Miami Magazine | Fall 2010 by University of Miami

It’s All About the Care... UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI HEALTH SYSTEM

Since its earliest days in 1952, the University of Miami medical program has focused on caring for South Florida residents. Today, at UHealth – University of Miami Health System, that tradition continues. And patients from Palm Beach to the Florida Keys continue to look to the University of Miami for South Florida’s most advanced medical care.

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South Florida’s most advanced medical care Bascom Palmer Eye Institute • Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center • University of Miami Hospital • UHealth Outpatient Services

Fall 2010

VOLUME 17 NUMBER 2

For Alumni and Friends of the University of Miami F E AT U R ES

Ties that Bind A look at a few of the Miller School of Medicine’s stellar alumni whose dedication has helped nurture their alma mater’s development.

Pegasus Rising There are computers and there are supercomputers. UM’s Pegasus falls into the latter category. The man who helped install the machine explains the difference.

From Here to Galapagos Students are wild about an immersive academic experience that has them embedded in one of the rarest, most biodiverse places on the planet.

Hurricane House The wait is over. Get a glimpse of your brand-new, 72,000-square-foot “home away from home,” the Robert and Judi Prokop Newman Alumni Center.

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DEPARTMENTS

Painting UM’s past, present, and future >> Homecoming memories, old and new >> Learn the advantages of being a card-carrying ’Cane

PostMarks Comments and opinions from alumni and friends

University Journal

Alumni Digest

A research park rises >> UM receives new rankings >> The School of Communication sees stars >> Citizen ’Canes reach out >> A spiritual leader returns >> Forum to focus on health care >> The tally on tweeters >> An Obama appointee on defense, Cuba, and baseball >> And much more!

On the cover: UGalapagos participant Ryan Heffernan, ’11, a senior marine affairs major, frolics with a sea turtle, likely the endangered hawksbill. “The natural beauty, the adventures, and the friendships will stay with me forever,” she says. Photo by Nikita Shiel-Rolle, A.B. ’10

Big Picture

Class Notes

News and profiles of alumni worldwide

DateBook

Alumni events and activities

Sustainability expert Jacqueline James, M.S. ’02, Ph.D. ’05, is no average engineer.

P o s t

MARKS From White House to Green House

ust received the Spring 2010 issue. I had no idea there were so many other UM grads in the Obama administration (Alumni Digest, “Miami Goes to Washington”). Fantastic. I’m now living and working about 20 minutes south of San Francisco at an intentional-living community house called the Abundant Resource Com-

Comments and Opinions from University of Miami Alumni and Friends

munity (ARC) of Montara that I’m helping to develop with another friend from the White House. Essentially, we’re applying the policy we worked on in D.C. at the Council on Environmental Quality to the real world, taking a house off the grid as much as possible (weatherized windows and doors, solar panels and potentially a roof garden, greywater capture and irrigation for our huge organic

garden in the backyard, Energy Star appliances, etc.). We’re also establishing the house as a neighborhood community center, hosting workshops, classes, retreats, yoga, meditation, and so on. Adam Greenberg, B.S. ’07 Montara, California

istration from 1937 to 1939 on an athletic scholarship, playing football under head coach Jack Harding. They were wonderful years, and I am forever grateful for how they enriched my life. I am now 91 years old and doing just fine, thank you. Harry Hayward, ’39 Clarkston, Washington

Still Having Fun at 91

t was nice to get a copy of the University’s summer alumni magazine and particularly to note that I am not yet listed under “In Memoriam.” For those who are also still living and might be interested, I attended the School of Business Admin-

’Cane Connection

hank you for listing my book in your publication (“Printing Press,” Fall 2009). Latrece Rowell, A.B. ’84, executive director of the Florida Community Prevention Center, here in Fernan-

FROM THE EDITOR

On Medicating, Meditating, and Getting Healthier

very year I poo-poo the flu shot. But now my head feels like an over-inflated gym ball and I’m googling advice on whether to take the pills I bought earlier with my $10 copay. I suspect the 50 million or so uninsured people in the U.S. wouldn’t mind trading my kind of dilemma for the one they currently face. In addition to subsidizing my health insurance, my employer offers comprehensive wellness benefits, Weight Watchers at work, smoking-cessation classes, healthier-food vending machines, a fitness center, and other options. Former Hurricanes soccer player Kristen Kenney, B.S.C. ’06, was glad to have a choice too. For less than $10, she obtained medicine to cure her malaria. When she learned thousands of children in Africa die because they can’t afford this lifesaving vaccine, she launched an organization to change that. With a pandemic seemingly lurking around every corner and a historic U.S. health care bill now on the books, there’s no doubt the Global Business Forum’s focus on the health care sector in January will offer lively discussion and insight about everything from affordable pharmaceuticals and hospitals of the future to the

2 Miami magazine Fall 2010

ethics and economics of healing in a high-tech world. Approaching a 60-year tradition of caring, the Miller School of Medicine will play a key role in the forum. Relatively young but pioneering, the institution still has people like Norman Kenyon, M.D. ’56, president of its first class, around to mentor current students. Concerned with environmental health and awareness, University faculty Sarah Meltzoff is exploring sustainable solutions in the Galapagos Islands, helping students tune in to the pristine landscape through the practice of meditation. Illustrating the benefits of immersion is our cover photo by one of Meltzoff’s students: Suspended in a watery dance, a young diver gazes up at an ancient creature, buoyed by the encounter and the potential it represents. The prescription for a healthier, happier world, emphasized the Dalai Lama while speaking to students on campus recently, involves attending not just to our bodies but to the well-being of our minds, spirits, and planet. “We must consider entire humanity,” he said. “Destruction of your neighbor is destruction of yourself.” —Robin Shear, Editor

dina Beach, saw the article, called me, and I’m going to join her in her efforts to help those in need. James F. Weinsier, B.B.A. ’68 Fernandina Beach, Florida

Newfound Friend

usually read Miami magazine from cover to cover. It’s a treat and I save them all! I was ecstatic to see someone from my neck of the woods featured in the Fall 2009 issue. I am always on the lookout for programs and individuals who are unselfishly giving of themselves to help others, and my newfound friend Jimmy Weinsier, B.B.A. ’68, certainly fits the bill. Latrece M. Rowell, A.B. ’84 Yulee, Florida

Dunn Steals the Show in ‘Sketchbook’

y husband and I always watched Michael Dunn (“Postmarks,” Fall 2009) on television in the 1960s in The Wild Wild West. More than a decade earlier, fraternities and sororities at UM held an annual competition to produce the best number. After ZBT (Zeta Beta Tau) kept winning with a production by their member Jerry Herman, A.B. ’53, D.F.A. ’80, it was decided that an all-student variety show would take

terest in classical music (I play the piano). His virtuosity on the cello completely blew me away. Since leaving South Florida in 1961, I hadn’t connected with anyone at UM, except when I visited New York. In 1996 I took my wife on a tour of campus while vacationing but didn’t Costumer Olympia Martinez, right, puts the finishing contact anyone—my touches on one “Sketchbook” player Penny Norman, mistake. So this reconcirca 1953. nection via the alumni magazine was most place instead. “Sketchbook” significant. was presented at the Dade This fall my wife and I County Auditorium for two plan to visit a nephew in nights. The most memorable Madison, Wisconsin, then skit—described on page 78 of go to Chicago to see Lee. I the 1953 Ibis yearbook—was am really looking forward to one in which Dunn, singing this reunion. Many thanks from a puppet show stage, for bringing us together after performed to a standing so many years. ovation. Joel Kay, ’61 Phyllis Gelbard Walker, B.Ed. ’54, M.Ed. ’57 Miami, Florida

Re-Found Friend

have reconnected with my former schoolmate and fraternity brother Leon “Lee” Hoffman, A.B. ’61, of Phi Sigma Delta. Seeing his name and accomplishments in Miami magazine (“Class Notes,” Spring 2010) caused me to locate him. Upon meeting Lee on campus 50plus years ago, we immediately connected via our in-

South Euclid, Ohio

SEEKING CHURCHILL MEMORIES If you were at UM during Sir Winston Churchill’s historic visit in 1946, please send a note to rshear@miami.edu or call 305-284-1617. Address letters to: Robin Shear Miami magazine P.O. Box 248105 Coral Gables, FL 33124 E-mail: rshear@miami.edu

The University of Miami Magazine

Assistant Vice President for Communications and Marketing

Todd Ellenberg Editor

Robin Shear Art and Design Director

Scott Fricker Graphic Designer

Sau Ping Choi

Production Supervisor

Angie Villanueva Editorial Contributors

Robert S. Benchley Sara Maria “Fifi” Castany, A.B. ’84 Nancy Dahlberg Meredith Danton Austen Gregerson, ’12 Robert C. Jones Jr. Nina Korman, A.B. ’94 Barbara Pierce Nikita Shiel-Rolle, A.B. ’10 Catharine Skipp, A.B. ’79 Dina Weinstein President

Donna E. Shalala Vice President for University Communications

Jacqueline R. Menendez, A.B. ’83 Senior Vice President for University Advancement and External Affairs

Sergio M. Gonzalez Associate Vice President of Alumni Relations

Donna A. Arbide, M.B.A. ’95 Miami magazine is published by the University of Miami Division of University Communications. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Distributed free of charge to alumni and friends of the University. Postmaster and others, please send change of address notification to Miami magazine, Office of Alumni Relations, P.O. Box 248053, Coral Gables, Florida 33124-3410; telephone 305-284-2872. Contributions of articles, photographs, and artwork are welcome; however, Miami magazine accepts no responsibility for unsolicited items. The comments and opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Miami or the staff of Miami magazine. Copyright ©2010, University of Miami. An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

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Fall 2010 Miami magazine 3

U n i v e r s i t y

JOURNAL

Noteworthy News and Research at the University of Miami

Building for Biotech UM Life Science & Technology Park could shape city’s future

construction crane poised above six stories of concrete in Miami’s Historic Overtown District signals the rise of the University of Miami Life Science & Technology Park, an urban research hub expected to generate beneficial new discoveries and companies. When completed next summer, the first of its five planned structures will offer 252,000 square feet of Gold LEED-certified lab, office, and retail space. UM has

of diagnostic products and equipment, plans to locate a 15,000-square-foot corporate office there as well. UM’s development partner in this $108 million phase-one effort is Wexford Miami LLC, a subsidiary of Maryland-based Wexford Equities and Wexford Science & Technology, LLC, which has helped universities in Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia, and other cities realize similar high-tech ventures. Marcelo Radice,

An October aerial shot of R&D Building One

research faculty to advance discoveries.” UM officials are confident the predominantly privately funded endeavor, propelled by the Miller School and UM’s College of Engineer-

The plan is to “create an ecosystem where life sciences and high-tech/IT companies can thrive.” signed a lease for 80,000 square feet, 50,000 of which will house the new UM Tissue Bank facility, which processes and distributes human tissue. Palm Beach Countybased Daya Medicals, a manufacturer and distributor

director of special programs and executive director of Inter-American initiatives for the Miller School of Medicine, says UM is working closely with Wexford “to attract companies that want to collaborate with UM

BUZZ WORDS

“ The goal is to keep a mind that’s clear and sharp.” Nelson Dellis, B.S. ’06, M.S. ’10, sharing tips after setting a national record at the 2010 USA Memory Championship by memorizing the first 137 digits of a 500-digit number with just five minutes’ study time. —Forbes

4 Miami magazine Fall 2010

ing, will solidify South Florida’s position in the nation’s biotech corridor and be an economic boon for the community. The 8.8-acre parcel designated for the park is just west of I-95, inside Miami’s Health District, which already encompasses the Miller School and six hospitals. The plan, says Radice, is to “create an ecosystem where life sciences and hightech/information technology companies can thrive and form a cluster similar to those in other successful regions of the country.”

Expected to span 1.6 to 2 million square feet when fully developed, the project promises public and retail spaces, jobs, funds, and services for the region. Among the benefits so far: $5.8 million of phase-one construction costs earmarked for small business opportunities, 15 percent of construction contracts for the project’s first building going to minority and small businesses, jobs for locals, and $700,000 in grants distributed by Wexford and its community development partner to nonprofit organizations serving Overtown and surrounding neighborhoods. UM is also exploring ways, adds Radice, “to identify educational and scholarship programs that could support the local community for the specialized jobs that will be available as tenants come online at the park.”

Counts to Crow About

FRONTIERS IN RESEARCH

UM hits new highs in latest round of academic rankings

The Flu Fighters

Computer algorithms

n Parade magazine’s College A-list, the University of Miami has scored some noteworthy numeric victories of late. With more than $100 million in stimulus dollars, it surpassed all other Florida institutions and ranked 14th among U.S. private schools receiving such funding. And then there’s U.S.News & World Report’s 2011 edition of “America’s Best Colleges.” UM rose to the No. 47 spot from No. 50, becoming the highest-ranked school in the state just a year after it cracked the top tier of the prestigious ratings. “It’s very hard to stop momentum,” UM President Donna E. Shalala said. “This recognition is great news.” The rapid ascent of UM, one of the youngest schools on the list, coincides with Shalala’s arrival in 2001, when the University ranked No. 67. “The cumulative and continuous improvement in the U.S.News ranking over the past nine years reflects UM’s commitment to the students and their successful college experience,” said Thomas

J. LeBlanc, executive vice president and provost. UM shares the ranking with Penn State and the University of Illinois, moving ahead of two of its peer institutions: Tulane and Syracuse. U.S.News also ranked UM 48th in its “Great Schools, Great Prices” category. In the U.S.News 2011 list of “America’s Best Graduate Schools,” the Miller School of Medicine climbed to No. 47 from 51, the School of Law rose 11 spots to No. 60, and the clinical psychology graduate department in the College of Arts and Sciences ranked 25th out of 210 programs. Another widely read publication, the Financial Times, ranked the executive M.B.A. program of the School of Business Administration—Florida’s only business school to make the 2010 list—No. 37 in the U.S. in its annual analysis of the world’s top such programs. In the same report, the school ranked No. 26 in the world for research, based on the number of faculty publications in leading academic and practitioner journals.

designed and implemented by University of Miami assistant professor of computer science Dimitris Papamichail and a team of Stony Brook University researchers helped develop Synthetic Attenuated Virus Engineering (SAVE), a rapid, effective approach for producing flu vaccines using weakened new strains of polio and influenza viruses. The viruses they design could serve as live vaccines that can be synthesized to specification by making synthetic genomes of the viruses through hundreds of changes to their genetic code. The algorithms indicate the best places for the changes. Results of these studies appeared in Science and Nature Biotechnology.

Genes to Look Out For

A team of researchers led by Margaret Pericak-Vance, director of the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics at the Miller School of Medicine, has identified a gene that appears to nearly double a person’s risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of the disease. Abbreviated MTHFD1L, a gene on chromosome six, was identified in a genomewide association study. Details appeared in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics.

Red or Blue, Bull or Bear?

Your political party affects your portfolio, reveals a study by Alok Kumar, Cesarano Scholar and professor of finance at the UM School of Business Administration, and colleagues from two other institutions. “When investors’ preferred party was in control, they felt better about the economy and viewed domestic markets as undervalued and more likely to deliver higher returns,” said Kumar. “This drove them to hold more domestic stocks and take more risks.” Their portfolios performed about 2.7 percent better, compared with investors who preferred the minority party. Perceiving greater market uncertainty, the latter held more familiar, local stocks; picked active mutual funds with high fees; and traded more actively.

Fall 2010 Miami magazine 5

UniversityJournal

All-Star Salute correspondent Jason Kennedy, B.S.C. ’04; screenwriter Cynthia Cidre, A.B. ’79, of the CBS TV series Cane and the forthcoming Dallas remake on TNT; and industry veteran John Pike, A.B. ’71, a President’s Council member and onetime Paramount and MGM Television president whose first gig was as a student disc jockey at WVUM. “Professors Paul Nagel and Judy Wallace taught me about working as hard as you can to get your foot in the door,” Pike recalled. Since 1985, the school’s enrollment has grown nearly 350 percent, with 1,150 undergrads and 130 graduate students now pursuing globally focused programs in

City and county proclamations, above, added to the School of Communication’s 25th anniversary festivities.

everything from electronic media to visual journalism. In the school’s infancy, recalled Carlos Coto, B.S.C. ’88, screenwriter for hit TV shows including Heroes, 24, and NCIS, students’ creativity and enthusiasm made up for limited resources. “My favorite memories,” he said on camera, “were made in

New Outlet for Outreach

he University has long broken informs those outside of the UM through the walls of the ivory community about programs and tower to deliver brainpower and services that may benefit them. manpower to communities in need. “The University of Miami is an Now the newly launched ’Canes in important intellectual, economic, the Community initiative stocks and cultural resource for the cominformation about a multitude of munity,” says Jacqueline Menendez, UM students clean up the Miami riverfront vice president of University ComUM programs that are enhancing as part of National Gandhi Day of Service. quality of life in South Florida and munications, which spearheaded worldwide. So far the website, the project in conjunction with www.miami.edu/canesinthecommunity, sports more Student Affairs and the Office of Government and than 100 University-run philanthropic activities and Community Relations. “Our mission integrates teachoutreach efforts Hurricanes can support. It also ing and research with public service.” 6 Miami magazine Fall 2010

the film shack, literally a shack, which doesn’t exist anymore. It was a place where, as students, we could make our magic, our movies. It wasn’t always magical and our films weren’t always fantastic, but we got a sense that all together we were building something great.” The weekend also included a Hurricane staff reunion and panel discussion, “The Hurricane Experience: Where It Took Them,” with Coto; Grammy and Latin Grammy-winning music producer and Miami International Film Festival founder Nat Chediak, A.B. ’71; Miami Herald sportswriter Michelle Kaufman, B.S.C. ’87; Think Factory founder Ritchie Lucas, B.S. ’82; award-winning music scribe Deborah Wilker, B.S. ’82; and Byron T. “Scotty” Scott, A.B. ’61, M.A. ’65, a professor and moderator of radio’s Global Journalist series.

