Miami Magazine | Fall 2007 by University of Miami

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H I G H -T E C H C A R E A N D

major league research S AV E D T H E S E L I T T L E L E AG U E R S.

utting-edge care helped the Cedeño triplets survive extreme

The Miller School of Medicine is a center of extraordinary healing

prematurity. Today Andres, Alejandro, and Adrian have endless

and discovery. It is the nucleus—and the heart—of one of the nation’s

energy and winning smiles. Every day physicians and scientists at

largest and most vibrant academic medical centers. Our physician-

the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine

scientists are renowned for conducting research that contributes to

improve health care for kids. From cancer to kidney failure, HIV to

dramatic advances in medicine. They’re in a unique position because

heart transplants, diabetes to developmen-

they see patients each day and then return to

tal disabilities, their compassion and exper-

their labs to seek answers to some of life’s

tise have changed thousands of children’s

most difficult questions. We’re constantly

lives. No one appreciates it more than par-

thinking ahead—exploring new medical

ents and families whose children have ben-

frontiers, creating new knowledge, and dis-

efited from new treatments and cures.

covering the treatments of tomorrow.

Thinking Ahead. Learn more at www.med.miami.edu. For an appointment, call 305-243-5757 or toll free at 800-432-0191.

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Fall 2007

VOLUME 14 NUMBER 3

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

With a Little Help The Academic Resource Center enables students with disabilities to accentuate their abilities.

Do the Right Thing Hands-on ethics programs teach students how to navigate life’s thorny issues.

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DEPARTMENTS

Show & Tell Nestled in nooks throughout every UM campus, these heirlooms can teach you something about your University.

PostMarks Comments and opinions from alumni and friends

Reversing Depression Genetics and medication combine forces to restore balance in brain chemistry.

University Journal Business in a post-Castro Cuba >> Supercomputing center powers up research >> Four fab deans >> Shalala and Dole deliver conclusions >> Student supports trauma care >> Marta Weeks is BOT chair >> Model UN students represent Cuba >> Professor takes action for WWII survivors >> International Medicine Institute >> UM opens off-campus gallery >> Drill preps UM for emergencies >> Stanford honored by AMIGOS

On the cover: These items, including Ron Fraser’s bronzed shoes, are from the Tom Kearns Sports Hall of Fame on the Coral Gables campus. Cover photo by John Zillioux. 20

Alumni Digest Jackie Nespral is UMAA president >> Bruce Toll names alumni library >> Students advise alumni entrepreneur >> ’Cane films screen in L.A. >> UMAA awards >> Park honors Yamma Yamma

Class Notes News and profiles of alumni worldwide

DateBook Alumni events and activities

Big Picture Anthony Nanni leads a structured life

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P o s t

MARKS Keeping Tabs on Teachers

nother fine issue! It is very meaningful for alumni who lived in Coral Gables and Miami to follow through on not only classmates but also former teachers who are UM graduates. Dr. Alfred G. Wright, A.B. ’37, M.Ed. ’47, listed on page 39 (Class Notes, Spring 2007), taught me and my three brothers when we attended Miami Senior High School. Before that, UM grad Carl Fien, B.M. ’38, taught us at Ponce de Leon Middle School. UM education students did their practice teaching at Coral Gables Elementary School, where Beryl (Chapman) Cesarano, A.B. ’33, taught me in the fifth grade. My father had the E.L.

Comments and Opinions from University of Miami Alumni and Friends

Rasmussen Clinic across the street on Minorca Avenue. I am saddened at the passing of Beryl Cesarano, and it is a blessing that her son served as president of the Alumni Association. At the University of Miami, we had the great benefit of eminent professors who lived in the area after they retired. I could write a book on my many wonderful teachers, both in school and in private lessons, including Richard Merrick, who taught me watercolor, and his uncle Denman Fink,

who taught me oil painting. These were crowned by my later friendship with Marjory Stoneman Douglas, working on environmental concerns. Your publication truly keeps us all together! Geraldine Rasmussen, B.M. ’47 Fort Lauderdale, Florida

A Youngie but Goodie

s an alumnus of the School of Law, I am impressed with the everincreasing quality of Miami magazine. Even with less of a history behind your publication, the magazine is rapidly approaching

the quality of publications chronicling the progress of institutions that have been around for centuries. Keep up the good work. Andrew M. Parish, J.D. ’79 Via the Internet

Service in the ’70s

any thanks for a great story on Rotaract and “service above self,” the motto of Rotary International (Student Spotlight, Spring 2007). I’m a longtime Rotarian, former Rotary Summer Scandinavia/ USA Youth Exchange Program participant, and one of the founding members of the first Rotaract Club at the University of Miami in 1977, along with several other campus leaders.

FROM THE EDITOR

Sentimental Value

very now and then, especially when I am hunched over an ink-scrawled set of magazine proofs, my necklace falls forward and tickles the underside of my chin. It’s a simple charm, a small cluster of three diamonds tethered to an open-link chain. But it links three generations of women in my family—my sister, who wears an identical one; my mother, who gave them to us; and my grandmother, who used to wear them as earrings. I was barely old enough to read when my grandmother died, but I feel her presence every time I lean in to read the proofs. I often think about the sentimental value of objects, how something without a pulse can have so much personality. Objects tell important stories—about the civilizations that created them, the people who used them, and the loving relationships they fortified or symbolized. This issue’s cover story showcases a sampling of

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story-rich objects scattered throughout the University. From letters penned by Thomas Jefferson himself to a drill bit that furrowed out evidence of plate tectonics, seeing these items in person has made me feel less far removed from pivotal events and people of the past. The curious thing about our cover story is that many of the objects we found had been sitting for years on dusty shelves or resting in inconspicuous corners. A little bit of digging was all it took to unearth a wealth of long-lost knowledge. Whether you are at home, at the office, or out around town, you are surrounded by great stories encapsulated in nondescript objects. And if you take a look around with an inquisitive eye, you just might find a cluster of diamonds in the rough. —Meredith Danton, Editor

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The Rotarian advisors at the time were Ron Stone, B.B.A. ’73, who later served as UM Alumni Association president, and Cholly Capps. A look back to Ibis yearbooks from 1975 to 1977 shows no reference to or mention of a Rotaract Club, even though Ron confirmed that my group was indeed the initial chartering group. The 1978 Ibis yearbook shows a group photo of students who were in the Rotaract Club. There were about 30 members at the time I graduated, but about six of us do not appear in the photo. Since I left the University in 1978, I can’t say what happened. But without strong leadership and advisorship, student groups can tend to fall by the wayside.

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Project Medishare to purchase the equipment necessary for the Akamil facility, which is scheduled for completion in December 2007.

Members of the Rotaract Club of UM and Rotary Clubs of South Florida are planning to visit Haiti in January 2008 for the inauguration of the facility. On behalf of Rotaract, we would like to thank you for spreading the good word and helping us attain our goal. Samira Sami, B.S. ’07, and Dipesh Patel, B.S. ’07 Former leaders of The Rotaract Club of UM

Steven “Shags” Shagrin, B.B.A. ’78 Walnut Creek, California

Rotaracters Report Good Results

s a follow up to the article on Rotaract in the spring issue of Miami magazine, we are excited to inform your readers that after 18 months of campaigning, the Rotaract Club of UM reached its fundraising goal. These funds will allow

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attending the University of Miami on the G.I. Bill. He attended classes at night while working a full week at Eastern Airlines. He had no car, so he took a bus to work in the morning. After work, he took another bus to downtown Miami, transferred to a Coral Gables bus, and attended class before reversing the process and returning home around midnight. That’s when he would do his studying. In 1950 we bought a car, which made things a little easier. David kept this routine for three and a half years, raising a family of three children. Despite the hardship, it was worth the effort. After graduating, he rose through the ranks of Eastern Airlines to become a vice president. He remains active in the Alumni Association and is proud to be associated with the University of Miami. DONNA VICTOR

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Part-Time Plan Was Worth the Effort

eing children of the Depression, we were not able to attend college immediately after high school. My husband, David C. Miller Jr., B.B.A. ’52, served four years in the U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence, got married, and had one child before he started

Dorothy Miller, Wife of David C. Miller Jr., B.B.A. ’52 Miami Springs, Florida

Address letters to: Meredith Danton Miami magazine P.O. Box 248105 Coral Gables, FL 33124 E-mail: mdanton@miami.edu

The University of Miami Magazine

Assistant Vice President for Communications and Marketing

P. David Johnson Senior Editorial Director

Todd Ellenberg Editor

Meredith Danton Art/Design Director

Scott Fricker Graphic Designer

Sau Ping Choi Production Manager

Jill McWilliams Editorial Contributors

Jill Bauer Robert C. Jones Jr. Christine Kotler, B.S.C. ’91, M.A. ’01 Barbara Pierce Lisa Sedelnik, M.A. ’00 Leslie Sternlieb David Treadwell

President

Donna E. Shalala Vice President for University Communications

Jacqueline R. Menendez, A.B. ’83 Vice President for University Advancement

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 ©2007, University of Miami. An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

www.miami.edu/miami-magazine

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U n i v e r s i t y

JOURNAL

Noteworthy News and Research at the University of Miami

Island of Opportunity

ou know what Cuba doesn’t have?” asks Jorge Piñon, senior research associate at the UM Institute for Cuban and CubanAmerican Studies (ICCAS). He points to the Yellow Pages—a tiny piece of the massive infrastructure Cuba needs to acquire once the Castro regime falls. The island nation has been frozen in an industrial time capsule since Fidel Castro seized power in 1959. Non-U.S. companies conduct minimal business there, but an embargo has prohibited U.S. companies from doing so since 1962. With Castro’s health on the fritz and his brother General Raúl Castro in charge, the end of the Castro era could turn Cuba into a land of great opportunity.

Piñon, former president of Amoco Oil Latin America, is director of the Cuba Business Roundtable at ICCAS, created last year to help U.S. companies prepare for doing business in a postCastro Cuba. For $10,000 a year, each of the roundtable’s 20-plus clients receives a monthly business and investment newsletter, focus reports, profiles on specific industry sectors, seminars, and access to ICCAS resources and experts. Some companies pay more for custom reports. Graduate students do much of the research, and risk assessment is a key feature. “Emerging markets are like a poker game,” Piñon says. “There are eight seats at the table, and you’re dealt a hand. You can play it, fold,

BUZZ WORDS

“They’re just great music customers, and as a group—Hispanics from many different countries—music is such an important part of their culture.” Rey Sanchez, B.M. ’80, M.M. ’82, associate professor of music business and entertainment industries at the Frost School of Music, on the rise of Latin music CD sales in the United States. –Voice of America

4 Miami magazine Fall 2007

Jorge Piñon, director of the Cuba Business Roundtable, describes the risks and opportunities of business in a post-Castro Cuba.

or walk away from the table knowing that someone else might take your seat. The question is, how can you play but minimize your risk?” Cuba’s relatively small population of 11 million means it will have fewer economic openings than larger emerging markets like China or Eastern Europe. Conditions will be ripe for a middle class to flourish. “You’re not going to have 20 Home Depots, but you’re going to have a bunch of Ace Hardware stores, and the capital for that is going to come from a family in Hialeah,” Piñon says. The U.S. government is eager to help build economic stability because without it there’s a risk of

a mass exodus from Cuba. Concerns like these are why the U.S. Agency for International Development has funded ICCAS’s Cuba Transition Project, which makes recommendations for the reconstruction of a postCastro Cuba. “It is going to be a very slow and difficult transition,” says ICCAS director Jaime Suchlicki, who expects the process will take three to five years. Besides the Cuba Business Roundtable, ICCAS maintains a quarterly electronic journal; a monthly current events report from former CIA officer Brian Latell; a genealogy project; and Casa Bacardi, an interactive cultural center.

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“

RICHARD PATTERSON

ICCAS group briefs businesses on post-Castro market

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Power to the People Research boosted by supercomputing center

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dentifying genetic predispositions to disease and testing airplane aerodynamics might not seem related, but they are linked by a common thread: computational science. “Whether it’s creating new drugs to inhibit diseasecausing genes, predicting climate change, or designing stronger skyscrapers, simula-

Nick Tsinoremas is director of the Center for Computational Science.

tion and computational approaches to solving problems play a huge role in all kinds of research,” says Nick Tsinoremas, founding director of the University’s new Center for Computational Science and former senior director of informatics at Scripps Florida.

The new center will foster research in five areas: physical science, biology and bioinformatics, chemistry, data mining, and visualization. Its state-ofthe-art data center will be located on the Miller School campus in a hurricanehardened garage and chiller plant scheduled for completion in October 2008. There, symmetric multiprocessing units and other hardware will link multiple computers and perform trillions of calculations per second. Additional offices will be located on the Miller School, Rosenstiel School, and Coral Gables campuses. For additional computing power, the center will be able to share the resources of other grids. UM, for example, is one of 60 institutions in the Southeastern Universities Research Association. It also is a part of the Latin American Grid, an IBM-led project that links computers across the United States, Latin America, and Spain. Executive Vice President and Provost Thomas J. LeBlanc conceived of the center after several faculty members conveyed their need for more computing power as well as support staff who can do research programming, enabling the faculty to do what they do best.

FRONTIERS IN RESEARCH

Seismic Insight

If only the inhabitants of Pompeii had been privy to the knowledge of Falk Amelung, assistant professor of geology and geophysics at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, who helped develop a technique to predict volcanic eruptions. From 2002 to 2005, he and colleagues obtained advanced satellite images of the ground deformation associated with volcanic activity at Mauna Loa Volcano in Hawaii. They observed that magma accumulates in rift zones—long, narrow fractures in the Earth’s crust—and creates stress in the area that ultimately erupts. The study was published in the May 18 issue of the journal Science.

Oral Exam

Most head and neck cancers are diagnosed only after symptoms develop, resulting in less than a 50 percent cure rate. Elizabeth J. Franzmann, M.D., assistant professor of otolaryngology, and colleagues at the Miller School of Medicine have developed a salivabased test that is more than 90 percent effective in detecting early-stage cancers and pre-cancerous lesions, which would increase cure rates to 80 percent or better. Their test detects CD44—a protein expressed and shed by squamous cell carcinomas, which account for almost all head and neck cancers—as well as other biomarkers collected in a simple oral rinse. Three patents are pending, and the University is seeking a collaborative partnership to make the test commercially available.

Accidental Alliance

Automaker BMW and the Miller School’s William Lehman Injury Research Center are on a course to make driving safer. In the national, multidisciplinary Accident Research Project, trauma experts and engineers will investigate real-world crashes of BMW automobiles. Their biomechanical analyses will help determine the cause of injuries and aid in the development of new safety measures in BMW’s future vehicles. “More young adult lives are lost each year to trauma than to disease in this country,” says Jeffrey Augenstein, B.S. ’69, Ph.D. ’74, M.D. ’74, director of the Lehman Injury Research Center and a trauma surgeon at University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center for 21 years.

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UniversityJournal

Great Expectations

ailing from California, who succeeds William New York, PhiladelHipp, dean since 1983. “We phia, and right here in want to break down the Miami, four deans have been walls between the departnamed to fill the prolific ments and be a true incubashoes left by their predeces- tor of music so that we can sors. All are renowned affect the landscape for experts in their fields, anxmusic.” ious to As vice dean and director impact an of the Undergraduate Diviinstitution sion of The Wharton School that’s decidat the University of Pennsyledly on the vania, Barbara E. move. Kahn was in Shelton charge of what G. Berg, new U.S. News & dean of the World Report and Phillip and BusinessWeek Shelton G. Berg Patricia Frost consistently School of Music, was the ranked the No. 1 McCoy/Sample Endowed undergraduate Professor of Jazz Studies and business proTerri A. Scandura conductor of the Thornton gram in the Jazz Orchestra at the Unination. Kahn, a 17-year versity of Southern Califorveteran of Wharton, also nia’s Thornton School of served as the Dorothy Music. As chair of that Silberberg Professor of Marschool’s jazz department keting, a senior fellow of the from 1994 to 2002, he is Leonard Davis Institute of credited with raising its pro- Health Economics, and a file to one of the top profaculty member of the Gradgrams of its kind uate Group in in the nation. His the Psychology groundbreaking Department book, Jazz Improthere. A noted visation: The Goalmarketing Note Method, is scholar, she is considered one of coauthor of the seminal texts Grocery Revoluon the subject. tion: The New “I didn’t come Barbara E. Kahn Focus on the Conhere as a jazz guy sumer. She sucto reinforce an already great ceeds Paul K. Sugrue, who jazz department,” says Berg, served as dean for 15 years. 6 Miami magazine Fall 2007

“Older schools are often locked into traditional ways of doing things, but the UM business school is young and vibrant and can embrace new opportunities,” Kahn says. “The school has a strong strategic position with regard to Latin American connections, which can be leveraged to improve its global reputation. We are also looking at opportunities for exchange in China and India.” An industrial psychologist, Terri A. Scandura specializes in the nuances of supervisor-employee relationships and mentoring. Formerly the director of the School of Business Administration’s Ph.D. program in Business Administration, Scandura is now dean of the Graduate School, bringing her expertise to its 49 doctoral programs, 104 master’s programs, and nine specialist proJames M. Tien grams. She succeeds Steven G. Ullmann, dean since 1997 and a UM professor in the Department of Management. “Our students have made a significant commitment in

pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees, and we will look to our faculty to help these individuals attain their personal and professional goals,” says Scandura, who will continue to teach and conduct research in her field. James M. Tien, formerly the Yamada Corporation Professor and founding chair of the Department of Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, succeeds M. Lewis Temares as dean of the College of Engineering. Tien has twice served as acting dean of engineering at Rensselaer, and in 2001 he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest honors accorded an engineer. His research interests include systems modeling, public policy, decision analysis, and information systems. “With the commitment and support of President Shalala and Provost LeBlanc, I look forward to bringing more focus on those scholarly activities that can unite the academic areas of the University of Miami,” Tien says.

