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Published by , 2017-08-04 10:47:24

Miami Spring 2017_pages

Miami Spring 2017_pages

M I A M IDear World | Exchange of Hope | Election Reflection | ‘Moonlight’ Special
THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI MAGAZINE  |  SPRING 2017

Architects survey informal settlements
in South America with the aid of drone
and X-ray technology, giving often-
overlooked residents the voice and
visibility their governments can’t ignore.

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Contentsmiami.edu/magazine
P.26 Volume 23 Number 2 | Spring 2017

D E PA RT M E N T S F E AT U R E S
Inbox 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
University Journal 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
R+D Update 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Eye on Athletics 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wearing Their Stories
Bottom Lines 11. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Faculty Files 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UM students were asked to reveal the one thing they want to tell the world, and
Student Spotlight 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the results are eye opening.
Alumni Digest 40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Class Notes 45 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
In Memoriam 55 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Alumni Leaders 59 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pushing the Needle
Big Picture 60 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Battling strong resistance for years, UM physician Hansel Tookes, M.P.H. ’09,
M.D. ’14, is now leading Florida’s first syringe exchange program.

26

Hurricanes Take Election by Storm

A look at the alumni who made the national stage, the students who got all fired
up, and the issues that hit close to home during Election 2016.

30

‘Moonlight’ Becomes Him

Tarell Alvin McCraney came back to Miami—and joined UM as a professor—to
give back to the community that raised him. Then the film he co-wrote came out.

34

Off the Charts

Architects venture off the grid in Colombia to get a struggling community back
on the map.

P.16 ANDREW INNERARITY

P.20

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 1

Inbox
COMMENTS AND OPINIONS FROM UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI ALUMNI AND FRIENDS

a copy of the University of needs dog, Nikko was quite to 1996. I have been looking
for the right picture to add to
Miami magazine Fall 2016 involved at the U. I applaud the several items of memo-
rabilia from my playing days
issue for the first time in Dr. Beverly for bringing this that are already displayed in
my office at Franklin Junior
more than half a century activity to a new and wonder- High School, where I am
principal.
after I left the University! I ful level. The efforts of this J Ina, A.B. ’97
Franklin, Louisiana
enjoyed reading it and would program are admirable.  
be pleased to read future Paula (Tiscio) Burkhardt, B.Ed. ’76 Got a ’Cane Over
copies of the magazine to Pennsylvania Here

learn about the tremendous From Beirut, with I am not an alumnus—wish
changes taking place in the Pride I was. But like millions of us
University. I thank you and out there, I bleed orange and
green. Truly. I donate to the
your colleagues who put in U (I don’t even donate money
to my real alma mater). I
effort to find my address in I thoroughly enjoyed reading cry and cheer and scream
and argue when it comes to
Art Smarts Bombay and send me the the Fall 2016 edition of your Miami. I get defensive when
anyone talks badly about the
I commend the artist who magazine. publication. It certainly gives ’Canes. Yes, it’s a love affair,
came up with the design of Palaka Vayalil J. Thomas, Ph.D. ’65 me lots of pride and joy to see a 40-year-old love affair.
the cover for the Fall 2016 Bombay, India the amazing progress that my When UM President Julio
magazine. What a bright idea Frenk spoke at the introduc-
to have the Earth encap- Editor’s Note: Yes, we’ve beloved alma mater has made tory press conference for UM
sulated by a light bulb to over the past decade and par- Head Football Coach Mark
illustrate the warming of our Richt, B.B.A. ’82 (“The Richt
planet. The light bulb, com- gone global. We’ll send your ticularly under the leadership Stuff,” Spring 2016), I was
bined with the warm colors, deeply touched by his words.
“illuminates” the fact that magazine pretty much of President Frenk. I mean I shed a tear or two.
the Earth is warming up and wherever you live in the Sami A. Garabedian, M.S.Ed. ’83 “Football is not part of what
symbolizes the “bright ideas” world. Email inquiries Beirut, Lebanon we do here,” he said. “It is
that could prepare our planet part of who we are.” Yes, I, a
for the impending conse- and address updates 52-year-old, sort-of-manly
quences from climate change. guy, cried at those words.
Keep up the good work. to alumni@miami. Big Picture The ’Canes are part of the
Sharon Fowler, M.A. ’89 edu. A SNAPSHOT OF THE U TODAY unifying DNA and fabric of
Delray Beach, Florida Miami-Dade-Broward-Palm
Big Canine on Beach. It’s the team of the
Climate Costs Campus people. It transcends cultures,
colors, races, and religions.
In regard to your climate I am pleased to read SCOTT FRICKER The U is us. Not just the
change issue (Fall 2016), I in Miami magazine students of that magnificent
believe in climate change. (“Ruff Life,” Fall Football Flashback university, but also the regu-
We’ve always had it and 2015) that Professor lar guy or girl in Liberty City,
always will have it. When the Joy Beverly launched I came across a photo on Lauderdale, Clewiston, or
next ice age comes, I wonder a wonderful and use- p. 40 in my Fall 2016 Miami Immokalee. We wear that U
how much money we can ful program at the magazine of the Greentree proudly amongst thousands of
spend to cure that? University of Miami Practice Fields. It’s an out-
Dick Rowe, B.B.A. ’50 with Trenton and standing photo that captures
Melbourne, Florida Canine Companions a place I spent five years
for Independence. practicing as a member of the
Small World My companion, UM football team from 1992
Nikko, was a Siberian husky
It was indeed a pleasant sur- that accompanied me every-
prise to receive in my mail where on campus, attending
classes, going to the student
union, and even attend-
ing baseball games at the
University. This concept of
dogs on campus doing a good
thing is not new. Though not
training to become a special

2 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

Gators, Seminoles, Buckeyes, We’re “over here” too—and WRITE TO US MIAMI
and others. On a recent we love the U just as much. Letters should be fewer
trip to California, while at Jaime Alvarez than 300 words and may The University of Miami Magazine
breakfast with my U hat on, Fort Myers, Florida be edited for style, length,
I was approached by an older (via Lauderdale Lakes) and clarity. Please include ­
gentleman. “What class did contact information. Assistant Vice President for
you graduate from?” he asked. CORRECTIONS Communications and Marketing
“I didn’t, but I am a huge fan, Owing to a database error, ADDRESS LETTERS TO:
and I always have been.” To Edward W. McSwiggan, Inbox, Miami Todd Ellenberg
that, he threw up the U. “Go B.B.A. ’65, was incorrectly P.O. Box 248105
’Canes!” we said in unison. included in our Fall 2016 “In Coral Gables, FL 33124 Executive Director for
Congratulations for being Memoriam” list. Apologies Communications and Marketing
students and alumni of such a to Mr. McSwiggan. Send EMAIL: Meredith Camel, M.F.A. ’12
beautiful, prestigious, cosmo- alumni news and report [email protected].
politan, and diverse univer- In Memoriam updates to Editor
sity. But don’t forget about us. [email protected]. Robin Shear

From the Editor Creative Director and Art Director
Scott Fricker
Making Our Way
Associate Editor
Amid a wave of bloody pogroms in Poland, my grandfather was born a Jew. Repeatedly denied Robert C. Jones Jr.
a visa to reunite with his mother in the United States, he fled alone at 13 from Eastern Europe,
landing in Mexico, where he made his way for four years by selling saints and crucifixes to Graphic Designer
locals, riding horseback through the town, and learning to speak Spanish with a Polish accent. Nicole Andujar
He always said he felt more at home there than in Poland. From Mexico he crossed the Rio
Grande into Texas to reconnect with his U.S. relatives. Decades later, government officials came Production Manager
calling, but they didn’t lock him up or deport him. They told him how to leave and re-enter with Angie Villanueva, A.B. ’12
the proper papers. They gave him a chance to resume the productive life he’d built as an other-
wise law-abiding citizen. His is just one of this proud nation’s countless immigrant stories, one Editorial Contributors
with a very happy ending. Julia Berg

Many of the stories in this issue are about bringing invisible struggles to the surface and truly Amy Driscoll
seeing the stranger in our midst—whether in an off-the-grid community in Colombia (p. 34) or Barbara Gutierrez
on the streets of Miami (p. 20). And within our own University. As the writer James Baldwin Nosa James, ’20
said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
Jennifer Palma
Dear World gave UM the opportunity to explore that notion directly, inviting students, fac- Wendy Rees
ulty, and administrators to share the one thing they want the world to know about them. A sam-
pling from that brave and revelatory photo project is on page 16. Alex Rodriguez
Andres Tamayo
Creating change is the sphere of politics, another area where ’Canes are deeply engaged Karina Valdes, M.A. ’13
(p. 26)­—just as this issue went to press, yet another ’Cane, Jovita Carranza, M.B.A. ’03, was
tapped for a national post: treasurer of the United States. ­
President
Associate professor of political science Joseph Uscinski, who studies the impact of fake news Julio Frenk
and conspiracy theory on politics, recently presented a ’Cane Talk (online at miami.edu/maga-
zine) in which he urged his audience to look for facts and follow science. Equally important, he Vice President for
said, is to keep talking. “I want to encourage you to open dialogues with people who you might University Communications
disagree with,” he said. “Disagreement leads to learning, and learning leads to growth.” Jacqueline R. Menendez, A.B. ’83

As the University of Miami continues to forge bridges and roads into the future, it also aims Senior Vice President for
through initiatives like the Culture of Belonging to tear down the kind of invisible walls we erect University Advancement
to block people we perceive as different, as threatening to our way of life or ideology. During a
recent Q&A with UM President Julio Frenk, Academy Award winner Tarell Alvin McCraney and External Affairs
(p. 30) praised UM’s Culture of Belonging as “a powerful tenet,” adding, “We have work to do Sergio M. Gonzalez
here, but that’s where it all starts.” I’m certain my grandfather would agree.
Associate Vice President of
—Robin Shear, editor Alumni Relations and Individual Giving

Donna A. Arbide, M.B.A. ’95

­

Miami 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, 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 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.

Copyright ©2017, University of Miami.
An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative
Action Employer.

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 3

UniversityJournal
NEWS, PEOPLE, CULTURE, AND RESEARCH FROM CAMPUS AND BEYOND

Redefining Campus Living in a Big Way

Lakeside village will be the first step toward realizing a whole new era in student housing

The University of Miami has embarked “The project offers a great Renderings show Arquitectonica’s vision for
on an ambitious 10-year strategic plan opportunity for the University new student housing on the Gables campus.
to transform student housing for community to philanthropically support
the 21st century. The three-phase and transform the student experience,” for up to 2,000 first-year students.
initiative is expected to kick off in says Sergio Gonzalez, senior vice The initiative’s final phase will involve
November with construction of a nearly president for University Advancement renovating the historically significant
640,000-square-foot Student Housing and External Affairs. Mahoney, Eaton, and Pearson buildings
Village on eight acres along the southeast as apartment housing for upper-class
corner of Lake Osceola.  The plans are the result of multiple students.
stakeholder meetings and extensive
The Arquitectonica-designed village, market research with students and The multiphase project—branded
projected to open by Fall 2019, will their parents, who indicated a strong as a way to “inspire, innovate, activate,
be a series of 25 interconnected desire to stay engaged as learners educate, and differentiate” UM’s cam-
buildings and a multitude of and live closer to the library and labs pus environment—will increase UM’s
outdoor spaces intended to while maintaining a more independent on-campus housing offering from 4,300
integrate academic and student residential lifestyle.  to approximately 5,400 beds. 
services, while serving as a
gathering place for the greater UM The project was designed with UM’s last new housing project was
community. the goal of achieving LEED Gold the University Village apartments, com-
certification for environmentally pleted in 2006.
“This new facility is being friendly features and the WELL
designed to meet the needs and Building Standard, which addresses “Nothing impacts the quality of life
expectations of the next generation lighting, noise, and air quality.  for students who live on campus more
of University of Miami students,” says than their on-campus housing,” says
James Smart, executive director of the After phase one is complete, phase Patricia Whitely, Ed.D. ’94, vice
Department of Housing and Residential two will begin by replacing both president for student affairs. “As the
Life. “It will be an outstanding housing Stanford and Hecht Residential Colleges University continues to rise as a top-tier
facility for the students of the future.” with a four-building residential village research institution, so do students’
expectations for a comfortable, secure,
The village will give more than 1,100 and supportive living and learning
sophomores, juniors, and seniors a more environment.”
autonomous, but still programmed and
supervised, option for on-campus living, Follow this transformative project at
with apartments and full suites that miami.edu/newstudenthousing.
have private kitchen facilities and single
or double bedrooms.

Two floors of common space—
including music, study, and recreation/
game rooms—will be topped by five
residential floors, complete with
meditation and additional study spaces.
The ground floor will offer retail, dining,
and event space, plus a LaunchPad office
for student entrepreneurs. A boldly
futuristic sculptural staircase will spiral
up through a series of study lounges.

The project’s construction cost is
$153 million, with an additional $40
million fundraising goal.

4 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

New Medical School Dean Renowned in Critical Care

Wake Forest’s Edward Abraham tapped to set future course for education, research, and patient care

Edward Abraham, an internationally academic officer for the vice president for health
renowned pulmonary medicine and Miller School, he will serve affairs and chief executive
critical care physician, is scheduled to as physician executive of the officer of the University of
begin his tenure as dean of the Leonard University of Miami Medical Miami Health System.
M. Miller School of Medicine July 1. Group, playing a leading
role in advancing education, The Stanford-educated
During six years as dean of the Wake research, and patient care as physician trained in internal
Forest School of Medicine in Winston- well as steering the medical and critical care medicine at
Salem, North Carolina, Abraham has enterprise through the rapid the University of California,
overseen the academic enterprise and and profound changes reshap- Los Angeles. He has pub-
led a number of key initiatives, includ- ing health care delivery. lished more than 350 original
ing development of a new faculty com- research articles, reviews,
pensation plan and a strategic vision For more than 25 years, editorials, and book chapters.
for research in the medical school. He Abraham has received extensive His research has focused on inflam-
opened a new medical education facility National Institutes of Health funding. mation, neutrophil biology, acute lung
and built a powerhouse of clinical and He also has a record of breaking down injury, and sepsis.
basic science chairs, senior associ- silos and building teams. Prior to Wake Forest, he chaired
ate deans, and center directors. At the the Department of Medicine at the
Miller School, he will have significant “He has the strategic vision and University of Alabama at Birmingham
input on the business of medicine. financial expertise to navigate the and held lead positions at the University
complex challenges and opportunities of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
In addition to his role as chief we face,” says Steven Altschuler, senior

Praise for The Lennar Foundation Medical Center

Full spectrum of health care being provided in one world-class, community-based setting

Victoria Bassil jokes that, at 86, Bassil was one of the first patients physical therapy, neurology, otolaryn-
she’s just five years younger than the accessing the world-class care being gology, and more.
University of Miami. Her connections provided there by UHealth–the
to UM date back to the 1970s, when University of Miami Health System. “Better accessibility to our academic-
she was a volunteer fundraiser. But the based health care services is one of our
long-time Westchester resident has “I don’t think I’ve ever had such goals, and we are clearly achieving this
never been a patient of UM doctors. thorough checkups,” says Bassil. at The Lennar Center,” says Ben Riestra,
“They were too far away,” she says. “It chief administrative officer. “It’s great
just wasn’t convenient.” In this one facility, made possible to hear, directly from our patients, that
by a $50 million gift from The Lennar their experience at The Lennar Center is
No more. When The Lennar Foundation, patients have access to the very positive.”
Foundation Medical Center opened a health experts of Sylvester Compre-
206,000-square-foot building on the hensive Cancer Center, Bascom Palmer The center’s open house celebration
Coral Gables campus December 5, 2016, Eye Institute, the University of Miami on January 29 drew more than 2,500
Health System Sports Medicine area residents and UM faculty, staff, and
Institute, and other UHealth specialty students.
areas, such as women’s and men’s cen-
“The University of Miami Health
ters, the comprehensive diabetes System is all about you,” Thinh H. Tran,
center, cardiology, primary chief clinical officer and chief operat-
care, urology, ing officer of UHealth, told the crowd
during a brief speech. “This building
is about you. It’s about caring for each
other. It’s about our wellness and health
as a community.”

It’s a community Bassil is glad she
joined. “Everybody was so warm and
welcoming,” she recounts, “and I was
very impressed with the facility. It’s so
new and clean—everything just spar-
kled. It’s a very pleasant place to go to.”