ANDREW INNERARITY

t’s only fitting that dozens of alumni who’ve made it big in media would appear on a giant screen to wish the School of Communication a happy anniversary. The prerecorded cameos were part of the school’s November 3 Alumni Weekend dinner, hosted by University of Miami President Donna E. Shalala at the Robert and Judi Prokop Newman Alumni Center. “Twenty-five years—that’s a wonderful anniversary,” said celebrity-news columnist Jeanne Wolf, A.B. ’61, M.A. ’66, Parade magazine’s West Coast editor. “I’m so proud to be even a tiny part of that history. It’s fantastic what the school has accomplished.” Other video shout-outs came from Javier Morgado, B.S.C. ’99, director of PR and brand management for Latina magazine; E! News

PHOTOS: JENNY ABREU

Communication grads celebrate school’s 25th year

DARRYL BUSH/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE/CORBIS

Spirited Delivery His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama energizes students

ffering words of wisdom much like a patriarch would to his children, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, told thousands of University of Miami students that the task of creating a more peaceful and compassionate world lies with them. “That’s your responsibility,” he said at UM’s BankUnited Center, where he spoke to an audience of nearly 8,000. The speech, “The Quest for Happiness in Challenging Times,” was the second of two the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader gave in South Florida on October 26. Earlier, he spoke at a Miami Beach synagogue, calling for respect and compassion for all religions. At UM, where he last appeared six years ago, the revered Buddhist monk addressed a range of topics,

from trust and religion to science and technology. He hailed the past century’s scientific and technological achievements as amazing but pointed out that some advances, most notably nuclear weapons, have caused pain and suffering when used with hatred. With armed conflicts in many parts of the world, the Dalai Lama, 75, said the “concept of war is outdated.” “We’re all part of humanity,” he said, adding that spiritual dialogue can help create more peaceful times. He blamed “distrust” and “self-centeredness” for many world problems and urged everyone to practice “compassion and inner peace.” He also said that “our survival at a young age is dependent on others’ affection” while fear and hatred can weaken our immune system. Increasingly, he explained, education is addressing the importance of compassion. Six UM student leaders met privately with the Dalai Lama shortly before his address. “He grabbed our hands and squeezed them tightly,” said Pietro Bortoletto, UM Student Government vice president. “We immediately felt his energy. He looked us straight in the eye and wanted to find out as much about us as he could in the His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso short time that we had.”

Props for Pop

igns of popular culture on campus are as ubiquitous as energy drinks and iPods. “Pop culture serves as a great common point of understanding,” says Josh Diem, a clinical assistant professor in the School of Education. “Often it gets students to open up to other interpretations of things they already think they understand.” Diem is harnessing that ON COURSE power with Pop Culture in EduTitle: TAL 390 Pop Culture in Education cation, a new Department of Department: Teaching and Learning Teaching and Learning course Semester: Spring 2010 he launched last spring. His hip multimedia survey uses everything from Chris Rock monologues to a book about Columbine to the latest video games to show how pop culture colors our social discourse on a grand scale—and why it matters. “It’s not just about the artifacts or the pop culture creations but about critiques of them,” says Diem, 36. “If you don’t use pop culture in a meaningful way, or in a way that pushes students, they become disinterested. They don’t need to come to class to talk about that stuff—it’s their life.” When he covered “Video Games: Brain Drain for Profit and Mind Control, Recreation, Stimulation, All, None, or Combination,” Diem also set up two games on a Wii. One was all guns and grenades, the next fairy princesses and tiaras. As two guys faced off in the first, Diem questioned the class about everything from gender and sexual identity roles to the game’s unspoken rules. “Are you supposed to be shooting each other?” he asked. “Why?” This is more than just fun and video games for Diem, a former social worker with a Ph.D. in education. He says linking popular entertainment platforms to scholarly texts, academic papers, and critical assignments spurs students to “make a connection between larger social theoretical frameworks and issues that are going on in culture,” everything from sensationalism and stereotypes in the media to corporate control and prejudice. “I don’t want them to buy into or believe any one particular thing,” he notes. “But I do want them to open up to the possibility that not only are there alternative views and ideas to the dominant popular culture, but that they’re worth thinking about.” Fall 2010 Miami magazine 7

UniversityJournal

Health Matters in Big Business Forum tackles timely concerns about international well-being

topic on everyone’s mind will be at the heart of the University of Miami’s 2011 Global Business Forum, January 12 to 14 on the Coral Gables campus. Themed “The Business of Health Care: Defining the Future,” the timely event will tackle an array of critical issues with interdisciplinary panels divided Kathleen Sebelius into six tracks: economics and health care, the aging population, innovation, wellness and prevention, global health issues, and health care delivery. Participation from schools across campus as well as

thought-leaders from other institutions will “provide an unparalleled opportunity for deep discussion” that “cuts across industry sectors, much like the business of health care does,” explains Barbara E. Kahn, dean of the

Jeffrey R. Immelt

Thomas M. Ryan

School of Business Administration, which is organizing the forum. Key executives scheduled to speak are Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman and CEO of General Electric; James

Margaret A. Hamburg James Forbes

Arthur Agatston

Forbes, head of global principal investments for Bank of America Merrill Lynch; and Thomas M. Ryan, chairman and CEO of drugstore and pharmacy giant CVS Caremark. Also headlining

are Kathleen Sebelius, the U.S. secretary of health and human services; Margaret A. Hamburg, the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; UM President Donna E. Shalala, U.S. secretary of health and human services from 1993 to 2001; and noted cardiologist and Miller School of Medicine associate professor Arthur Agatston, creator of The South Beach Diet. The school, whose first Global Business Forum in 2009 drew nearly 700 attendees, boasts one of the longest-running Health Sector Management and Policy executive M.B.A. programs in the nation (ranked No. 5 in the U.S. by Modern Healthcare magazine). It also offers a joint M.D./M.B.A. degree program in partnership with the Miller School of Medicine.

How Tweet It Is

rom what’s for dinner to the status of on-again, off-again relationships, Facebook and Twitter are the go-to places for updates on everyone you know—including “the U.” UM’s virtual fan base has quintupled to 92,000 Facebook fans (facebook.com/ UniversityofMiami) and some 10,000 Twitter followers (twitter.com/univmiami) since the Division of University Communications began maintaining the sites in March 2009 and July 2008, respectively. “The growth of our social media has been phenomenal,” says Jacqueline Menendez, division vice president. Content runs the gamut from news about groundbreaking medical research to video skits, photo 8 Miami magazine Fall 2010

albums, and interviews with alumni. A single posting can elicit tens of thousands of individual viewings, or “impressions.” And users aren’t shy about posting comments and questions. “It’s a conversation,” explains multimedia director Christine Casas, A.B. ’01, M.A. ’06, who updates both sites daily. “We’re constantly interacting with our fan base.” Also atwitter over social media are colleges, schools, and academic departments such as Architecture, Law, Nursing and Health Studies, the Miller School of Medicine, and the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as Student Affairs, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, the UM Alumni Association, and Festival Miami. Heck, even Sebastian has 11,000 fans and counting.

Donna E. Shalala

PEAK PERFORMANCE

Goal-Driven ’Canes Combat Malaria cer player, was nursing an injury when she transferred to the University of Miami as a junior. So before joining the soccer team her senior year as a walk-on, the Virginia Beach native fine-tuned her footwork with UM’s intramural Soccer Club, where she met Venance Ndibalema. Ndibalema hadn’t been back to his native Tanzania since his mother’s death from HIV ten years prior. Wanting to share in her friend’s homecoming experience, Kenney began planning the trip that would nearly end her life before transforming it for the better. After earning her degree in broadcasting, Kenney became a reporter for PBS. She negotiated a two-month leave of absence to join Ndibalema overseas. A documentary producer interested in filming the journey arranged for a camera crew to tag along. Kenney was most amazed by the friendliness of the Tanzanian people, a contradiction to her notions of “blood diamond” Africa. “We’d pull up to these mud huts on the side of the road and say, ‘Let’s introduce ourselves to the family inside.’” Kenney

The UM women’s soccer team donated $10 to Malaika for Life for every goal they scored.

AMANDA IREY, B.S.C. ’07

Kristen Kenney, B.S.C. ’06, a lifelong soc-

Kristen Kenney, B.S.C. ’06, right, is fighting malaria with help from fellow ’Cane Anna Wascher, B.B.A. ’07. recounts. “They would welcome us in for Ugali, a traditional dish.” Toward the end of the trip, Kenney separated from Ndibalema and the film crew to spend more time in Ndibalema’s village. That’s where she came down with flu-like symptoms and joint pain. She had learned on the CDC website that these symptoms were a sign of malaria and knew she had little time to find help. “My joints locked up and felt like they were being twisted,” Kenney recalls. “This is the fastest-attacking disease to reach your brain.” An excruciating six-hour bus ride brought her to the city where she received the $7 treatment that saved her life. Learning that the disease kills 3,000 children in Africa daily, Kenney vowed to help make the medication more widely available. The concept clicked on her flight back to the U.S. The man next to her admired her beaded bracelet, one of several she had purchased from a Masai warrior in the Serengeti early in her journey. She handed him one and said, “These are helping me

raise awareness for malaria.” Thus, Malaika for Life was born. This season, the UM women’s soccer team, which also auctions off pink gameday jerseys in support of cancer research and awareness, took up Kenney’s cause, donating $10 to Malaika for Life for every goal they scored. With help from matching donations, the team saved more than 100 lives in a month. The players scored their first seven goals during a strong opening weekend against University of Florida and Stetson. When the players learned those seven goals would save seven lives, they erupted in cheers. At the team’s home finale against Virginia in October, they presented a check for $1,780 to Kenney, who recently left a job at SEC Sports to run Malaika for Life full time with business partner Anna Wascher, B.B.A. ’07. The bracelets they sell are made by African women with HIV, so proceeds benefit two populations afflicted with disease. See miami.edu/maimi-magazine for a video of Kristen Kenney.

Fall 2010 Miami magazine 9

UniversityJournal

Our Man in Washington

s deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Western Hemisphere, Frank O. Mora, M.A. ’89, Ph.D. ’94, is responsible for helping the United States chart a new course in this hemisphere and build partnerships among the region’s national leaders. Earlier this year, he visited UM’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) to discuss “The Top Seven Myths of U.S. Defense Policy Toward the Americas.” “The president’s nuanced approach,” he explained, “is to tailor policies to the unique characteristics of the individual countries and their relations with the United States.”

Cuban people and push for human and political rights in the face of the regime’s “little good will and less positive action.” He said increased defense spending doesn’t equal a hemispheric arms race. He assured that Brazil and Chile are merely modernizing their forces, and Mexico and Colombia are attempting to ward off terrorism and narco-trafficking. “Venezuela, however,” he warned, “boasts of signing agreements reportedly worth billions of dollars with Russia that include weapons that, in my view, are primarily suitable for conventional war.” Mora singled out this year’s “partnership on

TOM STEPP

Capitol ’Cane Frank Mora discusses U.S.-Americas Defense Policy at Casa Bacardi

Frank Mora, M.A. ’89, Ph.D. ’94, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Western Hemisphere, mingles outside of Casa Bacardi.

he’d ultimately devote his life. Growing up in Miami as freedom flights ferried unprecedented numbers of Cubans to the United States, Mora recalls, “At the

The son of Cuban immigrants, Mora was immersed early in the arena to which he’d ultimately devote his life. Besides citing Barack Obama’s commitment to remove family travel restrictions to Cuba and open dialogue about migration and postal service, Mora praised the president’s efforts to improve information channels with and among

equal terms” to aid Haiti and region-wide political negotiations after last year’s Honduras crisis as positive examples of the power of hemispheric collaboration. The son of Cuban immigrants, Mora was immersed early in the arena to which

BUZZ WORDS

“ He taught me to throw overhand and to slide.” UM President Donna E. Shalala, remembering her former Little League coach, George Steinbrenner, who died in July at age 80. —Associated Press

10 Miami magazine Fall 2010

dinner table I often heard about Latin American and Cuban politics. I was always intrigued by this island, this revolution, this paradise before the revolution.” As a teen, he had a chance to see Cuba for himself. Passionate about baseball since childhood (Mora attended George Washington University on a partial baseball scholarship and played semi-pro softball through grad school), the athlete fell even harder for international policy. He first

explored South America during a college semester in Peru, later returning to UM for a master’s degree in inter-American studies and a Ph.D. in international affairs. After teaching and doing research for ICCAS and the Department of International Studies, he became a professor of National Security Strategy and Latin American Studies at the National War College in Washington, D.C. In 2009 the successful academic and author was named to his current post. “The hours are insane,” Mora admits, adding that life has changed drastically for him, his wife, and their two children. But he wouldn’t trade it. “You’re helping to shape and contributing to the policies of the administration,” he says. “That you can’t beat.”

JOHN ZILLIOUX

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Paying It Forward

eborah Perez, the University of Miami’s United Way student campaign coordinator, is the picture of collegiate success. A junior who is double-majoring in sociology and human and social development, she has helped raise more than $800,000 for United Way of Greater Miami-supported community programs and organizations. Maintaining other UM leadership activities, she also works on campus for Information Technology and off-campus at the clothing store Hot Topic. But the Miami-born Latina suffered trauma at an early age and almost didn’t get through high school, much less become a soughtafter college applicant. “I hated being in school,” she admits in a recent promotional video for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Miami, a United Way-funded mentoring program. The second oldest of four children, Perez was born to a bipolar, drug-addicted mother and an incarcerated father. She and her siblings were often left to fend for themselves without food, running water, or electricity while their mother worked as a prostitute. “I felt as though I was a parent and was obligated to take care of my younger siblings,” explains Perez, who was also raped at a young age. A sliver of light finally cracked the darkness in 2000, when the state placed Perez, then 10 years old, with her brother and sisters in the Little Havana apartment of their grandfather. Cramped but happy is how she recalls the arrangement. It was around that time Perez

also joined Big Brothers Big Sisters—and met Catherine Benway, B.S. ’81, M.S. ’84, M.B.A. ’86. “She didn’t see a lot of hope for her future,” Benway says of her former Little Sister in the video they appear in together. But Benway, who remains a big part of Perez’s life, helped change that, becoming the role model Perez was missing. “Cathy was my rock. She inspired me,” says Perez. “She kept telling me, ‘You know what? You are going to get through it. If you want to become something, I can help you out. I can tell you what to do, but ultimately it is up to you to decide what your future is.’” By senior year of high school, Perez had a 4.0 grade point average and was president of the countywide Student Government Association, representing 365,000 public school students. The position earned her a seat on United Way’s Miami-Dade board of directors. After receiving a full scholarship to top-ranked Amherst College, Perez was all set for a new chapter in Massachusetts when fate intervened. Harve Mogul, Miami’s United Way president, introduced Perez to UM President Donna E. Shalala, who later heard Perez tell her story at a women’s leadership breakfast. “You are coming to my school,” Perez remembers Shalala telling her. “I’m happy here,” says Perez, her eyes sparkling. “I have my family and school. I made the right decision.” For now, Perez’s plans for the future include attending law school, exploring the United States— and, of course, mentoring a Little Sister of her own. —Catharine Skipp, A.B. ’79 Fall 2010 Miami magazine 11

Miller School alumni-faculty reflect on the place where their medical training

T I E S T H A T B I N D

began and the role they’ve played in its development.

