Category: Pride Bites

Honors College Launches Alumni Mentorship Program

Honors student Ruthie Fogel meets with her mentor Mariam Haroun, D.M.D., over Zoom.

The Farquhar Honors College alumni mentorship program has created lasting relationships between honors students and alumni. Launched during the winter semester, the program connected students with alumni mentors with similar career interests who could help them achieve their professional and academic goals for the year.

Meeting every month over Zoom, alumni were able to advise their assigned students on everything from mental health and stress management to college and career advice. Some students were even fortunate enough to receive special opportunities from their mentors like research, publication, and shadowing experience.

For Ruthie Fogel, this was an especially lucky match, as her mentor Mariam Haroun, D.M.D., is a practicing orthodontist in her hometown. As an aspiring orthodontist herself, Fogel was able to shadow her mentor every week over the summer.

“Shadowing [Dr. Haroun] was a very valuable and rewarding experience . . . Her dedication to the art and science of orthodontics has motivated and inspired me to keep dreaming of attending dental school and pursuing orthodontics!” said Fogel, a sophomore engineering major. “A big takeaway from the alumni mentorship program is that it taught me to try new things, to always be curious of the unknown, and to be unafraid to step outside of one’s comfort zone.”

For alumni, the voluntary program gave them a meaningful way to stay connected to the college and help shape the paths of current honors students.

“These mentees are so mature and bright, and they’re involved in so many aspects of education, which is so wonderful to witness,” said Tia Cifu, a class of 2017 honors alumna with a B.S. in mathematics and an M.B.A from NSU. “I’m very proud to be an alum of this program.”

The program will run each year with mentoring relationships lasting for the entire academic year. The next round of the program will begin this fall.

“As someone who is considering pursuing a Ph.D. directly out of undergrad, [my mentor] was a perfect match for me because we were able to talk about her experiences, and I was able to see what life looks [like] for someone who was in my shoes not so long ago,” said Courtney White, a senior chemistry and marine biology major. “Mentor-mentee relationships are special connections, and I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to establish a relationship with someone who can provide me with a point of view I didn’t have access to before.”

Posted 09/25/23

Levan Center Called ‘Theme Park for Global Entrepreneurs’

Alan B. Levan I NSU Broward Center of Innovation and John Wenzveen, the center’s executive director, were recently featured in Global Miami, a monthly print and digital publication designed to serve as an information resource and hub for Miami’s booming international business community. The center was characterized as “A Theme Park for Global Entrepreneurs.” Global Miami is a leading source of intelligence about the people, companies, trends, and opportunities as a trade nexus for the Americas and beyond.

Posted 09/24/23

Dental Students from 2 Campuses Deliver Services in Tenn.

Forty-one students from the D-4 Davie campus and D-3 students from Tampa Bay and Davie took the trek to East Ridge Tennessee for an incredible Remote Area Medical Mission on Sept. 9-10.

Our Assistant Dean of Community Programs and Public Health was joined by our amazing faculty Mauro Mesko, Luis Paes de Barros, Augusto Duarte, and our second-year PG oral and maxillofacial resident Alexander Takshyn.

The students and faculty compassion, caring, clinical skills, and understanding of underserved populations were evident throughout the mission. A special thanks to RAM and Dean Steven Kaltman for his unending support and our wonderful celebration dinner.

Together we served almost 400 patients and provided close to $300,000 in donated dental care.

Remote Area Medical is a major nonprofit provider of free pop-up clinics. Their mission is to prevent pain and alleviate suffering by providing free, quality healthcare to those in need. They do this by delivering free dental, vision, and medical services to underserved and uninsured individuals. They have provided care across the world at over 1500 events.

These Outreach experiences provide an opportunity for dental students and reaffirm NSU core value of “Community” and help to:

  • Develop a broad understanding of the community and social responsibilities they will have as Dental Professionals.
  • Treat a diversity of patients with a variety of oral health care needs.
  • Enhance their clinical skills.
  • Participate in inter-professional learning experiences.

In the words of RAM founder Stan Brock, “Never forget the Mission.”

Posted 09/24/23

Business Faculty Members Cited in Wall Street Journal Piece

A recent a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed piece by Scott Hodge (president emeritus and a senior policy adviser at the Tax Foundation) cites three papers by academics, two of which are faculty members of NSU’s H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship. Faculty members Pankaj Maskara and Florence Neymotin’s papers “Do Credit Unions Serve the Underserved?” and “Credit Unions during the Crisis: Did They Provide Liquidity?” are referred to by Hodge, in his piece which examines the changes in today’s credit unions.

Read the full piece here.

If you’re unable to access the article, the library can help if needed.

Create your free WSJ account through the NSU Library portal. Use your NSU email for the WSJ account and create a unique password. Future logins can be done right from the WSJ website.

Posted 09/24/23

Dean Wallace Named 2023 Power Leader in Healthcare

Dean Elaine Wallace

Dean Elaine M. Wallace, D.O., M.S., M.S., M.S., M.S., of NSU’s Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine has been named a 2023 Power Leader in Healthcare by the South Florida Business Journal. Considered one of the journal’s most popular editorial features, the Healthcare Power Leaders is a top regional resource of the who’s who in the business community. Power Leaders are selected based on their leadership within their organization and their community along with their contributions to the local economy.

Wallace, along with 49 other South Florida area industry executives, will be profiled in an upcoming special section in the Business Journal. The Healthcare Power Leaders will publish in the journal’s November 10 edition.

Posted 09/24/23

USchool Students’ Community Service Targets Caribbean

Upper School Students and New2U Ambassadors started off the year participating in an impactful community service event. Students filled about 2,000 backpacks with school supplies to be sent to vulnerable children through Food For The Poor.

