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About Us

At FIU's Office of Engagement, we deepen the bond shared by the university and our region, enabling collaborative initiatives that change lives and solve problems around the globe. The Office responds to both internal and external community needs by being at the frontlines in supporting the university community during times of need; supporting fellow anchor institutions like local municipal partners, economic development agencies, and local chambers; and managing partnerships and collaboratives like Life Sciences South Florida, the Talent Development Network, and corporate partnerships with Royal Caribbean, MITRE, and local health systems. Working with units and colleges across the university, the Office also connects university-wide programs and projects to community partners and local collaboratives for new opportunities amongst our FIU and local communities.

  • Top 50

    public research university

  • Ranked #1

    In Florida among public universities according to the Board of Governors performance-based funding scores

  • Top 50

    in the world for positive impact

FIU's Commitment to Community 

FIU's commitment to our community was sparked the minute that FIU was born. In 1972, FIU opened its doors to the largest, first-day enrollment in the history of American higher education – a resounding sign of the crucial need for a public university in Miami.

Below, find published editorials and university-wide programs from the Office of the Provost and the Office of the President that highlight our FIU's commitment to community engagement and the significant role that engaging the community plays in achieving our university's mission. 

  • Published Editorials

     Miami-Dade County Prosperity Initiatives Feasibility Study, May 2016:

    In partnership with Miami-Dade County and Citi Community Development, FIU Metropolitan Center conducted the prosperity Initiatives Feasibility Study to evaluate the County's current economic structure, performance, and the merits of specific wealth-building strategies that address persistent academic disparities.  

    The Study’s final conclusion is a call to action to immediately develop an aggressive prosperity development program. The goals of the Prosperity Initiative are to implement programs that assist families, individuals, and households facing the most difficult economic circumstances to improve their standard of living and quality of life through:

    • Expanding the supply (pipeline) of higher wage opportunities, and growing economic diversification that better resists economic cycles; 
    • Providing better preparation by increasing the skills education, and capacity of residents to take those jobs; 
    • Building wealth through asset ownership opportunities; 
    • Providing targeted business development and wealth building through business ownership for underserved segments of the region's population; 
    • Focusing physical investment, and in turn, attracting new investment into historically distressed neighborhoods; and 
    • Providing equitable solutions to address housing market imbalances that threaten to erode incomes and wealth building
  • Other Instances of Support

    FIU Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program:
    In 2016, FIU Provost Dr. Kenneth Furton created a plan to integrate Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SI&E) Co-Curricular and Curricular activities with the goals of:
    • Educating, inspiring, and activating the entire FIU community for innovation and changemaking.
    • Creating an umbrella-program for all SI&E related activities across the university and its partners.
    • Maintaining sustainable implementation through developing 5 main strategic access cores (Student Recruitment and Services, Curricular and Co-Curricular Activities, Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Philanthropy and Community Engagement, Leadership, Culture and Awareness)
    • Engaging entire FIU community in SI&E: students, faculty, alumni, staff, leadership.
    • Expanding contribution of FIU to Ashoka’s “Everyone a Changemaker” vision.

    • Outcomes include:
      • 6 Honors College courses in Social Innovation, Social Entrepreneurship and changemaking
      • The redesigned First-Year Experience course has now scaled to all incoming freshman, over 4,000 students
      • 100 workshops and lectures on entrepreneurship, social innovation and changemaking hosted by StartUP
      • FIU40FIU students brought together through the FIU FYRST Changemakers living community to create a community dedicated to exploring community service and civic engagement opportunities
    • The Office of the Provost is currently working on making a Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Graduation Medallion a reality.

Our Community Engagement Recognitions

  • 2020Classified as a Community Engaged University by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
  • 2019 Gulf South Summit Outstanding Service-Learning Collaboration in Higher Education for City of Miami Beach Partnership 
  • 2018Innovation and Economic Prosperity University - Association of Public and Land-grant Universities