Robin

Shear

and

Nanc y

Dah l berg

“True story,” begins Bernard J. Fogel, A.B. ’57, M.D. ’61, as he describes the day a fire broke out in the cadaver room when he was a student. No one was hurt, but when the call came about an emergency at the nearby medical school, the Coral Gables fire department’s first question was: “We have a medical school?” It’s the kind of anecdote the dean emeritus likes to tell to underscore his alma mater’s meteoric rise. “Here’s a school that started with 26 graduates in 1956,” he says. “Now it’s going to be one of the great medical schools in this country.” Fogel, 73, has reason to be proud. He’s among the many dually invested alumni-faculty who have helped fuel the Miller School of Medicine’s fast-track evolution during the past five decades. 12 Miami magazine Fall 2010

RICHARD PATTERSON

“It’s going to be one of the great medical schools in this country.” BERNARD J. FOGEL, A.B. ’57, M.D. ’61

Another is his successor, dean emeritus John G. Clarkson, M.D. ’68, who shares his own first impressions of the school he’d one day lead. “It was un-air-conditioned,” he recalls of the classroom where he spent his first two years as a med student. “When it rained, the water came in and we had to get our feet up off the floor.” Within

a decade, Clarkson’s mentor, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute founder Edward W. D. Norton, M.D., offered him a job on the already-prestigious center’s faculty. Clarkson remembers telling his wife: “Well, we’ll try this for two or three years and see how it goes.” That was 1975. As dean from 1996 to 2006, he introduced the school’s new

case-based curriculum and oversaw its largest-ever capital campaign. Looking back, Clarkson, who is still an ophthalmology professor and the Board of Ophthalmology’s executive director, says he recognizes the advantages of growing with an institution that was “unencumbered by tradition. I think it helped us philosophically as a school.” Fall 2010 Miami magazine 13

DONNA VICTOR

“There’s an incredible vision to move forward.” MARGARET FISCHL, B.S. ’72, M.D. ’76

From the University of Miami’s start in 1925, its first president, Bowman Foster Ashe, knew the importance of a medical school. Even in its infancy, relegated to the former servants’ quarters of the World War II-requisitionedBiltmore Hotel-turned-VA Hospital, the school showed its smarts, immediately forging a teaching partnership with Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital. Norman Kenyon, M.D. ’56, has been part of that enterprising spirit since the beginning. The Clearwater, Florida, native had always wanted to be a doctor. By 1952, when UM opened Florida’s first medical school aided by state funds, Kenyon was “gung-ho” to apply. The school’s accreditation came just in time for his graduation among the inaugural class of 23 men and three women. A few years later, Kenyon scrubbed in for Miami’s first open14 Miami magazine Fall 2010

heart surgery as a resident at Jackson. And though officially retired, he remains a Miller School fixture, assisting the research of his renowned immunologist daughter Norma Kenyon, who directs the Diabetes Research Institute’s Executive Research Council and the Wallace H. Coulter Center for Translational Research. This onetime class president who is helping plan his 55th reunion also counsels students on specialty selection. “I always tell them what a great opportunity surgery is,” he says. “Surgery is very challenging, not only physically but mentally. But to me, there is nothing more rewarding.” In 1966, five years after graduating, Fogel joined the school’s pediatrics faculty and was soon a primary investigator on a case that would lead to a groundbreaking fetal thymus transplant. As dean and senior vice president

for medical affairs from 1981 to 1996, he presided over significant fundraising and growth, including the launch of the UM/JMH Burn Center, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ryder Trauma Center, and The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, as well as Jackson’s bond-fueled expansion. Equally significant, adds Fogel, was the American Association of Medical Colleges’ firstever Outstanding Community Service award and a commendation from then-First Lady Hillary Clinton for the school’s compassionate outreach, particularly after Hurricane Andrew. The AAMC recently honored the Miller School’s “exceptional service” in Haiti. “As impressed as I am with the growth of the medical school, I’m equally impressed with the values and the quality of the people,” says Fogel, chair of the school’s Jay Weiss Center for Social Medicine and Health Equity, among other appointments. “This tradition of caring underlines what it’s about.” hen Jorge J. Guerra Jr., B.S. ’68, M.D. ’72, came to UM, the school’s 1,000member physician faculty practice didn’t exist. After 20 years at the Miller School, the veteran professor of radiology was tapped to help steer the multispecialty University of Miami Medical Group (UMMG), serving since 2006 as its chief medical officer and as the medical school’s associate vice president for clinical affairs. Similarly, as a young medical student working her way through school in the county coroner’s lab, Margaret Fischl, B.S. ’72, M.D. ’76, had no idea how far a career at the up-and-coming medical institution would take her. After her residency and fellowship at Jackson, Fischl accepted the school’s offer of a research/teaching position,

DONNA VICTOR

attracted by the area’s patient diversity. Soon she and her colleagues in internal medicine were seeing unprecedented cases—young people with the kind of infections and complications one would find only in a very compromised immune system. On the front line of the war against a disease no one understood, she enlisted with colleagues from across UM and the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and many other experts, making great strides in fighting what would become known as the AIDS epidemic. That unprecedented medical and scientific network put Fischl at the forefront of several lifesaving breakthroughs: one of the first to educate the public about the virus, particularly heterosexual transmission; first to demonstrate that doctors could prolong survival by treating the most common complication, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia; and among the first to conduct studies of the first drug to treat AIDS, leading to FDA approval of AZT. Fischl, professor of medicine and director of the AIDS Clinical Research Unit, says the Miller School’s continuing commitment to create the kind of interdisciplinary collaborations she helped pioneer is one of the reasons she stays. “There’s an incredible vision to move forward into creative new science and translational science and to bring together multiple disciplines to find answers to improve health,” she explains. On the treatment side, directing the Comprehensive AIDS Program and its Adult HIV Services division is another ’Cane, Michael Kolber, Ph.D./M.D. ’83, professor of medicine and associate chief of infectious diseases. At Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, David Tse, M.D. ’76, the Dr. Nasser Ibrahim Al-Rashid Distinguished Chair in Ophthalmic Plastic, Orbital

“It’s been really wonderful being part of this group.” WALTER F. LAMBERT, M.D. ’85

Surgery and Oncology, has built one of the largest, most-respected oculoplastic programs at the nation’s No. 1 eye hospital. He’s also perfected at least one surefire cure for on-the-job stress: hang a “do not disturb” sign on the office door and spend a few minutes listening to Lady Gaga. “Then I’m good to return to the racetrack,” says Tse, hired in 1986 to launch the program. Among Tse’s other impressive achievements: a novel treatment for a lethal lacrimal gland cancer and a patented device to expand orbital tissue and stimulate orbital bone growth in children born missing an eye. But even more gratifying than solving clinical challenges, he insists, is training future ophthalmologists and oculoplastic surgeons. “I have the fondest memories of my own medical education here,” notes Tse, particularly the “infectious”

teaching style of then-internist Jay H. Sanders. “There isn’t a day that goes by now that I don’t ask detailed questions when I interview patients or act like a Jesuit priest to go the extra lengths to learn all there is to know about a condition—simply trying to emulate Sanders’s fine art of clinical examination.” J. Donald Temple, B.S. ’74, M.D. ’78, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology-Oncology, shares Tse’s passion for education. In 30-plus years at the Miller School, he’s amassed a school record of 22 teaching awards. Temple co-directs the William J. Harrington Medical Training Programs for Latin America with assistant professor of clinical medicine Thomas J. Harrington, M.D. ’85, son of its late founder and brother of Miller School researcher William Harrington Jr., M.D. ’84, a leading authority on viralFall 2010 Miami magazine 15

ANDREW INNERARITY

“I have the fondest memories of my own medical education.” DAVID TSE, M.D. ’76

induced cancers who died in 2009. Temple says his mentor’s still-visionary program is helping UM become “the No. 1 U.S. medical institution in the eyes of all of Latin America for both education and medical care.” Another alumnus raising UM’s global reputation from within is Hotchkiss Professor, Department of Otolaryngology, Thomas Balkany, M.D. ’72, who is also professor of neurological surgery and pediatrics, whose life-changing achievements in the field of cochlear implant include his founding of the school’s renowned Ear Institute 20 years ago. erhaps the school’s greatest concentration of current alumni-faculty— from foremost interventional cardiologist Eduardo de Marchena, B.S. ’75, M.D. ’80, director

16 Miami magazine Fall 2010

of the school’s International Medicine Institute, to wound-healing specialist Robert Kirsner, M.D. ’88, Stiefel Laboratories Professor and vice chair of dermatology and cutaneous surgery— comes from its ’80s grads. “UM is a very collaborative place,” explains Fred F. Telischi, M.D. ’85, professor of neurological surgery and biomedical engineering and interim otolaryngology chair. “It’s been really wonderful being a part of this group,” says Walter F. Lambert, M.D. ’85, an associate professor of pediatrics whose mid-decade class boasts the most alumni-faculty members of all. The Cuban-American son of a prominent Miami pediatrician, he was a social worker in New York’s child welfare system before returning to his hometown for medical school in 1982. Lambert had no plans of pursuing

an academic career, but encouragement flowed from mentors in just about every rotation. “I watched a lot of good people do a lot of good work,” he notes. “Medicine is truly an apprenticeship.” The revered advocate for victims of child abuse joined the pediatrics department’s UM Child Protection Team the day after his Jackson residency ended and has been its medical director for the past two decades. Lambert, who together with his wife is the adoptive parent of six, devotes his days to reviewing often-grisly cases referred by the Florida Department of Children and Family Services, giving expert testimony, and teaching other foster care advocates the warning signs of abuse— all while setting the standard for students. “Our tradition of examining is most certainly in the tradition of laying hands,” says the Florida Bar Foundation Medal of Honor winner. “We’re healers, not treaters.” Professor of surgery Patricia Byers, M.D. ’80, Florida’s state trauma medical director, counts among her formative medical school experiences the chance to address the first cases of AIDS and assist in the community and medical response to riots following the 1979 police beating death of African-American Miami resident Arthur McDuffie. Recalling the era’s turbulence, both she and colleague Dollie Florence Green, M.D. ’81, a longtime associate professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, also treasure more carefree school memories. For Byers, it was intramural basketball (“I don’t think we ever won a game,” she laughs). Green, the school’s second female African-American graduate, remembers a toga party on the roof of one of the medical buildings and a final-year celebration at her parents’ house not far from campus. “We had

DONNA VICTOR

such fun,” recounts Green, who is married to classmate Carey Green, B.S. ’77, M.D. ’81. “We were singing ‘Y.M.C.A.’ in the streets.” The accomplished clinician/researcher won her division’s first-ever National Institutes of Health award for nephrology research in 1993. fter two decades away from his alma mater, Alan Pollack, M.S. ’79, Ph.D. ’79, M.D. ’87, sees bold developments in Miami’s medical landscape. A product of UM’s prestigious Ph.D. to M.D. program, he built a prominent career at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas and Philadelphia’s Fox Chase Cancer Center before returning in 2008 to chair the Department of Radiation Oncology; he’s since doubled its faculty. Squeezing in a quick interview between meetings, Pollack sums up his excitement: “The leadership has vision. Everybody who’s here feels this energy.” Propelling that energy is a new wave of devoted alumni-faculty, from transplant star David Levi, M.D. ’92, to Stem Cell Institute postdoctoral associate Adam Williams, M.D. ’07. Husbandand-wife associate professors of medicine Hilit F. Mechaber, B.S. ’92, M.D. ’95, and Alex Mechaber, B.S. ’90, M.D. ’94, explain, “We have bled orange and green for as long as we can remember.” As assistant dean for student services and senior associate dean for undergraduate medical education, respectively, they are dedicated to advising students and innovating curriculum. “We feel privileged to be part of a team that continues to work on ways to ensure that graduates of the Miller School are better equipped and poised to be the future leaders in health care,” Alex adds. Chief of gastroenterology Maria Abreu, B.S. ’87, M.D. ’90, says her 2008

“This is a labor of love.” MARIA ABREU, B.S. ’87, M.D. ’90

return to the medical school felt like coming home. A product of the accelerated degree program, she launched her career out of state, rising to director of Mount Sinai’s Inflammatory Bowel Disease Unit in New York. “It didn’t seem to me that the infrastructure was in place to do academic medicine in Miami,” she says. But she did a 180 after hearing Miller School Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, UHealth CEO and senior vice president for medical affairs, give a lecture a few years ago. Around that time, then-interim chief of gastroenterology Jeffrey Raskin, M.D. ’65, recommended Abreu for the chief slot. Other alumni in the department are Howard D. Manten, B.S. ’72, M.D. ’76, Amar Deshpande, B.S. ’99, M.D. ’02, and Daniel Sussman, M.D. ’02. “This is a labor of love,” says Abreu, who is married to Paul Martin, chief of

hepatology. “I really want to help put the University of Miami on the map.” She cites the electronic records system fellow Hurricane Steven Falcone, B.S. ’83, M.D. ’87, M.B.A. ’04, professor of radiology, neurological surgery and ophthalmology, is helping to spearhead as associate vice president for medical affairs, associate executive dean for practice development, and chief operating officer for the UMMG, as one exciting example of the school’s investment in top-notch care despite a widespread economic crunch. “It’s great to be part of that revolution,” she adds. When asked for three words that best describe her alma mater—and workplace—Abreu doesn’t hesitate: “Dynamic. Young. Optimistic.”

nancy dahlberg is a freelance writer based in Miami. Fall 2010 Miami magazine 17

18 Miami magazine Fall 2010

Able to perform trillions of calculations in a single second, UM’s newest supercomputer is boosting research potential into hyperspace.

Robert

Jo nes

Jr.

Illustration by Harry Campbell

The two giant 18-wheelers pulled up in front of Terremark’s flagship NAP of the Americas data center in downtown Miami, their nonstop cross-country journey from Seattle complete. n Waiting for them was University of Miami computer guru Joel Zysman.

An expert on computers and the technology that drives them,

Zysman has watched their evolution intently, marveling at how his desktop Mac has come to have the same computational power as a computer that was twice the size of his sixth-floor office in UM’s Clinical Research Building.

So last fall, when

the pair of mammoth semis finally arrived at the Network Access Point with their precious cargo—a disassembled supercomputer named after a winged horse from Greek mythology—Zysman was so anxious and excited, he recalls, he felt like a father pacing the maternity ward, waiting for the birth of his first child.

“Pegasus,” he says,

“is absolutely staggering. It would place in the top 250 supercomputers in the world.” Fall 2010 Miami magazine 19

Longer than a city bus, the Linux-based supercomputer consists of more than 5,000 central processing units capable of performing trillions of calculations per second. Available to UM scientists since this past summer, Pegasus is a portal to new research frontiers, a gateway to faster computations that will help them calculate if crude from an oil spill will reach U.S. coastlines, design a supersonic aircraft with a low sonic boom, and uncover the gene responsible for successful aging. Before its arrival, UM researchers either would have to find another institution to do their work, or in many cases, scale down the size of their questions. They could also turn to the National Science Foundation’s Teragrid or Open Science Grid consortium for help, but “not only is it difficult to get an allocation on those systems, availability is extremely limited,” says Zysman, director of high-performance computing at UM’s Center for Computational Science (CCS). “Here the scientists have a lot more flexibility in how they work.” Joined by staff from Medical Information Technology, Zysman and his CCS team spent more than two months just to get Pegasus up and running at the NAP, whose network connects to all UM campuses and facilities. Even then, the full brunt of the supercomputer’s power wasn’t released all at once, but rather in gradual cycles, allowing CCS staff to learn and adjust to the demands of UM researchers, who are putting Pegasus through its paces. “We worked on it quite a bit—day and night—to make sure that it is available and ready for their needs and that 20 Miami magazine Fall 2010

it’s easy for them to use,” says Zysman. “We made a lot of architectural changes to optimize it. There’s a lot of software we worked on that makes it easy for people to use the system. It’s a whole environment. We don’t view it as just the computer.” To make Pegasus fly, they transformed it from a purpose-designed system into a multipurpose supercomputer that can perform calculations efficiently for most applications. While its processors are not new, the network connecting them, Zysman says, is “definitely top of the line.” Another massive redesign involved installing ultra high-performing storage (also top of the line), enabling Pegasus to operate at extraordinarily high rates of efficiency. “It’s a behemoth. It’ll turn 40 teraflops,” explains Zysman, referring to the measure of a computer’s processor speed—in this case, 40 trillion floating-point operations per second. “And it can actually use all of them.”

