FIU 3.0 A New Strategic Paradigm by
President Modesto A. Maidique Speech delivered to FIU Leadership Team Monday, September 15, 2008 College of Law Auditorium Miami, Florida
Florida International University was founded in 1965 and is Miami’s only public research university. With a student body of more than 38,000, FIU graduates more Hispanics than any other university in the country. Its 17 colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. FIU has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a “High Research Activity University.” In 2006 FIU was authorized to establish a medical school, which will welcome its first class in 2009. FIU’s College of Law recently received accreditation in the fastest time allowed by the American Bar Association.
Photo by Ken Johnson
Florida International University President Modesto A. Maidique, Ph.D. Modesto A. Maidique is the fourth and current president of Florida International University (FIU), Miami’s public research university. With an enrollment of more than 38,000 students, FIU ranks among the 20 largest universities in the U.S. and is the nation’s largest Hispanic-serving university. Appointed in 1986, Dr. Maidique is the longest-serving university president in Florida and the second longest-serving research university president in the nation. For more than two decades, he has led FIU in its journey to become one of the nation’s top public research universities. During Dr. Maidique’s tenure, the Colleges of Law and Engineering and a School of Architecture were established. He led the way in founding the FIU College of Medicine, making it one of only three U.S. medical schools established in the last 25 years. The first class of medical students will begin their studies at FIU in August 2009. Under Dr. Maidique’s leadership, enrollment at FIU more than doubled, and the university added 22 doctoral programs and 18 undergraduate programs. FIU’s sponsored research funding grew from $6 million to nearly $110 million, and the institution’s endowment experienced exponential growth from less than $3 million to over $105 million. During this period, the university added a division I-A football team, gained membership in the nation’s oldest honor society, Phi Beta Kappa, and was included as a doctoral-and-research extensive university in the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classification. Dr. Maidique came to FIU with an elite background in both academe and business. He has held academic appointments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Stanford University. He co-founded the Analog Devices, Inc., Semiconductor Division. He also served as CEO of Collaborative Research (now Genome Therapeutics) and as senior partner in Hambrecht & Quist Venture Partners. He holds several U.S. patents for semiconductor devices. Internationally recognized as a leader in higher education and management of high technology enterprises, Dr. Maidique’s expertise has been sought at the highest levels. President George H.W. Bush appointed him to the President’s Educational Policy Advisory Committee, and he served in a similar capacity for President George W. Bush. He later served on the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board and is a member of the Presidential Scholars Commission. A past chairman of The Beacon Council, Miami’s economic development authority, Dr. Maidique currently serves on the boards of National Semiconductor and the Carnival Corporation. Dr. Maidique has published extensively in leading academic journals. He is a contributing author to ten books, and a co-author of Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation, a textbook widely used at colleges and universities. An article he co-authored, “The Art of High Technology Management,” is one of the best-selling articles published by the Sloan Management Review. He is also a co-author of Energy Future, a New York Times bestseller on energy policy. Dr. Maidique received B.S., M.S., E.E., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is a graduate of the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School. He is married to Nancy Maidique, a Phi Beta Kappa FIU alumna, and has two children, Ana Teresa, of Duke University, and Mark Alex, a Cornell architect.
FIU 3.0: A New Strategic Paradigm G
ood morning and thank you for being here. I want to begin by extending my gratitude to all of you for the leadership you have demonstrated through a trying and painful chapter of FIU history. This has been, without a doubt, the worst budget crisis FIU has ever faced. Many of you in this room carried the burden of making difficult choices about program and employee terminations. I know you agonized about each decision and every dollar. In the end, we can only hope that such a process is executed thoughtfully, carefully and respectfully, as it was at our university. We weathered the budget crisis without hurting our core academic mission or the quality of education FIU provides. We did so based on the strength of our community, which worked diligently and intensely on FIU’s behalf. The chancellor of our State University System, former FIU Provost Mark Rosenberg, has publicly praised this institution as a model of how a budget process should work. All of you who participated deserve to be commended. I especially want to recognize Vice President Rosa Jones as the seniormost member of our administration team, with over 35 years of FIU service. She has been a steadfast advocate for students not only through this budget crisis, but throughout her tenure here.
