Pegasus Magazine Spring 2018

CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION

From athletics to academics, UCF Knights persevered through challenging times and emerged with plenty of reasons to celebrate. Best of all? The year just got started.

U C F N AT I O N A L C H A M P I O N S H I P B L O C K PA R T Y DOWNTOWN ORLANDO, JANUARY 8

PHOTO BY LELAND DUTCHER

Inbox

VICE PRESIDENT FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING Grant J. Heston ’13MBA

VOLUME 24 • ISSUE 2 • SPRING 2018

ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT FOR MARKETING Patrick Burt ’08MA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Laura J. Cole CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ron Boucher ’92 EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Eric Michael ’96 ART DIRECTORS Lauren (Haar) Waters ’06 Steve Webb DESIGNERS Mario Carrillo Adam Smajstrla ’11 COPY EDITOR Peg Martin

FROM THE PHOTO OF THE FOOTBALL TEAM AND SCOTT Frost to the poetic last article, “Why I Swim with Sharks,” this issue [Fall 2017] is outstanding. I loved it all — the bees, the veterans, Bill Gates! This is surely one of the best alumni magazines in the country and a terrific representative of the top-notch university UCF has become. Good work! » KAREN WILLIAMS MOTHER OF EMILY WILLIAMS ’13

I REALLY ENJOYED YOUR STORY ABOUT THE KNIGHTS Racing engineering club (“Drive On,” Fall 2017) and the recent video posted on Facebook. There was a particular picture in the video of the mini Baja team when they won first place at the competition held at USF. I was president of the mechanical engineering club that year and can be seen in that photo (top right). This brought back many good memories for me so I really appreciate it. It is so great to know that a tradition we started nearly 40 years ago continues and has grown to the present state with track racing as well as off-road racing.

» B. TODD DAVIS ’79

MY GOODNESS. YOU WOULD THINK IF THE UCF RESTORES clinic found a cure for PTSD, it would have made greater headlines than a blurb in the Pegasus Fall 2017 issue. PTSD is a lifelong psychiatric, emotional, spiritual and physical issue that has many ebbs and flows. These patients need our support throughout their lives, with intensive programming being one type of therapy.

» CHARLOTTE SCHMITT ’82

Editor’s Response: Charlotte, thanks for the note. We forwarded your email to Deborah Beidel, director of UCF RESTORES, and she confirmed that the statement in Pegasus is correct. Her results indicate that 66.9 percent of patients who complete the UCF RESTORES intensive program no longer meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. That means that they no longer are considered to have the disorder, which is defined by a certain level of symptoms and functional impairment.

GOOD COVERAGE OF COMBAT VETERANS. I WISH you had included someone from the first Gulf War instead of two Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans.

» JEFF HOGAN ’95

Editor’s Response: Hi, Jeff. We listened to interviews from veterans from all combats but ultimately could only run a few. Interviews were limited by which ones we thought would be best for the magazine as well as which veterans responded in time for us to include them in the issue. If you’re interested in hearing stories from veterans of the Persian Gulf War, visit: bit.ly/ucf-gulf-war-veterans.

MULTIMEDIA Thomas Bell ’08 Nick Leyva ’15 Austin Warren Bernard Wilchusky PRODUCTION MANAGER Sandy Pouliot ONLINE PRODUCER Roger Wolf ’07 WEB PROGRAMMERS Jim Barnes Cadie Brown RJ Bruneel ’97 Jo Dickson ’11 CONTRIBUTORS Bree Adamson ’04 Matt Chase Scott Cook Nicole Dudenhoefer ’17 Ashley Garrett Maureen Harmon Gene Kruckemyer ’73 Dan Lee Jenna Marina Lee Josh Letchworth Susan Lilley ’75 ’80MA Doug Scaletta Skip Sterling Susan Watkins Suht Wong PEGASUS ADVISORY BOARD Barb Abney ’03 Chad Binette ’06 Richard Brunson ’84 Cristina Calvet-Harrold ’01 John Gill ’86 Michael Griffin ’84 Mike Hinn ’92 Gerald McGratty Jr. ’71 Michael O’Shaughnessy ’81 Dan Ward ’92

INBOX SUBMISSIONS Pegasus is published

by UCF Marketing in partnership with the UCF Foundation, Inc. and UCF Alumni.

Opinions expressed in Pegasus are not necessarily those shared by the University of Central Florida.

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Email:

pegasus@ucf.edu

Mail: UCF Marketing P.O. Box 160090 Orlando, FL 32816-0090

©2018 University of Central Florida. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Pegasus is a registered trademark of UCF Alumni.

Phone: 407.882.1238 Cert no. SW-COC-002556

Emails to the editor should be sent with the writer’s name, graduation year, address and daytime phone number to pegasus@ucf.edu.

Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in any medium. Due to volume, we regret that we cannot reply to every letter.

MOVED RECENTLY? NEED TO UPDATE YOUR INFO? Update your contact information: ucfalumni.com/contactupdates

Contents 6 In Focus 12 On Campus 14 Briefs 16 Meet the Presidential Search Committee 17 The Feed 18 How 10,000 Steps a Day Can Save Your Relationship 19 The Grad Hatters 20 Life After Coal 22 The New War on Drugs 24 From Knights to Kings 30 Healing Through Understanding 34 I Am We 38 AlumKnights 46 Why I Sing in Black & White

BREAKING THROUGH

Last fall, while a hurricane threatened our state, local artist Kevin Thomas began working on a new mural on the CFE Arena.

The wind and rain halted progress temporarily, but like a true Knight, he charged on. We think the final piece is not only a great addition to campus but captures our unbreakable resolve.

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In Focus LEARNING THE ROPES Located on the south side of campus, the Challenge Course may look like fun and games, but it serves as a way to determine how people face difficult tasks, communicate in groups and solve problems in real time. With the high-elements course, which combines climbing and balancing, participants learn to work together and face their fears while developing physical and mental problem-solving skills. These same skills are honed with the low-elements course — for those wanting a challenge, minus the heights.

“Out here, people learn that there are different types of leadership skills. Not everyone leads out front, and that’s OK.” — Nathan Vink, outdoor adventure assistant director, UCF Recreation and Wellness Center

2004

Year the course was built

1,200

Students who use the Challenge Course each semester

100

Maximum number of people who have used the course at once

40 feet

Maximum height of the high-elements course

16

Students who manage the course

3

Average hours it takes a group to complete the high-elements course

o view more photos and watch a T video about the Challenge Course, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.

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In Focus ALL THE HEUP UCF officially announced Josh Heupel (pronounced “hype-ul”) as the new head coach of UCF Football on December 5. A former quarterback who led the Oklahoma Sooners to the 2000 BCS National Championship, Heupel served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Missouri for two seasons. Under his direction, in 2017, the Missouri Tigers ranked No. 7 in the nation for total offense. UCF Football enters its next chapter September 1.

“I’m going to make the most of this opportunity, and make [UCF] and this state very proud of the product that we put out there on the football field.”

7,456

— Josh Heupel, head coach

Yards passed by Heupel during his two seasons as quarterback at Oklahoma

92%

Graduation success rate for UCF Football student-athletes

39.3

Average points scored per game by Heupel’s Missouri Tigers offense during the 2017 season

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Years of coaching experience by Heupel

Head coaches in the history of UCF Football, including Josh Heupel

o watch a video of Heupel being named T head coach, visit ucf.edu/pegasus.

PHOTO COURTESY OF UCF ATHLETICS

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In Focus HEALING DREAMS On December 11, UCF and the Make-A-Wish Foundation made an ailing teen’s medical school dream a reality. Hannah Culler, 18, has mast cell activation syndrome, a severe immune disorder that causes life-threatening allergic reactions. Culler has dreamed of attending the UCF College of Medicine and becoming a doctor. During her visit, she helped deliver a baby from a robot simulator and diagnosed a computerized mannequin with congenital heart failure. She also participated in the college’s White Coat Ceremony.

“Many people can live a whole lifetime and not have their dream come true, and today UCF is making our daughter’s dream come true.

We have no words, just thanks and appreciation.”

— Karen Culler, Hannah’s mother

900+

Miles Culler traveled from Ohio to attend UCF for a day

200

Days Culler spent in the hospital last year

13

Age Culler was diagnosed with mast cell activation syndrome

2

Years spent planning Hannah’s Make-A-Wish trip to UCF

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UCF’s ranking on Hannah’s list of the medical schools she wants to attend

o watch a video about Culler's day, T visit ucf.edu/pegasus.

PHOTOS BY SUHT WONG

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JAN.

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Development director and producer for Electronic Arts Isabelle de MacHenri ’15 spoke about women in the gaming industry as part of the Press Play Conference at FIEA.

NOV.

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Young fans waited to welcome Knightro and the football team outside Spectrum Stadium before the Knights defeated the University of South Florida, 49-42.

JAN.

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Students participated in a class on yoga nidra, which is known as psychic sleep, at the Recreation and Wellness Center.

DEC.

16

President John C. Hitt awarded Kareem Abdul-Jabbar an honorary doctoral degree in public service during commencement.

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DEC.

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Players celebrated winning the American Athletic Conference championship title after UCF defeated Memphis 62-55 in double overtime.

JAN.

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A student practiced her balance on Memory Mall.

JAN.