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 5

UniversityJournal

Frost Institutes for Science and Engineering Take Off

Philanthropists’ $100 million gift will advance Miami’s role as a leader in scientific inquiry and innovation

Speaking to over 250 of the world’s ANDREW INNERARITY
leading scientists, researchers, and
physicians at the 50th annual Miami UM President Julio Frenk, left, joins Patricia and Phillip Frost for the momentous announcement.
Winter Symposium, University of
Miami President Julio Frenk announced work at the molecular level, includ- we build the framework from which to
the creation of the Frost Institutes for ing promising developments in the life provide the education and resources,
Science and Engineering to elevate sci- sciences, nanotechnology, and new we will be successful in attracting
ence, technology, engineering, and math materials. Through approaches rely- top scientists across various science
(STEM) across the University. ing on molecular design, discovery, and disciplines, including chemistry and
development, research outcomes will be molecular biology.”
The Frost Institutes are being created translated into solutions to significant
from a transformational $100 million real-life problems. The creation of the Frost Institutes
lead gift from Phillip and Patricia Frost solidifies the University’s initiatives
to support basic and applied sciences “Patricia and I are committed to and endeavor to propel UM toward its
and engineering in a University-wide making Miami a hub for technological greatest aspirations by its centennial
initiative being called STEM@UM. and scientific innovation, which is the in 2025, allowing for STEM growth, a
main reason for our support of basic stimulation of interdisciplinary research
The gift was originally announced by and applied sciences and engineering at collaboration, and engagement with
Frenk during his inauguration last year. the University of Miami,” said Frost, the Greater Miami as a hemispheric innova-
CEO of the biopharmaceutical company tion hub.
“The University of Miami is already Opko Health and a former professor of
known for excellence in biomedicine, dermatology at the medical school. “If The University will launch a national
marine sciences, and other fields,” search for an individual to lead the Frost
Frenk said. “But continued excellence Institutes, with additional institutes to
cannot be sustained without criti- be created over the next several years.
cal investments in basic and applied
science, mathematics, and engineer- Using the Miami Winter Symposium
ing. These disciplines, which form the as the venue for announcing the ways
building blocks for innovation, must be in which the Frost gift will be put to
strengthened to maintain our leading work is especially appropriate because
edge as a research university.”  of the Frosts’ long-term support of the
event, which was founded 50 years ago
Inspired by the National Institutes of by William J. Whelan, professor and
Health, the Frost Institutes name allows chairman emeritus of the Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, as
The first individual “a window on the world for the centers
institute will be of excellence at the Miller School of
the Frost Institute Medicine.”
of Chemistry
and Molecular
Sciences.

for a strategic, coordinated investment
in the sciences using an umbrella struc-
ture that has not previously existed
within the University.

The first individual institute will be
the Frost Institute of Chemistry and
Molecular Sciences. Anchored in the
fundamental discipline of chemistry,
it will bring together other fields that

6 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

R+D Update

From Dab2 to Flab disappears,” said Xu. “It transplantation surgery. who weren’t previously
seems that children are Their neurologic and medi- infected with Zika from the
More than 20 years ago, especially affected by diet. cal status, pain symptoms, “Zika zone” neighborhoods
Sylvester Comprehensive They can both increase fat and muscle spasticity were where local transmission
Cancer Center researcher cell number and fat cell evaluated. They will be occurred will be enrolled,
Xiang-Xi Michael Xu, size when they are young. monitored for five years with half receiving the
who is also a professor of Later in life, they can still post-transplantation. vaccine and half receiving
cell biology at the Miller make fat, but that’s exist- a placebo. Initial findings
School of Medicine, dis- ing fat cells getting bigger. Leading Zika Trial indicate the vaccine is safe
covered Dab2, a protein Habits of childhood could and can induce a neutral-
long linked to cancer. He be affecting adults, mak- The Miller School of izing antibody response
has studied its relationship ing them more susceptible Medicine is leading one against Zika virus. The vac-
to the disease ever since. to obesity.” These findings
Now he’s found that Dab2 may reinforce the impor- of the nation’s first full- cine does
also could have implica- tance of steering children scale Zika vaccine clini- not contain
tions for fighting obesity. away from high-fat diets. cal trials of the National infectious
In a paper published in the Identifying this role for Institutes of Health’s material,
journal Scientific Reports, Dab2 could also lead to experimental DNA-based so it can-
the Xu lab showed that new pharmaceutical strate- vaccine. Infectious dis- not cause
young mice without Dab2 gies to combat childhood ease physician Margaret Zika infec-
don’t gain weight when obesity. Fischl, B.S. ’72, M.D. ’76, tion. The
given excessive food. In a professor of medicine, study is
normal mice, Dab2 sup- Stem Cell Progress director of the HIV/AIDS expected to be completed
presses Ras-MAPK, which Clinical Research Unit, and by 2019.
in turn elevates a protein The Miami Project to codirector of the Miami
called PPAR, which helps Cure Paralysis, a Center Center for AIDS Research, Bearish on Brexit?
fat stem cells make the of Excellence at the Miller who was also instrumental
leap to mature fat cells, School of Medicine, pub- in testing the first influ- Indraneel Chakraborty,
causing them to pack lished findings of its first enza vaccine, will lead assistant professor of
on weight. Eliminating FDA-approved Phase I the Miami arm of the NIH finance, and Rong Hai,
Dab2 short-circuits that clinical trial involving the study. Researchers will assistant professor of eco-
process, keeping Dab2- use of human nerve cells, recruit individuals from nomics, from the School of
deficient mice lean. But known as Schwann cells, Miami-Dade County, where Business Administration
as the mice mature, the to repair a damaged spinal the nation’s first cases examined data across the
metabolic effect dissipates, cord. “Safety of Autologous of locally acquired Zika European Union with col-
and the loss of Dab2 has Human Schwann Cell were seen. Participants leagues from Norway and
virtually no effect. Xu Transplantation in will be given the vaccine Switzerland to understand
believes this is because Subacute Thoracic Spinal in varying dosages to test the impact of reduced
mice (and humans) lose Cord Injury” was published safety. The second part cross-border lending in the
their fat stem cells as they in the February issue of the of the study, part B, is a wake of the 2008 financial
reach maturity. “Dab2 Journal of Neurotrauma, double-blind study that crisis. They found those
controls a population of with Kim D. Anderson, aims to determine if the efforts to reduce risk led
fat stem cells that slowly research associate profes- vaccine can effectively to a loss of $90 billion
sor in the Department of prevent disease caused by Euro ($97 billion USD) for
Neurological Surgery and Zika infection. Residents the continental European
The Miami Project, as lead economies. According to
author. Six subjects were the study, published in
transplanted for the trial, the Journal of Monetary
which was performed Economics, that kind of
at University of Miami/ pullback in the wake of
Jackson Memorial Hospital. Britain’s exit from the
Participants were fol- European Union could also
lowed for one year after the slow gross domestic prod-
uct growth.

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 7

UniversityJournal

Landmark Kislak Collection Comes to UM

Columbus letter from 1493 is among donation of valuable artifacts and other historic materials

PHOTOS COURTESY UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES Assembled over the course of many Jay Kislak, prominent collector, The Kislak gift represents a com-
decades, the Jay I. Kislak Foundation col- philanthropist, and Miami resident bined valuation of approximately $30
lection includes some of the most impor- for more than 60 years, and the Jay I. million. The collection includes over
tant original source materials related Kislak Foundation previously donated 2,300 books, maps, manuscripts, pre-
to the history of the early Americas. more than 3,000 rare books, maps, Columbian artifacts, and other historic
Now some of the collection’s rare books, manuscripts and objects to the Library materials. UM and MDC have each
maps, manuscripts, and other historic of Congress, whose Kislak Collection received a selection of important items.
items have a permanent new home in now forms the basis of a major exhibi-
Special Collections at the University of tion and extensive scholarly and public Highlights among the items coming
Miami’s Otto G. Richter Library. programs in Washington, D.C. to UM are a first edition of Christopher
Columbus’s famous 1493 letter to King
From top: Rare books like a first edition of The In UM and Miami Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain,
Atlantic Pilot (1772) and The Earliest Major Dade College, Kislak in which the explorer described his
Treatise on the Globe and Its Manufacture identified local momentous discovery of a new route to
(1515) are among the valuable items in the Kislak partners with the the Indies; a 1486 edition of Ptolemy’s
Collection of the Early Americas, Exploration ability and desire Cosmographia; a 1521 volume describ-
and Navigation. Select items will be displayed in to create similarly ing Cuba, by Italian historian Peter
the Kislak Gallery (rendering shown). extensive educational Martyr d’Anghiera; a 1589 volume, The
and cultural pro- Principal Navigations, Voiages and
gramming in South Discoveries of the English Nation, by
Florida. The Kislak- English writer Richard Hakluyt; a two-
UM-MDC partner- volume account of the 1804-1806 Lewis
ship will encompass and Clark Expedition, commissioned
exhibitions, research, by President Thomas Jefferson after
education and public the Louisiana Purchase; and a manu-
outreach, all designed script map created for the 10-year-old
to serve students and Louis XV of France with a presentation
faculty, community inscription by Guillaume Delisle, royal
residents, and a global geographer and personal geographer to
scholarly network. the king.
The overarching
theme is exploration “We are grateful to Jay Kislak for
and cultural encoun- his extraordinary vision and lifelong
ters, with particular devotion to creating a scholarly and
emphasis on Florida, culturally significant collection that
early American his- showcases the rich history of Florida
tory, the cultures of and the Caribbean,” UM President
the Caribbean and Frenk said.
Latin America, and
Polar exploration. The University is renovating its spe-
cial collections center, to be renamed
“The University the Jay I. Kislak Center, envisioned as a
of Miami is among hub of educational and cultural pro-
the nation’s top 50 gramming. It will include a new gallery
research institu- for displaying a broad range of materials
tions, with a library from the Kislak collection.
that draws scholars
from around the “For 500 years, Florida has been a
world. With the recent inauguration focal point of global exploration and
of Dr. Julio Frenk, this is an ideal time cultural exchange,” Kislak said. “I’m
to establish the permanent reposi- thrilled that Miami’s top two insti-
tory in South Florida to conserve our tutions of higher education, along
collections and make them available to with the Library of Congress and the
scholars and students for generations to University of Pennsylvania, will now
come,” said Kislak. be using our collections to reveal the
fascinating and important role of our
community in world history.”

8 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

Eye on Athletics

‘The Profit’ Star Jumpstarting the cam- of Miami events,” he said. They want to know that
Marcus Lemonis paign with a $250,000 “But I want the University their kids can transition
to Mentor Miami check, Lemonis pledged to and the community to be into the workforce in a
Hurricanes match half of every dona- focused on what really positive way.”
tion dollar up to a total gift matters ultimately to all of
Marcus Lemonis wasn’t of $1 million for a potential us, which is, they are stu- The Department of
always an entrepreneurial $3 million initiative. dent-athletes. ... We need Athletics already has
savior, investing in strug- to transition these young a strong reputation of
gling businesses and men- “On behalf of our 400- men and women into the graduating its scholarship
toring them on the national plus talented student-ath- right sort of professional athletes, as evidenced by
stage as star of CNBC’s The letes, we truly appreciate environment. the most recent NCAA
Profit. The Beirut-born, Marcus’s commitment Graduation Success Rate
Miami-raised Lemonis says and leadership to give “It isn’t even about the (GSR) of 90 percent.
his childhood was rough, and inspire others to get money,” he continued. That figure is well above
but his hometown team involved with our program “I’m committed to spend the national average of
gave him hope. and supporting student- a lot of time and develop a 84 percent and ties UM
athlete excellence,” mentor program with the for 15th among Football
“I grew up on the Director of Athletics Blake University for really talking Bowl Subdivision institu-
University of Miami,” James said. to these kids about what’s tions. In addition, UM’s
Lemonis recalled in an next. … We want them black student-athletes
on-air interview with Joe As Lemonis watched the to be focused, and I want recorded an overall GSR
Zagacki and Don Bailey Jr., Hurricanes dominate West to have some discipline of 90 percent—the fourth
B.S.Ed. ’85, at the 2016 Virginia 31-14 in Miami’s around it. I know that best in the nation, behind
Russell Athletic Bowl. “I first bowl win since 2006, when the parents give their only Stanford, Duke, and
really suffered as a child he discussed his motiva- kids permission to attend Northwestern, and tied
and had a tough child- tion behind the initiative. the University of Miami, with Notre Dame and
hood, and I really used they expect them to get a South Carolina. UM has
the University of Miami “We love going to foot- 360-degree experience. ... been in the top 10 in this
as a way to get stronger ball games, basketball category for the past five
as an individual—and I games—all the University years.
know a lot of people my
age, in their 40s, used the The goal of Match Marcus
University of Miami as a is to provide the resources
way to build up their spirit needed to ensure the U con-
and build up their confi- tinues to build champions
dence. You talk about the in the classroom, in compe-
swagger—look, it definitely tition, and in life.
mattered to me, and it
made a difference and it “For me it really is about
gave me a confidence about finding the talent in peo-
myself that I couldn’t find ple,” Lemonis said. “I want
anywhere else.” to see our UM student-
athletes not only compete
Now Lemonis, CEO of at the highest level, but,
Camping World and Good more importantly, excel in
Sam Enterprises, is giving the classroom and transi-
back to the U in a big way. tion into being successful
He and University of Miami in their personal and pro-
Athletics announced the fessional lives.”
Match Marcus fundraising
campaign for Student- As of press time,
Athlete Excellence just #MatchMarcus had raised
before Miami’s convincing over $2.1 million. For
win over West Virginia in more information, visit
the Russell Athletic Bowl. MatchMarcus.com or call
the Hurricane Club at
305-284-6699.

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 9

UniversityJournal

Sir James Galway Joins Frost School Faculty

Famed flutist kicks off new UM connection with a lively master class

With a twinkle in his eye and a bounce PHOTOS: VERSATILE LIGHT STUDIOS
in his step, the Belfast-born and world-
revered flutist Sir James Galway con- Virtuoso flutist Sir James Galway shares his love of learning with UM student Maria Eugenia Vallejo.
ducted a master class at the University
of Miami’s Frost School of Music in perform a line again without taking Orchestra, and the Berlin Philharmonic
March, entertaining the audience with a breath, even though most flutists before launching a solo career.
musical stories from his vast solo and breathe in the passage. “As a teacher, I
orchestral career, sharing his practice like my students to strive to be better As one of the University’s first
routines, and coaxing student perform- than me,” he shared. “You don’t want Presidential Distinguished Scholars, the
ers to the top of their artistry with a to be the same as the guys before; you highly decorated Galway will return in
laser-sharp focus on intonation, intent, want to be outstandingly better.” the fall from his home in Switzerland
and interpretation. to work and perform with orchestras in
When asked about his legacy, the Frost School, and continue his les-
A household name with over 30 Galway, 77, humbly reflected, “I would sons with the flute studio.
million recordings sold worldwide, and like to leave behind a number of com-
over five decades of touring and teach- mitted flute players. That is, committed “James Galway reveals his soul to
ing, Galway, who was knighted by Queen to playing music, not just a dexterous the audience every time he performs,
Elizabeth in 2001, coached four flutists reading of the score… really committed and that inspires everyone who per-
from the Frost School in the Weeks to showing their soul. I’d like to think forms with him to do the same,” said
Center for Recording and Performance. I’ve shown a few people how to play a Shelton Berg, dean of the Frost School.
They are all students of Trudy Kane, an phrase from within, to play a good line, “Students who were in his presence
associate professor who was principal to devote themselves to really making today will never forget it.”
flutist with the Metropolitan Opera music on another level.”
Orchestra for 32 years before joining the Other recent Distinguished
Frost School’s faculty. Galway trained with famed French Presidential appointments have
flutist Marcel Moyse and performed included the Cuban journalist Yoani
“The bad news about flute playing with several opera orchestras in Sánchez, photographer Susan Meiselas,
is it requires time to be good,” Galway London, the Royal Philharmonic and population geneticist Carlos
joked at the start of the class. “I think Bustamante.
about Arnold Schwarzenegger in his
body-building days. When he posed for
a photo, he had all these muscles show-
ing everywhere. He didn’t get them from
just doing bench presses! He worked all
of his muscles. So, we have to do the
same, and practice the nitty-gritty bits.”

The master class students,
Mackenzie Miller, Maria Vallejo, Trey
Bradshaw, and doctoral candidate
Emilio Rutllant, M.M. ’14, performed
repertoire for solo flute and piano by
French composers Philippe Gaubert,
Jules Mouquet, and Charles-Marie
Widor, accompanied by Frost faculty
pianist Oleksii Ivanchenko, D.M.A. ’15.

At first Galway coached each on
technical matters such as breathing
and fingering, but soon moved on to
tone and timbre. “We have to train the
embouchure, not the fingers,” he said,
referring to the use of facial muscles
and mouth on an instrument.