The Road Ahead Today, however, I want to talk about the road ahead. I want to talk about what we can do together as a team to overcome these challenges. I want to talk about the opportunities we now have to build on our past accomplishments. I believe as strongly as ever that Florida International University can and will take its place among the country’s top urban public research universities. Each academic year allows us to begin anew with a fresh group of students. We’re off to a great start. This fall, FIU welcomes the most talented freshman class in our history, with an average GPA of 3.69 and average SAT of 1160 – 143 points above the national average. Over eighty percent of our incoming freshmen
were awarded Bright Futures scholarships. In a few months our College of Medicine will select an elite inaugural class of 40 from a pool of well over 2,300 applicants. Plans for the future of the college are shaping up. Figure 1 shows the northeast corner of the University Park campus now and in 2025 after the completion of the Health and Life Sciences complex. FIU will also be center stage in Beijing, China when we open “Future House USA” showcasing American engineering ingenuity to the world. And thousands upon thousands of FIU alumni have tickets in hand ready to return to FIU with more
I believe as strongly as ever that Florida International University can and will take its place among the country’s top urban public research universities. enthusiasm than ever as we inaugurate our new football stadium this Saturday, September 20. No matter how difficult this year has been for us, however, it has been even more difficult for the underprivileged in our community. We are now rolling out our annual United Way Campaign led by Divina Grossman, Ruth Hamilton and Tom Breslin. This year FIU employees will have the option of directing their United Way gift back to FIU by giving to the First Generation Fund; dollars that are matched by the state to support education for students who are the first in their family to attend college. I urge all of you to participate. And we start the year with more good news on the university fundraising front with over $10 million raised this quarter. And, there is $20 million more out in gift proposals.
FIU Academic Health Sciences View - 2008
FIU Academic Health Sciences Center Development - Future
FIU is moving forward this fall with the continuing support of the outstanding members of our Board of Trustees, Foundation Board of Directors, President’s Council and Alumni Association Board of Directors. I’m proud to acknowledge the increasing involvement of our alumni in the university’s leadership. For the first time, the chairman of the Foundation Board did his undergraduate work at FIU, alumnus Joseph Caruncho, ‘81, a business leader and great friend who has given generously of his time and resources to FIU. I also would like to recognize the new president of the Alumni Association, Jose Perez de Corcho, ‘95. In the coming years, Jose will help lead a significant project for FIU, the construction of a new alumni center across from the football stadium.
FIU 3.0 Now let’s talk about the future. You’ve heard me talk about FIU 3.0 before, and today I am going to outline in greater detail this vision for our future. Along the way, I will be sharing early results from a recent comprehensive marketing survey of our constituents conducted by STAMATS, and funded by the FIU Foundation. Many of the findings underscore the importance of the institutional objectives I will outline today. At the same time, the findings remind us that despite the obstacles placed in our path, FIU is doing a first class job educating its students. Indeed, the majority of the students surveyed indicated FIU was their first choice and they would recommend FIU because we provided them with a good experience and good education. Our alumni echo that positive sentiment. Most of our graduates also say they would recommend FIU to a friend or relative. FIU 3.0 is much more than a new program. FIU 3.0 is the new strategic vision we must pursue in order to continue to move forward. To understand FIU 3.0 as the next step forward, we need to take a look back. Many of you know that FIU began as a two-year upper division college fully dependent on state funding. That founding paradigm, FIU 1.0, didn’t last long. For over 20 years, FIU has been in the second stage of its development. FIU 2.0 was a time of rapid transformation and, to some extent, an exploration of what we should become. We successfully implemented major initiatives set out in our “Millennium Strategic Plan.” Student
enrollment more than doubled. Hundreds of millions of dollars were invested into the construction of academic buildings, laboratories, student housing and recreational facilities. Dozens of new programs were created. Most of them succeeded, but some proved to not be the right fit. A new budget process was created to align institutional strategy and expenditures. Benchmarks were introduced to facilitate determinations about faculty funding and compensation. Most of FIU’s growth during this time was underwritten by the state; however, there was growing awareness that public funding for many state universities was steadily diminishing, especially in Florida.
