Founded in 1965, Florida International University is the largest university in South Florida, the second largest in the state, and the fourth overall in the entire United States by enrollment. An academic reference point for the area, it welcomes over 41,000 students from all over the United States and the world. The educational offer is really wide with 190 different programs, including bachelor’s, master’s, PhDs and professional paths. Located just a few miles from downtown Miami and Miami Beach, FIU has two main campuses in Miami-Dade County: University Park, the main campus, and Biscayne Campus, as well as several branch facilities and research laboratories throughout South Florida. The international dimension is one of the added values of this university, which also has campuses in Asia and Europe. The Wolfsonian-FIU Museum, one of the three museums of Florida International University along with the Frost Art Museum and the Jewish Museum of Florida, has a branch in Italy in Nervi, in the province of Genoa, as well as the School of Architecture. In Asia, in particular in Tianjin, we find a branch of the School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.
Also worth mentioning is the International Hurricane Research Center located in University Park, the only university research center on tropical storms in the world. Further confirmation of the importance of the university in the field of research.
Another central element in the life of FIU students is certainly sport. There are as many as 14 university teams. The Panthers, as the university’s team is called, compete in NCAADivision 1. The main sports are American football, soccer, basketball, volleyball and women’s beach volleyball. There are many facilities available to athletes, in particular the FIU ARENA which has recently been renovated with the expansion of the seats and today allows it to accommodate over 5,000 spectators. Another feather in the cap is the Riccardo Silva Stadium, a multi-purpose facility owned by Florida International University, used for soccer and American football, where the FIU Panthers also play, where the Italian world champion Alessandro Nesta coached in the past. The stadium has a capacity of 20,000 seats built in the two renovations that have involved the facility since 2007. The facility was renamed Riccardo Silva Stadium, after the Italian entrepreneur donated more than $3.72 million specifically to the athletics department.
A university that we have come to know thanks to the experiences of Margherita Bianchin, now back in Italy, Federica Frasca, just appointed CCSA PreseasonAll-Conference with the FIU beach team, Rachele Mancinelli and Emma Erteltova. The Head Coach of both the volleyball and beach volleyball teams is Rita Buck-Crockett, former volleyball player and Olympic silver medalist in the 1984 Los Angeles edition. Also known in Italy for wearing the jerseys of Matera and Roma, she also participated in our first Showcase, a great pride for us. Today, as mentioned, he leads the FIU Panthers as head coach, certainly an added value for the athletes and for the beach volleyball and volleyball programs.
