Academic Affairs vice provost hired

By: Melissa Caceres / Staff Writer

Adding a new face to the Office of the Provost, Irma Becerra-Fernandez has accepted the position of vice provost of Academic Affairs.

A professor of management and information systems, Becerra-Fernandez is the director and fellow of the Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center within the College of Business Administration.

Her appointment comes after the previous Vice Provost, Michele Ciccazzo, stepped down during the fall semester to become the interim dean in the College of Public Health and Social Work.

“I’m looking forward to serving the University in this new role and continuing to work to make every student’s degree more valuable,” said Becerra-Fernandez, who graduated from FIU as the first female Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering in 1994 and is the current recipient of the Engineer of the Year award from the Association of Cuban Engineers.

Through her role as the vice provost of Academic Affairs, Becerra-Fernandez will support the Provost in setting overall academic priorities, overseeing university-wide implementation of student-centered initiatives and maintaining academic policies. These policies also include those affecting faculty and instructor appointments and developments.

An issue currently being addressed under Becerra-Fernandez’s new position is the standardization of the clicker technology used in many classrooms.

The vice provost will be creating a task force in order to address the concerns many students have about the cost of the clickers and that many cannot be reused for different classes.

“FIU has made very important gains. We’ve made great strides and achieved national and international rankings in specific areas,” said Becerra-Fernandez. “I think that it’s a good time for the Provost’s office to start looking at how we can create opportunities for more cross college collaboration and building on each other’s successes. It’s important for this university to go to the next level.”

Born in Cuba and raised in Puerto Rico, Becerra-Fernandez received her bachelors and masters degrees at the University of Miami and soon after, worked for Florida Power and Light for six years.

Upon accepting her doctorate, she joined the Southern Technology Application Center at the University of Florida, which commercialized technology developed by NASA—a career path she feels has been rarely taken by women.

“Electrical Engineering is just one of those areas that is very male dominated and for some reason the career doesn’t attract as many women as we would like,” said Becerra-Fernandez.

“I’ve recently been involved with Venture Capital and it’s also very male dominated, so there are still a few fields that we women need to break through.”

Through her relationship with NASA, and federal agencies like the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Research Lab, Becerra-Fernandez managed to secure approximately $2 million in federal grants as a principal investigator under the guidance of the FIU Knowledge Management Laboratory, which she founded.

“With her appointment in the College of Business and her Ph.D. in engineering, she covers a breadth of areas in the academy that someone in that position needs to cover,” said University Provost Douglas Wartzok, adding that her academic background and numerous publications helped in his hiring decision.

According to the provost’s memorandum to the University, Becerra-Fernandez has published three books, 24 refereed journal articles, 47 conference papers, seven book chapters and edited one research monograph.

Last November through the Pino Global Entrepreneurial Center, she launched the FIU America’s Venture Capital Conference, which provided opportunites for around 350 Latin American and U.S. entrepreneurs to network with financers, service providers and many others involved in Latin American business.

“FIU really reflects our diverse community,” said Becerra-Fernandez, who considers herself bicultural. “Miami itself is a microcosm of cultures and you really get to experience that here at this University.”

Melissa Caceres works as a Beat Writer, covering the FIU Foundation, Board of Trustees and Faculty Senate for The Beacon.