Located in North Miami Beach, Union Institute & University’s Florida Academic Center has been educating South Florida professionals for more than 20 years. Currently, more than 300 learners are enrolled in our programs. As a result of Union’s flexible programs, students earning their degrees from our Florida Center are able to return to school and still maintain their full-time careers.

The students’ classroom is wherever they are, incorporating their job experiences throughout their studies. Communication between students and instructors takes place by phone, email, chat-rooms, or face-to-face – when and where it’s mutually convenient. At Union Institute & University’s College of Undergraduate Studies, people study subjects that genuinely interest them. The learning model was designed to allow people to integrate their academic studies in balance with their personal and professional demands in pursuit of their own individual goals.

According to Dr. Marie Bogat, Academic Center’s Dean, “having a degree plan that is well-outlined and tailored to the student’s personal life can accelerate the degree completion, taking full advantage of previous life experience, past coursework, and current classes.” Courses are year-round – the program will never be interrupted by professional and personal situations, such as, temporary job-assignments out of town, family illnesses, or job changes/relocations.

“People can take better advantage of the tuition reimbursement benefits from employers, in addition to the eligibility to apply for better jobs during their careers,” said Louyse Ardale, Financial Aid Counselor.




Dr. Marie Bogat (far right), Dean of Union Institute & University’s Florida Academic Center with part of her faculty and staff.

The entire program is adult learner-centered, where you can be a part of a community of adult students who are there to learn, be supportive, be respectful, and also understanding of your future goals and interests. Faculty and students come from diverse professional backgrounds, which benefit all, from the guidance and mentorship of a faculty advisor to the support of our dedicated staff. Learners enjoy access to a variety of on-line research databases and reference assistance making it easy to plan and execute your individualized studies.

Union Institute & University offers B.A., B.S., M.A., M.Ed., M.F.A, and Ph.D. Degree Programs with major areas of studies in Psychology, Social Work, Addictions Counseling, Healthcare Administration, Business & Public Administration, Criminal Justice, and Education among the most popular in Florida. Many more other concentrations are available.

For additional information contact the Office of Admissions at (305) 653-7141 or (800) 486-7141 ext. 2130 or visit the academic center located at 16853 NE 2nd Avenue #102, North Miami Beach, Florida 33162 (just three blocks east of Parkway Regional Hospital).



Perhaps you’ve been thinking that you’d like to earn an MBA. If you used U.S. News & World Report’s MBA Rankings to assist in making your decision, you’d discover that none of the local MBA programs was ranked in the Top 50 nationally. In fact, the only ranked school in the entire state is The University of Florida. But for some South Floridians, traveling to Gainesville for classes did not fit into their busy schedule. Well to put a new twist on an old phrase, if you cannot go to the MBA, the MBA will come to you.

But don’t think this is some second-rate road show. In October 2004, the University of Florida established, at the Wyndham Bonaventure Resort near Ft. Lauderdale, a Professional MBA Program that matches in quality the MBA Programs offered on the University’s main campus.

“Our professional programs on our UF campus have classes once per month, so that candidates anywhere in Florida can participate and earn our nationally ranked MBA,” said Alex Sevilla, Director of the University of Florida MBA Programs. “We decided to launch our South Florida MBA program in 2004 because many candidates in South Florida were not willing or able to make a 5-plus hour drive to Gainesville each month. We wanted to make it more convenient for those individuals. South Florida is a thriving hub of commerce and international trade, led by a community of bright, focused professionals. We felt strongly South Florida needed and deserved a world-class MBA program to call its own.”

But it’s not just about convenience. Sevilla emphasized the quality of the Program. For example, with regard to the faculty, he said, “We have a top-10 research faculty, unmatched in the Southeast. Our South Florida faculty team is the same faculty that teaches in our full-time program in Gainesville. They have earned their stripes and we do not have adjunct professors.”

Classes are held in an amphitheater at the Bonaventure, complete with full A/V support, printers and Internet connections. Sevilla said, “There is a full catering staff to take care of the students throughout the day. We also have an MBA staff member who goes to the Bonaventure every weekend, to answer questions and get to know the students. It is important that our South Florida students remain connected to our Program.”

With the significant role health care plays in South Florida, Sevilla, who has been with the University of Florida since 1998, sees the MBA Program filling an important niche. “The health-care industry, for both physicians and administrators, is definitely a market that has evolved,” he said. “And as it changes, the industry becomes more complex. A number of our professional students work in health care, and they look to apply the skills that a top-tier MBA program provides: financial analysis, operations, marketing and strategy, directly within the ever-changing health-care landscape. These professionals expect to take the lead in these areas, add value to their divisions, and push their careers forward.

“The MBA can be of critical importance to physicians, as more and more of their time is spent dealing with HMOs, regulations, malpractice lawsuits and emerging technology. Their education trained them for their craft, but not for the shifting economics of today’s health-care market. These changes have underscored the need for true physician leaders in the industry, and many MDs are turning to MBA programs to acquire top level business and leadership training.”

Sevilla stressed the caliber of the students the University of Florida considers for the Program. “We are very selective in our admissions process, and I would encourage candidates to consider any business school’s selectivity when choosing an MBA program,” he said. “By admitting a high caliber of professionals into our program, we can ensure that the intellectual capital of the classroom will be maximized. Selecting students carefully also impacts the long-term value of your MBA. The success of our alumni shapes and defines the reputation of the Florida MBA Program. We know that accomplished, focused, and driven students yield an outstanding classroom experience, an elite brand reputation for our MBA Program, and a valuable alumni network.”

