Modesto Maidique

Dr. Modesto Alex "Mitch" Maidique (pronounced my-DEEK-eh, born in Havana, Cuba March 20, 1940) is the fourth and current president of Florida International University (FIU), one of the fastest growing public research universities in the United States with two urban campuses more than 38,000 students and 1,200 faculty members. Appointed in 1986, Dr. Maidique is the longest-serving university president in Florida and the second longest-serving research university president in the United States.

Transforming the university

For more than two decades, President Maidique has led FIU in its journey to become one of the nation’s top public research universities. During his tenure, the Colleges of Law and Engineering and a School of Architecture were established. He led the way in founding the FIU College of Medicine, making it one of the few US medical schools established in almost 25 years. The first class of medical students will begin their studies in August 2009.

During Maidique’s tenure at FIU, enrollment more than doubled, and the university added 22 doctoral programs and 18 undergraduate programs. FIU’s sponsored research funding grew from $6 million to nearly $110 million, and the institution’s endowment experienced exponential growth from less than $3 million to over $105 million. During this period, the university added a division I-A American football team, gained membership in the nation’s oldest honor society Phi Beta Kappa, and received classification as a doctoral-and-research extensive university from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Under Carnegie’s new classification of 200 institutions, the university was classified as a “high research” university.

Maidique oversaw historic growth and expansion of the FIU campuses, with structures designed by some of the world’s leading architects, including Bernard Tschumi, Jan Weymouth, and Robert A. M. Stern. In 2008, FIU broke ground for a new $34 million LEED-certified teaching and research facility for the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, which will serve as the gateway to the university’s future academic health sciences complex.

Professional backgound

Maidique was born in Havana, Cuba, on March 20, 1940, to a family with a strong tradition of public service and political involvement. Both of his parents were educators and his father served as a Congressman and Senator in Cuba. He came to FIU with an elite background in both academe and business. From 1976-1986, he held academic appointments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Stanford University.

Maidique co-founded the Analog Devices, Inc., Semiconductor Division, in 1969. He served as CEO of Collaborative Research, a genetic engineering company that is now Genome Therapeutics, from 1981-1983, and as senior partner in Harbrecht & Quist Venture Partners from 1984-1986. He holds three U.S. patents for semiconductor devices.

Internationally recognized as a leader in higher education and management of high technology enterprises, Maidique’s expertise has been sought at the highest levels. In 1989, U.S. President George H. W. Bush appointed him to the President’s Educational Policy Advisory Committee, and served in a similar capacity for President George W. Bush. Maidique later served on the United States Secretary of Energy Advisory Board and is currently a member of the Presidential Scholars Commission.

Maidique currently serves on the boards of National Semiconductor and the Carnival Corporation He is past chairman of The Beacon Council, Miami’s economic development authority.

Maidique has published extensively in leading academic journals. He is a contributing author to ten books, and a co-author of Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation, a textbook widely used at colleges and universities. An article he co-authored, "The Art of High Technology Management", is one of the best-selling articles published by the Sloan Management Review He is also a co-author of Energy Future, a New York Times bestseller on energy policy.

Personal

President Maidique earned a B.S. (1962), M.S. (1964), and Ph.D. (1970) in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also completed the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School in 1975. He is married to Nancy Maidique, a Phi Beta Kappa FIU alumna, and has two children, Ana Teresa and Mark Alex

External links

• FIU Office of the President
• Florida International University