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UCF Cheerleading got in some extra practice before the national championship competition, where they placed second.

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Briefs RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

COASTAL EFFORTS

UCF recently launched the National Center for Integrated Coastal Research, which will focus on finding solutions to threats facing our coastal communities. By bringing together experts from disciplines ranging from biology to emergency management, UCF aims to find longterm solutions for problems such as sea-level rise, coastal erosion and ecosystem restoration.

“With economic constraints, environmental threats and extreme weather events becoming more and more common, now is the time to look at how we develop resilient communities that aren’t constantly in expensive recovery mode.”

GRAHAM WORTHY UCF BIOLOGY PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR INTEGRATED COASTAL RESEARCH

SMARTER PROSTHETICS

MOLDING MARS

NASA

Amount UCF engineers will receive from the U.S. Department of Energy to research how rocket science technology will allow coal-powered energy systems to produce less harmful emissions.

The same material used for ceramics and pottery on Earth is also found on Mars, and now we think it may have formed beneath a thick steamy atmosphere just after the planet formed.”

Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Kareem Ahmed is exploring technology for fueling energy systems.

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— KEVIN CANNON, a postdoctoral researcher at UCF, whose research sheds light on the planet’s early climate conditions. The study was recently published in Nature.

UCF launched a new area of interdisciplinary focus charged with finding new ways to make implantable devices, such as artificial hips and knee replacements, interact more dynamically with the human body. The Prosthetic Interfaces faculty research cluster is being led by UCF Professor of Medicine Melanie Coathup, an internationally recognized specialist in bone regeneration and implant design.

PEGASUS M AGAZ I NE

BOUNCING BACK

A new research study from UCF, Penn State and Ohio State found that most teens move past negative online encounters, such as sexual solicitations and cyberbullying, relatively quickly. The study, based on 68 teens, found that teens reported negative emotions during the weeks they experienced cyberbullying or explicit content, but the effects were gone only a week later.

A FOCUS ON

HEALING

This July, UCF will create an Academic Health Sciences Center at Lake Nona. The center will include the colleges of medicine and nursing. The newly created College of Health Professions and Sciences will include social work, sports and exercise science, physical therapy, and communication sciences and disorders programs. It will eventually move to Lake Nona.

URBAN INNOVATION AND EDUCATION

UCF EXTENDS IN-STATE TUITION RATE FOR PUERTO RICAN STUDENTS

KNIGHTS ON TOP

UCF is creating a new college of urban innovation and education that will be focused on civic engagement and governing, safety and justice, and health and well-being. It will include programs ranging from public administration and affairs to education and child, family and community sciences. Some programs will move downtown in Fall 2019.

The UCF Board of Trustees voted unanimously to continue to allow students from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands who were displaced by Hurricane Maria to qualify for in-state tuition.

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#

Online undergraduate program in the nation (U.S. News & World Report)

2

#

Cheerleading team in the nation

UCF Celebrates the Arts April 6 – 14, 2018

Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts This showcase of visual and performing arts includes Leonard Bernstein’s Mass: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers on April 6 and 7.

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MEET THE PRESIDENTIAL

SEARCH COMMITTEE With the announcement that John C. Hitt is retiring from the presidency, UCF has begun its search for a new president. Representatives from the Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, student body, UCF Foundation, Central Florida community, Florida Board of Governors and DirectConnect to UCF partner institutions have been charged with finding the next president to lead the university’s commitment to bold academics, innovative research and international impact. UCF anticipates announcing its fifth president in March.

DAVID WALSH

BEVERLY SEAY

WILLIAM YEARGIN

SYDNEY KITSON

MANOJ CHOPRA

LINDA WALTERS

GORDON CHAVIS

Search Chairman, UCF Board of Trustees, UCF Parent

Search Vice Chair, UCF Board of Trustees, UCF Parent

Member, UCF Board of Trustees

Vice Chair, Florida Board of Governors

Professor of Engineering, UCF

Pegasus Professor of Biology, UCF

Associate Vice President for Enrollment Services, UCF

RICK WALSH ’77 ’83MS

CONRAD SANTIAGO

MICHAEL MANGLARDI ’84

SARA (WELLENS) BERNARD ’00

FALECIA WILLIAMS ’O6E d D

BUDDY DYER

KEN ROBINSON

Chair Emeritus, UCF Board of Trustees

UCF Trustee Emeritus, UCF Parent

Emeritus Director, UCF Foundation, UCF Parent

Chair, UCF Alumni Board

President, Valencia College West Campus

Mayor, City of Orlando

President and CEO, Dr. Phillips Inc.

CRISTINA BARRETO

Vice President, UCF Student Government Association

Replacing President Hitt is an enormous responsibility. I’ve been very pleased with the progress we’ve made so far, especially with how well the committee has listened to the voices of students, faculty, alumni and all of those connected to UCF. CRISTINA BARRETO

SEARCH COMMITTEE MEMBER

We have to do this the right way.

With integrity, with openness, with inclusivity. You will hear these themes again and again through the search.

DAVID WALSH

SEARCH CHAIRMAN

VISIT THE SEARCH SITE

Keep up on the latest at ucf.edu/leadership/presidential-search.

Find more @

ucf.edu/today

The Feed @UCF

@University of Central Florida

Michael Lopardi @MLopardiWFTV

This before and after picture from @UCF shows how the main campus has changed during Hitt’s time as president. #WFTV

HITT EDITION

We shared on social media that John C. Hitt was retiring from the presidency, and you all had some lovely comments. Here are some of our favorites.

share YOUR story

Grayce @graycelily

Good chance you’ll still catch him at Knightro’s just as often

The next issue of Pegasus will be a special tribute to President Hitt.

If you have stories about President Hitt that you’d like to share for possible inclusion in the issue, please send them to pegasus@ucf.edu.

Kelsey Moscater @kmoscater

Real-life Dumbledore.

Thanks for all you’ve done, Dr. Hitt!

WHAT’S TRENDING ON...

TWITTER Kristina Says @ktinasays President Hitt has led @UCF for nearly my entire life.

Thank you for making me proud to be a Knight.

WUCF TV @WUCFTV Thank you President Hitt for your support of @PBS for all of Central Florida. We literally wouldn’t be here without you! #ThankYou Robert /\ronoff @2letters2words I was in Dr. Hitt’s first graduating class. I am so grateful for what he’s done for us.

Austin Bowlin @AustinIsBowlin I’m not ready for this Matt Kommer @MattKommer There are countless reasons to say thank you to Dr. Hitt for his impact on this university and community. For me, I’ll always love the importance put on first-generation students. Thank you Dr. Hitt & Martha for an impact that will last for generations to come! #ChargeOn Justin @jpooj17 I’d go out and say Pres. Hitt possibly did more for @UCF than any college president has ever done for their university. Love you P.Hitty

FACEBOOK Erik Range Wow this is huge. I am thankful for his leadership and direction. When I applied as a high school student, UCF was not even on the radar of most Florida high school graduates. Now it’s one of the largest universities in the country.

When I first enrolled as a freshman, I can remember the ice cream socials President Hitt sponsored in the admin building. He personally served me two scoops of vanilla.

When I graduated with my bachelor’s degree, our football program still played home games off campus.

Now it is a football school with tons of pride and a football team that is blowing the socks off its opponents.

When I returned to UCF as an employee, I learned even more from this great university about developing outcomes and using data to improve them. It was a part of the culture of the university regardless of your role.

Undoubtedly this came from the top!

I have enjoyed every phase of my life that took place on this campus under President Hitt’s leadership. I am eternally grateful to call myself a KNIGHT!

Orchid Knight No!!!! We love you President Hitt! I am now an adjunct at two schools and they can’t hold a candle to you or what you have done for UCF. My mother STILL talks about your commencement speech the first time I graduated. I hope you enjoy retirement and come back often.

Mark Cooper I had the honor of meeting Dr. Hitt while working part time at a golf course as a caddie for Dr. Hitt early in his career as president. From the day I met him, he treated me with respect and seemed genuinely interested in my pursuits at UCF. I graduated in ’96 and watched Dr. Hitt help grow UCF into what it is today. I’m proud to have been a part of that history and proud to have known Dr. Hitt. Thank you for everything, Dr. Hitt. Enjoy your retirement!

Angela Daugherty The rise of the University of Central Florida has been amazing to witness. Thank you, Dr. Hitt.

We Knights owe you a great deal, and I am grateful. Go Knights!

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MAKE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY A PRIORITY When facing major deadlines and overwhelming to-do lists, exercise is often one of the first activities we choose to skip. The most important strategy to reduce stress, however, is to make exercise a consistent, integrated habit in your life, not just an activity you do from time to time. To maximize exercise’s ability to reduce stress, Taylor recommends burning at least 600 calories a day through physical activity.

1

10,000 how

steps a day

can save your RELATIONSHIP

(And How to Get Started Today)

BY NICOLE DUDENHOEFER ’17

S

tress at work can not only interfere with your performance on the job, but also at home, straining relationships with your family.

“Research shows employees who are mistreated at work are likely to engage in similar behaviors at home,” says UCF Associate Professor of Management Shannon Taylor, who teamed up with researchers from Illinois and Wisconsin universities for a recent study. “If [employees have] been belittled or insulted by a supervisor, they tend to vent their frustration on members of their household. Our study shows that happens because they’re too tired to regulate their behavior.”