He praised the quality of Frost’s ris-
ing young talent and encouraged them
to shoot high. He suggested Bradshaw

10 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

t Bottom Lines

“Don’t go to bed yet and #1
call the fire department!
In the NCAA Community Service Top 25
The block is on fire!” among Atlantic Coast Conference institutions,

Mark Richt, B.B.A. ’82, Hurricanes football head coach, tweeting at 9:41 p.m. and third overall; Miami student-athletes
March 27, after adding commitments from All-Americans Gurvan Hall and participated in 75 events with 16 nonprofit
Mark Pope to the U’s No.1-rated recruiting class for 2018. organizations, tallying 1,531 service hours during
the community service contest, which ran from
“When it comes to Facebook Live as
a product specifically, I don’t think January to March.

it’s a solvable problem.” 9,968

Mary Anne Franks, UM law professor, in an April 17 Washington Post article Yards thrown by Brad Kaaya in his three-year
on backlash from users of the popular technology posting shocking Hurricanes career. Picked by the Detroit Lions,
live broadcasts of their violent acts. he is among UM’s nine former players selected
in the 2017 NFL draft­—the most since 2006.
“My Plan A is school, and my
Plan B is football, really. And I 4.71

gotta have a Plan C and D.” Meters cleared by pole-vaulter Alysha Newman,
B.S.Ed. ’16, of Ontario. Newman’s 15.5-foot-
Chad Thomas, UM senior and Miami Hurricanes defensive end, on his growing success
as a hip-hop producer (The Washington Post, March 20) high vault at the Hurricane Alumni Invitational
March 18 broke her own mark and set a

Canadian women’s indoor pole-vault record

22

Diving championships in 28 years under ACC
Coach of the Year Randy Ableman. Redshirt
freshman David Dinsmore’s recent win puts
UM’s total for NCAA platform diving titles at

eight, the most of any school.

10

Top awards—9 of them first place, including
best student publication and best newspaper
website—for The Miami Hurricane newspaper
from the Society of Professional Journalists’
Florida Sunshine State Awards in the college

newspaper high frequency category.

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 11

UniversityJournal

Sue Miller Made Philanthropy an Art Form

Widow of the late UM Board of Trustees chair gave millions to UM and other causes

Ten thousand dollars wasn’t enough. torchbearer of her family’s boundless gen- gifts to UM: $5 million to establish
Susan “Sue” Miller wanted million-dol- erosity after her husband died in 2002. the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for
lar gifts. So, using the remarkable talent Contemporary Judaic Studies; $50
she possessed for convincing others to At the 2004 ceremony where the million to name The Lennar Foundation
open their wallets and purses, she led Millers announced their landmark $100 Medical Center on UM’s Coral Gables
the charge to make sure those six-figure million gift to UM’s medical school, Sue campus; a $55 million gift, the bulk of
donations started rolling in. It was a Miller, in a moving speech, paid tribute which—$50 million—is being used to
Herculean effort that helped the United to her husband, recognized the many build the new Miller School of Medicine
Way of Miami-Dade secure nearly physicians, caretakers, and researchers Center for Medical Education with the
70 million-dollar contributors for its for their commitment to humanity and rest going to the Frost School of Music;
Million Dollar Roundtable program. the value they place on life, and urged a naming gift for the Braman Miller
the youngest members of her family to Center for Jewish Student Life for UM
While Miller, who passed away at the continue its tradition of philanthropy. Hillel; and generous donations to the
age of 81 last November, was the quint- School of Law and Athletics.
essential fundraiser, raising millions Among her family’s other notable
not only for the United Way but for a UM Trustee Stuart Miller, J.D. ’82,
multitude of other causes, she was an said at a ceremonial groundbreaking for
even greater benefactor—the matriarch the medical education center held in
of a family whose philanthropy has left January 2016: “Both my mother and my
an indelible mark on South Florida and, father were extraordinary examples of
in particular, the University of Miami. how important it is to give so a commu-
nity can build.”
All told, she and her family have given
more than $200 million to the University. Miller is also survived by daughter
Leslie Miller Saiontz and son-in-law
The widow of the late Leonard M. Steven Saiontz, M.B.A. ’83, M.P.S. ’13, a
Miller, former chair of the UM Board of UM trustee; son Jeffrey Miller, A.B. ’84;
Trustees who built a prominent home- 11 grandchildren; five great-grandchil-
building company with an investment of dren; and her sister.
his own capital, Sue Miller became the

Remembering David Kraslow PATRICK FARRELL, A.B. ’81

Senior trustee, publisher, author was a ‘giant’ in his community

It all began at The Miami News, long involved in the life of his alma mater Cancer Research Fund at Sylvester
ago when David Kraslow, A.B. ’48, was and provided sage counsel to several Comprehensive Cancer Center, named
a sportswriter for the venerable evening of my predecessors as a member of the for his beloved late wife.
paper his senior year at the University of Board of Trustees.”
Miami. He went on to a brilliant journal- He was a Nieman Fellow of Harvard
ism career that included positions at the UM Senior Trustee Charles E. Cobb University and served in the U.S. Army
Miami Herald, the Los Angeles Times, the grew close with Kraslow during their Air Corps from 1944 to 1946 and in
Washington Star, and Cox Media. After time on the board. He was never afraid Miami on the Orange Bowl Committee
many years as the latter’s Washington “to take on tough issues, whether in a and Greater Miami Jewish Federation.
bureau chief, he returned to Miami as boardroom or in a publisher’s column,” He is survived by three daughters,
publisher of The Miami News from 1977 recalls Cobb. “He was a giant in the including Susan Dandes, Ph.D. ’90; six
to 1988, the year it ceased publication. Miami community because of his inter- grandchildren, including Ryan, B.B.A. ’12,
national perspective as a White House Spencer, B.S.C. ’15, and UM student Erin
But Kraslow, who died on January correspondent, as well as his national Dandes; and two great-grandchildren.
9 at age 90, was more than a respected and local perspective.”
editor, investigative reporter, and
author. In 1978 he joined UM’s Board of An Iron Arrow Honor Society mem-
Trustees, serving on numerous commit- ber, former UM Citizens Board mem-
tees over the decades. He was elected a ber, and former trustee of the Jackson
senior trustee in 2009. He was “a highly Health System Public Health Trust,
respected community leader,” said UM the Bronx-born Kraslow was an ardent
President Julio Frenk. “He was deeply Hurricanes fan whose generosity helped
establish The Bernice Kraslow Ovarian

12 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

Faculty Files

DONNA VICTOR

Wielding Math’s Power around the Globe

There’s a lot more to math- sexual contact) into a set of rate and mortality rate of an insect-borne disease. “It
ematics than crunching equations, adjusting their mosquitoes,” says Ruan, really piqued my curiosity,”
numbers. Just ask Shigui model to Zika epidemic rates “while sexual transmission he says of the 2011 report.
Ruan, who sees beauty in in Brazil, Colombia, and El increases the risk of infec-
a discipline that frustrates Salvador, and factoring in the tion and epidemic size and A soccer player in his
many and wields its power to biting and mortality rates of prolongs the outbreak.” spare time, Ruan joined UM
show how transmission rates the Aedes aegypti mosquito in 2002 by way of Canada
of certain infectious diseases as well as the ways in which His study, published and China. He’s been part
can be slowed. partners protect themselves in the journal Scientific of a multidisciplinary
during a sexual encounter, Reports, gives epidemiolo- consortium at UM for
Last year, when the they calculated what’s called gists and others a good idea years whose investigations
mosquito-borne Zika virus a “basic reproduction num- of where to target manage- of vector-borne illnesses
spread rapidly through Latin ber,” essentially the number ment efforts. In this case, run the gamut—from the
America and the Caribbean of infections resulting from notes Ruan, mosquito-con- distribution of Aedes aegypti
(and much more slowly in one initial infection in a trol measures should remain breeding sites (the primary
parts of the U.S.), Ruan, a population. The number the most important mitiga- vector for Zika) in Honduras
professor of mathematics of new infections that can tion strategy for the virus. to a mosquito-control
in the College of Arts and be traced directly back project in Ecuador targeting
Sciences, created a model to a single case of Zika The inspiration for his the Aedes aegypti’s sugar-
with his team to determine was estimated to be two, model was an article in the feeding habits.
how much of a role sex plays with sexual transmission journal Science, “Sex After
in the spread of the virus. accounting for about three a Field Trip Yields Scientific “Math is a powerful tool,
percent of new cases. First,” about a U.S. vector one that can be used to study
“Zika is complicated,” biologist who, following a and help solve all sorts of
he says. “It’s not as simple “Our analyses indicate research trip to Senegal, problems, while real-world
as passing a cold back and that the basic reproduc- passed the Zika virus to his applications are also sources
forth.” tion number of Zika is wife in what is considered of inspiration in new math,”
most sensitive to the biting the first documented case says Ruan. “That’s why I love
Combining the two modes of sexual transmission of it so.” —Robert C. Jones Jr.
of transmission (vector and

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 13

UniversityJournal

A Bold New Hub for Hemispheric Initiatives

UM Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas energizes Latin American and Caribbean scholarship

The University of Miami Institute ANDREW INNERARITY and Policy and Women in Business
for Advanced Study of the Americas Group, took place there in March.
is quickly ramping up its capacity to Institute Director Felicia Marie Knaul, right,
tackle a wide range of hemispheric speaks with health care CEO Belén Garijo at In January, the institute announced
issues through a collaborative approach the inaugural Women’s Leadership Forum. the recipients of its 2017 Faculty Grants
that draws experts from across multiple Program, who will focus on a diverse
disciplines. “We understand that we have an range of issues, from building a clear-
opportunity to build on the University’s inghouse of intimate partner violence
With a focus on using evidence to trajectory and leadership, and dedicate services to a study on Argentina and
promote positive social change, the an important portion of our incubating globalization from 1860-1910. Nine pro-
institute is forming research groups efforts to advance health research in the posals from 25 UM professors received
populated by scholars knowledgeable in Americas,” says Knaul. grants to fund multidisciplinary
the institute’s areas of strength. research groups and individual projects.
In recent months, the institute’s
“An interdisciplinary, hemispheric home at Albert Pick Hall has hosted a In addition, each year numerous
approach to collaboration is the way to number of forums, lectures, and lunch students receive grant support through
advance innovative research that offers series covering established and trend- the Graduate Grants Program, focusing
solutions to the most pressing chal- ing topics on Caribbean literature, the on field research support and an award
lenges facing the Americas,” says Felicia media, undocumented young adults, for the best dissertation at UM focused
Marie Knaul, director of the institute and health care. on Latin American and the Caribbean.
and professor in the Miller School of Last year 70 percent of the grants
Medicine. The inaugural Women’s Leadership went to support field research in the
Forum, presented in conjunction with Caribbean. Through its Distinguished
Building on the legacy and work of the School of Business Administration’s Fellows Program in collaboration with
both the University of Miami’s Center Center for Health Sector Management the College of Arts and Sciences, the
for Hemispheric Policy and the Center institute also offers graduate students
for Latin American Studies, the insti- an opportunity to acquire comprehen-
tute is being honed as a hemispheric sive knowledge relevant to their studies.
hub for scholarship and public policy,
along with building academic partner- “What better place for collaborative
ships across the Americas. scholarship to bear fruit?” Knaul says
of the institute and its budding pro-
Key areas of research and focus grams. “What better place to convene
include health disparities and health scholars, faculty, and students?”
systems in the Americas.

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Handpicked UM Faculty, Prestigious UM Graduate Degrees, ALL ONLINE We’re there for you.

See how at www.miami.edu/online

14 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

Student Spotlight

Kristi Brownlee lights up Sharing Her Fellowship organization;
when she talks about her Strength and President Julio Frenk’s
younger sisters, ages 16, 12, Presidential Task Force to
and 3. Meet public health powerhouse Kristi Brownlee Address Black Students’
Concerns, ultimately help-
SCOTT FRICKER “They are the apples ing to develop diversity and
of my eye, the loves of my implicit biases recognition
life,” she says. “It’s always trainings for students, fac-
been in my heart to try to ulty, and staff.
be a role model for them.
It’s hard enough being an Now in the graduate
African-American and phase of her public health
being a woman, so if I can dual-degree program at
do just one thing to make the School of Nursing and
my sisters’ paths a little bit Health Studies, Brownlee
smoother, then everything I is researching prevention
do is worth it.” interventions for adolescent
substance abuse.
Her own path from public
high school in Memphis, For her, the connections
Tennessee, to the University are critical. “I wouldn’t have
of Miami had some boulders. been equipped to pursue
addiction research if it
“During the day, I would weren’t for the time I spent
fill out college applications helping my mother over-
and draft personal state- come hers,” she says. “If it
ments,” she said during her weren’t for my exposure to
address to attendees of this racial and health disparities,
year’s UM Scholarship Donor being from an underserved
Recognition Luncheon. “At neighborhood, I wouldn’t
night, I would secretly flush have been compelled to pro-
the Percocet tablets my mote cultural competency
mother abused down the and strengthen the inclusive
drain and assure my sisters nature of UM as a member
that our current circum- of the Black Students’
stances were temporary.” Concerns Working Group.”

At her guidance coun- She has also come
selor’s insistence, Brownlee to see why people and
applied for the Gates organizations invested in
Millennium Scholarship. She her future—the way she is
got it, and others. invested in the future of
her sisters.
“Despite not knowing
anyone upon my arrival, “I was chosen to be here
this University—its faculty, because each and every
its staff, its culture of twist and turn, each and
excellence, and its pride— every experience, each and
made me feel like I was a every opportunity—it led
part of the winning team,” to where I am today,” she
recalled Brownlee. explains. “It’s the reason my
story resonates with people.
At UM, she also found I didn’t know it at first. My
a sense of belonging. She story? Me? I’m not impor-
joined the Yellow Rose tant. But I get it now. All of
Society, a service group that, it was for a reason.”
focused on women’s
empowerment and unity; —Robin Shear
the InterVarsity Christian

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 15

“The Hawaiian saying ‘Kanu “I chose this statement for my
i ka Honua, Ulu i ka lani,’ mother. She is Nicaraguan
which loosely means, stay by birth, and I’m American
planted in the Earth to by birth. When people say
grow toward the heavens, someone is ‘American,’ the
was an important reminder likeness of people like us
for me to stay rooted in my does not come to mind.
Hawaiian culture during my ‘The New American’ seeks to
transition to UM.” change that, to incorporate
us into the culture.”
Megan Pimentel is a fifth-
year architecture major Kevin Bustamante is a
junior studying political
science and creative writing

WSTteohareriieinrsg

A globally recognized portrait project gives students
a powerful way to share their personal messages of

inspiration with the UM community.

BY ANDRES TAMAYO

16 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

“A person is truly most open “G rowing up I was always
to the world when laughing treated differently for
with others. Laughter is being Hispanic. It took me
one of the most vulnerable a long time to realize that
expressions of love.” being different wasn’t
bad—it’s what made me
Tyler Felts is a senior who I am. At UM, being
studying motion pictures, different is one of my
theatre arts, and psychology greatest values, not one
of my weaknesses.”
PHOTOS
COURTESY Velaria Velasco is a
sophomore studying
business law

SUNNY ODOGWU, AN IMPOSING FIGURE AT 6 FEET 8 INCHES
and 325 pounds, steps to the podium at the University of Miami’s 
Shalala Student Center ballroom.

The microphone disappears into his hand as the Hurricanes football
player tilts it upward before addressing the crowd of students, faculty,
and staff attending the Dear World storytelling presentation on campus,
the culmination of a photo shoot that drew almost 200 members of the
UM community.

“No matter how bad of a day I am having,” says Odogwu, one of five
UM students selected to share the story behind his photo, “I always

try to remind myself of where I have been. I grew up in a 10-foot-
by-10-foot room with my six siblings, my mom, and my dad.”
In keeping with Nigerian tradition, his parents and young-
est siblings shared the room’s lone twin bed. The eldest took
the couch (more “like a little chair,” he says), while the
rest of the family slept on the floor. But Odogwu, fast
outgrowing the small space, opted to sleep outside. 
His parents helped get him to the United States,
where he eventually played basketball and attend-
ed high school in Maryland.  During his senior
year, his friends convinced him to try football.  
Projected onto the screen behind Odogwu
is his recent Dear World Portrait. In it, his
massive palms are spread to reveal in black
marker his chosen message of truth: “Came
from a dungeon. Now I’m here.” 

