Longtime university supporter gives back to help save the bay

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One of FIU's Institute of Environment buoys
By Kenneth Setzer MA ’97 Longtime FIU supporter Elliot Stone cares deeply about the health of the environment. The founder of Royal Castle Builders, LLC, Stone is a Miami native who sees the powerful, positive results of serving his community. That’s why when FIU’s Institute of Environment needed to add a buoy to its Biscayne Bay […]

Professor gives back to support first-generation scholarships, Fostering Panther Pride

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In 2020, Professor Chang won the FIU Faculty Award for Teaching.
As a Panther, professor of criminology and a life-long learner, Rosa Chang ’99, ’21 believes in the transformational power of education so much that she’s making it a part of her legacy. By giving a part of her estate—a significant gift for FIU—Chang ensures that first-generation scholarships and Fostering Panther Pride, a vital college access program for […]

FIU and Jain community launch $3 million campaign to fund new institute

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Members of the Jain Education and Research Foundation (JERF) and others from the Jain community join interim FIU President Kenneth Jessell and other university leaders for the launch of a campaign to raise funds for an Institute for Advanced Jain Studies.
–By Amy Ellis In 2010, FIU made history by launching the first Jain Studies Program in North America. Since then, the university has pioneered Jain studies as an academic field and established the largest Jain studies library in the Southeast United States. Now, FIU and the Jain community have taken another important leap forward, embarking on a […]

Cooke Foundation awards FIU $2.5 million scholarship gift to benefit nontraditional and veteran/military students

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Joanne and Douglas Heydon
Florida International University has received a $2.5 million gift from the George and Bernice Cooke Scholarship Foundation for Women to establish an endowment to provide scholarships to nontraditional and veteran/military FIU students. More than $1.87 million of the gift is for The George and Bernice Cooke Scholarship Endowment, which will award scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students […]

Physician believes in paying it forward, sets up scholarship for medical students

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The Loewenherzes on a recent visit to FIU with College of Medicine Interim Dean Dr. Juan Cendan and Dr. Yolangel Hernandez Suarez, interim executive associate dean for Student Affairs.
–By Ileana Varela Growing up in Chicago, Dr. James Loewenherz spent his entire childhood around water– quarries, rivers, and lakes. By age 12, he was sailing across Lake Michigan. “The only place I couldn’t go safely is underwater, and I wanted that freedom.” Scuba diving provided that freedom and, eventually, his entry into the world […]

Alumnus Abe Ovadia assists law students’ job hunt through generous gift to FIU Law’s Career Planning & Placement Office

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Abe Ovadia JD '09
–By Clara-Meretan Kiah ’15 After FIU Law alumnus Abraham “Abe” Ovadia graduated in 2009, he found himself in a bit of a rut. The nation was experiencing the worst economic recession since the Great Depression and the legal profession was retrenching. At the time, FIU’s College of Law had only graduated four classes and was […]

Participation matters: Alumni challenge gift made by two Panthers

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FIU alumni and students at a basketball game
–By Todd Ellenberg MS ’91 Panthers challenging Panthers. It’s helped encourage and inspire the pursuit of excellence at FIU over the decades. And now, a Panther couple has made a bold challenge to fellow graduates to step up and do their part for FIU. The alumni, who have chosen to remain anonymous, made a historic […]