University to expand Center for Leadership

Rebeca Piccardo/News Director
rebeca.piccardo@fiusm.com

The FIU Center for Leadership, which has been tied into the College of Business, is now a University-wide center.

The center will join other interdisciplinary, strategic center and programs, including the STEM Transformation Institute and the Extreme Events Institute,” said Provost Kenneth Furton in a Nov. 20 memorandum.

The center was founded in 2006 by President Emeritus Modesto Maidique, who served as the University’s fourth president, from 1986 to 2009. The center was designated a State of Florida Center by the Florida Board of Governors in 2009.

The center has serviced more than 500 alumni and 125 organizations. The center has five main programs: the Senior Executive Leadership Program, the High Potential Leader Program, the Women Leaders Program, the Physicians Leaders Program and the Principals Leadership Development Program.

The center’s transition into a university-wide center includes a change in the administration.

“The Center for Leadership will fall under the purview of both Dr. Andres Gil, Vice President for Research, and me,” said Furton in his memorandum.

Furton will appoint an Academic Advisory Council to work with the center’s existing Board of Advisors. The council will be made up of deans and senior administrators from multiple University units.

“The Center will serve as a resource for all administrative and academic units university-wide, forging collaborations and providing leadership development opportunities,” Furton said.

Mayra Beers, one of the center’s founding members who served as the director of operations since 2006, will not be the director for Strategy and Implementation.

Beers also served as chief of staff for former president Modesto Maidique and founding associate corporate secretary for the FIU Board of Trustees from 2001 to 2009. Before, she was research associate for Maidique and then-provost, President Mark B. Rosenberg.

Additionally, Nathan Hiller, associate professor and Knight Ridder Research Fellow in the College of Business. He has worked with the center since 2007, and serves as faculty director for the center’s program for high impact executives, The High Potential Leader.

“Together they will lead the next phase of growth and development for the Center for Leadership,” Furton said.  “I look forward to working with them to enhance leadership capacity across the university and beyond.”