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Education

University of Miami President Wants To Boost Endowment Ahead of Centennial

Jessica Bakeman
/
WLRN
University of Miami president Julio Frenk delivers a state of the university address on campus at Coral Gables on Monday.

The president of the University of Miami is hoping to significantly increase the institution’s endowment — and its national and international stature — ahead of its centennial celebration in 2025.

President Julio Frenk calls the private university’s newly adopted strategic plan a “roadmap to our new century.”

“We have an unprecedented opportunity to become a university not just of Miami, not just of this country, but also of the world,” Frenk said during a state of the university speech on Monday night.

One of the president’s most specific goals is to increase the university’s endowment by 50 percent in the next seven years. It’s now about $950 million.

Frenk is also focused on becoming a national leader in “transforming” health care as well as creating more partnerships in Latin America.

After the speech, held on campus in Coral Gables, professors and students asked questions in a town-hall format. Two students touched on the importance of further integrating veterans into student life.

Frenk’s speech comes as UM just dropped out of the top 50 universities in the country, according to the annual rankings from U.S. News and World Report. The school was at the No. 46 spot last year and slipped to No. 53 for the 2019 rankings. (Meanwhile, the public University of Florida rose to No. 35 of all universities nationally.)

Read more about the new strategic plan here.

Jessica Bakeman is Director of Enterprise Journalism at WLRN News, and she is the former senior news editor and education reporter. Her 2021 project "Class of COVID-19" won a national Edward R. Murrow Award.
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