FIU Business professor Shahid Hamid, chair of the Department of Finance, reinforced his commitment to scholarship at FIU Business with a $45,000 gift.

“I truly believe that we all have to give something back,” Hamid said at a surprise party in his honor in September 2019. The gift may be renewed in the future.

A portion of the funds will support programs in the Department of Finance. Among Hamid’s objectives are raising the profile of the department, supporting research collaboration among faculty members, funding seminar presentations and rekindling a sense of community among doctoral students. He also hopes to help invite top professors from other universities and institutions to present their work and participate in seminars at FIU. In the past year, over a dozen scholars from universities including Yale, Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, Illinois and Michigan visited the Department of Finance.

“Our faculty will feel revived and recharged when they attend the presentations and share their ideas with top researchers in finance, and perhaps collaborate with them,” said Hamid.

Funds will also go toward scholarships for FIU Business students struggling to complete their studies.

“A large number of our students need financial aid and I want to pitch in,” said Hamid. “No student should be denied an education because they can’t afford it.”

Early in his career at FIU, Hamid decided that he would donate part of his salary to the university and has already made other gifts to the university, as well as to FIU Business. His own family is truly part of the FIU family.

“My three sons graduated from FIU with engineering and computer science degrees and have been quite successful, getting offers from big companies,” Hamid said. “FIU has done good by them.”