2010 - 2011 ACHIEVEMENTS
Prestigious National Recognition
U.S.News & World Report’s 2012 “America’s Best Colleges” rankings placed UM at No. 38 in the National Universities category. Up a remarkable 29 spots in ten years, UM is the highest-ranked Florida school and one of the fastest-rising nationwide.
The University of Miami placed high in the 2012 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools,” published by U.S.News & World Report. The Miller School of Medicine ranked No. 45 in research, and the School of Law’s graduate program in tax law ranked fifth nationwide. Several health-related graduate programs also are in the top tier, including physical therapy (No. 7) and clinical psychology (No. 25).
In 2011 The Princeton Review named the University of Miami one of the Best Southeast Colleges and rated the University No. 3 in the country for “Race/Class Interaction.” The School of Business Administration also was listed among The Princeton Review’s Best Business Schools in the Southeast region.
Hispanic Business magazine’s 2011 Diversity Report ranked the Miller School of Medicine No. 1 and the School of Business Administration No. 5 on its lists of top medical and business schools in the country for Hispanic students.
For the eighth year in a row, UM’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute was ranked the No. 1 hospital in the country for ophthalmology in U.S.News & World Report’s 2011-12 “Best Hospitals” annual survey. Several other specialties at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center were also ranked: ear, nose, and throat (No. 34); neurology and neurosurgery (No. 33); pediatrics: nephrology (No. 26); pediatrics: diabetes and endocrinology (No. 24); and pediatrics: neonatology (No. 25). U.S.News also listed UM/Jackson Holtz Children’s Hospital among its Best Children’s Hospitals.
The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science is listed among the ranks of Harvard and Princeton as one of the top five “heavy hitters” in the recent Essential Science Indicators list published by Thomson Reuters. UM is also listed 13th in the world for geosciences.
The University of Miami ranks 21st among top Peace Corps volunteer-producing schools in the medium size category for 2011, with 23 alumni presently serving around the globe.
The University of Miami is No. 8 on the inaugural list of the Top 100 Social Media Colleges released by StudentAdvisor.com.
WVUM, the University’s student-run radio station, won the 2011 mtvU College Radio Woodie award for best college radio station in the country.
UM received more than 28,000 applicants for only 2,150 spots in the fall 2011 freshman class. Approximately 71 percent of new freshmen graduated in the top 10 percent of their class. The mean SAT score for accepted applicants was 1319.
Advancing the Academic Enterprise
The School of Communication welcomed new dean Gregory Shepherd, former dean of the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and an accomplished scholar in communication theory and American pragmatism.
Eugene Anderson, former senior associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, joined the UM School of Business Administration as dean, bringing vast experience in creating cross-disciplinary initiatives and action-based learning programs.
The Launch Pad, which provides guidance and resources for student and alumni entrepreneurs, was adopted by the White House as the model for an initiative to revitalize distressed regions,
Kenny Broad, professor in the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and director of UM’s Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, was named a National Geographic Explorer of the year for his achievements in exploring and documenting the blue holes of the Bahamas.
The American Psychological Association bestowed five awards to four faculty members in the School of Education’s Department of Educational and Psychological Studies: Assistant Professor Scot Evans, Associate Professor and Chair Guerda Nicolas, Associate Dean for Research Etiony Aldarondo, and Dean Isaac Prilelltensky.
Lynn “Nick” Shay, professor of meteorology and physical oceanography and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, received the NASA Achievement Award for his efforts in studying hurricane formation and intensification.
Six UM students were selected by a national committee as grantees in the 2011-12 Fulbright Program. Five of the six are using their grants this year to conduct research and promote cultural exchange in Costa Rica, Australia, the Dominican Republic, Spain, and Uruguay. School of Communication professor and award-winning filmmaker Sanjeev Chatterjee has received a Fulbright-Nehru Research Scholar Award to teach multimedia storytelling to raise awareness about a critical environmental issue in Kolkata, India.
New Facilities
In 2011 the Patti and Allan Herbert Wellness Center on the Coral Gables campus unveiled an 18,000-square-foot expansion and renovation. From aerobics to Pilates, swimming, massage, cooking classes, and more, the 138,000-square-foot facility offers activities that nourish whole-body health.
The 2011 grand opening of the 252,000-square-foot R+D Building One ushered in the first phase of the University of Miami Life Science & Technology Park and was a giant step toward making South Florida a biomedical research powerhouse. Located in the Miami Heath District near the Miller School of Medicine, the building features wet and dry lab space, offices, and shared facilities to be leased by both established and spinoff companies, as well as employment opportunities for the local community.
