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===Others===
===Others===
*[[Stephanie Burns]], President and Chief Executive Officer of [[Dow Corning]].
*[[http://www.dowcorning.com/content/about/aboutmedia/burns_bio.asp Stephanie Burns]], President and Chief Executive Officer of [[Dow Corning]].
* Honourable [[Hyden C. I. Gittens]], Lt. Governor of the Island Territory of [[Sint Eustatius|St. Eustatius]], [[Netherlands Antilles]] '89
* Honourable [[http://www.statiagovernment.com/ltgovernor.html Hyden C. I. Gittens]], Lt. Governor of the Island Territory of [[Sint Eustatius|St. Eustatius]], [[Netherlands Antilles]] '89
*[[Gerald Grant]], vice president and district manager for [[AXA|AXA Advisors, LLC]].
*[[Gerald Grant]], vice president and district manager for [[AXA|AXA Advisors, LLC]].
*[[Adolfo Henriques]], chairman/CEO of [[Regions Financial|Regions Financial-Florida]].
*[[Adolfo Henriques]], chairman/CEO of [[Regions Financial|Regions Financial-Florida]].

Revision as of 19:17, 3 May 2007

Florida International University
Seal of Florida International University
MottoSpes Scientia Facultas (Latin: "Hope, Knowledge, Opportunity")
TypePublic
Established1965
Endowment$91.1 million
PresidentDr. Modesto A. Maidique
Academic staff
2,974
Students39,500
Undergraduates31,000
Postgraduates8,500
Location
Miami
,
Florida
,
USA
CampusUrban, 573.4 acres (2.31 km²)
ColorsBlue and Gold            
NicknameGolden Panthers
MascotRoary the Panther
Websitewww.fiu.edu

Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university located in Miami, Florida, well-known for its architecture, business, engineering, hospitality management, and law programs. It currently has more than 39,500 students, 2,974 full-time faculty, and 117,500 alumni, making it the largest university in South Florida and placing it among the nation’s 20 largest colleges and universities.

Florida International University is a Carnegie Doctoral/Research Extensive institution, the top designation by the Carnegie Foundation and has awarded over 136,000 degrees. [1] The university comprises 27 separate colleges and schools that offer more than 205 programs of study with more than 280 majors.

FIU is ranked among the top 100 public national universities in the U.S. News & World Report annual guide to "America's Best Colleges." FIU was the youngest institution in that group. U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" (2006 and 2007) also ranks FIU's undergraduate international business programs 7th best in the nation and lists the Chapman Graduate School of Business among the top 20 business schools in the U.S. for excellence in international business. In 2007, the College of Law achieved a 94 percent passing rate, the highest in the state of Florida, while being the youngest law school in the country. [2]

This recognition comes as the academic quality of the university improves and its admissions rates become more selective. Admission standards have also increased with acceptance rates dropping greatly from 63.2% for Fall 2005 to 42.8% for Fall 2006. [3] The average incoming freshmen had a SAT score of 1131, a 24 ACT score and a 3.64 high school GPA. [4]

History

Birth of FIU

The founding of Florida International University began in 1943, when state Sen. Ernest 'Cap' Graham (father of future Florida governor and U.S. senator Bob Graham) presented the state legislature with the initial proposal for the establishment of a public university in South Florida.

Sen. Graham is recognized for his early awareness of the necessity of a public university to serve Miami’s growing population. While his bill did not pass, Graham persisted in presenting his proposal to colleagues, advising them that the city needed a state university.

In 1964, Senate Bill 711 was introduced by Florida senator Robert M. Haverfield; it instructed the state Board of Education and the Board of Regents (BOR), to begin planning for the development of a state university in Miami. The bill was signed into law by then-governor W. Haydon Burns in June 1965. FIU was on its way to becoming a reality.

FIU's founding president Charles "Chuck" Perry was appointed by the Board of Regents in July 1969 after a nationwide search. Just 31 years old, the new president was the youngest in the history of the State University System and, at the time, the youngest university president in the country.

Perry recruited the three co-founders - Butler Waugh, Donald McDowell and Nick Sileo - who came to abandoned Tamiami Airport in the summer of 1969 and launched the monumental task of creating a new university. Alvah Chapman, former Miami Herald publisher and Knight Ridder chairman, used his civic standing and media power to assist the effort. In the 1980s, Chapman would become chair of the FIU Foundation Board of Trustees.

