News at FIU - Florida International University » President’s Message

President’s Budget Message – June 12, 2009

cochrane — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:53:58 +0000

Dear members of the university community: Our Board of Trustees met Friday morning to approve the 2009-10 budget and make several other decisions important to the future of FIU. The most momentous decision, of course, was to name the Wertheim College of Medicine (WCOM), in honor of our long-time friend and benefactor Dr. Herbert Wertheim, who has made a [...]

President’s message – Monday, June 8, 2009

santanam — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:50:42 +0000

Dear members of the university community: By the end of this week we expect to have our 2009-10 budget approved by the Board of Trustees, which is scheduled to meet Friday morning. The trustees will be presented with a budget that is the result of months of hard work by many across the university community. The proposed [...]

President’s message – Monday June 1, 2009

jprenaud — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:28:06 +0000

Dear members of the university community: As we prepare for the Board of Trustees budget workshop scheduled for this morning, we find new and unexpected elements factoring into our decision-making process regarding program closures. As you may have read in the media, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has come forward with a generous pledge of $100,000 to [...]

President’s message -May 25, 2009

jprenaud — Mon, 25 May 2009 23:20:30 +0000

Dear members of the university community: I first want to thank the more than 700 of you who attended last week’s Town Hall meeting at University Park or participated remotely from the Biscayne Bay Campus. Your thoughtful engagement makes our university stronger and our collective efforts more fruitful. For those who were not able to attend, I [...]

President’s Budget Message – Monday May 18, 2009

santanam — Mon, 18 May 2009 00:51:16 +0000

Dear Members of the university community: This is an important week in our budget process. We are kicking off the week with our second Town Hall meeting of the year, which typically generates quite a bit of discussion. Please plan to join me Monday at 10 a.m. the Graham Center Ballrooms at University Park. The Town [...]

President’s Budget Message – Monday May 11, 2009

santanam — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:47:22 +0000

Dear Members of the university community: On Friday the Florida Legislature passed the 2009-2010 state budget that spares our public universities from catastrophic budget cuts. FIU and our sister Florida universities will see a 15 percent drop in recurring General Revenue (GR) since the Legislature approved a 4 percent cut in Special Session just last January. In [...]

President’s budget message – Monday, May 4, 2009

santanam — Sat, 02 May 2009 00:48:43 +0000

Dear members of the university community: As of this past weekend, the Florida House of Representatives and the Senate have agreed on terms for funding universities. For us this means a cut in the 14 to 15 percent range, rather than the 24 percent or more range we discussed last week. While the universities clearly will sustain substantial cuts, the [...]

President’s budget message – April 28, 2009

santanam — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:23:12 +0000

Town Hall Meeting postponed Dear members of the university community: I was in Tallahassee last Thursday to participate in a press conference at the Capitol to highlight concerns over the Florida House’s proposed budget for higher education. Nine of my counterparts within the State University System (SUS) and I joined Sheila McDevitt, chair of the Board of [...]

President’s Message — April 20, 2009

santanam — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:32:04 +0000

Dear members of the university community: As you may know, the House and Senate passed their respective budgets last week. This week the House and Senate will be holding conference meetings to resolve the differences between the two preliminary budgets. Major differences in funding between the two budgets still exist, and that is cause for concern. The [...]

President’s Message — April 13, 2009

cochrane — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:00:35 +0000

Dear members of the university community: We recently had student government elections on campus. I am pleased to welcome to their new roles as presidents this summer Anthony Rionda and Sholom Neistein, from University Park and Biscayne Bay Campus, respectively, and their vice presidents, Mykaelle Figueiredo and Christin Battle. Students also elected several new senators. It [...]

President’s Message — April 6, 2009

jprenaud — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:02:25 +0000

Dear members of the university community: Our most recent Board of Trustees meeting was focused on concerns about the overall economic situation and our own budget. We presented our trustees with an overview of our budget-planning process and revised projections based on the recent revenue estimates out of Tallahassee. The shortfalls for next year’s budget remain a [...]

President’s Message — March 27, 2009

cochrane — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 00:06:23 +0000

Dear members of the university community: My fellow Florida state university presidents and I have spent the last two days in Tallahassee making the case for universities to be recognized and treated as the economic engines they truly are. We had an opportunity to present before the Board of Governors our recently completed economic impact study [...]

President’s Message — March 20, 2009

jprenaud — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:17:52 +0000

Dear members of the university community: Last week’s revenue estimating conference confirmed fears that the budget shortfall would be greater than anticipated. For us, this increases the likelihood that we will sustain substantial additional cuts, which has been our working assumption. In a nutshell, Friday’s conference indicated that revenue collections for FY 2009-10 were reduced by $2.3 [...]

President’s Message — March 13, 2009

jprenaud — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:42:55 +0000

Dear members of the university community. This week I led a very strong delegation of FIU supporters to Tallahassee to personally champion the critical role our university plays in this community and the State of Florida. The 2009 FIU Day in Tallahassee delegation, consisting of students, faculty representatives, administrators, trustees, alumni and other friends of the [...]

President’s Message — March 5, 2009

cochrane — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:34:59 +0000

Please note that the Town Hall meeting scheduled for Monday at 10 a.m. has changed locations. It will now be held in the Graham Center Ballrooms. If you can’t make the meeting, follow FIU News on Twitter for updates. Dear members of the university community: On this first week of the regular legislative session, our colleagues are [...]

President’s Message — February 26, 2009

santanam — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:07:13 +0000

Dear members of the university community: As we continue to struggle with financial challenges and the uncertainties of this economy, this week presented us with several thought-provoking developments I want to share with you today. Governor’s proposed budget Late last week Florida Gov. Charlie Crist released his proposed budget for 2009-10. The governor’s proposal, the first official pronouncement [...]

President’s Message — February 20, 2009

santanam — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:00:32 +0000

Dear members of the university community: While national and state economic conditions continue to deteriorate, we must redouble our efforts in the pursuit of alternative sources of funding. A significant opportunity became available this week when President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The stimulus package, as it is commonly known, provides [...]

President’s Message — February 12, 2009

jprenaud — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 23:41:04 +0000

Dear members of the university community: You may have seen an article published by The Miami Herald earlier this week regarding the compensation and retention plan for some of the top executives at the university. I hope you have read Chairman Parker’s statement on this topic. If you have not, please take a moment to review it. [...]

President’s Message – February 5, 2009

Eduardo Merille — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:14:58 +0000

Dear members of the university community: This past Monday morning the Executive Committee had the first of several budget planning sessions to address the challenges presented by the 2009-10 budget. Clearly, the state revenues continue to drop and the overall economic condition of the country continues to decline. Those factors have a direct effect on our [...]

President’s Message — January 29, 2009

cochrane — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:53:07 +0000

Dear members of the university community: This week I want to share with you the highlights of a budget overview Provost Ronald Berkman presented to members of the FIU Foundation Board of Directors and the Faculty Senate on Tuesday. As you will see, the numbers indicate a trend that will present significant challenges for FIU and [...]