nce Pegasus was fully assembled, scientists from across UM wanted to come and check out the center’s new toy, an inkind donation to the University valued at $2.8 million. “It’s shortened the time it takes for our researchers to run complex problems,” says Sebastian Warnes, manager of high-performance computing operations at the state-of-the-art data center led by UM researcher and biomedical

informatics expert Nick Tsinoremas. William K. Scott, a genetic epidemiologist at the Miller School of Medicine’s John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, has been using Pegasus as well as the other supercomputers at CCS to help him search for a gene that prolongs life and promotes successful aging. As lead scientist on the investigation, he’s working to identify parts of the genome that allow certain members of Amish communities in Indiana and Ohio to live well past the age of 80 while maintaining cognitive and physical functioning. “There are lots of [scientific] groups working on very similar questions, and to be able to quickly get to an answer is almost as important as anything else,” explains Scott. “We probably wouldn’t have been able to do some of our analyses in exactly the same way without the supercomputers at CCS. All told, we probably saved four or five months.” For his study, Scott is looking at 260 or so members of the Christian sect, all of whom can trace their ancestry back to a small number of people who migrated from Switzerland to the United States in the mid-1800s. “But the drawback is because it’s such a complicated pedigree, it needs a really powerful computer to do the calculations,” says Scott. “So we’ve been using the su-

percomputers at CCS to analyze how genes are passed down to all of these people who are all interrelated.” His team has come up with some interesting findings, discovering that people who carry a particular type of mitochondria—the part of your cell that makes energy—could be more susceptible to successful aging. He hopes to apply the research to other ethnicities, enrolling individuals in the greater Miami area for follow-up studies. Researchers at the Hussman Institute are among the biggest users of Pegasus and other CCS supercomputers. They access the center’s processors to manage the large-scale DNA sequence data that have become available in the era of genome sequencing— “storing it, manipulating it, figuring out what it means—the bioinformatics analysis—and the eventual application of it to figure out how to use this information to help treat patients,” explains Scott, who sits on the CCS organizing committee. But they are by no means the new technology’s only users at UM. With BP’s blown-out well now permanently sealed, research associate professor Villy Kourafalou at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science is part of a team of scientists who hope to lay the ground-

work for creating an early-warning system that would track the path of future spills. She is studying ocean circulation patterns in the Gulf of Mexico that influence the course of oil and dispersants, using the CCS supercomputers to construct predictive models. “We’re not starting from scratch but building on existing work,” says Kourafalou, who created computer models over the summer to chart the possible paths that oil from the BP spill would follow. She then shared the information with the U.S. Coast Guard and federal government. Ben Kirtman, a meteorologist and physical oceanographer at the Rosenstiel School, is program director for the Physical Sciences and Engineering program at CCS. For his climate-modeling research, Kirtman has been tapping into Pegasus to conduct preliminary analyses of his experiments, testing whether they are “in fact what we think they are,” explains the professor. In the College of Engineering, Gecheng Zha, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and his students are using CCS resources to solve some of the problems that plagued the Concorde, the sleek supersonic passenger jet that ferried the rich and famous across the

RICHARD PATTERSON

Joel Zysman, director of high-performance computing at UM’s Center for Computational Science, visits Pegasus.

Atlantic for three decades. They are employing Pegasus to simulate the aerodynamics of a new supersonic bi-directional flying wing that would produce a low sonic boom and use less fuel. They are hoping their revolutionary new design will help reintroduce supersonic passenger flights. It’s just one of Zha’s projects that uses the supercomputer facility. In another, he’s testing theories to reduce vibrations in aircraft engines. “Without CCS,” he says, “our research wouldn’t be possible.” But Zysman and his group point out that it’s not only the hard sciences that are ideal for Pegasus and the other supercomputers at CCS. “We’re looking for offbeat utilizations—art and art history, law,” Zysman says of the center, which was built in a hurricane-hardened garage and chiller plant on the Miller School campus in 2008 and maintains offices on the Coral Gables and Rosenstiel School campuses. “There are entire realms of electronic music that could make use of it. If you wanted to take a look at different motifs and themes in music throughout the ages, you could create a database of all the different characteristics of music and search on it. And you could find out if there’s a relationship between a Beethoven piece and [rock band] Nirvana. “How do you think they do the NFL power rankings?” he continues. “They simulate it on a computer. The BCS [Bowl Championship Series college football rankings] make use of computers. All these computers are really good at is storing information, manipulating information, retrieving it, and presenting it.”

robert c. jones jr. is an editor at the University of Miami. Fall 2010 Miami magazine 21

i m M iam ig h t f ro r-h o u r fl u o f a r d e n ano th s e n t a il e and t he a la p a g o to t h e G Ec u a d o r, in t h e ip in r s t t d h n e ig h la T o f t h e is a n o ve r n e r, n o o d , a a u r c in lt ,E h e te r r a it o to Ba to Q u it o c a te d . T f ro m Q u ip s a re lo a d nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t u r flig h t r o h t s d -h ir n e a la re o th li k e t h e ne o f t w d o e k re o e lo h It d os w p e c te d . sh r i v e le G a la p a g I h ad e x s b ro w n a ll w h a t h in g wa t t y a r t e o n Ev e. wa s y lo n g t im in a v e r e re . h se e n r a in w y r ac t i e ve c h it w b us and sh r u b s e ar on a a ll o u r g t u p to fflo a d d h a d to o r a we h a we t h e n d in Ba lt re e e d h n w la , e . h e do ck Once w n t a C r uz la n d to t u s to S a s s t h e is y to g e t r r fe is r ide a c ro h e ar on t a ll t h e g e f ro m and pu t . Th e r id c k t a x is u r t to u r. Th e t h in g in as an h o ad e ve r y Ay o r a w h a d to lo to n r e e u h t P e n t to a W v ir o nme t r a n c e to h a rs h e n ort of e n p t, t o a h o b y, r the is d ide . f ro m t h u n t a in s ch ange d p t h e mo u te r r a in t n e w we t o ne as c o o l m o is t if u l. n d b e au a s lu sh a w g in h t y Ev e r2010 22 Miami magazine Fall TR IE S D IA RY EN

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New UM-run semester abroad is a rare species in one of the rarest places on Earth.

After graduating from Cambridge University in 1831, Charles Darwin, 22, set sail from England as a researcher aboard the Royal Navy ship H.M.S. Beagle. The five-year voyage carried him across the globe. Most famously it landed him in September 1835 at a strange volcanic archipelago encrusted in black lava and fairly swarming with curious creatures. He rode giant tortoises; chased “hideous-looking” iguanas; inspected the intestines of these reptiles; investigated bugs, beetles, birds; uprooted plants; and studied infinite species of seashells. During this period of discovery, he also began documenting the evidence and ideas that would lead to his theory of evolution and form the basis of countless publications, including his groundbreaking On the

Origin of Species.

Now, 175 years after the young naturalist set boot on the Galapagos Islands,

University of Miami students are diving into a UM-piloted institute that enables them to follow in Darwin’s intellectual and actual footsteps—and make some academic tracks of their own.

Photos by Michael Schmale, M.S. ’79, Ph.D. ’85

Fall 2010 Miami magazine 23

Last spring, off Ecuador’s western coast, 11 undergraduates embarked on UGalapagos, one of the first collegiate programs of its kind. The scenic fishing village of Puerto Villamil on Isabela Island (known as Albemarle Island back in Darwin’s day) was prepared for its encounter with the students by a decade of intersession study led by Sarah Meltzoff, associate professor of Marine Affairs and Policy at the worldclass Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. UM launched the new semester-long adaptation of the three-week intersession course in partnership with the nonprofit Isabela Oceanographic Institute (IOI), which Meltzoff co-founded with former student Johann Besserer, M.A. ’06. From the moment the inaugural UGalapagos class arrived amid the volcanoes, all of the flora and fauna associated with the voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle lay before them. “Just as we were coming into Isabela the first time, we could see spotted rays under the boat,” exclaims Petter Bauer, a marine affairs major from Atlanta, Georgia. “And it seemed like there were

a million sea lions lying all over the boats in the harbor. Other times we’d go out and see white-tipped sharks swimming and penguins on the rocks.” The mission of UGalapagos—to offer a unique educational opportunity to students as well as help bolster sustainable industry in the remote island community—began in part because of a little girl with a vision. Growing up on the Jersey Shore, Sarah Meltzoff dreamed of becoming a “naturalist explorer.” She wasn’t sure such a career existed, but to her, collecting butterflies and spending her days on or under the water seemed a noble pursuit. By second grade, she was imploring foreign embassies in New York for swag,

filling her sea chest with brochures and trinkets from around the world. In her teens, she was weekending solo to conquer new horizons. “I learned to explore by going to Manhattan,” she laughs. “That was my training.” In college her quest began in earnest—studying Iron Age archaeology in Denmark, documenting children’s play in Maya villages in Guatemala’s Western Highlands, taking a fellowship in the Solomon Islands to live with the porpoise hunters. She followed her curiosity into fishing communities and coastal development. Along the way Margaret Mead lured her to Columbia University to complete advanced degrees in anthropology.

KATHRYN TOS

NEY

Jan uar y 27

24 Miami magazine Fall 2010

Sa rah had jus t wo rk ed so ha rd to pu ll in th is ye llo wfin tu na wh all of a su dden a m ale se a lio n en come s ou t of no wh ere an d ch om on to he r fish. Th ps e se a lio n bit th e wh ole fish of f an d jus t lef t us w ith th e he ad . Eight large fr iga te birds we re fla pp ing arou nd th e se a lio n, wh o ke pt th ro w in g his he ad ou t of th e wate r an d wh ipp ing th e fis h arou nd to tr y an d brea k it in to pie ce s. We later had a ch an ce to jum p in to th e free zi ng co ld wate r clo to a fr igate bir se d m at ing grou nd . … Al l th e m ale s we re dis playi inflated re d th ro ng th eir at po uche s an d sh ak ing th eir ou ra pid ly to at tr ts tretch ed w in ac t th e fe m ale gs birds fly ing hig h ab ove. Th e fe appa re nt ly have m ale s from No ve m be r to M arch to pic k a m ate. Th ere is some th ing ab ou t ha nd s- on ex pe rie nc e th at no amou te st s an d te xt bo nt of ok s ca n re place .

AH MELTZOFF

Blue-footed boobies are bombing the harbor cliffside for lunch, and then Darwin finches hop on your alfresco lunch table. You don’t have to hunt for any of these totem creatures, you don’t even have to leave town. Everything you’ve heard about—all the main players—are on the ground around you. It’s so exciting.” As it happened, Besserer, a Marine Affairs and Policy student from Germany with a background in business management, had taken Meltzoff’s three-week field study trip to Galapagos in 2005. “Before, I didn’t even know exactly where the islands were,” he says, recalling the first time he laid eyes on the tiny archipelago. As Besserer dug into his studies— analyzing the local economy and offering solutions for what was lacking—he came to admire the local people. “They had very little but they didn’t need very much,” he explains. “They seemed happier than we who have everything.” The trip altered his life’s course and a thesis morphed into a business plan. By the following year Besserer was back in Isabela and working with Meltzoff to establish the Isabela Oceanographic Institute, a non-governmental organization situated on the largest island of the

COURTESY SAR

The Rosenstiel School hired Meltzoff in 1984 as its pioneer social scientist and first tenure-track woman on faculty. A whirlwind of chairmanships, grants, and fieldwork from Spain to Patagonia continued until 2001, when she led her first field course to the Galapagos, 600 miles out in the Pacific Ocean. After having built the Marine Affairs and Policy department up to nine professors, 40 master’s candidates a year, and a strong undergraduate program, Meltzoff had been “looking for a new baby.” In the Galapagos, she found it. “You go there and you just want to stay,” she says. “Coming down from the bus at the harbor, first you see the layers of blues flowing to the beach and then the marine iguanas bobbing on the rocks alongside the large fireengine red crabs, the Sally Lightfoots.

From top: A class at Isabela Oceanographic Institute; Sarah Meltzoff, right, with students at a tortoise rearing station. Not pictured: UGalapagos director Larry Peterson, Rosenstiel School professor and associate dean of academic affairs, coordinates logistics for the program, whose faculty has included assistant professor Elizabeth Babcock and professors Lynne Fieber and Michael Schmale.

Galapagos chain—1,792-square miles formed from the melding of six volcanoes and home to one of the most geographically isolated ecosystems in the world. With a fisheries-based population of about 2,000, the island is isolated from the majority of tourists. There the institute serves as an educational oasis, bridging cultural exchange and social development through visiting scholars and student outreach. Its mission: to assist the local community in developing an ecotourism economy while preserving and maintaining the pristine ecosystem and culture. When UM Provost Thomas J. LeBlanc and his wife, Anne, joined Meltzoff’s 2009 intersession voyage Fall 2010 Miami magazine 25

PHOTOS: SARAH MELTZOFF

From left, 90-year-old farmer Don Kaiser, Isabela Oceanographic Institute (IOI) team member Sara Luz, and co-founder Johann Besserer, M.A. ’06, who launched IOI with mentor Sarah Meltzoff. IOI now serves as academic partner and home base for UGalapagos.

last December, the vision for a semester abroad program in Isabela moved much closer to reality. LeBlanc witnessed the hand-in-glove approach the institute was taking under Meltzoff and Besserer’s direction. “Part of what they want to do with the institute is improve social conditions for the people of Isabela,” LeBlanc explains. While some aspects follow the traditional study abroad experience—academics, living with host families, field studies throughout the islands—the educational outreach to Galapagos residents sets it apart, he adds. “It is kind of the flip side of their mission—to reach out and do good for the people of Isabela.” Besserer and Meltzoff perfected the logistics of visiting professors and a semester-long curriculum that encompasses marine sciences, conservation biology, sustainable ecotourism, and civil engagement. Through a series of five two-week courses, students explore every inch of the equatorial chain of islands, from deep within the ocean to the craters of towering volcanoes. “I 26 Miami magazine Fall 2010

remember being impacted by study abroad,” says Besserer. “It made me rethink my priorities, the way I look at things, and my values. That is what I want to give back to the students now.” The spring 2010 UGalapagos students interacted with women’s and fishing co-ops, visited a coffee farm, sussed out the economic impact of overfishing, and studied the political infrastructure linking Ecuador’s federal government to the islands. They documented the oral histories of local residents and explored park management practices and botany in Galapagos National Park and the Darwin Research Station. They attended classes in the IOI’s converted mission and spent part of every day diving, boating, and hiking. They fished for tuna as part of a section on marine conservation and swam surrounded by sea creatures. “It was my first time seeing penguins, sea lions, and hammerhead sharks,” says participant Nikita Shiel-Rolle, A.B. ’10, a marine affairs major who founded the Young Bahamian Marine Scientists organization and leads a research, environmental

education, and art program in the Bahamas with the Rosenstiel School. Armed with history, an underwater camera, and the remote island’s intermittent Internet access, Shiel-Rolle paid homage to her scientific forebear with “Nikita’s Adventures Beginning 175 Years Later,” her UGalapagos blog at http://175yearslater.blogspot.com. After more than seven hours of air travel, plus trips by bus, ferry, and taxi, her first entry announced, “Today we were up at 6:30 to feed finches and now we are preparing to make the threehour journey by boat to Isabela Island, my new home for the next three months.” During their final field trip a few months later, she and her classmates rode horses around the

After a semester spent bumping into sea lions, gliding along with leopard rays, and cavorting with penguins and blue-footed boobies, many of the students expressed feelings of being forever altered by the experience. “It was absolutely awesome,” says Bauer, 22, who vows to return to his adopted island in the next few years. “Everything we learned in the classroom we saw on the islands.” While next spring’s coursework will be geared again toward marine science and biology majors, this fall’s curriculum targeted non-science majors, with courses in ecosystem science and policy, biology, geology, international studies in water and global public health, and anthropology of Latin American and Caribbean history. “The Galapagos program has been structured that oct opus!!! It wa sn’t SARAH MELTZ

OFF

second largest volcanic caldera in the world and camped out in the Minas de Azufre with a cook and pair of guides. “The most profound moment for me was waking up on the rim of the volcano,” says Katie Sikora, 19, a sophomore from Chicago double-majoring in marine affairs and visual journalism. “It was the moment I knew my thoughts were different and I had changed. I had become used to the ways of the island.”

Feb ru ar y 6

l of I forced dow n a bow Yes terday at lun ch . It wa s tac les rea lly got me d, but the pur ple ten it tas ted all that ba eat it pro ba bly wo uldn’t If I have a cho ice I ce. en eri exp al tur bee n a cul oth er ne ws it ha s say I’ve tried it. In can I st lea at but aga in, ter way ne d int o a mu ddy wa t street s have tur RAINING !!!! Th e dir fee . lik e ver y mi lky cof loo king someth ing

to provide our undergraduate class with a one-of-a-kind hands-on experience that will help to shape their academic career here at UM,” says Rosenstiel School Dean Roni Avissar. “Our faculty has devised a curriculum that will attract students from several different disciplines and provide them with robust opportunities to learn about this pristine and important part of our planet.” Shiel-Rolle—roughly the same age Darwin was during his game-changing Beagle journey—sees UGalapagos as a vital link in her own evolution. “There was no better way to end my time at UM than to spend a semester studying in a place so well known from a scientific perspective,” says Shiel-Rolle, who plans to build a marine studies institute at home in the Bahamas. “And there is no better way to learn than to see it hands-on in the field. The community in Isabela is very special.” Just as it has been for centuries.

catharine skipp , A.B. ’79, is a University of Miami media relations officer.