While it can be difficult to control your boss’s behavior, the study found that walking more than 10,000 steps a day or swimming for an hour can help you leave stress behind — rather than take it out on your family.

Here’s how: Exercise reduces stress and improves

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physiological health by triggering antidepressant hormones and increasing endorphin secretion, Taylor says. These bodily changes cause elevated moods and help to reduce negative thoughts, which can help you have more positive experiences at work and home.

Exercise also considerably reduces sleep difficulties, as the study results showed that people who engage in 150 minutes of physical activity on a weekly basis can improve their sleep quality by 65 percent.

“The findings are particularly compelling given recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and the American Heart Association to walk between 8,000 and 10,000 steps per day,” Taylor says. “I also think the study gives us a new perspective on the importance of getting an adequate amount of sleep and exercise. It’s not just good for you, it’s good for your spouse too.”

Based on his findings, we asked Taylor for five tips to make exercise part of your daily routine.

Research shows employees who are mistreated at work are likely to engage in similar behaviors at home.

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“OUR WORKLOADS MIGHT BE REALLY HEAVY SOMETIMES, BUT EXERCISE CAN IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF OUR LIFE AND EXTEND OUR LIFE SPANS.”

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BROADEN YOUR CONCEPT OF EXERCISE Exercise doesn’t necessarily mean going to the gym and running on the treadmill or lifting weights. Any activity that requires physical effort can make a difference in improving your health and reducing stress. Some household chores, like cleaning or putting away groceries, require the same amount of effort as moderate-intensity exercise.

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO RUN A MARATHON

TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES LIKE GARDENING, PUSHING A LAWNMOWER OR FISHING ALL COUNT.”

3

EXPERIMENT WITH NEW EXERCISES Whether you’re new to working out or have been doing it for years, there’s a big benefit to trying new forms of exercise. Experimenting with workouts helps keep you interested and active.

“OVERALL, IF YOU’RE JUST KIND OF FEELING BLAH,

IF YOU’RE NOT FEELING LIKE WORKING OUT TODAY OR THIS WEEK, TRY SOMETHING ELSE.”

4

ENLIST OTHERS FOR COLLABORATIVE WORKOUTS Having a workout partner helps in boosting performance, motivation and commitment to exercise. However, you should choose activities that require you to work with others, rather than competing against or comparing your performance against theirs.

“WE’RE FAR MORE LIKELY TO STICK WITH AN EXERCISE REGIMEN WHEN OTHER PEOPLE DEPEND ON OUR PARTICIPATION.”

5

ENJOY YOUR ACTIVITY When using exercise to reduce stress, it’s important to choose activities that you enjoy. However you choose to get active, it should be an outlet, not an obligation.

“JUST DO WHATEVER YOU’LL ACTUALLY DO

BECAUSE LOTS OF RESEARCH ON MOTIVATION SHOWS THAT WE’RE MORE LIKELY TO STICK WITH THINGS WHEN WE FIND THEM ENJOYABLE.”

Artifact

Capping off four years with creativity.

BY BREE ADAMSON ’04 Campus is abuzz with art these days, from statues and stained glass to impressive murals. But one form of artistic expression has gained popularity in recent years, going from rebel status to handcrafted sentiment and making an appearance each spring, summer and fall.

Graduation caps, or mortarboards as they’re formally called, are part of every UCF student’s commencement attire.

And with ample space on top, the caps provide the perfect canvas for proud students to make a decorated declaration on their big day.

“It gives students a last chance to express themselves, a last statement before moving on,” says Melissa Westbrook ’14 ’16MNM ’16MPA, who decorated graduation caps for more than 100 students through Caps for a Cause. Westbrook founded the organization and donated each $10 crafting fee to Feeding

Children Everywhere, a nonprofit that provides healthy meals to people in need.

Westbrook estimates the number of decorated caps at graduation has quadrupled since she started designing them in Fall 2013. “Once people started seeing photos of caps online, it caught on like wildfire,” she says. And the designs run the gamut from motivational and movie quotes to humor and favorite hobbies. “[Decorated caps] show the creativity of students, and it’s another way for them to show gratitude — to their mom and dad, their grandma, their mentors.”

These days Westbrook is semiretired from decorating caps. Fortunately, other groups and entrepreneurial students have sprung up to help less crafty students create memorable grad caps.

For upcoming graduates, Westbrook offers the following advice: 1

Make your message clear and concise.

2

Have a maximum of three different components.

3

4

Don’t break the bank.

You can craft a great cap for less than $20.

Plan your idea in advance and shop sales ahead of time, not the week of graduation.

To view a photo gallery of UCF’s grad caps, visit ucf.edu/pegasus. To view Westbrook’s gallery of decorated caps, visit instagram.com/ capsforacause.

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and more automation. Overall, employment in the coal industry has been declining since the ’50s.

This means that even if coal production spikes, it’s not going to directly translate into a lot of jobs.

Coal alone simply can’t replace what we’ve lost in terms of jobs.”

BROADBAND FOR THE PEOPLE

A UCF alum is helping eastern Kentucky find the light at the end of the tunnel.

BY LAURA J. COLE

D

eep in the heart of Appalachian coal country, nestled among the mountains, you’ll find Pikeville, Kentucky. Population: 7,000.

Located in the part of Kentucky that looks like it’s driving a wedge between Virginia and West Virginia, Pikeville named itself “The City That Moves Mountains,” because in the 1980s, the town completed one of the largest civil engineering projects in the Western Hemisphere by rerouting a river to stop it from flooding the town.

“These are very determined people,” says resident Kevin Loux ’10, “people who work hard and are determined to get things done — like moving a river.”

Loux, who earned an economics degree from UCF, cites this as an example of the character of the people who live here. These are the people who produced more coal than any other county in Kentucky.

The people of Pike County, of which Pikeville is the center, produced 1.6 billion tons of coal between 1889 and 2015. Take into consideration that Kentucky, of which Pike County is but the smallest fraction, once produced more coal than any other state in the nation. And that coal was used to fuel cities across the Midwest such as Chicago, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

Also take into consideration that coal mining, especially underground coal mining, is one of the most dangerous and physically challenging jobs on the planet.

Despite the danger, in the heyday of coal employment in the late 1940s, coal jobs employed 18 percent of Pike County’s population. In 2017, that number was closer to 1 percent. That’s a drastic change in employment and economic opportunities for a town that’s nearly 90 minutes away from the nearest interstate.

“If you look at the Appalachian Regional Commission’s map for all the Appalachian counties in the United

States, eastern Kentucky’s referred to as the red dot, and it has been that way since the 1960s,” Loux says. “It’s one of the most economically distressed regions in the country.”

As the director of strategic partnerships for Shaping Our Appalachian Region, a bipartisan initiative formed in 2013 to create jobs and spur innovation in the region, Loux is working to fix that.

We asked him whether coal production and employment would ever recover and how eastern Kentucky can redefine itself for the modern era.

PUTTING COAL MINERS BACK TO WORK “If you look at the historical timeline of the coal industry, you’ll see that peak production doesn’t actually correlate with peak employment. The peak for coal production was much later — after they modernized the industry and had more technology

“IT’S ONE OF THE MOST ECONOMICALLY DISTRESSED REGIONS IN THE COUNTRY.” 20

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“We are in the center of a region that doesn’t have an interstate. If you look at the development of the highway system in the ’50s and the ’60s, the highway infrastructure enabled all sorts of interstate commerce and economic activity, but we were left out. We were instead left with efforts like the war on poverty that failed to address the root cause of the problem.

Broadband has the potential to do for job creation in this century what highways and railways did for the last century. That’s why we’re taking such a fervent approach on broadband. If we don’t do this, we’ll be in the same situation 60 years from now.”

A FOCUS ON PUBLIC HEALTH “In addition to high-levels of unemployment, Appalachian Kentucky is also one of the poorest health regions in the nation. We have a partnership with the Centers for Disease Control, and they have placed two officials in our office, working specifically on obesity, diabetes and substance abuse. This partnership is what enabled us to host the first health Hackathon in the region, provide treatment and employment opportunities for recovering addicts, and host numerous events to engage stakeholders in creative problemsolving efforts.”

EDUCATION TAILORED FOR CAREER PATHS “We’ve worked with our local workforce innovation board and others in the region to tailor education so that it directly leads to a career. By working with private companies and educators, we trained students for specific jobs. One of the respondents of our workforce study said, ‘If there’s a job at the end of the tunnel, there isn’t much I wouldn’t go through to get it.’ ”

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Opinion THE NEW WAR ON DRUGS UCF is preparing its future doctors by changing their approach to pain management.

BY NICOLE DUDENHOEFER ’17

ILLUSTRATION BY MATT CHASE

President Trump declared the opioid crisis a national public health emergency last year, and UCF is tackling the issue where many believe it originates — doctors’ offices.

Between 1999 and 2016, prescriptions for opioids quadrupled and opioid-related deaths were five times higher, resulting in approximately 75 percent of drug-related deaths in the United States. In Florida, opioid-related deaths increased 35 percent in 2016.

That same year, an average of 115 Americans died each day from an opioid overdose; 15 of them in Florida.

