FIU announces five senior fellows in the School of International and Public Affairs


The School of International and Public Affairs at Florida International University will welcome five visiting senior fellows this year. The visiting fellows will devote their two-year residence at FIU to research, teaching and creation of new engagement opportunities for students.

The fellows are:

  • Manny Diaz, former mayor of Miami
  • Kimberly Green, philanthropist
  • Martin Palous, immediate past ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United Nations
  • Peter Reill, European historian
  • U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

“These fellows each bring unique access, expertise and personal experiences to the classroom that will expand opportunities for our students,” said John Stack, director of the School of International and Public Affairs. “We hope their insights will really make our students’ time at FIU much more robust and even more fulfilling.”

SIPA, housed within the College of Arts & Sciences, is dedicated to preparing students for the globalized world of the 21st Century. The addition of these five fellows will help advance that mission.

Manny Diaz

Manny Diaz was first elected Miami’s mayor in 2001, having never held elective office. He was re-elected to a second term in 2005. In the summer of 2008, he was chosen to lead the United States Conference of Mayors as its president. During his two-term tenure, Diaz was recognized for completely transforming the City of Miami and for many nationally recognized programs in urban design, sustainability, education, infrastructure, affordable housing, law enforcement, poverty and arts and culture. He is a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and serves as vice chairman of the Alliance for Digital Equality Board of Directors. He also serves as the chairman of Fair Districts Florida and serves on a variety of boards for foundations, non-profits and civic organizations. As a senior SIPA fellow, Diaz will establish programs that provide FIU students with opportunities to participate in the political process.

Kimberly Green

Kimberly Green, philanthropist, writer and documentary-filmmaker, Green has led the Green Family Foundation since 1997. Under her leadership, GFF has spearheaded a variety of initiatives in Haiti and in her native Miami. In Haiti, her work ranges from community health and development to cultural repatriation and preservation. Green, who directed and produced the award-winning documentary “Once There Was a Country: Revisiting Haiti,” also oversees the Cultural Committee for the Clinton Global Initiative Haiti Action Network. As a senior SIPA fellow, Green will work with SIPA faculty on a range of projects emphasizing FIU programs in Haiti. She also will help expand the multidimensional Haitian studies program at FIU, as well as conduct seminars and lectures.

Martin Palous

Martin Palous was one of the first signatories of Chapter 77, a document criticizing the Communist government of Czechoslovakia for not respecting human rights and later served as the group’s spokesman. He also is a founding member of Civic Forum, a dissident movement that helped overthrow the Communist government in Czechoslovakia. He was elected to the Federal Assembly where he joined the Foreign Affairs Committee and later became deputy minister of Foreign Affairs. In 2002, he was appointed Ambassador for the Czech Republic to the United States, and in 2006, became the ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United Nations. As a senior SIPA fellow, Palous will co-teach classes on democratization, human rights, Europe, and the European Union. He also will develop an initiative on human rights and democratization.

Peter Hanns Reill

Peter Hanns Reill is the former director of the UCLA Center for 17th and 18th Century Studies and the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. Scholar and commentator, he is the author of six monographs and co-editor of six collections by distinguished scholarly presses in the United States and Europe. As a senior SIPA fellow, Reill will teach a graduate seminar and serve on master’s and dissertation committees. He also will help to build the European Studies Program in SIPA at the graduate level.

Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio was elected to the United States Senate in 2010 to represent the State of Florida. He currently serves on the Committee of Commerce, Science and Transportation, the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. From 2000-2008, Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives. During this period, he served as Majority Whip, Majority Leader and Speaker of the House. At the end of his tenure as Speaker, Rubio resumed his law practice as a sole practitioner. He has also served as a visiting professor at Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center and as a political analyst for Univision during the 2008 election cycle. As a senior SIPA fellow, Rubio will co-teach four courses over the next year and oversee independent study students.

SIPA Building

Media Contact:JoAnn Adkins at 305-348-0398.