun, [but] not very effective educationally,” he says, “and if instructional designers lead the game, it can be educational but not very entertaining.” True collaboration brings the best results, but for this to happen, says Hirumi, “People have to come up with a viable business model to get companies to generate [educational] games that are fun, engaging and cost-effective.” While most FIEA students want to develop the kind of popular games their friends play, Carbone encourages them to consider alternative ways to use their degrees. “It’s the difference between making a blockbuster and making an indie movie,” he says, noting that careers in educational games can be good choices and involve fewer grueling hours. Still, it’s hard to ignore the economics of educational game design. “The government isn’t paying Blizzard [Entertainment] millions of dollars to make ‘The World of Chemistry.’ ” Even if it did, most schools couldn’t keep up with the hardware needed to run games with the same level of sophistication many
“It makes sense to try to utilize [game] concepts to improve education. But if we want to make lasting significant changes, we have to reinvent the whole system.” ATSUSI “2C” HIRUMI, UCF associate professor of instructional technology
students play at home, Carbone says. “Now our students’ bar for a good game is set by Xbox One or PlayStation 4.” Shawn Young, a Canadian high school teacher and creator of “Classcraft,” argues that it is possible to transform a classroom with gameplay using basic technology. In the program he created for his own physics classroom (and has so far sold to 3,500 other teachers in 75 countries), students take on the roles of warriors, healers or mages. They work together as teams, and gain or lose powers through their classroom behaviors, reaping real-life benefits, such as permission to eat in class, and consequences like detention. “Classcraft” requires only a single laptop and a projector; a basic version is available for free, and a premium version sells for $1 per student. Although the education market can be difficult to break into, Young says, “Classcraft” helps address “human problems” that concern educators, such as suspensions, fights and truancy. “We have kids in really poor districts where just getting them to come to school is an issue,” he adds. But for Detroit area teachers who have started using “Classcraft,” for example, Young says, “Attendance has shot way up. Kids want to find out what the random event of the day is going to be. ... All of a sudden we’re totally rewiring the social dynamics within the classroom.”
LEAGUE OF LEARNERS
Janis Cannon-Bowers and Clint Bowers, co-directors and founders of UCF’s Recent and Emerging Technologies Research Organization (RETRO) Lab, use their expertise in psychology to develop video games and simulations for training and teaching. They’ve found the military and business worlds to be more open to adopting these tools. “In education, we have a distribution problem,” Cannon-Bowers says. “How do you get these things into the hands of kids? [The problem is] partly cost, partly politics.” With the strong focus on standardized test scores across Florida and the United States, schools “don’t have the time to try something that might work,” adds Bowers. “There are not a lot of risk takers out there now. It’s almost a chicken-and-egg problem. [Schools] say, ‘Prove it works before I use it.’ Well, I can’t prove it works until you use it.” According to Hirumi, “You’re going to have your educational heroes who go above and beyond doing innovative things to make
“Learning without trying to learn — that’s the highest-level goal. That’s more difficult than it sounds.” TOM CARBONE, FIEA technical director and Game Lab instructor games built into the pages. As readers learn how honeybees create static electricity when they fly, helping them to collect pollen, they can play a game where they zip from flower to flower, trying not to bump into anything that makes the bees lose their static charge. Besides designing educational games, Blair is even more excited about teaching students how to design their own games and simulations around a topic they’re studying. He also conducts game jams, which challenge teams of players to develop a game from scratch in a short period of time. According to Blair, this type of teaching encourages students to develop a sense of ownership about their learning, plus they gain experience working in teams and dealing with deadlines. Another RETRO Lab alumnus, assistant professor at UCF’s School of Visual Arts and Design Peter Smith, ’05, co-founded the Serious Games Showcase & Challenge (SGSC) 10 years ago to recognize games that promote learning, training or the greater good. More recently, SGSC organizers began offering Orange County (Florida)
middle and high schools free access to the educational games selected as SGSC finalists. “We put them right in the hands of the kids,” Smith says. This year, Orange County student game-testers traveled back to the 19th century to seek freedom along the Underground Railroad, studied the effects of hurricane forces and learned about natural selection. Students evaluated the games and voted on their favorite, giving feedback to developers. “[Three years ago], when we started talking to educators, we realized that there wasn’t a lot of use of games in the schools,” says Showcase co-founder Gritton. “The administrators didn’t really understand how to bring them into the system … and the teachers themselves weren’t comfortable with how to integrate them into the curriculum and use them effectively for teaching and assessing students.” Buoyed by recent success, SGSC organizers are trying to convince other area school districts to test the games. Partnering with schools has worked for game-makers in the Mixed Emerging Technology Integration Lab (METIL) at UCF’s Institute for Simulation and Training. Director David Metcalf has found most educators to be receptive. “You have to be full-service and talk to them about how it integrates into their curriculum and help them manage the program,” he says. In METIL’s “Super Nutrition!” game, players must eat the right foods to collect energy to solve neighborhood missions and build their superpowers. Another, “My Sports Pulse,” challenges students to discover the importance of math and science in sports, solving problems sent to their smartphones. Middle school students who played the latter game showed a 16 percent increase in interest in math and science careers and a 10 percent increase in learning outcomes, according to one study. While the initial run of “My Sports Pulse” only involved about 2,500 students, the sports agency Huddle Up Group plans to distribute the game across the country as part of a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education program that brings NBA players and BMX athletes into schools to teach physics and engineering concepts. “That gives it a national footprint,” Metcalf says. RETRO Lab’s Cannon-Bowers thinks more support for educational games may emerge from the commercial sector — either from textbook makers wanting to stay relevant or
