Alumna pays it forward with scholarships to students pursuing globally focused research, practicing sustainable development

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Three-time alumna Jill Farrell reflects on her notable ties to FIU and why she chose to give back to the university. –By Charlie Crespo MA ’13 There’s an idea you’ve probably heard of called six degrees of separation. If you haven’t, it posits that two people are likely separated by six social connections – if […]

Meet Gina C. Duarte-Romero, president of the FIU Alumni Association Board of Directors and Chair of the FIU Parent & Family Council

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FIU Alumni Association Board of Directors President Gina C. Duarte-Romero ’91, M.Ed. ’08 taught briefly in Miami-Dade County Public Schools before purchasing a preschool and later The Biltmore School. She now runs The Biltmore School and is an adjunct professor in FIU’s School of Education and Human Development, teaching early childhood education courses. Gina also chairs the FIU Parent & Family Council, which connects students’ parents to FIU and raises funds […]

Doctoral student is Miami-Dade’s new Principal of the Year

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–By Chrystian Tejedor for FIU News Rafael Villalobos was determined to make a difference. He thought he could do that by pursuing a career in law enforcement, so he earned a degree in criminal justice. Then Villalobos noticed how warm and kind teachers and staff were to his younger brother, who was blind and on […]

FIU, Miami-Dade County Public Schools tailor educational leadership degree to district’s challenges

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–By Isabel Gamarra for FIU News FIU has launched a customized doctoral degree in educational leadership and policy studies to respond to urgent issues facing Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS), America’s fourth-largest school district. Faculty in FIU’s College of Arts, Sciences & Education worked closely with M-DCPS to redesign the doctoral degree to focus on specific challenges […]

Grad students selected for prestigious Gates Foundation internships

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Marsha Francois was thrilled when she got the news. “I was definitely excited,” said Francois, a first-year graduate student in the master’s in Adult Education and Human Resource Development program. “In my field, it’s like if someone got an internship with Google for technology.” Along with graduate students from a select group of universities — […]

FIU students help children develop an early love for reading

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Brittanie Erne doesn’t want children to share her struggles with reading she had when she was younger. In middle and high school, Erne never wanted to read, let alone read aloud. She had difficulty with the FCAT examinations. “I thought reading was hard, I think I didn’t have the skills to decode, to understand vocabulary […]

To keep students interested in physics, have them interact

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FIU physics professor in active learning classroom
Social butterflies may be more likely to continue studying science, technology, engineering, and math and ultimately take up a STEM career, according to new research. The study, conducted by FIU post-doctoral researcher Justyna P. Zwolak and alumnus Remy Dou, was published recently in the journal Physical Review of Physics Educational Research and was listed in […]

Alumnae teachers honored as some of the best

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Devalyn Suarez
Miami-Dade County Public Schools named two FIU alumnae the runners-up of its Teacher of the Year and Rookie Teacher of the Year awards. The runner-up awards, given by United Teachers of Dade President Karla Hernandez-Mats, included recognition at a Jan. 26 dinner ceremony and a cash prize donated by Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. Laura Ortiz ’03, […]

The art of faculty mentoring: Student-professor relationships benefit both parties

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Shonda Witherspoon, Naphtali Rishe, and Shalisha Witherspoon
  As an undergraduate, Shonda Witherspoon ’16 co-published an article in a scientific journal. Her identical twin Shalisha ’16 led the development of a multifaceted software system. The sisters reached these incredible heights thanks to mentoring from Naphtali Rishe. The eminent professor of computer science holds five US patents and directs several acclaimed university and […]