Each backpack contained notebooks, folders, a pencil case, ruler, colored pencils, crayons, pencils and sharpeners, erasers, highlighters, and pens. The backpacks are being sent to schools in Jamaica, Haiti, and other islands of the Caribbean through Food for The Poor’s Angels of Hope program.

Learn more about NSU University School’s college preparatory program for students in Preschool – Grade 12 at www.uschool.nova.edu.

Posted 09/10/23

Dental Medicine Faculty Gets Special Recognition

From left, Katherine Bridges, Dental Executive Director at Florida Department of Health, and Elias Moron

Elías Morón, received a recognition from Katherine Bridges, Dental Executive Director at the Florida Department of Health (FDOH), on July 25, 2023, during the FDOH Statewide Dental Performance Meeting “Entering a New Era in Dentistry” in Jacksonville, Florida.

Morón presented “An Interprofessional School-Based Initiative to Increase Access to Oral Health Care in Underserved Florida Counties.”

In light of the unmet oral health care needs for children in rural counties, the FDOH and Nova Southeastern University’s College of Dental Medicine developed and implemented an interprofessional school-based oral health initiative to provide an educational training program for school-based nurses working in public elementary schools located in Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas.

This interprofessional school-based oral health initiative is funded by a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and administered by the FDOH. Richard Singer, Associate Professor at the Department of Oral Science and Translational Research, is the Principal Investigator of this oral health initiative.

Moron, D.D.S., M.P.H., M.H.L.  is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Oral Science and Translational Research at the NSU College of Dental Medicine.

Richard Singer, D.M.D., M.S., Ph.D.  is an Executive Director for Master of Science Program, Associate Professor in Department of Oral Science and Translational research.

Posted 09/10/23

Professor Elected Vice Chair of SoFIA Advisory Council

Alina M. Perez, J.D., M.P.H., LCSW

Alina M. Perez, J.D., M.P.H., LCSW, a professor at the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences in the Department of Health Science, was elected vice chair for the Advisory Council of the South Florida Institute on Aging (SoFIA) , https://www.thesofia.org/.

SoFIA, formerly known as Impact Broward, is a nonprofit organization focused on providing equitable and quality services to the aging community and their families in South Florida.

SoFIA engages older adult volunteers who will assist with services virtually and in person to offer services to seniors and caregivers by providing companionship to isolated individuals, veterans, and military families as well as support to community centers. They also provide technical training to help seniors navigate the digital environment.

Posted 09/10/23

Business Professor Takes Expertise on Road During Summer

For many of NSU’s faculty, summers aren’t all rest and relaxation. Instead, these consummate professionals serve as true ambassadors for the university, spreading their expertise to broader audiences. Albert Williams, Ph.D., Chair and Associate Professor of Finance and Economics at the H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, is one such faculty member.

Over the summer, Williams appeared on two television shows and made presentations at three primary schools in his home country of Belize. In June, he was interviewed live by Love TV in a one-hour segment. (Love TV is the No. 1 TV station in Belize.)  Williams and Love TV hosts, Rene Villanueva and Troy Gabb, had a lively and thought-provoking discussion on the economics of poverty and possible solutions.

Williams focused on education as a key solution to break the cycle of poverty. He discussed the need for micro-financing and the strengthening of private and public sector institutions that target this segment of the population. He emphasized the need for agricultural extension officers to provide a more comprehensive approach to help the rural small farmers.

“They should include recommendations for production, storage, marketing, management, financing, and education in general,” he said. “Extension officers could speak to the spouses and children of the farmers to get a better picture of the total situation of the family.  This way, a comprehensive approach could be used to improve their lives and break the cycle of poverty.”

Williams also encouraged entrepreneurs to consider creating more labor-intensive businesses to be able to hire more people from this segment of the population. He combined his talk with a little entertainment, playing his guitar for the audience as well.

In his second one-hour TV interview, Williams spoke about the importance of education in his life, in a effort to encourage and motivate others to pursue an education. Williams started the discussion by playing original tunes on his guitar and discussing some tips to play the guitar. Then he sat down with Villanueva and had a candid conversation about education and success.

Williams emphasized the importance of hard work and discipline for academic and life success, and he discussed the importance of setting goals. As the conversation turned to the importance of getting a basic education, Williams agreed with Villanueva that we should not be failing 12-year-olds in primary school but finding a way to help them to succeed.

“These television presentations are an extension of my classroom,” Williams said.

Williams made presentations at three primary schools (Punta Gorda Methodist, Forest Home Methodist, and Little Flower (Catholic)) in Southern Belize. His presentations focused on motivating and encouraging students to continue their education in high school or technical school. Students had a chance to ask questions during the visits. At the end of the presentations, Williams asked students what they learned, and many raised their hands and responded with answers such as, “Work hard,” and “Never give up.”   In addition to the question-and-answer sessions, Williams serenaded the students with his American Fender Stratocaster.

Williams said he enjoys his opportunities to be an envoy for education in his home country.

“I’m living the mission statement for the H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, “Best for Our World™,” he said.

Posted 08/27/23

ASHA Committee Appoints NSU SLP Associate Director

Steven P. Vertz

Steven P. Vertz, M.S., CCC-SLP, associate director of Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology (MS-SLP) program, has been appointed to the Committee on Nominations and Elections (CNE) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

ASHA’s CNE is charged with reviewing and interviewing applicants for openings on ASHA’s Board of Directors, overseeing procedures for increasing the awareness of ASHA members regarding the elections process for the national office, providing input to ASHA’s National Office staff, and cultivating and recruiting future candidates for board positions.

His two-year appointment, which began January 1, 2023, will end December 31, 2024. Vertz is proud to represent both his profession and Nova Southeastern University in this capacity.

Posted 08/27/23

1 … 3 4 5 6 7 … 49