Florida International University

Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. It is a constituent part of the State University System of Florida and one of four state-designated Preeminent State Research Universities.

FIU is classified as a Carnegie "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" institution. It has 11 colleges and more than 40 centers, facilities, labs, and institutes that offer more than 200 programs of study. It has an annual budget of over $1.7 billion and an annual economic impact of over $5 billion. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

FIU's intercollegiate sports teams, the FIU Panthers, compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and the Conference USA (C-USA). The varsity sports teams have won five athletic championships and Panther athletes have won various individual NCAA national championships.

History

In 1943, state senator Ernest R. Graham (father of future Florida governor and U.S. senator Bob Graham) initially proposed to the state legislature the establishment of a public university in Miami-Dade County. His bill did not pass, but he persisted in presenting his proposal to colleagues, advising them of the county's need for a state university. He felt the establishment of a public university was necessary to serve the city's growing population.

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 to begin planning for the development of the state university. The bill was signed into law by then-governor W. Haydon Burns in June 1965. FIU's founding president, Chuck Perry, was appointed by the board of regents in July 1969, at which time the institution was named Florida International University. At 32 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 three co-founders, Butler Waugh, Donald McDowell, and Nick Sileo. Former Miami Herald publisher and Knight Ridder chairman Alvah Chapman, Jr., used his civic standing and media power to assist the effort. In the 1980s, Chapman became chair of the FIU Foundation Board of Trustees.

The founders located the campus on the site of the original Tamiami Airport (not related to the later Kendall-Tamiami Airport) on the Tamiami Trail (U.S. Route 41) between Southwest 107th and 117th Avenues, just east of where the West Dade Expressway (now the Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike) was being planned. The abandoned airport's air traffic control tower became FIU's first building, with Perry's office on the first floor. It originally had no telephones, no drinking water, and no furniture. Perry decided that the tower should never be destroyed, and it remains on campus, where it is now known variously as the "Veterans Office," "Ivory Tower," the "Tower Building," or the "Public Safety Tower," and is the former location of the FIU Police Department.

The groundbreaking for the Tamiami campus was held in January 1971. U Thant received FIU's first honorary degree.

Miami-Dade County's public university

In September 1972, 5,667 students entered FIU, the largest opening day enrollment at the time. Eighty percent of the student body had just graduated from Dade County Junior College (now Miami-Dade 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. Negotiations with the University of Miami and Dade County Junior College led FIU to open as an upper-division only school; Perry's vision foresaw a "no gimmicks" institution with no student housing. Lower-division classes were added nine years later.

Campus

Florida International's 344-acre (139 ha) campus is in the University Park neighborhood in the census-designated place of Westchester in an unincorporated area of western Miami-Dade County, Florida. The Modesto A. Maidique Campus ("MMC")—formerly called University Park but renamed in 2009—encompasses 344 acres (1.39 km2). The MMC houses almost all the university's colleges and schools as well as all the administrative offices and main university facilities. MMC is also home to the Ronald Reagan Presidential House, the home of FIU's president; the Wertheim Performing Arts Center; the Frost Art Museum; the International Hurricane Research Center; and the university's athletic facilities, such as FIU Stadium, FIU Arena, and the FIU Baseball Stadium.

The postal address of the Modesto Maidique campus has a "postal city" of Miami, and the ZIP code is 33199, but the campus is physically in the Westchester census-designated place as of the 2020 U.S. census. In the 1990 U.S. census it was in the Olympia Heights CDP. In the 2000 U.S. census and the 2010 U.S. census the campus was in the University Park CDP.

The campus site was originally used for a general aviation airport, Tamiami Airport (not to be confused with Kendall-Tamiami Airport), which operated from the 1940s until 1967, when it relocated. The airport had three runways and was used for pilot training, among other purposes. The original campus was named the Tamiami Campus, after the nearby Tamiami Trail highway and the former airport, until being designated the University Park Campus in 1987.