Fe br ua ry 15

ite g ins ide try ing to wr ing an d I am sit tin in Ca rn iva l is in ful l sw ces en king at the dif fer e igu an as! I am loo le my rep ort on ma rin ma e ma rine igu an as. Th of ma le an d fem ale ale bod y tem peratu res fem s mi ng , wh ere as the es that go out sw im on the are as an as igu sho rel ine . As igu an d on the roc ks on the get mo st of the ir foo the on sed ba re peratu d reg ulate the ir tem are ect oth erm ic an le to ass ume that the ab son rea are in, it is en vironmen t the y ive d the y have jus t arr ma le igu an as wh en tem peratu re of the that as an n the fem ale igu sho uld be coo ler tha back to the beach ks . ters an d on the roc g in the sha llo w wa have jus t bee n wadin you r rs that you poi nt at ty las er the rmomete nif se the ve ha We e the tem peratu re. subjec t an d the y tak g of the san P.S . I too k a readin

d thi s mo rn ing—it

wa s 117 deg ree s F!!!

Fall 2010 Miami magazine 27

Designed by Michael Dennis & Associates, the Robert and Judi Prokop Newman Alumni Center was lovingly dedicated by the hundreds of alumni and donors who contributed to its creation at a special ceremony on October 8.

Hurricane House UM dedicates â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;dream come trueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; building made for, paid for, and built by Miami Hurricanes.

28 Miami magazine Fall 2010

Robe rt

Jo nes

Jr.

Judi Prokop Newman, B.B.A. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;63, remembers a University of Miami that had no student center or swimming pool. Back when she roomed in historic Eaton Residential College as a freshman, young women were forbidden to wear slacks and subjected to nightly curfews, unlike their male counterparts. Not long after she graduated, her alma mater evolved, building new facilities and changing its social fabric with the times. But always missing was a place that could embrace generations of alumni under one roof. Now Hurricanes of all ages have that landmark edifice.

PHOTOS: GEORGE CONTORAKES

In what was the biggest housewarming celebration in its young history, UM dedicated the new Robert and Judi Prokop Newman Alumni Center on Friday, October 8, cutting the ribbon to the recently completed fourstory facility being hailed as a “home away from home” for the institution’s 156,000 sons and daughters. “Being a part of building this new home for alumni is the fulfillment of a commitment that brings me back full circle,” said Prokop Newman, a UM trustee who, along with her husband of 42 years, Bob, honorary alumnus ’08, provided the lead gift that made the center possible. Under blue skies, a crowd of more than 800—including donors, trustees,

top UM administrators, faculty members, students, hundreds of alumni, and of course Sebastian the Ibis—turned out for the dedication of the 72,000-squarefoot building. Among its features, many made possible by generous UM benefactors and alumni: a 3,640-square-foot ballroom with 20-foot ceilings; the Dany Garcia and Dwayne Johnson Living Room, which includes a mural underwritten in part by John Adams, LL.M.T. ’89, and Susan S. Adams, LL.M.T. ’92, that depicts the University’s evolution (see story, page 33); the Gumenick Family Lobby, with its bronze Great Seal of the University; and the Bruce and Robbi Toll Alumni Library, with a fireplace, alumni-authored volumes, and every

copy of the Ibis yearbook produced since UM’s birth. There’s also the Arellano Construction Courtyard, donated by the president of the Miami-based construction company that built the center; the Sloane and Genevieve McCrea Business Center; Sebastian’s Café, the idea for which originated from UM President Donna E. Shalala, honorary alumna ’02; and an eight-foot-tall bronze statue of mascot Sebastian the Ibis, created by Patrick Flibotte and conceived of and donated by Sam Ballam, B.B.A. ’72. Addressing the intergenerational crowd assembled in the Mack and Betty Roper Plaza, Shalala called the dedication the best day of her nearly ten-year tenure, explaining that the Fall 2010 Miami magazine 29

PHOTOS: GEORGE CONTORAKES

From Sebastian’s Café, seen lit below, to the Toll Library, top right, and Arellano Construction Courtyard, the Newman Alumni Center is open for University and community functions.

facility “is the most important building that we have built during my presidency because our alumni are the past and the future of the University.” Prokop Newman described its design as “stunning” and “architecturally distinct,” praising architect Michael

trustee and then-president of the UM Alumni Association, and Kathy Uitvlugt, the former assistant vice president for Alumni Relations. “When we would talk about it,” said Donna A. Arbide, M.B.A. ’95, associate vice president of Alumni Relations and

located on Hurricane Drive across from Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field. One of them, 94-year-old Audrey R. Finkelstein, A.B. ’38, attended UM when it was nicknamed “Cardboard College” for the flimsy partitions

“Our alumni are the past and the future of the University.” Dennis for “bringing our vision of an alumni center to life.” Dennis’s Bostonbased firm also worked with MGE Architects, whose principals are Rolando Conesa, B.Arch. ’82, and Jose Estevez, B.Arch. ’76. The vision for this center was first advanced in the late 1990s by Betty Amos, B.B.A. ’73, M.B.A. ’76, a senior 30 Miami magazine Fall 2010

executive director of the Alumni Association, “we actually would giggle. But we knew that alumni are the one permanent presence of the University of Miami.” Arbide went on to thank the more than 630 alumni and donors who helped raise $23 million for the construction of the center, which is

separating classes held at the former Anastasia Hotel. Calling the center “phenomenal,” she added, “It will give our graduates a sense of continuity.” Amos, who in her former role traveled to alumni houses around the country to glean ideas, said facilities like this are vital to cultivating alumni involvement. “When I first started, this place

PHOTOS: JENNY ABREU

Clockwise from top left, Judi Prokop Newman, B.B.A. ’63, and honorary alums President Donna E. Shalala, ’02, and Robert Newman, ’08; event co-emcee Jackie Nespral, A.B. ’89; Sebastian and co-emcee Pat Barron, B.B.A. ’75; President’s Council members Stu Bloch, A.B. ’64, and Art Roberts, B.B.A. ’64; a bird’s eye view of the event; Alumni Association regional director Winston Warrior, B.B.A. ’93, M.B.A. ’96, Sharon Stewart, and Robert Arko; and Dany Garcia, B.B.A. ’92, Alumni Association president-elect, flanked by her father and daughter.

was a distant dream,” Amos said. “Now, here it is. It’s a dream come true.” After the ribbon cutting, festivities continued inside as hundreds of attendees streamed in to tour the multipurpose building and its amenities—from the 1918 Steinway piano donated by alumnus Hunting F. Deutsch, M.B.A. ’82, which Frost School of Music Dean Shelly Berg played to entertain guests, to the artwork created by alumni, faculty members, and students from the Department of Art and Art History, which will lend works to the building as part of an ongoing rotating exhibition. Founded in 1930, the UM Alumni Association had been housed since the 1970s across from Founder’s Hall on

Brescia Avenue, in a single-story facility originally built for visiting faculty. “The new center’s increased size and versatility will make it ideal for all types of functions, from conferences to weddings,” said Chalece Erixon, Newman Alumni Center director, noting that an alumni couple will exchange vows there this spring. Nearly complete, the building needs another $9 million to finish its third and fourth floors, said Jackie Nespral, A.B. ’89, NBC 6 anchor and the UM Alumni Association’s immediate past president, who emceed the event with Patrick K. Barron, B.B.A. ’75, the association’s current president. “It’s not just a building but a sense of alumni coming together,” explained

Barron, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s first vice president and COO. “It epitomizes what ‘the U’ is all about.” Robert Newman, honorary alumnus ’08 and owner of a venture capital firm, commended UM’s passionate alumni for opening the center to the community, while Prokop Newman added that it will always be a place “to showcase our important memorabilia and to celebrate what it means to be a Miami Hurricane.”

robert c. jones jr. edits UM’s eVeritas, where this story first appeared. See event video and photos at: www.miami.edu/alumni/events/ nacdedication.htm Fall 2010 Miami magazine 31

Ready for His Close-Up, Thanks to You!

“Thanks to alumni like you, I’m living my dream! After graduating in May with a motion pictures and theater degree, I moved to Los Angeles and began working for Talent Marketing Inc. while pursuing an acting career. The auditions are tough, but the education I received at the University of Miami has prepared me to compete in this industry. As a student caller and supervisor for the Annual Fund’s Calling ’Canes and a leader for the 2010 Senior Class Gift, I learned firsthand how annual gifts from alumni impact students’ lives. And I learned that alumni are giving back because they truly care about UM. Tuition doesn’t cover the full annual cost to educate a UM student, so annual giving helps make up the differen ce. In my case it was the scholarship support I received that enabled me to attend the University of Miami. I also benefitted from the annual support the School of Communication receives to help fund opportunities and resources such as student participation in the N.Y. and L.A. Experiences, the Career Connection Office, and the Knight Center for International Media. Now, as a new graduate, I’m committed to paying it forward by making my annual gift to support UM and the UM family. It’s important to give back so your family can thrive.” See a special video message from Terrance at HurricanePride.org. From scholarships to state-of-the-art classrooms, graduate fellowships to semesters abroad, the Annual Fund provides financial resources that meet urgent needs and advance the University’s vitality, diversity, and quality.

Terrance Phillips, B.S.C. ’10 Motion Pictures and Theater

“As a new graduate, I’m committed to making my annual gift to support UM and the UM family.”

Any gift to the University of Miami is fully tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. For more information about giving through the University of Miami Annual Fund, call 1-866-UMALUMS or visit www.miami.edu/annualfund. 32 Miami magazine Fall 2010

A l u m n i

DIGEST

News and Events of Interest to University of Miami Alumni

The Mural of the Story

acobina Trump spent most of her summer atop scaffolding in the Robert and Judi Prokop Newman Alumni Center, painting the story of the University of Miami’s 85-year evolution across a 19-by-30-foot wall. An epic tribute to “the progress of the University, from past to present and on into the future” is how Donna A. Arbide, M.B.A. ’95, associate vice president of Alumni Relations and executive director of the UM Alumni Association, characterizes the mural, which

adorns the Dany Garcia and Dwayne Johnson Living Room. The two-story tableau includes campus icons such as the ibis, palm trees, Lake Osceola, and Cobb Fountain. Another landmark image embedded at Arbide’s suggestion is the “Key of Knowledge” from UM’s Great Seal. “The search for the key in the mural represents the journey to gain knowledge that each student undertakes,” Arbide notes. It’s a journey Trump embarked on herself after being recommended for this panoramic project by its underwriters, Susan S. Adams, LL.M.T. ’92, and husband John Adams, LL.M.T. ’89, who had previously commissioned the Dutch-born painter to create a mural for their Coral Gables law firm. Working out how to artfully evoke both the momentous changes and timeless essence of the University took more than a year of preparation. Trump consulted historian and senior trustee Arva Moore Parks McCabe, M.A. ’71, researched old Ibis yearbooks, and observed the campus

PHOTOS: MICHIKO KURISU

Two-story tableau portrays UM’s evolution

Using green-certified paint, artist Jacobina Trump brings the Newman Alumni Center mural to life. A photo of the finished piece is on page 29.

landscape. The UM Alumni Association conducted focus groups and surveys and oversaw several rounds of sketches before approving a final design. The mural references a January 1926 photograph Trump found in McCabe’s book The Pathway to Greatness: Building the University of Miami, 1926-2001. In it, UM pioneers pose in an orange grove while holding blueprints. It suggests “a time of growth, expectation, and strength,” Trump says. The orange tree shows UM’s colors and blossoming spirit. As if in homage to their grand vision, a majestic ibis flies across the sun, and some of the Spanish-style architecture from a preliminary-but-unrealized layout for the University dots the skyline. That original campus plan “never materialized,” Trump explains, “but

it was a big part of how it all started.” As the visual narrative progresses, the dreamlike imagery grows increasingly vibrant and realistic. Surreal swampland morphs into “an abundance of buildings and people among lush vegetation,” Trump says. A crowd of students sports clothes from different eras, conveying progress through the decades. This large, diverse learning community is shown gathering at the Richter Library, notes Trump, because it’s one of the few educational facilities that links nearly every UM student. An azure arc of earth and ocean unite the scene. “People felt the University of Miami was going to be great,” says the artist. “Alumni in this global community, where everything is connected, will remember their task through this mural.” Fall 2010 Miami magazine 33

AlumniDigest

Memorial Game Hits Home during Alumni Weekend

AUSTEN GREGERSON, ’12

s a group of University of Miami alumni congregated at Peacock Park in Coconut Grove on November 5, the memory of what brought them together stood strong. Last year, Nic Sorrentino, B.G.S. ’78, died of throat cancer at 56, just days before Alumni Weekend and Homecoming, lending a much different tone to the annual Pike and Delta Gamma reunion he regularly attended. Not a smoker or heavy drinker, Sorrentino was shocked by his diagnosis. And while he didn’t want the life that came with intense chemotherapy sessions, his attempts at curing his ailment through more holistic approaches didn’t prove to be enough against the disease. As much was explained to those who attended the first Nic Sorrentino Memorial Softball Game last year.

Teresa “Tee” Sorrentino, Nic’s widow, was the one who suggested a softball game during Homecoming to honor her late husband’s memory. Nic, who loved being outdoors, excelled at baseball, playing for the Pi Kappa Alpha intramural team while at UM. He had stayed connected with his college buddies also living in Miami largely through their softball team, the Doobie Crew. “It’s very, very special, but it’s also very apropos of these guys,” says Tee Sorrentino. “They stayed very close over the years, and it’s a credit to my husband and who he was

to be here to honor Nic.” Peter Lehmann, B.Ed. ’77, was Nic’s best friend in college. The two stayed in touch and when Lehmann’s son, P.J., began to show promise at baseball, Nic took him under his wing. “I know it sounds strange, but Nic was like a father to my son,” says Lehmann. “He was even there when he was born; it always meant a lot to me how much he involved himself in P.J.’s life.” After a touching speech from Tee Sorrentino, a rendition of the alma mater, and much reminiscing, Nic and Teresa’s daughter, Nicki,

win a close game over Team USA, 8-7. P.J. Lehmann had hit a few home runs and turned a double play

“ It felt like he was there with us and it was something that I know he would have been really honored by.”

threw out the ceremonial first pitch onto the field, where the teams sported a mix of baseball attire, slacks, khaki shorts, and Doobie Crew T-shirts. Like their outfits, the tone of the game was lighthearted and fun, interrupted with the occasional burst of athleticism. And as if out of a movie script, the first pitch thrown was hit for a home run. When it was all over, Team Florida Before going to bat for their late friend Sorrentino, a few of the players sing the UM alma mater. had managed to 34 Miami magazine Fall 2010

Dominick “Nic” Sorrentino, B.G.S. ’78, during his college days.

for them to care so much. They could all be doing different things today, but it’s a really special thing for people

at shortstop using the skills Nic had taught him. But the lasting image was of a group of old classmates remembering their friend on a bright, sunny day in Miami. As she stood watching the game, Tee Sorrentino says she felt both humbled and proud of what her late husband had managed to accomplish in his life: “It was bittersweet, you know? I know it’s cliché, but it felt like he was there with us and it was something that I know he would have been really honored by, that he would have thought was pretty cool.” —Austen Gregerson, ’12

LOOKING BACK

Vassell at his 50th reunion.

Know Your Benefits as a Card-Carrying ’Cane

s the saying goes, membership has its privileges. And University of Miami graduates are lifetime members of the UM Alumni Association. Among the alumni member benefits you can start tapping into with your alumni card are: Access Gain entry to select campus and athletic facilities such as the library and obtain a oneday campus parking pass from the Office of Alumni Relations. Deals and Discounts Enjoy special rates for oncampus facilities and services as well as beyond campus.

ody Drop Cap text text E-mail text Forwarding text text text fortext Life Show text text your text Hurricane text text spirit text with text text a umiami.edu text. e-mail alias, Body which indent enables text UM text text to text forward text text e-mail text text messages text sent text text to your text@umiami.edu text text text address text texttotext anytext e-mail textaddress text you text choose—no text text textmatter text text how many text. times you change Internet Service Providers. Other Online Opportunities Take full advantage of an online alumni network that includes private access to a searchable alumni directory, e-news, career tools, event announcements, and the new Library Alumni Portal with access to research databases and much more. Financial and Insurance Services Learn about the association’s official credit card program, group insurance plans, auto and home insurance options, and more.

For a complete listing of the benefits and services affiliated with being a card-carrying ’Cane, visit www.miami.edu/alumni/ benefits or call 305-284-2872 (1-866-UMALUMS).