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Four new deans continue their schools’ upward mobility

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Breaking down Bureaucracy Shalala and Dole deliver commission conclusions

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ON COURSE Title: CSC 329 “Introduction to Game Programming” Department: Computer Science, College of Arts and Sciences Semester: Spring 2007 PYRAMID PHOTO-

care services to wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Senator Dole estimated that there are more than 3,000 soldiers who would benefit from the recommended changes. “Bureaucracies are created by people of good will who think they can fix the problem by adding a program, adding more people, or adding a regulation,” Shalala said, noting that the commission’s job was to take a step back and focus on what’s good for the patient. “Every seriously wounded soldier needs a single coordinator who is going to be there and a recovery plan that’s designed by doctors and other health care professionals to get them either back to the military or back to civilian life.” Besides offering a more streamlined UM President Donna E. Shalala and former U.S. Senator Bob Dole chat with Lt. Col. Donald Robinson, approach to patient D.O., director of Ryder Trauma Center’s Army Trauma case management that includes a My Training Center. e-Benefits Web site, the commission’s recommencare for injured service dations also address disability members,” Shalala reported benefits, treatment for postto the press in a July teletraumatic stress disorder and conference. traumatic brain injury, and Many of the recommenoptions for family members dations, Shalala said, break of injured military personnel through the bureaucracy that has muddied the timely who have to leave work to become caregivers. delivery of essential health ith 23 public meetings, 17 site visits at military and Veterans Affairs facilities, and a national survey of 1,700 seriously injured soldiers, leading the President’s Commission on Care for Returning Wounded Warriors has been a three-month whirlwind for UM President Donna E. Shalala and former U.S. Senator Bob Dole. Appointed in March by President George W. Bush, the nine commission members “unanimously approved six bold recommendations to serve, support, and simplify

Get into the Game

n the three decades since Atari’s Pong bounced its way into American homes, video gaming has become a $12 billion-plus industry. Designing a game that appeals to today’s sensoryhungry, interactively driven players requires a complex set of skills— “gaming concepts, software engineering, computer graphics, digital music and video, multimedia platforms, artificial intelligence, and physics fundamentals,” explains Uttam Sarkar, professor at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, who is a visiting professor in the UM Department of Computer Science until spring 2008. Sarkar, who chose computer science as a career “because it was the most exciting academic discipline in the early 1980s,” requires students to produce a working video game. He doesn’t expect anything along the lines of Halo or Grand Theft Auto, which are as complex as a Hollywood production, but he was impressed by his students’ classroom creations. “Some groups nicely conceived imaginary worlds where they placed their hero and adversaries and created encounters that made the game very interesting,” Sarkar says. The course is part of the Gaming Track, which attracts onefourth of students in the Department of Computer Science. Sarkar believes the video game industry will continue to sizzle, particularly with advances in wireless technology, network gaming, and educational applications. “The primary goal of this course is to make students familiar with the basics so they can comfortably enter the gaming industry as a career if they wish,” Sarkar says. “The market doesn’t have enough supply of such skilled manpower, and that’s a big opportunity for those who would like to pursue it.” Fall 2007 Miami magazine 7

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UniversityJournal

Mutual Mentorship says Vara, who volunteers between 10 and 30 hours a week at the trauma center, doing rauma surgeon, profeseverything from sor, and researcher Juan pushing gurneys Asensio, M.D., recites this and restocking credo of his Tau Epsilon Phi rooms to running fraternity daily. It is an X-rays and comappropriate motivator for forting patients. someone who has spent the UM/Jackson last 22 years helping people volunteers are usuin some of America’s toughally not permitted est cities navigate the fine in the Trauma line between life and death, Resuscitation Unit, regardless of their financial but Vara worked status. The violence he witUM junior Alex Vara created Friends of Ryder Trauma Center, his way in by shad- which supports the work of his mentor, Juan Asensio. nessed as a child in Cuba owing physicians during the revolution and and persistently making the grief of watching vioprocedures and terminology,” himself known throughout lence claim his brother’s life Vara says. “But, more importhe unit. in Chicago years later tantly, they have taught me “Dr. Asensio and the shaped his career path. compassion, respect, and other physicians and staff “Health care is a universal how to deal with people and have taught me countless right,” says Asensio, director families during traumatic circumstances.” Founded in 1992, Ryder is Marta S. Weeks Is First Female Board of Trustees Chair the only certified level 1 he responsibility of governing the University of Science, the Miller School of Medicine, and the School trauma center in MiamiDade County. Through outMiami belongs to the Board of Trustees, which of Nursing and Health Studies, among other areas. Weeks has served on the Univer- reach efforts such as a now operates under the direction of sity of Miami Board of Trustees brochure and Web site, Vara Marta S. Weeks. The first woman in since 1983. She has a bachelor’s has helped raise more than University history to chair the Board degree in political science from $160,000 thus far for Friends of Trustees, Weeks succeeds Dean Stanford University and a master’s of Ryder Trauma Center. The C. Colson, J.D. ’77, whose leadership degree from the Episcopal Theologi- endowment for the chair is evident in the success of the cal Seminary of the Southwest in will support translational University’s billion-dollar-plus Austin, Texas. research, which Asensio says Momentum fundraising campaign. “She takes the reins at a remark- will focus on shock, massive Weeks and her late husband, able point in the University’s hisbleeding, and cardiac events. L. Austin Weeks, have been longtime Marta S. Weeks has been a UM tory,” says University President Additional funds raised will University friends and philanthropists. trustee since 1983. Donna E. Shalala. “She is also an support improvements at Over the years they have provided exceptional philanthropist and has set a great examRyder, such as renovation of significant gifts to the Frost School of Music, the ple for others.” the waiting room. Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric To live in the light of friendship, to walk in the path of chivalry, to serve for the love of service.

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of trauma clinical research, training, and community affairs and director of trauma surgery and critical care fellowship at the Miller School of Medicine. Now through the friendship, chivalry, and service of a University of Miami student named Alex Vara, Asensio will have additional resources to help him improve the practice of critical care. Asensio is the inaugural holder of a $2 million endowed chair in trauma surgery funded by the Friends of Ryder Trauma Center, the philanthropy Vara created this year. “At first, no one took me seriously because I came up with the idea when I was 17. As a college student I had to prove my determination,”

DONNA VICTOR

Together, student and teacher improve trauma care

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Ambassadors of Irony Winning Model UN team represents Cuba

DONNA VICTOR

f the 24 University of Miami students at the National Model United Nations (NMUN) conference in New York City, some faced the added challenge of defending a government from which their families fled. Representing the Republic of Cuba, the UM delegation competed against more than 2,500 students from 181 institutions and 65 nations to win five major awards: first place for Outstanding Delegation and Outstanding Position Paper and three Best Committee Awards. “You gain points on how realistically you represent your country and how successful you are in getting people to form a consensus,” explains Patricia Mazzei, A.B., B.B.A. ’07, a first-generation Cuban-American who served as a head delegate with Nitin Aggarwal, A.B., B.S. ’07. “Some coun-

tries were hesitant to work with us because Cuba isn’t in the Organization of American States.” Cuba was among a list of preferences the UM team submitted to NMUN organizers. “I don’t think it was a coincidence that they gave us Cuba. I wholeheartedly believe they wanted to throw us a curve and see what we were capable of doing,” says Cristina Florez, NMUN team and club advisor, whose father used to be a UN freelance interpreter. She’s also a native of Cuba. “The resolutions students form actually reach the ears of real UN diplomats.” Patricia Abril, assistant professor of business law and UM team faculty advisor, and academicians at the University’s Institute for Cuban and CubanAmerican Studies helped prepare the students for the competition.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Computers Aiding the Aged

Older adults are generally not as tech-savvy as younger generations, but that doesn’t mean they can’t find their place in the digital age. Sara Czaja, codirector of the Center on Aging and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Miller School of Medicine, was honored with an IBM Faculty Award to research software applications designed for older adults. The award will support student internships and academic collaboration with IBM’s accessibility research laboratory. Czaja also is director of the multisite, NIH-funded Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement.

Understanding Climatic Forces

my Clement, associate professor of meteorology and physical oceanography in the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, has earned two prestigious awards: the Clarence Leroy Meisinger Award from the American Meteorological Society and the James B. Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union. Both awards recognize her research on climate. Using computer modeling, Clement has shown that changes in El Niño are a fundamental aspect of past and future climate changes. Her findings put the emphasis on the role of the tropics, rather than the high latitudes, in driving climate change.

Molecular Mechanisms in Breast Cancer

From a pool of 300 candidates, Joyce M. Slingerland, M.D., Ph.D., was one of five to receive a Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award. The five-year, $300,000-ayear award will support Slingerland’s research on how estrogen affects the action of a key cell cycle inhibitor, p27, to regulate breast cancer cell proliferation. Director of the Braman Family Breast Cancer Institute at UM/Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Slingerland also is one of 115 recipients of a $200,000 Breast Cancer Research Foundation Grant. Both awards will fund research to determine if a new molecular targeting drug called an Src inhibitor can restore responsiveness to treatment with anti-estrogens in hormone-resistant breast cancer.

President Donna E. Shalala meets with guayabera-clad delegates. Fall 2007 Miami magazine 9

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UniversityJournal

Apologies Necessary Professor’s book research becomes a personal crusade

his summer, assistant professor of English M. Evelina Galang traveled to Manila, the Philippines, to visit her grandmothers— all 40 of them. “When I tease a lola (Tagalog for grandmother) about her beauty or her youthful sense of humor, the camera is forgotten and the voice softens,” Galang writes in her forthcoming book, Lola’s House: Women Living with War. “The lola becomes my lola, and the story is a secret that she whispers in my ear.” It has been eight years since Galang first met the women of Lola’s House, a community center in Manila where a special group of grandmothers finds support for dealing with the atrocities of their youth. They are among an estimated 200,000 so-called “comfort women” throughout Asia who were abducted and forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers during World War II. Galang’s book, still in progress, focuses on the

stories of 15 Filipino women who came forth after more than 50 years of silence. As a first-generation American, Galang’s initial visit to the Philippines in 1999 was a homecoming of sorts. On her second visit in 2002, as a Fulbright scholar, she saw the garrisons where the survivors were imprisoned— abandoned churches, city halls, farmhouses, and schools. “I stood quietly in each space and closed my eyes,” Galang writes. “I heard the crying of girls left swollen and bleeding, only to be taken once more without a moment to clean themselves.” Armed with more than 30 hours of video transcripts and testimony, Galang has spent the last several years slowly putting the pieces together. “I can sit in front of my computer and write fiction for a whole weekend, but after two hours of this, my

“Doctors’ hands should not be tied by categorical legal decisions.” Carla Lupi, M.D., assistant clinical professor in the Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, reacting to the Supreme Court –ABC News

10 Miami magazine Fall 2007

body slips into a hypnotic fatigue,” she says. “Their trauma becomes my trauma. Stories of abuse, one after another, are numbing.” Recently Galang’s writing met a serendipitous distraction. Early this year, Mike Honda, a congressman from

Galang became a frontrunner in the 121 Coalition, a national organization formed to generate support for HR 121. She traveled locally and nationally, often with the help of UM students, in a three-month grassroots effort that secured

“Their trauma becomes my trauma. Stories of abuse, one after another, are numbing.”

BUZZ WORDS

ruling that banned certain types of late-term abortions.

M. Evelina Galang has good news for her lolas in the Philippines.

California and a JapaneseAmerican, sponsored House Resolution 121, which urges the Japanese government to “formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner” for its brutality toward the comfort women. Despite an unofficial 1993 apology from a former Japanese cabinet member, current Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in March insisted there was no evidence of coercion into sexual slavery. “I know there’s evidence,” Galang says. “I’ve met the evidence.”

nearly 800 signatures and 50 handwritten letters to congressmen. In late July, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously adopted HR 121. “The passage of this bill does not guarantee that justice will be served by the Japanese government, but we do know that we are moving in that direction,” says Galang, whose devotion has been tireless. Her reward, however, is being able to tell her lolas that the world is urging Japan to recognize their suffering and help prevent this from happening again.

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PEAK PERFORMANCE

Bowled Over by Dolphin Stadium

University of Miami running back Javarris James remembers sitting in the Orange Bowl stands nine years ago and watching his cousin, Edgerrin, now a star NFL player for the Arizona Cardinals, run for 299 yards in an upset of third-ranked UCLA. The younger James recalls grabbing a handful of Orange Bowl turf and basking in the victory with thousands of other ’Canes fans. Moments like that over the last 70 years made the Orange Bowl the revered stadium that it is. The Hurricanes won three national championship games on the Orange Bowl turf and had an NCAA-record 58-game home winning streak there from 1985 through 1994. There were other memorable moments, too: a famous speech by President John F. Kennedy to Cuban exiles after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, concerts, boxing, and even Olympic soccer matches in 1996. But now, a new era is beginning. Starting in the 2008 season, the Hurricanes will play their home football games in the 75,000-seat Dolphin Stadium. The University agreed to a 25-year lease with the facility, which is home to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and Major League Baseball’s Florida Marlins. The UM Board of Trustees’ 17-member executive committee approved the move on August 21. City of Miami officials had discussed with UM the prospect of more than $200 million in Orange Bowl upgrades, but that would have provided only basic and infrastructural improvements at a major taxpayer expense. “The Orange Bowl chapter of our history,

in which we can all take great pride, will never close, and we are confident that the legacy of Miami Hurricanes football will live on and thrive as we move to a new location,” says UM President Donna E. Shalala. Dolphin Stadium is one of the NFL’s premier venues. It not only has a higher capacity than the Orange Bowl (74,916 to 72,319) but also boasts 240 suites and 10,175 club seats compared with none for

attract our fans to come to our games and support those student-athletes we put on the field, we can transfer the history to a new building.” For UM coaches, the facility will be a powerful recruiting tool. “It’s going to be a wonderful experience and a great facility for us,” says head coach Randy Shannon, who once walked the sidelines of Dolphin Stadium when he was a defensive assistant for the Dolphins in the late 1990s. UM players are excited about the move. “A lot of the players like the idea of playing on the same field that an NFL team plays on,” says defensive end Calais Campbell.

Dee Days Coming to a Close

the OB. It has one of the world’s largest plasma TV displays, high-definition video boards, more than 1,600 television monitors throughout the stadium, and an all-new LED ribbon board. An estimated $300 million renovation project is adding 360,000 square feet of enclosed space to the stadium, built in 1987. The stadium’s solid history of its own includes hosting four Super Bowls, the annual FedEx Orange Bowl, and the upcoming 2010 Super Bowl. Many of the UM traditions at the Orange Bowl (“Touchdown Tommy” and his cannon, the players running through the smoke tunnel, and The Ring of Honor) will be transferred to Dolphin Stadium. “The Orange Bowl never scored a touchdown. The Orange Bowl never cheered. It was the people who were there,” says UM Athletic Director Paul Dee, M.Ed. ’73, J.D. ’77. “As long as we continue to attract to the University of Miami the finest college players and the finest coaches, as long as we’re able to

thletic director Paul Dee, M.Ed. ’73, J.D. ’77, announced he will step down from the position he has held since 1993. Effective June 1, 2008, Dee will trade his post for a spot on the UM faculty, most likely in the School of Law or the sports administration program. “Paul Dee, after 27 years of leadership in two critical positions, first as general counsel, then as athletic director, has decided to step down at the end of the next academic year,” UM President Donna E. Shalala said in a statement to the public. “I’m pleased that he will be joining the faculty and look forward to his continued wise counsel.” Prior to joining the University in 1981 as vice president and general counsel, Dee worked for the Miami law firm of Mershon, Sawyer, Johnston, Dunwoody & Cole and was a law clerk for Chief U.S. District Judge Charles Fulton in Miami. A nationwide search for a new athletic director is under way.

Fall 2007 Miami magazine 11

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UniversityJournal

Harvesting International Bonds

or nearly 40 years, thousands of Latin American physicians and medical students have done rotations at the Miller School of Medicine. As participants of the William J. Harrington Medical Training Program for Latin America, they returned to their native countries with not only a global perspective but also a rich personal bond that continues today. “The Harrington Training Program planted the seeds that we are now harvesting,” says Eduardo de Marchena, A.B. ’75, M.D. ’80, director of the Miller School’s new International Medicine Institute, which will establish educational, clinical,

primarily because a former Harrington trainee who is now an interventional cardiologist there is paving the way. The University is considering a partnership to build a hospital there. De Marchena is director of Interventional Cardiology and director of the Cardiovascular Center at the Miller School, as well as chairman of the University of Miami Medical Group. The International Medicine Institute will encompass all types of subspecialties, though many of the early programs will be cardiovascular in nature. “There is no better person than Dr. de Marchena to oversee the entire insti-

Goldschmidt, M.D., senior vice president for medical affairs and dean of the Miller School of Medicine. In terms of education, the institute will foster faculty and student As director of the International Medicine Institute, Eduardo de exchange Marchena plans to put the Miller School on the global map. between the Miller School and institustandards, we can apply it to tions in Latin America and the approval process here.” the Caribbean. On the treatOne area the institute ment side, the institute aims may help advance is percutato attract more international neous heart valve replacepatients, either to the ment, a less-invasive valve replacement technique pioneered in part by William O’Neill, M.D., executive dean for clinical affairs at the Miller School. The proceUM/Jackson Memorial dure is tentatively approved Medical Center or to clinics in Europe, Canada, and established in patients’ home Latin America, but de countries. Designed also to Marchena says that the be a hub for international United States is far behind. research, the institute may Guayaquil, Ecuador, is help advance the practice of another city where UMmedicine in the United trained physicians are helpStates. ing the institute launch its “A lot of new medical first programs. The Univerinnovations are arriving earsity’s location in the “Gatelier in other countries way to Latin America” because U.S. regulations are makes collaborating with so stringent,” de Marchena this region most convenient, says. “If the research we do but de Marchena expects that there is done in a meticulous in time the institute will be manner, according to FDA truly global.

“A lot of new medical innovations are arriving earlier in other countries because U.S. regulations are so stringent.” and research operations in Latin America and the Caribbean before branching out worldwide. Cartagena, Colombia, is one of the initial target cities,

tute, as he has delivered countless medical education presentations and clinical symposiums in diverse areas of cardiology throughout the Americas,” says Pascal J.

BUZZ WORDS

“The fact is that not knowing anything about Buddhism or Islam, for example, is not the same as not knowing anything about Nietzsche or Plato.” Ivan Petrella, assistant professor of religious studies, suggesting that a course in world religions be a requirement at all universities. –The New York Times

12 Miami magazine Fall 2007

DONNA VICTOR

New Miller School institute fosters medical collaboration

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GoFigure

Outer Space

A strictly by-the-numbers perspective of UM

Art department opens gallery in art epicenter

DONNA VICTOR

PYRAMID PHOTOGRAPHICS

Project Space expands UM arts exposure.

Wesley Foundation Building on the Coral Gables campus. “We see Project Space as a place to promote the work

of our students, alumni, and faculty to area art dealers and art buyers,” says Lise Drost, chair of the Department of Art and Art History. “There will continue to be student shows on campus through the CAS Gallery and the Lowe Art Museum, as it is important for them to share their work with the University community.” The exhibition lineup at the 3,500-square-foot Project Space this fall includes the South Florida Graduate Student Showcase in October, which highlights M.F.A. work from schools throughout South Florida, and Craft-ed, a curated exhibition of three artists who construct their work using out-of-the-ordinary tools or techniques. During Art Basel Miami Beach in December, Project Space will feature new works from UM artists. “The warehouse that we chose for Project Space is in the heart of activity in Wynwood,” says gallery director Andy Gambrell, M.F.A. ’06. “We see this gallery as a powerful networking tool and are excited to be able to invite artists from other schools in the area to exhibit with us.”

