An ode to FIU - Florida International University - Editorial

South Florida CEO, May, 2003 by J.P. Faber

When publications print a fact error, they usually place a small correction somewhere in subsequent editions. That has been our policy. But sometimes mistakes give you an opportunity -- or perhaps an excuse -- go beyond a simple correction. In last month's issue we noted a controversy surrounding the outgoing president of Florida Atlantic University. While we got the president's name right, we mistakenly printed Florida International University instead of FAU. Since then we have received calls and e-mails in defense of FIU's president.

In that light, we decided to go beyond a correction and use this column to extol FIU's top executive, who's had nary a whiff of scandal in his 16 years on the job.

Modesto A. Maidique has been president of FIU for half of the university's history and a quarter of his life. The man and the institution came together in the fall of 1986 and since then their challenges and successes have been one and the same.

From the start, Maidique set his sights high. The first order of business was to turn the relatively small regional college, which produced mostly bachelor and master's degrees, into a thriving research university. The journey has not been an easy one. But Maidique has done a yoeman's job, creating a school of architecture, a law school and a football team, as well as attracting millions of dollars for research.

Numbers tell the story. In 1986, FIU had just over 16,000 students and a budget of $93 million. That year FIU awarded two doctoral degrees, 447 masters and 2,343 bachelors. Today FIU boasts a student body of more than 34,000 students, with an operating budget of approximately $500 million. During the 2002-2003 academic year, more than 7,000 students graduated from FIU. Under Maidique's leadership FIU also completed a $250 million capital campaign.

From the perspective of this publication, we have been especially impressed with two things. One is the dramatic increase in the scope of FIU's College of Business Administration. Together with its Alva Chapman Graduate School of Business, it has become a vital institution for international students and executives, helping secure Miami's leadership role in the Americas. The second is the university's enormous community involvement, with the acquisition of such cultural centerpieces as the FIU-Wolfsonian museum on Miami Beach, the Margulies Art Park Collection and the Miami Film Festival. Maidique has also created a campus atmosphere that was not present in 1986, when FIU was mostly a commuter college. More than 2,000 students now live on campus.

We are glad to have had this opportunity to wax about FIU. Hopefully, it will not take another typo for us to properly appreciate the contributions of South Florida's education leaders.

J.P. Faber

Editor in Chief