Category: Shark Success Stories

Alum Gets Key Post at Caribbean University of Puerto Rico

Rosado

Jesus M. Santiago Rosado, Ed.D., a 2017 Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice graduate, has been appointed Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs at Caribbean University of Puerto Rico.

Santiago has developed a career in the educational field, standing out in the areas of professional teacher development, academic leadership, university teaching, research and administration of higher education.

Posted 01/08/23

Education Alumna Publishes Two Children’s Books

A Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice graduate is celebrating the publishing of two children’s books she co-authored with her husband, Manswell Peterson.

Latonya Peterson graduated from NSU with her M.S. in Criminal Justice, and her Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership. She currently works fulltime as a Criminal Justice professor at American InterContinental University.

In that role, she has published articles and even a victimology book. However, she recently stepped into a different kind of writing role: that of a children’s author.

Alongside her husband, Peterson wrote two children’s books: “Braylen The Bear & Friends: Forever Friends” and “Braylen The Bear & Friends: Snow Fight.”

“It took about a year for me to actually write the book. I had to sit down, go over research trying to decide what I wanted the plot to be, but we finally published,” she said.

The two books follow the adventures of a young bear named Braylen. The first book, “Forever Friends” covers topics of friendship, sharing and helping each other. The second book, “Snow Fight” focuses on the building new friendships.

Latonya Peterson

Peterson said her motivation was her love for children and desire to create something for them. The titular character, Braylen, is also inspired Peterson’s own 11-year-old son Braylen.

“He would go, check out books and the stories were always interesting to me, and I was like, ‘One day, I’m going to write a book.’”

Well, after a year-long process, Peterson achieved her goal. The first book was published in late October and the second book was published on Nov. 1, her son’s 11th birthday.

“He was very excited about that,” she said. “He’s read both of them and I really love doing it for kids.”

Peterson said her husband will likely keep the series going and that while she did enjoy the project, she doesn’t have any immediate plans to write any other books.

“If I do in the future, it will be years from now,” she laughed.

Congratulations Latonya Peterson! We love to see you doing what you love!

Posted 11/20/22

Halmos Doctoral Alum Named Executive Dean at Sullivan University

LaVena Wilkin, Ph.D., graduate of the doctoral program in conflict analysis and resolution in the Department of Conflict Resolution Studies (DCRS) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center (HCAS), was named the Executive Dean of the College of Business and Technology at Sullivan University.  Prior to this latest position, Wilkin served as the Dean of Ph.D. Programs.

LaVena Wilkin, Ph.D.

Wilkin has facilitated workshops on communication, conflict, emotional intelligence, forgiveness, P.E.A.C.E. from Conflict, and workplace bullying for a variety of organizations, These organizations include the Center for Non-Profit Excellence, The Archdiocese of Louisville, Integrating Women Leaders, FireKing, Governor’s Equal Employment Opportunity Annual Conference, the Academic Leadership Academy, the Society for Strategic Human Resources Managers, Unity of East Louisville, Duke Energy, and several other organizations. She also created a basic conflict management course for the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI).

She co-edited a book, entitled “From Discord to Harmony: Making the Workplace Hum”, which was published in March 2020.  Her latest project, The Handbook of Organizational Conflict Management, was published in 2022.  She is the Editor for the Journal of Conflict Management, a scholarly journal that publishes research in many of the multidisciplinary areas of managing conflicts.

Wilkin is the Vice-President emeritus for the Board of Directors at Unity of East Louisville.  Additionally, she previously served on the Board of Directors for the Society for the Prevention and Aggression Among Adolescence (SPAVA).   Before joining Sullivan, she spent twenty-six years in the construction industry, and three of those years she co-owned a masonry sub-contracting company.

Posted 10/23/22

Education Alum Accepted Into Aspiring Assistant Principal Program

Coi Lazier

A Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice graduate has been accepted into a prestigious program thanks to a project she did during her studies.

Coi Lazier recently graduated in June with her M.S. in Educational Leadership. During one of her final courses, the Leadership Symposium, she was tasked with developing an initiative that could potentially be used in a future interview process.

Lazier chose a project that dealt with children’s exposure to culturally relevant text.

“We had to identify a problem using data, then determine how to monitor that data, and then come up with an action plan,” Lazier said.

Lazier began by visiting a school and evaluating its classroom libraries and curriculum. In doing so, she recognized that minority students weren’t represented in the texts being used.

“I tied that back into their academia, and that could have been one of the root causes why kids were not engaged in the lesson,” Lazier said.

Lazier then developed a plan, and after working with the school and teachers, she proposed alternative texts for use.