The Opening of the Doors

In September 1972, 5,667 students finally entered the new state university. Miami had been the largest city in the country lacking a public baccalaureate-granting institution, and now it finally had a university that offered both accessibility and affordability. Eighty percent of the student body had just graduated from Miami-Dade Community College. A typical student entering FIU was 25 years old and attending school full-time while holding down a full-time job. Forty-three percent were married. FIU was far from a typical university.

Negotiations with University of Miami and Miami-Dade Community College led FIU to open as an upper-division only school. It would be 10 years before lower-division classes were added.

The first commencement, held in June 1973, was held in the reading room of the ground floor of Primera Casa (today called the Perry Building) - the only place large enough on campus for the ceremony. More than 1,500 family members and friends watched FIU's first class of 191 graduates receive their diplomas.

By late 1975, after seven years at the helm, Chuck Perry felt he had accomplished his goal and left the University to become president and publisher of the Sunday newspaper magazine Family Weekly (now USA Weekend), one of the country's largest magazines. When he left, there were over 10,000 students attending classes and a campus with five major buildings and a sixth being planned.

Growth of the University

Harold Crosby, the University's second president and the founding president of the University of West Florida in Pensacola, agreed in 1976 to serve a three-year "interim" term. Under his leadership, the North Campus (which would be officially renamed the Biscayne Bay Campus in February) - located on the former Interama site on Biscayne Bay - was opened in 1977. State Senator Jack Gordon was instrumental in securing funding for the development of the campus. President Crosby was also insistent that the "I" in FIU be highlighted, which prompted the launching of new programs with an international focus and the recruitment of faculty from the Caribbean and Latin America. President Crosby's resignation in January 1979, triggered the search for a "permanent" president.

View of the Ryder College of Business Administration Building from the northern entrance to FIU's University Park campus.

Gregory Baker Wolfe, a former United States diplomat and then-president of Portland State University became FIU's third president, from 1979 to 1986. After stepping down as president, Wolfe went on to teach in the university's International Relations department. The student union on the Biscayne Bay Campus is named in his honor.

FIU Today

In 1986, Dr. Modesto A. Maidique became President of FIU. Maidique set forth a number of goals for the institution, including a substantial growth in its ability to serve the local population, the addition of a football team to the sports program, and the development of programs in architecture, law, and medicine. These goals have been achieved - FIU has since grown to become the largest university in South Florida, with a budget of over $586 million and an economic impact of more than $1.7 billion on the South Florida economy. [5]

FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. Sponsored research funding (grants and contracts) from external sources for the year 2005-2006 totaled $92 million. The University is ranked as a Research University in the High Research Activity category of the Carnegie Foundation’s prestigious classification system. [6]

Since 2001, FIU has grown immensely with the construction of three new residence halls, a School of Architecture, College of Law and Marine Biology, a new recreation center for students, three new parking garages, the Frost Art Museum, new Greek houses, and numerous classroom buildings [7]. In 2002, FIU achieved two major milestones: fielding its first football team, and opening the first public law school in South Florida, the Florida International University College of Law. In March of 2006, the Florida Board of Governors approved FIU's bid to open a College of Medicine, which will begin operating in 2009.

Academics

File:Fiu logo2.gif
The FIU logo.

FIU offers more than 204 bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctorate programs in 27 colleges and schools. In addition, 95% of the Faculty have terminal degrees, and 57% currently have tenure at the university with a student/teacher ratio of 17:1.

In the last five years, there has been a 64% increase in applications to the university with a 42.8% acceptance rate for Fall 2006, which has greatly decreased as the university becomes more selective. The average incoming freshmen for Fall 2006 had a SAT score of 1131, a 24 ACT score and a 3.64 high school GPA. [8]

FIU is also ranked among the top 100 public national universities in the U.S. News & World Report annual guide to "America's Best Colleges." FIU was the youngest institution in that group.

Facilities

FIU has two major campuses and several minor campuses around South Florida. The largest campus, University Park (UP), encompasses 344 acres (1.4 km²) in west Miami-Dade County, Florida, several miles southwest of Miami International Airport. Until recent years, aerial pictures of the campus clearly revealed the features of the airport that used to occupy the space. Construction has obliterated most of these features, however - and has caused some disconcertion among students. With several major buildings now under construction at any given time, already-stressed parking lots have been closed off from student use, serving instead as staging areas for construction equipment.

