Contact: Public Relations
(863) 680-4118

Florida Southern alumna receives
achievement citation Victoria Villalba,
Miami/Dade businesswoman, recognized as entrepreneur and community service advocate

LAKELAND, Fla. (March 4, 2003) - Florida Southern College honors alumna Victoria Villalba, a 1986 graduate, at its Founders Day convocation March 21 at 10:10 a.m. in Branscomb Auditorium. Villalba will receive the Alumni Achievement Citation, awarded each year to FSC alumni for excellence in a profession or endeavor. 

Villalba is president and owner of Victoria and Associates Personnel Services, Miami-Dade/Broward Counties. Featured in the Miami Herald and several business journals over the past few years, she has won numerous awards for her entrepreneurial success and commitment to community service. The Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce honored her as the 2002 Outstanding Business Woman of the Year, and United Way of Miami-Dade awarded her the Dorothy Shula Award for outstanding volunteerism in 2001. She has also won the National Association for Women Business Owners Recognition for Outstanding Woman Business Owner Award; the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Leadership Award; and the America's Promise for Youth Good Hands Award, presented by General Colin Powell. 

Villalba was the first to implement a "Preparing Youth For Industry" program, developed by the National Association of Temporary Staffing Services. She serves on the boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Miami, the MEED Program Advisory Board, and South Florida Workforce, and chairs the Turner Technical High School Business Advisory Board. 

About Florida Southern College
Florida Southern is a four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors and a master of business administration degree accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Located in Lakeland, Fla., the college is home to the largest, single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.

###