“This is how students think and learn, and to put it in their language and their context is something that’s going to continue to happen, especially as more teachers have grown up learning with games.” DAVID METCALF, Mixed Emerging Technology Integration Lab director from high-tech companies concerned about the STEM skills of their future workforce. METIL has found matching grants and corporate sponsorships for their educational games, and money raised through marathons and a benefit concert helped take “My Sports Pulse” to schools in Uganda and Haiti. “It’s only as sustainable as the grants and sponsorships [we get], but it’s pretty sustainable,” Metcalf says.
WINNING THE GAME
When Cuella and her teammates at FIEA first began working on “Compounded,” they had a pipe dream of selling it on the Apple App Store. With the busy demands of grad school, she’s not sure how far they’ll take it now. But she’s considering making educational games in the future to touch kids’ lives and change their attitudes toward school. “I have a 13-year-old brother, and I know the struggle of getting him to learn something,” she says. “Every time I ask him, he’s doing video games, not doing his homework.” “There’s no doubt in my mind we have to make education more engaging,” says Hirumi. “Hollywood is going to continue, and the gaming industry is going to continue, and those are competitors for our children’s time.” While Gritton agrees that educational games will never approach the success of the entertainment industry, he believes their quality will keep improving as classrooms utilize more digital technology. “This is how students think and learn,” adds Metcalf, “and to put it in their language and their context is something that’s going to continue to happen, especially as more teachers have grown up learning with games.”
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“COMPOUNDED” ILLUSTRATIONS BY MASON HOLLY, ’14
learning fun and engaging and productive, but in general, the way the system is designed really constrains innovation. If you change one aspect of the system, then you’ve got to change other aspects — like curriculum, assessment and professional development — to support that change.” Until the system changes, he expects only an incremental spread of gameplay in schools. These odds haven’t deterred Lucas Blair, ’11, who used his experience working on games at RETRO Lab to co-found Little Bird Games with his wife Danielle Chelles, ’08. One of their recent projects, an educational e-book called The Lost Bee, has
MENTOR MAGNETISM
Driven by a passion for working with children, Phillip Gordon, ’13, has become a mentor to the youth of his Parramore community.
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alking through the doors of the Dr. J.B. Callahan Neighborhood Center, it only takes a minute or two before Phillip Gordon is surrounded by smiling children who clamor for his attention. A youth counselor at the community center in downtown Orlando’s Parramore Heritage Community, Gordon is a bona fide human magnet for its students. “Kids love me,” he says. “I think I understand them a lot, and they understand me too.” That understanding, according to Gordon, comes from common experience. As a boy growing up in the neighborhood challenged by crime, poverty and violence, he dealt with pressures that carried dire consequences. Friends went to jail. One was killed. “I had a positive mind, but I followed the crowd,” says Gordon. “I see a lot of youth here in Parramore who are going through what I went through.” At the age of 4, Gordon joined the Parramore Kidz Zone (PKZ), a city of Orlando outreach program for at-risk youth where he later found mentors who listened to his problems and steered him away from trouble. As he grew into a teen, his confidence improved and he became president of PKZ’s Teenz Of Parramore Youth Advisory Council. The leadership experience changed Gordon’s mind about college, a dream he never thought possible. “Nobody around me went to college,” he says. “I felt proud that the PKZ team was telling me, ‘You’re a good kid. You have to leave here and go to college.’ It stuck with me.” With that motivation, Gordon applied and was accepted to Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, but after a few weeks he returned home, overwhelmed by homesickness, transferred to Valencia College and eventually UCF through the DirectConnect to UCF program. Working part time as a teacher’s aide at the Nap Ford Community School and Callahan Neighborhood Center, he earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from
the College of Health and Public Affairs with the ambition to become a police officer or probation officer as a way to help his community. “Many of the kids here get in trouble at an early age and end up with a criminal record by the time they’re 11 or 12,” Gordon says. “In [law enforcement], I could instill in them the same pride that was instilled in me — that I could rise above the norm.” However, the satisfaction of making a daily impact on his students’ lives changed his mind about law enforcement. Today Gordon does double duty at Callahan and the Cherokee School in Orlando while he works toward an Orange County Public Schools teacher certification and eventually a master’s degree in education from UCF. “Working with children has become a passion,” Gordon says. “I want them to look up to me as the person they can come to when they’re having problems.” And he’ll remain in the troubled neighborhood that he was once encouraged to leave, hopefully as a physical education teacher at the new pre-K through eighth grade school that is planned to open there in 2017. “Parramore has a place in my heart,” says Gordon. “If you want to see change, you have to work at it and you have to be patient.” Just like working with children.
