Florida International University

[Aessotariq]

Florida International University is the southernmost of the 11 public universities that make up the State University System of Florida. It's also one of the youngest schools, chartered in 1965 and opening for business in 1972. At the time of its inception, Miami was the largest metropolitan area in the United States that did not have a public university.

The primary University Park campus is located 10 miles west of downtown Miami, built on what was the Tamiami Airport, which was closed down several years before. In older aerial photos you could see what was left of the old runways that criss-crossed the site amidst the campus buildings. Remnants of the old airport are slowly disappearing as more buildings have been constructed and it's almost unnoticeable now. The most obvious hint at a different past is the Public Safety building where the university police headquarters is located. It's in the airport's old control tower.

In the relatively short time it has been around, its growth has been phenomenal. FIU is now a Tier I Research Intensive university with a population of over 35,000 students; it opened with just under 5,000. In the beginning there were just four academic buildings, named First, Second, Third, Fourth House etc., in four different languages:

[*]Primera Casa (1st house, Spanish), Deuxi

[Aessotariq]

Since 2000, several new buildings have been built on campus and existing buildings expanded:

• The student union building, the Graham University Center, underwent its 3rd and 4th expansions, including a new two-story bookstore, a new restaurant, and retail space.

• The new College of Law Building is under construction. FIU's law school just opened a few years ago and received provisional accreditation last year. Miami was one of the largest metros in the country without a public law school.

• The new Health and Life Sciences buildings I and II recently opened, consolidating the College of Health and Urban Affairs' four schools. FIU is lobbying state regents hard to build a medical school. Again, Miami is one of the largest metro areas without a public school.

• The Management and Advance Research Center, or the MARC Building, which provides classroom space and workspace for several research centers and institutes.

• 4 new parking garages, in order of opening: Gold (2001), Blue (2002), Red (2005), and Panther (2005).

• 2 fraternity houses and a residence for the university president.

• a new School of Architecture building.

• a new Marine Biology lab at FIU's bayfront Biscayne Bay campus.

• Residence halls:
  • University Park Towers, 10-story apartment building, complete. Second residence hall to be built after Panther Hall (three-wing, four-story dorm building surrounding a courtyard), built 1996.

  • Everglades Hall (6 stories, complete). Everglades features three bedroom units and full kitchen.

  • Lakeview Hall (under construction). and Lakeview will be for underclassmen, with four bedroom units for single occupant, and two bedroom units with double occupancy.

  [*]Some refurbishments and upgrades were made to the appearance of the Engineering Center, formerly known as the Center for Engineering and Applied Sciences.

  [*]FIU's new Recreation Center just opened this semester. The old fitness center was in a crowded space in the PharMed Arena.

  [*]In the future, the proposed Metrorail East-West line will have a station on or near the FIU campus.

What's next for FIU? Only time can tell. Their expansion capability is only limited insofar as their physical space is concerned.

[Aessotariq]

Some random shots of campus buildings:

1. Wertheim Performing Arts Center, home to the College of Fine Arts and School of Music:

2. Steven & Dorothea Green Library. This building is brightly lit at night and can be seen for miles around the campus and surrounding area.

3. Recreation Center, during construction

4. Recreation Center, now open

5. Ryder Business Bldg, home of College of Business Administration; named for Ryder System, major corporate philanthropist in South Florida

6. University Park Towers, apartments.

7. "Red" Parking Garage

8. College of Law building, groundbreaking

9. College of Law building today, u/c

10. Bookstore annex to Graham Center. The upper floor features a terrace with outdoor seating.

11. University Duplicating Center

12. Frost Art Museum. The new home of FIU's art museum, currently housed in a room in another academic building.

13. Art museum is being built fronting a small lake

14. Panther Hall main entrance (underclassmen residence hall)

15. Everglades Hall residences

16. Lakeview Hall residences

17. National Hurricane Center

18. Presidential house

19. The Public Safety building - FIU Police headquarters, a remnant over from the old airport days:

[Urban_Legend]

Awesome! I love all that construction! You've inspired me to make a photo thread of my campus too!

[ironchapman]

I though Miami was included in Florida's state university system.

Whatever the case, I was wondering what all those different Florida university scores I saw on the TV last night were (FLA ATL, FLA INT'L, etc.)

Nice work. I love how thorough you are.

[KendallKid]

I though Miami was included in Florida's state university system.

Whatever the case, I was wondering what all those diffent Florida university scores I saw on the TV last night were (FLA ATL, FLA INT'L, etc.)

Nice work. I love how thorough you are.

HEHE i hear this all the time. I had a friend here in Gainesville who wanted to go to the University of Miami but found out it was a private school and didnt go. It seems to be a common misconception.

[Aessotariq]

Nice work. I love how thorough you are.

thanks, ironchapman...

oh yeah, UM is most definitely private -- $1208 a credit-hour private!!!

"FL ATL" is Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. All of Florida's state universities have "Florida" in their titles. Florida Institute of Technology and Florida Memorial University are private, though.

[Brickell]

Odd. I was always under the impression that FIT was a state school. Here's a complete list of the State University System: http://www.upf.com/SUS.html

Any shots of the architecture school?

Also, FIU has a sculpture garden of sorts around the campus. Quite a few of them. It makes for interesting walking.

[Aessotariq]

I have a few pics of the architecture school but they're not that great. I'll take some more next time I'm down there.

