UM News

A Miami native, Chuck Todd has been passionate about politics almost as long as he’s been a fan of the Miami Hurricanes.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (November 22, 2014)—Chuck Todd, the political director of NBC News and the moderator and managing editor of the network’s flagship “Meet the Press” Sunday morning public affairs program—the longest-running broadcast in television history—will be the speaker at the University’s fall commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. on Thursday, December 18.

A self-described political junkie who has earned a reputation as one of the most passionate journalists and sharpest analysts in American media, Todd has held the role of political director since March 2007, leading all aspects of the news division’s political coverage and analysis across every platform.

He is also the editor of First Read, NBC’s must-read guide to political news and trends in and around Washington, D.C., and the coauthor of the definitive election result analysis book for the 2008 presidential campaign, How Barack Obama Won, published by Vintage. His second book, The Stranger: Barack Obama in the White House, was released in November 2014 by Little, Brown and Company.

A native of Miami who has been passionate about politics since middle school—almost as long as he’s been a Miami Hurricanes fan—Todd previously served as NBC News Chief White House Correspondent (2008-2014) and hosted MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown” (2010-2014). Upon his appointment to “Meet the Press,” influencers and competitors praised him as “a tireless reporter” with “an encyclopedic knowledge of politics” and the ability to “break down barriers and get people off of their talking points.”

He will address more than 1,000 undergraduate, graduate, and law students who will receive their newly minted degrees at the BankUnited Center.

By Robert C. Jones Jr.
UM News

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (May 9, 2014) – Shadowing physicians at an AIDS clinic in Los Angeles as they made their daily patient rounds helped open Meera Nagarsheth’s eyes to community and social problems that plague marginalized groups. “I was able to put a face to an issue,” she said, recalling the college spring break she spent volunteering in California’s most populous city.

During her four years as a University of Miami student, Nagarsheth “put a face” on many other problems and tried to change them, conducting research on health disparities in underserved areas and tutoring youth at community centers in Overtown and South Miami.

On Friday, as she waited in a staging area to receive a bachelor of science degree in microbiology and immunology at UM’s commencement ceremony for the College of Arts and Sciences, Nagarsheth reflected on her college career and the path that lies ahead. “UM was the perfect place to blend community service, academics, and social justice,” she said. “I looked at everything as a learning experience, and I never studied to pass a test but to gain a skill set.”

She was one of more than 2,100 students who accepted newly minted degrees at three undergraduate ceremonies that day. On Thursday nearly 800 students were awarded master’s or Ph.D.s at a graduate degree ceremony. The Miller School of Medicine and School of Law were set to hold exercises on Saturday.

As much as Nagarsheth, 22, was proud to receive her degree—her parents, she says, place great importance on higher education—she knew that her walk across the BankUnited Center stage was just the first step in her life’s mission to effect change. “I view education as a tool kit,” she explained.

A first generation Indian American, she will conduct research over the next year before starting classes at UM’s Miller School of Medicine, which has allowed her to defer her enrollment.

LaVette Richardson, who accepted her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at UM’s midday graduation ceremony, shares Nagarsheth’s desire to help others. She would eventually like to return to her hometown of Mobile, Alabama, to “make a difference.”

“It’s about helping others,” Richardson said simply.

Arianne Alcorta produced a documentary on the Venezuela uprising in hopes that it will shed more light on the protests, political demonstrations, and civil unrest occurring in her native country. She graduated Friday with a degree in journalism and theatre arts, and will enroll at Columbia University for graduate school, intent on continuing projects that raise awareness.

Nagarsheth’s, Richardson’s and Alcorta’s enthusiasm for making a difference was echoed by the day’s commencement speakers and honorary degree recipients, starting with political theorist Danielle S. Allen, the UPS Foundation Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, who, at the morning ceremony, urged graduates to strive for the four core elements of participatory readiness: interpretative skills, expression, bonding, and bridging relationships with “people who are so different from you.”

Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Explorer-In-Residence and ambassador for the world’s oceans, told students that “whatever you do, do not become one of those doom and gloom individuals who have given up.”

“There’s plenty of room for hope,” she said. “This is the sweet spot in time when we can turn things around.”

Volunteer signup for the May 2014 Commencement ceremonies is open. Please click here to sign up and help make these ceremonies a memorable and fitting celebration for our graduates and their guests. The ceremonies will be held at the BankUnited Center May 8, 9 and 10. If you have any questions or experience problems registering, please contact Events Management at 305-284-3213 or [email protected].

Volunteer sign-up for the May 2014 Commencement ceremonies is now open. Please click here to sign up and help make these ceremonies a memorable and fitting celebration for graduates and their guests. The ceremonies will be held at the BankUnited Center. If you have any questions or experience problems registering, please contact Events Management at 305-284-3213 or [email protected].

No sibling rivalry here. Rachel, Stephen, and Kelly Canfield have stood behind their sister, Molly, ever since she arrived at the University of Miami. On December 19 at UM’s fall commencement ceremony they’ll welcome her as the newest Canfield in the ’Cane family.

Molly Canfield started wearing University of Miami-themed apparel as a 10-year-old growing up in the South. Her favorite was a youth cheerleader outfit given to her by her two older sisters, who were UM students at the time. “I wore it all the time,” Molly recalls. “I told all my friends that I wanted to go to UM when I grew up, just like my sisters.”

On December 19, Molly will follow in both of her sisters’—and her brother’s—footsteps, becoming the fourth Canfield sibling to graduate from the University of Miami when she joins more than 900 other students who will march across UM’s BankUnited Center stage to accept degrees on commencement day. Read the full story