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77-558: Blue Key Honor Society was founded as Blue Key National Honor Fraternity at the University of Florida on November 27, 1924. The UF chapter separated from the national Blue Key organization during the 1930s and has been known since as Florida Blue Key . The oldest extant chapter of Blue Key is located at Emory and Henry College and was founded in 1925. In 2003, the organization's name was officially changed to Blue Key Honor Society. Blue Key has over 50 chartered collegiate chapters within

154-560: A "Romantic" interpretation of the origins as a product of a working class democratic demand for access to higher education. Recent scholarship has abandoned this approach, showing there was little such demand. Instead middle class reformers were responsible because they thought that modern capitalism needed a better educated working class. Prior to the enactment of the Morrill Act in 1862, individual states established institutions of higher education with grants of land. The first state to do so

231-624: A controversial doctor known for his support of DeSantis's COVID-19 policies and promotion of COVID misinformation. Hosseini is a major Republican Party donor and DeSantis adviser. The reports prompted investigations by the U.S. House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the UF Faculty Senate, and UF's accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC). Further reporting in November 2021 revealed that

308-687: A few of the more than 70 institutions that developed from the Morrill Acts retain "College" in their official names; most are universities. The University of the District of Columbia received land-grant status in 1967 and a $ 7.24 million endowment ( USD ) in lieu of a land grant. In a 1972 Special Education Amendment, American Samoa , Guam , Micronesia , Northern Marianas , and the Virgin Islands each received $ 3 million. In 1994, 29 tribal colleges and universities became land-grant institutions under

385-726: A growth of over $ 500 million in annual research expenditures over the past decade. Land-grant college A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution ) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890 , or a beneficiary under the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994. There are 106 institutions in all : 57 which fall under

462-496: A historically black university, is the only current land-grant university to have lost land-grant status (when desegregation cost it its state funding in 1957) and subsequently regain it, which happened in 2001. The land-grant college system has been seen as a major contributor in the faster growth rate of the U.S. economy that led to its overtaking the United Kingdom as economic superpower , according to research by faculty from

539-755: A new "University of the State of Florida" for white men: the University of Florida at Lake City (formerly Florida Agricultural College), the East Florida Seminary in Gainesville, the St. Petersburg Normal and Industrial School in St. Petersburg , and the South Florida Military College in Bartow . The Buckman Act also created two other institutions segregated by race and gender: Florida Female College (later

616-852: A significant share of the incoming class as well. New York and New Jersey are the biggest feeder states outside of Florida. The University of Florida is ranked second overall in the United States for the number of bachelor's degrees awarded to African-Americans, and third overall for Hispanics. The university ranks fifth in the number of doctoral degrees awarded to African-Americans, and second overall for Hispanics, and third in number of professional degrees awarded to African-Americans, and second overall for Hispanics. The university offers multiple graduate programs—including engineering, business, law and medicine—on one contiguous campus, and coordinates 123 master's degree programs and 76 doctoral degree programs in 87 schools and departments. In its 2021 edition, U.S. News & World Report (USN&WR) ranked

693-579: A small private college that had closed during the war. The second precursor to the University of Florida was Florida Agricultural College (FAC), the state's first land-grant college under the Morrill Act , established in Lake City in 1884. The Florida Legislature, looking to expand FAC's curriculum beyond agricultural and engineering offerings, changed the school's name to the "University of Florida" for

770-470: A widespread fear of reprisal if faculty promoted unpopular viewpoints and alleging that course titles on racial topics were edited, faculty were advised against criticizing Governor DeSantis or his policies, and medical researchers were compelled to destroy data related to the COVID pandemic. The 2022 annual ranking of U.S. News & World Report categorizes the University of Florida as "most selective." For

847-534: Is 97%, with 89% going on to graduate within six years. The Fall 2023 incoming freshman class had an average 1390 SAT score, and a 31 ACT score. 3% of these students were foreign nationals, while 49% were White Americans, 22% were Hispanic Americans, 14% were Asian Americans, and 6% were Black Americans. The University of Florida is a college-sponsor of the National Merit Scholarship Program and sponsored 288 Merit Scholarship awards in 2020. In

