The 2018 Torch Awards Gala attracted a record-breaking 1,000 attendees to make it the largest in FIU history. The November event, held at the Modesto A. Maidique Campus, honored 15 alumni and one faculty member who are each making a difference in their professions, in the community and at the university. Two-time alumnus Armando Diaz II ’09, MS ’10 was one of a pair of recipients of the Charles E. Perry Young Alumni Visionary Award. At just 31 years old, Diaz became a general superintendent at Suffolk, the firm currently overseeing construction of the Brightline train station in downtown Miami. Diaz has won numerous accolades in his young career, including being named one of the South Florida Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” top business executives in 2018. Read more in FIU news.
1975 hospitality alumnus Duffy Keys (in tux) was honored at the 2018 Torch Awards. He is flanked here, from left, by Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management Executive Director of Development Simone Champagnie, wife Judy Keys and Rene Diaz.