Florida Board of Governors Appoints Colson to Four Year Term
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (April 24, 2017) – Attorney Dean Colson, partner at Coral Gables-based law firm Colson Hicks Eidson, was appointed by The Florida Board of Governors to serve on Florida International University’s (FIU) Board of Trustees. He will serve a four year term beginning immediately.
“I am honored to join the FIU Board of Trustees under the leadership of Chair Claudia Puig,” Colson said. “Higher education is something that I’m passionate about because we need quality university graduates ̶ in everything from STEM disciplines to the humanities and the arts ̶ in order to stay competitive at the state, national and international levels.”
FIU’s 13-member Board of Trustees is responsible for developing cost-effective policies, implementing and maintaining high-quality education programs consistent with the university’s mission, conducting performance evaluations, and assuring that the university meets state policy, budgeting, and education standards.
“Dean Colson has provided iconic leadership in private and public higher education in our community and statewide,” said FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg. “He is passionate about excellence and committed to improvement and social justice. We are thrilled with his appointment.”
Colson has more than 30 years of leadership experience in various civic and community roles. He previously served as chair and vice-chair of the Board of Governors of the State University System of Florida and chaired its Legislative Committee. He is a past chair of the University of Miami Board of Trustees and chaired the school’s billion dollar capital campaign. Colson later served as a special advisor on higher education to Governor Charlie Crist.
He was appointed by then-Governor Jeb Bush to the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission and Florida’s Commission on Ethics. He is also a past president of the Orange Bowl Committee and was chair of the 1995 Super Bowl XXIX Host Committee. He is currently a member of the executive committee of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami
Colson graduated magna cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law, after earning a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University. He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Peter T. Fay, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, and in 1980 served as a law clerk to Justice William H. Rehnquist of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Colson’s appointment is subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.
About Colson Hicks Eidson:
The Law Firm of Colson Hicks Eidson is a trial firm with nearly 50 years of experience handling local, national and international litigation, and arbitration. Members of the firm have been involved in some of the country’s most high-profile and landmark cases resulting in impactful and precedential rulings. A mid-size firm with a diverse staff comprised of more than 50 percent women and minorities, Colson Hicks Eidson prides itself on a track record of developing future leaders within the legal profession and its civic and community involvement. Members of the firm have held notable positions serving on the boards of prominent institutions, such as the State University System of Florida and the Florida State Board of Education, and holding high-ranking offices, including President of the 60,000-member American Association for Justice; President of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers; President of the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers; President of the Dade County Bar Association; President of the Miami-Dade Florida Association of Women Lawyers; United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; and Chairman of the Florida Federal Judicial Nominating Commission.
About FIU:
Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a “R1: Doctoral Universities – Highest Research Activity” and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as business engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida’s anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine’s “America’s Best Employers” list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU’s Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute. FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.