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 17

Since its 2009 launch in post-Hurricane “My mom saved my leg “W hen I was 5, I had open heart surgery. There were times I
Katrina New Orleans, the Dear World or- by care and love. I was experienced bullying due to the visible scar, so I have always
ganization has collected nearly 50,000 diagnosed with myxoid tried to keep it hidden. This photo was a way to bring the scar
distinct message-on-body portraits of liposarcoma and had a into the open and show that my heart is healthy now.”
individuals around the globe—from war- cancerous tumor removed
torn South Sudan to Boston in the wake last April. My mom was my Tyler Katz is a senior studying music theory and
of the marathon bombing. Participants superhero throughout my composition and applied physics
are encouraged to share on their skin one run-in with cancer.”
thing they want to tell the world.
Michael Burns is a
Colleges and universities also bring Hurricanes baseball player
Dear World to campus to encourage stu- studying political science
dents, faculty, and staff to open up as a
community.  “H airstyles originating from
the African Diaspora are
“This program, like the many programs constantly demonized and
hosted and supported by the Division degraded when worn by
of Student Affairs, asks students to be black women but praised and
a bit vulnerable, to step outside their adored when worn by other
comfort zone and to exhibit resiliency,” women. Our braids, our kinks,
explains  Michael Baumhardt, associate and our Afros are our way
director of Student Activities and Student of honoring our heritage and
Organizations, who, along with Patricia taking pride in the struggle
A. Whitely, Ed.D. ’94, vice president for that comes with our blackness,
Student Affairs, and Gail Cole-Avent, ex- so when you appropriate our
ecutive director of Student Life, was  in- hair, you’re disrespecting our
strumental in bringing Dear World to the personhood.”
U this past September. 
Alexis McDonald is a senior
When the photographer arrived, nearly studying electronic media
200 subjects, most of them students,
elected to face the camera, words of hope
and loss, strength and longing, pain and
inspiration inked bravely across their fac-
es, forearms, and chests. 

UM President Julio Frenk was among
the participants, writing the message “Fall
down seven, get up eight” on his hands.

Initiatives like this, notes Baumhardt,
serve to reinforce Frenk’s vision for the
University as a global and hemispheric
institution that promotes a “culture of
belonging” in which all members of the
community feel important and believe
they have an opportunity to add value.

“Dear World gave our students the
opportunity to express themselves and
share their stories with fellow students,”
Baumhardt says. “Our campus community
learned many life-changing and impactful
stories about our peers and colleagues—
stories that would not have been shared if
this open and engaging environment had
not been provided.” 

The Division of Student Affairs and
University Athletics sponsored the event.
View more photos from Dear World at UM
and video from the storytelling presenta-
tion at miami.edu/magazine. On Twitter,
#DearUM.

18 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

“As a student from India, “I came home from Great
it surprised me every Start, a pre-orientation
time someone (including program for commuters,
professors and colleagues) and told my parents all
asked me why my English about my weekend for three
is so good. It made me feel hours—the thought of being
awkward and small, and a student here made my
I always felt like I had to stomach bubble. Four years
explain that my English- later, I hope I’ve made
speaking ability stems from them proud.”
my education—and not
because of where I’m from.” Alina Zerpa is a senior
studying journalism
Avisha Gopalakrishna is and psychology
a senior studying public
relations

“At 13, I fell in love with the gratification that came from seeing “My father always told me
an audience smile in response to one of my videos. Ten years to be the best I could be,
later, I still can’t imagine spending my life doing anything and it’s the only thing he
other than evoking smiles through my art.” ever asked for. It makes me
think I could do anything
Victoria Kohl is a senior studying motion pictures because of all the things I
have been able to learn.”
“It’s always been easy to
say I didn’t measure up Jake McCallister is a
to anything and that junior studying industrial
I wasn’t good enough engineering
with a disability, but I
realized that while I’m miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 19
very different, I can still
leave my mark and do
as much as anyone.”

Diego Patrimonio, A.B.
’16, anthropology and
geological sciences

Thanks to the persistence of THE DOCTOR ON A MISSION
UM physician Hansel Tookes met the homeless heroin addict
and an unlikely ally, Florida’s who lived under a tree last year
first syringe exchange program at Jackson Health System’s
special immunology clinic when
is fighting the spread of HIV both men were struggling to
one hypodermic at a time. overcome the odds.

BY AMY DRISCOLL Jose De Lemos, infected with
Courtesy of the Miami Herald HIV and hepatitis C from a
shared needle, had gone without
ILLUSTRATIONS BY BRIAN STAUFFER treatment for almost a year. He’d
20 MIAMI Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine dropped 80 pounds, suffered from
night sweats and a rash on his leg
and chest. Even walking hurt.

He was in no mood for conver-
sation with a well-meaning doc.

But Hansel Tookes, a
University of Miami doctor with
a degree in public health and a
calling to public service, isn’t
the kind of doctor who is easily
put off. He talked to De Lemos
anyway. Sent him to dermatology,
started him on meds for HIV
and hepatitis C, worked to find
him a bed in rehab, and talked
— about his own uphill battle
to create a syringe exchange
program in South Florida, the
kind of program that might have
prevented De Lemos’ infection.

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 21

A public health advocate in Miami, The victory didn’t mean his fight health of tens of thousands of people,”
where new HIV infection rates consis- was over. Legislators weren’t unani- Tookes said. “And that was an amazing
tently top the state and national charts, mous when they approved the bill, and feeling. And that’s an amazing truth.
Tookes [M.P.H. ’09, M.D. ’14] had been the IDEA act reflects that: It creates a And that’s where we are.”
struggling for years to get a bill passed five-year test program, only in Miami-
in the Florida Legislature to create a Dade and without any public financing. Advanced HIV cases
program in Miami-Dade County to help Tookes and UM, which will run the
end that terrible distinction. program, must raise all the money for Tookes, a 35-year-old internist, took on
the program privately, through grants the against-the-odds fight for a needle
In that time, he had gone from medi- and donations. Tookes — doctor, public exchange because he felt he had to. Too
cal student to doctor. Testified before health advocate and needle exchange many people were coming through the
legislative committees over and over. doors of Miami-Dade’s public health
And learned just how hard he would crusader — must now also become a
have to fight to get what he considered fundraiser. system like De Lemos, with advanced
a very modest proposal to save lives cases of HIV in an era when the virus
and improve public health through a He’s undaunted. His determina- that causes AIDS is generally treated
conservative, Republican-dominated tion has carried him this far, and he is as a disease you live with, not one that
Legislature. already envisioning the rest. kills you. Injection drug overdoses were
rising, too.
For De Lemos, his doctor’s com- “When I flew back to Miami after the
mitment to the cause — an unpopular bill had passed, I looked at the city as The doctor knew getting people into
one, at that — was a revelation: “I’m we were landing at MIA and I thought, treatment earlier could make a huge
hard-headed. And he’s persistent. He’s what we just did is going to change the difference in their lives and reduce
like, ‘If you get clean, you can talk about
this. You’ll be great … You can help me.’
I admire him because he went through a
lot but he kept going.”

Tookes recalled a different moment
with his patient: “He started crying
because he said he didn’t know people
cared.”

For the next eight months, as De
Lemos kicked heroin, endured a skin
condition that caused blisters across his
entire torso and finally saw his sky-high
viral count drop, Tookes started seeing
hope, too. His proposal, which had been
stalled for years, started gaining trac-
tion. The nationwide heroin epidemic
had changed the dialogue about blood-
borne diseases. De Lemos’ appointments
with Tookes now usually included an
update on the needle exchange bill in
Tallahassee. Sometimes, when there was
a big vote, Tookes played video record-
ings of the committee meetings on his
phone for De Lemos to see.

“The reception in the ER isn’t great. I
had to prop the door open,” Tookes said,
with a laugh. “But we watched.”

In March, a full five years after
Tookes published a study in a medical
journal when he was still a student that
documented the harsh reality of illicit
needle use in Miami, Governor Rick
Scott signed the Miami-Dade Infectious
Disease Elimination Act, making
Miami-Dade’s program the first legal
needle exchange in the American South.

22 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

infections of others. (“I’m trained to often associated with AIDS — who over — because of the high rates of HIV
look for public health solutions,” he didn’t know he’d probably had HIV for and hepatitis C in his district. He said
said.) A needle exchange was a step years. An impoverished woman from he saw opposition flag after Florida
toward that goal. Florida had never Liberty City with a debilitating bacte- shut down its “pill mills” starting in
allowed a needle exchange program be- rial infection from a severely compro- 2011, sending opioid users to the needle.
fore. But why couldn’t that change? mised immune system, who had never
before been tested for HIV. Or a young “The first thing people hear is that
His grandmother, Gracie Wyche, man diagnosed with HIV a few months you’re trying to empower drug users to
had set the bar high in his family. She ago who revealed to Tookes during a use drugs,” Braynon said. “But the nar-
was a pioneering black nurse in Miami clinic visit that he uses intravenous rative changed over time ... What start-
who started out in the then-segregated methamphetamine. ed to happen is that drug use picked
wards of Jackson Memorial and eventu- up. First it was people in the ’hood. But
ally became a head nurse, concentrating “Everything with this issue — all of now it’s some of the wealthier people.”
on a mysterious illness in the 1980s the advocacy that we did for this policy
that later became known as AIDS. — was to fix an issue that we were And so the Legislature’s attitude
Tookes became even more interested in seeing in everyday clinical practice … changed. Injection drug use — and the
public service during his undergraduate I think as physicians, we had a duty to blood-borne diseases that can go with
work at Yale University and a stint as an intervene,” Tookes said. “We knew there it — were no longer just “a Miami prob-
investigator for Project Aware, an HIV was something we could do for these lem,” Tookes said.
testing/counseling clinical trial at UM. people to help them from getting so
He got a public health degree at UM, sick, and so we decided to fight for it.” “In the context of a nationwide
and then his medical degree. heroin epidemic and in the context of
He faced deep suspicion about what I believe were many more constit-
Now a third-year resident who does the idea going back to the just-say- uents across the state going to see their
his research through UM’s division of no 1980s. Although needle exchange senators and representatives and telling
infectious diseases at the Miller School programs have become increasingly them that this was something that was
of Medicine, Tookes said his grand- common even in GOP-controlled states ravaging their communities, we had a
mother’s work set him on this path. — Indiana’s [then] governor, Mike lot more of a sympathetic ear from the
Pence, changed his position [in 2015] Legislature this year,” he said.
“She inspired me,” he said. “There’s
A needle exchange program won’t

just a long history of service on both after an outbreak of HIV and hepatitis fix Miami-Dade’s problem with HIV
sides of the family.” C — Florida remained a holdout. Some and hepatitis C. But Tookes says it will
lawmakers continued to believe that help. And though a small percentage of
The HIV numbers drove him, too. giving addicts clean needles amounted HIV infections can be traced directly to
In 2014, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale to government-endorsed drug use. needle use and the biggest risk factor is
region ranked No. 1 in the nation by still sex, reducing the number of shared
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Starting in 2012, Tookes — backed needles reduces the community’s risk
and Prevention for the rate of new HIV by a coalition including the Florida overall. People who share needles don’t
infections in areas with more than 1 Medical Association, the Florida always tell their sexual partners that
million people. That year, Miami-Dade Hospital Association and the Miami- they are at risk.
County had 1,324 new HIV cases, the Dade State Attorney’s Office — tried to
CDC said, while Broward had 836 make headway with lawmakers. When A needle exchange also brings the
cases. Statewide, in 2014, the Florida he hit the wall of opposition, he didn’t hard-core, drug-injecting population
Department of Health said 110,000 give up. He didn’t get disillusioned or into the public health system to be
people were diagnosed and living with cynical. He tried again. And again. In tested and treated. That reduces the
HIV. People are still dying of the virus: the legislative sessions of 2013, ’14, ’15. risk to everyone else and cuts costs of
In the United States, 6,955 people died treating their illnesses.
from HIV and AIDS in 2013, according Then 2016 came along. The heroin
to the CDC. epidemic created a whole new conver- This is not just theory. In Washington,
sation around the issue of injection- D.C., the number of new HIV infections
Tookes saw the toll up close, in the drug use. dropped from an average of 19 a month
examining room. A man in his 40s who to six a month after a needle exchange
had sex with men, no body fat and State Senator Oscar Braynon, a program was introduced in 2008, ac-
pneumocystis pneumonia, a disease Miami Gardens Democrat, sponsored cording to a study released last year by
the syringe exchange bill — over and

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 23

Hansel Tookes, M.P.H. ’09, M.D. ’14

“This pilot program is going to make a
big dent in the infection rate in Miami.
All eyes are on us. We have to
make this a success.”

Jose De Lemos died on
February 23, 2017, but
not before seeing IDEA
Exchange open its doors
in December. Hansel
Tookes continues to
advocate for public
health solutions.

George Washington University’s public Brickell Avenue, lined with highrise men. Testing and medication in South
health school. The reduction in cases condos and financial companies from all Florida can be difficult to find.
saved taxpayers an estimated $45.6 mil- over the world.
lion, using CDC estimates that the aver- Also, HIV has fallen out of the
age lifetime of care for AIDS patients “I still have syringe radar,” he said. “I headlines for the most part, added AIDS
costs about $380,000. spot them everywhere.” Healthcare Foundation’s advocacy and
legislative affairs manager Jason King.
Miami-Dade stands to save money, ‘People are still dying’
too, if addicts stop reusing needles. A “People are still dying. But you don’t
study co-authored last year by Tookes No one knows exactly why Miami-Dade’s get the press coverage ... So it’s not at
showed that the cost of treating HIV infection rate remains higher than the forefront of people’s minds.”
patients who had bacterial infections other metropolitan areas, even as medi-
as a result of dirty needles ran about cines are better than ever, statewide Stigma is part of the problem, too. If
$11.4 million a year at taxpayer-funded rates have declined and mother-to-child you can’t admit you have HIV, your sexual
Jackson Memorial Hospital. transmissions — AIDS babies — are rare. partners are probably at higher risk.

For Tookes, all of these public health Public health officials rattle off a “It’s not a death sentence like before
arguments start with what he learned variety of contributing factors: Thirty- but the stigma still exists,” said King,
on the streets of Miami interviewing in- five years into this epidemic, younger who is HIV positive. “And then they
travenous drug users when he was still people think of HIV as a treatable, have to be conscientious about disclos-
a medical student at UM. The study he chronic disease. ing it to their next partner and they fear
published in 2011 showed that drug us- rejection.”
ers in Miami were 34 times more likely Drugs like Truvada, which can
to dispose of their needles in public prevent HIV infection if taken as a That’s definitely true in Miami-
than drug users in San Francisco, which precaution, have added to that percep- Dade, said Dr. Cheryl Holder, a gen-
has had a needle exchange program tion. HIV is largely an urban disease. eral internist who works at Jessie
since 1988. Immigration brings people to Florida Trice Community Health Center and
from places without much access to is an associate professor at Florida
Tookes still sees the bits and pieces health care or health education. Miami International University.
of drug equipment in bushes and along is an international party town, and
streets, even in upscale places like the highest risk for HIV is unprotected Holder says stigma, especially in the
sex, especially for men having sex with African-American community, is one of
the toughest issues she combats when
she sees patients with HIV.

