Florida International University marks two momentous events on Monday:

It is opening day for the school's long-awaited Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine -- South Florida's only public medical school.

And it is the last day on the job for Modesto ``Mitch'' Maidique, who is ending a 23-year tenure as FIU's fourth, and best-known, president.

Maidique's final official duty will be to welcome the 43 students who make up the medical school's inaugural class.

Maidique will deliver his the welcoming remarks to the class at 8 a.m. at the school's West Miami-Dade campus, which now carries his name.

``With the College of Medicine, FIU finally has all the major components in place to join the ranks of the nation's top public research universities, so it is fitting that I am marking the conclusion of this chapter in my life by launching the next chapter for FIU,'' Maidique said in a statement last week.

FIU's medical school is the first to open in Miami-Dade since 1952, when the University of Miami, a private school, opened what is now the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine.

``For us this represents a new era,'' Maidique said. ``I would say other than our actual opening, this is the most exciting moment in our history.''

The medical school's financial impact in jobs, research money and healthcare for South Florida residents will be invaluable, he said.

Winning approval for the medical school was an arduous, decade-long process, requiring permission from the Florida Board of Governors and funding from the Florida Legislature, which is giving the new school $22 million a year. Commitments of $96 million in private funds make up the rest of its budget.

The University of Central Florida in Orlando is also opening a medical school this week.

For the new doctors in training at FIU, Monday will be the first day of a hectic week of orientation that will culminate with Friday's traditional White Coat Ceremony, at which students receive their smocks.

For Maidique, 69, Monday will be a day of goodbyes and plaques. Starting at 3 p.m., the school will host a two-hour tribute at the school's U.S. Century Bank Arena. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Joe Martinez will present Maidique with an award for his decades of service.

Maidique is Florida's longest-serving state university president. Under his watch, FIU has grown to almost 40,000 students and has opened the College of Law, College of Engineering, School of Architecture and now the College of Medicine, and has fielded a Division 1A football team.

During the ceremony, Maidique will officially transfer authority to president-designate Mark Rosenberg, another longtime university leader who began his teaching career at FIU in 1976.

But Maidique won't go far. He will become a professor of management at FIU's College of Business Administration as well as executive director of the Center for Leadership.

Maidique will receive one final honor: he becomes FIU's first president emeritus.

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