Dr. Andy S. Gomez

Dr. Andy S. Gomez is considered one of the leading scholars on Cuba. He worked in higher education for 32 years before retiring from the University of Miami in 2012. 

While at UM, Dr. Gomez was the co-founder of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies and served as the senior fellow at the institute. His research agenda focuses on the ideological and psychological reconstruction of human values and attitudes in a post-totalitarian Cuba. 

During his tenure at UM, Dr. Gomez taught several courses and seminars on Cuba including Cuba after Castro, US-Cuba Relations and the Cuban Revolution. Dr. Gomez lectures extensively on Cuba’s transition at many national and international conferences and seminars. He is the author of Social Challenges Facing Cuba (2013). 

He has served as a consultant to numerous agencies of the U.S. government and foreign countries, organizations and corporations on international theory, policy and practice. He served as a non-resident senior fellow in the foreign policy program (Cuba task force) at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC from 2008-2010.

Dr. Gomez serves as a consultant and frequent guest to a number of local, national and international media organizations including Telemundo, CNN, CNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, ABC 20/20, PBS, BBC, Voice of the Americas, Chinese National Radio, Russian Sputnik News Agency, New York Times, Washington Post, Miami Herald, and many more.

Prior to retiring from UM in 2012, Dr. Gomez served in several senior administrative roles including assistant provost for planning, institutional research and assessment from 2005-2012.  He also served as dean of the School of International Studies from 2001-2004. 
Upon retiring from UM, he was awarded the highest university honor, the presidential medal by UM President Donna E. Shalala.  In August 2017, UM President Julio Frenk asked Gomez to return to UM as interim director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies that Gomez co-founded in 1999.

Before joining the University of Miami, Dr. Gomez served as undersecretary of education and chief of staff at the Executive Office of Education in the commonwealth of Massachusetts (1991-1994). Prior to his time in Massachusetts, he served in several capacities at the University of Houston in Texas, including as assistant vice president for Academic Affairs, special assistant to the president for Governmental Affairs, executive director for University Relations and professor of Government and Public Policy.

Dr. Gomez received his Doctor of Education in administration, planning and social policy from Harvard University (1993), a master’s degree in education also from Harvard University (1991), a master’s in public administration from Florida International University (1978), and his bachelor’s degree in international relations and political science from the University of Miami (1977). In addition, Dr. Gomez received certificates of advanced studies in leadership and management from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Dr. Gomez served as a U.S. delegate to the Organization of American States (OAS) conference in San Pedro Sula, Honduras in 2005. He serves on the board of directors (2006- present) of the American Student Assistance (ASA) corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a member of the governance, finance, and ad-hoc strategic planning committees and chairs the audit committee of ASA.  He was appointed to the city of Coral Gables pension and retirement board by then-Mayor James Cason in 2013 and was recently elected by the members of the board as the chairperson. He was appointed by Catholic Archbishop Thomas Wenski to serve on the archdiocese synod (2012-13). He also served as a member of the Catholic Church’s Little Flower parish council in Coral Gables from 2012-2016. Dr. Gomez was selected in 2011 as one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in South Florida.

In 2014, Dr. Gomez along with his wife Frances and extended family founded a family foundation called the Children of la Merced in Havana, Cuba. The foundation provides funds for an after-school care program at the Catholic church Nuestra Senora de la Merced.  The foundation also provides funds for a psychologist and social worker to work with the children and their families in helping them cope with the challenges of living in Cuba.

Most recently, Dr. Gomez was awarded the “Noble Order of Human Excellence” by NOHE, an international non-governmental organization affiliated with the United Nations and was given the title of ambassador at large for human rights.