24 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

PHOTOS: JASMIN SHAH/COMER FAMILY FOUNDATION wrap-around services. As the patients
come in, we will be ensuring that they
“We’re seeing changes in communities, BY THE NUMBERS will be tested for HIV and hepatitis ...
but it’s still labeled as wrong and there’s All of the services that we have will
something wrong with you ... I still have IDEA Exchange has already enrolled 240 be available to the patients that come
patients who hide their medicine.” participants, testing roughly half of them through the door.”
for HIV; traded 23,111 dirty needles for 21,523
Walking out of the health center at clean ones; and raised about $700,000 in The IDEA Exchange, which will be
the end of a day not long ago, she saw contributions. run through UM, comes too late to
one of her patients, a young man in a prevent De Lemos’ infections. But it’ll
hoodie, waiting for a ride from a family To donate to Florida’s only needle help others as the 35-year war on the
member. “If it weren’t for his diagno- exchange program, based in Miami, go to epidemic continues — as many as 2,000
sis, I would have waited with him for https://advancement.miami.edu/netcom- in the first year, Tookes said. A project
his family. But as I walked by, he didn’t munity/sslpage.aspx?pid=1634. manager will start work in August, and
look at me and I didn’t look at him. other staff members are next. The AIDS
And that’s when I know it’s stigma. He a year. And the pressure is on: Other Healthcare Foundation is donating the
couldn’t just pull me over and say, this counties in Florida are watching to see HIV and hepatitis C test kits with the
is my doctor. We need to normalize how well the program works. agreement that those identified with
health care so I don’t have to walk past one of the diseases will be linked with
my patient and not meet his mom.” “This pilot program is going to medical care. Tookes is hoping that
make a big dent in the infection rate in other groups will follow.
Raising money Miami. All eyes are on us. We have to
make this a success.” And De Lemos — at 53, homeless no
In some ways, Tookes’ work starts again longer — will do his part, inspired by
now. Though Congress lifted a ban on He has raised $100,000 from private the fight of his doctor to pass the law.
federal funding for needle exchanges in donors locally — including Joy Fishman, His viral load is so low it’s considered
late 2015, no federal money can be used the widow of the inventor of Narcan, undetectable, and he is looking at life
on needles themselves. And Florida’s the “save shot” for people who are over- with new eyes. Service is part of his
bill specifies that no public money can dosing — and another $100,000 from personal plan now. “I really want to be a
be used for the program. the MAC AIDS Fund. part of this needle exchange program. If
he can do that, I can do anything.”
That leaves Tookes, working with Nancy Mahon, global executive
UM, raising it all — about $500,000 director of the fund, said that syringe Tookes says he will measure suc-
exchanges are key to fighting HIV/AIDS. cess with each HIV test, each syringe
“Needle exchange programs like this handed out.
halt new infections, period. There is
still work to do, but providing sterile “This has been a long journey ... It’s a
syringes and supportive services to IV very exciting time for Miami. We’re go-
drug users is a solid step in order to ing to save a lot of lives. We’re going to
begin saving lives.” save a lot of money. We’re going to give
people a lot of clean needles. We’re go-
Miami-Dade’s health department is ing to provide HIV tests. We’re going to
joining the effort. get people into treatment ... We’re going
to change the world.”
“Definitely, we will be helping in
any way we can,” administrator Lillian Reprinted with permission from the
Rivera said. “We can’t buy the syringes, Miami Herald. A longer version of
but we definitely will be providing this article originally appeared in the
Herald on July 29, 2016. Since then,
UM’s groundbreaking IDEA Exchange
opened its doors, with Tookes, an infec-
tious disease resident at Jackson Health
System and the University of Miami,
as its medical director. His team has
already exchanged more than 21,000
syringes. Unfortunately, Jose De Lemos
passed away not long after its opening.
On April 27, IDEA Exchange announced
a new program to distribute the anti-
overdose drug naloxone (Narcan) to
local substance users.

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 25

26 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

BY ROBIN SHEAR

ILLUSTRATION BY TOM NICK COCOTOS

TakbeyHESultreorcritmciaonnes

ELECTION 2016 IS LONG OVER. A NEW U.S. PRESIDENT HAS BEEN SWORN IN,
and the work of governing the country continues amid a maelstrom of political de-
bates and policy changes. But this wasn’t just any campaign cycle, and University
of Miami faculty, students, and alumni have been—and continue to be—involved at
just about every level. n From former presidential hopeful Marco Rubio, J.D. ’96, to
current White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, J.D. ’98, Republican pundit Ana
Navarro, A.B. ’93, and Univision journalist Jorge Ramos, M.A. ’96, alumni figured
prominently in one of the most deeply divided, unpredictable presidential races in
U.S. history. Earlier this year, Helen Aguirre Ferré, M.A. ’83, was named a special as-
sistant to the president and White House director of media affairs, making her one of
the administration’s highest-ranking Hispanics. n And while overall voter turnout
was up only slightly from 2012, civic participation among students at UM hit new highs.

From White House insiders and voter turnout to
student “dreamers” and the American Dream—

representing orange and green has never looked
so red, white, and blue.

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 27

‘DAeCmeloecbrraactyio’ n of electorate of all ages and affiliations. polling exercises and critically analyzed
“In an American democracy, people debates before watching history unfold
Monica Bustinza, a political science before their eyes at an Election Night
major, helped revive the U’s dormant are called upon to go out and vote, and viewing party November 8 in the UM
chapter of the nonpartisan voter regis- the hope is that they have good infor- Fieldhouse at the Watsco Center.
tration group Get Out The Vote (GOTV). mation,” Uscinski said in his ’Cane Talk
With help from other student organiza- on the topic. “Now we have fake news Another big Election Night Watch
tions, fraternities, and sororities, GOTV and conspiracy theories—and people Party on campus, this one hosted by
added a record 2,500 UM students to listen to that instead of authoritative GOTV, the College Republicans, the
the voter rolls. information. And that is going to impact College Democrats, and the Division
not only our democracy but our per- of Student Affairs, took place at the
Likely thanks to GOTV’s outreach sonal decision-making.” Rathskeller. With ABC News and
and educational efforts, the Watsco
Center (formerly BankUnited)—one DONNA VICTOR
of three precincts where UM students
could vote locally—reported 85 percent The UM College Democrats, led by sophomore Angelica Duque, and the UM College Republicans,
turnout among its 1,965 registered vot- led by senior Christopher Dalton, share office space at the Shalala Student Center.
ers, putting it in the top 20 for voter
turnout among Miami-Dade County’s The Election 2016 course, how- Telemundo broadcasting live, chants of
nearly 785 precincts. ever, enabled students to glean in- “I Believe SHE Will Win!” and “Make
sights directly from The Beltway America Great Again!” intermingled late
First-year student Courtney and beyond, from over a dozen guest into the night.
Kloepper chose to register in Florida lecturers, including Carlos Curbelo,
instead of her home state of Kansas B.B.A. ’02, M.P.A. ’12, who co-chairs “Regardless of whom you voted for,
because, she noted, “I know my vote the 36-member bipartisan Climate this is a celebration of democracy,” UM
matters in a swing state.” Solutions Caucus, and fellow member President Julio Frenk told students as
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ed.D. ’04, both he visited both election night events
Further fueling student involvement Republican U.S. representatives from in the hours before Donald Trump was
was the comprehensive political science Miami; former U.S. Representatives named the nation’s 45th president.
course offered every four years by the Allen West (R-FL) and Patrick Murphy Applauding the “peaceful enthusiasm”
College of Arts and Sciences. A record (D-FL), B.B.A. ’06; local filmmaker and he had witnessed, Frenk said later that
number of students, nearly 300, enrolled activist Billy Corben, B.S.C. ’04; Donald listening to and learning from each oth-
in Election 2016 to learn about a range Trump advisor Roger Stone; and White er would guide the way forward in these
of issues, including voter fraud, the 26th House political director David Simas, times of change. “We will stay focused
Amendment on voter rights, Interstate-4 who was Skyped in from the West Wing on being an exemplary university—one
corridor demographics in Central on December 6. that fosters respectful dialogue on chal-
Florida, how the Electoral College works, lenging topics in the quest to find truth
and the role journalism and social media The students took part in instant and understand each other better.”
play in today’s political arena.

“UM has a rich tradition of engage-
ment with presidential elections,” said
Casey Klofstad, an associate professor
of political science, who helped inaugu-
rate UM’s POL 408 election course dur-
ing the Obama/McCain race in 2008.

Joseph Uscinski, an associate profes-
sor of political science who co-taught
Election 2016 with Klofstad and two
other colleagues, isn’t surprised by the
enthusiasm they encountered for the
subject matter. “Students watch what
is going on in the news, and all they
hear is a lot of nastiness,” said Uscinski.
“They are millennials who want to un-
derstand fully what is going on.”

As a conspiracy theory expert,
Uscinski is particularly focused on the
influence our rapidly changing infor-
mation environment is having on an

28 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

‘Moving Forward’ the Student Advisory Board of the Fair employment. He cited academic, legal,
Elections Legal Network’s bipartisan and personal resources available to
For many UM students, 2016 was their Campus Vote Project, Rodriguez will the campus community, such as the
first chance to choose a president. Their continue to help student voices rise four-year U Dreamers Grant for eligible
efforts did not end on voting day. above the din. DACA students.

Within a couple of weeks of the elec- Noting low numbers of women en- In an official statement, Frenk en-
tion, one group of first-year students tering Congress, political science major couraged members of the U community
had organized “Moving Forward,” a rally Angelica Duque, who is president of the to “express to your fellow ’Canes that
on the Coral Gables campus to address UM College Democrats, spearheaded a they are welcome at our shared home,
what they described as “the politics of nonpartisan training session attended the University of Miami.”
division.” by over 40 undergraduates. Elect Her,
headlined by local female lawmakers, Reinforcing the University’s mission
“Across both parties we could was aimed at helping students develop of building bridges, the University’s
work toward policies, work towards their campaigns for leadership positions College Republicans and College
change that benefits everyone,” Moving on and off campus. Democrats demonstrated unity during
Forward co-organizer Josh Kleinman what has been called one of the most
told NBC 6 South Florida. UM schools and colleges are explor- divisive periods in U.S. memory. For the
ing post-election issues as well, from first time in UM history, they are work-
“We just want to make sure everyone a forum on health care presented by ing literally side by side in shared office
on campus and in our country feels like the School of Business Administration space—at least until 2020—a decision
they’re loved and they know people out

“Regtahridsliessascoeflwebhroamtioynoouf dvoemtedocforar,cy.”

here care for them and their rights,” to a panel discussion organized by the they made back in September.
added co-organizer Calvin Chappell, Department of Political Science titled “I think it’s a great thing because it’s
referring to Trump’s campaign promises 100 Days of Trump.
of erecting a wall between the U.S. and symbolic of the real world,” Madolyn
Mexico and other proposed measures In the wake of executive orders from Guillard, a junior who served as secre-
affecting immigrants. the White House, the School of Law’s tary for the UM College Republicans, told
Immigration Clinic has been offer- The Miami Hurricane. “Conservatives
At UM, recently named a Voter ing free and confidential legal aid to and liberals should not be separated, but
Friendly Campus by the Campus Vote students who are undocumented or in rather should be able to exist together.
Project, Get Out The Vote has remained DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood They should be able to communicate
active. It has followed its successful Arrivals) status. The clinic has also held effectively and listen to each other’s per-
voter registration campaign with con- a teach-in to examine the “scope and spectives, even if they do not align.”
tinuing nonpartisan educational pro- legality of President Trump’s execu-
gramming, such as a forum titled “What tive order barring people from [six] Though an outspoken critic of
Now?” as well as “Evolving Awareness” predominantly Muslim countries from Trump, alumna Navarro, a frequent
discussions on gender and politics, state entering the United States for 90 days, contributor to CNN, ABC News, and The
and local government, the environment, and shutting down the Syrian refugee View, also sees common ground for the
and refugees and migration. program indefinitely.” kind of democracy and American Dream
her family fled decades ago in war-torn
Citizen U, a new program of This past January, Frenk joined with Nicaragua to find in the United States.
the Butler Center for Service and more than 600 college and university
Leadership, devoted its spring presen- presidents from public and private U.S. “There is nothing more American
tation to addressing how students can institutions to sign a statement in sup- than acknowledging that even if we
become politically engaged in the Miami port of the DACA program and undocu- don’t agree politically, even if we don’t
community. mented immigrant students, also known agree with the president, even if we
as “dreamers,” emphasizing that these don’t like each other, all of us have the
“I am extremely proud of our stu- students “represent what is best about same rights,” she has said. “If we re-
dents for making their voices heard America, and as scholars and leaders member that one thing, we will be OK.”
in this election,” said GOTV member they are essential to the future.”
Stefanie Rodriguez, a junior political —Reporting by Barbara Gutierrez,
science major whose parents fled Cuba He added that the University will Andres Tamayo, and Nosa James, ’20.
during the Castro dictatorship. As one do all it can within the law to enable
of nine students selected to serve on them to continue their education and View added content and photos online at
miami.edu/magazine.

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 29

The playwright behind this year’s Oscar winner for Best Picture
illuminates the pain, power, and promise of his hometown.

‘Moonlight’
Becomes Him

BY MEREDITH CAMEL, M.F.A. ’12

PHOTOS BY ANDREW INNERARITY

THE FIRST TIME TARELL ALVIN MCCRANEY, WHOSE LARGELY
autobiographical work inspired this year’s Best Picture Academy
Award winner, realized he could provoke the senses through theater,
he was just 14, acting in plays about substance abuse at Miami rehab
centers. Audience reactions ranged from gratitude for “helping us
understand what our children go through while we’re on drugs” to a
demand that the show be stopped because of its emotional intensity.
Then there was the deep regret expressed by the man who used to
sell drugs to McCraney’s mother.

From age 9 through his high school years at Miami’s New World
School of the Arts, McCraney turned to theater as an after-school
guardian, a shelter from his turbulent Liberty City neighborhood, and
a place where the kid who always felt like an outsider discovered a
sense of belonging. Now McCraney, 36, is a globally acclaimed play-
wright and recent professor of theater and civic engagement at UM
who still finds comfort under the stage lights, their protective glow
shielding him from the intimacy of meeting new people who have not
yet revealed whether they are “friend or foe.”

Identity, intimacy, and trust are topics McCraney was wrestling with
in the summer of 2003, when he wrote In Moonlight Black Boys Look
Blue, the gritty but tender coming-of-age story about a bullied gay black
boy in the projects whose mother is a drug addict, whose unlikely father
figure is a notorious drug dealer, and who struggles to understand his
sexuality and his place in the world. It is McCraney’s story.

30 MIAMI Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017 MIAMI 31

“Black women understand, perhaps
tmootrrye ttohamnaakneytohneeir, wwhayatinit ampelaances
that is constantly saying ‘no way.’”

32 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

recent graduate of DePaul The character of Juan, played in an to cry my last tears for government vio-
University in Chicago at Oscar-winning turn by Mahershala lence visited on my body, on her body,
the time, McCraney was Ali, was based on Blue, a boyfriend of on our bodies.” The chorus follows
headed to grad school McCraney’s mother. “He was a drug with a litany of modern-day evils they
at Yale when he got dealer, and he was every bit of a hero pledge to bury: hate, rage, homophobia,
to me,” said McCraney. “He taught me wickedness, body shaming, misogyny,
Athe news his mother how to ride a bike. He taught me how addiction.
had died from AIDS- to swim. He told me that I was good
related complica- enough. He often stemmed my mother’s “Black women understand, perhaps
tions. The play was an outlet to “figure abuse from affecting me in many ways. I more than anyone, what it means to try
out my life now that I was missing the was the best-dressed kid in Liberty City to make their way in a place that is con-
one person who could tell me who I was, for a long time. I always wanted to honor stantly saying ‘no way,’” McCraney said.
beyond my memory,” he recalled. that memory—but not expunge it of any “That’s what this program is about—
Subsequent works—The Brother/ of the things that, actually, he did.” getting young citizens to feel they have
Sister Plays, Head of Passes, Choir a voice.”
Boy, and Wig Out!—plus two years Moonlight, which The New York
in London as the Royal Shakespeare Times describes as “so richly evoca- He maintains that nurturing young
Company’s International Playwright tive of South Florida that it raises the voices through the arts awakens imagi-
in Residence catapulted McCraney humidity in the theatre,” places its lens nation, which then leads to empathy.
into the theatrical limelight, but lately on Liberty City in a way few films have.
the MacArthur Fellow is captivating For McCraney, who has “story by” and “If you can’t imagine what other
moviegoers with Moonlight, the film “executive producer” credits on the people’s lives are like, and if you can’t
adaptation of his never-produced au- film, that authentic exposure is key to walk in someone else’s shoes, even in
tobiographical script. After landing the preserving the neighborhood and nour- your own mind for a second, how are
Golden Globe for Best Picture in 2017, ishing the voices that emerge from it. you a good doctor, a good lawyer, a good
Moonlight went on to earn eight Oscar scientist?” asked McCraney. “We often
nominations. It took home three wins— The chance to help cultivate Miami’s think of the arts as something we can do
Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted “homegrown talent” drew him back in our spare time. But if they don’t have
Screenplay, and, in a Hollywood-worthy from arts epicenters like New York and access to it early, no matter what life
showstopper after La La Land was in- London. In 2015 McCraney joined UM’s they were born into, all students suffer
correctly announced, Best Picture. College of Arts and Sciences as a profes- in some way.”
But McCraney’s story might never sor of theater and civic engagement, and
have been so widely known. During a launched a unique educational initia- A shining example of the potential for
screening and Q&A at UM’s Cosford tive at Liberty City’s African Heritage homegrown talent to give back, McCraney
Cinema in January, McCraney credited Cultural Arts Center (AHCAC), his insists communities also benefit from
School of Communication lecturer Rafael childhood safe haven. investing in arts education for youth.
Lima, who had been McCraney’s high
school playwriting teacher, with planting Last summer, he led the inaugu- “It goes right back to empathy,” he
seeds of advice that ultimately helped ral Youth Artist Leadership Summer continued. “If you have people who can
this poignant and intimate piece take Program at the AHCAC, a partnership say, ‘I was raised, nurtured, and edu-
root in a way that had previously eluded that united the center, the University cated by my community,’ then they will
him. “He said, ‘If a story keeps coming to of Miami, Miami-Dade County Cultural do better by the community.”
you visually, then it’s a film. If you hear Affairs, and Arts for Learning.
it, then it’s a play,’” recounted McCraney. Though McCraney will bring his
Almost a decade after he finished McCraney guided 14 young black considerable talents to Yale School of
the work, a mutual connection for- women, ages 13 to 17, as they wrote and Drama full time in July as chair of the
warded it to filmmaker Barry Jenkins, performed an adaptation of Antigone, playwriting department and playwright
who had grown up three blocks from the Greek tragedy by Sophocles about in residence, his legacy will continue to
McCraney and whose mother also the daughter/sister of Oedipus. Though impact his hometown.
struggled with crack cocaine addic- the story is nearly 1,600 years old,
tion, though the two had never met the teens made it their own, infus- “This is a stunning example of how
as boys. Moonlight captures Jenkins ing the final burial scene with music artists can move us to new understand-
and McCraney’s collective experience and lyrics that were a catharsis for the ings of our world,” UM President Julio
of survival in a reality that left them burdens they carry: “Let the rain from Frenk said after watching Moonlight.
bruised yet aching to make sense of it these tears wash these seeds of hate “Tarell is a son of Miami. He is an artist
through art. and malice and watch them grow into of Miami. And he is an advocate for
something new, something better. I’m Miami. The film we just saw is such a
going to cry my last for my sister, for beautiful, poetic, loving portrait of our
Antigone, for all the sisters. I’m going incredible city in all its dimensions.”

