Points of Pride

2010 H

U

R

R

I

C A

N

E

POI NTS OF PRIDE

’CANES

S I N C E ITS I N C E PTI O UNIVERSITY HAS HAD B RAG ABOUT. HERE A TH E R ECE NT U N IVE R FO R YO U TO S HAR E WITH P EO P LE I N YO

N I N 1925, THE MANY THINGS TO RE JUST SOME OF SITY ACH I EVE M E NTS W H E N M E ETI N G U R C O M M U N ITY.

47 N AT I O N A L

U.S.News & World Report’s 2011 “America’s Best Colleges”

7

R ANKINGS U.S.News & World Report’s 2011 “America’s Best Colleges” rankings placed UM in the top tier— No. 47 in the National Universities category.

Up 20 spots from 2002, UM is the highestranked Florida school and one of the fastest-rising nationwide.

——— The University of Miami placed high in the 2011 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools,” published by U.S.News & World Report. UM’s Miller School of Medicine ranked No. 47, moving

up four slots from 2010. The School of Law moved up 11 points in one year to 60th out of 184 schools, with its graduate program in tax law ranked fifth nationwide.

——— The University of Miami is one of the country’s best institutions for

undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review’s 2010 guidebook, The Best 371 Colleges. The Princeton Review rated the University No. 1 in the country for “Race/Class Interaction” and ranked the School of Business Administration No. 6 for providing the greatest opportunity for minority students in its 2011 edition and No. 7 in the U.S. in the “Most Competitive Students” category.

C O N T ’ D

N A T I O N A L

R A N K I N G S

The Rosenstiel School of Marine

The University of Miami ranks 15th among

and Atmospheric Science is listed

top Peace Corps volunteer-producing

among the ranks of Harvard and Princeton

schools in the medium size category for

as one of the top five “heavy hitters” in the

2010, with 23 alumni and four graduate

recent Essential Science Indicators list

students currently serving around the globe.

published by Thomson Reuters. UM is also listed 13th in the world for geosciences.

——— For the seventh 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 2010-11 “America’s Best

Hospitals” annual survey. Several other specialties at the University

——— The full-time MBA program at the University of Miami School of Business Administration is ranked No. 43 in Forbes magazine’s

2009 biennial ranking of business schools nationwide. The influential Financial Times newspaper ranked the school No. 18 in the U.S. and No. 26 in the world for research in its 2010 ranking of executive MBA programs.

——— Parade magazine placed UM on its A-List

of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical

in two categories: Large Private Schools and

Center were also ranked: ear, nose,

Health Sciences. Hispanic Business magazine

and throat (No. 30), kidney disorders

ranked three UM graduate schools—Miller

(No. 49), pediatrics: diabetes and

School of Medicine (No. 2), School of Law

endocrinology (No. 24), pediatrics:

(No. 3), and School of Business Administration

neonatology (No. 25), and neurology

(No. 4)—among the nation’s top ten for His-

and neurosurgery (No. 29).

panic students in its 2010 Diversity Report.

BRIGHT NEW UM received more than 25,900 applicants for only 2,000 spots.

Approximately 68% of new freshmen graduated in the top 10% of their class.

The average GPA was 4.20 and the average SAT score was nearly 1300.

STUDENTS

ACCELERATING

The School of Law in 2009 welcomed

Yadong Luo, Emery M. Findley, Jr. Distin-

its 11th dean, Patricia D. White, who

guished Chair and professor of manage-

formerly served as dean of Arizona State

ment at the University of Miami School

University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College

of Business Administration, is regarded as

of Law. She has been widely recognized

the world’s foremost international business

for both her intellectual rigor and

scholar, according to a study published

passionate advocacy of public service.

in the International Business Review.

ACAD E M I CS Renowned climatologist Roni Avissar

The College of Arts and Sciences welcomed

joined UM in 2009 from Duke University,

its new dean, Leonidas Bachas, a distin-

where he chaired the Department of Civil

guished biological chemist who formerly

and Environmental Engineering, to become

served as the Frank J. Derbyshire Professor

the new dean of the Rosenstiel School

of Chemistry at the University of Kentucky

of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

and chair of its Department of Chemistry.

———

———

James M. Tien , dean of the College of

Ralph L. Sacco, chair of the Miller School

Engineering, was the recipient of the 2010

of Medicine Department of Neurology,

IEEE Richard M. Emberson Award. IEEE is

was inducted as president of the American

the world’s largest professional association

Heart Association. He is the first

advancing technology for humanity.

neurologist to hold the position.

President Bill Clinton held the third Clinton Global Initiative University meeting at the University of Miami in April 2010.

More than 1,300 students from 83 countries and all 50 states, along with university presidents, administrators, and national youth leaders, attended the conference to devise strategies to make the world a better place.

