Miami, June 2, 2016 – Miami Dade College (MDC) President, Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón, will be honored with the Presidential Award by the Dade County Bar Association during its 100-year anniversary celebration gala at 8 p.m., Saturday, June 4 at the JW Marriott in Brickell.
“I am honored to be recognized by the prestigious Dade County Bar Association and proud to say MDC is committed to preparing future leaders who will make a difference in our world,” said President Padrón.
Richard Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Alonzo Mourning, former Miami Heat player; Jon Secada, Grammy award-winning entertainer; U.S. Congresswoman and MDC Alumna Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; and Arva Moore Parks McCabe, historian, author and preservationist, are among the other honorees and luminaries chosen to receive recognitions the same evening for their contributions to enriching the Miami community.
An economist by training, President Padrón earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida. In 2009, Time magazine included him among the “10 Best College Presidents” in the United States. In 2010, Florida Trend placed him on the cover of the inaugural “Floridian of the Year” issue. In 2011, The Washington Post recognized him as one of the eight most influential college presidents in the country. In addition, the Carnegie Corporation of New York granted him its prestigious Centennial Academic Leadership Award. He is also the first college president to receive the National Citizen Service Award from Voices for National Service. In addition, he has been named an Ascend Fellow by the Aspen Institute and he is the recipient of the Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence, the highest honor in U.S. higher education. He was recently honored with the 2015 Diverse Champions Award from Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine, among many other distinctions.
During his more than four decade career at MDC, President Padrón has been selected to serve on posts of national prominence by six American Presidents. His energetic leadership also extends to many of the nation’s leading organizations. He is former chair of the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education and the Association of American Colleges and Universities. President Padrón currently chairs the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
President Padrón’s transformational accomplishments at Miami Dade College have been regularly acknowledged by the national media, including The New York Times, NBC Nightly News, Time magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CNN and The Chronicle of Higher Education, to name a few. He has received some of the most prestigious awards in and out of academia and more than 15 honorary doctorates from leading universities such as Rollins, Princeton and Brown. He is also the recipient of highest honors from the governments of foreign nations, including France, which named him Commandeur in the Ordre des Palms Académiques; Argentina, which awarded him the Order of San Martin; and Spain whose King Juan Carlos II bestowed upon him the Order of Queen Isabella and King Felipe VI awarded him the prestigious Juan Ponce de León Award.