’Cudas, Kudos, and Fresh Memories

ild breezes and a warm feeling of déjà vu swept over me during University of Miami’s Alumni Avenue on the Coral Gables campus. On that perfect night last November, my mind lazed back to the ’50s, when I was a student of English and philosophy. My great profs included Mrs. Lawrence, the Shakespeare Nebraskan Robert M. Vassell, A.B. ’59, is a retired scholar who emphasized high school and college English educator, teacherthe universals of human placement director, and manuscript and educanature embodied by the tional consultant. Read more Alumni Weekend works of The Bard; Dr. musings, and post your own, at www.miami.edu/ Gerrit Schipper, the phialumniweekend/sign_guestbook.htm. losopher whose dynamic lectures in “Existentialism and Logical Positivism” earned him rousing applause the last day of class; “Doc” Joseph in American Literature, with her puckish, casual humor, explaining how the Puritan practice of “bundling” often led to “bungling”; and lean, barely audible Dr. Andrews, who punctuated fascinating Classical Civilization lectures with a leisurely drag on his cigarette-holder. On that occasion, I also remarked on the campus’s expansion— how the green-and-orange buses are not only easy to spot but necessary for conveying their cargo across the U’s vastness. Earlier that day I spied many a brisk step full of promise. Moving from building to building, these eager walkers told me something important was taking place. That something was and is education. Jokingly, I wondered aloud if the “freshies” who haven’t “made the grade” are still fed to the voracious ’cudas inhabiting Lake Osceola (or so the spurious legend went). I recalled lobbing underdone burgers from the cafeteria to those prowling fish, who’d thrash the water and gulp the bloody morsel. Just then the Band of the Hour interrupted my reverie with happy tunes that proclaimed, “Welcome Back!” Indeed, I felt very welcomed. If the weekend were a fine steak, I’d say it was done to perfection by the UM Alumni Association. Not only did I revive old ties, I discovered that Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth isn’t just at UM; it is UM. —Robert M. Vassell, A.B. ’59 Fall 2010 Miami magazine 35

C l a s s

NOTES Burton M. Cohen, J.D. ’48, joined

the board of directors for MGM Mirage in Las Vegas. He was previously retired, after managing Las Vegas resorts for more than 30 years.

1950s

Harold A. Hudson, A.B. ’50, of

Melbourne, Florida, published Stories of an Unusual Life, about his journey from G.I. to UM, teaching in exotic places, working as a State Department Foreign Service Officer, piloting a boat for pay, and building schools in Haiti. Jerry Herman, A.B. ’53, D.F.A. ’80, composer and lyricist of Milk and Honey, Hello, Dolly!, Mame, La Cage aux Folles, and many more, is a 2010 Kennedy Center Honors recipient. The Kennedy Center Honors gala is scheduled for broadcast nationwide on CBS December 28. Shelly Frome, A.B. ’56, former professional actor and professor of dramatic arts emeritus at the University of Connecticut, writes mysteries, books on theater and film, and articles on the performing arts that have appeared in periodicals in the U.S. and the U.K. His latest book is The Twinning Murders. He lives in Litchfield, Connecticut.

1960s

Alan P. Fiske, B.B.A. ’60, a member

of the Jewish Federation of Broward County, received an honorary fellowship from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for his philanthropic work for the Jewish community. Barry J. Materson, M.D. ’62, professor of medicine in the Miller School Divisions of Clinical Phar-

36 Miami magazine Fall 2010

‘Little’ Doctor’s Big Talent Charms America macology and Hospital Medicine and fellow of the American Society of Hypertension, received the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Consortium for Southeastern Hypertension Control, where he has served in a leadership role. A certified clinical hypertension specialist, his research has included developing a simplified method for measuring kidney function that led to work on new diuretic agents as well as other anti-hypertensive agents. John Atlas, A.B. ’65, of Montclair, New Jersey, wrote the book Seeds of Change: The Story of ACORN, America’s Most Controversial Antipoverty Community Organizing Group. He is president of the National Housing Institute. Richard P. Kennedy, M.D. ’65, president of Monroe Radiology Imaging in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, was inducted as a Fellow in the American College of Radiology. Lydia A. Pineiro, M.B. ’65, was elected Woman of the Year 2009-10 by the Papanicolaou Corps Three Islands Aquarius Cancer Unit. Michael B. Greenbaum, B.S. ’67, of Teaneck, New Jersey, was honored by the Jewish Theological Seminary with the Rabbi Louis Finkelstein Rabbinic Leadership Award. For two years in a row he’s made Newsweek’s “Top Most Influential Rabbis in America” list. Gary Shaw, B.Ed. ’69, a Garden State-based promoter has been inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame.

1970s

Robert A. Dulberg, J.D. ’72, a part-

ner in Salmon & Dulberg Dispute Resolution and one of the first Circuit Civil, Federal and Family mediators certified by the Supreme Court of Florida, celebrated 20

hysician, little person, and reality TV star, Jennifer Arnold, B.S. ’96, appreciates a good hurricane. Not just a fellow UM graduate but a Category 5 storm, as in Hurricane Andrew, which slammed South Florida in 1992, right as the born-and-raised Floridian arrived at UM, a fresh-faced freshman ready to study marine science. Arnold recalls on that “pretty darn exciting” day in August her dorm, Mahoney Residential College, shaking “multiple times,” broken windows, fallen trees, about five inches of water in her fourth-floor room, and plenty of camaraderie. “I met lots of people,” she says. “It was an extremely bonding experience.” Although she went home to Orlando afterward (classes were cancelled for two weeks), she did return. Besides violent weather, something else Arnold seemed to accept with grace was that the limitations of her height (three feet, two inches) would lead to a career in medicine rather than on research ships à la Jacques Cousteau. She graduated with majors in biology and psychology and minors in marine science and chemistry. In medical school at Johns Hopkins, Arnold gravitated toward neonatology, partially to give back (she had already endured 30 surgeries to help her walk correctly) and to treat patients who would be smaller than she is. A residency and fellowship in Pittsburgh followed. Then off to New York to join her now-husband Bill Klein, an entrepreneur who also is a dwarf. A few years ago a Good Morning America segment on career women with skeletal dysplasia included Arnold. A production company soon approached the duo to star in their own basic cable reality show. The Little Couple, on TLC, now chronicles their busy lives in Houston, where they moved for Arnold’s job as medical director of the Pediatric Simulation Center in the Texas Children’s Hospital Newborn Center. Baffling and heartening is how Arnold describes the fact that hers is just one of four TV series currently centered on little people. “As long as the shows are done in good taste and in positive ways, I can’t help but think they’re improving awareness,” she says. “We’re enjoying it, but it’s not the main component of our lives by any stretch of the imagination.” —Nina Korman, A.B. ’94

ALLEN KRAMER

1940s

ALUMNI OF NOTE

years as a certified mediator in 2009. Barbara W. Moller, M.Ed. ’72, M.S.Ed. ’82, Ed.D. ’82, coauthored the book A Father’s Story: Cristie Kerr, a Great American Golfer with her husband, Michael Bennett Kerr, about the challenges of raising their daughter while preparing her for professional golf. Arthur B. Barzilay, B.B.A. ’73, a financial advisor who joined Merrill Lynch in 1980, made Barron’s list of “America’s Top 1,000 Advisors: State-by-State,” published in February. Francisco Angones, J.D. ’76, was one of five American Bar Association 2010 Spirit of Excellence Award recipients for exhibiting professional excellence and a commitment to racial and ethnic diversity in the legal profession. Richard Rose, B.M. ’76, a professor of commercial music at Miami Dade College, was awarded the

Sylvan Meyers Endowed Teaching Chair. Phillip Kellerman, B.Ed. ’77, is president of the Harvest for Hope Foundation, which distributes emergency funds and educational financial aid to migrant farm workers and their families across the U.S. Rick Phillips, A.B. ’78, has published a comical narrative about 1960s-era Catholic school as seen through the eyes of a kid, titled I Don’t Brake for Nuns. David Hinkes, A.B. ’79, is chair and associate professor of management, marketing, and professional golf management at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee. A recipient of the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs Teaching Excellence Award, he is co-author of the soon-to-be-released book Selling By Objectives. Michael A. Lampert, A.B. ’79, head of a West Palm Beach law firm, was

elected a fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel by the college’s Board of Regents. He also chairs the Greater Palm Beach Area Regional Chapter of the American Red Cross.

1980s

Maria de los Angeles, B.S. ’80, M.S.

’81, of South Florida, writes the blog “Sex and the Beach” and was selected as one of 100 “agents” for Ford’s Fiesta Movement challenge last year. Bradley S. Feuer, B.S. ’80, J.D. ’90, received his designation as a fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians. Don H. Twietmeyer, LL.M. ’80, of Fairport, New York, was named partner at Hiscock & Barclay, LLP in the Trusts and Estates and Tax Practice Areas in the firm’s Rochester office.

Mark G. Kiyak, A.B. ’81, M.F.A. ’03,

assistant professor of film and video at the State University of New York at Fredonia, won multiple Emmy Awards for his work with NBC Television’s Studio Technical Team on the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. Barbara S. Levenson, J.D. ’81, a Miami-Dade County Circuit Court senior judge, had her second mystery novel, Justice in June, released this summer by Oceanview Publishing. She and her husband live in Miami. Neil J. Levitsky, J.D. ’81, was named managing partner of Fox Rothschild LLP’s Wilmington, Delaware, law office. Stuart H. Sorkin, J.D. ’81, attorney, C.P.A., and business consultant, co-wrote a guide to mergers and acquisitions titled Expensive Mistakes When Buying and Selling Companies … and How to Avoid Them in Your Deals.

Show your Hurricanes spirit and style with the latest designs from the University of Miami Limited Edition 100% Silk Tie and Scarf Collection. Our new, longer 12-by-54-inch scarf is fashionably versatile! Ties and scarves are $40 each, and all proceeds benefit your University of Miami Alumni Association. Quantities are limited, so please order today at www.miami.edu/alumni or by calling the Office of Alumni Relations at 305-284-2872 or 866-UMALUMS. Our Limited Edition merchandise is also available at your “home away from home”— the Newman Alumni Center, 6200 San Amaro Drive, Coral Gables, Florida.

Fall 2010 Miami magazine 37

ClassNotes

Edward Rodriguez, B.B.A. ’82,

Deborah F. Terry. B.S.N. ’88,

Lily P. Orticio, M.S.N. ’89, M.B.A.

M.B.A. ’87, who previously worked as a financial executive, opened RDZ Fine Art gallery in Coral Gables. He is also a street-scene photographer. Steven G. Lavely, J.D. ’84, earned the distinction of Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer from the Florida Bar Association. Virginia E. Johnson, J.D. ’85, managing partner at Foley & Mansfield, made Law and Politics magazine’s “Florida Super Lawyer” list for a fifth year. She is an adjunct professor in the Litigation Skills Department at the UM School of Law. Lettie J. Bien, J.D. ’86, of Coral Gables, received the Department of the Army Meritorious Civilian Service Award during her second tour of duty in Iraq. She is a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Army and Army Reserves. Jay J. Freireich, LL.M.T. ’86, of Livingston, New Jersey, has joined Brach Eichler LLC as a member of its Wills Trusts & Estates; Business Transactions & Taxation; and Litigation practice groups. Kimberly Kolback, J.D. ’86, served on panels at the 21st annual Entertainment and Sports Law Seminar and 15th annual Intellectual Property Law Institute in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and at the American Bar Association Forum on Entertainment and Sport Industries in Miami Beach, Florida. Ana Maria Polo, J.D. ’87, legal arbitrator on Telemundo’s Spanishlanguage court show Caso Cerrado (Case Closed) since February 2002, is promoting her recently released book, Querida Dra. Polo: Las Cartas Secretas de ‘Caso Cerrado’ (Dear Dr. Polo: The Secret Letters of ‘Caso Cerrado’). Jorge Luis Lopez, J.D. ’87, chair of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Interlocal Agreement, Citizens’ Oversight Committee, the Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade, and the Carlos Albizu University Foundation, was appointed to the Camillus House board of directors in Miami.

M.S.N. ’91, graduated from the University of Florida’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program in April. President and owner of TotalCaring Health Education & Staffing, Inc., she also serves as an ARNP for two Jacksonville, Florida, practices. Sharon McGuire, M.S.N. ’89, an associate professor of nursing at Siena Heights University in Adrian, Michigan, has also published articles in Advances in Nursing Science and Family and Community Health.

’95, received the American Society of Ophthalmic Registered Nurses Excellence in Ophthalmic Nursing Award in 2009. Johnny C. Taylor Jr., B.S.C. ’89, a sought-after speaker and the former president and CEO of RushmoreDrive.com (a subsidiary of the Barry Diller-run Internet company IAC/ InterActiveCorp.), was named to lead the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, an organization supporting the nation’s 47 public historically black colleges and universities.

38 Miami magazine Fall 2010

1990s

Stephen P. Hester, B.B.A. ’90,

president of Hester Painting & Decorating in Illinois and Hester Franchising LLC, was elected to the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America board of directors. Brian Wacter, B.S. ’90, formerly a principal at Fish & Richardson, is a partner in Perkins Coie’s patent practice in San Diego. Brenda K. Yester, B.B.A. ’90, senior

PRINTING PRESS

Coming of Age in Cuba

hristina Diaz Gonzalez, B.B.A. ’91, grew up hearing family stories about the events that led to Operation Pedro Pan, the largest exodus of unaccompanied children in the history of the Western hemisphere. Her debut novel, The Red Umbrella (Random House/Knopf, 2010), transforms those accounts and emotions into the fictional world of Lucia, a 14-year-old Cuban girl consumed with music, crushes, and other teenage concerns until soldiers take command of her small town, turning life upside down. With freedoms stripped and danger imminent, Lucia’s parents make the heartwrenching decision to send her and her younger brother to the United States. Lucia describes the loneliness of her first night at a Miami camp for children not yet placed with American families: “…all I could hear were the echoes of my sobs from the girls in the other beds. We were all alone … together.” Diaz Gonzalez, who lives in Miami with her husband and two sons, has crafted out of personal histories a tale that explores and unveils the real meaning of home.

Maestro to Remember

homas D. Saler, B.M. ’77, will never forget the moment he fell under the spell of Carlo Maria Giulini’s musical genius. In 1973 Saler, a young conducting student, sat mere feet from the Italian maestro as he led the Philadelphia Orchestra in Mahler’s First Symphony. “The music breathed as if driven by the human soul, rather than the metronome,” Saler writes in the preface to Serving Genius: Carlo Maria Giulini (University of Illinois Press, 2010). Saler’s biography chronicles the well of experience that formed this renowned conductor—his earliest musical awakenings; serving in the Italian army and living underground during World War II for pacifist and anti-fascist views; a lifelong devotion to his wife; and an exceptional career that included appointments with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Drawing on extensive interviews with Giulini’s family, music critics, arts administrators, orchestra members, and soloists, Saler, also a financial writer, offers a richly detailed, human portrait of the artist, who died in 2005 at age 91.

vice president of revenue management for Carnival Cruise Lines, was appointed to chair the Make-AWish Foundation of Southern Florida board of directors. C. Mark Eakin, Ph.D. ’91, received the U.S. Department of Commerce for Scientific/Engineering Achievement’s Silver Medal for his success as director of Coral Reef Watch for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in overseeing the development of satellite equipment used to monitor the impacts of climate change on coral reef ecosystems. William R. Lowman, B.B.A. ’91, J.D. ’94, made Florida Trend magazine’s “Florida Legal Elite” list for 2009, representing the state’s top two percent of practicing lawyers. Philip R. Needles, B.B.A. ’91, is an assistant dean at the Bloch School of Business and Public Administration and programs manager for the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at University of Missouri-Kansas City. David P. Simon, B.A.M. ’92, M.D. ’96, was named chief of the medical staff at the U.S. Air Force Hospital, MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida. Alexander A. Caso, B.S.C.E. ’93, is senior bridge manager in the Orlando office of international planning, design, and construction management firm Gannett Fleming, Inc., where he oversees its structural operations in Florida. David R. Friedland, B.B.A. ’93, J.D. ’96, president of New York Citybased Magnum U.S. Investments, Inc., was elected president of the Hedge Fund Association board of directors. David A. Greene, B.B.A. ’93, is a partner in the West Palm Beach, Florida, office of Fox Rothschild LLP, focusing on complex commercial litigation. Michael D. Hatcher, B.S.E.E. ’93, of Dallas, Texas, was elevated to partner in the firm Sidley Austin LLP; he’s a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Litigation practice.