Indeed, the majority of the students surveyed indicated FIU was their first choice and they would recommend FIU because we provided them with a good experience and a good education. Last year, we recognized the need to further evolve FIU’s strategic plan to accommodate the positive developments on our campus and the less positive developments in state funding. We looked to the year 2015 in an initiative called FIU@50, and began refining our focus. The most important outcome of FIU@50 was the recognition that we could not do all things. (Figure 1) Nevertheless, we have done plenty and we should take pride in our remarkable progress during this time. FIU is exiting FIU 2.0 as a large, dynamic research university with a law school, an architecture school, a public health school, an engineering school, an emerging medical school and a comprehensive offering of doctoral programs. So what’s next? If FIU 2.0 was a process of getting there, in FIU 3.0, we are there. A major public research university has a strong academic core, business and law
schools, a medical school, research expenditures in excess of $100 million and a growing endowment of well over $100 million. We have all of that. Now, let’s move on. We mature by proceeding with a disciplined, systematic approach to every aspect of our institution’s development: enrollment, academics, operations, fund raising, alumni affinity and budgeting. (Figure 2)
We mature by fundamentally transforming our customer service in every department, college and division. FIU 3.0 leaves no room for deluding ourselves about our weaknesses. This new era calls for the sort of honest self assessment that stimulates change. FIU 3.0 demands truly efficient and responsive operations, it requires a new, large, self-reliant funding paradigm, and it seeks strategic growth in research and academic programs where FIU can legitimately build national recognition. Our intellectual focus will align with the major movements of the 21st century: health and life sciences, the environment and globalization. At the same time, we will sustain a strong undergraduate core.
FIU 3.0 Objectives FIU 3.0 has three primary objectives that will define our institution and guide us into the future.
Figure 1
First, FIU will provide affordable, high-quality undergraduate education for the students of South Florida, Florida and the world. Second, FIU will advance its standing as an urban public research university by enhancing the quality and magnitude of its research and doctoral degrees. Third, FIU will become established as the national school of choice for international education with quality programs that graduate the global leaders of tomorrow. (Figure 3)
Figure 2
Attaining these goals will require institutional focus and self-discipline. We will say no to new programs, new partnerships or new initiatives that do not support these objectives. There will be funding challenges. We are in the midst of one now. However, year-to-year fluctuations in funding—or even a long-term decline—will not deter a strong, mature institution with a clear vision. FIU is turning a corner and we need everyone on board. Our change in strategic direction coincides with a fundamentally important undertaking, reaffirming FIU’s accreditation with the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges (SACS) in 2010. Everyone should be aware that the re-accreditation process is different today than it was a decade ago.
Figure 3
In the past, SACS emphasized academic programs in its review. Now, SACS is looking at everything. Universities must document compliance with 90 different principles
practice. Part of the hard work will be maximizing these opportunities while living within our financial means.
Strong Financial Plan
Figure 4
We embark on FIU 3.0 with a three-year financial plan and strong financial leadership to guide us through these difficult economic times. When we began, we made conservative projections on state funding in our budget plan. Our conservative projections have, unfortunately, now become the new reality. And as many of you know, we subsequently received an additional four percent cut in funding. We have been able to offset those losses with wise planning and unanticipated gains in differential tuition. Today we are managing the budget carefully and working through a series of options to minimize the possibility of additional cuts. You can be assured that we are not banking our future on expectations for a turnaround in state funds or a change of heart from state legislators.
Figure 5
that examine every area of the university, from learning outcomes to information technology to parking. In short, reaffirming FIU accreditation will require involvement from every units. FIU must submit its compliance report to SACS in September 2009, which is right around the corner in the life of a university. Completing this process should be a top priority. The second component of the SACS review involves the creation and implementation of a Quality Enhancement Program, or QEP. FIU has decided that its QEP will focus on improving international education for all students, a choice that supports the objectives of FIU 3.0. Professor Hilary Landorf in the College of Education is heading this initiative.
I have confidence in the financial plan we have created for the long term, but I would be remiss not to add a caveat regarding the limitations of even the best financial plan. FIU’s budget is in the hands of the most impressive financial executive I have ever worked with, Vivian Sanchez, and her team. She has many talents; but unfortunately, she is not clairvoyant. A three-year financial plan can only be built on reasonable assumptions regarding inflation, the real estate market, energy costs and a host of other economic variables.
