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<\/p>\nWith over 800 people in attendance this year, the\u00a014th Annual Torch Awards\u00a0Gala broke a university record.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know you could\u2019ve been at Ultra, but you\u2019re here. This is our Ultra,\u201d President Mark B. Rosenberg told alumni and guests during his keynote address at dinner.<\/p>\n
The Torch Awards, hosted by the\u00a0Alumni Association\u00a0and held at the Fontainebleau hotel for the first time, recognized alumni and faculty who stand out in the community and who have made successful careers in their field of study.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to recognize alumni because we wouldn\u2019t be where we are without our supporters,\u201d said Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Lunsford. \u201cThis is a young university with young alumni. As you age, you begin to rely on alumni to support the university.\u201d<\/p>\n
The theme of this year\u2019s gala, \u201cFrom the Ground Up,\u201d commemorated the 50th anniversary of the university\u2019s founding in 1965. The Fontainebleau\u2019s Crystal Ballrooms were made up to look like an airline, \u201cFlight 1965,\u201d complete with \u201cboarding pass\u201d programs and FIU\u2019s Golden Dazzlers dancers dressed up as flight attendants.<\/p>\n
The gala is also an opportunity to raise money for the\u00a0First-Generation Scholarship\u00a0and\u00a0Alumni Center Building\u00a0funds. Last year, the event raised $10,000 for each, with 600 people in attendance. Final numbers for this year are not yet available.<\/p>\n
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Alumnus of the Year awardee Humberto Cabanas \u201976 said he believes it is FIU graduates\u2019 duty to give back to the university throughout their lives. What graduates learned \u201cshould be taken forward and help other students in the future experience the same things that you experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cabanas, who chaired the Advisory Council for the\u00a0Chaplin\u00a0School of Hospitality & Tourism Management\u00a0for five years and is now on the university\u2019s Foundation Board, created a scholarship in honor of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management\u2019s founding dean, the late Gerald Lattin.<\/p>\n
Cabanas got his start in hospitality at age 15 cleaning pools at the Shelborne Wyndom Grand hotel in Miami Beach and is now the chairman and founder of Benchmark Hospitality International, which oversees hotels and resorts all over the country.<\/p>\n
The Alumni Association also awarded physics professor and director of the\u00a0STEM Transformation Institute\u00a0Laird Kramer the Outstanding Faculty Award.<\/p>\n
Kramer teaches the\u00a0Learning Assistant Program\u00a0seminar, which trains undergraduates to aid their peers\u2019 learning and assist professors in university classrooms and labs. He said the students are what keep him coming back to FIU every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying to find ways to support our students, because they\u2019re really fantastic,\u201d said Kramer about the LA program.<\/p>\n
The Alumni Association encourages involvement in both the FIU and South Florida communities, and recognized Alex Rodriguez-Roig \u201999, president of the Boys & Girls Club of Miami-Dade, with the Community Leadership Award.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started volunteering there 18 years ago and it felt so good to be able to help kids in the community that don\u2019t have a lot of opportunities,\u201d said Rodriguez-Roig. \u201cAnd once you start helping them, it kind of grows on you, and you want to stay there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodriguez-Roig, who studied education at FIU and is now part of the\u00a0College of Education\u00a0Dean\u2019s Advisory Board, said the Community Leadership Award is the highest honor he\u2019s ever received.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m humbled,\u201d he said. \u201cI cherish it with my heart because of the respect I have for the university, and it\u2019s great to be acknowledged for putting my little grain of sand into the community.\u201d<\/p>\n