Forty students who recently completed the BBA+ program had a chance to mark their achievements with friends, family, faculty, and program staff at a dinner at the Modesto A. Maidique Campus Faculty Club on April 7, 2006. The seventeenth group to graduate from the BBA+ Weekend option included 24 students. Sixteen students, representing the second group to complete the BBA+ Sunrise at the FIU Broward Pines Center also graduated. The students received their diplomas at the spring commencement ceremonies on May 2, 2006.
BBA+ Sunrise class
Suzette Andre was named valedictorian of the BBA+ Weekend program and Rita Noa received the leadership award. In the BBA+ Sunrise group, Raymond Jarrett earned recognition as valedictorian and Tamara Angel-Rogers received the leadership award.
“I chose the BBA+ Weekend program because I had just finished at Miami-Dade College, was looking for job, and wanted to do something in the meantime,” said Andre, who works full time in the SunTrust Bank’s support center, which services branches in the entire Florida region. “I knew that once I got a job, a Saturday program would be ideal.”
 Donald Roomes, program director, and Rita Noa, BBA+ Weekend graduate, who received the Leadership Award |
It took her a scant two months to land her first position at SunTrust as a teller coordinator, so she was delighted by her choice. Not only was the schedule suitable, but Andre feels the program was important in many other ways.
“It showed me how to look at issues from different perspectives, and I find that I apply my knowledge of business and other topics—such as how to communicate effectively—in my personal as well as my professional life,” she said.
She credits a support network—particularly her husband—and her own focus on “discipline and organization” with enabling her to succeed.
“The degree is something I really wanted, so I was willing to put in the extra effort,” she said. “Also, my philosophy is that whatever I do is a reflection of me, so I did everything in the program with that in mind.”
The students gave two awards. The BBA+ Weekend group gave the Circle of Excellence award to Constance Bates, associate professor in the Department of Management and International Business, and the BBA+ Sunrise honored Clifford Perry, Department of Management and International Business and the college’s associate dean for undergraduate studies, with the same award.
The ceremony also was marked by the presentation of a special award to Donald Roomes, director of the BBA+ programs, for his ten years of outstanding service and dedication. Perry presented a plaque to Roomes, who was “completely taken by surprise” by the honor.
“He began as coordinator in January of 1996 and two years later, he was promoted to director of what was then called the Weekend BBA,” said Angie Letona, fiscal assistant in the BBA+ program who helped engineer the award.
BBA+ Weekend class
The BBA+ program is based on a lock-step, technology-enabled, customized curriculum. It gives students who have associate degrees and are majoring in either management or international business a way to conveniently and quickly earn a business degree. BBA+ Weekend takes just seven twelve-week sessions to complete, while BBA+ Sunrise can be finished in as little as eighteen months.
