Theme: Breaking Barriers

What does it mean to be breaking barriers? To be inspiring change even when the world says it's impossible? This event will feature speakers from our own University of South Florida community sharing their ideas of what can happen when we break the barriers in our lives.

Gibbons Alumni Center
11810 USF Alumni Drive
Tampa, Florida, 33620
United States

Andrew Koutnik

Graduate Student

Andrew Koutnik grew up in Tallahassee, FL and attended Tallahassee Community College and Florida State University. While at Florida State, Andrew was involved in 11 publications exploring how exercise, nutrition, supplementation, etc. impacted both the cardiovascular and autonomic systems. Andrew received a Presidential Fellowship award to join the Metabolic Therapeutic Lab at USF College of Medicine to study metabolic therapeutics in health, disease, and performance. Here Andrew was a part of multiple publications, presented at international conferences, initiated extra institutional collaborations, and orchestrated two research projects for NASA NEEMO 22.

Dae Sheridan

Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Board Certified Clinical Sexologist, Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, Faculty Member

Dae C. Sheridan, Ph.D. is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, Board Certified Clinical Sexologist and Professor of Human Sexuality at the University of South Florida. An advocate and activist for quality mental health services and sexuality education for all, Dr. Dae regularly presents her research and participates as a featured expert for various professional organizations and media outlets nationwide. The top two reasons for divorce in the U.S. are money and sex...and she’s no accountant.

Jamie Meyer

Senior Director of Education, Metropolitan Ministries

Jamie Meyer is a dynamic and inspirational leader and speaker. She serves as Senior Director of Education at Metropolitan Ministries, where 100 homeless families reside and participate in innovative and life-changing programs. Jamie is passionate about motivating other leaders to find a new perspective in their own life's work and has presented interactive workshops and trainings throughout the U.S. in the area of trauma and compassion fatigue/burnout.

Landon Foster

Undergraduate Student

Landon is a 23 year old non-degree seeking student at the University of South Florida Saint Petersburg. He played football for four years at the University of Kentucky where he was an All-American on the field and a 2x Academic All-American. Landon studied Finance and Marketing at the University of Kentucky and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 3.92 GPA. He is currently applying to Master of Finance programs with a desire to kickstart his business career. Through the conversation of the role of identity in athletics, Landon wants to discuss the barrier he did not break and how we must be willing to have the courage to live authentically, walk alone in our life path, and embrace failure.

Michelle Lyman

MD/MPH Student

Michelle is a medical student at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, where she is also pursuing her Masters in Public Health. Years before attending medical school, she was an avid actress in her local community theatre. Those hours on and behind the stage became useful in medical school when she worked with the USF Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation. She is applying for a Family Medicine residency this coming year and is passionate about using her education to improve care for vulnerable and underserved populations.

Morgan Eastman

Graduate Student

Morgan Eastman is a graduate student with Patel College of Global Sustainability. She grew up in Tallahassee, Florida with diverse educational experiences that shaped her. Being deaf, she views the world through a different lens with a keen focus on visual information and nonverbal communication cues. This was strengthened during her undergraduate career in Gallaudet University. This strength enabled her to be creative with adaptive communication throughout her graduate school career.