The sculpture garden is really neat. It's officially called the Martin Z. Margulies Sculpture Park. There are these huge metal sculptures located all around the campus. You can even walk up to them and touch them, and in some cases, get under or into them. The university received a very generous donation of sculptures and there are many different artists represented. And they also bring in sculptures on loan and display them for a given period of time.

The website says there are 80 sculptures on campus, and FIU purports to have the largest sculpture collection on a university campus.

http://www.marguliessculpturepark.org/

[metropolis]

FIU is an incredible university that is undergoing a similar construction boom to that of the rest of Miami - I graduated in 2003 and every time that I visit the campus I see new buildings starting up. It's becoming its own city in there.

It may surprise people who live outside of S. Florida to hear that FIU is actually a very large university and growing! FIU currently has about 35,000 students (every country in the world is represented by its student body - and it's one of the top international universities in the world), it just added a football team 3 years ago (they're already a Division I-A team), they're adding a medical school very soon, and a few years down the line they will have a MetroRail station on campus. This is a very dynamic school - if you visit once a year, you will no doubt find new developments and construction projects each time.

As a very proud FIU alumni, I have to thank you for creating this post - I hope to see more pictures added often.

[Brickell]

I think I remember hearing that FIU graduates more Hispanics than any other school in the United States.

[Aessotariq]

As a very proud FIU alumni, I have to thank you for creating this post - I hope to see more pictures added often.

It tickles me to hear you have gotten so much out of this! I will continue to keep it updated.

I think I remember hearing that FIU graduates more Hispanics than any other school in the United States.

This is absolutely correct.

[Aporkalypse]

I love the pictures, never saw FIU's campus though I have been to Miami and FAU in Boca. It's a gorgeous campus.

FIU and FAU are trying to get the money together to start a med school, though both certainly don't need one. Boca Community Hospital and FAU have a nice cooperative effort and could work with Scripps. The downside if South Florida is malpractice lawsuit hell, especially Miami-Dade.

[shardoon]

just a correction on the medical school at FIU. ORLANDO is the largest metropolitan area without a medical school. miami already has one at UM. although the university is private, the UM medical school is state subsidized...... therefore public.

although i think its time for florida to step up and open more med schools and UCF and FIU should be approved soon.

we are the 4th most populous state BUT only the 41st in producing doctors.

[Aessotariq]

I love the pictures, never saw FIU's campus though I have been to Miami and FAU in Boca. It's a gorgeous campus.

FIU and FAU are trying to get the money together to start a med school, though both certainly don't need one. Boca Community Hospital and FAU have a nice cooperative effort and could work with Scripps. The downside if South Florida is malpractice lawsuit hell, especially Miami-Dade.

Thank you for the compliments... I will try to post more as soon as I get power back on in my home and I can access my pictures.

Not sure if you were aware, but FAU's medical program is actually a joint venture with UM and it only has 30 seats or so. These students are considered UM students on a satellite campus at FAU, and they use BCH as a teaching facility. Certainly a quick and effective way of starting up a program, plus the students are ultimately conferred a UM degree.

FIU plans to go it on its own and they have already decided to establish affiliations with Baptist Hospital of Miami (largest private not-for-profit hospital system in the area), Mt. Sinai Medical Center, and Miami Children's Hospital (only standalone pediatric facility in the region). I would have to say that an FIU school is certainly justifiable and can coexist with an FAU school to the north. I've read that Miami-Dade and Broward counties are also considered to have a high amount of medically underserved areas, highest in the state. Another point mentioned for a school specifically in Miami was an opportunity to increase the number of Spanish- and Creole-speaking physicians that can serve the unique demographics of the region.

just a correction on the medical school at FIU. ORLANDO is the largest metropolitan area without a medical school. miami already has one at UM. although the university is private, the UM medical school is state subsidized...... therefore public.

I originally said that Miami is the largest metro without a public medical school, which is still correct. I think it's a pretty big leap to say that UM is a public medical school just because it receives state subsidies for its in-state students (all med schools in Florida do, so that's beside the point). I couldn't dispute, however, that Orlando is reportedly the largest metro without a medical school of any kind.

Here's part of why I can't even liberally construe that assertion: it still costs almost three times as much for a Florida resident to attend UM's medical school ($29,298) than it would, say UF's ($10,017.96). The two don't even compare. Nova's osteopathic medical school receives state subsidies as well, but it still costs twice as much to attend ($23,267).

With that said, welcome to the forum... hope to see you around.

[Aporkalypse]

just a correction on the medical school at FIU. ORLANDO is the largest metropolitan area without a medical school. miami already has one at UM. although the university is private, the UM medical school is state subsidized...... therefore public.

although i think its time for florida to step up and open more med schools and UCF and FIU should be approved soon.

we are the 4th most populous state BUT only the 41st in producing doctors.

41st per capital maybe, but not 41st in producing doctors. There are a few states without med schools altogether (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota) and only a handful of large states have more than two (Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Texas, California, Illinois, etc. For instance, Washington, Virginia, and Oregon only have one school per state. Florida only had UF and Miami for a very long time until USF was started up in the 1970s and FSU started up very recently. Florida is still fairly underserved, though.

[tm68]

Wow. This is the first time I've seen pics of FIU and am really impressed. Very nice campus! Seems it's underrated.

[metropolis]

Wow. This is the first time I've seen pics of FIU and am really impressed. Very nice campus! Seems it's underrated.

FIU is under-rated because it's not a football powerhouse like UM. FIU just recently began Division I football, so over time (hopefully) they will get a little more national recognition...the medical school would help also.

Would love to see more pics of FIU in the future on here!