Until the early 1990s, the runways, parking ramp, and other features of Tamiami Airport were still visible on campus and clearly discernible in aerial photos. Construction removed all these features, and only the University Tower remains as a memory of the university's past. University Park is a heavily vegetated campus, with many lakes, a 15-acre nature preserve, and a palm arboretum, with over 90 buildings. As of 2009, construction at University Park includes the Nursing and Health Sciences Building, the School of International and Public Affairs Building, and a fifth parking garage.

On June 12, 2009, FIU's board of trustees voted unanimously to rename the University Park campus the Modesto Maidique Campus; the university had considered naming the law school in his honor but decided not to because that would preclude a future charitable donation to name the school. The change created a large backlash from the FIU community, as many felt it unfitting to name the campus after him. There was a campaign by FIU students and alumni to revert the change and keep the name University Park. A Facebook group, "No to Maidique's Campus", with over 2,000 supporters, made national news in newspapers, on TV, and in collegiate magazines.

Organization and administration

FIU belongs to the 12-campus State University System of Florida and is one of Florida's primary graduate research universities, awarding over 3,400 graduate and professional degrees annually. It offers 191 programs of study with more than 280 majors in 23 colleges and schools. FIU offers many graduate programs, including architecture, business administration, engineering, law, and medicine, offering 81 master's degrees, 34 doctoral degrees, and three professional degrees.

Student government

The Student Government Association presides over and funds the over 300 student clubs, organizations, and honor societies at the university, and has an annual operating budget of about $20 million. The Student Government Association is split into three branches. The executive branch consists of the student body president and vice president, who are chosen in a university-wide election, as well as the governor of the Biscayne Bay Campus, who is chosen in an election of students pertaining to that campus. The executive branch also contains the cabinet. The legislative branch consists of the Student Body Senate. The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court. The student body president serves as a member of the FIU Board of Trustees, while the student body vice president serves as a member of the FIU Foundation's board of directors.

The Student Government oversees several agencies which provide programming to the student body: the Homecoming Council, the Student Programming Council, Panther Power, and the Registered Student Organizations Council, which is responsible for registering the over 300 student organizations and distributing funding allocated by the Student Government. Panther Power is the student spirit group, and it can be seen in all FIU athletic events alongside the band, the Dazzlers dance team, and the cheerleaders. In addition, the Student Government oversees several bureaus which provide community for identity groups on campus, including the Black Student Union and the Pride Student Union.

Academics

FIU offers 191 academic programs, 60 baccalaureate programs, 81 master's programs, three specialist programs, 34 doctoral programs, and 4 professional programs in 23 colleges and schools. In addition, 97% of the faculty have terminal degrees, and 50% currently have tenure at the university with a student/teacher ratio of 27:1.

In the early 2000s, emphasis at FIU was placed on growth in degree programs and student enrollment. Since 2005, however, student enrollment has been capped, and emphasis has been placed on improving the quality of the existing academic programs. With the addition of the College of Medicine, the demand for facilities and classroom space has greatly increased.

Tuition

For the 2019–2020 academic year, tuition costs are:

Undergraduate

$205.57 per credit hour for in-state students, and $618.87 per credit hour for out-of-state students. Total tuition/fees :$7,916 for in-state and $20,314 for out of state

Graduate

$455.64 per credit hour for in-state students, and $1,001.69 per credit hour for out-of-state students. Total tuition/fees :$9,600 for in-state and $19,428 for out of state

Law School (day)

$675.67 per credit hour for in-state students, and $1,101.87 per credit hour for out-of-state students. Total tuition/fees:$20,660 for in-state and $33,446 for out of state

Law School (night)

$506.77 per credit hour for in-state students, and $851.40 per credit hour for out-of-state students. Total tuition/fees:$15,593 for in-state and $25,932 for out of state

Admissions

Florida International University students, numbering 54,085 in Fall 2023, come from more than 130 countries, and all 50 U.S. states. The ratio of women to men is 57:43, and 18.6 percent are graduate and professional students. Professional degree programs include Law, Medicine, Engineering, Business Administration, and Nursing.