Watch McCraney’s ’Cane Talk at canetalks.
miami.edu/cane-talkers/tarell-alvin-mccraney.

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 33

34 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

OCHFFATRHTSE
BY ROBERT C. JONES JR.

Mixing activism with architecture,
two University of Miami professors use drones

to map informal cities in Latin America
in the hopes of improving conditions there.

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 35

HE CHILDREN PLAY SOCCER BAREFOOT ON A DIRT FIELD,
AND WHEN THEY AREN’T IMITATING THE FLAMBOYANT
STRIKING AND PASSING SKILLS OF THEIR COUNTRY’S
GREATEST FOOTBALLERS, THEY ROAM NEIGHBORHOOD

TSTREETS, PLAYING OTHER GAMES OR SOMETIMES JUST
LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO EAT.
If not for the efforts of a woman have made it their mission to map some detailed aerial maps of Las Flores,
named Julia, many of them would go of the poorest and most vulnerable Penabad, Cure, and their students
hungry. A 50-something community el- places in the world. walked the streets, studying the slum’s
der with an energetic spirit, Julia helps building and construction patterns,
keep their bellies full, working with a They started in 2006, using tradi- peering into its simple wood and clay
group of other women to prepare meals tional surveying techniques to map the brick homes, observing neighborhood
that feed as many as 100 kids a day. slum of Shakha near Mumbai, India. social interactions, and talking with
The following year, they traveled to the some of the 10,000 residents who live
Life in some parts of Las Flores, Cape Town, South African township of there—all as part of an extensive effort
a five-square-mile shantytown near Langa to map the informal settlement to help cure what ails it.
Barranquilla, Colombia, often pres- of Joe Slovo, one of the largest slums in
ents a multitude of challenges. Food that country. “Then we realized some- “When these cities that are literally
can be hard to come by; sewage, water, thing,” recalls Penabad. “We’re based in off the map are documented and stud-
and electrical systems are nonexistent Miami, and we’re traveling to the other ied, you begin to not only understand
in most areas; and residents build side of the world to study these infor- them but get a much bigger picture of
shotgun-style homes with whatever mal settlements, when, in fact, we have their problems,” says Penabad. “Where
materials they can find—in this case, at our doorstep Latin America and the would it make the most sense to bring
mostly wood. Caribbean, where an urban, informal in water and sewer lines? Where are
population is growing. So why not turn they disconnected in terms of transpor-
Many local governments consider our focus closer to home?” tation? Where would it make the most
slums like Las Flores eyesores, elect- sense to build a medical clinic? The
ing to leave them off of official maps. And they did, beginning with Las potential for progress becomes more
But two University of Miami School of Flores. Every spring semester between tangible and possible when you can see
Architecture professors, Carie Penabad, 2008 and 2015, Penabad and Cure have everything mapped out.”
B.Arch. ’95, and Adib Cure, B.Arch. taken architecture students from their
’97, believe slums should not only be upper-level design studio and, starting X-RAY OF THE CITY
recognized but also given the assistance two years ago, software engineers from
they need. UM’s Center for Computational Science, Penabad compares the maps to “X-rays
to this 60-year-old settlement to map that allow us to diagnose a settlement’s
So with tools as simple and archaic its 75 neighborhood blocks and seven condition.”
as pencil and paper, and as advanced barrios. While CCS engineers oper-
and high-tech as camera-equipped ated the drones that produced highly Here’s what their “X-ray” of Las
drones, the husband-and-wife team Flores shows: Newer barrios where

36 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

Using the same drone technology employed
by the Obama administration to hunt

terrorists, University of Miami architects
Carie Penabad and Adibe Cure are mapping

informal cities in amazing detail.

An aerial view of Santa Cruz del Islote, LOOKING LIKE A GIANT INSECT WITH ITS FOUR LEGS EXTENDED OUTWARD,
the most densely populated island the quadcopter sits in the center of the dirt road, its propellers beginning to spin faster and faster.
on the planet, taken from a drone
operated by CCS software engineers. In Las Flores, a small group of curious youngsters gathers around, while just a few feet away
Chris Mader, director of the software engineering core in the University of Miami’s Center for
Computational Science (CCS), flips the switch to a remote-control device, sending the camera-
equipped drone skyward with the speed of a rocket blasting off from its launchpad.

The aerial mapping of this shantytown near Barranquilla, Colombia, has begun.
“Robots that fly” is how Mader describes the drones he and CCS colleague Amin Sarafraz
have been using to help two University of Miami School of Architecture professors, Carie
Penabad, B.Arch. ’95, and Adib Cure, B.Arch. ’97, map informal settlements in Latin America.

Initially Penabad and Cure mapped the
settlements on foot with pencil and paper,
using traditional surveying techniques and
satellite images that were not always clear.
After they learned about CCS’s flying robots,
though, their methods for mapping slums
literally took flight.

Flying a programmed grid pattern at 15-to-
20-minute intervals, with a GoPro camera
attached to its underbelly, a single drone can
map a five-square-mile shantytown like Las
Flores in about two days, according to Mader,
who has traveled to Colombia with Penabad
and Cure as a member of their mapping team.

The 600 to 800 high-resolution digital
images captured by the drone are used to
produce a highly detailed composite photo
showing an aerial layout of the entire city—
from rooftops and foliage to streets and even
trash piled up in backyards.

“For mapping small areas like informal
settlements, drones are ideal,” says Mader. “They can fly closer to the ground [the drones Mader
uses typically fly at an altitude of about 130 feet], they’re inexpensive, and it’s technology any-
one can use.”

The drones have significantly reduced the time it takes to map a settlement. That doesn’t
mean Penabad and Curie have abandoned the personal side of their research. They still walk
shantytown streets, but only to gather the information drones can’t, such as the stories told by
the inhabitants of some of the poorest and most vulnerable places on Earth.

“There may be 200 children under the age of 10 living in an informal city that’s not being
serviced by any medical facility,” says Penabad. “The maps can show us where a medical clinic
or school can be built.” Among the other questions that can be answered: Are there boundaries
within slum neighborhoods? Where does the slum stop and the formal city begin?

Penabad and Cure’s goal is to make UM a center for the collection of data on informal settle-
ments throughout Latin America. “We’ve found a way to map these in a pretty distinct way,”
Penabad explains. “We’d like to acquire enough funding to deploy this toolkit more systemati-
cally and make it entirely open-sourced mapping.”

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 37

small houses with sheet-metal roofs are Stoler, an assistant professor of ge- than any relocation effort would, says
built so close together that hardly any ography and regional studies in UM’s Cure. But such public works-style
light and fresh air penetrate; older dis- College of Arts and Sciences, whose own projects require funding, not to mention
tricts where, over time, wooden houses research on informal settlements has the even greater task of convincing local
have been replaced by concrete homes; taken him to Accra, Ghana, to explore governments to pour money into areas
a scarcity of public gathering spaces; links between neighborhoods, the en- they don’t even include on formal maps.
and unpaved streets. vironment, and human health. “Living
in a slum has been shown to hinder Residents of Las Flores have been
Las Flores is compact, mirroring on- growth but also sometimes to aid it via lucky in that the private sector has
the-grid Barranquilla only in having a tight-knit communities that offer better funded electrical and water projects in
clearly delineated pattern of streets and resilience for overcoming stressors and isolated areas of their settlement. But
blocks. “Houses come up to the edges of communities where residents take care more improvements are needed, such
streets,” explains Penabad, “and there of one another and provide buffers from as an urgent care clinic and a large
aren’t many automobiles, so people all the problems they’re dealing with on banquet-style hall where community
walk or bike to get to where they need a daily basis.” elder Julia and the other women with
to go.” whom she works can feed the scores of
But media stories don’t often report children they cook for.
And usually where they need to go is on the resilience of these communities.
to the larger metropolis to work in fac- Usually it’s the bad news—like crime or And that just scratches the surface.
tories and hotels. Some of the women residents’ poor health and educational To that end, Penabad and Cure’s stu-
toil as housemaids. “Grandparents and outcomes—that grabs the headlines, dents have taken to the drawing board
children are most prevalent during the Penabad laments. to propose projects that could help
day, when the men and women are at ramp up Las Flores’ infrastructure.
work,” says Penabad, adding that Las “Some people feel these settlements
Flores and many other such slums are should be cleared out and bulldozed and SBTIKREEETTALXAI MSTPOSPS AND
surprisingly sustainable. the inhabitants relocated, but that’s
the wrong thing to do,” she says. “Once Residents taking bike taxis to work and
“There’s a well-structured network these individuals are displaced, not only neighborhoods with no street lights
of families,” says Cure. “Older, more is their rich community life fractured, were among student Nicki Gitlin’s first
established families usually become but they’re banished to the outskirts, observations of this Colombian shan-
the leaders, creating day care centers usually far from the city center, which is tytown when she helped map it over a
and micro businesses that help the where they make their livelihood.” year ago as part of the Informal Cities
community.” One woman, he notes, studio, which requires students to con-
even started a mobile clothes-washing Improving the infrastructure ceive of and design a project that fills a
service, wheeling a portable manual within—from installing water and sewer critical need in the community.
washing machine door to door. lines to providing electricity and intro-
ducing public transportation routes— “Lots of bike taxis, but no bike taxi
“Everyone living in an urban slum would do more to help slum dwellers stops,” says Gitlin, B.Arch. ’15. “And
isn’t necessarily worse off,” says Justin

38 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

Nicki Gitlin, B.Arch. ’15, documented
the streets of Las Flores, Colombia, as a
student in the Informal Cities studio.

See more at miami.edu/magazine

without streetlamps, some of the neigh- give copies of the maps, accompanied by for deploying actual infrastructure.
borhoods aren’t safe.” data and statistics, to government of- Decision makers are less likely to con-
ficials in the hope that the settlements sider putting in new electrical lines or
So Gitlin, who has since graduated will be incorporated into the larger for- extending the pipe water network into
from UM and is now working for an mal city. a neighborhood unless there are clear
architectural firm in New York, de- boundaries and a defined constituency.”
signed a single apparatus to solve both “Informal settlements aren’t going to
problems—a bike taxi stop that converts disappear,” says Penabad. In fact, more The maps also can make governments
into a streetlamp at night. She also than 800 million people live in slums aware of potential new economic mar-
came up with a way residents could take worldwide, according to the United kets and the enterprising spirit of the
an active role in improving their city, Nations Human Settlements Programme people who live in slums, like the com-
developing a GPS system that would (UN-Habitat). In Latin America and the munity elder on Santa Cruz del Islote,
operate through bike taxis. Caribbean alone, at least 24 percent of the the most densely populated island on
region’s urban population reside in slums. Earth. During a 2015 mapping exercise of
Another student, once he arrived in that islet, where more than 1,200 people
Las Flores, saw opportunity in the settle- Maps of these informal settlements, inhabit a piece of land off the coast of
ment’s proximity to the Magdalena River. Penabad, Cure, and Stoler agree, can Colombia that’s roughly the size of a
Already an income and food source for provide a powerful case for inclusion. baseball field, Penabad and Cure learned
local kite fishermen, Colombia’s princi- of a woman’s efforts to raise donations
pal river could, with the implementation “Great things can happen when you for solar panels that were eventually
of a local water taxi system, become an put communities on a map,” says Stoler. installed on some homes.
important transportation route, taking “It legitimizes them. Many slums are
residents from the water’s edge to the typified by informality. People are doing Stoler, who for the past 12 years
center of Barranquilla, where many of work that’s not on the books, that’s in- has been studying slums in West
them work in the service industry. formal in nature, and often the govern- Africa with a team of researchers from
ment doesn’t recognize these areas and universities across the nation, also
The extension of Barranquilla bus doesn’t even count the people. When encountered his fair share of enterpris-
routes into Las Flores, homes built with suddenly you put boundaries around ing shantytown residents during the
better ventilation, and a local fishery them and create maps, you’re further considerable amount of time he spent
are among the other ideas UM students legitimizing their existence. You’re in Ghana’s urban slums. While conduct-
proposed. saying, ‘Hey, this community is now on ing research on drinking water needs
the map just like all the other communi- in Accra, he met a young man who was
“Small projects,” says Penabad, ties the government acknowledges, and starting his own business as a bagged-
“large implications.” But only if their these people matter too.’ water supplier.
maps fall into the right hands.
“By mapping these communities in “He was living in a slum in a little
TOOLS OF EMPOWERMENT increasingly better detail,” continues shack with a couple of machines,”
Stoler, “you create a digital infrastruc- Stoler recalls.
That is why, after the completion of ev- ture that becomes the cornerstone
ery mapping exercise, Penabad and Cure Five years later, the UM researcher
returned to Accra and tracked down the
young entrepreneur, discovering that he
had become a successful businessman
with a modern factory and dozens of
machines.

“People living in slum communities
are as smart and resourceful as anybody
anywhere else, and they are often forced
to be creative to make ends meet,” says
Stoler. “Their ability to adapt is amaz-
ing. So why wouldn’t local governments
want to harness that work ethic, that
creativity, that resiliency? And that’s
why we should keep mapping.”

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 39

Alumni Digest

Alumni Digest
NEWS AND EVENTS OF INTEREST TO UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI ALUMNI

Building on the Dream, from the 1960s to the Present

UTrailblazers weekend honors UM’s first black graduates and champions of integration

President’s Council member Denise afternoon, the University of Miami’s alma mater. Among them was Patricia
Mincey-Mills, B.B.A. ’79, and her Board of Trustees—24 members in (Barnes) Roberts, B.S.Ed. ’72, M.S.Ed.
cochairs of the Black Alumni Society’s attendance—23 men, one woman, all ’73, who lives in Miami but hadn’t
First Black Graduates Project white—unanimously voted to, and I visited since earning her master’s
Committee, Antonio Junior, A.B. ’79, quote, ‘accept any qualified student… degree in 1973. “Oh, I’ll be back,” she
and Phyllis Tyler, B.B.A. ’79, devoted regardless of race, creed, or color.’ In said, marveling at the beauty of the
four years to sifting through Ibis that moment, this University became a campus that has changed so much.
yearbooks and the University of Miami great institution.”
Libraries’ Archives to learn more about Roberts’ reflections about her
the struggles and successes of UM’s The Opening Ceremony continued student experiences and as the
black graduates of the 1960s and 1970s. with an alumni-student forum that University’s first black cheerleader are
Bellamy moderated, student dance living, along with the oral histories
The history they discovered there and spoken word performances, and of 45 other UTrailblazers, in video
sprang to life February 24 and 25, a keynote address by Harold Long Jr., testimonies captured by the UM Alumni
during UTrailblazers, a celebration A.B. ’68, J.D. ’71, the founder of United Association on Friday and Saturday.
hosted by the UM Alumni Association, Black Students who orchestrated a 1968 The videos are part of the University’s
that brought hundreds of people to sit-in at then-President Henry King continuing effort to bring to light this
campus to honor those who blazed a Stanford’s office to demand
trail of diversity and inclusion during more resources for African-
this institution’s first two decades of American students, faculty,
racial integration. and curriculum. Also in
attendance were former Vice
The event kicked off Friday with a President for Student Affairs
campus bus tour and visit to the Otto William Butler, former ad-
G. Richter Library to view February’s ministrator Anna Price, and
We Were Pioneers exhibition, which Whittington Johnson, the
showcased archival materials detailing first black faculty member at
the early years of black life on campus.
PHOTOS: JENNY ABREU
In a lecture at the library, Donald
Spivey, UM history professor, discussed UM—three of the 16 faculty members Whittington Johnson and Donald Spivey, above left,
key elements of Miami’s civil rights and administrators recognized for and former Whitten UC associate director Joyce
movement and urged the audience to their trailblazing efforts. Knox, at top, were among those who experienced
“take the baton” the UTrailblazers the We Were Pioneers exhibit at the Richter Library.
handed to the UM community, “accept On Saturday, more than 400
the responsibility, and run with it.” people attended the UTrailblazers
Gala at the Shalala Student Center,
Adding their thoughts were some including some alumni who had not
of the UTrailblazers recognized in the been back to campus in decades but
exhibit and throughout the weekend, are now eager to reconnect with their
such as Ray Bellamy, B.S.Ed. ’72,
M.S.Ed. ’97, UM’s first black football
scholarship recipient, and Kim Sands,
B.Ed. ’78, the first black woman to
receive a tennis scholarship to the U.

