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Florida Atlantic University

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Florida Atlantic University, also commonly referred to as FAU or Florida Atlantic, is a state university located in Boca Raton, Florida, USA, with additional campuses located in Davie, Dania Beach, Port St. Lucie. and Jupiter, Florida. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. It opened its doors in 1964, becoming the fifth public university in Florida. Initial enrollment was 867 students. By 2006, enrollment has grown to more than 26,000 students representing 140 countries and 49 states. Florida Atlantic has seven campuses serving a seven-county region which has a population of more than five million people, offering a diverse community with all of the cultural advantages of a major metropolitan setting. FAU's president is Frank T. Brogan, an alumni, and the former Lt. Governor of Florida. While primarily a commuter school, FAU offers student housing on the Boca Raton and Jupiter campuses. The university currently has 18 NCAA Division-I athletic teams participanting in the Sun Belt Conference.

Contents

History

On July 15, 1961, the Florida Legislature passed an act authorizing the establishment of a new university in southeastern Florida. A 1940's era Army airbase in Boca Raton, Florida was selected as the site of the new university. In 1962, the Board of Control selected "Florida Atlantic University" as the name of the new institution. Ground was broken on December 8, 1962. FAU opened on September 14, 1964, six days behind schedule because of Hurricane Cleo. The first university in the nation to offer only upper-division and graduate work, FAU had an initial student body of 867. U.S. President Lyndon Johnson dedicated the university on October 25, 1964, and received the first honorary doctorate awarded by Florida Atlantic.

In 1969, the Board of Regents (successor to the Board of Control) approved an intercollegiate athletics program at FAU. The university teams become known as the Owls. FAU expanded to Broward County, Florida in 1971, with the founding of the Commercial Boulevard campus in Fort Lauderdale. During that same year the university was also named a burrowing owl sanctuary. By 1973, fall semester enrollment was 5,632. By the fall semester of 1983, enrollment would reach 9,388. For the first time in 1984, due to a rapidly growing population, Florida Atlantic opened its doors to freshmen and sophomores. In 1985, the Downtown Fort Lauderdale campus opened on Las Olas Boulevard.

In 1989, the Florida Legislature designated Florida Atlantic as the lead state university serving Broward County. The university also reached $10 million in sponsored research activity for the first time. Fall semester enrollment was 13,148. In 1993, FAU was elected to the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, the nation’s oldest higher education professional association. The university's intercollegiate teams also joined the Atlantic Sun Conference and moved to NCAA Division I. In 1995, FAU purchased Barry University’s Port St. Lucie facility to establish a campus on the Treasure Coast, in partnership with Indian River Community College. By 1997, sponsored research funding exceeded $24 million.

In 1999, Howard Schnellenberger, a legendary figure in college football, was named Florida Atlantic’s first head football coach. The Barry and Florence Friedberg Lifelong Learning Center opened on the Boca Raton campus. The Center serves the educational interests of senior citizens. FAU’s Lifelong Learning Society ranks as the largest in the country. The Jupiter campus opened and was formally named for the late John D. MacArthur. Sponsored research funding exceeded $36 million. By 2003, fall semester enrollment was 24,961. FAU also has maintained the most diverse student body in the State University System, with minority enrollment of 34.6 percent.

In 2003, the State of Florida awarded FAU $10 million to establish the Center of Excellence in Biomedical and Marine Biotechnology, a research facility that searches the waters off Florida's coastline for drugs from natural sources that could be used to treat cancer, heart disease and other serious illnesses. The Lady Owls softball team won the Atlantic Sun Conference championship for the seventh time and was listed among the all-time greatest teams in college softball history by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. In 2004, FAU admitted its first students to the University of Miami/Florida Atlantic University medical school partnership.

University Presidents

Florida Atlantic University has had five presidents[link], they are:

Colleges

FAU offers more than 170 bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees within its eight colleges including: the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters, College of Engineering and Computer Science, College of Education, College of Business, College Of Architecture, Urban and Public Affairs and the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College.