The Fall 2023 incoming freshman class had an average 4.1 GPA, 1150 SAT score, and a 24 ACT score. 3% of these students were foreign nationals, while 74% were Hispanic Americans, 9% were Black Americans, 8% were White Americans, and 3% were Asian Americans. The freshman retention rate for 2021 was 100%. The most popular College by enrollment is the College of Arts and Sciences. For Fall 2021, 24,351 students applied for graduate admissions throughout the university. Of those, 8,043 (33.02%) were accepted. The Wertheim College of Medicine admitted 5.2% of its applicants, and the College of Law admitted 22%. Admission to the Wertheim College of Medicine is competitive, and the college has one of the highest number of applicants in the state, greater than the University of Florida. For Fall 2010, 3,606 students applied for 43 spots.

Research

Florida International University spent $246 million in annual research expenditures and was awarded $310 million in research awards for fiscal year 2021. FIU ranked 107th in total research and development (R&D) expenditures by the National Science Foundation. FIU is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".

International Hurricane Research Center

The International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC) is the nation's only university-based research facility dedicated to tropical storm research. It comprises the Laboratory for Coastal Research; the Laboratory for Social Science Research; the Laboratory for Insurance, Financial & Economic Research; and the Laboratory for Wind Engineering Research, as well as the FIU Wall of Wind. The 12-fan Wall of Wind (WoW) at FIU is the largest and most powerful university research facility of its kind and is capable of simulating a Category 5 hurricane. In 2015 the National Science Foundation selected the 12-fan WOW as one of the nation's major "Experimental Facilities" under the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) competition. Not to be confused with the National Hurricane Center (also at University Park), the IHRC is on the western side of the campus.

Student life

Traditions

FIU has many traditions from student spirit groups, alumni association events, and student spirit events. Incoming students can attend Panther Camp, originally a weekend retreat in the summer and now a two-day on-campus event, which began in 2006. Week of Welcome, usually held the first or second week of the fall semester, holds many spirit events, such as Trail of the Torch, when the torch of knowledge in front of the Primera Casa building is lit on campus.

Residential life

Florida International University's student housing facilities are managed by the Office of Housing and Residential Life located on the Modesto Maidique Campus (MMC). There are 3,800 students living on campus throughout 10 apartment buildings and 6 residence halls. Students reside in the following buildings: University Apartments, Panther Hall, University Towers, Everglades Hall, Lakeview Hall North, Lakeview Hall South, Honors College @ Parkview Hall, and Tamiami Hall. All rooms are suite style or apartment style and none of the buildings have community bathrooms.

On the Biscayne Bay Campus (BBC), FIU offers housing through Bayview Student Living apartments. BBC's first on-campus new housing in 30+ years houses 408 students in a high rise overlooking Biscayne Bay. Through FIU's Panther Express Shuttle, current students travel free between campuses. The Office of Housing and Residential Life also offers optional communities in the residence halls known as Living Learning Communities (LLCs). These communities offer residents the opportunity to live with individuals of the same major or interest; including, Business, Wellness, and Honors Place for Honors College students.

Arts and culture

FIU has three museums, the Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU Museum and the Jewish Museum of Florida. The Frost Art Museum is located on Modesto A. Maidique campus and was opened in 1977 as The Art Museum at Florida International University. The Frost Art Museum's Permanent Collection consists of a broad array of art objects from ancient cultural artifacts to contemporary works of art. The Wolfsonian-FIU Museum is located in Miami Beach and promotes the collection, preservation and understanding of decorative art and design from the period from 1885 to 1945. FIU also has a large sculpture collection, named the Sculpture Park at FIU, with sculptures from such prominent artists as Anthony Caro, Jacques Lipchitz, Daniel Joseph Martinez, and Tony Rosenthal. Many different art structures, statues, paintings and mosaics can be seen throughout campus in gardens, buildings, walkways, and on walls.

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)