Soulscape can you believe this man got his AA degree only ONE YEAR after he graduated from High School? It's true based on what I read about him previously. He seems like a very, very intelligent man. Based on that, his AA degree isn't a good benchmark for his age.
Beckaroozie I thought the same thing. I thought maybe he was taking courses while still in high school. I can't explain it and am curious myself. Perhaps he just needed one credit for high school and was also taking college courses at the same time. I do think he is an exceptionally smart man too, and he seems to have a great deal of drive. He was a speaker at the event below and there was information about him in the itinerary. With all of the information this has in it I've still haven't found his DOB and I've looked in almost every county in Florida. I also found out about his wife. I figured out that they probably met in Tallahassee at Florida State University College of Law because she graduated from there also. That's Leon County. Tried there too, specifically think I could find a marriage license. No Luck.....I'll just keep trying.
I pasted an article I found about him.
Article:
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Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida
Orange and Osceola Counties
Drug Court Training
Gene Medina Conference Room
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Event Presentation Schedule
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José R. Rodriguez
2005 Don Quixote Award of Excellence, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
of Greater Orlando/Hispanic Building Initiative Fund
2005 Award of Appreciation
Criminal Justice Office - Catholic Diocese of Orlando
For the production of an educational film detailing the Juvenile Justice System
2005 Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity - Martin Luther King “Drum Major” –
Civic Affairs Award recipient.
2005 Recognized by Ahora magazine as one of the 25 most influential Hispanics
in Central Florida.
PERSONAL
He was born in Cienfuegos, Cuba and came to the United States in 1961 at the age of 9. He received his elementary, middle and high school education through the public school system of Miami-Dade County, Florida graduating from Miami Senior High School in 1971. He married his college (UCF) sweetheart, attorney Ana Tangel-Rodriguez and they have two children Ana Pilar, and Michael. He is fluent in Spanish (his native language) and English as well as proficient in French after several years of study in high school and college.
EDUCATIONAL
Judge Jose R. Rodriguez graduated from Miami Senior High School in 1971. In 1972, just one year after graduating from high school, he received an Associate of Arts degree *advertiser censored* laude from Miami-Dade Community College, North Campus. A Bachelor of Arts degree was awarded *advertiser censored* laude from the University of Central Florida in 1974 (back then – Florida Technological University). He attended the Florida State University College of Law where he earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1977.
PROFESSIONAL , COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
Judge Jose R. Rodriguez has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Central Florida, has been a faculty member of the Florida Judicial College, the Florida College of Advanced Judicial Studies (was part of a team selected to teach the Juvenile Delinquency Track in May of 2005) and past lecturer at the Circuit and County Judges’ educational conferences. He was invited to present as a faculty member of the “Dealing with Differences” diversity workshop of Florida College of Advanced Judicial Studies in May of 2007.
He has served frequently as a panelist at the Juvenile & Family Drug Court National Training Conference of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.
He has also been a lecturer for the “Inside the Courts” community outreach information series sponsored by the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida. On January 23, 2007, he presented the first program on the pervasive impact of drug abuse on the justice system for the “Inside the Courts” citizen information series.
Judge Rodriguez pioneered and presided over the three Orange County Juvenile Drug Court components – Delinquency, Dependency, & Re-Entry. The Juvenile Delinquency Drug Court is the longest running fully operational drug court in the Ninth Judicial Circuit (from its inception in 1997 to 2004) and was nationally recognized as a “mentor” court in June of 2000 by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals and U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Court Program Office.
He was appointed in 2004 by Chief Justice Barbara Pariente to serve a two-year term on the Florida Supreme Court Task Force on Drug Courts charged with the responsibility to increase the use of the Drug Court model of handling substance abuse cases throughout the adult, family/dependency and juvenile divisions. He was selected Chairman of the subcommittee to draft the statewide juvenile delinquency and dependency standards. In 2006, Judge Rodriguez was re-appointed to serve an additional two-year term on the Supreme Court Task Force on Treatment-Based Drug Courts by Chief Justice Fred Lewis.