As a youth counselor at the Dr. J.B. Callahan Neighborhood Center in downtown Orlando, Phillip Gordon, ’13, is making a positive impact on the neighborhood where he grew up.
FAMILY TRADITION As a child, Taylor Voisard, ’13, dreamed of performing with her parents and older brother in the famed water ski show at Cypress Gardens. But the Winter Haven, Florida, theme park closed in 2009 before the College of Education and Human Performance graduate could join the team. Two years later, when LEGOLAND Florida opened on the same property and revived the water skiing tradition, Voisard jumped at the chance to follow in her family’s wake. Today she’s a professional skier in “The Battle for Brickbeard’s Bounty” show.
“I grew up in the Cypress Gardens water ski stadium and fell in love with show skiing. Carrying on the family legacy means everything to me.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF LEGOLAND FLORIDA RESORT
IMAGE COURTESY OF TAYLOR VOISARD, ’13
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CLASS NOTES
’70s
’90s
’00s
Peggy Ashley, ’73, is enjoying retirement after teaching high school in Satellite Beach, Fla.
Donna Mirus Bates, ’93, senior vice president of marketing communications and content development at Universal Orlando Resort, was inducted into the UCF Nicholson School of Communication Alumni Hall of Fame Nov. 6.
JahKiya Bell, ’00, promoted to senior director of community investment at the Heart of Florida United Way.
Shelley Conroy, ’93, named inaugural dean of the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences at Baylor University. She will remain dean and tenured professor of the Louise Herrington School of Nursing.
Sean Marlowe, ’01, became a private wealth adviser for Ameriprise Financial. He’s married to Angela (Baxley), ’01.
Frederick Gravel, ’73, became president of Electronic/Fasteners. Sheila (Ordman) Scott, ’74, is an acupuncture physician and owner of Pure Acupuncture & Natural Medicine. Robert Beaver, ’76, works in interdiscipline coordination for facilities design, knowledge management and quality assurance for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts facilities operations services.
’80s Terrence Dwyer, ’80, hired as senior vice president and chief information officer for Long & Foster Companies. LeRoy Henry, ’80, earned his doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Phoenix. Dr. Charles Gutierrez, ’82, is a neurorespiratory clinical specialist at James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, Fla., where he also teaches medical students from USF’s Morsani College of Medicine. Amy (Vanzant) Hodge, ’83, is a firmware developer for Erdos Miller in Texas. She’s married to Robert Hodge, ’94. Debra Davis, ’84, works as an advanced certified hospice and palliative care nurse practitioner at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Fla. Bill Schoep, ’88, is the senior vice president for Trendsettah USA. He lives in Olathe, Kan., with his wife, Marylou (Machuga), ’87, who works as a preschool teacher.
Lauren Hendrickson, ’01, joined Premier Sotheby’s International Realty as managing broker of its St. Petersburg, Fla., location.
Sara Montuori, ’04, named marketing manager of Artegon Marketplace. Heather Smith, ’04, is the executive producer of “Mornings on the Mall,” and “Drive at Five with Larry O’Connor” for WMAL in Washington, D.C. Jamie (Anderson) Vega, ’04, started a communication consulting firm, Insight Spectrum. She’s married to Manny Vega, ’05. Craig Katterfield, 05, brokered a lease between Affordable Hearing Solutions and the Crown Centre Plaza in Orange City, Fla.
Nathan Tungseth, ’01, is the strategic account manager – Chevron for ABB.
Jennifer (Cronin) Lal, ’05, is an accountant for Florida Hospital.
Brian Ray, ’93, received the FSU College of Education 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award for government and community service.
Phil Dalhausser, ’02, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist, and his teammate named USA Volleyball’s 2014 Beach Team of the Year.
