Head Coach Mark Richt is one of the nation’s most talented athletic coaches, known for building winning football teams of character. So much is written about coaches developing athletes, but head coaches also have a unique responsibility to develop leadership among the coaches who collectively shape a team, its strengths and its culture. Coach Richt joined us for an intimate conversation about his philosophy and strategies for shaping a team of coaches who work together to nurture the next generation of athletes. What principles guide his organization to success on the gridiron and in life? Tune in for a personal chat about coaching coaches, the role of family, and managing a winning organization.

At the University of Miami School of Communication, students are not waiting for summer or graduation to gain real-world experience. Through Orange Umbrella, a full service, student-run communication consultancy, students work in a real business with real clients. Their clientele span from within the university, to national campaigns in television and retail. Students across multiple disciplines get their creative juices flowing from outside the traditional classroom.

Utilizing their wide array of skills and talents, this student-run entity is the first of its kind at the University of Miami, giving students a competitive edge unlike any other.

Twenty years before the United States re-established diplomatic relations with Cuba, theater artists from both sides of the Florida Straits were practicing their own kind of diplomacy. Lillian Manzor, director of the University’s Cuban Digital Theater Archive, discusses the roles that theater and digital culture can play in building community in a moment and across the fraught borders of time, space and nations.

The University of Miami is a global institution that reaches across the borders of geography, identity, and discipline. Learn the journey of one UM undergraduate from his native Brazil to South Florida and to a campus where he faced choices: biology labs or economics problem sets? Policy analysis or soccer? Hear Mateus Lima, Class of 2017, explain why his answer at every crossroads has been “yes.” He will reflect on learning across disciplinary lines and make the case for how a University of Miami education is preparing him to tackle some of the pressing issues of the next century by allowing him to live, think, and create in the intersections.

It’s been more than 150 years since doctors first diagnosed blood cancers, and for most of that time, there was no effective treatment or cure. Chemotherapy led to advances and gave many patients longer life and improved health, but for many, leukemia and lymphoma remained among the hardest cancers to treat. Thanks to advances in immunology and an ever-improving understanding of genomics and proteomics – the role genes and proteins play in disease and its progression – scientists and clinicians are able to identify unique markers present on blood cancers and modify healthy cells from our own immune system to find and destroy them. Hear from Dr. Komanduri about where the science is headed, and the remarkable breakthroughs in cancer treatment that will shape the future of care.

Dr. Erin Kobetz, Associate Director for Population Science and Cancer Disparity at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, is a champion for collaborative work that supports underserved communities as they seek greater access to health. Her journey as a scientist was transformed by her own cancer diagnosis, which inspired innovative approaches to prevent cancer in South Florida communities from Little Haiti to local fire stations. Dr. Kobetz’s internationally-recognized work is grounded in dialogue and partnership, and is transforming both care for individuals and the way health systems approach prevention. Learn how the University of Miami is becoming not just a place to seek treatment, but a partner in the quest for health equity.

Severe weather events like Superstorm Sandy are revealing the vulnerability of New York City and other coastal communities, particularly as sea levels continue to rise. In his lab at the University of Miami, Ben Kirtman is using one of the world’s largest supercomputers to more accurately predict the risk of severe flooding—in the upcoming weeks and decades. In this ’Cane Talk, Professor Kirtman describes what his research means for cities across the globe.

Entrepreneur, author, fashion designer, and academic Neri Karra, a member of the University of Miami Class of 1999, recounts her personal journey from a Bulgarian vineyard to a Turkish refugee camp to the University of Miami campus—and from there to London's vibrant fashion and academic circles. She will make the case that hope and inner resilience—saying "yes" to yourself even when the world seems to be saying “no” —can help overcome obstacles and bring dreams within reach.

When the planes hit the Twin Towers on the morning of September 11, 2001, Facebook hadn’t been invented, nor had Twitter, or What’s App, or the so-called “dark web.” Fewer than half of Americans had cell phones, and less than 9 percent of people around the world were online. Now, 15 years later, the internet—and its ubiquitous social networks—reach to every corner of the globe, changing the way terrorists communicate and plan, and also how terrorist plots can be unearthed, monitored, and stopped. How can the power of big data be harnessed to combat terrorism, and what will it take to get us there? Physicist Neil Johnson explains in this riveting and timely ’Cane Talk.

American public schools are a critical part of how we hope to prepare citizens for our democracy. Yet while they hold the promise for an egalitarian future, law professor Osamudia James argues they also simultaneously entrench deep racial inequality. In our society, acknowledgment of race and racial identity is on the wane, with politicians, policymakers, and the legal community all eager to adopt the language of colorblindness. We repeatedly hear that race doesn’t matter or that white privilege does not exist, yet we see passionate cries from the students at the University of Missouri and many other groups suggesting otherwise. What happens when people of color enter predominantly white institutions and try to retain their racial identities? James examines diversity and identity in public schools, exploring how “colorblind” laws and policy pose harm not just for people of color, but American democracy. What is the price of admission to privileged white spaces? What is the role of identity in ushering in substantive equality? And how does affirming racial identity bring us closer to the promise of American equality?