Focus on Customer Service It is also important to remember that the budget cuts do not mean we have now optimized cost savings at FIU. Hand-in-hand with cutting costs is streamlining our operational efficiency. We achieve efficiency when we excel at customer service. Excellent customer service underpins all of the objectives in FIU 3.0, from academic excellence to successful fundraising.
The SACS site visit in March 2010 will be largely devoted to an assessment of our QEP plan and implementation strategy. The program must be tested and ready to implement on a university-wide basis in Fall 2010.
It is no secret that we have sometimes fallen short in customer service. When students were surveyed about their FIU experience, we heard many positive comments regarding our faculty, our low cost and our diversity. But we heard far too many complaints about bureaucracy, hassles and red tape.
The SACS process will certainly require hard work, but it also presents the perfect opportunity to put FIU 3.0 into
Customer service difficulties are almost unavoidable when an institution grows as quickly as FIU. We need to
The prospect of reinventing our business model is formidable in these economic times. But at FIU, we always rise to meet a challenge. take these complaints seriously. If we do not, we suffer the consequences in lower graduation rates, wasted dollars, reputation and fund raising. Our frustrated students eventually become alumni, the same alumni we ask to give back to FIU. If we do not provide them with a smooth and positive educational experience as students, they have no reason to support FIU as graduates. In FIU 3.0 we need all of our graduates to feel a strong sense of loyalty to this institution. Fostering that affinity is directly tied to customer service. (Figure 4)
A New Funding Paradigm
This is not just a matter of doing more with less. Customer service is about doing things differently. Let us work together to change the culture of our institution so that all employees recognize they are here to serve. Our first priority is responding to the student trying to register, assisting that alumnus trying to get her transcripts or helping the parent trying to find Panther Hall. I am asking you today to actively cultivate a mode of friendly responsiveness within your divisions. You don’t have to be an employee of the Registrar’s Office to adopt the attitude of their “Ask Me” campaign. If the issue is training, you can work with Human Resources to obtain training internally and externally.
These numbers present us with some choices. We will either stumble along making do with what the state gives us (A), or we will seize this opportunity to do things differently (B). Option A paints an ugly picture for the future with declining quality and an even worse student-faculty ratio. I can tell you right now, FIU is going with option B. The prospect of reinventing our business model is formidable in these economic times. But at FIU, we always rise to meet a challenge. Greater financial independence can definitely be achieved. I, for one, look forward to the day when we no longer have to beg for what is fair and equitable; instead, we exercise much greater control over our destiny.
We are taking action on the customer service front, starting with FIU’s website. For the first time in FIU’s history, we are hiring a website administration team that will completely revamp our online presence. The mandate for this team will be to create a modern, easy-to-navigate website that helps our students, alumni, donors, visitors and employees find what they need quickly without having to pick up the phone, wait in line or schedule an appointment.
We must begin to re-imagine a new funding paradigm. To become the exceptional university, we must shift our mentality from state victim to philanthropic victor. Take this past year as an inspiration. Even in these dire financial times, FIU managed to exceed its fund raising goal and brought in a record $52 million in gifts -- that is three times higher than last year.
The new website will present a consistent image of FIU from unit to unit and allow users to have a favorable customer service experience in a virtual world. Our investment in FIU-dot-EDU is one example of how we will channel resources to those areas that sharpen our operations.
