FIU Magazine<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nOne of the newest members of the FIU Board of Trustees bears more than her fair share of others\u2019 expectations.<\/p>\n
Like those with whom she serves\u2014primarily businesspeople who have reached the upper echelons of their respective fields\u2014Chanel Rowe brings with her the intellect and high-level professional experience standard of those who sit on the board.<\/p>\n
She is a 2014 College of Law alumna who after graduation went on to practice at two of the nation\u2019s 100 largest law firms and later clerked\u00a0for an esteemed federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Rowe currently serves as an enforcement attorney at the Miami regional office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where she has distinguished herself as a top investigator of fraud and complex securities violations. She is a graduate of the Florida Bar\u2019s competitive W.M. Reece Smith Jr. Leadership Academy and has served on several Florida Bar committees. She twice has been recognized publicly for her achievements, first in 2017 as a Super Lawyers Rising Star,\u00a0which recognizes no more than 2.5 percent of attorneys in each state,\u00a0and in 2020 as an honored designee on the National Black Lawyers \u201cTop 40 Under 40\u201d\u00a0list.<\/p>\n
The \u201cextra\u201d for which the university and greater South Florida now look to Rowe derives from her filling a gaping void on the 13-strong body. The first Black woman (and currently only Black member) on the board, she in so many ways represents the new guard.<\/p>\n
Second in youthfulness only to the group\u2019s student representative\u2014Rowe, at 33, is believed the youngest person ever appointed a member of the Board of Trustees within the 12 institutions of the Florida State University System\u2014she speaks to the aspirations of millennials looking to make their mark in an ever-changing world. A first-generation college student and the daughter of an immigrant mother\u2014Rowe\u2019s father died during her infancy\u2014she understands the challenges and hopes of FIU students and alumni, many of whom share aspects of her background. A woman of color whose family comes from Jamaica, she also understands the need for greater racial diversity in leadership and the importance of providing an example for those too often ignored and undervalued.<\/p>\n
At a time when FIU and its president, Mark B. Rosenberg, have made clear a commitment to capitalizing on Black excellence that has for decades remained under-tapped, Rowe has an oversized role to fill.<\/p>\n
And her answer to this charge?<\/p>\n
\u201cI absolutely appreciate the importance of my presence on the board,\u201d she says. \u201cI bring gender, race and age diversity. I know that just being me, I present an image of possibility. I totally embrace that. I\u2019m overjoyed by that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Embodying \u201cpossibility\u201d in the interest of elevating others means a lot to a young woman who early on had few mentors and relied upon her own strength of character and innate will to succeed.<\/p>\n
From her earliest days as a latch-key kid in Brooklyn, New York, and later, South Florida\u2014her mother was a single parent and\u00a0certified nursing assistant\u00a0who worked long hours\u2014Rowe filled her days with books and reading and a love of learning that knew no limits.<\/p>\n
To an outsider then, her entry years later into the upper levels of the legal profession might seem a natural progression, given her studious nature. But few paths could have been more difficult to traverse, say those who know better.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not always easy for a first-generation student with no long-term connections in the legal community to navigate the complex legal employment market,\u201d says Angelique\u00a0Ortega, an associate dean at the College of Law. She remembers Rowe landing a job with a prestigious firm right after graduation\u2014Rowe was valedictorian\u2014a huge win and a testament to her hard work.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe really understood that she needed to make her destiny,\u201d Ortega says of Rowe\u2019s overcoming challenges to create opportunities for herself. \u201cShe\u2019s really good at life, for lack of a better word,\u201d Ortega adds, recalling the thoughtfulness with which the younger woman sought out professional prospects. \u201cShe doesn\u2019t believe that there is anything she can\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n
And all of it, says another mentor, emanates from a place of authenticity and with the intention to bring others along.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer goals and her aspirations and her dreams are noble because they don\u2019t represent any aspect of selfishness at all,\u201d says George Knox, the first Black attorney for the City of Miami and later a professor of law who taught Rowe at FIU. He speaks of her \u201cdepth of commitment,\u201d be it to those she mentors, those with whom she works or, now, to those whom she will serve as a university leader.<\/p>\n
Megan\u00a0Fairlie, another former professor, echoes the same, describing Rowe as \u201cso invested, in a real way as opposed to someone who\u2019s looking to put accomplishments on their CV.\u201d<\/p>\n
One example: Fairlie recalls Rowe\u2019s organizing an event in the wake of Trayvon Martin\u2019s killing to examine justice inequality. In her second semester of the traditionally difficult first year, Rowe found time to invite a local news anchor to serve as emcee for the thought-provoking panel that analyzed the so-called Stand Your Ground legislation at the heart of the case. It was just one instance, Fairlie says, of how Rowe\u2019s initiative benefited all of the student body.<\/p>\n
Notably, Rowe has maintained contacts with many of her former professors, and they in turn express pride and pleasure in calling her a friend and colleague. That same investment in individual relationships comes through in her ongoing promotion of the institution. From early on, Rowe has kept the law school close by recruiting for interns and hires wherever she worked.<\/p>\n
And from 2016 until her appointment to the BOT earlier this year, she held several leadership roles on the FIU Alumni Association board. As its vice president, she sponsored an amendment to create an inclusion committee, one that will build a pipeline for diverse leadership on the board and at the university. That activity prefigures the kind of work on which she will now expand as she strives to bring all Panthers into the fold.<\/p>\n
The source of Rowe\u2019s extraordinary motivation lies, seemingly, at the center of her being, the rare individual who pulls herself up by virtue of serious reflection and truly knowing herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has always been something inside of me that knew there was something bigger out, beyond my surroundings,\u201d she says, \u201cthis desire to be something different, to be the example that I didn\u2019t have or become the person I wanted to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the forces that have played a role in her formation: her mother, \u00a0whom Rowe calls her greatest influence, \u201ca remarkable woman who always instilled the importance of hard work and kindness, just being a good human being, a compassionate human being;\u201d and her Christian faith, which she considers a foundation for leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a guidepost for me,\u201d she says of the latter. \u201cMy philosophy of being a servant leader is really something that shaped my career and shaped my personal life. It keeps me in a position of always thinking about others and how I can give back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always looking for ways to be better, do better and bring out the best in others. I believe in doing things that matter, leaving your mark in a way that influences and lifts other people up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now may all of FIU follow her lead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Celebrated College of Law grad Chanel Rowe is one of the newest members of the university\u2019s governing body \u2013By Alexandra Pecharich for FIU Magazine One of the newest members of the FIU Board of Trustees bears more than her fair share of others\u2019 expectations. Like those with whom she serves\u2014primarily businesspeople who have reached the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[369],"tags":[453,387,390,500,459],"class_list":["post-16137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-spotlight","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-association-board-of-directors","tag-college-of-law","tag-fiu-board-of-trustees","tag-fiu-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16137"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16137"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16139,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16137\/revisions\/16139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}