on the University of Miami campus with the
Downtown Miami skyline in the background in May 2022 , one of the world's top-ranked
business schools, on the University of Miami campus in September 2020 , the University of Miami's art museum founded in 1950, houses over 19,000 art objects spanning over 5,000 years.
Leadership Bowman Foster Ashe (1926 to 1952) In 1925, the University of Miami was founded by a group of citizens who sought to offer "unique opportunities to develop
inter-American studies, further creative work in the
arts and letters, and conduct teaching and research programs in
tropical studies", according to the university's founding charter. During this era of
Jim Crow laws, there were three large state-funded universities in Florida for white male students, white female students, and black students: the
University of Florida in
Gainesville and
Florida State University and
Florida A&M University, both in
Tallahassee. Like most private universities of the time, the University of Miami was founded as a
coeducational institution but not yet open to Black students. In 1925,
George E. Merrick, founder of
Coral Gables, granted and nearly $5,000,000 ($ million, adjusted for current inflation) for the university's founding. The contributions included land contracts and mortgages on real estate that had been sold in the city. The university was formally chartered April 8, 1925 by the Circuit Court for Dade County. But by 1926, as the first class of 372 students enrolled at the new university, the land boom had collapsed and hopes for a speedy recovery were dashed by the
Great Miami Hurricane of 1926. In 1929, University of Miami founding member William E. Walsh and other members of the university's board of regents resigned following the widespread collapse of Florida's economy. The university's plight was so severe that students went door to door in Coral Gables collecting funds to keep it open. The troubles, however, were short-lived. In July 1934, the University of Miami was reincorporated and a board of trustees was installed, replacing the board of regents. By 1940, community leaders were replacing faculty and administration as trustees. the School of Business (1929, renamed the
Miami Herbert Business School in 2019), the School of Education (1929), the Graduate School (1941), the Marine Laboratory (1943, renamed the
Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science in 2022), the School of Engineering (1947), and the
School of Medicine (1952).
Jay F. W. Pearson (1952 until 1962) In 1952,
Jay F. W. Pearson, one of Ashe's long-time assistants, was appointed the University of Miami's second president. A charter faculty member and
marine biologist, The university no longer owns land at the south campus. In 1961, the university dropped its policy of racial segregation, and began admitting Black students and allowing their full participation in student activities and athletic teams. Five years later, in 1966, Ray Bellamy, a Black student at the University of Miami, became the first major Black college athlete in the
Deep South to receive an athletic scholarship. Until the early 1970s, as was widespread practice at colleges and universities nationally, the university regulated female student conduct more strictly than that of male students, including employing a staff under the Dean of Women charged with watching over female students. Under Pearson, however, the university began incrementally liberalizing these policies. In 1971, he consolidated the separate Dean of Men and Dean of Women positions in one. The same year, the university established a Women's Commission, which issued a 1974 report on the status of women on campus, leading to the university's first female commencement speaker, day care, and the launch of a Women's Study minor. Following enactment of
Title IX in 1972 and over a decade of litigation, University of Miami organizations, including honorary societies, were opened to women's participation and inclusion. The Women's Commission also secured more equitable funding for women's sports. In 1973, Terry Williams Munz became the first woman in the nation awarded an athletic scholarship when she accepted a University of Miami golf scholarship.
Henry King Stanford (1962 until 1981) Henry King Stanford, then president of
Birmingham–Southern College, was appointed the University of Miami's third president in 1962. Stanford led an increased emphasis on the university's research, reorganization of its administrative structure, and construction of new campus facilities. New research centers established under Stanford included the Center for Advanced International Studies (1964), the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Evolution (1964), the Center for Theoretical Studies (1965), and the Institute for the Study of Aging (1975). In 1965, the University of Miami also began actively recruiting international students. Under his leadership, the university focused on attracting high-quality faculty and students, and consciously limited or reduced undergraduate admissions as part of its strategic plan. Foote also oversaw the conversion of on-campus student housing into residential colleges and the university launch of its largest fundraising campaign to date, a five-year, $400 million campaign that began in 1984 and exceeded that goal, raising $517.5 million. Foote established three new schools: the School of Architecture, the School of Communication, and the School of International Studies. During Foote's tenure, the university's endowment increased nearly ten-fold, growing from $47.4 million in 1981 to $465.2 million in 2000.