In FIU 3.0, every employee must assume state dollars that were available yesterday could be reduced tomorrow. That is the unvarnished reality of higher education in Florida—and across the nation. Since the year 2000 our state funding has been on the decline. Currently, our state is at a 20-year low when it comes to funding per FTE for all its universities. Adjusted for inflation, our 2008-2009 funding per FTE is around $9,000. That figure was almost $16,000 during the 1989-1990 academic year. (Figure 5)
Congratulations to the entire university for a cohesive team effort on fundraising. And a special thanks to the Advancement team for their dedication. In FIU 3.0, if you have an idea that aligns with FIU’s academic objectives, you should not be saying, “This can’t be done because of budget cuts.” You should be asking,
“What other resources can I mobilize to make it happen?” That’s precisely how Professor Yong Tao in the College of Engineering turned an offer to participate in China’s Future House project into a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The Future House came about through partnerships with the Alternative Energy Living Foundation, the National Defense Council Foundation, the American Council on Renewable Energy, the Consumer Energy Alliance and the Environmental Study Institute. The responsibility of saving money is not just for our finance and operations team. Identifying ways to attract new revenue is not just for deans and development officers. In FIU 3.0, our academic leaders and faculty must actively plumb the long list of grants and partnerships that are yet untapped. Professors also need to reach out to the alumni they have influenced who can now make a difference in FIU’s future. Happily, we don’t have to look far to see how a college might operate under this new financial paradigm. Our own College of Nursing and Health Sciences has made impressive strides in this regard under Dean Divina Grossman. To start, the college is sustaining some its most expensive programs by charging tuition plus additional fees to cover costs. Applications to these graduate level programs remain consistently high because, even with the additional fees, an FIU education is still a bargain. The College has a partnership with Miami Beach Anesthesiology Associates which provides up to 50 percent of the funding for faculty salaries in FIU’s nurse anesthetist program. Each year, the program graduates about 30 highly sought-after, specialized nurses with an average starting salary of more than $120,000. To date, the partnership with Miami Beach Anesthesiology has contributed $1.5 million. The College’s Foreign Physicians Nursing Program has received $1.2 million for faculty and staff salaries through partnerships with the HCA East Florida Division and Mercy Hospital. Those dollars were enough to cover the entire cost of the program for the first two cohorts which graduated 80 nurses. HCA has additionally given $500,000 in full scholarships for students in the program. And because this nursing education program has been such a spectacular success, HCA’s West Florida Division provided $400,000 so FIU could extend the program to Tampa via live teleconferencing.
These initiatives in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences stand out in every regard. They strengthen FIU’s concentration in health sciences, they respond to workforce and health care needs in the community and they operate with greatly reduced E&G funding. Divina, keep up the good work. In FIU 3.0, I am asking you to embrace a new philosophy toward funding. We will be publicly assisted not publicly funded. We aim to increasingly derive our financial support from the private sector, individuals, alumni, corporations and foundations. Engage in a dialogue with your staff and faculty about how you might do things differently. One such discussion in FIU’s purchasing department led to the realization that FIU can receive bank rebates by switching from a paper payment system to an online payment system. That change will generate $200,000 for FIU in the first year. This is the kind of thinking we want to see more of in the future. We plan to reward this sort of innovation with the creation of a new Innovation Award for employees which gives a one-time bonus derived from the savings obtained for the university.
Strategic Growth The most exciting part of FIU 3.0 has to do with our academic future—and that returns us to our three objectives. I want to talk a bit about each of these. At large research universities, there is often a trade-off between undergraduate education and graduate research. FIU will not make that compromise. As an urban university, we have a commitment to the South Florida community to provide high-quality undergraduate education. We will emphasize this objective in FIU 3.0 by protecting core programs in the Arts and Sciences and by making strategic investments in new faculty, undergraduate advising and learning communities. FIU’s new program, Quantifying Biology in the Classroom, led by Professor Ophelia Weeks, exemplifies the excellence in undergraduate education we aim to provide. Now entering its second year, QBIC is funded through the university, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). A collaboration of FIU faculty in biology, mathematics, chemistry, statistics, physics, computer sciences, and biomedical engineering, QBIC is a selective,
succeeding and where we are not. His team will look at curriculum and advising to ensure they promote learning. They will also look at graduation rates and the reasons students do not complete their programs, as well as where our Ph.D.s go when they graduate. These data will allow us to improve the quality of the FIU doctoral education.