“In doing that, I was able to track and monitor data to see if students were making progress as a result of incorporating culturally relevant texts during the literacy and social studies blocks. And to my surprise, the students in grades 3-5 made over 15% growth in ELA after I analyzed their iReady Diagnostic, district (Florida Standards Quizzes), and Florida Standards Assessment data. I was genuinely stunned at how much culturally relevant texts had such a great impact on student growth and behavior in just one trimester.

Lazier then used the initiative she designed to help her during an interview for the Palm Beach Aspiring Assistant Principal program, a program she has since been accepted to.

“During my entrance interview into the Aspiring Assistant Principal Program I was able to use the experience that I gained from the project that I worked on during the Symposium class at Nova to answer a question about a time when I developed an initiative to support student learning and build teacher capacity,” she said.

Lazier said she is incredibly thankful to both Nova and Drs. Maria Grethel Mendez and Gabriela Mendez for their assistance in helping her achieve her goals.

Lazier said she doesn’t plan to stop with the end of the program. She hopes to serve as an assistant principal, then principal, and one day become an Instructional Superintendent. In between, she said she also plans to start her Doctorate in Educational Leadership at NSU.

Congratulations Coi! Fins up to you!

Posted 10/23/22

Sports Science Master’s Student Interns at INTER MIAMI CF

Sigourney Kame at the INTER MIAMI FC Training facility.

Sigourney Kame, who is a sports science master’s student of the Department of Health and Human Performance (HHP) in the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences, recently completed a valuable internship as a sports performance coach at INTER MIAMI CF, which is a Major League Soccer (MLS) professional soccer team located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  This opportunity was facilitated by Tobin Silver, Ph.D., internship coordinator, professor of Health and Human Performance program.

Sigourney Kame with David Beckam, co-owner of INTER MIAMI FC.

Sigourney’s primary role as a sports performance intern consisted of leading the activation exercises before the team’s practice, perform the team’s dynamic warm-up and cooldown, assist the head coach with the sport-specific on-field warm-up and lead the team’s upper-body, lower-body, and full-body strength training. She was also responsible for tracking the GPS–STAT-Sports of the players and create a report displaying various sports science data such as the running speeds, metabolic loads, accelerations, decelerations, and distance traveled.

Sigourney had an amazing experience at INTER MIAMI FC and learned a lot from the sports performance coaches and was able to use here scientific knowledge in a practical manner. She was also very privileged to meet one of the team owners, David Beckam. She said, “It was a true honor to have met David Beckam and have a brief conversation with him. He treats everyone with the utmost respect and kindness and is an amazing professional I definitely look up to.”

Sigourney, who started her master’s here at Nova Southeastern University within the sport science department in Fall 2021 is set to graduate this Fall 2022 semester with her Master of Science in Sports Science degree and is super excited to what the future holds.

She further said, “My experience within the Sports Science department was fantastic. The sports science department consists of very knowledgeable professors who are all active and respected within the Sports Science field, always open to guide students with any career advice needed and help open doors for them. The faculty who prepared me for this opportunity include Dr. Corey Peacock, Dr. Tobin Silver, Dr. Monique Mokha, Dr. Jose Antonio and Dr. Anthony Ricci.  They were very influential to my personal and professional growth.”

Posted 10/23/22

Honors College Alum Uses Law for Innovation

For Farquhar Honors College alum Veronika Balbuzanova, Esq., practicing law isn’t just a job but her life’s passion. As an associate attorney at the Johnson Dalal Firm, she practices intellectual property law, working with innovators from all fields to protect their creative labors and interests and navigate the intangible side of creating.

Though a rigorous and challenging profession, Balbuzanova thrives in the ever-changing legal landscape. She enjoys helping clients with patents, copyrights, trademarks, and more.

Veronika Balbuzanova, Esq.

“The legal profession requires you to be a self-motivated and lifelong learner,” said Balbuzanova, who has been practicing law for three years. “This is one of the most challenging parts of this profession but also one of the most fulfilling because you never remain stagnant. You are constantly evolving and growing professionally and, in turn, personally.”

Despite her field changing with new statutes and rulings every day, her love for the law never does—a quality that allows her to excel at what she does. As an avid writer, she has published in reputable legal journals, including the American Bar Association’s Litigation Journal and the Journal of Law and Cyber Warfare. She has also worked on appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal and Eleventh Circuit and even before the United States Supreme Court.

