Image by Florida International University, courtesy of Creative Commons.
Camila Fernandez/Asst. News Director
He is the first president to ascend from a faculty position. Now, five years later, President Mark B. Rosenberg has been awarded Lifetime Achievement honoree by the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce.
On Saturday, May 10, over 1,000 attendees gathered at the chamber’s 92nd Annual Dinner Gala in Fontainebleau Miami Beach to honor this year’s four pillars of the Miami Beach business community.
These include Rosenberg as Lifetime Achievement Award honoree, David Wallack as Excellence in Tourism Award honoree, Jimmy Morales as Outstanding Achievement Award honoree, and Adolfo Henriques as Distinguished Service Award honoree.
According to the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce, “the Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to an individual whose exceptional lifetime contribution of community leadership and philanthropic endeavors have improved the quality of Miami Beach citizens.”
However, Rosenberg said it’s not about him, but rather the University’s entire team of faculty and professional staff.
“It’s a great incentive, but it’s really a monument to everything that people respect about our institution. And if people respect our institution – that makes my day,” said Rosenberg in an interview with student media.
Also, he said it’s a respect for FIU graduates of whom he believes are involved everywhere in the community, and for him that’s the reward.
The University has been involved with Miami Beach through its Biscayne Bay campus, Miami Beach Urban Studios, Wolfsonian museum, and Jewish Museum of Florida, for example.
This year at the Biscayne Bay campus, more than 64,000 “foodies” attended the 13th annual Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival. The event has raised millions for the University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, and Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center.
Alexina Alonso, Public Affairs Coordinator at Office of the President said that despite of Rosenberg’s busy schedule, she appreciates that he still gives individual advice to his staff.
“My love for Miami and its community has grown through seeing how passionate he is about the city for all of its uniqueness and intricacies. I am honored to work with him,” said Alonso.
Rosenberg said the biggest challenge is to meet students’ needs – making sure students have all the classes, the right advising, and great internship opportunities. Also, he said there is a lot of construction with hopes to open a couple of buildings such as the new, upcoming garage at the Modesto Maidique campus.
“We’ll alleviate the parking problem a little bit, and that’s always concerned us – to make sure that students have parking that’s adequate to their needs and to the timetables that they run on,” said Rosenberg.
Under Rosenberg’s presidency, FIU has increased enrollment to almost 54,000 students, improved graduation rates by nearly 10 percent , and hired over 500 new faculty members.
He has also provided leadership to coordinate the University’s emergence as a leading producer of graduates in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields.
As a first-generation college graduate, Rosenberg said he finds his inspiration in wanting to do well because that was, in part, what his parents wanted.
“My mother is a survivor of Auschwitz. So I think the desire to do well and to honor them every day is probably the biggest inspiration,” said Rosenberg.
“I consider it a blessing to be at FIU and to be able to work in Miami; really just getting up is an inspiration and knowing you have another opportunity to help people.”
He said he does not want to turn his back on the University being that is an incredible engine of hope, opportunity, development, and job creation.
Meanwhile, he does not want the University to turn its back on eligible, qualified students who “dream big dreams” and instead, have them see FIU as helping them.
“FIU is a product of a lot of people, but I’m really proud of my family and proud of FIU, and being in this community,” said Rosenberg.
-news@fiusm.com
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