“January 31, 1961, was a day
of immense historic importance,”
UM President Julio Frenk said
at the Opening Ceremony in the
Newman Alumni Center. “That

40 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

PHOTOS: JENNY ABREU

Top row: George Knox, J.D. ’73, left, and Finesse Mitchell, B.S.C. ’95; middle row,
from left: Burgess Owens, B.S. ’75, Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, M.Ed. ’73,
Knox, and Ray Bellamy, B.S.Ed. ’72, M.S.Ed. ’97, with artist C.J. Latimore, B.F.A. ’76,
at podium, presenting his commemorative print; Phyllis Tyler, B.B.A. ’79, President
Frenk, Denise Mincey-Mills, B.B.A. ’79, and Antonio Junior, A.B. ’79. Bottom row:
Johnny Taylor, B.S.C. ’89, honoring a UM student at the Trailblazers gala.

history while cultivating additional Smith, J.D. ’73, intro- announced at the gala that the fund has
insight on it. duced keynote speaker reached more than $91,000, in addition
George F. Knox, J.D. ’73, to his own $25,000 pledge.
“Some of you went here when you a fellow Top of the Class
were afraid to walk to class,” said honoree and School of Law classmate, The scholarship is a bridge to the
actor and comedian Finesse Mitchell, with a memory of how Knox typically mission of the early UTrailblazers, who
B.S.C. ’95, who was the gala’s master responded to any negativity he encoun- sought to build permanent pathways
of ceremonies. “Look at us now; we’ve tered on campus. to a UM education for qualified black
taken over the ballroom of the best “George would tell them, ‘Affirmative students, regardless of their financial
building on campus!” action didn’t pass those law school abilities. It is the essence of the phrase
exams; that was us... Affirmative action invoked throughout the festivities:
Executive Vice President and didn’t have a 100 percent passing rate “Blazing the trail, building the dream.”
Provost Thomas J. LeBlanc welcomed on the Florida Bar the first time; that
the gala crowd and assisted the First was us,’” Smith said. And as Knox acknowledged, the
Black Graduates Project cochairs in an In an effort to continue blazing dream has become an ever-widening,
on-stage recognition of 13 “Top of the trails of opportunity and inclusion two-way street.
Class” honorees, including artist C.J. at the University, donors to the First
Latimore, B.F.A. ’76, who donated a Black Graduates Projects Endowed “The University of Miami helped to
commemorative collage print he created Scholarship are building a fund that will, educate us and mold us,” Knox said.
of his fellow honorees. UM Trustee H.T. in perpetuity, award $2,500 to two black “We and the University were enriched
students per year. President’s Council by the experience. Now we are free to
member Johnny C. Taylor Jr., B.S.C. ’89, say, ‘We love you, University of Miami,’
and we know you love us back.”

—Meredith Camel, M.F.A. ’12
See more at miami.edu/magazine.

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 41

Alumni Digest

New Interactive Media Center Sends Strong Signal

A new digital domain takes hold at the School of Communication

The School of Communication took naming gifts and rallied other parents peer schools and make sure we offer PHOTOS: JENNY ABREU
another leap into the interactive age to get involved in the $2.7 million students the best equipment and the
with the dedication of two new centers endeavor. best facilities to learn in.”
in December: the Koenigsberg & Nadal
Interactive Media Center and the Robert The adjacent broadcast center, which Videoconferenced in from Canada,
& Lauren Mann Broadcast Center. received its own makeover, now boasts Nadal, chair and CEO of Peerage Capital
top-notch equipment, such as two HDTV Inc., said, “What excited me about this
Gregory J. Shepherd, dean of the studios, a sound
School of Communication, explained stage, control rooms, Industry leaders Bill Koenigsberg, B.B.A. ’77,
how the space at the school’s front editing suites, and far left with Jessica Koenigsberg; Bob Mann,
entrance has been transformed from a more. It was named, A.B. ’70, top right with Lauren Mann; and Miles
quiet, dark library “full of dusty jour- said Shepherd, to Nadal collaborated on UM’s new Interactive
nals and hardly any students” into a honor three decades Media Center.
2,500-square-foot bright and
modern multifaceted facility of invaluable support from UM Trustee opportunity was that the University
fully loaded with the latest and School of Communication Visiting of Miami was taking a leadership role
digital media resources. Committee Chair Robert “Bob” Mann, in the interactive media center of the
A.B. ’70, who cofounded and managed future as part of its integrated commu-
Shepherd said the goal UM’s student-run radio station, WVUM, nications program.”
was to create a project-based as a student and has since made signifi-
learning environment that cant contributions to the University, Digital currency is the currency of the
would encourage student in- including two endowed scholarships. future, explained Koenigsberg, founder,
teraction across disciplines. president, and CEO of Horizon Media,
“We have to keep on improving,” said noting that the majority of his nearly
“We will not only be Mann, “and we have to stay up with our 2,000 employees are 20-somethings.
learning about communica-
tion,” said student Oliver UM students will end up “richer
Redsten, an anchor for than students from other schools” and
UMTV NewsVision and an at the forefront of their industry upon
on-camera host for the open- graduation because they will have the
ing ceremony, “but also how to imple- opportunity to work with their peers in
ment communication plans and tactics, this kind of professional and collabora-
making us more confident when we tive atmosphere to deliver a multitude
enter the workforce.” of digital and traditional creative servic-
es to clients, Koenigsberg said.
Media industry leaders Bill
Koenigsberg, B.B.A. ’77, a President’s “I want the best and the brightest
Council member, and Miles Nadal, both out of communication schools. That’s
parents of School of Communication what motivated me to do this,” he con-
students, spearheaded the Interactive tinued. “It’s a bit self-serving, but we’re
Media Center’s development with going to create the best students in the
world through this interactive media
Putting the ‘U’ in URL center.”

Check out the new alumni.miami.edu

The University of Miami Alumni Association has
transitioned to a new website, alumni.miami.edu,
creating a more engaging and interactive environ-
ment for alumni to stay connected to the U. With
a focus on more visual elements, the website is
a platform for connecting with fellow alumni,
staying engaged with the University, and finding
stories that enhance the reputation of the U while
exhibiting Hurricane pride.

42 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

Hurricane Power Couple Honored in New York

Philanthropists Hank and Corinne Greenberg tapped for 2017 Alumni Award

With angels framed in gold gazing over PHOTOS: NATURAL EXPRESSIONS
the ballroom stage, New York City’s
The Metropolitan Club set the scene Honorees Corinne and Hank Greenberg with, from left, President
April 26 for the 45th Alumni Awards Julio Frenk, President Emerita Donna Shalala, and Donna Arbide,
Ceremony of the University of Miami, associate vice president for alumni relations and individual giving.
which recognized two of the U’s own
angels, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, introduction. Several Frost School of Music
’49, the former CEO of American “Their finan- alumni, including Trent Saunders,
International Group (AIG), and his wife, cial support B.M. ’13, and Ken Clark, B.M. ’10—­ both
philanthropist Corinne Zuckerman has impacted currently appearing on Broadway—per-
Greenberg, B.B.A. ’49, president and several areas formed with Frost School Dean Shelton
director of the Maurice R. and Corinne at UM, in- Berg in tribute to Corinne’s work as
P. Greenberg Foundation and director of cluding the chair of the National Board of Young
The Starr Foundation. Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, Audiences/Arts for Learning. She is also
President’s Initiatives, School of Law, on volunteer committees at Rockefeller
A voice major in high school, Corinne Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, University, New York-Weill Cornell
was among UM’s first female busi- and student scholarships through Medical Center, and the Iris Cantor
ness school graduates and went on to a the establishment of the Greenberg Women’s Health Center.
successful career in Endowed Scholars and C.V. Starr
management infor- Endowed Scholarship Funds.” Among his many distinctions, Hank
mation systems. But A number of scholarship recipients is a World War II and Korean War
she never stopped expressed their gratitude via video. veteran whose role on Omaha Beach
using her powerful “The Greenberg Scholarship has earned him the French Ordre National
voice­to advocate made a huge difference for me,” said de la Légion d’Honneur—a commenda-
for the arts, sci- Gabrielle Tilton, ’20, business adminis- tion later upgraded to Commandeur de
ence, and social and tration major. “I have been able to grow l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur
cultural institutions. so much as a student and a person at for his leadership at AIG.
Her husband of 67 UM. There is incredible support offered
years is chair and here, and I am learning to use that to Accepting their award, an original
CEO of the global my full advantage.” Murano glass Ibis, the Greenbergs said
insurance and in- Jayden Pace Gallagher, ’20, said the they enjoyed their student days at the
vestment organization C.V. Starr & Co. scholarship “showed me that hard work U, where Hank earned a pre-law certifi-
Inc. and chair of The Starr Foundation, can make a huge difference in my future. cate, and are impressed by their alma
one of the largest private foundations I plan to dedicate my career to ecosys- mater’s progress.
in the United States. A decorated war tem and population conservation. Thank
veteran, he grew AIG into a $180 billion you so much for providing for so many!” Frenk concluded his remarks by
insurance giant during nearly 40 years thanking the dynamic couple for being
at its helm. pioneers at UM and for their ongoing
generous support.
The Greenbergs received the Edward
T. Foote Alumni of Distinction Award
for their “accomplishments and dedica-
tion to the University,” UM President
Julio Frenk told the more than 170
admirers in attendance. “By creating
endowed scholarship funds they have
ensured the dreams of generations.”

The Greenbergs have contributed
more than $16 million to UM.

“Beyond their impressive profes-
sional and civic careers, the Greenbergs
have been steadfast champions and
major supporters of the University of
Miami,” UM President Emerita Donna
E. Shalala, Hon. ’02, said during her

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 43

Alumni Digest

Legacy Program Rejoices in Raising ’Canes

Families find lasting bond in sharing the UM experience from generation to generation

Jerry D. Goldstein, B.B.A. ’89, is proud GIULIANNA MARIE STUDIOS
that both of his children chose to make
his alma mater part of their family It’s a ’Canes thing: Jerry Goldstein, B.B.A. ’89, with kids Leah and Jared, B.M. ’16, and wife Eileen.
tradition.
Alumni Center. Then in May, there’s the LinkedIn profiles. And though much has
“I want my children and grandchil- Graduating Legacy Reception, at which changed at the U over the past few gen-
dren to know that my legacy is one of seniors receive their official UM legacy erations, for alumni parents like Jerry
education, kindness, acceptance, and stole to wear during commencement. Goldstein, who graduated more than 25
being open to others,” reflects Goldstein, years ago, there’s one phrase that still
an attorney who lives in New Jersey. “It Additional legacy perks include early sums up the legacy connection: “It’s a
started at the University of Miami, where move-in for freshman and first-year ’Canes thing!”
I was urged to achieve great things and to transfer students and a complimentary
inspire the world to be better.” professional headshot to help legacy Visit alumni.miami.edu for more in-
seniors launch their post-graduation formation. On Twitter, go to #UMLegacy.
His daughter, Leah Goldstein, is fol-
lowing in his orange and green foot-
steps to the U this fall. His son, Jared
Goldstein, B.M. ’16, is a recent graduate
of the Frost School of Music.

And the Goldsteins are just the tip
of the Ibis. Each year more than 200
“legacy” students—the child or grand-
child of a Hurricane—choose the U as
their new home away from home. To cel-
ebrate their dedication to continuity, the
UM Alumni Association hosts a series of
legacy activities throughout the year.

In April there’s the welcome break-
fast to congratulate newly accepted
legacy students and their families. Each
August, during new student orienta-
tion week, an official greeting and
welcome to campus event for legacy
families takes place at the Newman

Reconnecting in Asia JENNY ABREU

’Cane spirit returns to region during June multicity tour

With more than 1,100 students from 10 students selected by
Asia attending the University of Miami,
plus thousands of recent graduates, the Henan University to UM’s
UM Alumni Association is making its
fourth official visit to the continent this College of Engineering.
June.
“Both universities
Stops include Hong Kong, Shanghai,
Beijing, and China’s Henan Province, will benefit from shared
where Henan and UM launched Miami
College of Henan University last year, engineering knowledge
with majors in environmental science,
civil engineering, electronic infor- through this partner-
mation science, and technology and
automation. ship,” said UM College Henan Vice Chancellor Guoxiang Zhao, second from left, visited

In January officials met at UM to of Engineering Dean in January to sign an agreement with Engineering Dean Jean-
sign an agreement that would bring
Jean-Pierre Bardet, who Pierre Bardet, far right, and other University officials.

is scheduled to speak at

June’s events in Asia. “It also presents real-world projects.”

a tremendous opportunity for students An Asia Pacific Parent Network is be-

and faculty from both institutions to ing piloted to help families in the region

explore and develop new solutions stay connected to the U and engaged in

to global issues and collaborate on causes they care about.

44 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

Class Notes

1950s Public Administration. He is the Citizen ’Cane
first American elected to be chair
Martin Rosen, B.B.A. ’54, a retired or vice chair of the committee, Black Beauty
U.S. Army colonel, received the which was established in 2000.
Lifetime Achievement Award Rosenbaum joined FIU 27 years Afrobella.com blogger Patrice
from Employer Support of the ago as dean of its then School of Grell Yursik, B.S.C. ’02,
Guard and Reserve, a Department Public Affairs and Services and M.F.A. ’04, says her years
of Defense agency. A financial has written extensively on good at the University of Miami
advisor, he is vice president at governance and democratic insti- helped shape her into one
Ameriprise Financial Services tution building. He has worked of Women’s Wear Daily’s
in Miami. in local, state, and national 50 Most Influential People
Deborah (Debi) Hoffman, A.B. ’56, government and directed major in the Multicultural Beauty
J.D. ’83, was a 2017 Breaking U.S. government democratic Market, alongside Beyoncé
the Glass Ceiling awardee at institution building projects and Jennifer Lopez.
the Jewish Museum of Florida- in Africa, Central and Eastern
FIU and Philanthropy Miami’s Europe, and Latin America. He Though writing was a passion, upon graduation from the
2016 Community Champion belongs to the National Academy School of Communication, Yursik didn’t necessarily know where
for her advocacy of the arts and of Public Administration and is a that passion would lead her. It wasn’t until she was presented
programs for women and girls. A past president of both the Ameri- with a teaching assistantship that she decided to pursue her
longtime supporter of the U, she can Society for Public Adminis- Master of Fine Arts from the Creative Writing Program in the
notes that she’s been a student tration in Washington, D.C., and College of Arts and Sciences’ English Department.
at UM under each of its six the International Association of
presidents—from a junior high Schools and Institutes of Admin- “During my teaching assistantship, I was confronted with the
program during President Ashe’s istration in Brussels, Belgium. He task of creating content and lessons that would keep my students
tenure, to her degree programs has received awards from univer- engaged and interested,” recalls Yursik, a native of Trinidad now
and the Osher Lifelong Learning sities, professional associations, based in Chicago. While she rose to the challenge, she never
Institute, to a recent class at the and governments worldwide and thought her content and ideas would be on constant display.
law school. was a Visiting Distinguished
E. Leonard Rubin, A.B. ’56, Professor at the University of Her career path started at Books & Books then moved on
J.D. ’59, published a piece in Potsdam, Germany. to Miami New Times newspaper. She credits UM’s Creative
the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin Sandra (Dycus) Kirkpatrick, Writing Program with inspiring her to continue her education
about a current lawsuit in which A.B. ’64, published her first outside of the classroom.
Paramount Pictures is claiming it non-fiction book, Tales for Cats:
owns the rights to all of the words Felines Extraordinaire, about “I was shown that I could write anything, from a novel to
of the Klingon language invented heroic cats through history, and is film script,” she recalls. “I learned the basics and was encour-
for the Star Trek franchise. donating some of the proceeds to aged by faculty to follow my passions.”
Abbott Wainright, A.B. ’57, humane societies. She is at work
M.B.A. ’68, and Ronnie on a script for a TV series and a In 2009, while working full time, Yursik dedicated late nights
Wainwright, A.B. ’62, M.A. ’66, novel set in Southeast Asia, where and free time to her craft, sharing her voice on her blog. She
who first met at the Otto G. she previously served as executive used her education and writing skills to develop engaging con-
Richter Library, recently cel- director of a nonprofit focused on tent that would become the award-winning Afrobella.com.
ebrated their 50th wedding anni- ending human trafficking.
versary. They live in the foothills Barry Richard, A.B. ’64, J.D. ’67, Today her site is known around the world, and Yursik is often
of Scottsdale, Arizona, where attorney with Greenberg Traurig, referred to as the “godmother of brown beauty blogging.” She
they hike and where Ronnie LLP in Tallahassee, Florida, was has been featured in Essence, Ebony, and Glamour magazines,
paints landscapes. They would recognized as a “senior statesman” and on NPR for her expertise in blogging and business. As one
enjoy hearing from classmates. in the 2016 Chambers USA Guide. of Ebony Magazine’s Power 100, Yursik continues to fill a void
Leonard Ray Teel, A.B. ’64, in the media and aims to empower women to try new things and
1960s M.A. ’74, professor emeritus of rise to the occasion when opportunities present themselves.
communication at Georgia State
Allan Rosenbaum, A.B. ’62, was University in Atlanta and recipi- “I started writing for Afrobella to tell my own stories,” she
elected vice chair of the United ent of the Sidney Kobre Lifetime explains. “While I liked my career at the time, I noticed a void in
Nations Committee of Experts on Achievement Award from the the media in terms of representing the voice of women of color.
I wanted to see more of a reflection of black beauty in a holistic
way. I wanted to see and hear from more women like myself;
women with natural hair, women of different sizes, a variety of
skin tones and textures that were interested in beauty from the
inside out. I created the magazine I couldn’t find.”