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924-595: Is a senior member of the State University System of Florida . The university traces its origins to 1853 and has operated continuously on its Gainesville campus since September 1906. After the Florida state legislature's creation of performance standards in 2013, the Florida Board of Governors designated the University of Florida as a "preeminent university". The University of Florida is one of three members of

1001-694: Is also the seal of the state of Florida, which is on the state flag, though in blue rather than multiple colors. The University of Florida's intercollegiate sports teams, the Florida Gators , compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). As of 2021, University of Florida students and alumni have won 143 Olympic medals, including 69 gold medals . The modern University of Florida traces its origins to 1853, when

1078-412: Is home to 16 academic colleges and more than 150 research centers and institutes. It offers multiple graduate professional programs—including business administration , engineering , law , dentistry , medicine , pharmacy and veterinary medicine —on one contiguous campus and administers 123 master's degree programs and 76 doctoral degree programs in 87 schools and departments. The university's seal

1155-697: Is in the Reitz Student Union . Its mission is to assist students and alumni who are seeking career development, career experiences, and employment opportunities. These services involve on and off-campus job interviews, career planning, assistance in applying to graduate and professional schools, and internship and co-op placements. The Career Resource Center offers workshops, information sessions, career fairs, and advisement on future career options. Staff also counsel students and alumni regarding resumes and portfolios, interviewing tactics, cover letters, job strategies and other potential leads for finding employment in

1232-399: Is the flagship university of the state and it has 16 different colleges. UF has more than 150 research centers, service centers, education centers, bureaus, and institutes offering more than 100 undergraduate majors and 200 graduate degrees. These colleges include: The University of Florida has an honors program ; during application to the University, students must apply separately to

1309-495: Is the only University of Florida president honored with a statue on campus. The alligator became the school's informal mascot when a local vendor designed and sold school pennants imprinted with the animal, which is very common in lakes in and around Gainesville and throughout the state. The 'gator was a popular choice, and the university's sports teams had officially adopted the nickname by 1911. The school colors of orange and blue were also officially established in 1911, though

1386-498: The Agricultural College of the State of Michigan , receiving an appropriation of 14,000 acres (57 km ) of state-owned land. The Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania (later to become The Pennsylvania State University ) followed as a state agricultural land-grant school on February 22 of that year. Michigan State and Penn State were subsequently designated as the federal land-grant colleges for their states in 1863. In 1955,

1463-498: The Association of American Universities in Florida and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). It is the third largest Florida university by student population and is the fifth largest single-campus university in the United States with 54,814 students enrolled in fall 2023. The University of Florida

1540-695: The East Florida Seminary , the oldest of its four predecessor institutions, was founded in 1853 as the East Florida Seminary in Ocala, Florida . The seminary was Florida's first state-supported institution of higher learning and operated until 1861 with the outbreak of the American Civil War . In 1866, the East Florida Seminary reopened in Gainesville on the grounds of the Gainesville Academy,

1617-582: The Improving America's Schools Act of 1994 . As of 2008, 32 tribal colleges and universities have land-grant status in the U.S. Most of these colleges grant two-year degrees. Six are four-year institutions, and two offer a master's degree. In the early 21st century, a growing number of land-grant universities have placed land acknowledgment statements on their websites in recognition of the fact that their institutions occupy lands that were once traditional territories of Native American peoples. For example,

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1694-669: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Tuskegee University . The concept of federal support for agricultural and technical educational institutions in every state first rose to national attention through the efforts of Jonathan Baldwin Turner of Illinois in the late 1840s. However the first land-grant bill was introduced in Congress by Representative Justin Smith Morrill of Vermont in 1857. The bill passed in 1859, but