One of the largest factors contributing to the opioid epidemic is a lack of addiction education among doctors, often resulting in the overprescription of opioids. For patients seeking a cheaper alternative, this can lead to heroin usage. To help combat opioid addiction, UCF is educating medical students using a new curriculum that focuses on stemming the tide of opioid misuse.

Assistant dean of medical education Martin Klapheke, a psychiatrist who has helped lead the effort, explains how UCF is addressing the opioid epidemic.

Nicole Dudenhoefer: Why did UCF’s medical school decide to add new curriculum that focuses on opioid use and pain management to its program?

Martin Klapheke: In 2016, UCF’s College of Medicine was one of 60 medical schools in the nation to sign a pledge from the White House, and the only school in Florida. This pledge formally committed UCF to implementing newly released Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines on opioid prescriptions into its curriculum.

ND: What are the new guidelines released by the CDC? MK: In a review, the CDC found insufficient evidence to determine if opioids provide sustained pain relief beyond short-term use.

There is now a shift to using exercise and other nondrug therapies that focus on changing thinking or behavioral patterns to decrease chronic pain. Non-opioid medications like aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and selected anti-seizure and antidepressants are also effective.

ND: What new methods are being used to teach medical students about opioid use?

MK: In a joint teaching practice with the psychiatry and family medicine departments, students work in small groups to treat a patient who evolves from acute to chronic pain.

The students learn to incorporate risk-management strategies when their multidisciplinary treatment plans involve opioid prescriptions.

As the case evolves and develops complications, students create a plan for addressing these problems, such as providing referrals for treatment programs for substance abuse.

An interactive module focused on the newest clinical guidelines is also used. The assignment focuses on how medical providers can educate patients, families and caregivers about using recently approved FDA formulations of naloxone, a medication used to reverse acute opioid overdose, helping to save lives. Naloxone is now more readily available in most states, including Florida, and may become available in public areas, similar to automated external defibrillators, which are used to stop sudden medical cardiac arrest.

ND: How are students being taught to recognize signs of addiction in patients?

MK: Students learn to use formal diagnostic criteria for opioid use disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. These criteria include a pattern of problematic use with significant impairment, frequent use in larger amounts than intended, recurrent use resulting in a failure to fulfill major role obligations, and continued use despite persistent social or interpersonal problems.

Students are also taught to look for factors that increase risk for opioid overdose, including a prior history of nonfatal overdose, a history of substance use disorder, usage of higher opioid dosages, and concurrent use of benzodiazepines, such as Xanax and Valium, or other sedating medications.

ND: What are students being taught to help reduce the risk of addiction in patients?

MK: Determining when it is appropriate to use opioids and using strategies like prescribing the lowest effective dose, limiting the quantity dispensed and reviewing the patient’s history of prescription drug use can reduce addiction risk.

For patients with a high risk of overdose, it can be helpful for doctors to offer naloxone and provide instructions on its use for resuscitation of patients in life-threatening opioid emergencies.

Periodic urine drug tests can also be used to make sure patients are taking their medication as prescribed and to check for any other substance use.

If a patient does develop a substance abuse disorder, their doctor should engage them in evidence-based treatment options.

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Inside the team that went from zero wins to National Champions.

F

BY ERIC MICHAEL ’96

ng from worst to first For the Knights, 2017 represented a triumph of reinvention. Risi ons, the team banded through a gamut of new coaches, a new system and new expectati 2015 to achieve a perfect together to ascend from the depths of a disastrous 0-12 season in g to seniors, the record in a remarkable two years. But it wasn’t a miracle. Accordin brotherhood – incredible transformation was the result of hard work, belief and to show ’em.” plus a dose of redemption. If you ask them, 2017 was “our chance

Looking up from the bottom

“I hate remembering the 0-12 season, but it was a learning experience. We just had to keep on going. It helped all of us who were on that team that season. We know how it felt to lose every game. It was a big factor in winning every game this season.” — Tony Guerad “When I came in as a freshman [in 2014], everyone looked after each other. The veterans taught the rookies. [The 2015 season] was different. A lot of us had to step up and fill big shoes to keep the UCF legacy going.” — Jordan Akins “[The 2015 season] was heartbreaking. I remember after every game it was like a little bit of you died because you worked hard all week to prepare, and it just fell apart in front of you. It was embarrassing and frustrating. ...

It just was the perfect storm that year.”

— Aaron Evans

Rebuilding a program

“During the coach hiring process [in late 2015], they actually got a group of team leaders together and the new athletic director, Danny White, came in and asked us, ‘What are you looking for in a coach?’ He showed us all the coaching recruits and we said what we liked and disliked about each one.”

— Jordan Franks “Learning a new system was a little frustrating at first, but then that stuff started clicking because the coaches created an environment of consistency. It was night and day from the year before. I really think that’s when the turning point was — when things started to come together.”

— Evans “When [Coach Scott] Frost came in, it was pretty much a clean slate. Whatever problems you had last season, they were over. You knew it was time to make new changes for the good.” — Seyvon Lowry

Building a brotherhood

“Losing every game in 2015 brought us closer together. We didn’t want to go through that again, so we came together stronger and did more things with each other. We went bowling, we ate together, and we did little things that really mattered. It definitely increased our relationships with younger players. We tried to teach them how to build character by being leaders and setting great examples.

Doing it the UCF way, man. Rising and conquering in everything that you do — classroom, family, on the field, and getting that extra work in.”

— Akins “This unit of offensive linemen was the first group of guys that I genuinely cared about in my entire football career since I was 7 years old. I call them up to hang out.

Before I wouldn’t do that, but now these guys I declare as my brothers.

It makes your job a lot easier because you trust one another. You respect one another, and you know that the guy to your left and the guy to your right have your best interest at heart. You know that he’s going to give 100 percent of himself to the mission, and he knows that I’m going to do the same for him.” — Evans “For a football team, you have to have a sense of brotherhood. You have to understand that everybody’s different, but you have to make them understand the same objective. And that’s what brings you closer. ...

You’re playing for your team, not just for yourself. ...

To me, that’s the best feeling about the whole thing, win or lose.” — Franks “We got so much closer as a team over the past two years, compared to the 0-12 season when it seemed like no one really clicked well and we didn’t do things together. I feel like it’s the tightest group I’ve been a part of in a long time.

And we played like it.” — Lowry “We’re a brotherhood. That bond, that’s something strong.

Nobody can take that away from us. We all love each other.

When we’re out on that field, it’s just us.” — Guerad

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, “LET S SHOCK THE WORLD.” Jordan Akins

P EGASUS

“All men b That walseed. my mind set.”

Aaron E vans

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Putting it all together

KING’S

COURT

#88 Jordan Akins ’17 Position: Tight end Hometown: Atlanta Degree: Human communication

#66 Aaron Evans ’16 Position: Offensive lineman Hometown: Seffner, Florida Degree: Management

“We really wanted to shock the world, man. Before the season, I told the media that we can go undefeated if we stay focused and everyone buys into this process. By the end of the season, we were undefeated. ... I guess we had to go out and have a season like we had just to earn respect.”

— Akins “We wanted to prove that we deserved to be recognized, especially in our conference and in the nation. Then we started winning — boom, boom, boom. We were the top offense in the nation, and we weren’t getting recognized in the top 25 polls. Coach Frost just kept telling us, ‘Don’t worry about it. It’s gonna work out for you.’ So we kept on grinding with the underdog mentality the whole season.”

— Franks “We all had the same goal. We wanted it so bad that we could taste it. We dreamed it. We brought it to every process. We woke up every morning focused absolutely on football. We breathed football, we slept it and we studied our film. We did everything we had to do to be successful.

Once we got on the field, there was no doubt in our minds that we could beat anyone.” — Akins “Adversity is what tests a team, so when we won games that had adversity, I knew we had something special.

I knew that we’d grown as leaders and as a team because we wouldn’t have been able to do that the year before.”

— Evans

#93 Tony Guerad ’17 Position: Defensive lineman Hometown: Tampa, Florida Degree: Interdisciplinary studies

#49 Seyvon Lowry ’17 Position: Defensive lineman Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida Degree: Interdisciplinary studies

Finishing the season strong versus Memphis

“We beat [Memphis] once, we could do it again. I knew that it wouldn’t be easy the second time. They had a really great season after us. I just remember thinking, ‘If we just come together and play as a team, we’ll have success.’

Honestly that’s what we did, and that game was very intense.” — Evans “That game was so crazy. We just had to stick it out and grind. Tre Neal came up with that big interception at the end. I was really happy for him. That was a big moment for him.” — Guerad

Taking the national stage at the Peach Bowl

“You step on that field, and the adrenaline just starts to rush. We could hear the fans roaring. We felt the energy.

It was with us the whole time. They supported us to the max. It was just a whole different mentality. I absolutely felt like I was playing in the NFL.” — Akins “I was really happy to be in Atlanta. They took good care of us. They fed us everywhere we went. The College Football Hall of Fame was probably one of my favorite parts. I liked learning the history behind it all.” — Guerad

“There’s usually more on the line when we play South Florida. There is something about that game that just gets people riled up.” — Lowry

“All men bleed. That was my mindset. Obviously, there was a little bit of intimidation. I think it would have been stupid to not acknowledge the hype. But when we started really breaking down their film, we realized they’re just players like us. They make as many technical errors as we do. They get tired. They’re big lumbering guys, but they don’t have the speed to keep up. As the weeks progressed, we started building this quiet confidence.

