FIU college receives $ 10 million donation
According to etiquette, a husband and wife celebrating their 44th wedding anniversary are supposed to mark the occasion with — yawn— groceries.
But Florida International University’s biggest booster hadsomethingslightlymore significant in mind: his and hers health colleges.
This week, HerbertWertheim and FIU officials announced a $ 10 million gift to the university’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences in honor of his wife, Nicole. Thedonationcomesjust a few years after Wertheim committed $ 20 million to the university’s new School of Medicine. It ensures the couple’s place side- by- side in FIU history with theHerbert Wertheim College of Medicine and what will become the Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
“We feel like FIU is our second family,” saidHerbert Wertheim, who along with his wife participated in the announcement via Skype fromtheir room aboard The World, a residential cruise liner that on Wednesday was anchored off Greece. “Nicole and I just can’t wait to see the changes over the next five to10 years.”
FIU President Mark Rosenberg said the donation will be huge for the university’s college, which has graduated some 2,400 students since 2008 and is currently educating almost 3,000. He said the donation was made to commemorate the couple’s anniversary, which took place inMay.
“This gift is a lasting legacy for thousands and thousands of students to come. And FIU is the only university in the country with colleges of nursing and medicine named for a husband and wife. How about that?” Rosenberg said. “But this is about so much more than just a naming.”
The uses for the $ 10 million gift are laid out in detail in a contract signed byWertheim last week, according to Ora Strickland, the college dean. They include:
Endowed professorships focused on pain management, prevention of disease, and mental health.
Seed money for “innovative research and programs” for which funding would otherwise be difficult to secure.
Scholarships for students completing clinical doctorates in physical therapy and nursing.
Support for the preparation of advanced registered nurse practitioners, and encouragement for other practice disciplines, like speech and occupational therapy, to establish clinical doctoral programs.
The donation is just the latest from Wertheim, an optometrist and entrepreneur who pledged $ 20 million to FIU’s medical school as a means to help the university secure approval from the state’s board of governors in 2006 and provide scholarships to encourage students to train as primary care physicians.
Nowin his mid- 70s, Wertheimworked hisway out of poverty to enormouswealth by pioneering dyes for plastic sunglass lenses through his Miami- based company, Brain Power Inc., and by making savvy investments. He and his wife, who own a home in Coral Gables, have two daughters who are both involved with FIU.
“This means so much to me,” said Nicole Wertheim. “The whole world needs and deserves affordable care.”