FIU President Maidique warns of possible further budget cuts

“Everything is on the table.”

That was one of the most memorable statements FIU President Modesto A. Maidique delivered the afternoon of March 6 at a town hall meeting at University Park. (He also addressed the Biscayne Bay Campus community earlier that day.)

Borrowing a line from Charles Dickens, Maidique said these are the best of times and the worst of times at the university, noting that after 36 years, FIU has come far in its efforts to build a top-tier public, urban, research university.

“We have all the pieces to build a great university,” he said. “We have an engineering center, a school of architecture, a college of law and now, a preliminarily accredited college of medicine.

“Universities are very difficult to build, but you can destroy a university very quickly. We’re very fragile.”

In a letter to the editor that ran in the March 9 of The Miami Herald, Maidique said further cuts to budget that already has been slashed by 3.6 percent will force FIU to turn away well-qualified students and/or shut down programs, centers, departments and institutes the community needs. (One percent will be cut before the end of the year, followed by a possible additional 10 percent slash in 2009.)

The longtime president – who calls his FIU tenure “a labor of love” – said that a budget stabilization committee has been appointed to provide recommendations for possible budget cuts. Looking ahead, he urged everyone, including alumni, to feel the blue-and-gold spirit and become vocal advocates of FIU.

In related news, students and administrators lobbied for support from the State Legislature during FIU Day on March 11. For more information, click here.

Frost Art Museum appoints interim director

Carol Damian, a professor in the Department of Art and Art History, has been appointed interim director of The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, effective April 28.

Damian, who has been curator of the museum’s permanent collection since 2006, will be responsible for the complex task of opening the new 46,000-square-foot museum, slated for November 2008.

As interim director, one of Damian’s primary objectives will be to increase student and faculty involvement and the museum's interaction with other university departments.

Damian has proven to be a dynamic leader who combines scholarly experience, leadership skills and a passion for the arts with the personal skills necessary to build strong ties with the university and South Florida communities.

As former chair of the Department of Art and Art History, she was instrumental in establishing a new bachelor of arts in art history degree at the university. During her tenure as chair of the University Arts Council, she dedicated her efforts to increasing awareness and appreciation of the arts within the university community.

School of Music presents New Music Miami ISCM Festival

The School of Music will present on April 9-13, the 2008 New Music Miami ISCM Festival, featuring six concerts of contemporary music and video art.

The New Music Miami ISCM Festival will focus on cutting-edge solo, chamber, orchestral and vocal music as well as video art from around the world presented by some of the most exciting performers of contemporary music.

Performances by such varied ensembles as the Dedalo Ensemble from Italy, the FIU NODUS Ensemble, the FIU Symphony Orchestra, the FIU Concert Choir, the Amernet String Quartet and guest guitarist Arturo Tallini, flutist Lisa Cella and pianists Kathryn Woodard and Kemal Gekic will be showcased.

This year’s festival will include an outdoor concert with works that focus on the environment, as well as concerts with video and other new forms of technology.

Admission is free and open to the public. Performances will be held April 9-13 in the Wertheim Performing Arts Center at UP, the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens, Steinway Piano Hall in Coral Gables, Von Hartz Gallery in Wynwwod and The Wolfsonian-FIU.

For more information, call 305-348-1998 or www.fiu.edu/~music.

International Relations professor receives Fulbright Fellowship

Professor Paul Kowert of the Department of International Relations has been awarded a Fulbright U.S. Senior Scholar Fellowship in Japan for the 2008-’09 academic year.

Kowert will teach U.S. foreign relations at Tohoku University in Sendai, one of Japan’s major imperial universities. He also will conduct research for his third book, which will focus on Japanese national identity in the 21st century. His most recent book, Cultures of Order: Leadership, Language, and Social Reconstruction in Germany and Japan, co-authored with Katja Weber, was published at the end of 2007.

Fulbright fellowships are awarded to U.S. scholars by the U.S. State Department to teach and conduct research in more than 150 countries.

This is the second major grant for Kowert, who recently served as graduate director of the university’s International Relations and Asian Studies programs. In 1998, he was awarded a fellowship by the Social Science Research Council and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. He spent nearly two years at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto conducting research.

Kowert and his wife Deborah O’Neil, who works in the FIU Division of External Relations, will move to Sendai in September.

Golden Panthers walk away winners at design competition

Two FIU students participated on Feb. 23, in the International Interior Design Association Student Day Competition and walked away winners.

Interior design student Monica Estrada won Best Overall Project at the competition. Her winning submission was a restaurant design she produced in Interior Design 5 Studio on cruise ship design, which was coordinated with RTKL and taught by Janine King, chair of the Interior Design Department, and adjunct professor Greg Walton, vice president of RTKL.

Also placing high in the competition was interior design student Melanie King, who won first place in the institutional and health care category for her St. Catherine’s Rehabilitation Hospital West project from Interior Design 7 studio. The Design 7 studio was coordinated with MGE Architects and taught by professor Philip Abbott.

Projects were judged by licensed interior designers from across the state and winners were awarded scholarships of up to $500 for interior design.