November 2019 Spotlight: Talani Torres, Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences in the Humanities

This month’s spotlight shines on Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences in the Humanities Talani Torres. Talani provides academic leadership, guidance and administrative services in support of teaching and learning within the disciplines of English for Academic Purposes, Fine Arts, Humanities, and World Languages. She has been with FSCJ since 2011, serving as professor and director of dance. Prior to her deanship, she had been teaching in higher education for 18 years, and owned her own studio in Miami for 10 years, where she founded a non-profit modern dance company for children.

Talani earned an MFA in Dance from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, a BA in Psychology from Florida International University, and an AA from Miami Dade College. Her choreography has been presented internationally and her recent research interests include the intersections of art and technology, real and virtual means. She has been awarded a NC Dance Alliance Choreography Fellowship and her co-authored work on dance pedagogy in higher education has earned her a Top Paper Citation award from National Dance Education Organization. Inspired to keep learning, Talani plans to pursue a doctoral degree when the time is right.

A commitment to the values of the College is the underpinning of her work as a dean and she looks forward to continually growing into the role. She loves the daily rewards of her job and is humbled, every day, by the people she works with, for and on behalf of.

When she is home, she heads to the beach with her golden retriever, who is training to be a therapy dog for her wife’s second grade class.