Miami Dade College President Madeline Pumariega was inducted into the Florida College System Activities Association Athletics Women’s Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame on April 10 in Niceville, Florida.
“I began my journey at MDC as a student-athlete on the basketball team, and now I am president of this amazing institution,” Pumarieha said in a press release. “I hope my story inspires new generations of female athletes to follow their dreams.”
Pumariega started as a basketball player at Kendall Campus in 1986 before graduating in 1987. The following year, she took a part-time job as an assistant women’s basketball coach at MDC and served for five seasons.
She completed stints as an academic advisor and adjunct faculty at Kendall Campus, dean of students at Wolfson Campus, and dean of students and administration at Medical Campus before being promoted to Wolfson Campus president in 2011.
Two years later, Pumariega left MDC to become president and CEO of Take Stock in Children, a nonprofit organization that helps students living in poverty complete high school and get into college. In 2015, she was selected as the first female and Hispanic Chancellor of the Florida College System, which serves 28 colleges in the state.
In May 2019, she joined Tallahassee Community College as executive vice president and provost. She was selected as MDC’s first female president on Nov. 17, 2020.
