By Filippa Malmström
Vivian Washington Filer
Servant’s Heart Award Winner
Vivian Washington Filer, CEO of the Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center, has won the 4th annual Servant’s Heart Award. Filer began serving the community at a young age and continued throughout her adult life. Her remarkable achievements and inspiring spirit earned her the Servant’s Heart Award. Filer has been an integral part of the Gainesville community in many ways.
Her professional journey from Santa Fe College to Shands Teaching Hospital illustrates her continuous passion for both teaching and healing.
Filer has chaired boards, led multiple committees and co-founded significant community organizations such as the Greater Gainesville Black Nurses Association and the Springhill Neighborhood Association, demonstrating her influence beyond the healthcare industry.
Filer’s ambition and inspiration through her own organization have enhanced the cultural landscape of Alachua County by turning the historical institution into an outstanding representation of Black history and persistence.
Theresa Beachy
Community Foundation of North Central Florida
Theresa Beachy is the new Organizational Strategist with the Center for Nonprofit Excellence the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.
Beachy will start as an organizational strategist part-time at the beginning of June and will fully commit full-time at the end of September. The former longtime CEO of Peaceful Paths will now be responsible for training, mentoring and providing resources to staff, volunteers and board members of nonprofits in Alachua County.
Her vision is to build capacity in important social change organizations and mission-driven nonprofits in the area, which is the goal of her new role. Her main focuses are increasing the organization’s influence and reach, encouraging collaboration among leaders in the nonprofit sector and offering the community’s best resources.
John Andrzejek
Men’s Florida Gators Basketball
John Andrzejek, the Men’s Florida Gators Basketball assistant coach, has been selected to participate in the 2024 TopConnect Basketball Symposium at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’s Thomas & Mack Center.
Coach Andrzejek joined the Gators coaching staff in 2023 and helped lead the team to a successful season. During his first campaign at UF, the Gators had a 24-win season and returned to the NCAA Tournament in March.
Dr. Richard Sander, the athletic director and creator of TopConnect, chose Andrzejek among many of the finest basketball coaches in the nation to participate. Andrzejek and the other participants will have the opportunity to meet and connect with mid-major athletic directors, building a strong network and leadership development.
Dr. Marcela Murillo Van Den Bossche
Santa Fe College
Dr. Marcela Murillo Van Den Bossche, a Spanish teacher at Santa Fe College, has been invited to attend and participate in the exclusive Education Partnership for Internationalizing Curriculum (EPIC) Community College Leadership Program for the 2024-25 academic year.
The program offers personalized development in leadership and community-building opportunities. Dr. Murillo Van Den Bossche has been a Spanish teacher at Santa Fe College since 2019 and holds an M.A. in Women’s Studies and Spanish and a Ph.D. in Spanish Literature. The program will provide a beneficial exchange of ideas and open communication focused on expertise and ambitions in institutionalizing global studies.
Rob Ferl
Blue Origin’s New Shepard
Rob Ferl, a distinguished professor and assistant vice president of research at the University of Florida, is now part of NASA’s newest project. Ferl will be the first NASA-funded academic researcher to experiment as part of a commercial space crew on an upcoming mission, “Blue Origin’s New Shepard.”
Ferl has spent his career studying how biology responds to spaceflight, which will help him further study microgravity’s effects on gene expression in cells with NASA’s Flight Opportunities program funding. The goal is to develop future protocols for “researcher-tended” suborbital flights.
The “Blue Origin’s New Shepard” mission is an excellent opportunity for scientists like Ferl to perform scientific research during the shift from gravity to microgravity and the return to normal gravity.
