Miami Dade College has renamed InterAmerican Campus in honor of the College’s outgoing president. The new campus name is the Eduardo J. Padrón Campus. The decision to rename the campus came after a unanimous vote by the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees in March. Padron will step down as college president in August, after 50 years at the college, with nearly 25 of those as president.
The dynamic campus has deep significance for President Padrón who shares in it’s long history by being the catalyst for its creation. Located in the heart of Little Havana, InterAmerican Campus originally served as an outreach center when it opened as the Wolfson Campus’ Division of Bilingual Studies in the 1970s at the former site of Belen Jesuit High School on SW 8th St. and 7th Avenue. Following the Mariel Boatlift, it was designated a Center and later moved to its current location near SW 8th Street and 27thAvenue. The InterAmerican Center soon became the largest bilingual learning center in higher education. In 2001, it was designated the InterAmerican Campus, becoming MDC’s sixth campus at the time.
Today, InterAmerican Campus, now the Eduardo J. Padrón Campus, is the only public higher education presence in Little Havana and home to some of the College’s top programs, including its renowned School of Education, World Languages and Sign Language and Interpretation, Dual Language Honors College, new Cloud Computing Academy and state-of-the-art tech center. The campus recently expanded facilities to meet the growing needs of the surrounding community.