Mon May 3
Chris Pombonyo ’12 views the classroom as a theatrical stage, and he wants Central Florida’s children to know they are the star of the show. With a background in the performing arts, Pombonyo regularly integrated aspects of the arts into his teaching. “Education is my passion,” says Pombonyo, who will be graduating with a master’s of educational…
Wed Apr 28
UCF researchers have been awarded a nearly $1.5 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to launch a new program that includes the creation of a new doctoral specialization at UCF and the UCF-Orange County Public Schools’ Noyce Teacher Leader Academy. The grant will also fund the first 15 research fellows in the program.…
Thu Apr 15
At the age of five, Irene Pons â00 told her mother that she was going to become a lawyer when she grew up because they helped people, and she wanted to do that, too. Although she was born in Puerto Rico, Pons spent part of her childhood in Houston, Texas, standing in line for food…
Thu Apr 15
Atiyah Appline ’20 has been a longtime advocate for social justice. But it was on a 2019 UCF Perspectives trip to Israel and the West Bank that she learned just how much legislation and policy impacts communities. Central Florida Hillel led the group of mostly non-Jewish student leaders chosen to study the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and meet…
Thu Apr 15
Earlier this year, Claire Knox was invited to participate in a task force for the American Society for Public Administration, which is the premier association for the field. Knox, an associate professor of public administration and program coordinator for the emergency and crisis management master’s degree program, has been a member since she was in college. According to Knox, it’s…
Wed Mar 31
Kaitlyn Vidal, an undergraduate in the communication sciences and disorders program, recently received a $5,000 prize from Cadbury for winning the 2021 Cadbury Bunny contest with her pet frog. Vidal’s video submission for Betty, an Australian White tree frog, leaped over 12,000 entrants to be “eared” this year’s Cadbury Bunny. Vidal’s mom encouraged her to enter her pet…
Tue Mar 30
10 Years in Botswana Karen Biraimah, a UCF professor of curriculum and instruction, has traveled to Africa for more than 50 years focusing on educational equity – exploring factors of race, ethnicity, class and gender – within an international context. She first taught on the continent through the Peace Corps in Ghana, and since that time…
Wed Mar 24
It is March, and one year ago we were unexpectedly ushered into a global pandemic that shut down our favorite stores and restaurants, disrupted our working and living routines, and affected our physical and mental health. The year 2020 was a time warp for me — simultaneously the longest and shortest year of my life,…
Mon Mar 22
Every fall, graduate students in the UCF College of Community Innovation and Education’s health administration master’s degree program learn about case competitions. If they try out and are accepted, students get an opportunity to tackle recent real-world problems in healthcare and offer a potential solution in front of a panel of industry experts at case competitions offered…
Mon Mar 22
Michele Gill founded the Galileo School for Gifted Learning to create a learning environment where children can thrive. “All children can learn given the right circumstances. I wanted to create a school culture where students and teachers could learn and work in a safe, nurturing environment that gave them âvoices and choices’ in the learning…
Sun Mar 21
When Jennifer Bellinger found out she was Principal of the Year for Orange County Public Schools, she was sitting with a small group of friends, family and staff at Oak Ridge High School, watching the Stellar Awards announcement ceremony via YouTube. Due to COVID-19 making the ceremony a virtual event, more people were able to…
Thu Mar 18
When Bethany Backes isn’t testing new recipes in the kitchen with her two young daughters, perfecting her famous pumpkin bread or cheering on her favorite college sports teams, she’s focused on something much more intense — researching violence against women. Backes joined UCF’s Violence Against Women faculty cluster in 2019. In addition to her position within the…
Thu Mar 11
“There is a critical shortage of special educators in the workforce,” says Eleazar âTrey’ Vasquez, professor of exceptional student education and director of the Toni Jennings Exceptional Education Institute. To increase the number of highly effective special educators, the School of Teacher Education is accepting applications for three grant-funded, interdisciplinary projects that provide tuition support to graduate students in exceptional…
Thu Mar 11
One of the hallmarks of the health administration master’s degree program at UCF is the flexibility. Students are given the freedom to complete the degree at their own pace. Through a mix of in-person and online classes, graduate students in the health service track and executive health service track are able to customize their schedule to fit their needs.…
Thu Mar 11
One in five children in America show signs of a mental health disorder, and of these children, only 20% receive care from a specialized mental health provider, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And that was before the COVID-19 pandemic. There is some good news, though. The UCF counselor education program was already partnering…
Wed Mar 10
Eleazar “Trey” Vasquez, a professor of exceptional student education, has been named an American Council on Education Fellow. He will join the 2021-2022 class of the ACE Fellows Program, a leadership development initiative designed to identify and prepare faculty, staff, and administrators for senior positions in college and university leadership. Since joining UCF in 2008, Vasquez’s…
Sat Mar 6
The University of Central Florida prides itself on its faculty members and their research, and according to a new study that appeared in the PLOS Biology journal, it has every reason to. UCF researchers are among the top 2% of their fields. The study, titled “Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators,” analyzed six factors related to research…
Sun Feb 21
David Mariutto ’12 spent the past six months working on a mail targeting program for a presidential election campaign from his family’s house in Plantation, Florida. Sitting at a borrowed desk and chair, he nailed down the logistics and details that went into sending millions of dollars of mail to individuals across over a dozen states.…
Wed Feb 17
The Gordon Family Giving Foundation (GF2), founded in 2018 by Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon and his family, has partnered with the University of Central Florida’s College of Community Innovation and Education to deliver the STEM-focused {CodeOrlando} program on the UCF Downtown campus each summer through 2025. The foundation’s generous philanthropic commitment will support the…
Fri Feb 5
Looking for a date night idea for Valentine’s Day on Feb. 14 that’s COVID-friendly? Allow UCF’s relationship experts to help you with that. UCF’s Marriage and Family Research Institute was founded in 2003 on UCF’s campus and is open to anyone over the age of 18 in the Orlando community. Run by trained professionals, the institute’s services…