Dave Popkin, B.S.C. ’93, is a play-

by-play announcer in New York City for Seton Hall University basketball. He’s been a presence for the Northeast Conference on the Madison Square Garden Network for the past decade and contributes to the ESPN family of networks football and basketball broadcasts. Lynda A. Tyer-Viola, M.S.N. ’93, is an assistant professor at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston, a senior advisor in Massachusetts General Hospital’s Division of Global Health and Human Rights, and a health care consultant for the AK Khan Healthcare Trust. She lives in Boston with her husband, Bob, and sons, Michael and Kevin. Brian H. Bieber, J.D. ’94, was admitted to the New York State Bar and re-elected to the board of directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, where he co-chairs its membership committee. Marc A. Buoniconti, A.B. ’94, president of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, was named to the University of Miami Board of Trustees. Appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated last year, the former Citadel linebacker was also the subject of a documentary that aired recently on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. George Chien, B.B.A. ’94, is the senior vice president, international networks, Asia-Pacific, for Sony Pictures Television. Jaret L. Davis, A.B. ’96, J.D. ’99, shareholder in the Miami office of Greenberg Traurig, P.A. and secretary of the UM Law Alumni Association for 2010-11, was honored as one of “South Florida’s 100 Most Accomplished Blacks in Healthcare & Law” at the ICABA (Identify, Connect, Activate the Black Accomplished) inaugural reception in 2009. Cindy K. Krauss, A.B. ’96, a real estate lawyer, was elected to partner in the Houston, Texas-based firm of Porter & Hedges.

ALUMNI OF NOTE

Real Estate Maven Takes Manhattan

espite the U.S. real estate industry’s economic bust and slow recovery, the view from high atop Manhattan’s co-op and condo market is pretty good, affirms mega-broker Laurel Weinstein Rosenbluth, A.B. ’69, a featured guest on HGTV’s Selling New York reality series. “Prices remain fairly stable at about 20 percent below their high mark while interest rates continue to be incredibly favorable, so buyers still have an advantage,” she maintains. With more than 25 years invested in the co-op and condo market, this senior vice president of Gumley Haft Kleier can be credited with millions in sales at Manhattan’s most prestigious addresses, where a 2/2 unit can easily start at a million dollars. They include buildings on Fifth and Park Avenues and in the hot new downtown areas, with Upper East and West Side desirables such as U.N. Plaza, Time Warner, and Trump International. Rosenbluth’s real estate adventures began after she received a degree in English from the University of Miami. She worked as a personal shopper in her native New York for high-end clients until one of them, celebrated broker Phyllis Koch, convinced her to change gears. In those days, listings were written out by hand. “There was no e-mail, no voicemail, no cell phones; it was an entirely different business,” Rosenbluth notes. Computers not only transformed the industry; they encouraged ingenuity. Now Rosenbluth—a proud mother and grandmother whose son-in-law is a fellow ’Cane—has added something new and green to her sales toolkit. With help from her attorney husband, Lawrence Rosenbluth, she developed The Laurel online application process (www.thelaurelapp.com). The system promises to revolutionize her city’s tedious co-op approval process by eliminating hefty paper applications prospective buyers must submit to any building they hope to get into. “It’s secure, within the control of the building, and makes the process faster, more convenient, greener, and more compliant with security and privacy laws,” she explains. “It’s 21st-century technology.” Rosenbluth, who’s in her second season on Selling New York, understands the show’s popularity. “People all over the country love to watch the process,” she says. For her, it’s all about relationships: “My friends have become my clients and my clients have become my friends.” —Sara Maria “Fifi” Castany, A.B. ’84

Fall 2010 Miami magazine 39

ClassNotes

James D. Sallah, J.D. ’96, of Sallah & Cox, LLC, and Scott L. Silver,

J.D. ’96, of Blum & Silver, LLP, were named the Most Effective Securities Lawyers of 2009 by the Daily Business Review newspaper in South Florida. Jahan P. Segatol-Islami, J.D. ’96, is a Miami-based partner in the corporate practice of K&L Gates LLP. Justin Baird, B.S.E.E. ’97, an “innovationist” for Google Australia, created the Show Your Vote platform that enabled the United Nations and other organizations to demonstrate how much global support the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference received. He also helped develop the Web presence for Al Gore’s Earth Hour campaign. Alfred A. Bunge, M.B.A. ’97, was named market manager for J.P. Morgan U.S. Private Bank in Miami. Orlando J. Hidalgo, B.F.A. ’97, a former senior Web designer at The Miami Herald, is production director for Jumba Media Group in Miami. Tania Melissa Paredes, A.B. ’97, was one of Brickell Magazine’s “Top 20 Professionals under 40” in 2010. In private practice in Miami since 2003, she holds the National Association of Social Workers Diplomate in Clinical Social Work. Robert F. Lewis, J.D. ’97, who specializes in Alcohol Beverage Law at GrayRobinson, P.A., made the South Florida Legal Guide “Top Up & Comer” list. Jason Solodkin, B.S.C. ’97, of Boca Raton, Florida, is a play-by-play announcer who has worked for Hurricanes football on Comcast Sports Southeast and for the Heat and Dolphins in Miami. Jessica Merz, B.S.C. ’98, is director of employee communications at ADT North America in South Florida. Danika Mendrygal, B.B.A. ’99, an associate with Haynes and Boone, LLP in Dallas, was elected to the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning, North Texas chapter board of directors.

40 Miami magazine Fall 2010

2000s

Bruno M. Almeida, B.S.C. ’00, is

CEO and founder of U.S. Media Consulting, ranked one of the nation’s 100 fastest-growing private companies by Inc. magazine. Keith Washo, M.M. ’00, director of sales for Bigfoot Networks, a gaming network card company in Silicon Valley, launched AmazingTechProducts.com and introduced Purebuds Earphones. Nichole D. Fitzgerald, LL.M.T. ’02, was elevated to partner in Holland & Knight’s Private Wealth Services Practice. Duane Pinnock, LL.M.E. ’02, of Delancyhill, P.A. law firm in South Florida, earned the Florida Bar Board certification in Wills, Trusts, and Estate Law. Aaron J. Slavin, J.D. ’02, a former lead prosecutor in the Pinellas and Pasco State Attorney’s Office Gang Prosecution Unit who launched the Slavin Law Firm in 2008, received an “Up & Comers” award from the Tampa Bay Business Journal in 2009 and was named to the Leadership St. Pete Class of 2010. Jason S. Turchin, J.D. ’02, managing attorney in the Law Offices of Jason Turchin, developed “My Attorney,” a mobile application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Robert J. Gray, B.B.A. ’03, launched RentalHawk.com, a website intended to streamline the construction equipment rental industry. Jessica Carvalho Morris, J.D. ’03, UM School of Law director of international graduate programs, is vice chair of Amnesty International USA’s national board of directors. She’s been the Miami chapter’s coordinator since 2004. Wagner Guy Pierre, B.S.Ed. ’03, a middle school science teacher in Georgia, took part in Weightless Flights of Discovery, a national program designed to spur students to pursue science and technical careers by inspiring their teachers through “zero-gravity” aircraft flight experiences.

ALUMNI OF NOTE

Keeping a High Profile in Public Service

ifredo Ferrer’s powerful position as United States attorney for the Southern District of Florida requires him to mix it up in both legal and political arenas. Although he likes to say, “life is timing,” he’s spent two decades building solid experience and an outstanding reputation in private practice and public service. An economics major, Ferrer, A.B. ’87, graduated first in his class at UM, then earned his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. After law school, the Hialeah native returned to Miami to clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Marcus before joining the firm of Steel Hector & Davis as a corporate litigator. But “the public service bug bit me,” Ferrer says, when he and some colleagues set up a disaster assistance center in Homestead to give legal advice to victims of Hurricane Andrew. He considered the White House Fellows program but, believing he lacked a champion, “threw the application materials in the trash.” What happened next changed Ferrer’s career. His mother noticed his discarded application. “She taught me a lesson I’ll never forget,” he recalls. “‘Never say no to yourself.’ I guess my champion was my mom.” Ferrer spent his fellowship as a special assistant to thenSecretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros. Through the program, he was introduced in 1995 to Attorney General Janet Reno, who hired him as counsel and deputy chief of staff. For the next five years he gained connections, and future champions, at the federal government’s highest levels. Missing the courtroom, he moved back to Miami in 2000 to be an assistant U.S. attorney, overseeing cases of money laundering, health care fraud, narcotics, international human rights abuses, and firearms offenses. In 2006, Ferrer became assistant county attorney and chief of the Federal Litigation Section in the MiamiDade County Attorney’s Office. Since taking command of the Southern District earlier this year, his headline-making prosecutions, like that of Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein, have kept him on a high-profile track. After hours, “Willy”—a sports fan and past UM Alumni Association board member—remains a diehard ’Cane. So does his wife, whom he met in Washington, D.C., but who once taught at UM. “She’s the smarter one,” he laughs. —Robert S. Benchley

Tom Regmier, J.D. ’03, was among

those who presented Justice John Paul Stevens with the 2009 Oxfordian of the Year award in his chambers at the U.S. Supreme Court. Regmier is a trustee of the Shakespeare Fellowship, which bestows the award. Michael Laas, B.S.E.N.E. ’04, M.S.C.E. ’07, and Michael Carcaise, B.S.B.E. ’06, of South Florida, are engineers who founded Sails for Sustenance in 2007 to provide sails donated within the United States to Haitian subsistence fishermen. Omar Sommereyns, B.S.C. ’04, is senior editor at Florida International Magazine. Fayola Delica, B.S.N. ’05, an independent RN contractor, is pursuing M.A. degrees in pastoral counseling and spiritual formation as well as theological studies at Columbia International University in South Carolina. She traveled to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after the earthquake to provide support in her training areas. Angela Nolfi Ferris, J.D. ’05, an associate with Burns White Attorneys at Law in Pittsburgh, focuses on Medicare compliance issues and provides pro bono legal services for

several community organizations. Jaclyn S. Nadler, M.D. ’05, an internist, is medical director for Forsyth Internal Medicine and for Gentiva Home Health Services in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She completed her residency at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Taryn M. Southern, B.S.C. ’05, hosted a Golden Globes post-show for NBC; has starred in and produced several Web hits, including Private High Musical (purchased by MTV); appears on the CBS comedy Rules of Engagement and in The Temp Life, among other Web series; and plans to release a music comedy CD in 2011. Nicole L. Adenauer, A.B. ’06, of Bethesda, Maryland, was named a “Hometown Diplomat” by the U.S. Department of State for her work toward preventing human trafficking during a ten-week internship. Joshua Henry, B.M. ’06, continues his Broadway career as star of The Scottsboro Boys. Heather Johnson, M.M. ’06, a 2006 member of the U.S. National Women’s Rowing Team who was on the cover of the USRowing E-Magazine’s November 2009

issue, won this year’s Lightweight Women’s 4+ event at the Head of the Charles regatta. Her boat broke the 18-year-old course record for the event by 32 seconds. Kelly A. Parkes, Ph.D. ’06, assistant professor of teaching and learning at Virginia Tech, received the university’s 2010 XCaliber Award for excellence in teaching with technology. Ian Amber, B.S. ’07, M.D. ’10, won the 2009 American College of Physicians Medical Student Poster competition. Diagnosed with leukemia at ages 10 and 17, he was pronounced cured of acute lymphoblastic leukemia last October. Lucas B. Sommer, B.B.A. ’07, a music business entrepreneur, won this year’s We Media Conference Pitch It! Challenge, receiving $25,000 for his company Audimated.com, an e-commerce community for artists and fans to share, discover, and monetize independent music. Noah D. Domnitz, J.D. ’08, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, had his op-ed column about the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision published in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Meredith Nicole Elder, J.D. ’08,

of Memphis, passed the Tennessee Bar exam and is staff attorney at Morgan Keegan, Regions Financial Corporation’s investment banking and brokerage arm. Pedro Fabregas, M.S.P.M. ’08, became president of American Eagle for Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Florida, and Bahamas while earning his professional management master’s degree from the School of Business Administration. He is on the school’s newly formed Board of Overseers, helped establish the school’s Executive MBA program in Puerto Rico, and oversaw American Eagle’s emergency humanitarian relief mission to Haiti, which flew in more than 150,000 pounds of supplies, medicines, and food within a month of the earthquake tragedy. Terry W. Simmons, Ph.D. ’09, adjunct professor of political science at Indiana University, published the book The Visionary, the Custodian, and the Russian Siloviki about Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and Vladimir Putin. Sarah Amengual, B.F.A. ’10, of Parkland, Florida, made her Broadway debut as Maria in West Side Story.

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Fall 2010 Miami magazine 41

ClassNotes

In Memoriam

Gustave L. Drexel, B.S. ’37 Ruth E. Ball, B.S. ’39 William A. Foster, B.B.A. ’40 Isidore B. Simkowitz, B.B.A. ’43 Stanley D. Cohn, B.B.A. ’47 Richard J. Goodapple, M.A. ’47 Roderick C. Ball, A.B. ’49 Edmond C. Becker, B.B.A. ’49 Seymour M. Dubin, B.B.A. ’49 Emmanuel N. Nicolaides, B.S.E.E. ’49 George F. Anderson, B.S.E.E. ’50 Sylvia S. Ben, A.B. ’50, M.Ed. ’66 John B. Bertero, B.B.A. ’50 Ruth H. Brown, A.B. ’50 Gabriel S. Keleman, A.B. ’50 George C. Makris, B.B.A. ’50 William R. Murray, B.B.A. ’50 John C. Purger, B.S. ’50, M.S. ’52, M.D. ’56 Mary B. Bordeman, A.B. ’51 Robert Colwell, B.M. ’51 Vincent Fagnani, B.B.A. ’51 David A. Hills, B.B.A. ’51 Clifford E. Ripley, B.S.I.E. ’51 Robert L. Roy, B.S. ’51 Frank R. Slivocka, B.Ed. ’51 Joan K. Weinstein, B.Ed. ’51 Gordon E. Beaubien, J.D. ’52 Hyman Bergman, B.Ed. ’52 Anthony J. Ferrara, B.Ed. ’52 Francis M. Hand, B.Ed. ’52 James S. Hocker, J.D. ’52 Stanley Leon, A.B. ’52 Dorine J. Colasurdo, B.Ed. ’53 Philip J. Coniglio, J.D. ’53

Jack Fay, B.B.A. ’53 Herbert G. Gilbert, A.B. ’53 Joseph W. Monsanto, J.D. ’53 Minnie A. Ulmer, B.M. ’53 John E. Baker, J.D. ’54 Arthur E. Sapp, B.B.A. ’54 Alvin S. Sherman, B.B.A. ’54, J.D. ’57 Joyce A. Biltz, B.Ed. ’55 Denzil Y. Causey, B.B.A. ’55 Chester T. Dembowski, B.Ed. ’55 Emanuel J. Sears, B.B.A. ’55 Sylvester J. Campbell, B.S.E.S. ’56 Vito J. Fenello, ’56 Leo M. Loiacono, A.B. ’56 Harry R. Martin, B.B.A. ’56 Abby J. Rindom, A.B. ’56 James F. Roberts, B.B.A. ’56 Walter R. Campen, B.B.A. ’57 Patrick E. Kraft, B.B.A. ’57 David L. Parker, B.B.A. ’57 Joan R. Freedman, B.Ed. ’58 Sheldon Oletzky, B.S.M.E. ’58 Garnet O. Palmer, A.B. ’58 John P. Myers, B.M. ’59 Newton E. Porter, B.S. ’59 Paul Satz, M.S. ’59 Donald Feldman, J.D. ’60 Albert S. Maner, B.B.A. ’60 Henry L. Oppenborn, J.D. ’60 Lawrence T. Grand, B.Ed. ’61 Harold Kinsler, B.Ed. ’61, M.Ed. ’65 Mary E. Lane, B.Ed. ’61 Bill McCreary, B.S. ’61 Francis M. Pohlig, A.B. ’61, J.D. ’64 Robert L. Weeks, B.S.I.E. ’61

Photographer, World Traveler, Entrepreneur Frederick G. Karrenberg, B.S. ’68, M.S. ’70, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute’s onetime director of photography who invented a device used to treat retinal disease, died June 3 of complications from surgery for kidney cancer. He was 67. A competitive gymnast in high school, Karrenberg served four years as a Weather Observer in the U.S. Air Force. Trained in mathematics, he taught at Miami’s Ransom Everglades School while exploring photography. His first art show was in 1974. He joined Bascom Palmer in 1978 and later owned the commercial studio Pyramid Photographics, which UM often used. A world traveler, Karrenberg also hosted art shows and nurtured young artists. In 2008 he earned an M.F.A. and became an adjunct photography professor at Florida International University. His life partner was Liz Chifari, J.D. ’93.

