Eduardo J. Padrón
President
Office of the President
300 N.E. Second Avenue
Miami, Florida 33132-2297
305-237-3316
epadron@mdc.edu
Message From the President
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Bill and Melinda Gates Visit Miami Dade College
The College has welcomed many distinguished guests, but today we received a very special visit from philanthropic leaders Bill and Melinda Gates. The Gates spent more than four hours at Wolfson Campus, visiting with students, faculty and College leadership, touring our Culinary Institute and enjoying lunch at our new restaurant, Tuyo.
As you recall, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded MDC with the multimillion-dollar Completion by Design (CBD) grant in May, a five-year project to identify and implement innovative solutions to increase the number of college graduates across the nation. MDC was the only single institution of higher education in the nation to receive this grant, joining just three additional college consortia. The Gates’ site visit was fueled by a desire to witness firsthand the exemplary work that you do at the College — groundbreaking work that paves the pathway to college completion.
This has been a banner year of national recognition for MDC; in addition to the Gates Foundation, the College has been lauded by the Lumina Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, Kresge Foundation and the Aspen Institute, to name a few. All of these awards go toward further expanding MDC’s trailblazing MDC³ Student Success and Completion Initiatives. Your hard work has helped build MDC’s reputation of excellence and record of accomplishment, and I would like to thank you for everything that you do to help our students succeed at the College.
Thank you.
Eduardo