The University’s Board of Trustees announced that Miguel “Mike” Fernandez has been named as a trustee. Last fall Fernandez made a $10 million gift to the University’s School of Business Administration, one of the largest ever made to the school, which will name the new Miguel B. Fernandez Family Entrepreneurial Center.

The new building will house an entrepreneurship center, an information resource center, undergraduate placement center, academic pavilions and student residences. The building will be designed by internationally acclaimed and award-inning architect Michael Graves.

“I am delighted to team up with the University of Miami in launching this exciting new venture that focuses attention on entrepreneurship, a field that is only recently beginning to command the respect it deserves in both the business and academic community,” Fernandez said. “With five children of my own I recognize how important it is to encourage education and create an environment for students to reach their potential. My vision is for the new facilities to help UM and South Florida continue to thrive as leaders in business innovation.”

Fernandez is known throughout the South Florida community for his unique, niche-oriented healthcare businesses that share a common focus on strong customer service. A self-made entrepreneur, Fernandez is the Chairman and CEO of several rapidly growing Florida-based healthcare companies that currently serve more than 500,000 clients.

Ready to open up his heart to everyone at the Tsunami Relief Open Mic marathon, Andrew Spiegel walked on the UC Patio stage. He sang Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” and read the heartfelt testimony he wrote in memory of his high school friend Aroil, whom he lost in the tsunami. Fighting back tears, the UM sophomore hoped his reading would put a face on the tragedy.

“Numbers are just numbers, but when you think about a funny guy with a goofy grin who said, ‘I’ll see you at the reunion’ and then is gone, there’s a new spin on it,’ Spiegel said.

Concerned students like Spiegel, who are looking for ways to raise awareness among their peers, are one of the main reasons M. Evelina Galang, assistant professor in the Department of English, organized the Tsunami Relief Open Mic Marathon.

“After the tsunami hit, I wanted to do something, but like everyone else after the holidays I had little in my bank account,” Galang said. “I heard that published authors would do readings for free and all the money would go towards tsunami relief. I liked the concept of a community-centered event.”

Galang called up the sponsors and student volunteers from the Screaming Monkeys symposium held last October and proposed the idea to them. With the help of various offices around campus, students and faculty came together as a community on the UC Patio to gather support for and express their emotions in the face of tragedy.

The Bookstore displayed books written by authors of the areas affected by the tsunami that spectators grabbed in exchange for donations. Works read by the students were sponsored by generous donors, much like a walk-a-thon. All proceeds went to the American Red Cross International Response Fund for the Tsunami Victims of South East Asia and East Africa.

“The victims in Asia need it more than I do,” said Brian Channon, senior, who sponsored a friend’s performance.

The readers performed their own work or picked a story or poem from a provided selection of pieces by authors from affected regions like Rumi and Kabrir. This gave as many as 250 spectators who filled the patio throughout the day the opportunity to browse through the pieces and share a work that they felt most inspiring with an audience of their peers.

Vikram Jagadish, junior, was one of the spectators who, inspired by the courage and passion of the performers, signed up to perform on stage himself. Before reading his original work titled “Chillai Kalan,” he thanked the audience.

“I’m honored to read my work in my native tongue which is so close to my heart,” Jagadish said.

At the showcase’s end, Galang suggested making the Open Mic Marathon an annual event.

“Some have expressed using this venue-Open Mic Marathon -to continue to raise awareness in culture, in social justice and in funding in the future,” Galang said. “Perhaps next semester, we can explore the possibilities of relieving the AIDS epidemic in Africa with words, spoken and otherwise.”

Cecille Lucero can be contacted at c.lucero1@umiami.edu.

The University Village, a student apartment complex that has been in the works for more than 12 years, was approved Friday, and groundbreaking will begin March 23.

The new housing should reduce the size of the commuter-student population on campus. Housing is currently available for only 27 percent of the student population.

“We have not built new housing on campus in 36 years,” Dr. Patricia Whitely, vice president of Student Affairs, said.

Dr. Whitely expects the project, which will cost approximately $61 million, to be completed by fall 2006.

According to Dr. Whitely, the University Village will house 800 students, mostly upperclassmen undergraduates and a limited number of graduate and law students. There will be 41 one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartments; 81 two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments; 48 four-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments, and 101 four-bedroom, four-bathroom apartments. All the rooms will be singles with furniture, utilities, cable and high-speed internet, and each apartment will include a washer and dryer. There will be one covered parking space per student, as well as gated entrances and 24-hour maintenance available.

The complex will occupy 7.18 acres of land between Red Road, San Amaro Drive, Corniche Ave. and Brescia Ave. That area currently houses the office of University Communications, fraternity houses and temporary gravel parking lots. Sarah Artecona, assistant vice president of media and community relations, said University Communications will eventually be relocated, and the fraternity houses will remain the same. Parking will be redirected from the gravel lots once construction begins.

The original University Village plan, set to house more than 1,100 students, was proposed in 1992 but put on hold after Hurricane Andrew. Once it resurfaced, the UM Neighbors Homeowner’s Association expressed concerns over the increased traffic, noise and possible security problems the plan would bring. As a result, the University had been negotiating the details of the proposal with the neighbors for the past few years.