However, to alleviate these stresses, 2 new Parking Garages have been completed within the last 2 years. Current construction on the University Park campus includes an independent art museum for the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, a Business School complex, a 45,000 seat football stadium (2010). Recently completed is the College of Law building and Lakeview Residence Hall.

The University Park Campus suffered a direct hit by Hurricane Katrina as it passed through South Florida on August 25 2005. The storm felled many trees and damaged buildings under construction, but existing campus facilities experienced little damage, and the University was able to open for the Fall semester as scheduled on August 29 2005.

The second major campus is the Biscayne Bay Campus (BBC) in North Miami and is about 200 acres (809,000 m²), directly on the bay and adjacent to the Oleta River State Park, with which FIU has a research partnership. Access to these resources has inspired the creation of a marine biology program on the BBC campus, for which a state-of-the-art facility is now in the late stages of construction. The BBC campus is also adjacent to the Munisport Landfill, known to locals as Munisport Dump, a site previously listed on the Federal Superfund list as one of the country's most toxic waste dumps. That area is now being developed with condominiums, and a large K-8 school. University buses run between the main campuses throughout the day on school days.[9]

Student Housing

The eight-story Green Library at FIU's University Park campus is the University's largest building and the largest library in the Southeastern United States.

The main campus contains all of the University's student housing facilities, with more than 3,000 beds distributed throughout various apartment buildings and residence hall facilities on the University Park Campus, with approximately 14% of students living on-campus. Another 300 beds are in a single apartment building on the Biscayne Bay Campus at the Bay Vista Housing.

There is a main push for on-campus housing, with the opening of three new residence halls between 2002 and 2006, with more residence halls and 3 fraternity and sorority mansions expected to be constructed within the next few years. Future construction of residence halls will be built on the northwest side of campus by the Graduate School of Business Building.

University Park:

  • University Park Apartments (1986)
  • Panther Hall (1996)
  • University Park Towers (2000)
  • Everglades Hall (2002)
  • Lakeview Hall North (2006)
  • Lakeview Hall South (2006)

Biscayne Bay Campus:

  • Bay Vista Housing (1984)

Libraries

The eight-story Green Library, is the main FIU library and is the largest building on-campus as well as the largest library in the Southeastern United States. Other libraries include the College of Law Library in Balart Hall, the Pines Center Library, the Wolfsonian Library, the Biscayne Bay Library, the Engineering Center Library and the future College of Medicine Library.

The Library holdings include over 1,973,612 volumes, 40,813 current serials, 3,997,890 microform units, and 159,978 audio visual units.

Regional Campuses

  • A 36 acre (145,000 m²) Engineering Center (EC), which houses the College of Engineering, located within two miles of University Park. This campus is also serviced by University transportation. It is also the home of the Motorola Nanofabrication Research Facility.
  • A Graduate Business School Center in Downtown Miami.
  • A campus shared with several other universities and colleges in Davie, Florida
  • A recently opened site in Homestead, Florida, which is at the southern end of Miami-Dade County.
  • In the Summer of 2006, the University opened a campus in Tianjin, China, from which a branch of its Hospitality Management program operates. The facility was constructed as a cooperative venture with the local municipal government.

Current Construction and Expansion

  • Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum (2007)
  • Graduate Business School Complex (2007)
  • New Soccer Field (2007)
  • Art Studio (2007)
  • Medical School Complex (Fall 2009)
  • 45,000-seat Football Stadium (Phase I: 2008, Phase II: 2010)
  • Molecular Biology Building (2010)
  • Social Sciences Building (2010)
  • Student Services Building to house undergraduate admissions, advising, financial aid and a welcome center (2011)

Recognition

In 2000, FIU received the highest research university ranking conferred by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. That same year, FIU became the youngest university to be awarded Phi Beta Kappa chapter, the country's oldest and most distinguished academic honor society. FIU is one of only 78 universities nationwide to hold both designations.

FIU has been ranked among the top 100 public national universities in the U.S. News & World Report annual guide to "America's Best Colleges." FIU was the youngest institution in that group. However, FIU was placed in the fourth tier of the National Universities category which includes both public and private schools [10]. The magazine also reported that FIU students are among the least indebted college students in the nation, and it recognized the university as a "best buy" in higher education.

In 1998, Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine ranked FIU as the country's 18th best value in public higher education. FIU was named one of the top 10 public commuter colleges in the U.S. in the 1995 edition of Money Guide, an annual report published by Money magazine, and has been cited in several other of the country's leading college guides.