E XC LU S I V E The University’s first Global Business Forum, hosted by the School of Business Administration in 2009, was a vibrant success, drawing more than 700 attendees and distinguished business leaders from around the world, including former General Electric CEO Jack Welch. A second Global Business Forum in January 2011 focused on The Business of Health Care, featuring business and government leaders such as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.

——— Other international figures who spoke on the Coral Gables campus include His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, and Fareed Zakaria, editor-at-large of Time magazine.

E V E N TS

NATI O N A L R E Despite the nation’s serious economic downturn, UM’s fundraising cash total for fiscal year 2010 reached nearly $160 million, up 4 percent from

the previous year. Overall, new commitments of $100,000 and up reached nearly $138 million, up more than 56 percent from last year.

——— 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, coming in ahead of Harvard, Cornell, Yale, Stanford, and Vanderbilt. Charity Navigator is the nation’s premier independent charity evaluator. In 2009 the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) recognized the University with its WealthEngine Award for three years of successful educational fundraising.

——— The University also is a champion fundraiser for charitable causes in local and global communities. The University raised $1.3 million for United Way of Miami-Dade

last year. And following the tragic earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, the University raised nearly $7 million for aid and rebuilding. The University of Miami field hospital in Haiti was headquarters for medical volunteers to treat more than 30,000 patients and perform more than 1,500 surgeries.

FO R F U N D R A

COG N ITION

ISING

N EW B U I LD I N

O N CA M P U S

GS The Robert and Judi Prokop Newman Alumni Center

opened October 2010 to celebrate the achievements of graduates and welcome them whenever they return to campus.

The $25.2 million, 72,000-square-foot facility is the only building on campus completely funded by donors.

——— In 2009 researchers moved into the new Biomedical Research Building, a188,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility that is

home to the Hussman Institute for Human Genomics and the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute.

——— The first phase of the UM Life Science & Technology Park is now under construction and slated for completion in summer 2011.

The first building will include 252,000 square feet of wet and dry lab space, offices, and shared facilities to be leased by both established and spinoff companies. A giant step toward making South Florida a biomedical research powerhouse and a major medical destination, the project also includes many community outreach components.

B R EAKTH ROU Research and sponsored program

Researchers at the Miller School of

expenditures totaled more than

Medicine have identified a family of genes

$330 million in FY2010. As part of the

that may control the ability of the optic nerve

American Recovery and Reinvestment

to regenerate. The finding may one day lead

Act, University of Miami researchers have

to treatment advances for diseases such as

been awarded more than $100 million

glaucoma and optic nerve stroke, as well as

in grant awards. This support is funding

spinal cord injury and other neurodegenera-

University-wide projects aimed at finding

tive diseases of the brain and spinal cord.

solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems.

———

——— The Diabetes Research Institute (DRI)

at the Miller School of Medicine has

Researchers at the Hussman Institute

pioneered several methods of restoring

for Human Genomics helped to

natural insulin production to those living with

identify the first common genetic risk

diabetes. In a first-of-its-kind breakthrough,

factor for autism spectrum disorder.

DRI researchers in late 2009 isolated

They also identified a gene that may

insulin-producing islet cells from a soldier’s

increase susceptibility for late-onset

bullet-damaged pancreas. The cells were

Alzheimer’s disease.

cultured and implanted in the soldier’s liver, curing his injury-induced diabetes.

R ESEARCH

GH The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science’s Aquaculture Program

is spearheading research and development in the emerging fields of hatchery technology and offshore aquaculture. Through the school’s National Center for Coral Reef Research, more than 50 University-wide scientists are joining forces to study, predict, and mitigate the harmful effects of global climate change on coral reef systems.

——— The School of Nursing and Health Studies was designated a Pan

American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Nursing Collaborating Centre—one of just 11 in the U.S. Through this designation, the school works to understand the effect of nursing shortages on patient safety in the Caribbean and Latin America.

AT H L E T I C 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.

——— The women’s basketball team advanced to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament Championship Game on April 3, 2010. It was the team’s first-ever appearance in a championship game since its 1972 formation.

——— In 2010, the baseball team extended its own NCAA record with its 38th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

——— The football team had a record-setting 11 Pro Bowl picks (either as starters, backups, or alternates) for the January 31, 2010 game. This is the largest number for one school since 1970, when the league started keeping Pro Bowl records.

The team also earned NCAA honors for having posted a multi-year Academic Progress Report score in the top 10 percentile.

——— In her senior year, Laura Vallverdu won the Honda Sports Award in tennis, designating her as the nation’s top collegiate female athlete in the sport.

——— Junior Ti’erra Brown won the USA Championship in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championship. She is the first Hurricane track-and-field athlete to win a U.S. national title.

ACH I EVE M E

N TS

M IAM I HURRI UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS 10-197