The first class started with 40 students and all 40 are still in the Program. The next class will begin on September 30, 2005, and applications are still being accepted. But professionals who apply should be primed for what’s involved.

“We have a rigorous program, one that is not watered down for professional students. A top-tier MBA degree and the national reputation that goes with it must be earned. The wonderful part about our program is that our students always step up to the challenges set by our faculty and their peers,” Sevilla said.



When nursing students at Barry University in Miami Shores discovered rashes on the children at a daycare center in a South Florida migrant worker community, they looked for the cause. The children’s parents had no means to wash pesticides from the fields off their clothes after work. So the students developed Project Wash, a program to provide health screening and laundry detergent for the families. As a result, the children’s health improved, and Barry’s students gained valuable insight into the connection between poverty and healthcare.

“Our students go out into community to see the practical implications of what they learn in a clinical setting,” says Pegge Bell, Ph.D., dean of the School of Nursing at Barry University. “We advocate for those communities, and our community-based programs help make our students better nurses.”

This past February 17, more than 100 Barry students participated in the Miami health fair organized by the Maryland-based Sister to Sister foundation as part of a nationwide campaign on National Woman’s Heart Day. Nearly 2,000 women and a few dozen men attended the daylong fair. More than 750 women received free heart health screenings, referrals for follow-up care, and immediate attention where necessary.

Sister to Sister’s Miami campaign manager Allen Furst turned to Dr. Bell to recruit volunteers who could conduct the screenings. “That turned out to be a good partnership,” says Furst. “We had the volunteers we needed and it was a good day for Barry student nurses to practice what they’ve learned in class with real people, under supervision.”

(l-r) L. Benitez, RN, Pam Wesslin, MSN, ARNP, Carolyn Le Page, MSN, ARNP, and J. Hernandez, RN

Barry students checked blood pressure, calculated body mass index, and met with participants to explain the numbers and, if necessary, make referrals for follow-up care. “Everybody gets involved,” says Rosario Medina-Shepherd, an assistant professor who teaches an undergraduate class in health assessment as well as graduate courses for nurse practitioners. “It’s an awesome opportunity to have my brand new students work with my advanced medical/surgical or acute care nurses.”

The Sister-to-Sister health fair is the school’s biggest outreach event of the semester, but Barry nursing students frequently provide free healthcare in the community as a required part of their coursework. “We go out with our students to serve populations that would otherwise not get healthcare,” explains Dr. Bell. “We’re instilling in our students a commitment to community service, and we’re also enhancing the curriculum. This way our students can face the challenges that lay ahead as they treat a multicultural population.”

For many sophomores, the fair was their first venture into the community. “They were shocked that there were so many women, and men, who don’t know the risk factors for heart disease,” says Dr. Bell. “There were elderly men and women who had high blood pressure that had not been diagnosed for years. Sophomores were taking blood pressure and saying, ‘Oh, my gosh, 180 over 130.’”

(l-r) Eddy Desrosiers-Bellamy, Haldyne Senatus, Tracie Urban, Vanessa Aumoithe, Nancy Francois, Dean Pegge Bell, PhD, RN, APN, and Margo Nottenkamper

For Margo Nottenkamper, a former office supplies sales representative who is now in the first year of Barry’s accelerated BSN program, the experience was especially valuable. “We had just received our competency certifications for doing blood pressure checks,” she says. “We got very comfortable with the procedure by the end of the day. We each probably did at least 15 to 20 screenings, so it became like second nature.”

For Maria Veronica Leon, a senior completing her bachelor’s degree, the Sister to Sister health fair reinforces the importance of community outreach as a critical component of nursing. “Sometimes you have people who do not go to the doctor because they have no insurance or no money or no transportation,” Leon observes. “They go in groups to these events and find out what opportunities are available to them.”

 Without these screenings, many people would ignore risk factors until their health problems are acute. Three people screened this year had such high risk factors that they were taken to the hospital for immediate attention. “Eventually we’ll see them in the hospital,” says Professor Medina-Shepherd. “But at the fair, we see people who would not come in to a clinic and give them some education right there.”



White coats have been recognized since the middle of the 19th century as the “official” attire of the medical profession, and the Barry University Physician Assistant Class of 2007 recently received theirs in a ceremony held on the Miami Shores campus at the Broad Center for the Performing Arts.

Barry University Physician Assistant Class of 2007 pictured here at the recent White Coat Ceremony will wear the coats during clinical rotations at practice sites from rural areas in the Florida Keys to a state mental hospital on the Florida/Georgia border.

On the stage, each of the 44 students received a white coat symbolizing the passing from classroom to clinic training. Students will wear the coats during clinical rotations at practice sites from medically underserved rural areas in the Florida Keys to a state mental hospital on the Florida/Georgia border.

During the White Coat Ceremony, keynote speaker Richard Finkel, Pharm.D., adjunct professor of Pharmacology for the PA program, advised the students to “remember to continue to study hard as your patients need you, and that your white coat signifies that you are ready to engage in patient care.”



Barry University’s Masters in Health Administration has been ranked one of the 25 largest Masters in Health Administration programs in the country, according to Modern Healthcare magazine.

Students and faculty in Barry University’s Masters in Health Administration program. Fax 305.899.3186

The annual list was published in Modern Healthcare’s November 6th issue, and lists Barry among large and prestigious universities such as the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, New York University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia University and George Washington University.

Barry’s program was ranked 21st out of 25 with 88 students enrolled. It is the second consecutive year the program has made the list. The list was based on the total number of students enrolled, taken from a 2005-2006 survey of programs.