Category: Featured

In an adversarial legal system, the prosecution and defense compete to determine facts and apply the law while the court referees. The starting gun sounds with “voir dire” – the process of jury selection. The “Show Me Challenge” is the only student competition in the nation to focus on this crucial lawyering skill.

After three preliminary rounds day one, and a semi-final and final round day two, NSU’s Shepard Broad College of Law team (NSU Law) beat all the competing law schools to capture the National Championship title. NSU Law 2019 students, Kelly DesRosiers and Stacey Marquez shared the top spot with NSU Law 2020 student, Jeremiah Romano, who was named Best Overall Advocate. Wes Byrum, J.D. ‘17 served as the team’s coach, guided by faculty advisor, professor Megan Chaney, J.D.

Byrum is no stranger to national titles, having kicked the game winning field goal at the 2010 NCAA National Title game prior to attending NSU Law. And as a former student, Byrum fell in love with the “Show Me Challenge,” eventually securing a job following graduation trying cases and selecting juries for the prosecutor’s office.  Coaching as an alumnus the NSU Law team that took down the number 1 ranked trial advocacy school proved another highlight.

“We had a great team with amazing individuals who represented NSU very well,” Byrum said. “As a recent Show Me Challenge competitor, it was an honor to be asked to come back and coach. I could not have been more proud as I watched the NSU team go 5-0 in an extremely unique and difficult national competition.”

NSU’s Trial Association prepares students for advocacy competitions to help them emerge as persuasive and ethical advocates. Simulated courtroom proceedings help sharpen student skills for both transactional law and the trials that result when agreements fall apart.

“The quality of an attorney’s advocacy skills impacts actual legal outcomes,” said Chaney. “The more these students practice in law school, the better prepared they are to represent that first client, and every other that follows. I take that job very seriously.”

During the 2018-2019 season, students involved with NSU’s Trial Association captured several best advocate awards. Among these, NSU law student Michael Halpern won best overall advocate at the Earle E. Zehmer Mock Trial Competition, where he and Kevin DeMatteo placed second. Halpern also took home an Outstanding Advocate award and the team, led by brief chief, Sarah Schultz, won the Bailey Trophy for outstanding brief after NSU made it to the quarterfinals at the prestigious national medical malpractice South Texas Mock Trial Challenge in Houston, Texas. 

All In For NSU is a 24-hour giving campaign in support of academic programs, scholarships and student activities at Nova Southeastern University. NSU supporters can make gifts from 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 14 until the campaign ends at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, March 15. Donors can make a gift online or by texting “NSUALLIN” to 41444.

Also, the Alumni Association will host an Alumni Celebration at Funky Buddha on Thursday, March 14 from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. to help kick-off this amazing event.

RSVP to Funky Buddha

Employees have the option to make a gift to the All In for NSU Campaign through the Payroll Deduction Form. For just $1.93 a pay period, your impact will total $50 over a calendar year. To make your gift please, click here.

Click the link below to watch the ALL IN thermometer LIVE:

https://app.mobilecause.com/public/campaigns_keywords/graph2#/103789/fundraising/wall

NSU University School congratulates the Upper School students who have been selected to participate in the second annual NSU Department of Writing and Communication (DWC) Fellowship Program based on their demonstrated interests in the fields of journalism, broadcasting, and communications.

The Fellows have attended a Media Regulation class for NSU undergraduate students where they participated in an interactive lecture led by Megan Fitzgerald Dunn, Ph.D., Associate Professor for the NSU Department of Writing and Communication, and activities focusing on the legal issues related to privacy. They have also attended a Logo Workshop hosted by the NSU Office of Publications where they discussed the fundamentals of branding and logo design.

Congratulations to the NSU University School Upper School students who have been selected to participate in the Fellowship:

• Ali Kuttler
• Andrea Murcia
• Daniel Derzavich
• Daniel Gutkin
• Diego Andaluz
• Dylan Goldman
• Emilia Santana
• Eva Fournel
• Hannah Egozi
• Joely Ramo
• Jonathan Greenip
• Marcela Homsany
• Marcus Tate
• Peter Koltis
• Tamar Peleg
• Yadira Martinez

The great white shark is one of the most recognized marine creatures on Earth, generating widespread public fascination and media attention, including spawning one of the most successful movies in Hollywood history. In a major scientific step to understand the biology of this iconic apex predator, and sharks in general, the entire genome of the white shark has now been decoded in detail.  One highlight – sequence changes were found tied to DNA repair, DNA damage response and DNA damage tolerance, the exact opposite of which – genome instability – is well known to predispose humans to numerous cancers and age-related diseases.

The researchers say they have just explored the “tip of the iceberg” with respect to the white shark genome.

“Genome instability is a very important issue in many serious human diseases; now we find that nature has developed clever strategies to maintain the stability of genomes in these large-bodied, long-lived sharks,” said Mahmood Shivji, Ph.D., director of NSU’s Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Research Center and Guy Harvey Research Institute. “There’s still so much to be learned from these evolutionary marvels, including information that will potentially be useful to fight cancer and age-related diseases, and improve wound healing treatments in humans, as we uncover how these animals do it.”

You can read the full press release ONLINE.

NSU recently hosted the annual Celebration of Excellence banquet at the Rick Case Arena at the Don Taft University Center where philanthropists and business leaders Rita and Rick Case were awarded the university’s highest honor, the President’s Community Award.

The award supports NSU’s “community” core value and encourages the ongoing pursuit of community service. Rita and Rick Case created the Rita and Rick Case Endowed Scholarship, which provides undergraduate students and former members of the Boys & Girls Clubs with an opportunity to attend college. So far this academic year, NSU has three scholarship recipients, all alumni of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County.

Mr. Case has served on NSU’s Board of Trustees since 2002.  He has served on the Building and Grounds Committee that has directed the use of more than $100 million representing more than 1 million square feet of structure development and grounds improvement for the university.

With support from Rita and Rick Case, a community of 77 affordable homes (called “A Rick Case Habitat Community”) broke ground in 2018.  The new community will provide home ownership to low-income families in Pompano Beach.  It is the largest project to-date for Habitat for Humanity of Broward County.

Since 1982, more than 100,000 donated bikes have reached children during the holidays in South Florida, Cleveland, and Atlanta, through the “Rick Case Bikes for Kids” program.

NSU’s celebration of Black History Month continues with provocative panel discussions, jazz in the gallery, children’s programming and more.

Panel discussion topics include diversity in law school, mentoring minority students, exploring cultural differences in working effectively as a psychotherapist within the Black community, and much more.  Additionally, NSU will host an intimate night of poetry and spoken word.

For art lovers, on display through March 3 is the African Presence Art Exhibition, “Face to Face,” an explosion of colorful, mixed media pieces created by artists of Haitian descent. The exhibition may be viewed in the Cotilla Gallery, 2^nd floor of the Sherman Library.

For a complete listing of Black History Month events, please visit www.nova.edu/blackhistory.