Judge Rodriguez participated by invitation in a Drug Court Workshop designed to write manuals for the utilization of “Mentor” Drug Courts. Judge Rodriguez also served the Ninth Judicial Circuit as Administrative Judge of the Juvenile Division.
He has participated in a Drug Treatment Court cultural competence curriculum design and faculty training workshop. He was recognized and honored by the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity as a 2005 Martin Luther King “Drum Major” – Civic Affairs Award recipient. (January 2005).
He is on the Advisory Board of Barry University Law School and served as past Chair of the Hispanic Initiative of the Sociedad Americana del Cancer, a national pilot program to provide education, prevention, and access to cancer related services to Hispanics in Central Florida.
Judge Rodriguez participated as a panelist for the University of Maryland’s Casey School of Journalism’s National Conference held in March of 2003 by on the topic of “Reporting on Youth and Crime.”
In May of 2003 produced and lead a Plenary Session Discussion at the National Training Conference of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals on how Public Housing and Drug Treatment Courts can partner to increase the permanency of recovery from drugs by providing a stable environment for recovering addicts.
In October of 2003 Judge Rodriguez served as a Panelist at the invitation of Columbia University’s Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at their national conference Combating Substance in the 21st Century: Positioning the Nation for Progress held in New York City.
As Administrative Judge of the Juvenile Division of the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida, he managed and supervised the daily physical plant operations of the Thomas S. Kirk, Juvenile Justice Center as well as all programs sponsored and overseen by the five judges of Orange County Juvenile Courts. His caseloads have included both Delinquency and Dependency/family cases.
In October of 2004, the Juvenile Re-entry Drug Court he pioneered was heralded by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) as an innovative approach in the use of the Drug Court model to combat juvenile substance abuse in a five-year study on juvenile substance abuse and the justice system. This approach seeks to address the needs of high-risk youth returning to the community from Department of Juvenile Justice residential commitment programs. It is the only program of its type in Florida.
The early work and efforts of the Orlando Juvenile Delinquency Drug Court have recently been documented and praised in a three-year national study published by Urban Institute on past research conducted on juvenile drug courts and the need to continue to improve methods to determine the effectiveness of the juvenile drug court model. Juvenile Drug Courts and Juvenile Substance Abuse, edited by Jeffrey A. Butts and John Roman, Urban Institute Press, Washington, D.C. (2004).
In 2004 and 2005, Judge Rodriguez participated as a speaker on drugs, substance abuse, and prevention at parent/student gatherings sponsored by the Orange County Coalition for a Drug Free Community at Apopka High School (English), West Orange High School (English), and Colonial High School (Spanish).
He is a frequent speaker and lecturer at local, statewide, and national educational conferences.
Judge Rodriguez serves on the advisory board of the Dean of the College of Health and Public Affairs of the University of Central Florida and by invitation of UCF Provost Hickey served on the search committee for the College’s new Dean Michael Frumpkin.
Awards, recognitions community involvement
Past Chairman – American Cancer Society Hispanic Initiative
Founding member of the Hispanic Bar Association of Central Florida
Outstanding Community Service Award – Hispanic Bar Association
Joint Recipient (with wife Ana) 2002
1996-2001 Member – Board of Trustees WMFE Public Broadcast Stations
2005 Don Quijote Award of Excellence, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
of Greater Orlando/Hispanic Building Initiative Fund
2005 Award of Appreciation
Criminal Justice Office - Catholic Diocese of Orlando
For the production of an educational film detailing the Juvenile Justice System
2005 Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity - Martin Luther King “Drum Major” –
Civic Affairs Award recipient.
2005 Recognized by Ahora magazine as one of the 25 most influential Hispanics in Central Florida.
Moot Court Competition Judge – FAMU and Barry University Law Schools
First Central Florida American Inn of Court #123
Member ’91, President (‘93-‘95) (an organization of judges, lawyers, and law students based on the British Inn of Court model who meet regularly to further their legal education, foster ethics, professionalism, and civility in the practice of law)
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