The University has broken ground on a new 119,000-square-foot Student Activities Center, supported by a $20 million lead gift from the Fairholme Foundation. Slated for completion in 2013, this state-of-the-art facility on the Coral Gables campus will include programming space, a student organizations suite, retail outlets, and a new Rathskeller.
With help from a $5 million naming gift, the University break ground in December 2011 on the Theodore G. Schwartz and Todd G. Schwartz Center for Athletic Excellence. The center will encompass an expansion and renovation of the Hecht Athletic Center to include a new academic area, football locker room and lounge, state-of-the-art sports medicine facility, and a dedicated space to celebrate the legacy of Hurricane sports.
Breakthrough Research
Research and sponsored program expenditures totaled more than $361 million in FY 2011, an increase of more than 75 percent in the last ten years. The University surpassed $150 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) finding, which supports University-wide projects aimed at finding solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems. The Miller School of Medicine is the top NIH-funded medical school in Florida.
The University was named the lead institution of a research consortium given $112 million to study the impact of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. UM’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and its Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing played a key role in mitigating damage from the spill by providing high-resolution satellite images to disaster relief personnel.
Researchers at the Miller School of Medicine’s Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute are conducting clinical trials that demonstrate the ability of stem cells to repair damaged organs. Trials in the institute’s cardiovascular division represent the largest cohort of patients injected with stem cells in the United States.
Margaret Pericak-Vance, director of the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics at the UM Miller School of Medicine and recipient of the 2011 lifetime achievement award from the Alzheimer’s Association, is co-leader of a national research consortium that this year identified four new genes linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
Exclusive Events
The University’s second Global Business Forum, hosted in 2011 by the School of Business Administration and focusing on “The Business of Health Care,” was a vibrant success. The forum drew hundreds of attendees and distinguished business leaders from around the world, including U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, General Electric CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt, and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, addressed thousands of UM students at BankUnited Center. The charismatic spiritual leader, who had first visited UM in 2004, urged his youthful audience to take responsibility for creating a more peaceful and compassionate world.
Other international figures who spoke on the Coral Gables campus included Carl J. Schramm, president and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien; and former U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen.
Continuing Strong Support
UM’s fundraising cash total for fiscal year 2011 reached $172 million, up nearly 8 percent from the previous year. The year was also marked by new multi-year commitments totaling more than $218 million in gifts of $100,000 or more.
The University of Miami is ranked No. 1 among charities that have earned the most consecutive Charity Navigator 4-Star ratings for fundraising efficiency and ongoing fiscal excellence. UM has earned a 4-Star rating for ten years in a row, ahead of Harvard, Cornell, Yale, Stanford, and Vanderbilt. Charity Navigator is the nation’s premier independent charity evaluator.
A $20 million lead gift from the Fairholme Foundation will support the construction of the new state-of-the art 119,000-square-foot Student Activities Center. (See facility description below.)
Christine E. Lynn makes a $10 million gift to name the Christine E. Lynn Human Clinical Trials Initiative at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. The contribution matches the largest gift ever given to The Miami Project. Research involving Schwann cell transplantation, which is part of this initiative, is in the translational phase and is being readied for clinical use by undergoing the rigorous United States Food and Drug Administration approval process.
The University receives a $5 million from the Ted & Todd Schwartz Family Foundation as the lead gift in the campaign for the Center for Athletic Excellence. The gift will create the Theodore G. Schwartz and Todd G. Schwartz Center for Athletic Excellence. (See facility description below.)
The Fanjul family, owners of Florida Crystals Corporation, pledged a $1 million gift to Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. The donation will be used to help create Bascom Palmer’s Clinical Research Center on its campus in Palm Beach Gardens. The center, scheduled to open in 2013, will house retinal, corneal, and glaucoma research units, extensive ophthalmic imaging and diagnostic equipment, an ocular microbiology laboratory, and patient examination rooms.
Former Hurricanes football player Jonathan Vilma, now a linebacker for the New Orleans Saints, presented the University of Miami athletic department with a $450,000 gift toward completing the funding for the Theodore G. Schwartz and Todd G. Schwartz Center for Athletic Excellence, which is set for construction beginning in December 2011.
The Pap Corps presented its annual gift to Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center—a check for $3.4 million to fund cancer research. It is the second highest amount raised by the grassroots organization, which continues to astound and defy economic trends.
The University of Miami Frost School of Music’s Henry Mancini Institute is awarded $500,000 by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in conjunction with the 2010 Knight Arts Challenge.