“We went through a mediation process with the neighbors, and we came up with a good solution,” Artecona said. “There was a reconfiguration of the building in 2002 to slightly reduce the number of apartments and to increase the number of parking spaces, so there should be 800 or so spots.”

That reconfiguration also includes building 16 townhomes between Corniche and Mataro avenues.

“The townhomes will be available for rent by faculty and staff to act as a buffer between University Village and the neighbors,” Artecona said.

The official groundbreaking for University Village is set for March 23 at 4 p.m.

Patricia Mazzei can be contacted at pmazzei@miami.edu.

UM President Donna E. Shalala recently spoke to the Hurricane’s Megha Garg about her experiences in the Peace Corps. Shalala served in Iran from 1962 to 1964.

The Hurricane: What motivated you to apply for the Peace Corps?

Donna Shalala: I was tired of school and I wanted an adventure. I was interested in other cultures and I thought I’d learn something about the world, which I did. I went after I finished my undergraduate studies before I went to graduate school. I learned a lot about myself; I learned a lot about the world. I understand now what the poorest places on earth look like and feel like.

TH: Where did you go?

DS: Iran. I lived in a mud village-water and dirt-in southern Iran. They offered me a number of different countries. My family is from Lebanon, so I was happy to be assigned to the Middle East. I taught English and did some development work. I was there for two years.

TH: Were you ever scared? Did you ever think, “What am I doing here?”

DS: I think it’s fair to say that everything was a surprise. Living in another culture was another surprise. Living in a mud village was a surprise. But when you are 21 years old, you are fascinated with everything and you have the energy to do that. I wasn’t afraid of anything. My parents were always scared for me, but I couldn’t describe it as life threatening. I had some people put guns in my face when we passed checkpoints, but can’t say that I ever had any great fear.

TH:What kind of person would gain from the Peace Corps?

DS: I think that for students that want to become world citizens there is no better experience. It gives you an experience at a very young age about other cultures, whether you are going on into medicine or law or anything, especially before you go to grad school or move on to your career. You have to have a sense of adventure. You have to be ready to try something new, open to new ideas. Let me put it this way-when I ran a graduate program in Columbia [University] in political science, we accepted almost everyone who was in the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps is for people who really want to see the world from the bottom up.

TH: Any lasting relationships from your experience?

DS: There’s a rug in my office from a woman who taught Peace Corps volunteers, and she remembered how much I loved her rug. When she died she had it shipped to me. Every once in a while a former student from Iran calls.

TH: How did the Peace Corps change you as a person?

DS: I think it made me a world citizen, a more international person. It makes me more sensitive to the people around me. It was a fabulous experience. It’s still the best professional decision that I ever made. I was better as a Peace Corps volunteer than at any other point in my life. I was a better volunteer than I am a president.

Megha Garg can be contacted at m.garg2@umiami.edu.

So you’re finally graduating college. But what now? While the traditional path finds most students moving on to graduate school or a 9-to-5 job, many discover that neither of these options is right for them. Some diverge from this path to pursue other endeavors. The Next Step series run every Tuesday to explore some of the alternative options that students have as they leave college and enter the “real” world.

“Nothing carries the spirit of American idealism and expresses our hopes better and more effectively to the far corners of the earth than the Peace Corps,” said President John F. Kennedy at the 1961 State of the Union address.

Since that time, the Peace Corps, started by Kennedy, has sent more than 170,000 volunteers across the world. The charitable government organization aids the less fortunate in over 130 countries by educating, helping local business or youth programs, saving the environment, or providing IT support and training.

For senior Callie Simon, the Peace Corps provides a way for her to travel and help others, while giving her a break from school for a while.

“I always knew I wanted to do service after I graduated; I knew I wanted to go abroad,” Simon said. “I want to go to grad school eventually, but I definitely need a break after graduation.”

The application process, which can take anywhere from eight months to a year, includes letters of recommendation, interviews with recruiters and an indication by each applicant of his or her preference of location and type of service. A general medical clearance, which takes about three to four months, is also required.

Some advice for those interested: “You’re dealing with a government bureaucracy so stay on top of the application process-you make sure that everything is moving along,” Simon said. “Also, talk to return volunteers and find out what their experiences were like.”

Most Peace Corps volunteers are recent college graduates in their 20s.

“I consider the Peace Corps a valuable personal and educational experience, experiences that will remain with you forever,” Dr. Sherri Porcelain, an international studies professor at UM, said. “Over the past 20 years I have encouraged many UM students to consider the Peace Corps.”

For those just graduating, the Peace Corps provides options to defer graduate studies, or even complete credit while students volunteer. In the Masters International program, the work from the Peace Corps is actually incorporated as credit into participants’ Master’s degrees. The Fellows/U.S.A. program offers reduced tuition at 30 universities in the nation upon students’ returning.

In addition to grad programs, students who now receive Perkins Loans are eligible for a 15 percent cancellation of outstanding balances for every year with the Corps. Upon completion of the program, each volunteer receives $6,000 for whatever expenses he or she may need.

“Overall, I wish to gain a better sense of the needs that are out there,” Simon said. “I want to learn about the culture, learn about myself and share with the people-it’s an exchange process.”

For more information, visit PeaceCorps.gov or call 1-800-424-8580 for a list of recruitment offices.

Teressa Dalpe can be reached at t.dalpe@umiami.edu.