Laurel Norman, ’05, is the events and sponsorship manager for the Orlando Regional Realtor Association.
Eric Golden, ’94, named managing partner of Burr & Forman’s Orlando office.
Ayana David, ’03, works as a LOD1 operational risk and control consultant for SunTrust Bank.
Whitney (Walsh) Coombs, ’06, joined Daszkal Bolton as tax manager.
Alphonso Jefferson Jr., ’94, promoted to assistant county administrator in Broward County, Fla.
Angie Lewis, ’03, joined Bowigens Beer Company as a bartender.
Kate (Butto) Dorminy, ’06, is director of nursing education and professional development at Florida Hospital Orlando.
Brian Smith, ’03, promoted to director of finance and budget with the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program in Washington, D.C. Brian was also promoted to lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
Blair (Garbade) Martlaro, ’06, joined ParkLand International Realty and will serve the Florida cities of Belle Isle, Orlando and Winter Park.
Barbara Stiles, ’94, joined Gannett Fleming as business development manager for the Southeast region. Tiffany Homler, ’97, appointed as director of government affairs for LYNX. Jennifer (Stuckey) Lachtara, ’97, joined the Pasco Economic Development Council as marketing/ communications coordinator. She’s married to Jason Lachtara, ’02. Dianne Roeder, ’97, promoted to chief financial officer of The Shadowlight Group in Leola, Pa. Gregory Kuzma, ’98, hired as director of communications for Ascend Performing Arts in Denver. Matthew Lubozynski, ’98, joined the Memphis office of Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs as a member of the firm’s intellectual property protection and litigation service team.
Craig Ballock, ’04, promoted to partner at Geotechnical and Environmental Consultants. Alisia Lucas-Colombi, ’04, moved to Austin, Texas, and became a sixthgrade teacher at an International Baccalaureate school. Tim O’Mara, ’04, is a CFA charterholder and a vice president of investments at Citi Private Bank. He’s married to Julie O’Mara, ’04.
Michael Weinbaum, ’06, joined Aquatic Design & Engineering as a studio engineer. Kristin Aiello, ’07, is the projects coordinator for the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, Fla. Jennifer Berzinis, ’07, is director of principal and major gifts for DanaFarber Cancer Institute in Boston. Sarah Grace, ’07, is an attorney for the Law Offices of John L. Di Masi.
Sarah (Greene) Matin, ’04, and her teammate won the 68th Women’s International Four-Ball Championship in Wellington, Fla.
U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 3 9
ALUMKNIGHTS
In January Dean Caravelis, ’02; Marissa Caravelis, ’02; and Simone Goodfriend, ’08; (not pictured), were guests of honor at the Tokyo Bay Urayasu City 10K race in Japan as part of a cultural exchange program between the Orlando Runners Club and the Urayasu Runners Club in Japan. The exchange, in which the Orlando club also hosts Japanese runners for the OUC Orlando Half Marathon, has been a tradition since 1996. “Regardless of how different our cultures are, running is our common language,” says Dean.
Brittany Davies, ’11, honored as the 2014–15 Teacher of the Year at Galileo School for Gifted Learning in Seminole County, Fla. Cynthia Heyne, ’11, graduated in December with an advanced registered nurse practitioner degree in family practice from Samford University. Megan Calhoon, ’12, started SevenDaysShop on Etsy. A portion of proceeds will support families in the adoption process. Sherry Carpenter, ’12, received the 2015 Outstanding Informal Educator Award from the North Carolina Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education Center. She is the naturalist and education manager for the Cape Fear Botanical Garden.
Stephen Noto, ’07, passed the American Planning Association’s American Institute of Certified Planners exam and was promoted to deputy city planner with the city of Lake Mary, Fla. Stephen is also the outgoing chairman of the MetroPlan Orlando Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee. Jennifer Wakefield, ’07, vice president of marketing and communications for the Orlando Economic Development Commission, won a DCI 40 Under 40 Award. Martha Grady, ’08, graduated from the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign with her doctorate in theoretical and applied mechanics. Aaron Lucas, ’08, joined the NPD Group at Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters in Arkansas as an analyst for toys and stationery. Charlotte Melton, ’08, promoted to vice president of the Mental Health Association of Central Florida. Jennifer Pagan, ’08, is an account manager for Kforce in Maitland, Fla.
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Matthew Serwin, ’08, completed his M.S. in integrated marketing communications from West Virginia University and was promoted to senior division manager for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco in Boston. Cpt. Sean Spence, ’08, earned a professional degree in engineering from the George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Arielle Schwartz, ’09, is an attorney with a civil litigation firm in Washington, D.C.