—Jennifer Palma

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 45

Class Notes

American Journalism Historians James Weinsier, B.B.A. ’68, is the had a campaign they created Germany, last April, on institu-
Association, spoke to UM School vice president of the board of for the 2000 election included tional review board censorship
of Communication students directors for the Amelia Island in the Smithsonian Museum of of scientific investigation into
about his fifth book, Report- Book Festival. He is also the au- American History’s advertis- and publications about vaccine
ing the Cuban Revolution: How thor of several children’s books. ing collection. It was a bilingual adverse events.
Castro Manipulated American His most recent is Where Do We recruitment campaign to increase Bruce P. McMoran, B.B.A. ’71,
Journalists (LSU Press, Decem- Go? (Forever). the Hispanic vote in the U.S. and J.D. ’76, was selected by his peers
ber 2015). Robert “Bob” Butterworth Jr., is credited with registering more as one of three finalists for the
Carol Wright, A.B. ’64, launched J.D. ’69, an attorney in Fort than one million U.S. Hispanics. New Jersey 2016 Attorney of
SteppingOutToRetirement. Lauderdale, was appointed to the Year Award for successfully
blogspot.com after retiring last the board of The Florida Bar 1970s arguing before the New Jersey
year as public information officer Foundation. Supreme Court in Lippman
for the Palm Beach County Prop- Aida T. Levitan, A.B. ’69, and Walter Kyle, B.S.M.E. ’71, served v. Ethicon, Inc. that the state
erty Appraiser’s Office. Previous- Fausto H. Sanchez, A.B. ’79, on the faculty of and spoke at law protecting whistle-blowers
ly she was a political columnist former owners of the Sanchez the 10th International Congress applies to an employee whose es-
for the Daily Business Review. & Levitan advertising agency, on Autoimmunity in Leipzig, sential function is to act as one.
Arva Moore Parks, M.A. ’71, his-
BofeYcoauuse torian and University of Miami
trustee, has been a featured guest
Your support is a far-reaching investment in knowledge, discovery, at bookstores and other venues
healing, service, and solutions. to discuss her latest book, George
Thanks to your generosity, we are strengthening our capacity as an engine Merrick, Son of the South Wind:
for progress in our city, our hemisphere, and our world. Visionary Creator of Coral Gables
We are grateful to you for making a difference and helping us transform lives. (University Press of Florida,
2015).
miami.edu/giving Francisco R. “Frank” Angones,
A.B. ’72, J.D. ’76, partner with
Angones McClure & Garcia P.A.,
is part of the Task Force of the
Hispanic National Bar Associa-
tion, formed to assist with legal
analysis and policy recommen-
dations related to improving
U.S.-Cuba relations. He was also
recognized by the Daily Business
Review for outstanding service to
and lifetime achievements in the
Florida legal community.
Thomas F. Cecich, B.S.I.E. ’72, of
North Carolina, was installed as
the 102nd president of the Ameri-
can Society of Safety Engineers.
Tim Chapman, A.B. ’72, one of
the first journalists to arrive in
Guyana and get photos out after
the Jonestown Massacre, had his
iconic images and related materi-
als from 40 years of adventure-
filled coverage as a Miami Herald
photojournalist featured in the
HistoryMiami Museum exhibit
Newsman: The Photojournalism
of Tim Chapman. Chapman, now
retired and living on Big Torch
Key, donated his collected works
of more than 300,000 images to
the museum.

46 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine

David M. Goulet, A.B. ’72, Florida Code of Military Justice Citizen ’Cane
published his first novel, Desert and helped to ensure the integ-
Snow, dedicating it to a fellow rity and respect of the overall A Knight’s Tale
’Cane from the Class of 1972. Military Justice System.”
Audrey Ross, Ph.D. ’72, of EWM Van Mayros, B.B.A. ’75, In recognition of the decades
Realty International, received M.B.A. ’77, is cofounder and he’s spent pursuing noble quests,
a Lifetime Achievement Award president of IgniteD2K, a big Sir Paul Altman, B.B.A. ’69, was
from the Who’s Who in Luxury data technological platform that added to the Queen’s New Year
Real Estate organization for her promises to “seamlessly evolve Honours List and bestowed the
work in Miami. electronic consumer footprints title of Knight Bachelor in 2016.
Brenda B. Shapiro, A.B. ’72, J.D. into actionable social surveil- The well-known Barbadian real
’90, received an honorary law de- lance with advanced predictive estate developer has earned
gree from Pine Manor College in machine learning analytics and accolades for his devotion to
Newton Center, Massachusetts. algorithms.” philanthropy, historic preserva-
Stanford “Stan” Blake, J.D. ’73, a Raymond A. Belliotti, M.A. ’76, tion, and education. He’s been
Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge Ph.D. ’77, published Power: lauded for improving tourism
from 1995 to 2016 and founder Oppression, Subservience, and in Barbados, launching luxury
of Stanford Blake Mediation, Resistance (Albany: SUNY Press, projects such as Limegrove
received the Florida Supreme 2016) and Dostoevsky’s Legal Lifestyle Centre, the island’s
Court award for judicial excel- and Moral Philosophy: The Trial first mixed-use development.
lence and was recognized as “the of Dmitri Karamazov (Brill Pub-
best of the best” among circuit lishers, 2016), his 18th and 19th Altman is also known for leading the rescue of one of the
court judges in Florida. books, respectively. oldest Jewish synagogues in the Western Hemisphere, the
George A. Maul, Ph.D. ’74, Nanette Lampl Avery, B.F.A.’76, Nidhe Israel synagogue. It was built in the 1650s in the capital
Florida Institute of Technol- has published her novel The city of Bridgetown by Barbados’s first Jewish settlers, who fled
ogy’s distinguished professor of Curious Host, about a dog that the horrors of the Inquisition in Brazil. Though destroyed by a
oceanography and the longtime wanders through the lives of a hurricane in 1831, it was rebuilt and fortified, and remained in
head of the Department of Ma- town’s residents. use for nearly another century. But by 1929 the island’s origi-
rine and Environmental Systems, Marcia K. Cypen, J.D. ’76, execu- nal Jewish population was in decline and its historic synagogue
was named 2016 Medalist by the tive director of Legal Services of property was decommissioned and sold to a private business.
Florida Academy of Sciences. Greater Miami, Inc. since 1983,
Howard M. Talenfeld, B.B.A. ’74, was honored with a Lifetime Altman’s grandfather, Moses Altman, a successful business-
J.D. ’79, was honored for his Achievement Award by Legal man from Poland, led the next wave of Jewish immigrants to
work on children’s rights as a Services of Greater Miami. Barbados in the 1930s to escape anti-Semitic persecution at
leading Florida foster care abuse Carl “C.J.” Latimore, B.F.A. ’76, home. The Altman family grew prominent on the island.
attorney and founding president is an accomplished artist and
of the nonprofit organization a member of the Black Alumni In 1983, Paul Altman, managing director of the Altman
Florida’s Children First with an Society, First Black Graduates Real Estate Group, learned the Barbados government had
Alumni Achievement Award from Project Committee that is work- taken ownership of the dilapidated property on which the
the UM Law Alumni Association. ing to reconnect black graduates Nidhe Israel synagogue once thrived with plans to raze it and
He has also received The Florida from the 1960s and ’70s. clear part of its neighboring Jewish cemetery, where patriarch
Bar’s President’s Award of Merit, Marilyn C. Durant, B.Ed. ’77, Moses Altman and scores of other Barbadian Jews had been
the Florida Bar’s President’s Pro received an HR Lifetime Achieve- buried for centuries. He led the family’s successful petition
Bono Service Award for the 17th ment Award from the Human of the American Jewish Congress, the Commonwealth Jewish
Judicial Circuit, and a Profes- Resources Association of Palm Trust, the Canadian Jewish Congress, and private donors to
sional Excellence Award from the Beach County, a chapter of the back their cause. In the end, the government turned the site
Daily Business Review. Society of Human Resource Man- over to the Barbados National Trust, of which Altman was then
Stephen Maher, J.D. ’75, a Miami agement after devoting over 25 treasurer and, later, president.
partner with Shutts & Bowen, years to the profession. She is a
received the Florida Commenda- certified senior human resources For five years he oversaw the synagogue’s painstaking resto-
tion Medal, one of the only mili- professional who heads Durant ration. He also headed the delicate repair of the badly damaged
tary awards available to civilians, Resources Group. cemetery and funded an archaeological dig that unearthed a
from the Florida Army National Frank Pyle Jr., LL.M.E. ’77, a 350-year-old Jewish ritual bathhouse, or mikvah, beneath the
Guard for his pro bono legal probate attorney in Orlando, was property’s parking lot. Rededicated in 1989, the synagogue
service, which “helped to clarify called to Los Angeles to testify remains in use today, and a museum added on site by Altman
and strengthen the protections in the penalty phase of the trial documents the centuries-long story of the Jews of Barbados.
provided to soldiers under the of Lonnie Franklin Jr., known as
“We have preserved our heritage here in perpetuity,”
Altman has said. A father of two, he lives in Barbados with his
wife, the painter Rachelle Altman.

—Robin Shear

miami.edu/magazine      Spring 2017  MIAMI 47

Class Notes

the Grim Sleeper serial killer, 41 hundreds of categories. Mixed Media
years after Pyle, an Army JAG of- Diana Santa Maria, A.B. ’81,
ficer at the time, was assigned to J.D. ’84, was re-elected to serve Hair to the Queen!
monitor Franklin’s 1974 trial in on The Florida Bar Board of Gov-
Germany in which Franklin and ernors for the 17th Circuit. She is When financial expert Tamara Beliard
two other men were convicted of listed in Best Lawyers in America Rodriguez, B.B.A. ’01, was diagnosed with
kidnapping and raping a 17-year- and Super Lawyers of Florida breast cancer in 2014, she struggled to
old German girl. and is an AV-rated Martindale find a way to speak about it with her
James “Jim” L. Ferraro, B.B.A. ’79, Hubble Pre-Eminent Attorney. young daughters. She published Hair
M.S. ’80, J.D. ’83, was named The Law Offices of Diana Santa to the Queen!, an illustrated children’s book, in 2016 to
the Plaintiff’s Attorney of 2015 Maria, P.A. is celebrating its 26th help other families begin the conversation in a light-
by CVN Florida for the asbestos- year serving clients, focusing hearted but fearless way.
related mesothelioma case Taylor on plaintiff’s personal injury,
v. Georgia Pacific. wrongful death, and medical Before I Do
David Hinkes, A.B. ’79, a profes- malpractice.
sor of marketing and manage- Dorian Denberg, J.D. ’82, execu- In her first book, Before I Do: A Legal
ment at the Sullivan University tive director-senior legal counsel Guide to Marriage, Gay and Otherwise
Graduate School of Business and with AT&T in Atlanta, was (The New Press, 2016), gay rights
CEO of Hink, Inc., is coauthor named a Diversity Champion by attorney Elizabeth F. Schwartz, J.D. ’97,
of Selling By Objectives: The the Atlanta Business Chronicle covers practical considerations as well as
Handbook for More Profitability and Association of Corporate rights and implications all couples should
in the 21st Century. Counsel-Georgia Chapter. address before tying the knot, such as
William C. MacLeod, J.D. ’79, a Robin Gerofsky Kaptzan, name changes, getting a license, taxes, insurance, Social
partner in Kelley Drye’s Wash- B.B.A. ’82, J.D. ’85, a senior Security, and more.
ington, D.C., and Chicago offices, foreign counsel for Duan and
serves as chair of the American Duan, a Chinese law firm based By Silent Majority
Bar Association’s Antitrust in Shanghai, was appointed a
Section. division chair of the American Robert Buschel, A.B. ’91, practices criminal
Bar Association’s Section of litigation and flies compassion missions
1980s International Law. as a private pilot in real life. In his first
Vicente Medina, M.A. ’82, novel, By Silent Majority (Post Hill Press,
Hilarie Bass, J.D. ’81, copresi- Ph.D. ’88, associate professor of 2016), he takes on the emerging scandals
dent of Greenberg Traurig Law philosophy at Seton Hall Univer- of a popular and effective U.S. president in
firm, is president-elect of the sity, is the author of Terrorism the wake of a domestic terrorist attack.
American Bar Association. She Unjustified: The Use and Misuse
also was recognized by the Daily of Political Violence (Rowman & The Impossible Fortress
Business Review for outstand- Littlefield Publishers, 2015).
ing service to and lifetime Norman Waas, A.B. ’82, J.D. ’86, In his debut novel, The Impossible Fortress
achievements in the Florida legal is the international president of (Simon & Schuster, 2017), Jason Rekulak,
community. Bass has success- Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT) fraternity, M.F.A. ’95, publisher at Quirk Books by
fully represented high-profile founded in 1898 as the first Jew- day, has conjured a love letter to the 1980s
corporate clients in jury and ish fraternity. Waas is an alumnus through teenage nerd Billy Marvin, who falls
non-jury trials and has been of the University of Miami’s Alpha in love at the dawn of the computer revolution.
actively involved with the ABA Omega chapter of ZBT.
for more than 30 years in several Andrew Glantz, M.Ed. ’83, re- Snowbirds
roles. She is best known for cently semi-retired as a trauma
leading the effort to eliminate surgeon at Boston Medical Writer Crissa-Jean Chappell, B.S.C. ’97,
Florida’s 20-year-old ban on gay Center but remains active within M.F.A. ’99, Ph.D. ’03, set her fourth young
adoption, which led to the state the Department of Surgery at adult novel, Snowbirds (Merit Press,
removing questions on sexual Boston University School of 2017), in Florida during the “Rumspringa”
orientation from adoption Medicine, where he teaches rite of passage of Amish teens Lucy and
applications. medical students and is involved Alice. As they explore the temptations
Rolv Heggenhougen, B.B.A. ’81, in departmental quality improve- briefly allowed them, Alice disappears,
founder of Next Minute Inc., ment projects. and Lucy’s search for her begins amid a veil of secrets.
released nextminuteapp, a free Jeffrey I. Shulman, M.B.A. ’84,
app that helps consumers con- South Florida executive vice
nect with service providers in president of real estate banking

48 MIAMI  Spring 2017    miami.edu/magazine


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