Figure 6
four-year program for undergraduates with a minimum 3.3 GPA who wish to attend medical school or earn scientific doctoral degrees. FIU is not merely going to pay lip service to its pledge to provide quality undergraduate education. Through programs like QBIC, FIU will prove that it is possible to have a thriving undergraduate program and a thriving research agenda. Raising our national standing as a research university is our next objective. This is important to us and it is important to our students. Our survey showed us that students and alumni are concerned that FIU is not well known outside of Florida. A university of our size puts itself on the map by increasing and improving the quality of research and doctoral education. Our upward trajectory in both over the past 10 years is impressive. Since the year 2000, we have seen 100 percent growth in our number of doctoral graduates. This spring we awarded a record 118 doctorates. I would like to congratulate the faculty of the College of Engineering and Computing. Of the 118 Ph.D.s awarded this spring, 42 were given by the College of Engineering. The Department of Electrical Engineering set a university record for the most doctoral graduates in one year – 18 in all. (Figure 6) We are going to support this objective by investing more heavily in doctoral education. We have converted doctoral stipends from 9 months to 12, and this fall we will increase annual stipends. In the sciences, stipends that were $18,000 will eventually reach $26,000 as part of a multi-year plan to create more attractive graduate assistantships. New dollars have been allocated for recruitment so academic departments can bring promising doctoral candidates to campus. At the same time, Vice President George Walker has begun a review of all Ph.D. programs to determine where we are
Equally important to raising our national research standing is increasing the amount and quality of our sponsored research. Today, FIU’s total expenditures in support of research exceed $100 million. Since 2003 our total research expenditures have increased from $70 million to $108 million. Vice President Walker is to be commended for providing leadership and a strategic research focus for the university in this critical area. Of course, dollar figures alone do not tell the whole story of our progress. To ascertain our status as we begin this next
Raising our national standing as a research university is our next objective. era, I asked Vice President Walker to provide me with a rough assessment of how we rank nationally, and more specifically how we fare against our peer urban research universities. George, Dr. Stephen Mintz, and his team created a simulated ranking system using criteria similar to the new Carnegie ranking system. The headline from his informal study is that we’re probably doing better than any of us realized. Nationally, we estimate that with our new numbers FIU ranks in the top 100 among 262 universities. That should place within the highest research category of the Carnegie Foundation—the so-called very high research category that includes about 100 universities, including all the leading research institutions in the country. Remarkably, FIU is gaining ground at a rapid pace. Research universities achieve their distinction by continually pushing the frontiers of research, scholarship and creativity. During recent months several members of our faculty have received important grant awards which highlight the continued development and growth of our research portfolio.
Leading the way is Professor Luis Salas of Criminal Justice who was awarded $7.9 million from the US Agency for International Development for a sweeping justice system reform project in Colombia.
scholarship because research only reaches its full promise when the results are disseminated broadly to scholars around the world.
Professor Mario de la Rosa in Social Work has received $6.2 million from the National Institutes of Health for AIDS and substance abuse research.
An International Paradigm
Professor Robert Malow in Public Health has received a $1.3 million from the NIH for HIV and alcohol use research. Professor Yi Deng in Engineering has recently been notified that the National Science Foundation has awarded him $5 million for the Center for Innovative Information. Physics Professor Pete Markowitz has been awarded $4.9 million for the Center for High Energy Physics at FIU. Arvind Agarwal, is a rising star in Mechanical and Materials Engineering with an NSF career award and continuous funding from DOD. And just last week, Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm received a 5-year, $5 million award from NASA to fund a University Research Center: WaterSCAPES: Science of Coupled Aquatic Processes in Ecosystems from Space - a multidisciplinary breakthrough research initiative. This type of collaboration is the key to success. Some of the most exciting and important advances in research exist at the borders and connections among disciplines and require the integration of concepts from many different fields. Grant funding provides the resources for those important creative activities to thrive and advance knowledge for all mankind. It could be argued that grant funding is like a child with great promise and potential and scholarship is like the adult who has fulfilled that expectation. Grants such as the ones I mentioned provide research universities with the resources to fuel exciting new discoveries. But research is only the beginning. Faculty publications, citations of faculty work, juried creative works, and awards and honors are the measure of academic success. Our reputation is built on the solid foundation of faculty scholarship across all disciplines, including those without ready access to external funding. I would like to acknowledge the key role of faculty who have published their results in prestigious journals or authored books and monographs. They are at the heart of creativity and