FIU recently ranked among the best values in public higher education in the country, according to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine’s 2006 survey, “100 Best Values in Public Colleges.” FIU ranked among the top 50 nationally for in-state students and among the top 100 nationally for out-of-state and international students.

FIU recently ranked 3rd in granting bachelor's degrees to minorities and 9th in granting master's degrees to minorities (among the top 100 degree producing colleges and universities), according to Diverse Issues in Higher Education, June 1, 2006.

College of Business Administration

Fortune Small Business (March 8, 2006) cited FIU's business school as among the "Ten Cool Colleges for Entrepreneurs," offering "some of the most innovative programs for fledgling business owners."

U.S. News & World Report ranks FIU’s undergraduate international business programs 7th in the nation and their graduate programs among the top 20. The university has also been named one of the “10 Cool Colleges for Entrepreneurs” by Fortune Small Business magazine. Our Executive MBA program was recently ranked #1 in Florida by the Financial Times.

U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" (2006 and 2007) ranks FIU's undergraduate international business programs 7th best in the nation and lists the Chapman Graduate School of Business among the top 20 business schools in the U.S. for excellence in international business.

BusinessWeek (2002, 2004) ranks the College of Business among the top 68 graduate business schools in the U.S. and in the top 25 among public business schools.

The 1999 National CPA Examination Report noted that FIU Accounting graduates ranked first in the nation in passing the CPA exam on the first try and are consistently (last 5 years) ranked in the top 5 in their exam scores. In January 2001, the Academy of Management Journal ranked FIU's College of Business Administration (CBA) Management Information Systems (MIS) unit the 11th best in the U.S.

File:FIU Law.jpg
The College of Law logo.

Hispanic Business (since 1998) and Hispanic Trends (since 2003) have placed the College of Business among the top 25 business schools for Hispanics and most recently in the top 10.

América Economía ranks the College of Business among the top international business schools in the world for Latin American business students.

College of Law

In 2007, the College of Law achieved a 94.4 percent passing rate, the highest in the state of Florida, while being the youngest law school in the country. [11] A few weeks earlier, the FIU College of Law had accomplished the rare feat of entering the U.S. News & World Report rankings in the third tier (most new law schools begin in the fourth tier and take several years to work their way up to the third tier).

Engineering, Creative Writing and Hospitality Management

FIU's engineering programs are consistently ranked among the best in the United States. The program is well-funded, partly from major research projects including Motorola’s Nanofabrication Research Facility. The university is 7th among all universities - public and private - in the number of U.S. Patents.

The Creative Writing Program is ranked among the top ten in the country by "Who Runs American Literature?" in the Dictionary of Literary Biography.

The School of Hospitality and Tourism Management is one of the nation’s top programs. The School of Hospitality Management is recognized by industry leaders as one of the nation's top five hospitality management programs. [12]

Student Life

Greek Life

FIU has an extremely active Greek Life with over 29 fraternities and sororities divided into three governing councils, the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), The Panhellenic Council (PC) and the Interfraternity Council (IFC). The Interfraternity Council governs over Alpha Epsilon Pi, Delta Lambda Phi, Pi Kappa Phi, Beta Theta Pi, Phi Gamma Delta, Sigma Alpha Mu, Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Sigma Kappa, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Lambda Theta Phi, Pi Kappa Alpha, Tau Kappa Epsilon. The Panhellenic Council governs over Alpha Omicron Pi, Delta Phi Omega, Phi Sigma Sigma, Alpha Xi Delta, Lambda Theta Alpha, Sigma Sigma Sigma, Delta Phi Epsilon and Phi Mu. The National Pan-Hellenic Council governs over Alpha Phi Alpha, Omega Psi Phi, Zeta Phi Beta, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Kappa Alpha Psi, and Phi Beta Sigma. Currently, there are two on-campus fraternity mansions for Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) and Pi Kappa Alpha with plans to construct three more in the next year in the Greek Circle.

The Beacon

The Beacon is the FIU student newspaper for both the University Park and Biscayne Bay Campus. The Beacon is published twice weekly in a compact format during the Fall and Spring semesters (Monday and Thursday) and once a week on Monday during the Summer. It is split into five unique sections, News, reporting mainly on campus and local events, At the Bay for news on the Biscayne Bay Campus, Sports, Opinion and Life! The Beacon is available free campus-wide mainly in the residence halls, Graham Center and campus buildings, and usually contains a mix of campus and local news coverage.