Donna Shalala (2000 until 2015) In November 2000, Foote was succeeded by
Donna Shalala, former
chancellor of the
University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1988 to 1993 and
U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services from 1993 to 2001, who was appointed the University of Miami's fifth president. Under Shalala, the University of Miami built new libraries, dormitories, symphony rehearsal halls, and classroom buildings. The university's academic quality continued improving, a trend that began in earnest under Foote. Roughly a year into Shalala's presidency, on November 5, 2001, an 18-year-old University of Miami fraternity pledge drowned while attempting to swim across
Lake Osceola, the campus lake, while intoxicated. Police reports later cited the student's dangerously high
blood alcohol content in conjunction with dropping water temperatures and exhaustion as primary factors in his death, and two fraternity members who accompanied him were criminally charged with "negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of duty to aid and/or rescue." In 2002, the University of Miami launched a new and even more ambitious multi-year fundraising campaign that ultimately raised $1.37 billion, From these proceeds, over half, $854 million, was allocated to construct and improve the
University of Miami's Leonard M. School of Medicine medical campus. In November 2007, the University of Miami acquired Cedars Medical Center in Miami's
Health District, renaming it University of Miami Hospital and giving the Miller School of Medicine its first dedicated in-house teaching hospital rather than having to rely on academic affiliations with area hospitals. In 2003, Shalala controversially chose to close the University of Miami's
North-South Center, a university research organization dedicated to the study of contemporary issues in
Latin America and the
Caribbean. The North-South Center was established by the
U.S. Congress in 1984. It had secured a partnership with the
Rand Corporation and was, as the
Associated Press reported in 2003, "a respected public policy think tank specializing in Latin American and Caribbean issues including trade and economic policy, migration, security, public corruption, and the environment." On September 30, 2004, the University of Miami hosted one of three nationally televised
U.S. presidential debates between presidential candidates
George W. Bush and
John Kerry during the
2004 presidential election. The debate, moderated by
Jim Lehrer of
PBS NewsHour, was held on the University of Miami campus inside the
Watsco Center. It drew 62.5 million viewers. In February 2006, University of Miami custodial workers, who were contracted to the university through a
Boston-based company, alleged unfair labor practices, substandard pay, lack of health benefits, and workplace safety concerns. They
launched a strike that drew support from several University of Miami students, who began a hunger strike and on-campus vigil in support of it. The strike settled May 1, 2006 when a card count
union vote was permitted and led to establishment of the first collective bargaining unit in the university's history. The university raised wages for its custodial workers from $6.40 to $8.35 per hour and provided health insurance. In 2008 and 2009, partly stemming from the
Great Recession, the university endowment experienced a loss of 26.8% of its capital and additional associated losses from diminished endowment income. The university responded by tightening expenditures. Damage from the endowment's negative performance was limited, however, because the university receives over 98 percent of its operating budget from non-endowment sources. In 2013, Shalala approved the sale of donated environmentally sensitive land to commercial developers. After many lawsuits, the U of M and the developers were able to clear the land to build a
Wal-Mart and other commercial operations.
Julio Frenk (2015 until 2024) On April 13, 2015, the University of Miami announced the appointment of
Julio Frenk, former dean of
Harvard University School of Public Health and former
Secretary of Health for the
government of Mexico, as the university's sixth president. On March 10, 2016, the University of Miami hosted the
2016 Republican presidential primary's
twelfth and final debate at
BankUnited Center on the university campus, which aired nationally on
CNN and drew 11.9 million viewers. On June 12, 2024, the
University of California, Los Angeles announced that Frenk would be joining UCLA as the university's
chancellor six months later, on January 1, 2025. The same day, the University of Miami announced that the university's chief executive officer, Joe Echevarria, had been appointed acting president of the University of Miami "effective immediately." On June 19, 2024, the University of Miami student newspaper,
The Miami Hurricane, labeled Frenk's departure "shocking", and criticized his leadership. "Frenk was rarely a prominent influence on UM's campus," the student newspaper reported. In June 2024, the
Los Angeles Times reported that Frenk's new salary at UCLA represented "a significant reduction from" his base pay of US$1.68 million at the time of his departure from the University of Miami. to 67th in the nation when he departed in 2024.
Joe Echevarria (2024 to present) On October 18, 2024, the University of Miami Board of Trustees appointed Joe Echevarria, former chief executive officer of
Deloitte and the university's interim president since June 12, 2024, as the seventh president of the University of Miami. ==Campus==