Amanda Hankins, ’12, is an education and prevention specialist for MIT’s Violence Prevention and Response program. Amanda lives in Boston with her partner, Mandy Burgan, ’13, co-founder/chief experience officer of MOMO, a Boston media and financial technology startup.
Alexander Vo, ’09, founded an advertising startup, Paired Media, in New York City.
Spencer Ledgard, ’12, is a project engineer at Specialty Engineering Consultants in Boynton Beach, Fla.
’10s
Ashley King, ’09, and her husband John Birney Jr., ’10, apprentice at bought their first home in July 2014. JBirney Financial/United Planners in Flagler Beach, Fla., passed the Andrew Levitt, ’09, joined Cyient, Series 7 exam and is a registered where he works with Pratt & assistant. Whitney as a tooling engineering for development and production Michael Cho, ’10, celebrated the sixth of jet engines. year of his company, Impress Ink. Frederick Morris, ’09, assisted in marketing Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and Maroon 5’s “V.” Lewis “Quinn” Pesek, ’09, commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and will undergo Combat Systems Officer training at Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla.
Arthur Huggins Jr., ’10, graduated from the TSU Thurgood Marshall School of Law, passed the Texas Bar Exam and started Huggins Law Firm. Victoria Vighetto, ’10, joined the Central Florida Division of the March of Dimes as executive director.
Stephen Walker, ’12, promoted to associate producer of original productions at the Golf Channel. Mark “Tyler” Wilkins, ’12, an associate at Crossman & Company, cobrokered a lease for 3,575 square feet of retail space in Orlando. Brittany Cartwright, ’13, promoted to special events coordinator for Junior Achievement of the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast. Brennan Dierks, ’13, manages the city of Maitland’s (Fla.) senior center facility. Brianna LaBarge, ’13, joined Honeywell Aerospace in Phoenix as a product manufacturing engineer II. Andrea Portillo, ’13, works for the National Osteoporosis Foundation and National Bone Health Alliance.
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Jennifer Radulovic, ’13, joined a public relations firm in New York City. Alisha Rodriguez, ’13, works at Global Experience Specialists in Atlanta. Vanessa Rodriguez, ’13, expanded her company, We Tie The Knots, to Central Florida. Bryan Shearon, ’13, is the box office manager for Enid Event Center and Convention Hall in Oklahoma. Shannon Staunton, ’13, promoted to sales manager with Doubletree. Jose Garcia, ’14, is interning with UCF Student Legal Services. Marc Georges, ’14, is the staff tax accountant for KLX. Alex Ham, ’14, joined the Olive Garden brand management team at Darden. Jennifer Hamilton, ’14, is the director of clinical support for Nemours Children’s Hospital. Brittany O’Neill, ’14, is a database maintenance assistant at Barry University School of Law Library in Orlando. Matthew Ruane, ’14, promoted to assistant professor at FIT in Melbourne, Fla. Donnelle “Elle” Sullivan, ’14, is an intern at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Jennifer Waterbury, ’14, joined Florida Hospital’s performance improvement/ quality management department as a project manager.
In Memoriam
Keith Fowles, a retired UCF professor in the Nicholson School of Communication, passed away Dec. 1. Keith began his career at UCF in 1980 as general manager of WUCF-FM, and retired as a radiotelevision professor in 1997. He was well-respected as a teacher and adviser, and kept in contact with many students after they graduated, offering advice and support even after his retirement. He is survived by his wife, Shirley, and his four children, Andrea, Kim, Kevin and Allison, as well as a daughter-in-law, son-in-law, three grandsons, two granddaughters and three great-grandchildren.
Authors A L U M N I
Philip “Andy” Long, ’83, wrote the e-book Photographing the Aurora Borealis.
Edith Schulman, ’83, wrote her family’s genealogy story, a 10-year project, called From Generation to Generation. The book traces her family to the mid-1700s. Sheri Staak, ’83, authored Tune In to WOW Leadership. Betty (Carter/Hilty) Edwards, ’85, published her third book, The Real Artist: Power, Love, and a Sound Mind, under her pen name, Sarah Waits. Angela Doucette, ’89, wrote “Going to the Dentist: A Different Preschool Adventure,” which was published in the January 2015 issue of national education magazine Teaching Young Children. Tamara Lawyer, ’96, published her first book, Nightfall, in December under her pen name, T.K. Lawyer. Lt. Robert Bebber, ’00, wrote “Countersurge: A Better Understanding of China’s Rise and U.S. Policy Goals in East Asia,” which was published by foreign policy journal Orbis. Jesse Benedick, ’04, wrote Driving through Potholes, a book about mastering personal finance. Julie Iromuanya, ’04, wrote her debut novel, Mr. and Mrs. Doctor, about a Nigerian couple in an arranged marriage as they begin their lives in rural Nebraska. Cheryl Vassiliadis, ’04, co-authored her first book, Creative Aging: A Baby Boomer’s Guide to Successful Living, which encourages those who are at or near retirement to actively plan for the years ahead. Alia Luria, ’06, wrote her debut novel, Compendium. Tiffany (Penso-Sebastian) Diaz, ’07, wrote Beyond Valley Ridge, a children’s storybook that addresses the clean-water crisis that plagues thousands of communities worldwide. Frank Voehl, ’09, published The Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook. Shane Hartman, ’11, co-authored Android Malware and Analysis.