As a two-time NSU graduate, receiving her bachelor’s degree in legal studies in 2016 and her Juris Doctorate in 2019, Balbuzanova is similarly committed to her alma mater as she is to her career. Eager to remain involved with NSU, she returned to campus over the summer to cohost the “Invention Experts” workshop presented by the Alan B. Levan NSU Broward Center of Innovation. At this workshop, Balbuzanova imparted her legal expertise and advice to up-and-coming inventors, entrepreneurs, or anyone with an innovative idea they want to transform into reality.

“As an entrepreneur or inventor, it is imperative that you be proactive and think ahead so you can set up your product, service, brand, and/or business for success in the future,” said Balbuzanova, who discussed the legal aspects of creating.

Along with supporting the local and NSU community with her legal knowledge, she is committed to helping the Honors College as an active member of the Honors Alumni Advisory Board. The board is a group of Honors alumni who meet with the dean periodically to gain insight and provide feedback on the college’s endeavors.

“Honors was an incredible resource that solidified my love for the law because it exposed me to such unique law-related classes like Biomedical Ethics with Professor Toscano and the Warner Court with Professor Garcia-Brown that you are unlikely to find even in law school,” said Balbuzanova, who wants to use her positive experience to create lasting change in the college for current and future students. “Thanks to Honors, I was able to forge lifelong mentorships and friendships with not just my peers but my instructors, as well.”

Moving forward, Balbuzanova hopes to continue to support others in the NSU community and beyond. In two years, when she’s eligible, she will apply to become a Florida Board Certified Expert in Intellectual Property Law to further help others invent and innovate.

Posted 10/09/22

Halmos Faculty Publishes Book on American Judicial System

Charles Zelden, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Humanities and Politics (DHP) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center and has published a new book, “The American Judicial System: A Very Short Introduction,” by Oxford University Press  in September 2022.

Book description:

At some point, everyone living in the United States has some type of interaction with the American judicial system. For most, this contact is relatively minor: contesting a traffic ticket, suing or being sued in civil court, being a witness in a civil or criminal trial, or serving on a jury. Others are caught up in the criminal justice system – as defendants, as victims, as witnesses, as jurors, or as relatives of a victim or a defendant. For still others, contact comes via an important policy issue affecting their lives in the hands of judges and justices sitting in judgment in marble temples to the law.   This new book explains the ‘where,’ ‘when,’ and ‘who’ of American courts. It also makes clear the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind the law as it affects everyday people. @VeryShortIntroductions.

Zelden academic interests include American Constitutional History, Civil Rights, Legal Studies, and the Judicial Process. He is the co-director of the NSU Council for Dialogue and Democracy and is the co-editor, Southern Legal Studies (UGA Press).

Get more information on the book.

Posted 09/26/22

Retired Education Alum Continues to Inspire Next Generation

Elaine Saef, graduate of NSU’s Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice has dedicated more than 30 years in the field of education. Starting as a teacher, she ultimately served as a principal in the Broward County School system.

Elaine Saef

In that time, she also earned her M.S. in Educational Leadership from NSU. But recently, after dedicating so much time to inspiring generations of students, she retired. But she wasn’t finished. She has since taken on a role as an Internship Supervisor with the Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice.

Internship supervisors are Education professionals who mentor aspiring educators during their final semester as they work in a real school classroom. It’s a role that Saef holds dear.

“I actually was very excited for being a graduate of NSU, and then the opportunity to still have my hands in education,” she said.

In her role, Saef serves as part of the student’s support system as they work in the classroom. She observes them in the classroom and offers feedback to the student and the teacher, along with guiding them and offering recommendations and resources.

One thing Saef hopes to teach her students before they go out into the field is to make sure you never lose that caring spirit.

“You have to make your classroom welcoming and a caring and nurturing environment, and that environment and the way you make the students feel – if they feel welcomed and nurtured, they’re going to want to do anything in the world for you,” she said.

Saef mentored several students during the Winter semester. This Fall, she is once again mentoring students in the classroom, but also taking part in a new program called GoReact which will allow her to also mentor students from a distance.

The system works by recording the students as they are in the classroom, and Saef can then watch the recording and offer virtual feedback and resources.

“It’s really cool,” Saef said. “I can be anywhere in the world and still be able to supervise without having to physically go to the school.”

Overall, Saef said the role is a way of giving back to both NSU and Broward Schools.

“Being able to go back and help these students from NSU now that may possibly become a Broward County teacher just sort of completes the cycle to give back to the system that created who I became as an adult,” she said. “To be able to give back to that system is really cool — and especially it being NSU, because I graduated from NSU, so I’m giving back to the school that helped me.”