Radiate FM

WRGP Radiate FM is FIU's student-run radio station. It broadcasts on 95.3 MHz at the University Park Campus and on 96.9 MHx at the Biscayne Bay Campus. The signal originates in Homestead, FL on 88.1 MHz and a broadcast translator rebroadcasts Radiate FM's signal to the University Park Campus and later again translated to the Biscayne Bay Campus.

Arts and Culture

In recent years, FIU has emerged as one of South Florida’s major cultural assets, offering programs to both students and the local community. Several of its programs are nationally renowned for their excellence.

FIU has two museums, the Frost Art Museum and the Wolfsonian-FIU. The Frost Art Museum is located on-campus and will celebrate the grand opening of its new facility on the south side of campus in the Fall of 2007. The Wolfsonian-FIU is located in Miami Beach and promotes the collection, preservation and understanding of decorative art and design from the period 1885-1945.

The School of Theatre and Dance produces a wide variety of live student performances, and the School of Music presents an annual fall series of concerts that showcase talent in a variety of genres. The festival features FIU musicians as well as distinguished visiting performers. Many plays, musicals, concerts, operas, and dance shows are produced each year, through the School of Theatre, Dance, & Speech Communication at FIU's Wertheim Performing Arts Center.

FIU annually hosts the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival on campus through the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. The festival is one of the major culinary events in the nation, and an event that showcases the talents of the world’s most renowned wine and spirits producers, chefs and culinary personalities.

Student Government

FIU has an extensive, highly influential Student Government Association with an operating budget of over $9.3 million.[13] The Student Government Association looks over and funds the over 300 student clubs and organizations and honor societies at the university. Because of the sizeable branch at the Biscayne Bay Campus, FIU has long had two separate student governments.

Athletics

Main article: FIU Golden Panthers
File:FIU.jpg
The FIU logo displaying the Golden Panther mascot.

FIU colors are dark blue and gold, and their nickname is the Golden Panthers. The school's original nickname, the "Sunblazers", was changed in 1987. FIU is a member of the NCAA, participating in Division I and the Sun Belt Conference in all sports except for men's soccer (which competes in Conference USA as an affiliate member). It joined the conference in 1998. FIU had previously competed in the Trans America Athletic Conference, from 1991 to 1998.

FIU competes in the following 11 sports:

FIU's athletics department has produced several professional and Olympic athletes, including current players in Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, and the National Basketball Association.

FIU won two NCAA Division II national championships in men's soccer, in 1982 and 1984. To date these are the only national titles the university has achieved in athletic competition. The men's soccer team reached the Division I championship game in 1996, losing to St. John's University 4-1.

The men's soccer team competes as an affiliate member of Conference USA. This relationship began in 2005 and was formed since the Sun Belt Conference does not sponsor men's soccer. The team played in the Atlantic Soccer Conference from 2000 to 2004.

File:FIU old logo.jpg
The old FIU athletics logo used predominantly during the 1990s.

The school's football team competes in the annual Shula Bowl against in-state rival Florida Atlantic University. They play home games at FIU Stadium nicknamed "The Cage" and are currently coached by Mario Cristobal. The men's and women's basketball teams, along with the women's volleyball team, play their home games at the Pharmed Arena, and baseball plays its home games at University Park Stadium.

In 2005, the Golden Panthers moved to the SBC for football, making their transition from D-1AA to D-1A complete. In their first season in the Sunbelt FIU winning (5-6). Later on October 14, 2006, FIU and the University of Miami, began a cross-town rivalry after a football game in which both teams caused a brawl, consequently one of the largest in collegiate history. However games between the two schools are expected to continue as normal despite the violence that erupted in their first meeting. See Miami-FIU brawl.

See also: FIU Golden Panthers Football

Miscellaneous

  • A ropes course called the Team Ropes Adventure Challenge program is located at the Biscayne Bay Campus.
  • In 2006 Carlos Alvarez, an FIU professor, and his wife, Elsa, (also employed by FIU) were arrested and charged with spying for the Cuban government.
  • The "Sunblazers" basketball team was featured in a second season episode of Miami Vice entitled "The Fix".

Notable alumni

With more than 117,500 alumni, Golden Panthers constitute the fastest growing university alumni group in Miami-Dade County. FIU confers more than half of all degrees awarded by universities in Miami-Dade County.

Athletics

Law and Politics

Authors and Entertainers

Others

External links

Others

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