And when we finally interacted with them, we were like, ‘OK, we got this.’ ” — Evans

“The USF game was absolutely crazy. Looking up in the crowd, the light from the cell phones and the energy just was wild. It definitely made you play harder. And when you made a play, you felt like you were on top of the world.” — Akins

“That was a big stadium and most of it was full of UCF fans. I think my favorite part was when people turned the lights on their phones and waved them around. There were flashes of light all around the stadium. It was a beautiful sight.” — Lowry

“This season was the most fun I’ve ever had on the football field. We knew what we were going to do. We were wellprepared, and we loved to play the game. We’d play fast, play strong, and we’d execute. And we always came out on top.”— Akins #15 Jordan Franks Position: Tight end Hometown: Wakulla, Florida Degree: Integrated business

“One moment I remember I just looked up in the stands and thought, ‘This is crazy.’ I was just blessed and thanking God that I was there. The fans were going crazy. Without them, I don’t know what would have happened because they were a big part of that win too.” — Guerad

Winning rivalry week versus USF

“It was so loud at the USF game. I remember just taking a lot of mental snapshots of that moment. What a cool experience.”

— Evans

“We feed off the energy of the fans. And we need them.”

Tony Guerad

Celebrating Knight Nation

“Fan support is vital. It lights a fire under us when we see a full stadium. I think the men play for themselves, but at the same time they play for the fans.

It’s really just great to see when you have a good turnout, and your hard work is getting acknowledged by the fan base.” — Evans “We feed off the energy of the fans, and we need them. Without them, we aren’t going to play as well. I would tell the fans that next year they should go to every game because UCF is going to be great again.

We have some young players that really stepped up this year. They’re only gonna do more damage next year.” — Guerad

“It was surreal, and an honor – just awesome.”

— Aaron Evans

Completing the circle

“I remember at the Walt Disney World parade looking at some of the guys who had been around for all of this and thinking, ‘This is wild. We went full circle.’ We went to the peak, down into the lowest valley and back to the highest peak again. It was surreal, and an honor — just awesome.” — Evans “Every team’s going to have their downfalls, but UCF is making a 360-degree turnaround. We’re going to bring multiple championships to this university. Our young kids are definitely going to carry on this legacy. Support them, no matter what. Buy some tickets. Come to the games.

We would love for every game at the Bounce House to be like it was at the Peach Bowl.” — Akins “The spirit of this season will continue. It’s going to be different, but I think this great new coaching staff is up to the task, honestly. I’ve already heard good reviews from the guys, so I’m excited about it.” — Evans

“It’s going to be very weird because I’ve never been able to actually sit down and watch as a fan. I’m going to want to put on the pads so bad to help the team win. I don’t feel like a fan yet, I still feel like part of the team.” — Lowry “I tell the underclassmen to just keep grinding. Keep doing what we’ve been doing. Everybody’s got to stick together.

Even when it feels like it’s about to fall apart, trust the process. They’ve got some good coaches coming in. I met with coach Heupel, and he was really cool. He told the older guys, ‘This is home for y’all. Come back whenever you want.’ They’ve got some good coaches coming in so they’re gonna be good this year again. ... It’s gonna be really exciting because I’m gonna be on the sideline rooting for UCF.” — Guerad

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through understanding Diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder as a toddler, medical student Jessica Fernandez is proving that healing others is about more than science — it’s about empathy and compassion.

BY SUHT WONG

G

owned and gloved, Jessica Fernandez leans closer to inspect the cadaver lying on the stainless steel table inside the College of Medicine’s anatomy lab. She, along with five other medical students, has been assigned to diagnose the cause of death and is given no additional information to go by other than the age and occupation of the person.

From a distance, she looks like any other medical student, inquisitive but a bit apprehensive about interacting with the cadaver, her first “patient,” as she inspects the muscles, liver and lungs for telltale signs. She nudges her glasses back into place with the back of her hand, trying not to touch her face with the dissection gloves.

Look closer, and you’ll notice the stool Fernandez is standing on in order to reach over the cadaver. You might also notice the way her blue scrubs nearly overwhelm her tiny frame.

That scene took place nearly four years ago, during Fernandez’s first semester in medical school. Today, as she prepares to graduate in May and enter a residency program, Fernandez has continued to defy critics who questioned whether she could keep up with the rigors of intensive study and the grueling clinical hours of hospital rotations.

“I’m small, but I think I’m big,” she says. “So I act like it.”

AT 3, FERNANDEZ WAS DIAGNOSED WITH SPONDYLOEPIPHYSEAL DYSPLASIA,

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PHOTOS BY DOUG SCALETTA

a rare genetic disorder that affects bone growth, specifically at the ends of bones and in the spine, resulting in smaller-than-average stature.

At 27, Fernandez stands 4 feet 2 inches tall, her size and youthful face making her appear much younger than her age. And even though her disability may be obvious to others, she never lets it define her. And she certainly isn’t letting it stop her from achieving her lifelong dream of becoming a physician.

While becoming a doctor is a dream of many children, few achieve it. Fewer still are the number of people with disabilities who become physicians. Approximately 57 million Americans — nearly 20 percent — have a disability of some kind, but only around 2 percent of practicing doctors do. And that’s including physicians who developed disabilities after graduating from medical school. A recent study by UC San Francisco and Johns Hopkins found that 2.7 percent of medical students have a disability, ranging from physical to psychological, though previous estimates were closer to 0.3 to 0.6 percent. According to a recent article in Slate, “this makes them one of the most underrepresented groups in American higher education.”

This means that there are more people living with disabilities than physicians who understand their bodies and their lives. Unlike Fernandez, most doctors are less likely to meet a 9-year-old girl with spina bifida, as she did during one clinical rotation, and see themselves in the patient they are treating.

“I know what it feels like to be exposed and nervous on the cold examination table,” she says. “I have been on the other side of the X-ray machine, on the inside of the MRI machine. I want to use my abilities, knowledge and expertise to find creative ways to make my patients’ lives as independent and comfortable as possible.”

Medical school is known for being intellectually rigorous, but when hip and back pain make walking difficult, as it does for Fernandez, it can also make the physical act of navigating hospitals and patient rooms more challenging.

While other students may be able to breeze into a hospital without any extra thought, Fernandez uses an electric wheelchair to help navigate the long hallways, so before she enters a facility Fernandez researches the building layout, the best areas to park, the locations of the elevators and the fastest routes from one ward to another. She prefers not to let her instructors know in advance that she has any physical challenges.

“I once met someone who told me that the only true disability is having a bad attitude,” she says. “And that made me think, you know, if you have a good attitude about everything, you can conquer whatever you set your mind to.”

FERNANDEZ WAS BORN IN VENEZUELA AND RAISED BY A MOTHER

who was a pharmacologist and microbiologist and a father who was an engineer. Her parents understand her physical hardships and have had to make difficult decisions to provide her the best life possible.

“The doctors told me when she was 8 months old that she wasn’t growing well for her age,” says her mother, Maria Luisa de Curtis Fernandez. When Fernandez turned 3, doctors advised her family to take her to see a specialist at Boston Children’s Hospital.

“The diagnosis was not so good,” says de Curtis Fernandez. “They knew exactly what she had. The doctor told us to get regular follow-ups with specialists.”

Jessica Fernandez sits with her mother, Maria Luisa de Curtis Fernandez. Fernandez credits her mother and family with giving her the strength to achieve her dream of becoming a doctor.

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Being able-bodied doesn’t necessarily make you a better doctor.”

After many trips to Boston and knowing that their daughter’s best medical care and chance for a future lay overseas, her parents decided to immigrate to Florida when she was 13. They had family living near Ocala, so they settled there, leaving her two older siblings in Venezuela.

Looking back, Fernandez describes her childhood as normal and happy, full of trips to the movies and the mall, days spent at the beach and nights having sleepovers with friends. She describes her teenage self as “small and mighty,” which helped her win the acceptance and respect of her schoolmates.

“I was blessed that I always seemed to connect quickly with people,” says Fernandez, who often had to explain her condition when people asked questions. “I am lucky that I was never bullied or anything like that. I know people wonder about that.”

Fernandez went on to earn a biology degree from the University of Tampa before entering medical school at UCF in 2014.

“HOW’VE YOU BEEN?” FERNANDEZ ASKS AS SHE HUGS CLASSMATES.

The third-year medical students are meeting for a workshop at the Lake Nona campus after spending most of the semester in clerkships at area hospitals. As students share stories of their clinical experiences and catch up,

P EGASUS

LAST SPRING, AS FERNANDEZ ARRIVED AT THE ICAHN SCHOOL OF

Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, she clutched a file of notes in one hand and hung onto her mother’s arm with the other. She had been invited to speak at the Coalition for Disability Access in Health Science and Medical Education Symposium, a national conference focused on encouraging medical schools to be more accepting of students with disabilities.

There, in front of an audience of scholars, national advocates and medical educators, Fernandez shared a message of ability, not disability. “Being able-bodied doesn’t necessarily make you a better doctor,” she said. “Empathy and compassion are just as important as science.”

She said her life experience brings something unique to her patients, and medical schools should embrace enrolling students with disabilities to better serve patients.