U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 4 1
ALUMKNIGHTS
Weddings
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& BIRTHS 1. Bruce Barbre, ’01, announced the birth of Briella Marie July 30.
11. Chris Shelley, ’06, and wife Kayla (Lehmann), ’06, welcomed their second child, Denver Kyle, Feb. 11.
2. Keith Lackey, ’01, married Emily Kent Oct. 20 at the Hillsboro Club in Hillsboro Beach, Fla. Michael Mallan, ’00, served as groomsman.
12. Derek Arnholtz, ’07, and Jennifer (Tuttell), ’06, welcomed their second child, Wesley Robert, Feb. 19.
3. Alexis (Aleshire), ’02, married Scott Kinsey in Barnsley Gardens in Adairsville, Ga., Oct. 11.
13. Charles “Thomas” Bolick, ’07, married Lauren Owston, ’13, Jan. 17 in Orlando.
Calvon (Lagueux), ’02, married Michael Buczkowski, ’04, Sept. 21.
14. Matthew Landowski, ’08, and wife Rhian, ’08, welcomed daughter, Brynley Anne, June 29, 2014.
4. Rachel (Proses), ’04, and her husband, Nicholas Bodo, ’04, welcomed Alexander “Xander” Niko Oct. 10 in West Palm Beach, Fla.
15. Patricia Maxwell, ’08, married Andrew Hall, ’03, Oct. 4 at the Llambias House in St. Augustine, Fla. UCF alumni in the wedding party included Jason Armstrong, ’02; Matt Hahn, ’02; Carmen (Stokes) Hall, ’04; Brooke (Hall) Harrison, ’04; Brendan Broomell, ’06; Paulette Mellor, ’07; and Ashley Robertson, ’08.
5. Rachael (Gmerek), ’05, married Rob Cressy Sept. 19 in Buffalo, N.Y. UCF alumni in the wedding party included co-maids of honor, Andreina Ramones, ’05, and Rachael Vogel, ’05, as well as bridesmaids Erin Joseph, ’06, and Amanda Van Blair, ’06. Cherrie (Wimes) Johnson, ’05, announced the birth of twins David and Alana. 6. Justin Pollack, ’05, and his wife, Lindsay, welcomed baby boy Caleb Mason Feb. 12. 7. Kristin (Rogers), ’05, married Andy Thwaites Oct. 4 in Healdsburg, Calif. UCF alumni in attendance included Amanda Willard Delgato, ’03; Cara Schweinsberg, ’04; Julie Sopko, ’04; Mike Nicholson, ’05; Sarah Gross Nicholson, ’05; and Xavier Delgato, ’07. 8. Catalina Bejarano, ’06, and Stephen Krates welcomed son, Connor George, Jan. 11, 2014. 9. Heather (Erenstein), ’06, and husband James Cobb, ’07, welcomed their first child, Brody David, Oct. 2. 10. Antonio Hasegawa, ’06, and Christie (Archer), ’10, along with big sister Lexi, welcomed Madison Jade, Dec. 4.
16. Cherayne (Metz), ’08, married Matthew Haehl, ’07, in Montverde, Fla., Sept. 13. UCF alumni in the wedding party included Kevin Hull, ’05; Danny Mendoza, ’05; Lourdes (Fernandez) Hester, ’07; Kylee Kilgore, ’07; Aimi Nguyen, ’07; Nate Nunez, ’07; Nikki Rapaport, ’07; Chelsea (Kilgore) Redick, ’07; Marybeth Bailey, ’08; Jessica Barton, ’08; Ashley Elliott, ’08; Kate Barton, ’09; and Tyler Bloechinger, ’09. The photographers were Nathan Robinson, ’06 and Rebecca (Rodriguez) Robinson, ’07.
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17. Monica (Saldarriaga), ’08, married Matthew Jeffries at the Lauderdale Yacht Club. UCF alumni in the wedding party included Christine Holst, ’07, and Amanda Lasprogato, ’10. 18. Theresa (Smith), ’08, married H. Brent Levin in September. 19. Matthew Forrester, ’09, married UCF student Stephanie (Rivera) at St. James Cathedral in Orlando, May 3, 2014. 20. Patrick Landers, ’09, and Alex Adair, ’10, married in November at the Historic Dubsdread Ballroom in Orlando.