Serving the Community and Beyond
The new Office of Civic and Community Engagement leverages the University’s academic resources to address community needs and concerns. Among its goals: identify existing service-learning opportunities at the institution; foster stronger relationships between the UM and the community; develop new courses with community-based components and integrate community engagement into existing ones; work closely with the Butler Center for Volunteer Service and Leadership Development to promote community service; and forge partnerships among UM colleges, schools, centers, and outside entities to foster positive change in the community.
UM launches the ’Canes in the Community website—www.miami.edu/ canesinthecommunity—which highlights a variety of programs that are of interest and beneficial to a wide community audience
Significant increases in unrestricted giving and money raised from a wide variety of efforts helped the University of Miami raise $1.2 million for its 2010 United Way campaign, making it the fifth year in a row the institution has surpassed the million-dollar plateau.
The University is a partner of the new Good Government Initiative, a project led by former Miami-Dade CommissionerKaty Sorenson to help develop the leadership skills of newly elected officials and other public leaders.
More than 750 UM students gave back to the local community on October 2, planting trees, removing graffiti, staging a carnival, and taking part in other volunteer efforts as part of National Gandhi Day of Service. The annual event, supervised by the William R. Butler Center for Volunteer Service and Leadership Development, is the largest service day at UM.
The Center for Latin American Studies worked closely with the Miami Science Museum and UM’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science to create a Latin American and Caribbean Module for Upward Bound’s Integrated Marine Program and College Training (IMPACT) initiative.
Voice of America and the UM School of Communication present “Haiti Earthquake: One Year Later” a conference focused on progress made in Haiti since the devastating January 2010 temblor. The event included panel discussions addressing issues such as political climate, health care, and media.
The School of Business’s MBA Consultants to Nonprofits Program is a summer internship program linking MBAs with area nonprofits. It provides MBA students with valuable experience solving business problems and building their networks, promotes a spirit of engagement and community service, and reinforces the idea of businesses and the community working together for mutual benefit.
UHealth Overtown Youth Center is a mini-clinic designed to provide care to the center’s youth and their families. The program brings volunteer UHealth physicians to the Overtown Youth Center three times a week to provide check-ups for enrolled children and families.
The School of Education’s Dunspaugh-Dalton Community and Educational Well-Being Research Center pursues a mission iso prevent educational, emotional, physical, and social problems and promote well-being through interdisciplinary research, university-community partnerships, educational and leadership training, and consultation services.
The Student Wolfson Sr. Department of Community Servces (DOCS) is a student-run, nonprofit organization that provides health screening and education services, weekly clinics for underserved communities in South Florida, and annual health fairs. Some 250 medical student and 50 faculty physician volunteers with the DOCS program.
Athletic Achievements
Student-athletes achieved a University all-time-high Graduation Success Rate
of 86 percent, seven points higher than the NCAA average. Five UM sports teams
achieved 100 percent for three or more consecutive years. Four Hurricanes teams—baseball, football, men’s tennis, and women’s golf—received Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA for high scores in the Academic Progress Rate (APR).
Completing its most successful season in program history, the UM women’s basketball team netted a regular season ACC championship and No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. Head coach Katie Meier was named the 2011 Associated Press Coach of the Year and the ACC Coach of the Year. Guard Shenise Johnson was named the ACC Women’s Basketball Player of the Year.
The baseball team this year extended its own NCAA record with its 39th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
The football team had 10 Pro Bowl picks for the January 30, 2011 game, marking the fifth consecutive year that the University of Miami contributed more former players than any other school in the nation. Eight Hurricanes football players were selected in 2011 NFL draft, the second most of any school in the nation.
Women’s tennis player Bianca Eichkorn, ranked No. 6 nationally for singles and No. 5 in doubles with teammate Anna Bartenstein, reached a new University record with 133 career singles wins. Eichkorn was named 2011 ACC Player of the Year and ITA Southeast Region Senior of the Year.
Shawn M. Eichorst, a former star defensive back who went on to earn a law degree and help lead intercollegiate athletic programs in two of the nation’s premier conferences, became UM’s 12th director of athletics.
Two teams, football and men’s basketball, welcomed new star coaches. Al Golden took the helm of Hurricanes football after taking Temple’s football program to unprecedented heights over five seasons. Jim Larranaga was named men’s basketball head coach following a 14-season career at George Mason University that included five NCAA appearances and a spot in the 2006 Final Four.
In all, UM students account for about 250 of the more than 1,000 new commitments at the meeting, ranging from a program to establish a network of community youth centers in the Haitian slum of Cite Soleil to a program to help rescue victims of domestic minor sex trafficking in Miami.