“I can see it in my patients’ eyes when they talk to me, when they are able to relate, when they have someone who has gone through similar experiences listen to them and truly care about making their lives better,” Fernandez told the audience.

Fernandez never set out to become an advocate for people with disabilities in medicine. It’s a role she took on by default, acknowledging that patients and physicians can be skeptical when they first meet her.

“People sometimes fear what they don’t understand, so when you sit with them and you explain to them what they’re wondering, and when they see your openness to answer those questions, you just break that barrier right then and there,” she says.

DURING HER WHITE COAT CEREMONY, HER OFFICIAL INDUCTION

into medical school, Fernandez recalls beaming as her name was called and she walked across the stage. She carefully descended the steps and took her seat with 119 other medical students in the Class of 2018, becoming lost in a sea of white coats.

“I came to UCF because I thought it would be a place where it wouldn’t mold me into being something I am not,” she says, “where I could become great at whatever I was truly passionate about.”

After the ceremony, while other classmates celebrated with cheers, hugs and handshakes, Fernandez hung back. She preferred to share the moment quietly with her family, especially her mother.

PHOTO BY SUHT WONG

Fernandez asks each of them about their parents, siblings, significant others — even their pets. She remembers them all.

“If it’s important to them, then it’s important to me,” she says.

As she walks down the hallway, flanked by peers who stand more than head and shoulders above her, it’s easy to wonder if her wide smile and upbeat personality will be fleeting, but as Fernandez runs into more friends and faculty, her energy and smile never fade.

Her warmth and thoughtfulness do not go unnoticed by her peers or professors. Classmates honored her with a College of Medicine Humanitarian Award last spring for her compassion. She was also voted the person other medical students would want to have care for a loved one. In a program that emphasizes that kind of attention and care before the first class even starts, that’s a huge commendation.

“Empathy is something you can’t teach,” says fellow medical student Lea Meir. Meir and Fernandez met during their first class and have become best friends over the course of the program, cramming for exams poolside. “I see her go out of her way, reaching out to her peers even while she is in great pain.

It’s something as simple as listening to others complain about grades and work stress. Sometimes it’s much deeper, like a family situation.”

It’s not as though Fernandez doesn’t have personal issues to worry about. Last summer, while her classmates were on break, she traveled to Delaware with her mother to undergo a painful surgery to stabilize her cervical spine. It required several weeks of recovery, during which she studied for her board exams from home.

Fernandez admits that it took her “a really long time to accept my own disability. But as the years have gone by, and now with the incredible patients that I’ve come across, I’ve really come to terms with who I am. My journey has been pretty hard.”

She credits that journey and her experiences as a patient with making her more determined to help others, especially those with bone and spine problems.

Dean Deborah German presents Fernandez with her white coat.

Why would I want to fit in when I was born to stand out?”

De Curtis Fernandez has played a strong role in Fernandez’s journey to become a physician, and their bond is unwavering. They laugh together like best friends, and Fernandez slips back and forth easily between English and Spanish as they chat. And while de Curtis Fernandez knows her daughter is ready to thrive on her own, she still reminds Fernandez to wear a coat on chilly days.

“She has grown enough wings to go by herself now,” de Curtis Fernandez says. “That makes me very, very proud.”

After Fernandez graduates from UCF, she hopes to specialize in physical medicine and rehabilitation. She spent the last few months interviewing at hospitals across the country for residency training. Despite being on the road, she never forgot to call home, relaying the details of her day to her family. Success, she says, is as much theirs as it is hers.

“I simply would not be where I am without them. They have supported me in every single one of my goals — not only supported me but have sacrificed their lives to see me accomplish my dreams.”

For Fernandez, life and accomplishment are all about people — the ones you can help and the ones who help you.

“No matter how hard you think your life is, maintaining perspective is key,” she says. “Why would I want to fit in when I was born to stand out?”

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P EGASUS

What causes someone to sacrifice self for community?

ILLUSTRATIONS BY SKIP STERLING

BY MAUREEN HARMON n August 15, 1984, Güneş Murat Tezcür watched on television as the violence in Turkey grew. That day, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) launched an uprising against the Turkish government. The group, which was established in the late 1970s, had a history of violence, but this was something else. The PKK demanded the establishment of a Kurdish state within and beyond Turkey’s borders. (Kurdistan today occupies parts of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Armenia.) They claimed to fight the perceived oppression of Kurds, the largest minority group in Turkey, whose language, names and culture were banned in 1980 following a militant coup of the Turkish government.

Tezcür, a Kurd who later earned a B.A. in international relations and political science from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, never experienced the violence firsthand.

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His family members never joined the militant groups and were never subjected to violent acts. He had opportunity and education. So, as a teenager, watching events play out behind the safe distance of a screen, says Tezcür, it was easy to view those picking up arms or planning attacks as terrorists. But age and education gave him more perspective.

“If there’s one guy who blows himself up and kills a bunch of people, OK, it’s terrorism. There’s no question about that,” says Tezcür.

“But if [that violence] comes from entire communities being radicalized and pursuing more militant goals, it becomes something different.”

Tezcür eventually headed to the United States, specifically the University of Michigan, where he earned a Ph.D. in political science.

As he worked toward his degree, a question nagged him: What would have happened had he been born in a different part of Turkey — perhaps the southeast, where the violence and oppression were most prevalent?

“Would I have chosen the same route that these people did and become a militant — fight and basically get killed before reaching the age of 25?” Tezcür asks. It is one thing to kill people over politics, he says, but there was a tougher question he couldn’t quite sort out: Why would ordinary people — people who hadn’t been directly affected by violence, people like him — risk their lives for it?

oday Tezcür is the Jalal Talabani Chair of Kurdish Political Studies, one of the first positions of its kind in the U.S., and an associate professor of political science at UCF. He has spent the past decade exploring the answers to such questions. The theories he has studied for why ordinary people join armed movements and risk their own lives were clear-cut. Plenty of scholars have argued that the reason for such actions is selfishness. In other words, the fighter can gain money or social status by acting on behalf of a rebellion. There may be a family history of militantism or a seeking of revenge or justice.

But there was another group of rebel fighters who didn’t fit the mold.

“When you start asking questions like ‘Have you ever been targeted by the state forces? Was there anybody in your family who joined the insurgents? Did you participate in any political events? Were you very poor?’ Once you realize that most of the answers to these questions are negative, then you become more curious, because the classical explanations are not very helpful,” Tezcür says.

These conversations were at the root of Tezcür’s research as he established and published the Kurdish Insurgency Militants Dataset, a document that accounts for the geographic, demographic, historic, socioeconomic and political motivators of more than 8,000 PKK

Why would ordinary people — people who hadn’t been directly affected by violence, people like him — risk their lives for it?

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militants who died between 1984 and 2012, as well as nearly 70 personal interviews with family members of the deceased conducted by Tezcür over the last few years.

One big motivation he found is what’s known as altruistic punishment, punishing a third party at the expense of oneself. He cites Greek mythology as an example, telling the story of Antigone, the sister of Polynices and Eteocles, two brothers who couldn’t agree on sharing power over Thebes and fought in a battle that took both of their lives. The king, Creon, vowed punishment by death should anyone bury or even mourn Polynices. But Antigone, the grieving sister, defied the king’s orders.

“Many individuals whose relatives joined the insurgency and got killed also have moral outrage when security forces do not allow for their proper burial,” Tezcür says. “As a response, they join the insurgents, a behavior that can be characterized as altruistic punishment.”

Violence and death don’t always have to be at the heart of altruistic punishment. In fact, after the financial crisis in 2008, Americans wanted to punish those who received American International Group (AIG) insurance corporation bonuses in 2009. According to James Surowiecki in a March 18, 2009, New Yorker article, the American people were

so outraged at the hefty bonuses amid bank bailouts that they were willing to demand them back for the people, even though such a demand could ultimately cost individual taxpayers. “In other words,” wrote Surowiecki, “people are willing to make themselves worse off … in order to ensure that others don’t get undeserved rewards.”

Tezcür recalls the story of a young Kurdish college student: The woman came from a lower-middle class family and didn’t live near the battle zone. As she headed for college, there was no sign she would join the insurgency. While at school, she developed a collective perception of the Kurdish people, and she identified with it, becoming a Kurdish activist. A few months later she disappeared. She had joined the insurgency and fought for three or four years before she was killed.

“If I’m a Kurdish individual, and I feel that my political identity — not necessarily my personal identity — is under threat, then I am more likely to take risks to fight against these dangers,” Tezcür says. “This means that I am more likely to take arms and fight so that the Kurdish identity can survive.” The student's sacrifice was for the larger cause — the community.

“You are willing to take some personal cost to punish the people who are responsible for the suffering

P EGASUS

of your own people,” Tezcür says.

Think of the protestors and counterprotestors in Charlottesville, Virginia, when white nationalist marchers and the Black Lives Matter protestors collided — a mass of individuals risking their own safety and lives for the larger groups they identified with.

Tezcür’s theory, backed by years of extensive research, is rooted in behavioral economics — the idea that we are not always clear-cut individuals who make rational choices by carefully weighing the pros and cons of our decisions.

Instead, many psychological factors contribute to our choices: subconscious or conscious biases, life circumstances and instant gratification at the cost of long-term goals. Tezcür saw how such factors were in play while interviewing the families of dead insurgents about why their loved ones joined a violent movement that came with a high chance of dying.

