FIU to graduate thousands in five ceremonies

MIAMI (April 21, 2009) – About 3,000 Florida International University graduates will receive their degrees during five ceremonies to be held on April 27 and 28 at the U.S. Century Bank Arena on FIU’s University Park, 11200 SW 8^th St.

The ceremonies will mark the last time President Modesto A. Maidique will preside over commencement. Maidique, who has been at FIU for almost 23 years and has led the university during a period of tremendous growth and achievements, has conferred degrees to more than 120,000 students. Maidique announced in November that he would step down once a successor was named. FIU’s Board of Trustees is expected to choose a new president on April 25.

At the ceremonies, FIU will award honorary degrees to Florida’s special advisor on higher education, a veteran federal judge, and a former ambassador known as a business community leader and philanthropist. FIU medallions will be awarded to a marketing executive for two of the country’s top sports networks, the co-owner of Urbieta Oil, an office manger partner with the Miami office of Ernst & Young, and an artist who formerly taught at FIU. The honorees are:

An award-winning marketing executive, Raúl de Quesada currently leads marketing operations for Fox Sports en Español and Fox Soccer Channel, two of the country’s top sports networks. De Quesada first joined Fox Sports International in 1998 as director of marketing and communications. His dedication, professionalism and strategic successes ensured his rise to become one of the top Hispanic executives within Fox Cable Television Networks.

De Quesada will receive the FIU Medallion – Outstanding Alumnus on Monday, April 27 at the 10 a.m. ceremony.

 
Former ambassador Steven Green is a well-known businessman and philanthropist.  After nearly three decades as a leader of the private sector, where the international industrialist revitalized E-II Holdings in the 1980s and successfully led Astrum International and its former major operating subsidiary, Samsonite Corporation, as chairman and CEO in the 1990s, Green was appointed by President Bill Clinton to his Export Council in 1995 and sworn in two years later as the 12^th U.S. ambassador to Singapore, a position he held until 2001.

Green will receive an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, on Monday, April 27 at the 10 a.m. ceremony.

 
Senior U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler was appointed in 1977 to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, where he presided over cases such as the Longshoreman’s Union case, one of the longest cases tried in the district. He is known as “Mr. Clean” throughout the halls of justice in the Southern District of Florida.

Hoeveler will receive an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, on Monday, April 27 at the 3 p.m. ceremony.

 
Local artist and former FIU professor James Couper III has been painting with oil on canvas and teaching the medium to students for more than 20 years. He has had 29 solo shows and been included in 31 competitive and 194 invitational exhibitions. Most recently, Couper curated a show for FIU’s own Frost Art Museum, “Simulacra and Essence: The Paintings of Luisa Basnuevo,” which is currently on display in the museum’s Betty L. Perry Gallery.

Couper will receive the FIU Medallion-University Service on Monday, April 27 at the 7:30 p.m. ceremony.

 
As the co-owner of Urbieta Oil, Ignacio Urbieta Jr. carries on the legacy of his father, Ignacio Sr., who founded Urbieta Oil Company in 1973. Today, the petroleum distribution company is providing options to consumers searching for an alternative to gasoline and energy dependence. Together with his brother Guillermo, Urbieta, an electrical engineer, has turned Urbieta Oil into a $450 million company that is consistently ranked by Hispanic and Entrepreneur magazines as one of the fastest-growing.

Urbieta will receive the FIU Medallion – Outstanding Alumnus on Tuesday, April 28 at the 10 a.m. ceremony.

 
 A native Miamian, Dean Colson, Gov. Charlie Crist’s special advisor on higher education, is a partner with the Miami law firm Colson Hicks Eidson, where he has specialized in product liability, aviation and complex commercial litigation since 1981. For many years, Colson served in leadership positions at UM and also chaired the university’s billion-dollar capital campaign, which raised $1.4 billion. In 2000, then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush appointed him to the state’s Commission on Ethics and, two years later, to the Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission, which he chaired until 2005. In 2007, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist named Colson his special advisor in higher education.

Colson will receive an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, on Tuesday, April 28 at the 10 a.m. ceremony.

As office manager partner of Ernst & Young’s (EY) Miami office, Oscar Suarez brings almost three decades worth of accounting experience to his role overseeing all of the services provided by the company. He also serves as EY’s tax markets leader for South Florida, overseeing all tax services provided in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. A certified public accountant and member of the Florida and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Suarez’s area of expertise lies in the handling of large multinational and SEC-type engagements, from both a federal tax and service-line perspective. He joined EY four years after leaving KPMG, where he spent 15 years in leadership positions.

Suarez will receive the Cal Kovens Community Service Medallion on Tuesday, April 28 at the 3 p.m. ceremony.

Full biographies of the honorees are available at http://commencement.fiu.edu/honorees.html.

The ceremonies are scheduled as follows:

Monday, April 27, 2009

10:00 A.M.        School of Journalism and Mass Communication

                               School of Hospitality and Tourism Management

                              College of Education

3:00 P.M.         College of Arts and Sciences   

7:30 P.M.         College of Architecture and the Arts     

                             Robert Stempel School of Public Health and Social Work                  

                             College of Nursing and Health Sciences           

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

10:00 A.M.     College of Business Administration (Chapman Graduate School)

                            College of Engineering and Computing 

3:00 P.M.       College of Business Administration (Landon Undergraduate School)

 –FIU-

About FIU:

Florida International University was founded in 1965 and is Miami’s only public research university. With a student body of more than 38,000, FIU graduates more Hispanics than any other university in the country. Its 17 colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. FIU has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a “High Research Activity University.” In 2006 FIU was authorized to establish a medical school, which will welcome its first class in 2009. FIU’s College of Law recently received accreditation in the fastest time allowed by the American Bar Association.