Post by FIUBlue82 on Jan 9, 2008 9:36:49 GMT -5
HUGE accomplishment by an FIU alum!
www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/372175.html
EDUCATION
Cuban American to head Texas A&M
Posted on Wed, Jan. 09, 2008
BY OSCAR CORRAL
ocorral@MiamiHerald.com
A Cuban immigrant woman who graduated from Florida International University and worked for the Bush administration is the new president of Texas A&M University, one of the biggest in the United States.
Elsa Murano, 48, is the first Hispanic and the first woman to be president at Texas' oldest public university, which has more than 46,000 students.
It is among the 10 largest universities in the United States. She most recently was dean of Texas A&M's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
''We conducted a nationwide search to find the best candidate for the presidency of Texas A&M University, and we discovered that individual in our own backyard,'' said Bill Jones, chairman of the Board of Regents of Texas A&M, in a written statement. ``Dr. Murano is a distinguished researcher and academic leader, a successful manager who has transformed agriculture across the A&M system, and a visionary with the credentials to oversee a $1.2 billion annual enterprise.''
Murano, who visits family in Miami regularly and often stops at Versailles Restaurant for Cuban food, said she is awed by the thought of the opportunities the United States has provided her.
''For Texas A&M to have a woman and a Hispanic under the age of 50, there are a lot of firsts here, and I am absolutely humbled,'' Murano said Thursday. 'Someday in the future, if I write a book, it will be called `Only in America.' ''
Murano was born in Cuba and fled with her family as a girl in the early 1960s after Fidel Castro came to power. Her family lived in several Latin American countries before settling in Miami, where she graduated from Coral Park Sr. High School.
She earned her undergraduate degree in biological sciences at FIU, and went on to get graduate degrees from Virginia Tech University, according to a news release from the Texas A&M Board of Governors. She was also a research laboratory technician at FIU in the early 1980s.
Murano said she decided to devote her career to research after discovering at FIU that injecting mice with marijuana derivatives prevented cancer.
Murano served as undersecretary for food safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 2001 to 2004.
www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/372175.html
EDUCATION
Cuban American to head Texas A&M
Posted on Wed, Jan. 09, 2008
BY OSCAR CORRAL
ocorral@MiamiHerald.com
A Cuban immigrant woman who graduated from Florida International University and worked for the Bush administration is the new president of Texas A&M University, one of the biggest in the United States.
Elsa Murano, 48, is the first Hispanic and the first woman to be president at Texas' oldest public university, which has more than 46,000 students.
It is among the 10 largest universities in the United States. She most recently was dean of Texas A&M's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
''We conducted a nationwide search to find the best candidate for the presidency of Texas A&M University, and we discovered that individual in our own backyard,'' said Bill Jones, chairman of the Board of Regents of Texas A&M, in a written statement. ``Dr. Murano is a distinguished researcher and academic leader, a successful manager who has transformed agriculture across the A&M system, and a visionary with the credentials to oversee a $1.2 billion annual enterprise.''
Murano, who visits family in Miami regularly and often stops at Versailles Restaurant for Cuban food, said she is awed by the thought of the opportunities the United States has provided her.
''For Texas A&M to have a woman and a Hispanic under the age of 50, there are a lot of firsts here, and I am absolutely humbled,'' Murano said Thursday. 'Someday in the future, if I write a book, it will be called `Only in America.' ''
Murano was born in Cuba and fled with her family as a girl in the early 1960s after Fidel Castro came to power. Her family lived in several Latin American countries before settling in Miami, where she graduated from Coral Park Sr. High School.
She earned her undergraduate degree in biological sciences at FIU, and went on to get graduate degrees from Virginia Tech University, according to a news release from the Texas A&M Board of Governors. She was also a research laboratory technician at FIU in the early 1980s.
Murano said she decided to devote her career to research after discovering at FIU that injecting mice with marijuana derivatives prevented cancer.
Murano served as undersecretary for food safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 2001 to 2004.
