Annual alumni reception breaks attendance record, raises awareness for Next Horizon campaign

A record number of alumni and friends of FIU came out to the Alumni Association Annual Cocktail Reception this year to celebrate their alma mater, learn about the university’s future and explore its innovative research programs. Six-hundred guests flocked to the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, a new site for the event, on May 16. […]

Research rules out mental flexibility, attention as advantages for some bilingual children

–By Ayleen Barbel Fattal for FIU News Bilingual children are on equal footing with monolingual children when it comes to regulating their behavior, planning and problem-solving, according to a new FIU study. For more than 20 years, research has suggested children who are bilingual have an advantage when it comes to executive functions, which are […]

FIU student-athletes set new GPA high: 3.29

–By FIU Athletics FIU Athletics continues to raise the bar in the classroom, as student-athletes posted the highest term grade point average in the department’s history after earning a 3.29 GPA for the spring. The three highest GPAs on record for the athletic department have all come in the last three semesters, with a 3.28 last […]

Unleashing the “Aha!” moment: STEM education transformed

The STEM Transformation Institute has redesigned the education experience, creating a model for the rest of the nation –By Ayleen Barbel Fattal for FIU Magazine At 19, Laird Kramer saw himself as an accountant. One of his college professors saw a physicist. Kramer was good with numbers so he enrolled as an accounting major at […]

Looking to the Next Horizon: Landmark campaign to "change the face of this institution"

–For FIU Magazine FIU is pushing boundaries. University researchers are saving species on the verge of extinction. They are helping families with children who have ADHD. In the face of sea level rise and devastating natural disasters, they are working to create sustainable infrastructure for Miami and other coastal areas. And in a firmly digital […]

The Patron: Kimberly Green on her work in Haiti and the center that bears her name

–By Amy Ellis for FIU Magazine When Kimberly Green was in first grade, her teacher asked a simple question: What would you do if you were president? For Green, who grew up watching the evening news with her father, a business executive who would later serve as ambassador to Singapore, the answer was easy. She […]

Workforce development program bolsters underserved populations, feeds growing construction industry

For Devan Blackman, FIU’s Engineering Center has come to feel like a second home. There’s a 5-foot-by-5-foot wooden “house” there that she and her classmates built and wired for electricity with their bare hands – something she’d never envisioned herself doing up until eight months ago. But the little project house holds a deeper meaning […]

Sedano's Supermarkets supports student food pantry

Sedano’s Supermarkets recently donated $6,000 in support of the student food pantry at FIU. The pantry, open to all currently enrolled students, is supported entirely by donations and has grown in demand considerably. Since opening its doors in 2014, the pantry has seen a 700 percent increase in visits. Located at both MMC and BBC, the pantry has […]

Young alumnus’ gift lays foundation for media, technology institute

–By Sarah Hernandez for FIU News The average age of philanthropists is 65, but Steven Cruz, 28, is bucking the trend. In support of the FIU Next Horizon campaign, Cruz has announced a planned gift of $1.2 million to establish the Steven Cruz Institute for Media, Science + Technology within the College of Communication, Architecture […]

Five questions for the head of fundraising

For FIU Magazine Howard Lipman understands the value of philanthropy. For the CEO of the FIU Foundation, it’s more than just a sum of money; it is a sign of pride, a symbol of gratitude and an investment in the future of all those whom the university serves. Leading the $750 million Next Horizon campaign, Lipman has seen […]