Proportion of undergraduate students at UM who are Hispanic >> 27 percent

Proportion of Hispanic undergraduate students nationally >> 12.7 percent

Hispanic Business Magazine’s rank of UM’s law, business, and medical schools >> No. 2, 4, and 3, respectively

The best sweet treat a dollar can buy >> Cuban cafecito

Passengers who have toured UM’s Ocean Lab aboard Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas (since October 2000) >> 80,000

Faculty publications and presentations using Ocean Lab data >> More than 100

Ocean Lab data collected thus far >> 2.5 terabytes (2,500,000,000,000 bytes)

Number of songs a 2.5 terabyte iPod could hold >> 625,000

Proportion of Americans in 2000 who believed college is necessary for success >> 31 percent

Proportion of Americans today who believe college is necessary for success >> 50 percent

Proportion of Americans who say colleges teach students what they need to know >> 66 percent

Proportion of American parents who expect their child to go to college >> 86 percent Sources: University of Miami Office of Planning and Institutional Research, The National Center for Education Statistics, Hispanic Business Magazine’s 2007 Diversity Report highlighting best graduate programs for Hispanic students, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Apple, Inc., Squeeze Play: How Parents and the Public Look at Higher Education Today (2007 report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education)

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ILLUSTRATIONS: JACK HORNADY

esides the sun and seeand-be-seen haunts, fine art is another Miami asset. It’s why Art Basel Switzerland—the world’s preeminent art show— bestowed its only foreign offshoot upon us. With the recent opening of Project Space, the University’s Department of Art and Art History taps the epicenter of Miami’s arts district. Located on NW Second Avenue in the Wynwood Arts District, between the Design District and the Performing Arts Center, Project Space is an important complement to the CAS Gallery in the

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UniversityJournal

In Case of Emergency

egarding emergency response, the University agrees with Oscar Wilde: “To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.” Recent tragedies like Hurricane Katrina and the shootings at Virginia Tech have shown that academia is not immune from the unexpected. The University’s Disaster Preparation and Recovery Plan dates back to 1992, after Hurricane Andrew caused more than $18 million in damage at UM. Updated annually, the 600-page plan covers everything from hurricanes to bomb threats, terrorist acts, fires, shootings, hazardous materials spills, and civil disturbances. “The real crux of the plan

is in the Crisis Decision Team, the core group of folks who get together in any type of crisis, collect the facts, make decisions, and disseminate them through the different sources we have,” says Alan Fish, vice president for business services and chair of disaster management for the Crisis Decision Team. Communication methods include: a hotline staffed by UM employees in an emergency operations center; a Web site (www.miami.edu/ prepare); e-mail alerts; and the new 3n InstaCom system, which sends multiple

PYRAMID PHOTOGRAPHICS

University prepares for the unexpected

This summer UM and Coral Gables Police conducted a massive emergency response exercise.

notices simultaneously via phone, e-mail, SMS text messaging, Instant Messenger, pager, fax, BlackBerry devices, and more. Role-playing also aids preparation. This summer the UM and City of Coral Gables Police Departments led Operation Sandbox, in which police officers and fire-rescue personnel from

Stanford Is Honored by His Amigos

Award, created to honor those who have greatly conUniversity of Miami Libraries entourage tributed to the mission of the organization, to the recently traveled to Americus, Georgia, to person for whom it is named. honor Henry King Stanford, “President Stanford was instrupresident of the University mental in helping us create the from 1961 to 1982. The continCHC, was one of the founding gent included University members, and served as the first Librarian William Walker and cochair of the AMIGOS,” says representatives from the Cuban Esperanza B. de Varona, the Heritage Collection (CHC) and Esperanza Bravo de Varona Chair AMIGOS, an organization that of the CHC. promotes and supports the Besides his role in establishing CHC. The CHC is the most comthe CHC within the UM Libraries prehensive collection of research Henry King Stanford, UM president from system, Stanford created many materials for Cuban and Cuban- 1961 to 1982, is a friend of the CHC. educational and cultural programs American studies. AMIGOS prethat helped Cuban exiles adapt to their new life in sented its first AMIGOS of the University of Miami the United States. Cuban Heritage Collection Henry King Stanford 14 Miami magazine Fall 2007

19 agencies across South Florida responded to a series of mock incidents on the Coral Gables campus. “This is by far the largest training exercise that this region has seen in all my years as a police officer,” says David Rivero, UM chief of police and a 26-year veteran of the City of Miami Police Department. And Fish recently scheduled a “critical incident tabletop exercise,” in which participants determine what they would do at each point along detailed scenario timelines. “You force your decision-makers to make critical decisions with limited information in short periods of time,” says Fish. With each hurricane threat, the University receives 60,000 meals and truckloads of water to sustain students and personnel for multiple days. For worstcase scenarios, it contracts with airlines and buses to charter students out of Miami.

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JOHN ZILLIOUX

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Prestigious Award Funds Ribbitting Research

iology Ph.D. student Venetia Briggs was collecting data on the mating habits of red-eyed tree frogs in her native Belize when renegade poachers of the rare xate leaf infiltrated her research station. She, along with four assistants and 16,000 tadpoles, evacuated the property and set up camp for a few months at her parents’ house several towns away. “We took over the whole house,” she chuckles. “My mom came home and found buckets of tadpoles all over the place.” But Briggs’s parents didn’t mind. Her father, a British agricultural economist who specializes in environmental impact, and her mother, a florist from Trinidad, always imparted a deep appreciation of nature in their children. It worked. Briggs recently became one of 15 worldwide recipients of the prestigious L’Oréal-UNESCO International Fellowship for Women in Science, which gives her a $20,000 research grant, renewable for a second year. This summer, while preparing to defend her Ph.D. thesis (which shows that female red-eyed tree frogs favor larger males for mating), Briggs began a postdoctoral program at Boston University. She is studying communication signals, such as mating calls and flank color patterns, in red-eyed tree frogs. The fellowship will fund her fieldwork at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.

Attending the University of Miami had been a dream for Briggs since the age of 19, when she read a book on Belizean amphibians and reptiles written by UM biology professor Julian Lee, who became her Ph.D. mentor. Through her research at UM, Briggs discovered that the difference between frog and human behavior isn’t such a far leap. “Like other animals, people are inclined to function on instinct,” she explains. “For example, take a look at how people react when somebody new walks into the room, how body language changes. Without a word, you can tell who likes that person and who may not.” Briggs’s fellowship is the product of a partnership formed in 2000 between cosmetics company L’Oréal and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to increase opportunities for women in science. At a welcoming ceremony in Paris for the 2007 fellows, Briggs learned that women represent less than 3 percent of all Nobel laureates. “That’s ridiculous,” says Briggs, who has long been an advocate for women in science and leadership. She recalls being 18 years old and meeting a group of Belizean government officials while working at a conference center in the capital city of Belmopan. “They asked me if I had thought about becoming the first lady of Belize some day. I said, ‘No, but I have thought about becoming the first female prime minister.’”

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Before entering the hospital for a minor sinus procedure in 2003, Joanna Slochowski had never heard of the University’s Academic Resource Center (ARC). That was the point at which her life became divided into befores and afters.

■

Before the procedure, she was

an A student majoring in elementary education and psychology, as well By Jill Bauer Photos by John Zillioux

as an accomplished dancer. After the procedure, she suffered a massive

With a Little Help The Academic Resource Center

stroke and would have to relearn how to hold up her head, how to walk,

helps students with disabilities

talk, eat, read, and write. Before the procedure, she flourished academ-

overcome their challenges,

ically and socially. After, daily life was a struggle. Then she turned to the

accentuate their abilities,

ARC.

■

“The ARC has helped me tremendously,” says Slochowski,

and flourish on campus

now a junior majoring in Judaic studies with minors in elementary edu-

and in the world.

cation, psychology, and dance. “I used to be a really great note taker. People used to borrow my notes. But now I can’t keep up with the professors. The ARC provides me with note takers, and I also take my tests at the ARC, where readers help me go over my answers.”

■

The Aca-

demic Resource Center is a spacious office tucked away on the second floor of the Whitten University Center. The ARC has become the goto place for hundreds of students with documented disabilities, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), cancer, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, and anxiety disorders, as well as for students without disabilities who just need a little extra scholastic help.

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Keaton “Zubin” Grogg, left, and Steven Posada achieve academic success with a little help from the Academic Resource Center.

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hrough its Office of Disability Services, the ARC reviews documentation and assigns accommodations in accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. “We help students with anything that impedes them from achieving their academic goals,” says ARC director Mykel Billups, M.S.Ed. ’94. “We make things happen for students. If there aren’t door openers, we install door openers.” Americans with disabilities—51 million according to the 2002 U.S. Census report—are the country’s largest minority. The ARC staff enables more than 400 students with various disabilities each year to reach their academic goals. Students with disabilities have made significant progress in their transition to adulthood during the past 25 years. A 2005 report by the U.S. Department of Education shows that the number of students with disabilities who completed high school increased 17 percent from 1987 to 2003 and that their enrollment in postsecondary education more than doubled to 32 percent. “The national increases are consistent with what has been taking place at the University of Miami,” Billups says. “The number of students requesting note-taking services and testing accommodations through our office has more than doubled in the last five years.” During any given afternoon there are students at the ARC participating in study groups and peer tutoring, a service offered to all students on almost any subject. The center also houses “distraction-reduced testing environments” monitored by cameras. Common accommodations also include extended time for in-class exams and access to class notes, scribes, and readers. Billups explains that prior to 2002, 18 Miami magazine Fall 2007

services for UM students needing academic assistance were scattered throughout the campus. Pat Whitely, vice president for student affairs, petitioned for an umbrella organization housed in the University Center. Billups, daughter of longtime UM special education professor Charles Mangrum, has been at the ARC helm since 2005. She says that the level of support and involvement in students’ lives makes the ARC unique among similar centers at other institutions. “We become part of our students’ lives academically, socially, and many times emotionally,” Billups says. Lee Lefkowitz is a senior marine science major who was born with a hearing impairment. With a full-time position as a bank supervisor and the added responsibility of caring for his 80year-old grandmother, he is grateful for the ARC. “Dr. Billups is by far the most helpful person at UM. She e-mails me to see how things are going, and if I have a problem I go to her, and she’ll tell me how to fix it or whom to contact.” A stenographer accompanies Lefkowitz to all of his classes. The University picks up the estimated annual

$80,000 tab for the translation. “She has her computer and I have mine, and she feeds the lectures to me in real time,” says Lefkowitz, who notes that his disability is otherwise not very obvious. “I’ve assimilated myself into a hearing environment. A lot of people don’t even know.” “The ARC has definitely made my life easier,” says Steven Posada, a junior

“We help students with a sports administration major. Posada suffers from spastic cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that limits motor skills and muscle memory. “The social adversity that we deal with on a daily basis is sometimes overwhelming, and the ARC helps you deal with external problems. They help you to just be a student.” Posada says he was reminded of how difficult living with a disability can be when he missed his first class at UM because of a transportation glitch. “A specialized service picked me up at 6 a.m. and my class was at 9, but they got me there at 10. This is the sort of thing that takes away your control,

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Left, ARC director Mykel Billups arranges for a stenographer to attend class with Lee Lefkowitz, who is hearing-impaired. Above, Joanna Slochowski works on a project for her quilting class, not an easy task after suffering from a massive stroke.

your power, your ability to do anything spontaneous.” Ora Prilleltensky, professor of educational and psychological studies in the School of Education, fully understands Posada’s position. Prilleltensky, who has written extensively about individuals with disabilities, has a form of muscular dystrophy and uses a power wheelchair to get around campus.

1:08 PM

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all that we do here. About 80 percent of our students have a learning or emotional disability, and about 8 percent have mobility issues. We make sure faculty members understand the nature of the disability and how it impacts classroom learning.” When Slochowski—who initially suffered from anxiety and depression after her stroke—returned to UM in 2004, she says that the ARC staff advocated for her on several occasions. “I was having a problem with one of my teachers in a quilting class because she didn’t understand that I wasn’t able to use the rotary cutter. Dr. Billups spoke to the teacher, and now we get along great,” Slochowski says. “Joanna’s a very smart girl but her rate of processing is a bit challenged, so she needs the extended time accommodation for testing and a reader to read exams to her,” says Shawn Post, B.Ed. ’73, M.Ed. ’74, Ph.D. ’78, associate dean in the School of Education. “But we don’t do anything to jeopardize the integrity of the courses we teach. Every student is responsible for the same pro-

gets around campus in a motorized wheelchair. “Roque requires a scribe and his speech is impaired, so a test can take him six hours,” she says. “There’s a lot of choreography involved.” “When I was accepted to the University of Miami, the ARC was one of the first things I checked out. I wanted to make sure that wherever I would go, I would get the accommodations I needed to successfully complete my college education,” says Céspedes, who lived in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, until the age of 9 but could not attend school there because of a lack of facilities that could accommodate him. His mother homeschooled him and brought him to Miami, where he ultimately graduated high school as No. 9 in a class of 308 students. Though she attended the University before the ARC was established, Sabrina Cohen, B.S.C. ’00, adapted well to campus life with help from the Office of Disability Services, which is now part of the ARC. Cohen, who now owns a thriving PR and marketing firm, suffered a 1992 car accident that left her a

h anything that impedes them from achieving their academic goals.” “People with disabilities are usually seen as patients, not in positions of power. But the ARC is there to accentuate students’ abilities and to create a level playing field,” she says. Posada notes that sometimes it’s the obstacles that motivate him. “It’s not what you have to prove to your peers; it’s what you have to prove to your professors. They often doubt you and wonder what you can do.” Billups is quick to point out that many students’ disabilities are invisible and often include cancer and other diseases. “We have a few students in wheelchairs, but they don’t represent

fessional knowledge.” Cherie Bauer, whose son, Robert, is a senior majoring in political science and suffers from ADHD, says it was important for her son to be in a school that offers services to disabled students. “My son is able to take his exams at the ARC in a quiet environment, and he has never felt stigmatized in any way,” she says. Of course, scheduling upwards of 400 students with disabilities can be quite a task. Erica Velarde, ARC senior staff assistant, has worked closely with Roque Céspedes, a sophomore with a double major in meteorology and mathematics. Céspedes has cerebral palsy and

quadriplegic. “I lived in Mahoney with all the other students,” she says. “The only difference for me was that my suite was wheelchair accessible and they modified the shower for me. In the dorms I had a great social life.” “I love UM overall,” Posada says. “I’d recommend it for any disabled student. They’re comforting, and they provide all the services that make you feel like you are on your own. Which is important for me because I like feeling like I’m on my own.” j i l l b au e r is a book author and freelance writer in Miami, Florida. Fall 2007 Miami magazine 19

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Life is full of ethical crossroads. Hands-on programs teach students in every discipline how to think through the thorny issues.

B y D a v i d Tr e a d w e l l a n d M e r e d i t h D a n t o n Illustration by Dave Cutler

Her cremated remains were buried in a Clearwater cemetery more than two years ago. But even in death, just as in life, Terri Schiavo’s polarizing case—and the end-of-life issues it raised—has endured. Meanwhile, it’s been almost six years since Enron, once the world’s seventh-largest company, crumpled into bankruptcy proceedings after years of accounting tricks and cooking the books. But the debate over corporate fraud still lingers. They are cases that seem worlds apart; yet, they are linked by a commonality that permeates almost everything we do. “Just read the headlines of any major newspaper,” says Anita Cava, codirector of the University of Miami Ethics Programs and associate professor of business law in the School of Business Administration. “You’ll find ethical issues everywhere.”

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RICHARD PATTERSON

ndeed they are, and not just in high-profile stories such as Enron or Terri Schiavo (on which Ethics Programs codirector Ken Goodman and other UM faculty served as expert sources). We labor perpetually over a seemingly endless set of challenges: Should there be a limit on compensation for CEOs? Should there be restrictions on freedom of the press or on the Web? Is it ever ethical to breach patient confidentiality? Stem cell research—do the ends justify the means? “I had been writing about ethical issues since the late 1980s,” says Cava, who focused at that time on intellectual property and employment issues. “Ken Goodman, an expert in bioethics and information technology, came to Miami in 1991, so it was natural that we got together to share ideas. There was a clear need for a campus-wide ethics program, and we’ve worked very hard to bring

Ethics Programs codirectors Ken Goodman and Anita Cava oversee a suite of interdisciplinary initiatives.

received a major grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to oversee an expert team that will provide guidance on how to ensure the privacy of electronic patient health records. The Ethics Programs collaborates with many other organizations, including the CITI program in human sub-

“Ethics and Error: Managing Patient Safety,” and “Pediatric Ethics: From Infants to Teenagers.” “We have cast a wide net to engage students and faculty in robust conversations about issues that matter,” Cava says about the growth of the University’s ethics initiatives.

ETHICS PROGRAMMING NOW PERMEATES EVERY ASPECT OF UNIVERSITY LIFE, AND THE KEY ISSUES REFLECT WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE GLOBAL SPHERE. jects protection and the responsible together expertise to meet that need.” conduct of research, the Journal of Philos“A solid ethics program is truly interophy, Science and Law, the Miller School disciplinary,” says Goodman, associate of Medicine’s Jay Weiss Center for professor of medicine and philosophy. Social Medicine and Health Equity, and “Anyone who isn’t concerned about the Pan American Health Organization. ethics and values and with how society One of the most successful long-term addresses different policy issues just collaborations is the Clinical Ethics: hasn’t been paying attention.” Debates, Decisions, Solutions The UM Ethics Programs conference, sponsored by the has been paying attention. Bioethics Program (a subset Over the years it has evolved of the UM Ethics Programs) into a suite of University-wide, and the Florida Bioethics interdisciplinary initiatives Network. The 15th annual that generate an extraordinary conference this April drew range of classes, conferences, more than 300 people to research projects, and semianalyze such topics as “Ethical nars. It consistently earns Support from Adrienne Issues in Disaster Preparedness widespread publicity in the Arsht funds innovative and Emergency Response,” national media, and recently it ethics initiatives. 22 Miami magazine Fall 2007

Goodman attributes growth to toplevel administrative support. “From the president to the provost to the deans, we have enjoyed a level of encouragement that is truly enviable.” Support extends beyond the administration. One example: Adrienne Arsht, community leader and chairman of the board of TotalBank, contributed $1 million to the UM Ethics Programs last year. The gift initiated the Arsht Ethics Debates program; launched a distinguished speaker series; and established the Arsht Ethics and Community Research Grants, which will be awarded annually to up to five faculty-student teams. A University-wide Ethics Advisory Board has been established to referee research project proposals.