42 Miami magazine Fall 2010

Driven to Right Wrongs Bruce J. Winick, the University of Miami School of Law professor who co-founded the Therapeutic Jurisprudence movement for which the school opened the nation’s first center in 2009, died August 26 from cancer, a week before his 66th birthday. “He was a humanist to his core,” daughter Margot Winick, B.S.C. ’91, M.A.L.S. ’05, UM assistant vice president for media relations, told The Miami Herald. On the law faculty since 1974, Winick was an internationally respected attorney who won several groundbreaking court cases during his career and held a dual appointment on the psychiatry and behavioral sciences faculty. He suffered from retinitis pigmentosa and lost his sight but mastered the latest technology and, with his guide dog Bruno, remained supremely active in his landmark scholarship and his life.

John A. Bailey, B.B.A. ’62 Robert M. Geiserman, B.B.A. ’62 William E. McLellan, B.B.A. ’62 Jane A. O’Brien, B.Ed. ’62 Joaquin J. Cortez, B.Ed. ’63 Frank T. Ratchford, B.Ed. ’63, M.Ed. ’66 Carole D. Hayes, B.Ed. ’64 Mary W. Nichols, M.Ed. ’64 Grace M. Pujol, C.T.P. ’64 Paul C. Smith, B.S.A.E. ’64 Dona K. Kelley, A.B. ’65 Raymond E. Lovelace, M.D. ’65 Merle J. Rhodes, A.B. ’66 Doris M. Bitter, M.Ed. ’67 Eleanor W. Morgan, M.M. ’67 Robert G. Parkin, B.Ed. ’67 Lynda J. Spain, B.Ed. ’67 David H. Westfall, A.B. ’67 Richard D. Wright, M.M. ’67 Rita J. McAdams, B.B.A. ’68 Hollins Hoguet, B.B.A. ’69 Geraldine A. Jones, M.Ed. ’69 Michael A. Lambright, B.B.A. ’69 James P. Norris, A.B. ’69 Leslie P. Polland, M.D. ’69 Jerald I. Rosen, J.D. ’69 Constance A. Plunkett, M.Ed. ’70 Jonathan P. Roop, A.B. ’70 Sonia M. Burini, A.B. ’71 Robert J. Marquardt, A.B. ’71 Judith F. Abrams, J.D. ’72 Alvin L. Ashley, B.M. ’72, M.M. ’78 Deborah A. Burr, B.Ed. ’72, M.Ed. ’77

Kenneth J. Duckworth, J.D. ’72 Bruce R. Giles, M.Ed. ’72 Emory C. Collier, M.A. ’73 Gordon P. Grossman, B.B.A. ’73 Jerry W. Henderson, M.A. ’73 Floyd J. Mizzles, B.G.S. ’73 Raymond L. Berry, B.F.A. ’74 Renee D. Levy, B.F.A. ’75 Christine L. Raffini, A.B. ’76, M.A. ’79 Joaquin M. Ceballos, B.S.C.E. ’77 Michael J. Kalinowski, B.B.A. ’77 Mark F. Rozwell, B.B.A. ’77 Edward H. Turner, B.B.A. ’77 Rickie R. Brink, B.G.S. ’78 Pamela J. Gallagher, B.S. ’78, M.D. ’83 Kevin E. Kohler, M.S. ’80 Edward N. Loeb, LL.M. ’80 Judy F. Hyman, J.D. ’82 Evelyn P. Snyder, A.B. ’83 Lydia Green Ross, M.B.A. ’86 Susan M. Gershon, M.S.P.T. ’89 Kenneth R. Sjogren, B.M. ’89 Lisa A. Brennan, M.S.Ed. ’97 Thomas P. Autry, M.B.A. ’98 Pamela E. Mills, B.S.N. ’01 Luke T. DeBold, B.S.S.A. ’02 *As of August 4, 2010 We diligently research every name in our “In Memoriam” section but errors can occur. Please notify us of errors so we may correct our records.

D a t e

Alumni Event Information 305-284-2872 or 1-866-UMALUMS Sports Tickets 305-284-CANES or 1-800-GO-CANES www.miami.edu/alumni

BOOK

*For complete Hurricane sports schedules, visit www.hurricanesports.com

Ron Adams’ “Blackburn,” 2002, The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of AfricanAmerican Art

January Through 16 Lowe Art Museum The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African-American Art: Works on Paper and Usable Art: African Aesthetics in Daily Life from the Lowe Through 31 Lowe Art Museum Frank Paulin: An American Documentarian Through April 24 Lowe Art Museum ArtLab @ The Lowe: The Changing Face of Art and Politics 12-14 Global Business Forum Coral Gables campus, Florida

ALUMNI LEADERSHIP Board of Directors Executive Committee

Patrick Barron, B.B.A. ’75, President Jackie Nespral, A.B. ’89, Immediate Past President Dany Garcia, B.B.A. ’92, President-Elect Carrie Anderson, A.B. ’93, Vice President Joris Jabouin, B.B.A. ’90, M.B.A. ’92, Vice President Carlos Lowell, B.S.M.E. ’94, Vice President Karl Schulze, B.B.A. ’74, Vice President Brenda K. Yester, B.B.A. ’90, Vice President Donna A. Arbide, M.B.A.’95, Executive Director

Alumni Trustees Matt Rubel, M.B.A. ’80 Maria Shojaee, A.B. ’85 Bruce Toll, B.B.A. ’65

Regional Directors Alonzo W. Highsmith, B.B.A. ’87 David Panitch, B.B.A. ’80 Andrew F. Potter, M.B.A. ’04 Glenna Shen, A.B. ’93 Linda G. Steckley, M.B.A. ’87 Winston Warrior, B.B.A. ’93, M.B.A. ’96

Directors Juan Albelo, B.S.E.E. ’93, M.S.I.E. ’96, M.B.A. ’96 James J. Blosser, B.B.A. ’60, J.D. ’65 James Burt, Sr., ’80

20 UM Alumni Association Board of Directors Social private residence, Coral Gables, Florida 21 UM Alumni Association Board of Directors Meeting Newman Alumni Center, Coral Gables, Florida 27 Women’s Basketball North Carolina State vs. UM, BankUnited Center, Coral Gables, Florida* 28-March 27 Lowe Art Museum Rafael Soriano: Other Worlds Within, a Sixty-Year Retrospective February 1 Tri-County Alumni Networking Reception Newman Alumni Center, Coral Gables, Florida

Victoria Corrigan Fine, B.S. ’80, M.B.A. ’81 Devang B. Desai, A.B. ’97, J.D. ’03 Martin J. Ganderson, B.B.A. ’73 Frank R. Jimenez, B.S. ’88 Camilo Lopez III, M.B.A. ’82 Noelia Moreno, B.B.A. ’86, J.D. ’89 John Pittaluga, B.S.M.E. ’83 Oti Roberts, B.B.A. ’03 Alan Serure, B.S. ’75, M.D. ’79 Joshua B. Spector, J.D. ’02 Kim Stone, M.B.A. ’03 Alina Tejeda Hudak, B.B.A. ’82, M.P.A. ’84

Faculty Representatives Sue Mullane, B.Ed. ’75, M.Ed. ’77, Ph.D. ’95 Richard L. Williamson, Chair, Faculty Senate

Student Representatives Mia Esposito Christina Farmer Alexander Locust

Alumni Council Clubs

Atlanta Anne Lalinde, B.B.A. ’97, arlalinde@bellsouth.net Austin Mark Gordon, B.B.A. ’81, mgordon@terratele.com Boston Enriques “Rick” Negron, B.S.C. ’02, ricknn@hotmail.com Broward Marcie Voce, A.B. ’98, m.voce@umiami.edu Charlotte, North Carolina Mitchel Richman, B.B.A. ’82, mrich67378@ aol.com Chicago Jose Armario, M.S. ’03, josearmario@comcast.net

5 Men’s Basketball Virginia vs. UM, BankUnited Center, Coral Gables, Florida 9 Spring Career Expo BankUnited Center, Coral Gables, Florida 16-27 Jerry Herman Ring Theatre Lysistrata and Big Love 17-18 President’s Council Reception and Meeting Newman Alumni Center, Coral Gables, Florida 18 Parents Council Meeting Location TBD, Coral Gables, Florida 18 CAS Gallery Goran Reading Series: Chantel Acevedo, A.B. ’97, M.F.A. ’99 March 3-5 Gusman Concert Hall Frost Opera Theater’s Albert Herring 9 Gusman Concert Hall Frost Symphony Orchestra: An American Celebration

Cincinnati Lance Barry, M.A. ’01, lancemichaelbarry@yahoo.com Cleveland Michael Holub, A.B. ’89, mrholub@juno.com Dallas Doris “Janet” Ruiz, A.B. ’95, janet_ruiz@yahoo.com Denver James Hoffman, A.B. ’80, james@greenco.biz Detroit Paul Koch, B.S. ’73, detroitcanes@yahoo.com Houston Christy Marshall, B.S. ’02, clmarsha@bcm.tmc.edu Indianapolis Meena Garg, B.S. ’98, M.P.H. ’99, M.D. ’03, ladyibis@ yahoo.com Jacksonville Jose Pena IV, M.B.A. ’09, j.penaiv@umiami.edu Las Vegas John E. Knuth, M.B.A. ’98, M.S.C.I.S. ’02, john.e.knuth@ us.hsbc.com Los Angeles Joseph “Trey” Borzillieri, B.B.A. ’98, treynice@yahoo.com Louisville Carlos Mendia, B.S.I.E. ’86, M.B.A. ’88, carlos.mendia@gmail.com Miami Michael C. Stewart, B.B.A. ’00, M.B.A. ’04, michael.stewart@ wellsfargoadvisors.com Nashville Joyce Friedman, B.F.A. ’79, joyceefriedman@gmail.com New Jersey Larry Solomon, B.B.A. ’71, solomon@e-consortium.com New York Spencer Weinkle, B.S.C. ’07, s.weinkle@gmail.com Orlando Deborah Moskowitz, B.S.C. ’94, orlandoalumni@gmail.com Palm Beach Benjamin Leis, B.S.C. ’04, ben.leis@gmail.com Philadelphia Gretchen Fanconi-Shifflett, B.S. ’97, phillycane@yahoo.com

22 Ethics Film Series Cosford Cinema, Coral Gables, Florida 22 Senior Day at the Rock Coral Gables, Florida 25 CAS Gallery Goran Reading Series: Terrence Cheng, M.F.A. ’97 April Date TBD Official Class Ring ceremony Location TBD 5 and 26 Ethics Film Series Cosford Cinema, Coral Gables, Florida 13-23 Jerry Herman Ring Theatre Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel 14 UM Alumni Association Awards Ceremony, Newman Alumni Center, Coral Gables, Florida 15 UM Alumni Association Board and Council Meeting, Newman Alumni Center, Coral Gables, Florida

Phoenix Stephen Good, B.S. ’00, stephen.good@yahoo.com Raleigh Amy Gretenstein, B.S.C. ’06, agretenstein@gmail.com Richmond Jan Ashby, A.B. ’69, umcane1969@gmail.com San Diego Ace Blackburn Jr., M.B.A. ’79, J.D. ’82, ace@trangosys.com San Francisco Matthew Kamula, A.B. ’86, J.D. ’89, mkamula@ kamulalawgroup.com Sarasota Chris Clayton, B.S.C. ’94, cclayton12@aol.com Savannah Joe Romanowski, B.B.A. ’79, joeromanowski@yahoo.com Southwest Florida John Clough, J.D. ’99, jcclough@napleslaw.com St. Louis Elizabeth “Beth” Prakash, B.S. ’07, stlouiscanes@gmail.com Tallahassee Caroline Fernandez, A.B. ’06, itzcaroline@gmail.com Tampa Jonathan Brill, B.B.A. ’98, brilljonathan@gmail.com Washington, D.C. Melissa Perez Lasbury, B.B.A. ’02, melissalasbury@gmail.com

Affinity Groups

Black Alumni Society David L. Wilson, B.B.A. ’82, dwilson@dlwenterprise.com Band of the Hour Randy Cash, B.S. ’81, irnarow@aol.com Hurricane Club Council Larry King, Jr., A.B. ’83, M.B.A. ’93, larrykingjr@ tampabay.rr.com, and Sandy Nusbaum, B.B.A. ’72, sanus@aol.com UM Sports Hall of Fame Tod Roy, B.B.A. ’83, tod@ftg-ci.com, and John Routh, Honorary Alumnus ’88, jrouth13@ aol.com

Schools and Colleges College of Engineering Rick De La Guardia, B.S.A.E. ’96, rick.dlge@ bellsouth.net School of Law Jerry M. Markowitz, J.D. ’74, jmarkowitz@mrthlaw.com and Elizabeth B. Honkonen, J.D. ’98, ebh@kennynachwalter.com Miller School of Medicine Ruth C. Schobel, M.D. ’81, ruthschobel@ aol.com and Steven F. Falcone, B.S. ’83, M.D. ’87, M.B.A. ’04, sfalcone@med.miami.edu School of Nursing & Health Studies Rafael A. Camejo, B.S.N. ’06, M.S.N. ’09, r.camejo@umail.miami.edu and Leila Adderton, A.B. ’79, B.S.N. ’05, leadderton@aol.com Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science Jennifer Schull Johnson, A.B. ’97, M.A. ’00, jennifer.schull@ noaa.gov Alumni records of the University of Miami are kept strictly confidential. Directory information is released only to other members of the alumni community unless an alumnus or alumna has requested complete privacy. On a very limited occasion and only at the approval of the UM Alumni Association Board of Directors, directory information is shared with outside vendors who are in a joint relationship with the University. Should you not wish to release your name to any outside vendor and/or other members of the UM alumni community, please notify the Office of Alumni Relations in writing at P.O. Box 248053, Coral Gables, Florida 33124-3410.

Fall 2010 Miami magazine 43

B i g

PICTURE

Faculty Shine in a Whole New Light

Smashing Success

JOHN ZILLIOUX

n the engineering lab of Jacqueline P. James, assistant professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering, students create foot-long concrete cylinders, only to smash them with a hammer to test their properties. The crumbled concrete looks ordinary but its slight sparkle comes from the crushed glass of cathode ray tubes (CRT), found in the massive older television models people are ditching for flat-screen TVs. “People throw out 80,000 tons of CRT glass each year,” says James, M.S. ’02, Ph.D. ’05. Almost all of it ends up in landfills. “The danger,” she explains, “is that the lead components can leach out into the drinking water supply.” James is investigating a better use for this discarded technology— perhaps as filler in the cement used to pave roads. But she still has to address the question about leaching toxins. Focused on green projects, James is also exploring how mold affects air quality, how to maximize natural ventilation in buildings, and how to develop an odorless paint that won’t emit gasses. “It’s a race,” she says of efforts to fabricate a more environmentally friendly product. Through Imara Engineering, her consulting firm, James advances moneyand earth-saving building and design solutions for the business sector. Such insights will help increase efficiency of future UM dormitories as well. For one thing, James suggests, such new residences could do doubleduty as labs capable of measuring the energy usage of their inhabitants. “I live and breathe sustainability,” she says. James was born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a nation of 32 islands located between St. Lucia and Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. A trailblazer, she was the first Vincentian to receive a United States Coast Guard Academy scholarship. In 2000 the three-time All-American in track and field became the academy’s first black female graduate in engineering. But her plan to serve in the Vincentian Coast Guard was stymied, says James, when she was told there were no residential facilities for women and, later, that she was overqualified. Earning a master’s degree in architectural engineering and a doctorate in civil engineering at UM sold her on teaching and research instead. Engineering still connects James to her home country, where she hopes to establish a technical college one day. Currently she’s advising the builders of St. Vincent’s new international airport on the best way to address high winds. Caribbean culture also remains central to her life in Miami. Her husband, fellow Vincentian Kevin Lyttle, is a popular soca artist. Together the young couple balance his international stardom in the West Indian music style and her burgeoning career in academia with caring for their infant son, Kevin Jay Sean. “We keep our life as normal as possible,” James says, but admits that on the rare occasion she has any spare time, “the glamour girl in me loves the cool things we do and the great places we end up.” —Dina Weinstein 44 Miami magazine Fall 2010

Fall 2010 Miami magazine 41

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In the sea of standard Florida license plates, yours can be one that turns heads. The UM plate is available at any Florida tag agency for just $25 above the cost of a regular plate. Best of all, the extra $25 funds University of Miami Alumni Scholarships for UM students. The only requirement is that you must be a Florida resident with a vehicle registered in the state. So go ahead and let your tag tell the world you’re a ’Cane.

What a GR8-PL8! Get the University of Miami License Plate www.miami.edu/alumni

Make the right impression with a UM License Plate featuring Sebastian the Ibis In the sea of standard Florida license plates, yours can be one that turns heads. The UM plate is available at any Florida tag agency for just $25 above the cost of a regular plate. Best of all, the extra $25 funds University of Miami Alumni Scholarships for UM students. The only requirement is that you must be a Florida resident with a vehicle registered in the state. So go ahead and let your tag tell the world you’re a ’Cane.

Get the University of Miami License Plate www.miami.edu/alumni