Joanne Li: FIU business dean seeks more community, global ties

Florida International University College of Business Dean Joanne Li’s academic career has taken her throughout the nation and across the globe, to China and back. But the Ryder Eminent Scholar chair, who for six years served as dean of Raj Soin College of Business at Wright State University, said she always wanted to return to where it all began: the Sunshine State.

“When the opportunity came up, I was very excited to come back to Florida,” she said. “I’m tremendously grateful for what this country has done for me, for Florida and the opportunities I wouldn’t have in my hometown. I want to continue to pay it back.”

A chartered financial analyst who earned her bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. in finance from Florida State University, Ms. Li started her career in 1997 at Loyola College in Maryland, where she taught for almost a decade before accepting chair and professorial positions at Towson University in the same state. She has served as a speaker for the CFA Institute, on the board of the Baltimore CFA Society, edited the CFA Financial Analysts Journal and has published in scholarly periodicals.

Since becoming FIU business dean In May 2017, Ms. Li has spearheaded a three-year partnership with the Beijing-based University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), an academic alliances that now offers master’s degrees to UIBE students at FIU and will begin hosting UIBE-FIU business courses at a new campus in Qingdao, China, built specifically for international partners. 

Ms. Li sat down with Miami Today reporter Jesse Scheckner in her office in the College of Business building on FIU’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus. The interview, recorded by Jahmoukie Dayle, can be found Friday at http://bit.ly/2uNHy0Q.

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