HR 9119

1	House Resolution
2	A resolution recognizing the students, faculty, staff,
3	board of trustees, and alumni of Miami Dade College as
4	they celebrate the college's 50 years as an outstanding
5	institution of higher education.
6
7	WHEREAS, in 1960, Miami Dade College opened its doors as
8	Dade County Junior College with a diverse student body totaling
9	1,428, and became the first integrated junior college in
10	Florida, offering a tuition-free education for all high school
11	graduates residing in the county, and
12	WHEREAS, enrollment at the original North Campus site
13	quickly grew and, by 1967, the college became the largest
14	institution of higher learning in the State of Florida with
15	23,341 students, prompting expansion to Kendall and downtown
16	Miami, and
17	WHEREAS, by the mid-1970s, Miami Dade's guiding philosophy
18	of "access with excellence" was clearly defined with the
19	adoption of higher academic standards, the addition of a Medical
20	Center Campus, and the opening of the Inter-American Outreach
21	Center of 2,000 students in the heart of Little Havana, now one
22	of the largest bilingual facilities of higher learning in the
23	United States, and
24	WHEREAS, Miami Dade College became known as "Democracy's
25	College" as it firmly established itself as the nation's most
26	diverse educational institution, and
27	WHEREAS, in 1984, the New World School of the Arts was
28	conceived and designed to train future performing and visual
29	artists from high school through undergraduate studies, creating
30	the first seamless partnership between Miami-Dade County Public
31	Schools, Miami Dade College and, later, the University of
32	Florida, and
33	WHEREAS, Miami Dade College has long been the community's
34	cultural anchor, home of the Miami Book Fair International, the
35	Miami International Film Festival, the National Historic
36	Landmark Freedom Tower, the Cultura del Lobo Performance Arts
37	Series, a renowned art gallery system, and acclaimed campus
38	theaters, and
39	WHEREAS, Miami Dade College has continued to expand access
40	to students throughout the county, opening the Hialeah Center in
41	1981 which, today, boasts an enrollment of more than 12,000
42	students, and, in 1985, opening the Homestead Campus, which has
43	become a vibrant modern campus in the heart of the revitalized
44	Homestead community, and
45	WHEREAS, Miami Dade College's reputation for high
46	achievement has continued to receive national acclaim, including
47	recognition by the prestigious University of Texas Community
48	College Leadership Program as the "Best and Most Innovative"
49	community college in the nation, and
50	WHEREAS, in the 1990s, Miami Dade College, in a bold
51	response to the changing economy and workforce, restructured its
52	academic programs to meet the demands of emerging industries,
53	introducing more than 50 new degree and short-term certificate
54	training programs, developing multimedia classrooms and the
55	Virtual College, and receiving recognition from Yahoo's Internet
56	Life and the Smithsonian Institute for Innovation as one of the
57	best-wired colleges and universities nationwide, and
58	WHEREAS, in response to the need for a qualified workforce
59	in information technology and telecommunications, Miami Dade
60	College has, over the past 10 years, built and expanded the
61	Emerging Technologies Center of the Americas, a state-of-the-
62	art, 40,000-square-foot facility that houses 19 multimedia
63	classrooms and labs, specialized equipment, and simulation
64	stations, and a new science complex consisting of 90,000 square
65	feet of lab, classroom, meeting, greenhouse, and research space,
66	and
67	WHEREAS, Miami Dade College added an eighth campus in the
68	Doral area, the West Campus, and established the Honors College,
69	which offers gifted students a rich, academically challenging
70	curriculum and the opportunity to transfer to some of the most
71	prestigious colleges and universities in the nation through more
72	than 60 articulation agreements, and
73	WHEREAS, Miami Dade College is known as the "great
74	equalizer" in the community and as an incubator of the human
75	spirit, and continues to meet the workforce needs of the region,
76	especially in areas of critical shortage, including education,
77	nursing, public safety, film and digital production, and
78	electrical engineering, and
79	WHEREAS, Miami Dade College offers bachelor's degrees to
80	place-bound, nontraditional students who, otherwise, might not
81	realize their dream of a college education, and
82	WHEREAS, Miami Dade College has been recognized by the
83	Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for helping
84	first-generation and disadvantaged students to attend college
85	and engage in service-learning, and by the Chronicle for Higher
86	Education as one of its "Great Colleges to Work For," and
87	WHEREAS, Miami Dade College received the first-annual
88	Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for teaching and learning from the
89	American Council on Education, was named one of the nation's top
90	25 "Best Neighbor Colleges and Universities" by the Survey of
91	Best College and University Civic Partnerships Project, and has
92	received many other national awards and recognitions, and
93	WHEREAS, the faculty at Miami Dade College continue to be
94	recognized for their outstanding commitment, dedication,
95	innovation, and excellence in teaching, as exemplified most
96	recently by the recognition of Sandra Schultz as the 2009
97	Florida Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the
98	Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and
99	Support of Education, and
100	WHEREAS, Miami Dade College has been deemed one of the most
101	efficient, effective, and well-managed institutions in the
102	nation by the Washington Economics Group, and
103	WHEREAS, Miami Dade College President Dr. Eduardo J. Padron
104	was named to Time magazine's list of "The 10 Best College
105	Presidents" in the nation in its November 2009 issue and was
106	honored by Florida Trend magazine in 2010 as "Floridian of the
107	Year" for his tireless advocacy of the vital role community
108	colleges play in revitalizing the economy, and
109	WHEREAS, Miami Dade College is the nation's largest
110	institution of higher education, having taught more than 1.7
111	million students, and is the top producer of college degrees in
112	the nation, NOW, THEREFORE,
113
114	Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of
115	Florida:
116
117	That the House of Representatives recognizes Miami Dade
118	College on the occasion of its 50th Anniversary and
119	congratulates President Eduardo J. Padron, Board of Trustees
120	Chair Helen Aguirre Ferre, and the members of the board, and the
121	faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the college on an
122	outstanding half century of service and leadership.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.