{"id":6571,"date":"2015-03-20T15:25:07","date_gmt":"2015-03-20T15:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/?p=6571"},"modified":"2018-05-08T19:52:53","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T19:52:53","slug":"reliving-fius-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/2015\/03\/20\/reliving-fius-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Reliving FIU\u2019s history"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;ve ever found yourself wondering how FIU\u2019s first buildings got their diverse names, FIU alumna Dr. Diane Spurlock \u201975 has your answer.<\/p>\n<p>Actually, she was directly involved in the process as the chair of a student committee that was established to serve as the official liaison between the FIU administration and the student body.<\/p>\n<p>During her term as chair, members of the committee were commissioned by President Charles E. Perry to name the buildings in a way that would represent FIU\u2019s \u201cinternational\u201d population. As natural leaders, Dr. Spurlock and the committee took this opportunity to make FIU history.<\/p>\n<p>Hoping to represent the international backgrounds of the students, the buildings were then named in five different languages:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Primera Casa<\/em> &#8211; Spanish for \u201cfirst house\u201d<\/li>\n<li><em>Deuxi\u00e8me Maison<\/em> &#8211; French for \u201csecond house\u201d<\/li>\n<li><em>Athenaeum<\/em> (now the Green Library) \u2013 coming from the Greek word \u201cAthenaeum\u201d, which was applied to the buildings in ancient Greece dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom and the arts.<\/li>\n<li><em>Viertes Haus<\/em> &#8211; German for \u201cfourth house\u201d<\/li>\n<li><em>Owa Ehan<\/em> &#8211; Swahili for \u201cfifth house\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Dr. Spurlock\u2019s natural trailblazing spirit always guided her through her academic endeavors. As the first in her family to pursue higher education, she was not only asked to spearhead the first student body committee, but she was also a proud part of FIU\u2019s inaugural class and directly involved in creating the first student body constitution. She was also among the first six students to take part in &#8212; and complete &#8212; a computer based doctoral program at Nova Southeastern University, when distance-based learning was first reaching the academic world.<\/p>\n<p>Higher education and all the doors it opens up, she feels, is invaluable. \u201cI was able to do so many things [that] without an education I would\u2019ve never been able to do,\u201d Dr. Spurlock expresses.<\/p>\n<p>However, she notes that it\u2019s important for students to take the reins and make the most out of their University education, as well as realize how much better they\u2019re going to be for sticking it out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInterface with other students on campus when taking courses, find out what professor teach the way you learn, understand the way you learn, understand the kinds of activities you like to do, in order to get the most out of the courses you\u2019re taking. Find professors and study partners who can work with you this way,\u201d she shares.<\/p>\n<p>On February 3 \u2013 4, Dr. Spurlock visited her alma mater and had to opportunity to meet with President Rosenberg and five current Student Government Association officers. During her tour of campus, she was shown the immense growth and change our university has undergone.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Spurlock also relived the important role she played in FIU\u2019s history, leaving her with an even stronger sense of Panther Pride.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;ve ever found yourself wondering how FIU\u2019s first buildings got their diverse names, FIU alumna Dr. Diane Spurlock \u201975 has your answer. Actually, she was directly involved in the process as the chair of a student committee that was established to serve as the official liaison between the FIU administration and the student body. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[369],"tags":[378],"class_list":["post-6571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-spotlight","tag-featured-panthers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14981,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6571\/revisions\/14981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}