Posted 09/28/22

Halmos College Graduate Student Awarded NSF Fellowship

Elizabeth Saraf

Elizabeth Saraf, a new graduate student in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center, has been recognized by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) as a Graduate Research Fellow. This highly selective, nationally competitive, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who have demonstrated the potential to be high achieving scientists and engineers early in their careers.  The award provides three years of financial support, inclusive of an annual stipend.

Saraf graduated summa cum laude in May 2021 in the Marine Biology major from the University of Rhode Island. As an undergraduate, she received the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship, which recognizes outstanding students studying in NOAA mission fields. During a gap year, she worked as a software engineer intern to build her computational programming and quantitative skills for application to her future research as a marine scientist.

Saraf has a keen interest in the sensory biology of apex marine predators, such as sharks. This passion brought her to the NSU HCAS Department of Biological Sciences and Professor Mahmood Shivji’s laboratory, where she will conduct research on how sharks use the Earth’s geomagnetic field and other environmental cues to navigate the open ocean. Saraf also has a strong interest in educational outreach and plans to disseminate her research discoveries to the general public to promote awareness of shark conservation.

Posted 9/11/22

Dietician Draws Educational Inspiration From Grandma

Nadine Mikati, Ph.D., RDN, LDN

Often immigration stories paint the picture of people who leave unrest in foreign lands, find sanctuary in the United States, and pursue the American dream. But for Nadine Mikati, Ph.D., RDN, LDN, an associate professor in nutrition at Nova Southeastern University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, things went a bit in reverse at first.

Mikati’s family is from Beirut, Lebanon. As a civil war raged there in the mid-1970s to 1990, her grandmother emigrated to the Michigan – followed by her parents – before Mikati was born. When she was 7, her parents decided to return to Beirut with her and her two sisters.

“It was a tough transition since I was used to parks, my friends, my school, communicating in English and then I went to live in a city that, at that time, had no parks for children,” she said. “I did not have any friends and I could barely speak the language then.”

It was one of those early moments in Mikati’s life that reinforced the importance of family and education.

“Little by little, with the help of my family and my school, I was speaking Arabic very well and got used to the system there,” she said. “And we would always go to Michigan and visit my grandma.”

Although her older sister Mira moved back to the U.S. after high school to attend college, Mikati stayed behind and earn her bachelor’s degree at American University in Beirut. It was there that she got her first taste of a possible career in promoting, teaching, and researching health eating habits.

“When I started my education journey back in 2003 in Lebanon, barely anyone had heard of a dietitian,” she said. “I was doing a college tour when I was exposed to nutrition as a major and immediately it resonated with me.”

Mikati obtained her B.S. degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from the American University of Beirut with distinction. She then left Lebanon and earned an M.S. degree in Nutrition and Food Science from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

Her passion for learning led her to complete a Ph.D. degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from Florida International University where her research primarily focused on obesity prevention.

Mikati designed and implemented an after-school intervention for children aged 6-11 to promote healthy eating habits and physical activity. As a Registered Dietitian, she has various experience in food service, clinical and community nutrition and was named Registered Young Dietitian of the Year in 2009 by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Mikati has been teaching for more than a decade and September will mark three years with NSU. She says teaching has been something that has been ingrained in her since she was young.

“It all started as a kid,” she said. “I had a blackboard at home, and I would put all my stuffed toys as if they were sitting in a classroom and I would lecture them about the topic of the day. Flash forward to grad school, in 2007, I was offered the opportunity to become an instructor. It felt very natural to teach. Fifteen years later, here I am still teaching but now as a professor.”

On the research front, Mikati focuses on chronic disease prevention/management, food security and nutrition interventions for overall well-being. She says one of her shining moments has been a recent project she conducted at NSU.

“I received a quality-of-life grant from NSU,” she said. “We partnered up with two community organizations for this project and had students involved. The aim was to help individuals with chronic disease learn how to cook and eat better to lead a healthier lifestyle.”

Results of the project will be presented in a poster at a national conference in October.

“The satisfaction that I got from the participants at the end of the study, thanking us for this opportunity, reminded me of why I do what I do,” she said.

Nadine Mikati and her grandmother on Belle Isle in Detroit.

When Mikati reflects on her life, her career, and her educational ambitions, she fondly recalls her late grandmother’s inspiration and how grateful she is that her grandmother (who she calls “Teta”) decided to move to the U.S. many years ago.

“Teta was my role model. She learned English as an adult and became an unofficial translator for her neighbors in Michigan,” she said. “She also birthed nine children and so you can imagine how many cousins I have. I think all of us at some point lived with her. She would always push us all to get the best education.”

Posted 08/28/22

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