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Ethics programming now permeates nearly every aspect of University life, and the key issues reflect what’s happening in the global sphere. This year at Sports Fest, an annual spring competition among the University’s residential colleges, a first-ever ethics component had students tugging at sports-related questions such as, “Should Mark McGwire be denied admission to the Hall of Fame even though there is no proof that he took steroids?” “In the age of Enron, we now have a Business Ethics program. In an era of stem cell research and complications with end-of-life care, we have a Bioethics Program. In an era in which people are interested in environmental ethics and international ethics, we’ve managed to identify resources to ensure that UM is at the table,” Goodman says.

thics is also a topic to which students are devoting their extracurricular time. Cava and Goodman are faculty advisors for the UM Ethics Society, a student club established 13 years ago. A more recent component of the club is the Ethics Society debate team, established three years ago and supported by gifts from Karl Schulze, the UM Citizens Board, and Adrienne Arsht. Competing for the first time ever, the team emerged victorious from the 13th National Championship Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl. The competition was fierce: 32 schools from across the United States, including the Naval Academy, West Point, the University of Southern California, the University of North Carolina, and Williams College. The preparation had been intense: endless hours learning how to present a powerful case on any side of any issue, such as: Should parents be allowed to use GPS and cellular phone tracking devices to

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monitor their children’s movements? Should a deaf couple be permitted to adopt a deaf child? Joshua Morales, a senior business law major and member of Miami’s victorious team, explains his team’s winning edge. “The other teams had top-notch debaters, but we worked incredibly hard on the substance, and we also debated with style and flair. We took the room in our hands and compelled the audience to listen.” Civic engagement is another important branch of applied ethics. Cava designed a summer program that gives grants to four M.B.A. students to provide public service to a nonprofit organization. Jason Madden, M.B.A. ’07, spent the summer of 2006 developing a Web site and consulting on financial and marketing issues for Sant La, a Haitian neighborhood center in Miami. “I was able to create my own project

and apply my business background to a real situation,” Madden notes. “My work really made a difference.” Above all, ethics requires critical thinking. “We’re trying to help students reason through issues and make good decisions that will withstand scrutiny,” Cava says. “Personal reputation matters. It’s more important to make the right decision than to worry about keeping this job or that friend.” “By the same token, we’re not out flogging evildoers or waving our arms in celebration of virtuous behavior,” Goodman says, identifying those behaviors as shallow. “Rather, we’re teaching people how to think critically about difficult contemporary and traditional challenges, which is precisely what a great university is all about.” d av i d t re a dwe l l is a freelance writer in Miami, Florida.

GOOD LAWYERS HAVE GREAT ETHICAL JUDGMENT The beauty of the UM Ethics Programs is its interdisciplinary nature as well as its beyond-campus reach. The same is true of the UM School of Law Center for Ethics and Public Service. Founded in 1996 and directed by UM law professor Anthony Alfieri, the center encompasses six in-house clinics and educational programs that offer pro bono legal representation to low-income communities in the fields of children’s rights, public health entitlements, and nonprofit economic development. Anthony Alfieri leads the School of Law’s Center The center’s core mission is to train “citizen for Ethics and Public Service. lawyers,” which Alfieri describes as lawyers who remain true to ethical judgment and civic professionalism. Through partnerships throughout the University, the center involves undergraduate as well as law students. It is also one of the few centers that provide Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits in ethics to both nonprofit and for-profit entities. “Good lawyers have great ethical judgment, not only in litigation and legal transactions but also in terms of a higher law tradition,” Alfieri says. “From philanthropy to government to international tribunals like Nuremberg, lawyers were key players in American history. Citizen lawyers go beyond serving an individual client to serving a community and a country. We want to convey that you can do well and do good at the same time.” Fall 2007 Miami magazine 23

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Ute Blanket Bingo Native American textiles, pottery, beadwork, and other objects are the largest of the Lowe Art Museum’s six collecting areas, notes museum director Brian Dursum. This extremely rare Ute-style chief’s blanket was produced during the collection’s earliest phase (pre-1865). Handspun from a single piece of churro wool, the chief’s style was the basis of the most familiar kinds of Navajo weaving. The dark brown and white wool are natural hues, and the blue is colored by indigo. The Navajo settled throughout northwest New Mexico. By 1706 they were weaving their textiles commercially, produced from wool from their own flocks of sheep. Southwest native art started to become the focus of many serious collectors in the late 19th century, and early examples are highly sought after. The Lowe’s Native American holdings are commonly called the Barton Collection, named after the collector and donor Alfred I. Barton.

From the rare to the ridiculous, the mystical to the magnificent, the University has acquired a mélange of meaningful objects over the years. Nestled in not-so-obvious nooks on all campuses, each item we showcase here has a tale guaranteed to teach you something you didn’t know about your University. By Leslie Sternlieb

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Still Earning His Stripes

Sore Feet Save the Game They were snug from the start. When baseball head coach Ron Fraser wore his soon-to-be-famous cleats for the first time, the team performed brilliantly. They cramped his feet, but not his style, and superstition won out, as it will in baseball. Growing smaller with every rainstorm, falling arches eventually made them two sizes too tight. Fraser’s victory at the 1982 College World Series was the first national championship in a major sport for UM and the first for a Florida university. The team took home top honors in Omaha again in 1985. “The Wizard of College Baseball” seldom trotted out the shoes, however, and did so, says wife Karen Fraser, when “he was looking for some magic. He actually had guys coming up just wanting to touch them for luck,” she remembers. Fraser retired the shoes after the 1985 season “because he felt like they had done their job (and his feet couldn’t take another inning in them),” she adds. And yet the second-winningest coach in college baseball donned the fortunate footwear against the Texas Longhorns to begin the 1986 season. Set to be bronzed, someone grabbed the wrong pair out of his locker to create the trophy, which rests in the Tom Kearns Sports Hall of Fame. When he discovered the lucky dogs had been spared, he let the error go and kept the auspicious pair in reserve, donning them for the last time at his 1992 farewell.

Most people assume zebras are little African horses with black stripes, right? Grevy’s zebra, marked by narrow brown stripes, seem to get lost in the safari, and for that they have a chip on their withers. Next time you pass by the Cox Science Building, take a moment and meet the gaze of a Grevy’s through the glass. The unnamed equine occupies Room 190, the Zebra Lab, as it’s called, and stands as a sentinel by biology professor Carol Horvitz’s office. He (or is it she?) got to be a biology lab trophy because of his bad temper, explains Horvitz. “Robert Maytag [the appliance scion and University donor] entered a bet with a friend that he could domesticate the Grevy’s zebra. The friend said he could not.” This one was brought over from Kenya as part of a breeding pair for Maytag’s Arizona ranch. “All was going well for a while,” Horvitz recounts, “but the nasty disposition surfaced and my zebra got into a kicking fight with a donkey and lost.” Upon the successful completion of their dissertation defenses, Horvitz’s Ph.D. students pose with their committee alongside the zebra, champagne glasses in hand. Pink elephants not included.

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War Canoe Comes Home A Seminole war canoe, a trophy symbolizing “fighting determination” once presented to the winner of the annual UM vs. University of Florida football game, illustrates how the tide of history can rise and fall. Hand carved from a 200-year-old cypress log, the Seminole dugout was donated in 1955 by the City of Hollywood By the Sea to crown the victor. As the years passed, the tradition was dropped and the canoe disappeared. It was even rumored to have been hidden under longtime assistant coach Walt Kichefski’s bed at home. Not true, says his widow, Helene. “There’s no room under the bed!” she exclaims. Whoever said that “must have thought that the Gators were trying to steal it.” In fact, the Gators never got it, but the garbage truck nearly did. During their morning exercise routine one day in 1975 or 1976, Kichefski and Don Mariutto, B.B.A. ’53, a former UM football player and Board of Trustees alumni rep, came upon the canoe atop a trash pile at the Hecht Athletic Center. “We were in complete disbelief,” Mariutto recalls. He brought the dugout home to his two-acre spread in South Miami, where it served for about 20 years as a pool canoe for kids, a rustic planter for flowers, or as a conversation piece at University Athletic Federation parties. It is now refinished and on display at the Tom Kearns Sports Hall of Fame.

In Arrears, Like the Rest of Us Money troubles plagued Thomas Jefferson for most of his adulthood. When Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, he was $100,000 in debt, equal to millions in today’s money. During his retirement from public office, Jefferson was a vigorous correspondent, writing in one year an estimated 1,268 letters. This letter, addressed on June 13, 1823, to insurance agent James Rawlings, begs forgiveness for his late payment. “I have been more tardy in remitting to you my balance for insurance than I have expected at the date of my letter of October last, because I have been later in getting my produce to market,” the former president begins. Wanting to cancel his insurance for “the last remains of the ruins at Milton … now not worth a cent,” he requests that Rawlings provide him the correct “legal form” to do so. Other Jefferson letters in the Richter Library’s Special Collections division offer snapshots of Jefferson as secretary of state and as president—one referring to tensions between the United States and Spain following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and another expressing concern over U.S. entanglement in the Napoleonic Wars.

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Precious Metal Of all the pre-Columbian metalsmiths in the Andes region, the Chimú, a civilization on the north coast of Peru in the 14th and 15th centuries, were the most accomplished. Typical of their output is this heavily worked silver disk, a little more than a foot in diameter. Ancient Peruvian silver, charged with political and spiritual status, is exquisite and very uncommon, and this example is on permanent display at the Lowe Art Museum. Silver, unlike gold, which forms as nuggets or flakes, is difficult to extract from its matrix and must be smelted and refined. Silver objects also decompose easily, prey to attack by salts and minerals in the soil, also adding to their scarcity. Found near Chan Chan, on the north coast of Peru, The Lowe’s Chimú disk, dating to A.D. 1300-1470, was one of 11 disks recovered from noble burial sites. It was featured with three others in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition Rain of the Moon: Silver in Ancient Peru in 2000, the first museum exhibition devoted exclusively to pre-Columbian silver. The disk’s use is unknown, though it may have been a ceremonial shield cover. Lowe director Brian Dursum remembers having lunch with friends shortly after the 1988 Sotheby’s auction that netted the disk, which was featured on the catalog cover. “Who purchased that thing?” they demanded. “I had a little smile on my face,” he recalls. “‘The Lowe did.’”

Nature of the New World Amidst the tomes in the Dr. Martin B. Raskin Rare Book Collection at the Miller School of Medicine’s Louis Calder Memorial Library stands the first published work in which Europeans could trace the path from so-called barbarism to civility in the New World. Bound in vellum, De Natura Novi Orbis Libri Duo et De Promulgatione Evangelii, apud Barbaros, sive De Procuranda Indorum Salute Libri Sex De Procuranda Indorum Salute (On the Nature of the New World, in two books, and On the Promulgation of the Gospel among the Savages, or, On Procuring the Salvation of the Indians, in six books) broke important ground. Rare and probably a first edition, this 640-page volume published in Salamanca, Spain, in 1589, was written by Spanish missionary Jose de Acosta, who worked in Peru for 16 years. Although his focus was to Christianize the natives, the opening section of De Natura Novi Orbis offers the first thoughtful account of the natural history of America. The second work in this edition gives a skilled analysis of the diverse cultures inhabiting Peru. Oxford University historian John Huxtable Elliott considers this work one of “the two greatest attempts of the 16th century [but the only one published in its time] to incorporate America within a unified vision of the world, man, and history.”

Black Magic of the Curio Cabinet When new trade routes opened the world to Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, collectors displayed treasures gathered by sea voyagers in curio cabinets. In the Marine Invertebrate Museum at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science are products of another era of scientific exploration—rows of some 900,000 pickled creatures from mostly the 1960s and 1970s, creating a wondrous “biodiversity library,” says museum director Nancy Voss. Among the marine menagerie is one of only six known examples of black coral in the world. Stylopathes adinocrada—from the Greek “adino” for crowded and “crada” meaning twig—looks like a tree frozen in solution, whose delicate branches await the greening of spring. When black coral was first described in the 17th century, its original Latin name was antipathes, or “against suffering.” Reputed to protect against evil spirits or illness, coral branches were crafted into charms or displayed in those same curio cabinets. This specimen was collected in 1964 in the Lesser Antilles, the same year Dennis Opresko, B.S. ’66, M.S. ’70, Ph.D. ’74, was investigating black corals as part of an invertebrates class. Since 2001 Opresko, an environmental toxicologist, has published several articles on the group.

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Dancing on One Shoe Salsa superstar Celia Cruz won legions of fans around the world for her showmanship and electrifying renditions of Latin and Afro-Cuban dance beats. “I truly believe that music is Cuba’s greatest gift to the world,” she once said. Cruz left Cuba on July 15, 1960. On July 16, 2003, she died at her New Jersey home—in exile like so many of her admirers. This well-worn black satin sandal rises 6.75 inches high in the air, and without a post anchoring the heel, it looks like the wearer could be levitating. The custom-made footwear, by Mr. Nieto of Mexico City, stands tall among the collection of personal papers, photographs, annotated sheet music, and even a soap opera script that resides in the Cuban Heritage Collection at the Otto G. Richter Library. The Cuban flag that draped her casket in Miami and New York remains on permanent display. Gladys Gómez-Rossié, a special assistant at the CHC, fondly remembers her conversation with Cruz when she came to UM for her honorary doctorate in music, in May 1999. As she helped the singer with her regalia, the women spoke of Cruz’s shoes. “She said the way he made them for her was very comfortable, especially when she danced on stage,” Gómez-Rossié recalls. In more than half a century of performance, Cruz recorded more than 70 albums, earning multiple Grammys and Latin Grammys, as well as the President’s Award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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The Sea Floor Is Spreading! Retired and rusty, a drill bit that helped build a scientific revolution now humbly resides on an orange Formica pedestal across from the Coke machine in the North Grosvenor building at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. The bit was used by the Glomar Challenger, a scientific drilling ship put into service in 1968. At that time the theory of plate tectonics—which argued that the Earth’s surface is composed of about a dozen plates that move atop a supple layer of mantle—was the subject of great debate. By its 1983 retirement, the ship collected enough data to make the theory as solid as bedrock. The Glomar Challenger logged 96 voyages, pulling up nearly 20,000 core samples from thousands of feet below the ocean floor. The drill bit may have been used at any one of 624 sites across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans and may have gone as deep as 5,570 feet. The University of Miami’s then-Institute of Marine Science was a founding partner, along with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and two other institutions in the Deep Sea Drilling program. Keir Becker, professor of marine geology and geophysics, was aboard the Glomar Challenger in the eastern Pacific in 1981 when the crew became the first to pierce the transition from basalt into sheets of rock called “dikes,” formed when molten lava pushes into deep cracks. “Everyone got very excited,” he recalls. No champagne for these sailors; the Glomar Challenger was a dry ship.

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Morbid Fears and Compulsions When Ralph Kramden, played by Jackie Gleason, admonished the longsuffering Alice, “Straight to the moon!” he might have been giving voice to the actor’s alter-ego—as an enthusiast of the supernatural. Gleason did not practice any of the dark arts himself, but he took great enjoyment in collecting scholarly and popular books and periodicals relating to studies of the paranormal. His widow, Marilyn, donated the collection to the Otto G. Richter Library in 1988. “I don’t get the sense that he was having séances at home,” says Maria Estorino, former head of Special Collections at the Richter Library and now deputy chair and chief operations manager of the Cuban Heritage Collection. But Gleason did indulge in amassing hundreds of volumes about magic, spiritism, and telepathy. A handful of researchers come regularly to plumb the depths of the Encyclopedia of Death and Life in the Spirit-World, The Use of Hypnosis in Psychopathia Sexualis, or Morbid Fears and Compulsions, to name a few, Estorino reports. Darkly lit (to save energy!), Estorino quips, “We call it the ‘spooky section.’” The collection recently moved from the eighth floor to the first floor of Brockway Hall. “If you were working after hours and heard a bump, someone would joke, ‘That must be the Gleason collection.’”

The Spirit of Robert Frost Under the patio of the Oscar E. Dooley Memorial Building sits a roughhewn, solid piece of rose granite inscribed: Robert Frost. The great American poet most closely associated with New England had a continuing presence at the University of Miami. Robert Frost lectured four times at the Winter Institute of Literature, beginning in March 1935, and he appeared several other times on campus. Seeking the warmth of Miami winters, Frost became a snowbird in 1934. He returned annually to his five-acre South Miami refuge, Pencil Pines, until 1962, the year before his death. On Feb. 24, 1960, Frost treated several hundred undergraduates to a poetry reading at 720 Dorm (today’s Mahoney Residential College), “interspersing pithy witticisms between the stanzas,” according to a report in The Miami Hurricane. “It was one of those rare times when age and youth seem caught up in a blend of perfect harmony—in the give and take of searching and seeking,” noted The Miami Herald. Two days later, he marked his last campus appearance with a lecture at today’s Bill Cosford Cinema. The Dade County Federation of Women’s Clubs dedicated the granite stone in 1968 to mark that spot.

l e s l i e s t e r n l i e b, is a freelance writer in Miami, Florida.