Lauren (Schminky), ’06, married Jeremy Roberts, ’08, Nov. 22 in Orlando.
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21. Bryan Morris, ’09, and Cindy Mas, ’08, married Feb. 28 at the Buena Vista Palace in Orlando. UCF alumni in the wedding party included Charlie Lawson, ’08; T. Patrick Connolly, ’09; Kelsey Burch Flynn, ’09; Rafael Padron, ’09; Lauren Perlin, ’09; Jessica Morgan, ’10; and Caroline (Morris) Wolverton, ’12. 22. Jason Roxburgh, ’09, married Emily Bailey Aug. 10 in Chicago. UCF alumni in the wedding party included Nick Stoner, ’01; Eli Oppenheimer, ’02; Joe Lenti, ’04; Rachael (Gmerek) Cressy, ’05; Justin Fayer, ’05; and Ian Perez, ’05.
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23. Kristen (Whitney), ’09, married Ethan Nash, ’11, Oct. 11 in Apalachicola, Fla. UCF alumni in the wedding party included Jodi DeGrandchamp, ’09, and Tara Wilson, ’09. 24. Catalina (Agudelo), ’10, and Ryan Freeman, ’09, welcomed their daughter, Charlotte Alicia, Dec. 22. 25. Blake Kachman, ’10, married Katlyn Tissue, ’09, Nov. 8 at the Citrus Club in Orlando. UCF alumni in the wedding party included Erin (Giblin) Nash, ’02; Kyle Nash, ’03; Alison (Provost) Adams, ’09; Christopher Bonner, ’09; and Melissa Dugdale, ’09. 26. Nathalia (Martins), ’10, married Steven Schultz, ’09, Nov. 1 in Naples, Fla. UCF alumni in the wedding party included Chris Rakoczy, ’07; Brandon Chandler, ’10; and Thais Martins, ’15.
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27. Christa Pesek, ’10, married Sept. 19. Her brother, U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Lewis “Quinn” Pesek, ’09, walked her down the aisle along with their brother Matt. 28. Kaitlin (Schultz), ’10, married James Garrett, ’10, May 25, 2014, at Mission Inn Resort & Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. 29. Lisa Cunningham, ’11, married Robert Harvey, ’12, July 5 in Orlando, where Knightro was in attendance. 30. Laura Dixon, ’11, married Andrew Allen Nov. 22. 31. Alex Fackler, ’11, and Sarah (Elifson), ’12, married Dec. 13 in Orlando. UCF alumni in the wedding party included Eric Brule, ’11; Kayli Keough, ’12; and Rachel Pienta, ’14.
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Adrienne (Santiago), ’12, married Jonathan Miller Oct. 31. 32. Bethany (Haynes), ’13, married Philipp Arimond Sept. 13. Jessica (Ruby), ’13, and Blake Levine, ’11, married Dec. 14 in Jacksonville, Fla. UCF alumni in the wedding party included Matthew Wasserman, ’11; Samantha Donnelly, ’13; and Katie Lloyd, ’13. 33. Amber Rivas, ’14, welcomed her son, Avian Brewer, Aug. 24.
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BLACK & GOLD GALA
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Show your Knight pride at the Black & Gold Gala as we celebrate the accomplishments of our brightest Knights.
OCT. 23
GOLF TOURNEY AND BLACK & GOLD TAKEOVER
Drive, chip and putt your way to memories on the green with old friends at the Homecoming Golf Tournament.
Meet Your New Alumni Advocates 25
The UCF Alumni Association board of directors and chair, Peter Cranis, ’84, welcome three new members this summer. The board is comprised of dedicated volunteers who share their time and expertise to strengthen programs and services that benefit alumni and students.
23
INDOOR TAILGATE
Visit the UCF Alumni Indoor Tailgate to enjoy food and fun in air-conditioned comfort at the UCF FAIRWINDS Alumni Center.
Angela Cohen, ’98 As president/co-founder of Cyon, an Orlando-based professional recruitment firm, Cohen’s expertise includes strategic planning and Fortune 100 corporate management. Beth Smith, ’04 Orlando Health’s community relations manager combines leadership and volunteerism to support fundraising activities for community organizations, including UCF scholarships. Trish Celano, ’10 The vice president/chief nursing officer for Florida Hospital specializes in nursing strategies, mentoring, coaching and outcome management.
CLASS NOTES 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.