Our third objective, in many ways, is the easiest because it flows from what we have done well for three decades. We have laid the foundation needed to establish FIU as a national school of first choice in the areas of international business, international law and international studies. Our efforts, however, have not been sufficiently integrated and reinforced. We must harness the resources that already exist, reshape them and get the message out: If you want a 21st century education that allows you to compete in the global market of any profession, FIU is the best educational choice. Our own students don’t fully recognize this. When surveyed about what the “international” means at FIU, 69 percent of students said it referred to our diverse campus population while only 2 percent said it has to do with how FIU prepares students for the global marketplace. For too long, the “international” in our name has been defined by our diversity and location. Basically, we’ve been getting by on our good looks and our flair. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. But international should mean more at a university with so many faculty members conducting research around the world. It can mean more at a university where the vast majority of students are already bilingual and bicultural. In FIU 3.0, international will have academic substance and depth. At the undergraduate level, we will soon be rolling out the new Quality Enhancement Program required for SACS accreditation. Simply put, this critical initiative will internationalize FIU’s undergraduate curriculum. Every student in every major will be required to participate and ultimately demonstrate understanding of global issues and worldwide cultures. We will tailor the program to serve specific disciplines. Will it be harder to make this work in engineering than in political science? Sure. But providing every student with a meaningful international academic experience is too important to leave anyone behind. We will be giving our graduates a chance to succeed at a local and a global level. The internationalization of our curriculum is a bold
School of International and Public Affairs
When this program succeeds, FIU will have accomplished what only our institution could dream of doing: Turning every student into a citizen of the world equipped with the analytical and communication skills to succeed in a globalized market. and ambitious idea. I commend Provost Ron Berkman for initiating and championing it. No other large university has undertaken such a comprehensive international effort. (Georgia State put forth an international QEP but it involves only 20 percent of its student body.) When this program succeeds, FIU will have accomplished what only our institution could dream of doing: Turning every student into a citizen of the world equipped with the analytical and communication skills to succeed in a globalized market. The QEP will be one cornerstone of FIU’s strength in international education. Another will be our new School of International and Public Affairs or SIPA. To kick off the new school we will bring to campus four
of the world’s leading internationalists: Francis Fukuyama, Robert Kagan, Parag Khanna and Fareed Zakaria. These well-known public intellectuals will come together at FIU on February 24, 2009, for an extraordinary geo-political summit, the first of many such marquee events I expect with the School of International and Public Affairs. In FIU 3.0, the international of our name will be redefined by the unique educational opportunities we can provide. We will graduate international lawyers with a solid practical foundation in international relations. We will produce Foreign Service officers who possess expertise in international security and development. We will train international business specialists who understand the dynamics of global markets.
Figure 7
These are programs, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, that will attract national attention. They are precisely the sort of academic innovations one would expect from a top urban, public research university. That is the goal we all share and fulfilling the objectives I have outlined will help get us there.
new cost saving measures and new sources of revenue.
Conclusion
I trust the vision of FIU 3.0 emboldens you. We are striving to become a nationally recognized urban public research university. We have laid the foundation for the last 20 years and this vision is within reach.
We start this fall semester with a renewed focus and a vision for the future. FIU 3.0 signifies an exciting juncture in FIU’s history, a time when we will mature and refine our excellence. As FIU’s senior administrators, you play a critical role as we move forward. (Figure 7) Think about FIU 3.0 as a pragmatic road map. Go back to your colleges, divisions, and departments, and review your customer service culture. Your employees must understand this is essential for our success. Examine your operations with a critical eye toward efficiency and quality. Explore
Consider whether your goals for the coming year support our sharply focused academic and operational vision. What needs to happen to align your unit with this new strategic direction? All of these things I have mentioned require a focus on details. In FIU 3.0, the details matter more than ever.
But, we cannot succeed without your elbow grease, your enthusiasm, and your commitment! We have come a long way by thinking big. Let’s continue to think big, to build on our strengths and let’s find new ways for FIU to excel. Thank you.