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Only within the last few decades have doctors realized that depression is more than just being stuck in a bad mood—it’s a dangerous but treatable disease caused by an imbalance in brain chemistry. Researchers at the Miller School of Medicine are exploring how genetics can make medications even more effective.

rev reversing

depression By Lisa Sedelnik, M.A. ’00 Illustration by Brian Stauffer

For years, Martha, a 54-year-old mental health professional, suffered from severe bouts of depression. To mask her feelings of despair, she began drinking heavily. Over time her depressive episodes got worse— so severe, in fact, that in 1979 she contemplated suicide. That’s when Martha (a pseudonym to protect her privacy) decided to seek help from a psychiatrist, who diagnosed her with mild bipolar II disorder. “There is a denial that comes with the two illnesses—you don’t want to believe that you are an alcoholic, and you don’t want to see how depressed you are,” she admits. Placed on the mood stabilizer lithium, Martha felt better but had gained weight and was tired all of the time. “Although the drug helped with my depression, it had many side effects. And I didn’t feel like myself. I felt sort of blah,” she recalls. Today Martha is off of lithium and taking newer, more effective drugs— a combination of the mood stabilizer Lamictal with the antidepressant Prozac. “I feel really well now. I work, I have a life, and I’m happy most of the time.” 30 Miami magazine Spring 2007

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reatment in the form of a pill was unthinkable just 50 years ago. The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Miller School of Medicine, under the direction of professor and chair Julio Licinio, M.D., seeks to improve medication for depressive disorders by focusing on biological and genetic factors. Before arriving last year at the University of Miami, Licinio served as director of the UCLA Semel Institute Center for Pharmacogenomics and

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troshock therapy, and eventual suicide opened the nation’s eyes to the debilitating disease. Electroshock therapy is no longer the standard of care for depressive disorders, though it is sometimes used today when drugs are not effective. For years much of the research focused on the brain’s neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine, which fueled the development of SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. These antidepressants work by increasing the level of

works best through trial and error. “We just don’t know which person will respond better to which drug.” SSRIs are the product of scientific discoveries that were made many years ago, so why has nothing remarkably new hit the market since? The new Miami Institute for Medical Discovery and Health Disparities at the Miller School of Medicine may help answer questions like this. “This is a new paradigm,” says Licinio, who leads the institute. “What

“The introduction of SSRIs, specifically Prozac in 1986, was a big leap forward in treating depression.” Clinical Pharmacology and associate program director of the UCLA General Clinical Research Center. The pharmacogenomics of antidepressants—examining a person’s genetic markers to predict whether he or she will respond to a specific drug—is one of Licinio’s main areas of research. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 9.5 percent of the population, or about 20.9 million American adults, will suffer from a depressive illness in any given one-year period. Depression alone costs the economy approximately $44 billion a year in productivity loss, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Mental Health Services. Electroshock therapy was used for decades to treat severe depression. The 1963 autobiographical novel The Bell Jar gave readers a glimpse into this treatment. Here, Sylvia Plath recounts the troubled teenage years of Ester Greenwood, a talented young writer whose ongoing battle with depression, subsequent treatment with elec32 Miami magazine Fall 2007

these neurotransmitters in the brain. “The introduction of SSRIs, specifically Prozac in 1986, was a big leap forward in treating depression,” Licinio says. “SSRIs have fewer side effects, especially life-threatening ones, than the earlier class of antidepressants (known as tricyclics). Since then, getting treatment for the disease has become more mainstream.” In a June 2006 study published in the journal PLoS Medicine, Licinio and his colleagues found that U.S. suicide rates have fallen dramatically since the introduction of SSRIs, specifically Prozac, for treatment of depression. These findings do not preclude the possibility of an increased risk of suicide among small populations of individuals, Licinio notes. Today, about 20 SSRIs are on the market, but little difference exists between them. “If you came to me with depression today, I would pick one of those drugs out of a hat; there is no specific reason to prescribe one over another,” Licinio says, noting that physicians eventually do find what

we’re trying to do is to foster the discovery of more drugs and new treatment. By joining forces with various departments at the Miller School, other colleges and schools from the University, as well as our community partners, we hope to speed up this process and make it more efficient.”

eter (not his real name), a 33-year-old patient with bipolar disorder, hopes the drug combination he is now taking will work. Bipolar disorder, also known as manicdepressive disorder, is characterized by dramatic mood swings ranging from feelings of extreme euphoria or irritability (mania) to deep despair. These episodes can last hours, days, or even months. By comparison, bipolar II, the disorder that Martha has, is characterized by one or more major depressive episodes along with at least one hypomanic episode, which is less severe than a traditional manic episode. When he was first diagnosed 18 months ago, Peter took Lamictal to control both his depressive episodes as

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Julio Licinio, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, aims to lift the stigma of depression.

well as his mania, but it failed to treat his mania. His psychiatrist has since added another drug, Abilify, which seems to be working. “I am banking that this combination will work because my life got pretty messed up,” Peter says. “With my last two episodes I screwed up relationships and lost a job in each case, so I hope not to go through that again because it’s very traumatic.” This wait-and-see approach to treating depressive disorders will soon change, thanks to promising new research focusing on how the brain can be permanently damaged by overactive stress responses. In the case of depression, such responses can be caused by prolonged exposure to inescapable stress (such as what soldiers in Iraq are facing), extended periods of chronic stress (such as at a high-stress job), a single traumatic event, or a genetic predisposition to the disease, Licinio explains. “Many people with depression stay depressed for years, and the biggest predictor of someone becoming a chronic patient is failure in the first treatment,” says Licinio. “That’s why pharmacogenetics is so important. It can identify a drug that is going to work so that you don’t give up on the treatment.” Knowing who is at risk for depres-

sion can also help patients incorporate preventive interventions. A person with a predisposition to depression, for example, could benefit from learning how to better handle stress or avoiding high-stress situations altogether. These scientific breakthroughs will be especially helpful to those with bipolar disorder. Due to the various phases of the disease—the range from mania to depression—many individuals are often misdiagnosed. On average it takes ten years and four doctors to properly diagnose the disorder. “Currently there is no biological test for any psychiatric disease, so you can see how badly off we are,” says Samuel Gershon, M.D., vice chairman of academic affairs in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. An expert on bipolar disorder, Gershon is known for his groundbreaking work on lithium, which helped pave the way for the understanding of mood stabilizers. His research influenced the way bipolar disorder is treated throughout the world. “So the field of pharmacogenetics has a big future. It could help a doctor properly diagnose the disorder in a patient more quickly—not to mention the amount of money you would save.” Despite all of the recent advancements in treating depressive disorders, negative stereotypes still persist. “I don’t think the stigma is gone,” Peter says. “Most people hear the words ‘mental illness’ and they automatically freak out.” Educating the public about depressive disorders is the first step to shatter-

ing negative perceptions. The Science of the Mind Initiative, a campaign Licinio is spearheading at the Miller School, is aimed at bringing new knowledge, global awareness, and dynamic treatment to illnesses of the brain—from depression to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to Alzheimer’s disease. “The stigma must be lifted if we are ever going to truly help the people who need our help most,” Licinio announced at the campaign kickoff last spring. Licinio also plans to launch a regional grassroots Stop Depression Campaign and to create a Universitybased mood disorders unit that will specialize in such disorders as schizophrenia, hyperactivity disorder, depression, and bipolar disorder. Licinio is presently recruiting clinicians and researchers from the various specialties to head up these units. “People in regular practice see everybody who comes through the door, but if patients could be referred to professionals who have the clinical acumen and specialized knowledge of such disorders, ultimately patients are going to get better treatment,” Gershon says. Even with all of the suffering depressive illnesses can bring, those who have found solace in modern-day treatments rarely take for granted being able to live a normal life. “We’re all waiting for that cure that will make this go away, but the gains in the last 25 years have certainly been tremendous,” Martha says. “There are times when I really hate this illness, but then there are times that I am grateful to have it. I’ve learned so much about myself, and it’s made me more compassionate toward others. In a way, I think I am a better person for it.” l i s a s e d e l n i k , m . a .’ 0 0 , is a freelance writer in Miami, Florida. Fall 2007 Miami magazine 33

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ith impressive SAT scores and a ranking in the top 7 percent of her

high school class, Stephanie Vecino was a stellar college applicant. “I came here because the University offered me the best scholarship and the best financial aid,” says Vecino, recipient of the Henry King Stanford Scholarship, which covered half of her tuition for four years. “It turned out to be the perfect match.” Vecino, a senior microbiology major, always dreamed of a career in medicine. While excelling in her classes, Vecino took advantage of several opportunities here, such as volunteering at the Miami Children’s Hospital and conducting research in the Miller School of Medicine’s trauma division. She is presently applying to medical school, a lifelong dream made possible through the generosity of alumni like you. When you participate in the Annual Fund, you provide support for our extraordinary students, faculty, and programs. Your annual gift continues the tradition of alumni giving and ensures the benefits of a University of Miami education for future generations of students.

Post Off ice Box 248002 • Coral Gables, Florida 33124-3410 Make a donation online at www.miami.edu/makeagif t.

•

Telephone: 305-284-2872

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A l u m n i

DIGEST

News and Events of Interest to University of Miami Alumni

Nespral Is Alumni Top Anchor

ackie Nespral, A.B. ’89, has a bear of a commute. Not because it’s nearly an hour from her Coral Gables home to the NBC6 studios in Miramar, but because she travels the route four times a day. Following her 5 and 6 p.m. news broadcasts, the mother of four (spanning ages 2 to 19) heads home to dine with her family. She’s back at the anchor’s desk by 11 p.m. and ultimately concludes her day when most of us are in our third round of REM. “My children are in school all day, so if I didn’t drive home to be with them, I couldn’t handle it,” Nespral says. “When I’m

the day I was inducted into Iron Arrow, and now as UMAA president—these are high points in my life,” says Nespral, raised in Miami by Cuban-born parents. “I want to help spread the positive word of the University because I think it is a great story.” If anyone knows a great story, it’s the Emmywinning Nespral. Hired by NBC’s Weekend Today show in New York City at the age of 26, she became the nation’s youngest and the first Hispanic network news anchor. That was another rough commute—every week from Miami to New York for nearly three years

JOHN ZILLIOUX

Miami newscaster becomes UMAA president

UMAA president Jackie Nespral

was always natural for Nespral. Her mother secretly entered her into the 1986 Orange Bowl Festival Queen competition, and the charismatic UM psychology major (who aspired to be a marriage counselor at the time) took

“I want to help spread the positive word of the University because I think it is a great story.” home, I wear my mommy hat.” Other hats that Nespral wears are that of wife, married to anesthesiologist Armando Hassun Jr., B.S. ’85; philanthropist, on the boards of organizations like Amigos for Kids and the March of Dimes; and now president of the UM Alumni Association. “The day I was accepted to UM, the day I graduated,

with a toddler in tow. “On any given day I would be interviewing the president of Ireland or the prime minister of Israel. I had to be aware of all of the issues facing the world all of the time,” Nespral says, admitting that at first she thought she was in over her head. “By the time I left, I thought I could handle anything.” Being in the public eye

the crown. Nespral’s yearlong reign included appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman and a Bob Hope special. A broadcaster for the Spanish-language network Univisión spotted Nespral on the parade circuit that year and prompted her to audition for the variety/game show Sábado Gigante. That role, which she held while completing her UM degree,

led to anchor spots at Noticias y Mas and Television Martí, the springboards for Weekend Today. In her current post at NBC6 for the past 12 years, Nespral says that local news has kept her interest. She cites her coverage of the Pope in Cuba as one of her more memorable assignments, but she is inspired daily by the ability to make a difference in people’s lives. In her own life, Nespral has nailed the often-elusive balance between work and home. She gives credit to her supportive husband (whom she met when she was 14), and her innate vigor. “I have been blessed with so much energy,” she says. “If I had eight or nine hours of sleep a night, I’d probably be lethargic!” Fall 2007 Miami magazine 35

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AlumniDigest

Library Benefactor Has a Good Read on Life

sk Bruce Toll, A.B. ’65, if starting a homebuilding business at the age of 22 was scary, and he responds, “I’ll tell you what’s scary. I was drafted into the Army during graduate school, and when I went for the physical, they found a heart murmur. The specialist gave me one year to live.” So Toll promptly decided to abandon his pursuit of a master’s degree in business

returning to his hometown of Philadelphia. “I always thought I had at least 20 more years left, but it turns out that I had 40 and counting,” says Toll, who created Toll Brothers in 1967 with his brother, Robert. Today the firm develops luxury residential communities in 22 states nationwide. A new heart valve plus a positive outlook have enabled

president of Toll Brothers until 1998, when he became vice chairman. Now he also is founder and chairman of BET Investments, a commercial real estate company; owner of several car dealerships; and chairman of Alumni Center library is named for real estate and media Philadelphia mogul Bruce Toll. Media Holdings, LLC, the parent comA newly anointed media him to ride the ebbs and pany for The Philadelphia at the University of Miami. mogul and serious collector flows of various enterprises Inquirer and Philadelphia He went barnstorming of impressionist and postover the years. He served as Daily News. through Europe before impressionist art, Toll’s sponsorship of the library in the Robert and Judi Prokop A Matter of Trust Newman Alumni Center four guerilla marketing strategies to attract cusseems fitting. The Bruce E. t’s hard to believe, but people do lie on their tomers to ResTrust,” Needles says. Toll Alumni Library will resumes. When it surfaced earlier this year that Fletcher wasted no time implementbe a showcase for University MIT’s dean of admissions falsified her ing the student proposals. The two publications like the Ibis resume 28 years ago, the timing most effective have been: a “viral artiyearbook, University memocouldn’t have been better for Jared cle campaign,” in which ResTrust subrabilia, and alumni-produced Fletcher, B.B.A. ’95, founding presmits monthly articles about its services books, CDs, and plays. ident of ResTrust, LLC. to Web sites like digg.com and With homes in Philadelphia The third-place winner in the del.icio.us; and a “pay-per-click camand Palm Beach, Florida, 2006 Miami Herald Business Plan paign,” in which ResTrust bids on the father of four and grandCompetition, ResTrust bestows its search engine key words like father of eight never strays seal of approval on a resume once it “resume” or “jobs” and pays a fee too far from his beloved verifies the individual’s employment every time someone clicks on the alma mater. history, education, and profession creResTrust link that appears as a search “This is a tremendous dentials. After launching the company in Febresult. “The students’ professionalism exceeded my institution that has been ruary 2007, Fletcher teamed up with Phillip Needles, expectations,” he says. blessed with many good B.B.A. ’91, who teaches the Management Consulting ResTrust is a top-20 finalist in Forbes.com’s Boost presidents,” Toll says. “The undergraduate course. As part of the Student EntreUniversity is very well preneurship Consulting Program, teams of students in Your Business contest, which culminates in December with a $100,000 first-place prize. Regardless of thought-of nationally, which the course work with small businesses and entreprethe outcome, reconnecting with his alma mater has I hear every time I tell peoneurs to develop creative business solutions. ple I went there.” “The student team recommended and structured already been a winning strategy for Fletcher.

The Bruce E. Toll Alumni Library will showcase University publications.

TOBY CISNEROS

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RAISING ’CANES

Access Hollywood

the festival judges. He attended the screening, along with fellow judge Michael Robin, A.B. ’85, executive producer and director of FX network’s Nip/Tuck and TNT’s The Closer. Also in the audience were actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, B.G.S. ’95; David Isaacs, A.B. ’71, who has written for M*A*S*H, Cheers, and Frasier; and UM President Donna E. Shalala. The seven short films ranged from a witty rap parody about the life of a film major to a documentary on Miami’s Haitian immigrants. “Because of the Canes Film Festival winners screen their work in L.A. screening, several students were invited to screened this spring at Parameet with industry profesmount Studios in Hollysionals,” says associate prowood, the second annual fessor of communication Ed event sponsored by the Talavera, who coordinates School of Communication the event. “At least one of and Alumni Association. the student filmmakers was “We filled the 500-seat offered a job.” theater with alumni and Coto notes that the UM industry leaders who are the network that will ensure our alumni community is great students’ future opportunity for networking. David Isaacs was always a helpful go-to and success,” says School of guy. “When I got my first Communication Dean Sam job, I asked him, ‘How should L Grogg. I handle myself in the writers’ Coto, who recently signed a deal with 20th Cen- room?’” Isaacs’s response: tury Fox Television to write, “Shut up, listen, learn. Open your pie hole only if you’ve develop, and produce a got a good idea.” series of shows, was one of ake it from successful television writer and producer Juan Carlos Coto, B.S.C. ’88: “L.A. is a small town, so bringing in the ’Canes wagon just might help you become a citizen.” Coto is talking about the doors that might open for the Canes Film Festival winners who had their films

Daddy’s Little Girls

Left to right, Sarah, Kathy, Matt, Meghan, and Kelly Avril at the Orange Bowl.

resident and managing director of operations for Starwood Vacation Ownership Matt Avril, B.B.A. ’82, travels as much as 35 weeks a year. But when it comes to European excursions, his daughters, Sarah and Kelly, are the experts. Together the siblings took UM’s Grand Tour of Europe Study Abroad summer course in 2003. “They got to see all the historic places before mom and dad did,” says Matt, the first but not only ’Cane in his family. A native of Vero Beach, Florida, Matt attended UM on a golf scholarship. Wellness Center director Norm Parsons was his coach at the time, and one of his roommates was John Pallot, now the resident pro at the Biltmore Golf Course. “My lifelong relationship with my father was through the game of golf,” says Matt, whose close relationship with his own children is tied not to the greens but to the orange and green. “My dad never pressured me into going there, but he did say he would never put a ‘Gator Dad’ sticker on his car!” says eldest daughter Sarah, B.B.A. ’03, who actually spent her first year of life in the UM dorms while dad was a student. Sarah gave Parsons a gift after she made the cheering squad: “a bi-fold picture frame with one picture of me as a toddler in a Hurricanes cheerleading outfit and one of me as a freshman in my real Hurricanes uniform.” Kelly, B.S.C. ’06, arrived on campus in Sarah’s senior year, and both were Zeta Tau Alpha sisters. Youngest daughter Meghan, a sophomore math major, applied to nowhere else but UM. When their children were young, Matt and Kathy, his high school sweetheart, took them to most Hurricanes football home games and to a few national bowl games. “All three of my girls are rabid football fans,” Matt says. “An hour and a half before the game they’re in the stands, not tailgating in the parking lot, so they can watch the punters and kickers warming up.” Sarah works in the Wealth Advisory Services group at Wilmington Trust Corp. in Delaware, and Kelly works in the media department at Starwood. While Matt and Kathy are empty nesters, the family’s UM bond continues to keep the nest warm. Fall 2007 Miami magazine 37

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AlumniDigest

UMAA’s Heavy Hitters

hat do Alex Rodriguez and Jonathan Vilma have in common? Not only are they both New York sports heroes—A-Rod for the Yankees and Vilma for the Jets— now they are recipients of University of Miami Alumni Association Awards. The UMAA recognized the athletes this spring along with other deserving individuals. Rodriguez, Honorary Alumnus ’04, is one of Major League Baseball’s top homerun hitters and allaround players. A native of Miami and a lifelong Hurricanes fan, Rodriguez has provided support for muchneeded renovations to the baseball stadium, which was renamed Mark Light Field at Alex Rodriguez Park. He

received the Edward T. Foote II Alumnus of Distinction Award for his outstanding achievements and continued devotion to the University. Vilma, B.B.A. ’04, Outstanding Young Alumnus, has demonstrated an unselfish love of alma mater. A middle linebacker known for jet-fast speed, Vilma takes the time to meet with UM students on and off the field, as well as with University faculty, staff, and administrators, to offer advice and assistance in whatever capacity he can. The UMAA presented the Henry King Stanford Alumnus of the Year Award posthumously to Ernesto D’Escoubet II, B.S.E.E. ’65, M.S.E.E. ’70, who served as UM trustee, Alumni Board

UMAA Executive Director Donna Arbide and Past President Hunting Deutsch present Student of Distinction Awards to Nicholas Deysher and Chung Hoon Park.

of Directors member, President’s Council member, George E. Merrick Society member, and College of Engineering mentor. With his death in April, the University suffered the tremendous loss of a beloved friend. Neal Sonnett, A.B. ’64, J.D. ’67, recipient of the William R. Butler Community Service Award, is a highly lauded criminal

New Park Named in Honor of Yamma Yamma

s a teenager, Florida Senator Dave Aronberg would chant at Hurricanes football games along with Jim “Yamma Yamma” Fleming, A.B. ’68, who for three decades led the Yamma Yamma cheer from the sidelines that earned him his nickname. “We’ve got some ’Canes over here,” Aronberg chanted recently to dozens who donned their best orange and green for the groundbreaking ceremony of Jim Fleming Ecological Park in Lehigh Acres, Florida. “Whoosh, whoosh!” they retorted, adding the classic Hurricanes fist pump. Fleming, a former UM cheerleader and member of Iron Arrow, was a longtime resident of Lehigh

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Acres. A champion for preservation of Lehigh Acres’ original wetlands, he served on the board of the East County Water Control District until his death last year and helped plan the park as part of Lehigh’s Community Redevelopment Agency for nearly a decade. A four-acre parcel that remains one of the only green spaces on the main road of Lee Boulevard, the park will have two pavilions, barbeque facilities, and a 300-foot boardwalk. It is funded by $112,500 from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, $50,000 from Lee County, and $73,500 from the East County Water Control District.

lawyer in Miami who also devotes much of his time to pro bono work. He chaired the 2002-2004 American Bar Association Task Force on the Treatment of Enemy Combatants and was named the ABA’s official observer for the military commission trials in Guantanamo, Cuba. Other UMAA award recipients include executive director of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis Suzanne Sayfie, who won the Inside Out Award for helping to reconnect alumni and friends to the University community; Donald Kubit, M.Ed. ’70, J.D. ’74, who won the Green: Outstanding Fundraising award; David Panitch, B.B.A. ’80, who won the Orange: Outstanding Service award; AMIGOS of the Cuban Heritage Collection, which won the White: Outstanding Affiliate Group award; and Frost School of Music students Chung Hoon Park and Nicholas Deysher, who were named Students of Distinction.

