FIU celebrates the opening of the Lee Caplin School of Journalism & Media (includes video story)

The Lee Caplin School of Journalism & Media hosted its ribbon-cutting event last Friday.

Caplin, who made a $10 million dollar donation, hopes the school leads the way to the future of journalism. The gift will help enhance the curriculum, make the program more engaging and cutting-edge, and provide scholarship opportunities, among other things.

U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Democrat who represents the area that includes the Biscayne Bay Campus, addressed the event in a video. And Florida International University President Kenneth A. Jessell thanked Caplin.

“This very very special day for our students, our faculty, our staff, and more importantly our worldly community,” Jessell said. “Today, we unveil and celebrate a very generous and transformative gift, one that will launch the future of 21st-century journalism and media education right here at FIU.”

There was also an announcement of the dedication of the “Sam Moore: The Legendary Soul Man Theatre” in the new school’s Lee Caplin Immersive Studio for Altered Reality. Moore is a rock n’ roll hall-of-famer from Overtown.

Daniela Zulueta

Daniela Zulueta is pursuing her master’s degree in global strategic communications and graduated from FIU with a bachelor’s degree in digital broadcasting in 2023. She also holds an associate’s degree in journalism from Miami Dade College. Zulueta loves the city of Miami and aims to share the stories of the citizens who live here and all over the world. Zulueta runs a social media platform called @Lifestyle_Miami where she works with local businesses and does community-based work. She had a paid internship with Televisa Univisión as a Step Producer and worked as a stage manager at NBC6 South Florida & Telemundo51. Now, she is part of cohort 8 and has a fellowship at the FIU Ratcliffe where she can work on branding herself and post-production of a podcast called Tech Conversations.