Campuses

In addition to the original Boca Raton campus, there are campuses in the south Florida cities of Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Port St. Lucie. FAU was also the first university to establish a campus at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution near Vero Beach.

The Boca Raton campus remains the main campus with 69% of FAU's students enrolled there [Source: FAU]. At the present time, four student dormitory buildings are present on this campus: Indian River Towers, Heritage Park Towers, Algonquin Hall, and the Village Apartments.

Research and Medical Programs

The Scripps Research Institute is currently in the process of developing a sister campus at the Jupiter FAU campus. Scripps Florida now operates with approximately 160 scientists, technicians, and administrative staff at a 40,000 square-foot lab facility. Upon completion Scripps will operate out of a 364,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art biomedical research facility focusing on basic biomedical science, drug discovery, and technology development.

Florida Atlantic is the home of the NASA Imaging Technology Space Center. The Center works to develop the commercial use of digital transmission techniques for transmitting video, audio and data to Earth from satellites. It also researches ultra high resolution imaging technologies for geographic, atmospheric and surveillance informatics and telemedicine. This research has commercial application potential in public/private security and surveillance, professional video production, consumer HDTV camcorders, medical applications, and structural engineering, manufacturing and maintenance arenas.

Medical Program

In 2004, FAU launched a medical school program in conjunction with the University of Miami (UM). Medical students spend the first two years of their education at the Boca Raton campus before transferring to Miami for rotations and receiving their degree from UM. On June 28, 2006, Florida Atlantic and Boca Raton Community Hospital approved an agreement between the two institutions to implement a land lease for the development and operation of a community-university affiliated teaching hospital. The hospital will serve as the primary teaching hospital for the regional campus of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine at FAU. Facility construction is expected to begin in 2008 with completion by 2011.

Approximately 38 acres of Florida Atlantic land, located on the southeast corner of FAU’s Boca Raton campus, will host the infrastructure for the teaching hospital. The private room, 530-bed hospital will provide FAU facilities and resources to support undergraduate and graduate medical education programs customary to primary teaching hospitals within major academic medical centers. The facilities will include resident/student conference rooms, a conference center with teleconferencing capabilities including an auditorium and small group conference rooms, resident sleeping quarters with lockers, resident dining facilities, a resident lounge, a medical library with state-of-the-art IT systems and increased square footage in other areas of the hospital to accommodate students and residents.[link]

Notable alumni

Miscellaneous

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• The Boca Raton FAU campus was designated a burrowing owl sanctuary in 1971 by the Audubon Society. The owl prefers the campus because there are not many predators, other than cats, near an airport. The feisty bird, traditionally associated with wisdom and determination, serves as the University's mascot.

• FAU offers 18 NCAA Division I sports including baseball, basketball, football, and softball. FAU has attracted top coaches for all teams including Howard Schnellenberger (football) and Matt Doherty (men's basketball).

• FAU plays in the annual Shula Bowl against in-state rival Florida International University (FIU).

• Sponsored research at FAU reaches more than $60 million per year.

• FAU has awarded more than 100,000 degrees to more than 95,000 alumni worldwide since opening its doors in 1964.

• FAU has one of the nation's largest continuing education program known as the Lifelong Learning Society. The LLS includes audit options for senior citizens.

• Some individuals claim that FAU stands for "find another university". [link] [link] [link] This false university nickname is considered negative by university supporters.

• In 2004, FAU's Board of Trustees decided to raise admission standards for incoming Freshmen. [link] The Board has stated a goal for a 3.2 GPA and a 500 score on each section of the SAT for admittance in 2007. Students with lower grades and scores will be required to take remedial courses at community colleges before entering FAU. In 1998, more than one-quarter of FAU freshmen did not meet the state of Florida's minimum admission standards.[link]

External links

Research and Medical Program Links

 

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