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C l a s s

NOTES 1940s

Frank H. Bueker Jr., B.B.A. ’40,

retired in 1980 after 34 years as vice president and treasurer of Messenger Corporation in Auburn, Indiana. He played the French horn in the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Symphony from 1946 to 1986. He celebrated his 60th wedding anniversary this May.

1950s

Burton E. Whittaker, B.S. ’51, is

retired from service to the Dade County Crime Laboratory, not a Washington, D.C. lab, as Miami magazine had erroneously reported in the spring 2007 issue. He still testifies in court as an expert witness. Ed Robin, B.S.E.E. ’57, and Nelson Hanover, B.S. ’57, have formed Performance Resources Group, a technology staffing company in New York City.

1960s

Jerome Spevak, A.B. ’60, has retired from teaching. He and his wife, Charlene, live in Dyersburg, Tennessee, where he continues to write books and pamphlets. Leon J. Hoffman, A.B. ’61, is a clinical psychologist in Chicago. He is a first-time grandfather to Abigail Rose, born in April to his daughter, Rebecca Hoffman, A.B. ’88, M.A. ’92, and her husband. Leon also is a chamber music cellist. Bennett H. Brummer, A.B. ’62, J.D. ’65, a Miami-Dade public defender, received The Freedom Rose Award from the Coral Gables Latin Kiwanis Club for his efforts to defend the legal rights of the poor. Susan H. (Goodman) Prior, B.Ed. ’62, has retired as an attorney and is designing and creating original jewelry in Vista, California.

ALUMNI OF NOTE

Success Is No Small Feet Evelyn H. Hoskins, A.B. ’63, is

retired from teaching and lives in Anna Maria, Florida. Steve J. Mazurana, A.B. ’63, is a professor, intern director, and prelaw advisor in the political science department at the University of Northern Colorado. He also is vice president of client and information services for j2DataSystems, a consulting, survey, and research firm. Wayne P. York, B.B.A. ’63, is a retired colonel for the U.S. Air Force. He has been a pilot for 41 years and is a Vietnam veteran. He is now chief of flying safety and education at the State of New Mexico Aviation Division. Carol (Asher) Dubnikoff, B.Ed. ’65, is retired from personnel management and has started Handwriting Secrets, specializing in identifying traits through handwriting. Alice C. Gross, B.S.N. ’65, has retired as the nursing director for the Manatee County Public Health Department. She raises guide dogs for Southeastern Guide Dogs, Inc. in Bradenton, Florida. Carolyn W. Achata, B.S.N. ’67, is regional director of Children’s Special Services at the Tennessee Department of Health. Joanne Canto Friedman, B.S.N. ’67, received her M.S.N. and nurse practitioner certification in 1996 and has worked for the last ten years as an STD nurse practitioner in a hospital outpatient clinic while also raising five children with her physician husband. She has a 10-month-old granddaughter. Stuart Grossman, A.B. ’68, J.D. ’73, a founding partner of the Miami firm Grossman Roth, P.A., was named a Top 10 Florida Super Lawyers. He is a member of Iron Arrow, and he is in the Florida Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame. Barbara A. Dralnick, B.S.N. ’60, retired from the U.S. Air Force Nurse Corps in 1993 after 22 years of service. For the past 12 years she

nfusing a new sense of style at one of the nation’s most familiar retail chains comes naturally to Matthew Rubel, M.B.A. ’80, president and CEO of Payless ShoeSource, whose self-described look is “classic Italian meets buttondown.” Since arriving at Payless about two years ago—after presiding over Cole Haan, where he doubled its size and added panache to the venerable lines—Rubel immediately tackled reinvigorating the 4,600-store chain. He updated the ’80s-era logo and rolled out high-concept formats in a growing number of U.S. locations, including upscale malls. He invited several top designers to create swanky new product lines, priced to move. Which means everyone can be à la mode, and not just the elite. “People love great design,” he says. “Just because it’s mass doesn’t mean it has to be in bad taste.” Payless’s impending $800 million acquisition of Stride Rite, whose stable of brands like Keds and Sperry Top-Sider are American icons, is certain to boost its budding premium cachet. Their combined selling power will give rise to one of the two largest footwear companies in the world. Rubel grew up on the selling floor of his parents’ apparel shop in Pompano Beach, Florida. “If it was bright, colorful, and polyester, we sold it,” he remembers. While not focused on fashion, the store “was more about what made customers feel good and what was practical for them.” Once he attained his M.B.A., Rubel joined Bonwit Teller in New York and over the years piloted several major brands, including J. Crew, Revlon, and Tommy Hilfiger. Rubel’s excitement about the New York fashion scene equipped him to play the $2.8 billion Topeka, Kansas-based retailer against type. “Over time,” he recalls, looking back at his years in the family business and the apparel industry, “I began to understand how to meld the two together.” Being the helmsman of an operation that annually sells 180 million pairs of shoes still leaves Rubel time off to spend with his wife and three school-age boys, especially at their summer home in Maine. “I’m building a dock just so I can wear my Sperry’s out on it.” —Leslie Sternlieb

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ClassNotes

ALUMNI OF NOTE has worked for Mercaldo Law Firm in Tuscon, Arizona, as a nurse paralegal. Marc J. Yacht, A.B. ’62, has retired after serving as health director of the Pasco County Health Department in Florida for the past 20 years. He also is a published writer and photographer. Neil Bloom, B.S.M.E. ’67, is the author of Reliability Centered Maintenance: Implementation Made Simple. A preventive maintenance specialist for 30 years, he has worked at the Federal Aviation Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. George T. Duvall, B.S. ’69, M.D. ’73, was recertified in internal medicine and critical care medicine. He practices in Vero Beach, Florida. Aida Levitan, A.B. ’69, president and CEO of Levitan & Palencia, LLC in Miami, Florida, received the 2006 PRSA Royal Palm Award. She also received the 2006 Tributo a la Mujer Hispana Award from Vanidades magazine.

1970s

Dan W. Jeffery, B.B.A. ’70, has ended his career as an umpire after 35 years. Now he assigns umpires in Michigan and does voiceover for radio and television. Jude Bagatti, A.B. ’71, J.D. ’75, earned her Master Gardner’s Certification from Largo Botanical Garden, Pinellas County Extension Service. She also recently received awards in competitions from Pasco County Arts Council for poetry and from Suntan Art Center, St. Petersburg Beach for photography. Anne Gross Cohen, B.Ed. ’71, is an art teacher and professional artist in West Orange, New Jersey. Esther Fernandez, M.Ed. ’72, Ed.D. ’80, coauthored POWerful Memories with her husband, Augustine. The book (published by Xlibris) recounts Augustine’s World War II experiences as an officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps and includes tales of his training,

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missions, capture, and life in a German prison camp. Linda Y. (Kramer) Keane, B.S.N. ’73, earned an M.S.N. in 1987. She lives in the Atlantic City area and is an education specialist at Shore Memorial Hospital and adjunct faculty member at Atlantic Cape Community College. She is recently remarried. Barry M. Cohen, J.D. ’74, a judge in West Palm Beach, Florida, received the North County Bar Association 2007 Jurist of the Year Award. Jo-Ann Rolle, B.B.A. ’74, has been named senior vice president for academic and student affairs at the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising in New York City. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from Howard University. Armando J. Bucelo Jr., B.S. ’76, J.D. ’79, selected last year as one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the country by Hispanic Business Magazine, is a Coral Gables attorney and board chairman of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Last year he became the first Cuban-American to ring the closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange. Andru H. Volinsky, A.B. ’76, of the New Hampshire law firm Bernstein Shur, has been named one of the state’s most influential residents over the past quartercentury as part of a program airing on New Hampshire Public Radio. He is known for his work as lead counsel for the Claremont school funding cases, and he is listed in Best Lawyers In America. Alan R. Krusch, J.D. ’77, of Krusch & Sellers, Attorneys at Family Law of Charlotte, has been named a North Carolina Super Lawyer. MaryLee (Roberts) Newman, B.S.N. ’77, works as a project manager for clinical applications in the IT department of the city hospital system in Colorado Springs. H. Clay Roberts, J.D. ’78, and C. David Durkee, J.D. ’93, formed the law firm Roberts & Durkee, P.A. in Coral Gables, Florida, focusing on personal injury, medical

Former Footballer Fuses Funny with Finesse

ire red fingernails, blond locks, and five-inch stilettos are not the typical garb of a former Hurricanes football player. But Finesse Mitchell, B.S.C. ’95, proudly donned the ensemble as “Starkeisha,” a boisterous black woman with no concept of public protocol. The character— inspired by a girl he saw in an L.A. movie theater who kept ranting about having to read the subtitles in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon— snagged him a spot on NBC’s Saturday Night Live from 2003 to 2006. “Will Smith has your job,” Mitchell’s mom would tell him, referring to the early1990s TV sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. At UM, the Kappa Alpha Psi brother would make pledges snicker when they were supposed to be serious. Friends convinced him to try open-mic night at Coconut Grove’s Miami Improv. “That’s when I started making the transition from conversationally funny to comedic funny,” says Mitchell, who has since “finessed” his way into Comedy Central’s Premium Blend, a standup DVD called Snap Famous, and major motion pictures. Look for him in the upcoming films Who’s Your Caddy, The Comebacks, and Mad Money. Born and raised in Atlanta as Alfred Mitchell, the smoothtalker earned his pseudonym during freshman orientation when a female student remarked, “You’re going to finesse your way through here, aren’t you?” He did, then took an insurance job in Atlanta. A 1999 appearance on Black Entertainment Television’s Comic View erupted in standing ovation, which “really got me thinking I’m a comedian.” After hitting L.A. for a few years, Mitchell heard that Tracey Morgan left SNL and the producers were looking for “the new black guy.” Starkeisha knocked their socks off. Besides acting, doing stand-up, and spending time with his fiancé at their home in Miramar, Florida, Mitchell has authored Your Girlfriends Only Know So Much (Simon & Schuster, 2007), based on his “Oh Brother” love advice column for women in Essence magazine. But what does he know about relationships? “I’m an expert,” he says. “I’m gonna put Dr. Phil into a head lock. I’ll give him a noogie—rub my knuckles into his head really hard!” —Meredith Danton

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malpractice, and insurance cases. Susan P. (Neuberger) Weller, A.B. ’78, a member in the Washington, D.C. office of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, has been named a Washington, D.C. Super Lawyer for 2007. Mary Kontz, B.S.N. ’79, M.S.N. ’85, Ph.D. ’92, is associate dean of nursing for Colorado State UniversityPueblo. Christy I. Torkildson, B.S.N. ’79, a nursing doctoral student in San Francisco, is on the board of directors of the Hospice and Palliative Care Association and is also national director of education and research at George Mark Children’s House.

1980s

Bradley Feur, A.B. ’80, J.D. ’90, regional director of medical education for the Health Care Affiliated Palm Beach Centre for Graduate

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Medical Education, was appointed chief surgeon of the Florida Highway Patrol. Jane A. Robles, B.S.N. ’80, is an application administrator at North Memorial Health Care and is on the editorial board of Creative Nursing Journal. Steven J. Brodie, J.D. ’81, a Carlton Fields Miami shareholder, was reappointed chair of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation’s Community Relations Council. Jose R. Rodriguez, B.B.A. ’81, was elected by 1,700 partners to serve a five-year term on the board of directors of KPMG, LLP. Adrienne Garo, B.S.N. ’82, is the clinical coordinator for the Preanesthesia Evaluation and Testing Center at the University of Virginia Medical Center. Joncee B. Guido, B.S.N. ’84, has retired after working for the Broward County School System and the State of Florida.

Stephen A. Karol, B.Arch. ’82, pre-

sented his work at New York City’s Agora Gallery in Pixel Perfect: The Digital Fine Art Exhibition. Jodi J. Altman, B.S.N. ’83, a mother of two daughters, is senior staff nurse in emergency at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, Georgia. Carol Goldblatt, B.S.N. ’83, earned a Master of Public Health Administration and Planning, a J.D., and a master’s in clinical psychology. She is now a postdoctoral fellow in police psychology for the Honolulu Police Department. Rose Marie Prince, B.S.N. ’83, is a systems analyst at Presbyterian Healthcare Services in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Maura Ferrell Miller, M.S.N. ’84, Ph.D. ’96, was appointed as the coordinator for hospice and palliative care programs at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center. Lee S. Barson, B.B.A. ’85, is direc-

tor of business development for the ACS/Mellon Health Savings Account and Medicare Medical Savings Account solutions at ACS in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Cynthia (Spahn) Blum, B.S.N. ’85, received a Ph.D. in nursing from Florida Atlantic University in December 2006, where she is a clinical instructor and the undergraduate clinical coordinator. Rich Winer, B.M. ’85, a financial planner, has been named to The Guitar Center Music Foundation’s board of directors. In 2005, he was mentioned in The Wall Street Journal for identifying a large oversight by two CPAs, and in 2006 he was featured in Financial Planning Magazine’s Career Advisor. For 30 years Winer also has worked as a sideman, session guitarist, composer, and producer in Miami, Nashville, and Los Angeles. Donna Marie Ballman, J.D. ’86, has been signed by Behler Publications

or the second year, Alumni Weekend and Homecoming will feature Alumni Avenue, a giant block party on Stan-

ford Circle with individual tent celebrations. This come-onecome-all platform gives you access to reunions for all graduating classes and affinity groups. Whether they rock-n-rolled or simply strolled, alumni on the Avenue last year called it “the best new addition to Homecoming in ages.” So if you’re a member of the Class of ’77, but you want to party with the recent grads or visit old friends from Band of the Hour or brothers from Sigma Alpha Epsilon, all you have to do is head down to Alumni Avenue! For more information, visit www.miami.edu/alumniweekend.

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ClassNotes

to author You’ve Been Served: A Writer’s Guide to the Courtroom. A children’s book author, she received third prize in the international Litopia Writer’s Colony short story contest in June. She and her husband were named one of “Fort Lauderdale’s Finest Couples” by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Laura Dominguez, B.S.N. ’86, M.B.A. ’90, was promoted to vice president, business development for Mercy Hospital in Miami. She also oversees the outpatient center. Yvette Ostolaza, A.B. ’86, J.D. ’92, an attorney at Weil, Gotshal & Mandes LLP, was recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer 2007 in the area of business litigation. Wendi A. Jones, B.S.N. ’87, is an ACNP at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. James A. Ryder, M.B.A. ’88, is a senior procurement specialist with the Office of Procurement, State of Arizona Department of Economic Security. Carlos M. Lastra, A.B. ’89, J.D. ’92, is a partner at Brodsky, Greenblatt, Renehan & Pearlstein, Chtd., near Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Montgomery County Bar Association’s Nominations and Elections Committee. Franklin L. Zemel, J.D. ’89, a partner in the Fort Lauderdale office of Arnstein & Lehr, successfully defended the Hollywood Community Synagogue-Chabad’s constitutional rights in a turf battle against the City of Hollywood.

1990s

Ania Fernandez, A.B. ’90, M.S.Ed.

’03, has published a book of poems, Poems for the Heart. Audra M. Lopez, B.S.N. ’90, is a nurse practitioner at Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale. She is vice president of the Broward County Alumni group and a board member of the Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency and the American Cancer Society. She is also chairman of the

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International Transplant Nursing Society/Live Transplant. Corali Lopez-Castro, J.D. ’90, has received the Florida Bar President’s Award of Merit. She is a shareholder in the Miami law firm Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton, and in 2006 she became the second female president of the Cuban American Bar Association. Philip Josephson, B.B.A. ’91, J.D. ’95, earned an M.B.A. and has formed The Law Office of Philip Josephson in Miami, focusing on business law. Pamela June, B.B.A. ’91, M.B.A. ’94, and her husband, Mark, B.B.A. ’89, own a CPA firm, June and Associates, on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. They are the parents of three boys, Zachary, 10, Ethan, 6, and Finn, 8 months. Jeffrey Levinson, M.B.A. ’91, was recently promoted to senior vice

president of commercial lending/ business development for Mellon Financial Corporation. Jeffrey A. Rinde, J.D. ’91, a partner in Hodgson Russ’s Corporate and Securities Practice Group, was recently appointed chair of a New York State Bar Association Continuing Legal Education program called Practical Skills—Forming and Advising Businesses. Andrew Yaffa, J.D. ’91, an attorney at the Miami law firm Grossman Roth, P.A., was named one of the Top 10 Florida Super Lawyers. Adilia C. Gonzalez-Harris, A.B. ’93, is deputy borough chief for pretrial of the Bronx Tort Unit. She has worked for the New York City Law Department for nine years. Brenda McDonald, B.S.N. ’93, published a children’s book, How Do You Love a Big Dog? She is a realtor in Charleston, South Carolina.

Celia Lisset Alvarez, A.B. ’94, M.F.A. ’96, has written a poetry chapbook called The Stones, published by Finishing Line Press. She is an instructor at St. Thomas University. Stacy Bercun Bohm, J.D. ’94, a shareholder for Akerman Senterfitt, was selected for the prestigious honor Top Women in Florida Commercial Real Estate by the Florida Real Estate Journal. Rebecca Robbins, A.B. ’94, was the national spokesperson for SlimFast Foods and the Fourth of July cover girl for Women’s World magazine in 2002. Tyler Stephens, B.Arch. ’94, and partner Michael Byrd started their own architecture firm, Core 10, specializing in mixed-use development in St. Louis, Missouri. Carlos I. Cardelle, A.B. ’95, J.D. ’98, is general counsel of Miami-

PRINTING PRESS

21st Century Teen Tale

he Virtual Life of Lexie Diamond (HarperCollins) has all the twists and turns of a good Nancy Drew mystery, but Lexie’s world takes place in cyberspace. The 14-year-old heroine spends much of her time surfing the Web, until a tragic accident forces her to navigate the real world. In solving the mystery, she must decide what is real and what is virtual. This is the first novel for author Victoria Foyt, A.B. ’80, an actress who has co-written and starred in such feature films as Going Shopping, Déjà Vu, Last Summer in the Hamptons, and Baby Fever.