OCT. 24
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B ACK IN THE DAY
Commencement Through the Years
In honor of our 250,000th graduate, we look back at 45 years of commencement ceremonies. On May 9, UCF’s 250,000th graduate crossed the stage at the CFE Arena. Daniel Berreth, ’15, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq and Kuwait, received his bachelor’s degree in marketing from the
1992 Glenda Hood, mayor, city of Orlando
College of Business Administration and joined an alumni community one-quarter million strong. Since the first commencement ceremony in 1970, the locations, speakers and milestones have
COMMENCEMENT SPEAKERS
changed, but one thing remains constant — the satisfaction of earning a college degree. 1987 Reuben Askew, governor of Florida
1977 Lee Scherer, director, NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center
1972 Capt. Mary Gore, commanding officer, Recruit Training Command Orlando
1978 U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden
1973 Richard Nixon, U.S. president
1984 Allan Gotlieb, Canadian ambassador to the U.S.
1970 John Young, NASA astronaut
1985 Bob Graham, governor of Florida
1981 U.S. Rep. Bill Nelson
10,000
15,000
ALUMNI
25,000
ALUMNI
50,000
ALUMNI
1990 Lt. Gen. Forrest S. McCartney, director, NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center
ALUMNI
1979 Dick Batchelor, ’71, Florida House of Representatives/first recipient of UCF Distinguished Alumni Award
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4,588
4,359
3,889
1987 UCF student-athletes achieve the best graduation record among Florida public universities
1992 John C. Hitt becomes fourth UCF president
1990
3,566
3,265
3,184
3,276
2,862 1985 “NBC Nightly News” features UCF in class of ’85 segment
1985
2,643
2,752
2,483
2,405
2,139 1981–88 Commencement location: Education Complex Gymnasium
1978 Trevor Colbourn becomes second UCF president
1980 First summer ceremony approved by President Colbourn and first doctorate awarded to Ali R. Hurson, ’80, in computer science
1980
2,343
2,287
2,075
2,027
1976 Commencement location: U.S. Naval Recruit Training Center Field House (winter ceremony)
1975 Commencement location: Winter Park High School auditorium (winter ceremony)
1974 UCF alma mater debuts
1972–78 Commencement location: UCF Reflecting Pond (first ceremony on campus)
1971 First master’s degrees awarded
1975
1,798
1,726
1,679
1,350
765
1970 1970 First FTU commencement ceremony at Orlando Municipal Auditorium
COMMENCEMENT MILESTONES
638
DEGREES AWARDED PER ACADEMIC YEAR
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250,000
ALUMNI
1996 Michelle Akers, ’89, Olympic gold medalist soccer player
200,000
2000 Rear Adm. Paul G. Gaffney II, U.S. Navy
ALUMNI
2011 Buddy Dyer, mayor, city of Orlando
150,000
ALUMNI
2012 Barbara Jenkins, ’83, superintendent, Orange County Public Schools
2001 Kevin Beary, ’01, Orange County Sheriff
100,000 1993 Richard Astro, director, National Consortium for Academics and Sports
2002 Jeb Bush, governor of Florida
ALUMNI
2007 Charles H. Townes, Nobel Prize-winning physicist and laser inventor
1997 Tico Perez, ’83, partner, Baker & Hostetler
2004 William W. Parsons, ’93, manager, NASA Space Shuttle Program Ericka Dunlap, ’05, Miss America 2004
(Fall/Spring)
11,359
2015 283,491 total degrees awarded since 1970 (as of Spring 2015)
2013 College of Medicine graduates first class of 36 students
2015
16,585
16,434
15,526
14,386
13,410
2010 2010 UCF becomes nation’s second-largest university
12,376 2009 Doctoral degrees awarded during President Hitt’s tenure reaches 2,000
11,274 2007–present Commencement location: CFE Arena
12,132
10,760 2006 President Hitt awards the 100,000th degree of his tenure
9,771
2005
9,592
8,640
7,083
7,833 2002 Tyler Fisher, ’02, becomes UCF’s first Rhodes scholar
1998 Commencement spans two days for the first time
2013 Bill Clinton, former U.S. president
2005 Harriet Elam Thomas, U.S. ambassador to Senegal
2001 81-year-old Elmer Kundinger, ’98, earns his second UCF bachelor’s degree
6,659
2000
6,747
6,309
6,031
5,811
1995
5,249
1994–2006 Commencement location: The Venue (formerly UCF Arena)
5,071
6,572
1998 Roger Pynn, ’73, president, Curley & Pynn Public Relations
1994 Lee Constantine, ’74, Florida House of Representatives
U C F. E D U / P E G A S U S | 4 7
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BURLINGTON VT PERMIT 19