Florida International University Board of Trustees 2008-2009 OFFICERS Chairperson David R. Parker Chief Operating Officer The Archstone Partnerships Vice Chair Albert E. Dotson, Sr. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Puryear, Inc. Treasurer R. Kirk Landon President The Kirk Foundation Secretary Modesto A. Maidique President Florida International University
MEMBERS Cesar L. Alvarez Chief Executive Officer Greenberg Traurig LLP
Claudia Puig Senior Vice President and Southeastern Regional Manager Univision Radio
Jorge L. Arrizurieta Chair, International Policy Group and Governmental Consultant Akerman Senterfitt, Attorneys at Law
Rosa Sugrañes Founder and Chair Iberia Tiles
Betsy S. Atkins President and Chief Executive Officer Baja, LLC Patricia Frost Philanthropist Miriam López Chief Executive Officer TransAtlantic Bank Albert Maury President and Chief Operating Officer Leon Medical Centers Health Plans
Photo by Michael Upright
FACULTY MEMBER Thomas Breslin Chairperson, FIU Faculty Senate Florida International University STUDENT MEMBER Arthur “AJ” Meyer President, Student Government Association University Park Campus Florida International University
Florida International University Foundation Board of Directors 2008-2009 Officers Chairperson Mr. Joseph L. Caruncho, ’81 CEO Preferred Care Partners Vice Chairperson Mr. Thomas Gene Prescott President The Biltmore Hotel Secretary Ms. Dany Garcia Johnson President & CEO JDM Partners, LLC Treasurer Mr. Noel Guillama-Alvarez President and CEO The Quantum Group, Inc. Renaissance Health Systems, Inc Directors Dr. Nelson Leon Adams, III President Nelson L. Adams MD and Associates Mr. Michael M. Adler Chairman Adler Group, Inc. Mr. Antonio Argiz, ’74 Partner Morrison, Brown, Argiz, and Farra LLP Mr. Carlos B. Castillo, ’88 Partner Seidman, Prewitt, DiBello, & Lopez, P.A. Mr. Thomas Cornish, ’85 President and CEO Seitlin & Company Insurance Mr. Carlos M. de Céspedes Chairman and CEO The ASTRI Group, LLC
Mrs. Veronica Cervera Goeseke Broker Cervera Real Estate, Inc. Mr. Jorge J. Gonzalez, ’88 Regional President, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties Wachovia Bank Mr. Gerald C. Grant, ’78, ’89 Branch Director of Corporate and Individual Finance AXA Advisors Mrs. Dorothea Green Greenstreet Partners Mr. John M. Hogan Practice Area Leader-LitigationSouth Florida Holland & Knight LLP
Mr. Michael R. Mendez, ’03 Business Officer JDM Partners LLC
Mr. Isaac Zelcer Chairman Isaco International
Mr. Albert Morrison, Jr. Partner Morrison, Brown, Argiz & Farra, LLP Mr. Ramiro A. Ortiz President and COO BankUnited
Dr. Sanford L. Ziff Founder of Sunglass Hut
Mr. Luis E. Perez, ’78 Senior Location Executive RICOH/IBM
Mr. Morris Hollander, CPA Partner Rachlin, Cohen & Holtz , LLP
Mr. Marcos A. Perez, ’90, ’00 Managing Director Navarro Discount Pharmacies
Dr. Rosa L. Jones Presidential Representative Vice President for Student Affairs and Undergraduate Education Florida International University
Mr. David L. Perlman Philanthropist
Ex-Officio Directors Dr. Albert E. Dotson, Sr. Chairman and CEO Puryear, Inc
Ms. Peggy M. Hollander Founder and Managing Partner The Succession Group Inc.
Mr. Justo L. Pozo, ’80 President Preferred Care Partners
Mr. Jose Perez de Corcho, ’90 President, FIU Alumni Association Financial Insurance Brokers, Inc.
Dr. Jeffrey L. Horstmyer, M.D. Chief, Division of Neurology Mercy Hospital
Mr. Carlos A. Sabater, ’81 Managing Partner, Audit & Enterprise Risk Services Deloitte & Touche
Dr. Laurie Richardson Vice Chair for the Faculty Senate Florida International University
Mr. Ronald A. Shuffield President Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell, Inc., Realtors
Ms. Ana Maria Silva President, FIU Student Government Association Biscayne Bay Campus Florida International University
Mr. S. Lawrence Kahn, III President and CEO Lowell Homes, Inc. Mr. Christopher Korge Esquire Korge & Korge
Mr. Theodore (Ted) Spak Philanthropist
Mr. Donald E. Lefton Vice Chairman Mr. José J. Valdés-Fauli, ’75 Continental Hospitality Holdings President The International Bank of Mr. Jim Mandich Miami, N.A. President Lotspeich Company, Inc. Mr. Mitchell (Micky) Wolfson, Jr. Chairman and President Mr. Ray E. Marchman, Jr. The Wolfson Initiative and The President Novecento Corporation The Marketing Wheel, Inc.
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