Amid turmoil, FIU taps two Hispanic women to break barriers — interim provost, interim CFO

Amid the turmoil following the abrupt resignation of president Mark Rosenberg, Florida International University tapped a Hispanic woman to be its next interim provost, a historic first for the largest public university in South Florida.

FIU also named another Hispanic woman, its associate vice president for business and finance, Aime Martinez, as interim chief financial officer and vice president for finance and administration.

Elizabeth Béjar, 52, a senior vice president of academic and student affairs at the university, will assume the top academic position at FIU when Provost Kenneth Furton steps down March 1, FIU Interim President Kenneth Jessell announced Friday evening.

Béjar, who will also serve as executive vice president and chief operating officer, is the first alumna to serve as provost. She didn’t respond Friday to a request for comment.

“In the coming months, she will work closely with me and Dr. Kenneth G. Furton to ensure a smooth transition of academic operations,” Jessell said in his announcement.

The provost oversees all academics at FIU. The university has had eight provosts since 1982 — seven men and one woman, all white non-Hispanic.

The longest-running provost was Furton. Rosenberg announced Dec. 16 that Furton, 59, would step aside and become Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Director of the Global Forensic and Justice Center. A month later, Rosenberg announced his own departure, acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with a woman who worked for him.

Rosenberg did not specify what led to the changes in Furton’s role, and Furton has not replied to the Herald’s queries. The Faculty Senate recommended Tuesday for Furton to stay on amid the instability after Rosenberg’s resignation. While he initially said he would like to, Furton reversed himself late Wednesday, sending a letter to Jessell saying he would step down March 1.

Jessell was named interim president by FIU’s Board of Trustees in an emergency meeting Jan. 21, following Rosenberg’s resignation earlier that day amid allegations he made unwanted advances to a young woman with whom he worked closely at FIU. The woman is in her 20s; Rosenberg is 72. The Herald is not identifying the woman, as it does not name victims of alleged harassment.

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Jessell had served as FIU’s chief financial officer and senior vice president of finance and administration since 2009.

Martinez, a certified public accountant, replaced Jessell. In 1996, she earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting with a minor in international business from FIU and received a master’s in accounting in 1999 from FIU, according to her FIU bio.

Martinez worked in the private sector as an auditor for a public energy company before returning to FIU in 2000. She started as an assistant controller, then was promoted to assistant vice president and associate controller. In her most recent role, she managed the Office of Financial Planning, which handles $1.7 billion in operating and capital budgets.

Martinez didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Breaking the Hispanic woman barrier

Since opening in 1972, FIU has had six presidents, counting Jessell — none female. It’s unclear why FIU didn’t have a provost until 1982. “As far as we can tell, that list is correct,” said FIU spokeswoman Maydel Santana in an email Friday about the list of previous provosts on FIU’s website.

Modesto ‘Mitch’ Maidique, who served as FIU’s fourth and first Cuban-born president from 1986 to 2009, said he considers Béjar a friend, and respects her as a professional.

“Elizabeth Béjar is one of the most talented and capable academic administrators I have ever met. She would be a formidable provost and would break the barrier of us having never had a Hispanic woman, in this case a Cuban woman, as provost,” he said before she was officially named.

Béjar first joined FIU’s staff in 2003. In 2009, she became FIU’s first vice provost for academic planning and accountability, and in 2012, vice provost for academic affairs, according to her LinkedIn account. In July 2014, she was promoted to vice president of academic affairs. In 2018, she landed her current position of senior vice president of academic and student affairs.

She earned a Ph.D. in higher education administration from Boston College, a master’s degree in international and intercultural development education from FIU, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and elementary education from the University of Miami.

Her FIU bio shows she taught in public schools, but it’s unclear whether she has taught in a college classroom.

In Tuesday’s resolution to keep Furton as provost during this transition period, the Faculty Senate noted: “It is widely recognized that the most relevant qualification for a provost is experience and proven excellence, over an extended period of time, as regards the actual practice of high-quality teaching, research, and service within a university, as demonstrated by Provost Furton.”

Furton came to FIU in 1988 as a faculty member in the chemistry department. He was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences before being named provost.

Joerg Reinhold, chair of the Faculty Senate and a member of the board of trustees, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Martha Meyer, the president of the local chapter of United Faculty of Florida, also didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Praise from Rosenberg

Rosenberg, who worked closely with Béjar during his presidency from 2009 to 2022, praised her commitment to students and FIU’s research mission before she officially became interim provost.

“Dr. Béjar has excellent leadership skills; she is purpose-driven, and she knows the university, the community, and our state,” Rosenberg said in a statement to the Herald. “She would make an excellent provost.”

Miami Herald Research Director Monika Leal contributed to this report.