Miami, Jan. 7, 2021 – Miami Dade College (MDC) President Madeline Pumariega announced the appointment of North Campus President Dr. Malou C. Harrison as the College’s new provost. In addition, North Campus’ Senior Director of Campus Administration, Fermin Vazquez, will serve as the campus’ interim president.
Dr. Harrison is a respected leader with more than 35 years of transformative leadership experiences championing the cause of underserved students in public higher education. She has served in various capacities at the College, including president of multiple campuses and Dean of Students. Throughout her tenure, she has led the establishment of many high impact partnership initiatives at the College that have furthered equity, academic excellence and student success, as well as holistic services such as Single Stop, Year Up, and Educate Tomorrow. Harrison has been at the helm of resource development that has garnered substantial funding from a combination of private sources as well as public funders such as the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education to support Trio, Title V and Title III programs as well as numerous educational and undergraduate science research programs aimed at advancing minority student attainment in STEM disciplines.
She is also a prolific writer on educational issues. In 2019, Dr. Harrison authored a chapter titled “Toward Equity: The Immigrant Experience at Miami Dade College” for the book Working Toward an Equitable and Prosperous Future for All: How Community Colleges and Immigrants Are Changing America. She also penned a chapter titled “Community Colleges: Fertile Ground for Black Male Student Success in the book-Engaging African American Males in Community College” (Contemporary perspectives on Access, Equity and Achievement) in 2018.
Dr. Harrison serves on several boards, including the National Advisory Board of the Community College Consortium on Immigrant Education; Board of Directors of Thriving Mind South Florida; Board of Directors of Centro Campesino; and the Board of Directors of the Miami-Dade Urban Debate League. She has been recognized with the Florida College System’s Cameron Hall Practitioner Award for demonstrating high levels of student advocacy and humanitarianism; Educate Tomorrow Founders’ Award for leadership in foster youth student achievement; South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Leadership Award; Miami Dade County’s In the Company of Women Award for Education and Research; the Nigerian American Foundation Educator Leadership Award, and the Jamaican Consulate General Community Leader Award.
Mr. Vazquez is a proud MDC alumnus with 24 years of facilities management and administrative leadership experience in both public higher education and the private sector. Prior to being named North Campus interim president, he served as Sr. Director of Campus Administration at MDC North and Wolfson Campuses.