How MDC went from the ‘chicken coop’ to one of the biggest colleges in the country
Throughout its 61-year history, Miami Dade College has relentlessly stood, as community members often refer to it, as a “beacon of hope.”
As the first rung in the ladder for millions who seek to transform their lives through education, the college has helped people rise out of poverty, immigrants find their footing and veteran professionals reinvent themselves with better job skills.
Although it first started as a makeshift college in renovated chicken coops, it has grown into eight campuses across Miami-Dade County, with a student body of about 120,000 students, representing 167 nations and 63 languages. The college enrolls more minority students than any college or university in the United States. Hispanics account for 75 percent of its credit enrollment, and Black nonHispanics account for 15 percent.
The college attracts commuters, as it offers no housing facilities. Only 41 percent of the students fall under the “traditional” college age of 18 to 20 years old; 24 percent of the students are 26 or older. Many of the students work at least one job and often take care of a family member.
The college also serves as an economic engine, as its alumni and about 6,500 employees contribute more than $3 billion annually to the local economy, according to the school.
It’s also a cultural mecca. It’s home to the Miami Book Fair, Miami Film Festival, the Museum of Art and Design (located within the historic Freedom Tower), the Tower Theater and the Miami Culinary Institute.
MAJOR MILESTONES OF THE COLLEGE’S HISTORY
Sept. 6, 1960:
To help with desegregation and service the thousands of Cuban refugees arriving in South Florida, Dade County Junior College opens its doors to the public. During that inaugural year, 1,428 students enrolled, including seven Black students.
The institution becomes the first integrated junior college in the state. Black and white students mingled in occasional classes, according to Herald archives.
Kenneth R. Williams is the first president. Any county resident who graduated from high school could enroll at the “Chicken Coop College,” as it was nicknamed after the chicken houses were repurposed as makeshift, musty classrooms.
1962: Peter Masiko becomes the second president of Dade County Junior College.
The college becomes completely desegregated.
Soon after, the college acquires 230 acres of a former Naval air base called Masters Field on Northwest 27th Avenue from the General Services Administration.
1963: Scott Hall, the college’s first building, is completed on the college’s thenmain campus, known today as North Campus.
1964: South Campus, later renamed “Kendall Campus,” begins classes at Palmetto High School.
1965: The college gains full accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, according to Herald archives.
The state of Florida charters MDC Foundation as a nonprofit organization.
1967: The college becomes the largest institution of higher education in the state, enrolling 23,341 students.
1968: The Florida Legislature separates community colleges from the public school system. The District Board of Trustees starts governing the college.
1969: The college enrolls its 100,000th student.
1972: The InterAmerican Center, the future Eduardo J. Padrón InterAmerican Campus, opens in Little Havana.
1973: The college changes its name to Miami Dade Community College.
1976: The college dedicates the Medical Center Campus.
1980: Robert H. McCabe replaces Masiko as president.
Masiko, who died in 1981, advocated for an “opendoor college,” believing in everyone’s potential and instituting policies that allowed nearly anyone to get in.1981:
Hialeah Center opens.
1984: The inaugural Miami Book Fair International takes place, originally called
“Books by the Bay.”
Downtown Campus gets renamed as Mitchell Wolfson New World Center Campus.
1985: On its 25th anniversary, the college becomes the first community college in the country to have graduated 100,000 students. It gets designated the finest community college in America by the University of Texas Community College Leadership Program.
1988: The college creates the New World School of the Arts, both a high school and college designed to offer dual-enrollment to performing and visual artists.
1989: Liberty City Entrepreneurial Education Center opens.
1990: Homestead Campus opens.
1992: Voters passed a referendum in which they agreed to a tax hike that would generate $100 million over two years for the college. The college establishes its Community Endowment.
1995: The third president of Miami-Dade Community College, Robert H. McCabe, steps down.
He revolutionized the way the college rewarded teachers, giving pay raises based on classroom performance, not degrees, publishing or research.
The college appoints Eduardo J. Padrón as its fourth president.
1998: The InterAmerican Center becomes InterAmerican Campus.
2001: The college enrolls its one-millionth student.
The state approves the first bachelor’s degree for the college.
2002: The City of Miami turns over the operation of the historic Tower Theater to the college.
May 24, 2003: Florida Legislature authorizes name change to Miami Dade College. Also that year, the college assumes responsibility for operating the popular Miami International Film Festival. MDC launches its Honors College.
2004: Hialeah Center becomes Hialeah Campus.
2005: First MDC students graduate with bachelor degree, and West Campus opens.
Following several decades of neglect, Cuban American community leaders rescue the Freedom Tower, a former Miami News building and Cuban refugee center, and donate it to the college, which creates the Museum of Art and Design there.
2006: The college is entrusted with operating the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archive, the nation’s largest state archive of video and film.
2010: The college celebrates its 50th anniversary. A new Science Complex opens at North Campus and the Confucius Institute opens.
2011: The Miami Culinary Institute opens at Wolfson Campus.
2013: MDC admits its 2 millionth student.
2014: MDC launches an entrepreneurship hub, the Idea Center.
2015: The college opens Miami Animation and Gaming International Complex (MAGIC).
2019: Padrón announces his retirement. The college appoints Rolando Montoya as interim president.
November 2020: The board of trustees selects Madeline Pumariega as the first female and fifth college president.
Friday, Dec. 10: Pumariega will have the college chain and medallion placed on her shoulders in a historic investiture ceremony Friday at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami.
Jimena Tavel: 786-442-8014, @taveljimena