UI&U Florida Center Commencement August 30

UNION INSTITUTE & UNVERSITY AUGUST 30 COMMENCEMENT TO HONOR FLORIDA CENTER GRADUATES AND LONG-TIME DEAN DR. MARIE BOGAT

Many are the first in their families to graduate from college;
New Trustee Louis Albert Jolivert to confer degrees

NORTH MIAMI BEACH - Learners from Union Institute & University’s (UI&U) Florida Center located in North Miami Beach will convene at the Miami Airport Hilton on August 30 to participate in Union Institute & University’s Florida commencement ceremonies. The new graduates have earned undergraduate or graduate degrees from the private, non-profit university that provides higher education opportunities for working adult learners. Many are the first in their families to earn a college degree.

Dr. Marie Bogat, former dean of the Florida Center and a leader in international education will serve as the commencement’s keynote speaker and will be awarded the Presidential Medal for her exemplary service to the UI&U community. In addition, UI&U new board member and Miami resident Louis Albert Jolivert will confer the degrees, and graduate Jenell Atlas, a lieutenant with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, will represent her fellow learners with a speech on their behalf.

Dr. Bogat taught high school students in New York before accepting a Smith-Mundt Act of Congress grant to teach in Haiti in 1958. After a 30-year career in overseas education, she retired from Union School in Port-au-Prince as its superintendent and moved to Miami, where she joined the faculty of the UI&U Florida Center in 1994. She was named dean of the center in 2000. Under her leadership, the Florida Center forged strong relationships with Miami’s Haitian and Latino communities and became one of the leading universities in South Florida for educators

“My biggest inspiration is our yearly graduation, when our graduates cross the stage and their families jump up with their cameras and shout their names. Those kinds of things are the spontaneous beauty of an educational experience, and I cling to those things,” said Dr. Bogat.

UI&U is headquartered in Cincinnati, and has centers in Montpelier and Brattleboro, VT, and Sacramento and Los Angeles, CA, in addition to the Florida Center in North Miami Beach.
The August 30 Florida Center Commencement will take place at 1 p.m., at the Miami Airport Hilton, 5101 Blue Lagoon Dr., Miami. For more information contact Angela Byles at angela.byles@myunion.edu or at 305-653-7141.