UT Grads Off to Change the World: Google, Education, Navy

When UT’s more than 1,400 graduates cross the stage this Saturday, they’ll join the almost 36,000-strong alumni community leaving their mark around the world. From graduate school to military service to careers in business, Spartans find success in a variety of careers. Here are just a few.

Alex Hance ’16 didn’t realize at the time that his on-campus job experience as the lead lab tech for the computer labs on campus would land him a job with Google.

“During my first contact with a recruiter at Google, they mentioned they felt like my IT experience at UT was aligned to the Google position and helped get me the first interview and spark interest in my resume,” said Hance, a double major in entrepreneurship and management information systems.

Hance heads to Google’s New York City office for a two-year training/management program for new graduates as an IT resident. He’ll spend four days a week assisting internal employees with technical problems and one day a week on special projects and initiatives.

“Google is a company that values creative, entrepreneurial thought,” said Hance, who hopes to one day run his own company. “This will be a good path toward getting there. I’m pretty confident I’ll meet some interesting people at Google.”

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It was when Tori Suslovitch ’16 unplugged — from the Internet, television and even her phone — that she found her passion.

“I was completely present,” said Suslovitch about her time at The Cape Eleuthera Island School in the Bahamas, a semester abroad program for high school students as well as gap year programs, research fellowships and other opportunities. “It was such a different experience than anything I’ve had. The Island School's program focuses on the promotion of community, sustainability and development of a sense of place."

Suslovitch, a biology major with minors in chemistry and education, attended the school while in high school and returned last summer to teach. After graduating this week, she’ll head back to teach marine ecology, which contains both classroom and field sessions.

“Each morning, the students learn about a particular topic within marine ecology, and each afternoon they get to see it firsthand, through SCUBA diving, snorkeling or another type of expedition,” said Suslovitch. “Some of the sub-topics in the course include ecosystem dynamics, nutrient cycling, ecosystem services, trophic systems and form-and-function concepts. We look at coral and algae, mangroves, invertebrates and vertebrates as case studies or model organisms/systems."

Suslovitch is passionate about the school and its mission.

“My experiences there have significantly shaped my values and perspectives.”

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Laura Remillard ’16 has spent her Fridays this semester at a senior housing facility in south Tampa teaching a creative movement class. The applied dance major focused on flexibility, range of motion, socialization and community building in her classes. It was one of the experiences that prepped her for graduate school.

Remillard, a psychology minor from Candia, NH, will attend Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, to pursue a master’s in clinical mental health counseling with a specialization in dance/movement therapy. She is excited about the school’s proximity to Boston Children’s Hospital, as her career goal is to work with children facing cancer.

“I changed my major four times. I had no idea that this thing — dance movement — existed,” Remillard said, thinking back to her First Year Writing professor who recommended she research the field based on her interest in dance and helping people. “I like that it brings people together, from the able-bodied to the disabled.”

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Anna Dombroski ’16 splits her time between going to classes at UT and leading the Buccaneer Battalion as commander in the University of South Florida’s Naval ROTC program, 10 percent of which are UT students. UT is home to an Army ROTC program only. She is up before the sun, driving across town and arriving by 5:30 a.m. for physical training. Tuesdays and Thursdays she does most of her ROTC classes such as leadership and ship handling, and the rest of the week she is taking courses at UT.

She sees her tough schedule as only part of the training.

“As a future officer, I’m going to have to do the seemingly impossible — work in a time crunch, work under pressure,” Dombroski said. “It prepares us for what will happen on the fleet. It builds character.”

Dombroski will serve as a surface warfare officer eventually helping operate nuclear reactors, the power form that the Navy uses for its aircraft carriers and submarines.

When she graduates on Saturday, she’ll receive a degree in chemistry with a minor in mathematics and be commissioned later that afternoon as an officer, Ensign O-1 Anna Dombroski.

“I’m looking forward to working and being beneficial to the Navy,” Dombroski said. “I’m really excited to start that stage.”

» Compete details on UT’s 142nd commencement

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