May the Force Be Understood

ew York Times reporter Joseph Treaster, A.B. ’65, was one of only a handful of

journalists on scene while Hurricane Katrina unleashed its wrath on New Orleans. In his new book, Hurricane Force: In the Path of America’s Deadliest Storms, Treaster recounts some of the touch-and-go moments he experienced while riding out this storm and others he has covered on assignment. Published through a partnership between The New York Times and Kingfisher Publications, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin for young readers, Hurricane Force combines history, first-person accounts, maps, fullcolor photographs, and excerpts from New York Times articles to help readers understand the complex, savage storms that have rocked our nation. Published as part of a series for young adults but popular among readers of all ages, the book explains how storms are categorized and predicted and how science and technology might help save more lives in the future.

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ALUMNI OF NOTE based telecommunications company Teleplus World. He was recently elected to the board of directors of the company. Richard Cumin, M.S.N. ’95, is the director of perioperative services at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Richard Sartorio, B.S.N. ’95, became a Miami-Dade firefighter. He is a husband and father of four. Christopher P. Weidlich, B.S.N. ’95, served as company commander for A Co., 86th CSH in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2005. Now he is commander for the 528th Medical Detachment (Combat Stress Control) in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He and his wife, Robin Stewart, A.B. ’94, have four children. Rodrigo Baltodano, B.S. ’96, A.B. ’96, a physician in Clermont, Florida, has written a novel, The Last Man, an existential story about our materialistic society. Patience Ciufo, A.B. ’96, is the admissions coordinator for Florida Atlantic University, Treasure Coast. José L. Fred, M.M. ’97, has been promoted to human resources manager of the School District of Palm Beach County. Marilyn P. Hett, M.B.A. ’97, manager of business retention and tourism development for the Hillsborough County Economic Development Department, joined the South Florida Advisory Council of the Trust for Public Land. Paul F. Perry, M.F.A. ’97, has published his second book of poems, The Orchid Keeper. Scott L. Podvin, LL.M.P. ’97, is president of Podvin Development group in Orlando, Florida. He was accepted to Harvard University’s Executive Education program. Kimberlee Kearney-Gilligan, B.S.N. ’98, is a critical care nurse at Palms West Hospital and a nursing skills lab clinical instructor at Palm Beach Community College. She and her husband, officer Shawn Gilligan, have two sons: Patrick, 7, and Michael, 3. Tracey L. Murray, M.S.N. ’98, is Family Nurse Practitioner Program coordinator and assistant professor

of nursing at Coppin State University in Baltimore, Maryland. She recently published an article in the ABNF Journal. Renae L. Patterson, B.S.N. ’98, is a clinical informatics analyst in the IT department at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Jose L. Acosta, B.S.A.E. ’99, B.S.C.E. ’99, has been promoted to director of engineering throughout the state of Florida at Miller Legg, a multidisciplinary consulting firm. Cleveland C. Clency, D.M.A. ’99, is professor of choral music and director of choirs at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois. Paola M. Fisher, B.H.S. ’99, M.B.A. ’02, and Todd D. Fisher, B.B.A. ’97, M.B.A. ’00, M.P.R.A. ’02, announce the birth of their baby girl, Isabella Addison Fisher. Jill F. Perez, B.B.A. ’99, and Antonio Perez, B.B.A. ’98, announce the arrival of their first child, Alexander Michael. Corey Schwartz, B.B.A. ’99, is president and cofounder of College Town Living, a subsidiary of Re/Max Advanced Reality that assists with residential needs near institutions of higher learning. Kathryn G. Sapnas, Ph.D. ’99, is chief nurse, research and education, at the Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. She also is the principal investigator on a $75,000 VA research grant. She has been awarded the Sharon Coleman Award for her paper Wireless Networks and Point of Care Technology. Frances Vincent, M.M. ’99, is president of Retro Island Productions, Inc., a marketing and music research/licensing company she founded in 2005. She recently released her first book, MySpace for Musicians: The Comprehensive Guide to Marketing Your Music Online.

2000s

Nancy M. Auster, B.S.N. ’00, is a

hospice nurse with Vitas. She has a 12-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter.

IBM Idea Whiz

s a graduate student writing Fortran programs used to explore the connection between cluster galaxies and black holes, Maria Azua, M.S. ’84, grew impatient listening to the chatter of the radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. “It takes cluster galaxies a long time to do anything,” she admits. “You get immediate feedback with computer science.” Since then, Azua, the vice president of technology and innovation for IBM, has masterminded numerous inventions that save time and add convenience to our lives with products inspired by her 45 patents, with 44 more pending, all for IBM. Inducted last year in the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame and a finalist in the Hispanic Business Woman of the Year this past spring, Azua continues to look past the horizon. “Now I’m busy with what we will do on the phone,” she says. She leads the team that’s working to make written text audible on your PDA or telephone. But Azua doesn’t confine her visionary intentions, however, to giving voice to your BlackBerry. She’s determined to cultivate future scientists by mentoring middle and high school students, especially women and Hispanics, to break cultural barriers and view careers in technology as glamorous, not geeky. It saddens her that more Hispanics aren’t heeding the call. “I always had a passion for science,” Azua remembers, crediting her mother, who studied chemistry in college, for advancing her beyond the level of her classmates. During the dot-com era, as a solution architect for IBM’s large banking clients, Azua led the way to create the operating standard for many innovations we now take for granted, including ATM machines and secure online banking. “When we started,” she recalls, “I had a lot of executives tell me that I was crazy, thinking people would be afraid to do home banking. I had to break a lot of barriers.” But she is not sentimental about letting go of certain traditions, like the cash that pops out of those automatic tellers. “Money as we know it is dead,” she asserts. “We will use electronic money. Your cell phone will be your wallet.” You heard it from the source. —Leslie Sternlieb

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ClassNotes

ALUMNI OF NOTE Michelle M. Prosser, M.S.N. ’00,

director of maternal and child health at The Futures GroupHealth Policy Initiative in Washington, D.C., was elected to the international board of directors for the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood. Nathan W. Jones, B.B.A. ’01, has been named manager of affiliate ad sales at The Weather Channel. Amie Kawasaki, B.S. ’01, M.D. ’05, and Michael Greenberg, M.D. ’05, were married in March. Amie is a resident in obstetrics and gynecology and Michael is chief resident in emergency medicine for 20072008 at Emory University. Mary Anne Nolan, B.S.N. ’01, earned her M.S.N. in 2005 and is the clinical director of the Emergency Care Center at NorthEast Medical Center in North Carolina. Esperanza M. Tilghman, J.D. ’02, joined the U.S. Department of State as a foreign service officer. Her first post will be at a U.S. Embassy in South Asia as a consular officer. LaToya J. Lewis, B.S.N. ’02, is the nurse educator in the medical intensive care unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Melanie Hicks Tozzi, M.P.A. ’02, is director of research for the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida and the managing director of the Florida Independent College Fund. She has a Ph.D. in public administration and policy and recently published a chapter in Moc Ideja, a grassroots policy manual funded by the U.S. Department of State. She is married and has two stepchildren, Taylor, 6, and Salvatore III, 2. Morgan M. (Criddle) Green, B.A.I.S. ’03, has been named public relations coordinator at the Boca Raton Resort and Club. She also is chairperson for the Junior League of Boca Raton. Last year she married Oliver H. Green, B.B.A. ’03. Michelle (Zayas) Richter, B.H.S. ’03, received her doctorate in pharmacy and is an inpatient pharmacist for Shands Hospital in

44 Miami magazine Fall 2007

Gainesville, Florida. She married Chris Richter in July 2006. Shelley E. Chen, B.S.N. ’04, is an RN in the pediatric intensive care unit at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Florida. Chelsa Fore, B.S.N. ’04, is a labor and delivery nurse at Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. She devotes much of her time to Str8-Talk, a nonprofit organization in Miami that provides support and guidance for teenagers. Christopher Kaszubski, B.S.N. ’04, a doctoral student in nursing, University of California, San Francisco, is the recipient of the $180,000 Betty Irene Moore Fellowship. Judith Mesler, Ph.D. ’04, was named chair of the Undergraduate Exceptional Student Education Program at Nova Southeastern University. She also was named associate editor of The Journal of School Choice. Mellissa Iglesias, B.S.N. ’05, is an RN at Miami Children’s Hospital. She has a 3-year-old child. Lindsay Liles, B.S.C. ’05, a producer for Style Network’s Clean House television show, is one of ten contestants on reality show America’s Top Producer, which premiered on the TV Guide network in July. Christy M. Rhoades, A.B. ’05, earned a master of public service management with concentration in public administration. She is enrolled in law school at Louisiana State University. Marissa A. Quest, B.S.N. ’05, is the resident RN for A Very Special Place, a 12-bed group home in New York for adults with developmental disabilities. Kelly M. Rankin, B.S.N. ’05, is a registered nurse in the ICU at Palmetto General Hospital. She was married in January 2006. Kurt Hine, M.B.A. ’06, was promoted to executive vice president of sales at Paradigm Learning in Tampa, Florida. Anna Maria Lozoya, B.S.N. ’06, is senior editor of health, wellness, and fitness for Florida Performer Magazine.

Disney Exec Turns Superhero Scribe

y day, David Schwartz, J.D. ’97, vice president of business affairs for Disney/ABC Domestic Television, plays a leading role in bringing feature films to pay-per-view, video-ondemand—even cell phones—and expanding the way people use new media, when they use it and where. But in the wee hours of predawn and sometimes well into the night, when he isn’t recasting the media landscape, he tells stories, most recently of comic book superheroes who use their gifts to not just save lives but to inspire readers to “do your part to make the world a better place.” This past summer Schwartz released a two-part comic book called Meltdown, the tale of an incendiary, Miami-based superhero whose powers are devouring him from within. Published by Image Comics, Meltdown tweaks comic book clichés by casting as its protagonist an émigré from Venezuela and elevating human virtues over magic. And yet, “Cal” (short for Caliente) doubts the value of his super-talent, finally confronting his own thwarted dreams and regrets. Schwartz’s experience as a student actor in Miami-area programs schooled him in how even talented people grapple with disenchantment. When Schwartz was earning his undergraduate degree in film production at NYU, a similar theme infused Fighting Gravity, the independent feature he co-wrote, co-produced, and directed. “I wasn’t going to allow myself to fall into something that I wasn’t excited about,” he says. After law school, Schwartz cheerfully persevered in juniorlevel entertainment-law jobs. Then he picked up some luck when a fellow UM law alumnus working for Disney tipped him off to an opening in his division. “When I was in law school, I knew that at some level I had to keep the entertainment industry and creativity in my life,” he recalls. For mere mortals like Hollywood attorneys trying to change the world, having a superhero as an alter ego comes in handy. At the end of Meltdown, when Cal summons his dwindling powers to rescue a Latina damsel from certain death, he inspires her to take up the mantle. She states in the closing frames: “I wanna help.” “I help,” Schwartz says, “by telling stories that inspire people to make some kind of positive change in their lives or pursue their dreams.” —Leslie Sternlieb

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In Memoriam

Jeanne Louise Scheibler, B.S. ’37 Frances A. Dye, B.Ed. ’39 Robert H. Wente, B.B.A. ’39 Grant G. Slater, B.S. ’40 Albert J. Slavin, B.B.A. ’40 Henry M. Tonkin Jr., B.S. ’41 Dayne S. Pilkington, B.Ed. ’42 E. Frank Edwinn, B.M. ’43 Edward A. Kreske, A.B. ’44 Emily Creveling Pickel, A.B. ’44, M.Ed. ’50 Dorothy H. Sancken, A.B. ’44 David V. Duchini, A.B. ’45 Roslyn Kivel Kwart, A.B. ’45 Harriet Pace, A.B. ’46 Donald H. Brown, B.S. ’47 Max J. Cleveland, B.S. ’47 Margaret Blue Howell, A.B. ’47 August C. Paoli, J.D. ’47 Martha Jane Ritter, A.B. ’47 Forrest O. Rogells, J.D. ’47, B.B.A. ’48 O. Dale Teaff Jr., A.B. ’47 Pearl G. Aldrich, A.B. ’48 Barbara P. Frenkel, A.B. ’48 Lawrence Goodman, A.B. ’48 Allen E. Sherrill, J.D. ’48

Morton B. Ulman, J.D. ’48 Dorothy J. Cornett, M.Ed. ’49 Herman David Doochin, M.S. ’49 Hon. Bruce Geisinger, J.D. ’49 Edward Ginsberg, B.B.A. ’49 Spencer Paul Goodman, A.B. ’49 Carl J. Hegner, B.Ed. ’49 James Mcdonald Coffroth, A.B. ’49 Rosalee D. Naberhuis, B.Ed. ’49 Robert Leonard Nelson, B.B.A. ’49 Laurence A. Petit Jr., B.B.A. ’49 Louis Sager, A.B. ’49 Jack Frederick Yobski, M.B.A. ’49 Joseph E. Youhouse, B.S. ’49 Paul A. Benoit Sr., A.B. ’50 Melvin M. Brooks, B.B.A. ’50 Walter E. Brooks, A.B. ’50 John A. Cesario, B.B.A. ’50 Joseph M. Esachenko, B.Ed. ’50 William Kerdyk Sr., B.B.A. ’50 Vincent Joseph Leparulo, B.B.A. ’50 Lyle Lingle, B.Ed. ’50, M.Ed. ’62 Bernard Marcus, J.D. ’50 William Morris Moldoff, J.D. ’50 Caroline Murphy, B.B.A. ’50 Thaddeus Obuchowski, B.B.A. ’50 Arthur H. Patten Jr., B.B.A. ’50

Man of Many Words Michael B. Salwen, professor of journalism and photography in the School of Communication, died at the age of 53 in July following a six-year battle with cancer. In his 20 years at the University, he published more than 70 articles, book chapters, and books. His wife, Okhee Lee-Salwen, is a professor in the School of Education’s Department of Teaching and Learning. Charles D. Richmond, J.D. ’50 George Peter Sikokis, A.B. ’50 Cyrus (Bud) W. Thompson, B.B.A. ’50 William Irving Allen, B.Ed. ’51 Bennett W. Botuck, A.B. ’51 Paul Thomas Brucato Sr., B.B.A. ’51 John J. Hurtak, J.D. ’51 Norman Klauder Jr., B.B.A. ’51 Francis W. Merrill, B.B.A. ’51 Richard John O’Mara, A.B. ’51 William E. Rheney, A.B. ’51 Andrew L. Richard Jr., A.B. ’51,

J.D. ’58 Joseph S. Salzburg, A.B. ’51 Anthony J. Sileo, B.B.A. ’51 Joseph B. Silver, B.S.M.E. ’51 Maurice F. Sprinz, A.B. ’51 Arthur D. Stanton, B.B.A. ’51 Stephen Banas, B.Ed. ’52 Frederick Baran, B.B.A. ’52 Raymond William Cirino, B.M. ’52 Fred Dickinson Gentle, A.B. ’52 Katherine Hughes Hole, A.B. ’52 Julian M. Korray, B.B.A. ’52 Louis F. Maire III, B.S. ’52

ooking for an elegant furniture item that’s also a

’Caneversation piece? With the new Official

University of Miami Old Havana Rocker by Camilo Furni-

ture, you and your guests can be cradled by comfort while also honoring your University. Hailing from Spain, the Camilo family has been known for fine office furniture for more than three generations. The family’s masterful craftsmanship and legacy of pride in working with wood are evident in the rocker’s design. A brass University seal accentuates the rich, stained mahogany wood that frames an intricately woven cane seat and back. Cost is $750, with all proceeds benefiting the University of Miami Alumni Association. Quantities are limited, so order today by calling the Office of Alumni Relations at 305-284-2872 or 1-866-UMALUMS.

Rock You Like a Hurricane Fall 2007 Miami magazine 45

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ClassNotes

Patrick F. Mooney Jr., B.Ed. ’52, M.Ed. ’55 Philip G. Pinder Jr., B.S.M.E. ’52 Nicholas Spaniola Sr., B.S.E.S. ’52 Victor S. Stiff, B.B.A. ’52 Joseph R. Tannozzini, B.S. ’52 Lester R. Wheeler Jr., B.B.A. ’52 Ruth Ann Breuninger, B.Ed. ’53 Dominic R. Cassella, B.S.C.E. ’53 George L. Combaluzier, J.D. ’53 Ralph E. Cunningham Jr., J.D. ’53 Robert R. Long Sr., B.B.A. ’53 Walter Machos, A.B. ’53 George P. O’Malley, B.S.C.E. ’53 Harmon Pletzer, B.B.A. ’53 Harry M. Ross, J.D. ’53 Earl Kenneth Straight, A.B. ’53 Jack Perry Wyatt Jr., J.D. ’53 Seth Feldman, B.B.A. ’54 Maria Brana Hornor, M.Ed. ’54 Jay Jensen, B.Ed. ’54, M.Ed., ’60 Leroy Levy, J.D. ’54 Jerry L. Scales, B.B.A. ’54, M.A. ’55 John L. Sullivan, B.B.A. ’54 George Baker Thomson, J.D. ’54 Joseph A. Benner Jr., B.B.A. ’55 Sally A. Morse Kimmel, B.B.A. ’55 Marlene Ann Kopf, A.B. ’55 William Allen Morse, J.D. ’55 Albert J. Rioux, J.D. ’55 Mary E. Thomas, B.Ed. ’55 James Omar Dailey, M.D. ’56 William C. Krautheim, B.B.A. ’56, M.B.A. ’67 Lorraine S. Shifke, B.B.A. ’56 John P. Siegel, B.Ed. ’56 Frank J. Greene, J.D. ’57 Benjamin V. Haywood, J.D. ’57 Daniel D. McGlinchey, B.B.A. ’57 Thomas O. Muckler Sr., B.B.A. ’57 Louis J. Serrano, B.S. ’57 Maurice A. Abraham, J.D. ’58 William A. Clot, B.B.A. ’58 Robert Lee Cook, B.S. ’58, M.S. ’60 Anita Iris Japhe, B.Ed. ’58

James Lee Jeffers, J.D. ’58 Bruce C. Jenkins, B.B.A. ’58 Rose E. Schwartz, B.Ed. ’58 Cecelia E. Smith, B.Ed. ’58 Angeline G. Weir, J.D. ’58 Robert A. Anderson, B.B.A. ’59 Frank Meyer, A.B. ’59 Mary F.G. Staffney, B.B.A. ’59 Harold W. Beaver, B.B.A. ’60 Everett H. Dudley Jr., J.D. ’60 Bill Hubert Keller, B.S.M.E. ’60 R. Kenneth Schell, B.S.E.E. ’60 Mary E. Warrington, M.Ed. ’60 Helen J. Anderson, B.Ed. ’61 Theodore Klein, B.B.A. ’61 J.D. ’64 Thomas Blakey, B.B.A. ’62, J.D. ’65 Dennis Ralph Galati, B.S. ’62 Jerry Hagen, A.B. ’62 Stanley L. Krieger, B.B.A. ’62 William D. Linton Sr., B.B.A. ’62 F. Kenneth McNeil Jr., B.B.A. ’62 Glenn B. Pries, B.B.A. ’62 Barbara B. Viksne, B.Ed. ’62, M.Ed. ’66 George J. Wirshing, B.B.A. ’62 Martin Gallant, B.B.A. ’63 Philip Guerra Jr., B.B.A. ’63 Daniel G. Lynch, A.B. ’63 Ruth D. O’Kain, B.S.N. ’63 Herbert L. Thomas III, B.B.A. ’63 Arthur A. Andricopoulos, B.Ed. ’64 Grant L. Beardsley Jr., M.S. ’64, Ph.D. ’67 Marjorie J. Carpenter, B.S.N ’64 Robert D. Korner, A.B. ’64, J.D. ’68 Walter P. Sullivan, B.B.A. ’64 Fredric B. Burns, A.B. ’65, J.D. ’68 Thomas J. Buschbaum, B.B.A. ’65 Richard A. Calhoun, B.B.A. ’65 Thomas G. Cooney, B.B.A. ’65 Carl M. Herman, B.B.A. ’65 Exum Jane Kranick, M.Ed. ’65 Helen E. Pokay, B.S.N ’65

Renowned Chinese Military Historian Edward L. Dreyer, professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences and an expert on Chinese military history, died at the age of 66 after a long illness. Since his arrival at the University in 1970, he served on numerous administrative committees and in the Faculty Senate. His wife, June Teufel Dreyer, is a professor in the School of Business Administration’s Department of Political Science.