It all makes sense from a psychological perspective, says Charles Negy, UCF associate professor of psychology. Even if an individual hasn’t been directly affected by specific circumstances, there are “multiple factors, multiple determinants that would influence someone to join a group that would be inclined to engage in violence for

a cause,” he says. When we identify with a group, we can lose sight of the fact that we are individuals with different life experiences.

Individuals tend to do things when they’re in a group that they might not do if they were alone, such as when the previously nonviolent college student chose to fight the Turkish military.

Collectively identifying with some identity characteristic (such as race or kinship) is not necessarily a bad thing. People could just be proud of where they come from,” says Konstantin Ash, an assistant professor of political science at UCF who grew up in Russia watching the collapse of the Soviet Union, the uprising in the south of Chechnya and an attempted coup.

Ash, who also studies why ordinary people engage in political conflict, interviewed 1,000 people in Kyrgyzstan — both Kyrgyz and Uzbeks — in 2017 for a survey to determine why people spontaneously engage in ethnic riots.

Kyrgyzstan saw plenty of violence after the fall of the Soviet Union, says Ash. The collapse left an immediate imbalance within the mountainous region of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, where no clear boundary had been drawn. Large swaths of ethnic

we are not always clear-cut individuals who make rational choices by carefully weighing the pros and cons of our decisions.

Uzbeks woke up in an ethnically Kyrgyz-majority nation.

Great violence erupted in 2010 with hundreds — largely Uzbeks — killed when young men took up arms, fought for several days against their neighbors, then put down their weapons and went about their lives.

To study the phenomenon, Ash randomly assigned respondents inflammatory stories and saw how they affected their response to the riots — whether or not they felt violence was warranted. “I assign them a story of chauvinistic nationalism, telling them that Kyrgyz or Uzbeks are the only people

responsible for the economic success of the country, for example. Then I ask whether it is acceptable to use violence against somebody in an opposing nation or group.”

Through his study, Ash found that this sort of violence — spontaneous violence with a wide swath of participants — erupts due to exposure to chauvinistic nationalism and insecurity. “If people feel like there’s no higher authority that’s going to protect them or their family, then they’re more likely to say, ‘Well, we need to really defend things,’ or ‘We need to really go and get these people.’ ” Spontaneous and planned violence by ordinary individuals can have a number of motivators, and while it’s tough to deny the role of rumor and propaganda, social identity theory may play another role. As Ash points out, when the Kyrgyz or Uzbeks were fed chauvinistic nationalism, they took their collective identity to another level. “They weren’t just proud, they thought they were better than everybody else,” says Ash. For Tezcür and Ash, group identity is clearly a powerful factor in the political violence we see throughout the world today.

Negy emphasizes the risks involved in such thinking: “It is my own personal and professional opinion — and by the way, for whatever it’s worth, I’m a triple minority: I’m bi-ethnic, I’m bisexual and I’m an atheist — it is my opinion that no one should be so attached or blindly in love with a group identity because you may end up making some bad decisions.”

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AlumKnights

Buzz Worthy Kristin Harris ’11 has the job pop culture nerds dream about.

avorite interview F moment?

BY JENNA MARINA LEE Kristin Harris ’11 was sitting in her New York office at BuzzFeed when the phone rang. “I don’t know where Bill Murray is right now, but I think he’s on the way to your office,” said a publicist.

For weeks, Harris — BuzzFeed’s associate celebrity editor and talent relations coordinator — had been trying to meet with Murray to discuss his new movie, Rock the Kasbah. Frantically, she huddled her team together to brainstorm ideas, and sure enough, 25 minutes later Bill Murray walked alone into the office, ready for whatever Harris’ team threw at him.

“In typical Bill Murray fashion, he was joking about our work environment — how it’s crazy and young and what you’d imagine BuzzFeed would be like. And he asked, ‘Do you guys seriously get paid to do this?’ ” Harris says, “I ask myself that question most days.”

On any given day, you can find Harris, a Lake Mary, Florida, native, interviewing A-listers like Ryan Gosling, Blake Lively, Kate Winslet and Nicole Kidman.

When she was 10 years old, she pictured her career as it is today, and though it’s taken a lot of hustle, persistence and hard work, the advertising and public relations alumna has made it her reality.

“In this world, your imagination is your opportunity,” Harris says.

“Whatever you dream up, you can make happen.”

In this world, your imagination is your opportunity.”

omg

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e t u c

I had the opportunity to host Ed Sheeran’s Divide album launch. I’m a massive Ed Sheeran fan — if I could ever create a dream work scenario, this was quite literally it. I honestly couldn’t believe it was happening and had rarely been more nervous in my entire life. It was such a fun interview, the fans were incredible, and I got to stand a few feet away as he performed “Shape of You” and “Castle on the Hill” acoustically on his guitar. It was one of those moments that I look back on and still can’t wrap my head around.

W ildest interview?

I flew to Hawaii to interview Zac Efron and the cast on the film set of Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. The whole trip lasted about 72 hours. I went paddleboarding during the day, visited the set at night, interviewed the cast at 2 a.m., went to bed at 5 a.m., woke up and got on a flight back to New York.

Those kinds of experiences make this job unreal.

est way to catch B readers’ attention online?

For the pop culture team, we really write for the fans and as fans. I look and see the Taylor Swift album is coming out. Everyone is going to cover it from a news aspect, but I’m a fan, so what would I want to read about the album?

That’s my goal every time I write something: I want the audience to look at this and think they wrote it or that I said what they’re thinking. That’s really when you’re connecting with someone.

LOL avorite pizza F place in New York City?

Rubirosa

ow did UCF help H shape you?

I was really shy growing up. It was really through my experience at UCF — the friendships I made, the professors I met and the opportunities I had — that I grew into the kind of person who could go after her dreams and make them happen.

raziest red carpet C experience?

The craziest part is how unglamorous [red carpets] are in real life. Usually they are pretty straightforward — it goes by in about two hours, and you’re waiting for an interview to happen. One time, we were partnering with Blake Lively’s film The Shallows, and she was going to take over our social media. I was following her around and was standing to the left of the paparazzi. I was being screamed at and almost trampled by the photographers who were trying to get their shot while I was trying to do my job. It was one of those crazy moments where you think, “What is my life? And what is happening?”

Class Notes 1997 Gabe Rhodes was selected to command the Army Reserve 322nd Military Police Detachment in Owings Mills, MD.

1998 Jennifer Nyiri is the owner of Alyce n Maille jewelry.

1999 Lalaine Ortlieb is the primary therapist and addiction counselor at Treasure Coast Recovery Centers.

2000 Jaroslav Kalfař ’11 was awarded a highly competitive National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. The creative writing alumnus has an MFA from New York University and published his first book, Spaceman of Bohemia, in 2017.

1970 Walter E. Secrest retired from the accounting firm Davies, Houser & Secrest, which he co-founded more than 45 years ago.

1972 Gary Bishop retired.

1975 Nelson Coll is district manager at 3M Intelligent Transportation System, following 21 years with Motorola Semiconductors. He is also a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War.

Carol (McPartland) Neilson retired from teaching middle school social studies.

1983 Jerry Hutcheson, a cybersecurity expert, published an article in the Orlando Sentinel about the Equifax breach.

Marcietta (Swilley) Washington retired after 32 years working for NASA, most recently as an engineering manager for human exploration mission operations.

Washington serves as an associate minister at Fort Foote Baptist Church in Washington, MD.

Laura (Owen) Pooser is vice president of major gifts and individual giving at Heart of Florida United Way.

1984

1978

Marguerite Cox ’85MA retired after 26 years as a speech language pathologist in Brevard Public Schools.

Michael Drye was listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2018 in the areas of family law and mediation. His practice is based in Asheville, NC.

1979 William Connolly retired after 37 years supporting human spaceflight at Kennedy Space Center.

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1985 Patrick McNerney was named CEO of USRowing. He served as club coach for the UCF men’s and women’s rowing teams for three years.

David Robertson was promoted to manager of complex care and acute triage at Family Physicians Group.

Beverley Wilks was named School Social Worker of the Year by the Florida Association of School Social Workers.

1990

2002

Rob Calhoun is the voice for Eastern Illinois University’s women’s basketball on WEIU radio and the OVC Digital Network.

Megan McBride ’04MA is a child and family therapist with Adapt Behavioral Services.

1991 Samir Chatterjee ’94PhD received the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman award from the NRI Welfare Society of India.

1994 Donald Gagnon, a professor of English, was named the inaugural recipient of the Provost’s Award for Teaching at Western Connecticut State University.

1995 Shiva Jaganathan ’06MS ’07PhD was named associate vice president for institutional research and analysis at Rice University.

Angelique (Terrill) Smith is director of faculty affairs and development at Full Sail University.

2003 Cheryl (Pope) Hammad retired.

James Rankin ’04MS was promoted to director of residential services and case management at Timber Ridge School, a nonprofit residential treatment center.

2004 Margaret (Haas) Gunderson was named a National Distinguished Principal by the National Association of Elementary School Principals.

Jes Kalb was promoted to regional branch manager for Orlando and Tampa with CSI Companies, a national recruiting firm.

Kara Versage is a co-founder of Salty Mermaid swimwear, which has been featured on The Wendy Williams Show and in Sports Illustrated and Vogue Germany.

