DECEMBER 12, 2008 (MIAMI) -The Honors College is proud to announce that Mercedes Martha Ponce, Executive Director of FIU's Continuing and Professional Studies Program (CAPS), and H. Scott Fingerhut, trial lawyer and Honors College and College of Law teaching faculty member, have joined the FIU Honors College Community Advisory Board (CAB). The CAB helps support Honors College programs that prepare FIU’s best and brightest students to succeed as scholars and professionals
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Ponce has over 20 years of experience in strategic thinking and envisioning, organizational development, and program development, and implementation, and management. Prior to joining CAPS, Ponce led the Latin American and Caribbean Center’s Institute for International Professional Services at Florida International University. She is currently responsible for continuing education initiatives such as non-credit professional development programming, personal enrichment, and credit programming. Her son, Carlos, is an alumnus of the FIU Honors College.

Fingerhut entered private practice, concentrating on trial appellate criminal defense, after serving as a Miami-Dade prosecutor. He started teaching full time at FIU in 2000, holding teaching positions at FIU's School of Policy and Management and teaching a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in criminal justice. He is now Assistant Director of FIU Law's Trial Advocacy Program, teaching trial and pretrial litigation and advocacy criminal procedure for the College of Law. He is consistently named among the region’s top criminal defense lawyers – including, most recently, by Best Lawyers in America. He currently sits on the Executive Council of The Bar’s Criminal Law Section and is a member of the Florida Bar Journal and News Editorial Board as well as The Bar’s Standing Committee on Continuing Legal Education. Fingerhut has been a teaching fellow at the Honors College since 2006.

These two new board members bring an intimate knowledge of FIU, a personal commitment to the Honors College, and energy and drive to our expanding and active board. The board serves as the liaison between the Honors College and the external community, works to develop funding for scholarships and other Honors activities, and helps enrich the opportunities the College offers its outstanding students.

For immediate release

CONTACT:    Juan Carlos Espinosa, The Honors College
(305-348-4100), espinosj@fiu.edu