Meet Gina C. Duarte-Romero, president of the FIU Alumni Association Board of Directors

Written by

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 […]

Alumni sweep Miami-Dade educational honors

Written by

–By Chrystian Tejedor for FIU News FIU alumni swept all three major Miami-Dade County Public Schools awards this year. During the Dade Association of School Administrators’ virtual recognition ceremony, alumni Rachel B. Autler MS ’95 was named principal of the year and Samuel J. Louis ’03, Ed.S. ‘13 was named assistant principal of the year. […]

Education alumna becomes assistant principal at 24

Written by

–By Angela Nicoletti for FIU News Amanda Hernandez became an assistant principal at 24 years old — in the middle of a global pandemic. The FIU early childhood development alumna works at the Ann Storck Center, a Fort Lauderdale nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of children and adults with special needs and developmental disabilities. She […]

Richard Blanco reflects on what it means to belong

Written by

–By Emily Castellanos for FIU News Associate professor of English and FIU alumnus Richard Blanco was in Lone Wolf, Oklahoma at an art camp for high schoolers when he heard about the Pulse nightclub shooting. Although he was thousands of miles away, the news hit close to home. The nation’s first openly gay inaugural poet, Blanco felt […]

Alumna leads effort to assemble, provide face shields to health care workers in need

Written by

–By Emily Castellanos for FIU News A spring biology graduate is proving you don’t have to be an essential worker to be on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. As an aspiring physician, Amanda Pina saw health care workers face a shortage of personal protective equipment. It was unsettling. When a mentor mused about […]

Thriving as a first-time teacher during a pandemic

Written by

–By Ayleen Barbel Fattal for FIU News A new teacher will never forget her first class — especially if she was teaching during a pandemic. For first-time teacher Vivianna Caballero, the 2019-2020 school year would turn out to be particularly challenging. Not because it was the first time she would be teaching a class of […]

Talent, grit and making his own luck: The story of writer Dennis Lehane MFA ’01

Written by

By Evelyn S. Gonzalez For FIU Magazine Controlling the brain. It’s a skill one of FIU’s most famous authors has yet to master. But, it’s a skill he might not want to master. The stories that have made him an award-winning novelist and screenwriter are all woven from the chaos in his own mind. “I […]

Online degree propels education alumna to success against all odds

Written by

By Michael Martin In January 2011, during her first year of college at another university, Lauren Apodaca was struggling with severe anxiety when, one night, she felt a tingling sensation in her legs. As time went on, walking became increasingly difficult. One day, as she slogged her way to class, she passed out. When she […]

And the 2018 Alumni Participation Challenge winners are…

Written by

Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work College of Arts, Sciences & Education This year, alumni at FIU competed to earn their college or school money for student scholarships. The challenge? Each of FIU’s 11 colleges and schools was given a participation goal to see whose alumni can band […]