P EGASUS

2005 Ryan Boylston is CEO of Woo Creative, an advertising agency that recently won South Florida Business Journal’s Coolest Office Space designation.

Ann Dalrymple is an education and development consultant at Brigance Brigade Foundation in Maryland.

Margaux Kaynard was named HR Leader of the Year by the Society for Human Resource Management Georgia State Council.

Mary (Martin) Colston is associate director of development at Piedmont College.

Narita Raghubir ’17MBA is a point of care specialist at Florida Hospital.

Kara (Stout) Steinberg was named Young Professional Realtor of the Year by the Realtors of the Palm Beaches and Greater Fort Lauderdale.

2007 Hadi Fakhoury was named among America’s Top Next-Generation Wealth Advisors by Forbes. He is a private wealth manager with Merrill Lynch.

Adam Sardinha is a marketing manager at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

2011 Daniel and Samantha (Boada) Rowe ’12 are volunteering in Ghana as part of the Peace Corps.

Katherine Foster is in the hospitality and events industry at East West Resorts in Colorado.

Sarah Waters was promoted to the felony division of the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.

2013 Jamy Barreau earned a J.D. degree and passed The Florida Bar exam.

Anthony King ’17MS was elected to the nominations and elections committee of the American Nurses Association.

Joseph LaRussa earned a J.D. degree and a certificate in intellectual property, media and information law from Brooklyn Law School.

Joanna Silvestri is a multimedia traffic coordinator at Entravision Orlando.

2015 Thomas Bolsega serves as a critical care ICF nurse in support of Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq.

Patrick Younkins is a project and management assistant for the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.

Jamie Gregor is a senior marketing analyst at UCF.

2016

Dillon McColgan is a tort and insurance litigation associate at Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt.

Robin Kranz teaches world history to middle school children as part of Florida Virtual School.

Donatellio Williams earned a J.D. degree.

Ryan Whittington is a benefits consultant at Gallagher, a global insurance brokerage and risk management services firm.

2014

2008

Anna Borgwing is an account associate at the investment management firm Pimco in New York.

Brynn (Batsche) Bolinsky is a history instructor at Lincoln Park Academy in Fort Pierce, FL.

Megan Cole was named Teacher of the Year at Union Park Elementary School.

JaVonte’ Mottley is a lead program expert with the Social Security Administration and was recently promoted to SSA headquarters.

In Memoriam

2017 Asad Ahmad is an accounting analyst at Verizon.

Vince Briones ’95 died on October 16, 2017.

Nicholas Corvino ’13 died on October 10, 2017.

Professor of History Simon Barton died on December 15, 2017.

Retired chemistry professor Christian Clausen III died on January 4, 2018.

Clausen began teaching at UCF in 1969 and was instrumental in developing the first graduate program in the department, the M.S. in industrial chemistry.

William H. Johnson, dean of the College of Education from 1986–92, died on January 27, 2018. Johnson oversaw the growth and transition of the college into a diverse, highly regarded institution dedicated to the preparation of educators.

ALUMNI AUTHORS

2009 Megan (Peck) Shub is a co-producer of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on PBS.

2010 Helga (Brauer) Kerguelen is a real estate agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in New York.

Amanda Hunt passed The Florida Bar exam and specializes in insurance defense litigation.

Paulo Maurin ’98 ’01MA wrote The Hugging Orangutan Chase.

Tyler Fisher ’02 published a translation of Federico Garcia Lorca’s poetry, The Dialogue of Two Snails.

Kristy Belton ’05 wrote Statelessness in the Caribbean: The Paradox of Belonging in a Postnational World.

Esther Clervaud ’10 wrote Heritage Accepted: Dispelling Cultural Stereotypes.

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Weddings & Births 6

Noelle Giannuzzi ’89 married Harold Gayden on October 22, 2017.

15 David Boswell ’08 and Natalie Pearson welcomed Alana Ember on July 16, 2017.

1

Darla (Olive) Talley ’91 ’00MPA and husband Bill welcomed Kathleen Renee on August 29, 2017.

16 Danielle Coulson ’08 and Dylan Perez ’08 welcomed Ben on May 15, 2017.

2

Darren DeLuca ’96 married Alexandra D’Onofrio on June 24, 2017.

17 Victoria Franzese ’08 ’10MA ’17EdD married Steve Nuss on January 14, 2017.

Heather Bloom ’98 welcomed Emma Rose on February 10, 2017.

Lauren Lake ’08 married Chris Stock on June 9, 2017.

3

4 Gregory Kuzma ’98 married Jordan Jacobson on August 26, 2017.

18 Ashley (Harstein-Horst) King ’09 and husband RC welcomed Mackenzie Braelynn on August 3, 2017.

5

Angela Tucker ’00 married Adam Renzi on September 10, 2017.

19 B. Rochele Helmly ’10 married Ryan Luering ’06 on August 19, 2017.

6

Leisa (Murphy) ’02 ’07 and Shaun Barber ’05 ’07 welcomed Hensley Rae on July 11, 2017.

20 Brittny Lebofsky ’10 married Kyle Kirik ’10 on June 11, 2017.

7

Cory Czyzewski ’04 ’06MBA and wife Cassandra welcomed Maddix Lynn on October 27, 2017.

21 Leah Maxwell ’10 ’12MNM married Dan Schriver on March 10, 2017.

8

William Erdmann ’05 married Jordan Carpenter on April 20, 2017.

22 Elizabeth Bybordi ’11 married Joseph Bachynsky on September 10, 2017.

9

Jennifer (Krantz) ’05 and Brandon Wilson ’05 ’07MS welcomed Autumn Juliana on August 9, 2017.

23 Charlotte File ’11 married Geoff Pigen on September 23, 2017.

10 Theresa Roy ’05 and Stephen Koubek welcomed Logan Harper on March 14, 2017.

24 Jennifer (Gibson) ’11 and Kevin Landress ’13 welcomed Eleanor Fay on October 4, 2017.

11 Kate Stout ’05 married Steven Steinberg on June 23, 2017.

25 Pamela Rajadhyax ’11 ’14EdD ’17MEd married Victor Villalba ’10 ’16MBA on June 23, 2017.

12 Amy (Bach) ’06 ’08MSA and Eric Raasch ’05 welcomed Evelyn Paige on July 12, 2017.

26 Tanya Bengali ’12MS ’14DNP married Brendt Montgomery on March 4, 2017.

13 Melissa (Uhing) Mercado ’06 and husband Steve welcomed Logan Scott on June 29, 2017.

27 Sarah (Elifson) ’12 and Alex Fackler ’11 welcomed Olivia Grace on August 9, 2017.

Lauren (Aiken) ’07 ’09MA married Jonathan Kress ’11 on November 5, 2016.

28 Kyra Hearn ’12 married Mathew Wojdyla ’11 on May 27, 2017.

Jason Hulse ’07 married Jessica Bennett on July 1, 2017.

Amanda Puttrich ’12 ’14MSW married Trey Buongiorno ’13 on March 11, 2017.

14 Jeremy Wilcox ’07 ’13MBA and wife Sara welcomed Evan Henson on October 1, 2017.

8

15

19

29 Nichole Riedel ’12 married Daniel Robinson ’10 on July 29, 2017.

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30 Lauren Seligman ’12 married Brandon Ruiz ’09 on May 6, 2017.

31 Madison Bernstein ’13 married Johnny Farley on September 23, 2017.

32 Brian Boelens ’13 and wife Tani welcomed Nathan Bryant on April 13, 2017.

33 Eliana Sarria ’13 married Anthony D’Angelo ’10 on May 13, 2017.

34 Lauren Sylvester ’13 married Aaron Ferguson ’16 on October 22, 2017.

35 Rosalind Alifonso ’14 married Stephen Schmidt on August 12, 2017.

36 Alexis Brewster ’14 married David Larrea ’14 on October 7, 2017.

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37 Alyssa Ostermann ’14 and Chad Fleming welcomed Leighton Jean on February 1, 2017.

38 Lauren Parslow ’14 married Benjamin Page on August 7, 2017.

39 Rebecca Capell ’15 married Ashkan Davanlou on December 18, 2016.

40 Cody Dulaney ’15 married Ryan Shamet ’14 ’17MS on May 27, 2017.

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41 Chelsey Grimes ’15MA married Stephen Sparks on September 30, 2017.

Eve-Lyndssa Mercure ’15 married Christopher Oxley ’16 on September 8, 2017.

Jessica Rea ’15 married Jack Monroe ’16 on October 21, 2017.

42 Chelsea Wallace ’15 married Josh Fraser on July 22, 2017.

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40

Lindsey Condoleo ’16 married Christian Baker on October 21, 2017.

43 Cassandra Milks ’16 and Kristopher Kuhnel welcomed Averie Quinn on January 29, 2017.

44 Yohanna Reis ’16 married Gerald Law II on August 31, 2017.

45 Brianna Terry ’16 married Isaac Cox on October 21, 2017.

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ILLUSTRATION BY DAN LEE

Susan Lilley ’75 ’80MA is a Florida native who was recently appointed Orlando’s inaugural poet laureate. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Gulf Coast, Poet Lore and The Southern Review, among other journals. She is a past winner of the Rita Dove Poetry Award and teaches literature and writing at Trinity Preparatory School.

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