46 Miami magazine Fall 2007

Beloved Law Professor John T. Gaubatz, professor in the School of Law, died in June at the age of 65 of complications from cancer. During his 30 years at UM, he directed the graduate program on estate planning and the Philip E. Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning. The School of Law has renamed its Moot Court competition in his honor.

Lowell L. White, B.B.A. ’65 Daniel J. Jacobs, B.B.A. ’66 Harold Ryan Jr., B.B.A. ’66 Robert R. Schmidlin, B.Ed. ’66 Bruce H. Schwartz, A.B. ’66 Kenard N. Turpin III, B.S.E.E. ’66 Robert Bakerman, J.D. ’67 Jordan A. Greene, A.B. ’67 J.D. ’70 Joel Philip Landsman, B.Ed. ’67 David H. Levine, B.B.A. ’67, J.D. ’70 Louis Lidz, Ph.D. ’67 Jaswant Singh Pannu, M.D. ’67 Paul L. Preston, M.B.A. ’67 Anthony Tremblay, B.M. ’67 Jo Anne Wehrle, B.Ed. ’67 Gloria Bravo, C.T.P. ’68 Isabel G. Chandler, B.Ed. ’68 Richard J. Greenwald, J.D. ’68 Henry Kaufman, B.Ed. ’68 Samuel T. Lastinger, Jr. M.Ed. ’68 James Edward Miggins, Sr. J.D. ’68 Arthur F. Willens, M.Ed. ’68 Beulah K. Cypress, B.Ed., ’69, M.Ed. ’70 Patricia D. Kuntz, A.B. ’69 Harold James La Chapelle, J.D. ’70 Francisco F. Pichardo, B.S. ’70 Donald R. Carignan, A.B. ’71 Rebecca Carner-Walters, Ed.D. ’71 William J. Flanagan, A.B. ’71 Ethel S. Gordon, M.Ed. ’71 Ronald W. Martin, B.Ed. ’71 Robert Alfred Churchill, B.B.A. ’72 Jeffrey Drew Cummins, J.D. ’72 Mario Jose Lamar, J.D. ’72 Indalecio Morgado, A.B. ’72 David Patrylo, B.B.A. ’72 Margery S. Shlafer, M.Ed. ’72 Brant Davis Ward, B.M. ’72 Mary-Ellen R. White, B.Ed. ’72, M.Ed. ’73 Dwight C. Witty, Ed.D. ’72 John T. Butterwick, Ph.D. ’73 Deborah Lee Hohler, B.Ed. ’73 James Obenchain, B.S.C.E. ’73 Meade Selig, B.B.A. ’73, J.D. ’77 Maria Pla Albuerne, B.Ed. ’74 Patricia Marie Colasanti, B.Ed. ’74

Austin O. Huhn II, Ed.D. ’74 Creigh Shank, B.S. ’74, M.S.E.E. ’79 Thomas D. Wilson, B.B.A. ’74 Allyn Davis Brenner, M.Ed. ’75 Margarette Wendland Jones, M.Ed. ’75 John Donald Power, B.B.A. ’75 Kerry Crisanto Sacasa, B.B.A. ’75 James Dewar Ewing, Ph.D. ’76 Gary Evans Hoogenboom, M.A. ’76 Jose L. Rodriguez Jr., B.Arch. ’76 Valerie Robin Breindel, B.S.N ’77 Kenneth N. Feldman, J.D. ’77 Janice Booke Greenstein, B.B.A. ’77 Rene Cohen, M.B.A. ’79 Samuel B. Feldman, J.D. ’79 Philip A. Gaffney, M.B.A. ’79 Andrea E. McKenzie, A.B. ’80 Beth Davis Wellington, J.D. ’80 Penny H. Cohn, A.B. ’81 Gregg Lawrence Savignano, B.B.A. ’81 Lisa Ann Bujalski, B.S.N ’82, M.S.N ’88 Mark S. Cardozo, M.D. ’83 Norman Y. Charron, B.F.A. ’84 Deirdre L. Hall, A.B. ’86 Timothy J. Ward, B.B.A. ’86 Barbara Bourne Bennett, M.D. ’88 Geri A. Kahn, J.D. ’88 Lawrence A. Levy, LL.M.R. ’89 Kimberly A. Doyle, M.B.A. ’90 Yael Wiesner, A.B. ’90 Vicki Ferraro Anderson, M.B.A. ’91 Jennifer L. Delphus, B.S.N ’97 John Litten, ’98 Peter J. Iacono, J.D. ’00 Gene Paul Braganini, B.B.A. ’04 Edward Joseph Wolak III, B.B.A. ’05 *Submissions prior to July 2007

Alive and Well! Last issue, Verania Violet Esquenazi, Ph.D. ’77, was erroneously listed in “In Memoriam.”

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D a t e

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

BOOK October Through November 27

Lowe Art Museum Material Terrain: A Sculptural Exploration of Landscape and Place 10-20 Jerry Herman Ring Theatre Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 11 President’s Council Dinner Reception, Coral Gables, Florida

12 President’s Council Fall Meeting, Coral Gables, Florida 20 Football and Official UMAA Pregame Party UM vs. Florida State, Tallahassee, Florida*

November 1 50th Class Reunion and Old Timers Reunion, Coral Gables, Florida 2-4 Alumni Weekend and Homecoming 2007 Featuring Alumni Avenue, the Audrey R. Finkelstein UM Experience, and the Farewell Brunch, Coral Gables, Florida 3 Football and Official UMAA Homecoming Pregame Party UM vs. NC State (Homecoming game) Lot NE1 (Pregame Party) Orange Bowl 7-17 Jerry Herman Ring Theatre Sundays in the Park with George: In Concert

A sculpture by James Surls, shown in Material Terrain at the Lowe Art Museum.

ALUMNI LEADERSHIP Executive Committee Jacqueline F. Nespral, A.B. ’89, President Gregory M. Cesarano, J.D. ’76, Immediate Past President Patrick K. Barron, B.B.A. ’75, President-Elect Susan Strickroot Adams, L.L.M.T. ’92, Vice President Samuel Ballam, B.B.A. ’72, Vice President Wifredo A. Ferrer, A.B. ’87, Vice President G. Alex Fraser, B.B.A. ’97, Vice President Sara B. Herald, J.D. ’79, Vice President Donna A. Arbide, M.B.A.’95, Executive Director

Alumni Trustees Dany Garcia Johnson, B.B.A. ’92 Randall C. Johnson, A.B. ’71 Michael R. Klein, B.B.A. ’63, J.D. ’66

Regional Directors Scott Campbell, M.B.A. ’86 Eric Cheng, B.S.B.E. ’95, M.S.I.E. ’01 Philip Genet, A.B. ’71 Denise P. Grimsley, M.B.A. ’03 Leslie J. Monreal-Feil, B.S.C. ’96 Humberto M. Reboredo, B.B.A. ’97 Karl J. Schulze, B.B.A. ’74

Directors Juan Albelo, B.S.E.E. ’93, M.S.I.E. ’96, M.B.A. ’96 Matthew Arpano, M.B.A. ’92 Sheila Chudzinski, J.D. ’05

Elizabeth W. Davis, B.S.C. ’91 Robert L. Hersh, A.B. ’75, M.Ed. ’77 Alina Tejeda Hudak, B.B.A. ’82, M.P.A. ’84 Carlos E. Lowell, B.S.M.E. ’94 Nan A. Markowitz, A.B. ’81 Stanley W. Papuga, B.B.A. ’67 Suzanne A. Perez, J.D. ’00 Irwin P. Raij, B.B.A ’92 Richard J. Roberts, B.B.A. ’74 Alan Serure, B.S. ’75, M.D. ’79 Joshua B. Spector, J.D. ’02 Stanley B. Thornton, B.S.I.E. ’81

Student Directors Danny Carvajal Amy Salmanson

Club Leaders and Alumni Contacts Atlanta TBA Baghdad/Operation Iraqi Freedom Raymond Lavado, B.B.A. ’92 M.B.A. ’96, rlavado@aol.com Bahamas Wendy Wong, M.B.A. ’96 242-362-4572, wwong@lyfordcay.com Boston Kelly Geisinger, A.B. ’01 857-998-1392 kelly_geisinger@yahoo.com Brasilia Luana Matos, A.B. ’00 (55)613244-2322 luanamatos@brasilia.com.br Broward Bob Martin, B.G.S. ’74 954-326-0482 robrtmartin1@bellsouth.net

Chicago/Northern Illinois Stan Papuga, B.B.A. ’67 312-236-6405, spapuga@kropik.net Dallas Lauren Kohn, B.B.A. ’04 972-898-8266 dallascanes@gmail.com

December 13 Fall Commencement BankUnited Center, Coral Gables, Florida 15-February 3, 2008 Lowe Art Museum Art Students League of New York: Highlights of the Permanent Collection; Afro-Cuba Works on Paper, 1968-2003 January TBA Bowl Game 11 UMAA Board of Directors Meeting, Coral Gables, Florida 29 Performance by Sheldon Berg, Dean of the Frost School of Music, New York City February 21 President’s Council Dinner

Reception, Coral Gables, Florida 22 President’s Council Spring Meeting, Coral Gables, Florida 26 National Alumni Tour Featuring New Deans Sheldon Berg and Barbara Kahn, Orlando, Florida

Denver Alan S. Beshany, A.B. ’66 303-989-5901, abeshany@comcast.net Detroit Paul Koch, M.D., B.S. ’73 313-274-6579, detroitcanes@yahoo.com Hartford Keri Gilford, A.B. ’93 860-674-6145 kerigilford@hotmail.com Houston Dawn Rodak, B.S.Ed. ’84 M.S.Ed. ’86, 281-897-8726 dawnrodak@letu.edu Indianapolis Meenakshi Garg, B.S. ’98 M.P.H. ’99, M.D. ’03, 786-287-2439 indycanes@yahoo.com Jacksonville Matt Leturmey, A.B. ’97 904-296-8537, hermycane@yahoo.com Kuwait Reyadh Alrabeah, B.S.I.E. ’87 965-245-3162, ralrabeah@yahoo.com and Nezar Hasawi, B.S.E.E. ’89 965-484-2075 hasawi@kuc01.kuniv.edu.kw Las Vegas John Knuth, M.B.A. ’98 M.S.C.I.S. ’02, 702-243-1064 john.e.knuth@us.hsbc.com London, U.K. Christian Hasenoehrl, M.B.A. ’95, M.S. ’95 114(0)207-950-4432 christian_hasenoehrl@gallup.co.uk

Los Angeles/Southern California Scott Richter, A.B. ’86 J.D. ’89 310-713-4898, srichterla@aol.com Louisville Michael Friedman, B.B.A. ’74 502-587-0399 mfriedman@scrapandwaste.com Melbourne, Florida Joseph Jenne, M.S. ’03, 321-752-9061 jjenne@earthlink.net Miami Roberto Castro, B.B.A. ’05 786-663-1856 rcastro@carnival.com

March 13-16 ACC Basketball Tournament, Charlotte, North Carolina 26 National Alumni Tour Featuring New Deans Sheldon Berg and Barbara Kahn, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 27 National Alumni Tour Featuring New Dean Barbara Kahn, New York, New York 28 National Alumni Tour Featuring New Dean Barbara Kahn, Long Island, New York *For a complete schedule of all Hurricane sports events, visit www.hurricanesports.com.

New Jersey TBA New York Paul McDonnough 917-853-6274 mgocanes@aol.com

North Carolina-Charlotte James M. Barnett, B.B.A. ’68, 704-227-3219 jim@jimbarnett.com

North Carolina-Greensboro David Noble, J.D. ’01, 336-370-8820 dnoble1@triad.rr.com North Carolina-Raleigh Daniel Smith, B.S. ’00, M.B.A. ’02 919-450-0532 daniel@coralreefproductions.com Orlando Mark McKay, B.Arch. ’95 407-620-3673 orlandocanes@aol.com Palm Beach Martin Springer, M.B.A. ’74 561-443-0453 marvyone@aol.com Philadelphia TBA Phoenix Ben Leis, B.S.C. ’04 480-313-3205 phxcanes@gmail.com Pittsburgh Gretchen Dimeling, B.B.A. ’04, 412-657-4271, gdimeling@yahoo.com Portland Courtney Quale, B.S.C. ’05 courtneyquale@gmail.com Richmond Jan Light, A.B. ’69 804-746-1155 janlight@hotmail.com Rhode Island Mike Bernstein, A.B. ’68 tiffi01@aol.com Rochester Mark Scuderi, M.B.A. ’85 mscuderi@rochester.rr.com San Diego Courtney Berg, B.B.A. ’04 305-773-6592 berg.courtney@gmail.com

San Francisco Teka Thomas, B.B.A. ’97 415-515-2339, tekathomas@aim.com Sarasota Chris Clayton, B.S.C. ’94 941-586-7997, cclayton12@aol.com Savannah Joe Romanowski, B.B.A. ’79 912-232-7979 joe@4collegefunding.com Seattle Chander Chawla, M.B.A. ’99 425-443-6626 chander.chawla@gmail.com Southwest Florida Randolph Cash, B.S. ’81, 239-262-8569 irnarow@aol.com Tallahassee Thomas Hall, J.D. ’80 850-894-7069, hall@flcourts.org Tampa/St. Petersburg TBA Washington, D.C. Scott Meyer, A.B. ’85 M.F.A. ’90, 703-929-1769 president@dccanes.com 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 wish not 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.

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PICTURE

Faculty Shine in a Whole New Light

A Structured Life

JOHN ZILLIOUX

t’s easy to picture Antonio Nanni, Ph.D. ’85, as a boy in his native Bologna, Italy, wide-eyed and mesmerized by the majestic buildings and bridges around him. “To me, these structures are where people express their ability to master nature,” says Nanni, chair of the UM Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering since 2006. Nanni has spent his life mastering the forces of nature. Light, strong, corrosion-resistant mixtures of materials called composites have been the foundation of his efforts since the early 1990s, when he was on the faculty at Penn State University. There, he took an 18-month sabbatical to work for a Japanese construction company, testing whether DuPont Kevlar fibers could strengthen concrete. “It convinced me that the opportunity was in repair and rehabilitation rather than in new construction.” Nanni, who has a penchant for exotic locales, attended graduate school in South Africa before being lured to Miami for his Ph.D. during the city’s sexy Miami Vice years with his wife, Valeria, A.B. ’89. He accepted a faculty position in the UM College of Engineering, then went to Penn State for nine years and the University of Missouri-Rolla for another nine before returning to Miami. “One of the things that attracted me back here is the fact that the University has a School of Architecture—and it’s a prominent School of Architecture,” says Nanni. “Maybe this is my Italian Renaissance style, but I believe in the master builder. A master builder is neither engineer nor architect; it’s a person who understands both.” Using composites to revive outdated structures is another product of Nanni’s European background,“a culture based on preservation and conservation.” He practices what he preaches as director of Repair of Buildings and Bridges with Composites, or RB2C. This NSF-funded research center at the College of Engineering takes on projects like strengthening the Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys, hardening structures to withstand terrorist attacks, and retrofitting buildings so they can adapt to the changing needs of society. “A structure is alive,” he asserts. “The fact that you’ve built it does not mean the process is complete.” It is through RB2C that Nanni became a consultant last year on what will be the world’s tallest skyscraper—the 2,300-plus-foot-tall Burj Dubai. From there he connected with the principals of the wind-engineering firm RWDI and forged a relationship that has spawned Miami Wind. The University will use this new 10,000-square-foot wind tunnel in Broward County to test wind pressures on models of structures. Just like that boy in Italy, Nanni becomes wide-eyed when talking about a skyscraper twice the height of the Empire State Building—a true mastery of nature. Still, he cautions against creating “cathedrals in the desert,” simply because we have the know-how. “Engineering and architecture also have to look at the human dimension,” he says. “As we embrace technology and push it to the limit, we cannot forget that there are human beings who need to live and work there.” —Meredith Danton

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Robert and Judi Prokop Newman

ALUMNI CENTER UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

Make a Lasting Impression JOHN ZILLIOUX

s a student at the University of Miami, you made your mark on the institution’s growth and character. Now you can do it again. Purchasing a stone paver inscribed with your message supports the Robert and Judi Prokop Newman Alumni Center Capital Campaign and creates a visible and enduring link between you and your University. Personalized pavers will be showcased in the forthcoming Robert and Judi Prokop Newman Alumni Center on the corner of Brescia Avenue and Hurricane Drive. They are a great way to celebrate a milestone, such as a birthday or graduation, or to honor a special person like a family member, classmate, or mentor. Reserve your place in history today!

Choose from two sizes: a 4x8-inch paver with three lines of text for a $500 donation, or an 8x8-inch paver with six lines of text for a $1,000 donation. A limited quantity of pavers are available, so call the Alumni Association now at 1-866-UMALUMS or order online at www.miami.edu/alumnicenter.

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Oh, the Places You’ll Go When Sebastian tags along

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

University of Miami Division of University Communications Post Office Box 248073 Coral Gables, Florida 33124-1210

UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage P A I D Permit No. 930 Richmond, VA