1771-607: The Scottish Lowlands . In 1924, the Florida Legislature mandated women of a "mature age" (at least twenty-one years old) who had completed sixty semester hours from a "reputable educational institution" be allowed to enroll during regular semesters at the University of Florida in programs that were unavailable at Florida State College for Women. Before this, only the summer semester was coeducational, to accommodate women teachers who wanted to further their education during

1848-653: The State University of New York . The three-part mission of the land-grant university continues to evolve in the twenty-first century. What originally was described as "teaching, research, and service" was renamed "learning, discovery, and engagement" by the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities. It was later recast as "talent, innovation, and place" by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). Historians once presented

1925-471: The University of South Florida , to be designated as a "preeminent university" by Florida senate bill 1076, enacted by the Florida legislature and signed into law by the governor in 2013. As a result, the preeminent universities receive additional funding to improve the academics and national reputation of higher education within the state of Florida. From its inception until 1958, only white students were allowed to attend. In 1958, George H. Starke became

2002-411: The financial aid offers from multiple universities. The university's single application deadline is November 1. For the 2018–19 academic year, tuition and fees were $ 6,381 for in-state undergraduate students, and $ 28,658 for out-of-state undergraduate students. Tuition for online courses is lower and for graduate courses is higher. The Lombardi Scholars Program, created in 2002 and named in honor of

2079-472: The 1862 Act, 19 under the 1890 Act, and 35 under the 1994 Act. With Southerners absent during the Civil War, Republicans in Congress set up a funding system that would allow states to modernize their weak higher educational systems. The Morrill Act of 1862 provided federal land to states to establish colleges. Ownership went to the schools which, in turn, sold the land to businesses and farmers. The law specified

2156-547: The 1903–1904 academic year. This name was in use for two years. In 1905, the Florida Legislature passed the Buckman Act , which reorganized the state's publicly supported institutions of higher education. Under the act, Florida's six state-supported institutions were merged to form the State University System of Florida under the newly established Florida Board of Control . Four institutions were combined to create

2233-399: The 1905–1906 academic year. Former FAC president Andrew Sledd was chosen to be the first president of the University of the State of Florida. The University of the State of Florida's first semester in Gainesville began on September 26, 1906, with an enrollment of 102 students. Two buildings had been completed at the time: Buckman Hall , named after the primary author of the law that created

2310-589: The 1930s. Beginning in 1946, there was dramatically increased interest among male applicants who wanted to attend the University of Florida, mostly returning World War II veterans who could attend college under the GI Bill of Rights (Servicemen's Readjustment Act). Unable to immediately accommodate this increased demand, the Florida Board of Control opened the Tallahassee Branch of the University of Florida on

2387-552: The 2020–2021 academic year, 342 freshman students were National Merit Scholars . The university is need-blind for domestic applicants. In 2007, the University of Florida joined the University of Virginia , Harvard University , the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , and Princeton University in announcing the discontinuation of early decision admissions to foster economic diversity in their student bodies. These universities assert early decision admissions forces students to accept an offer of admission before evaluating

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2464-448: The Board of Control over his insistence on rigorous admittance requirements, which his detractors claimed was unreasonably impeding school enrollment. Sledd resigned over these issues in 1909. Florida State College for Women president Albert Murphree was named UF's second president before the 1909–1910 academic year, which was also when the school's name was simplified from the "University of

2541-510: The Class of 2027 (enrolled fall 2023), Florida's acceptance rate was 24.0%. Of those accepted, 6,612 enrolled, a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 43.1%. However, these numbers vary dramatically when split up by in-state and out-of-state applicants, with an acceptance rate of 52.6% for applicants in-state and an acceptance rate of 14.3% for applicants out-of-state. Florida's freshman retention rate

2618-978: The Engineering School tied for 45th, the Levin College of Law tied for 31st, and the Nursing School tied for 24th in the 2020 rankings. Florida's graduate programs ranked for 2020 by USN&WR in the nation's top 50 were audiology tied for 26th, analytical chemistry 11th, clinical psychology tied for 31st, computer science tied for 49th, criminology 19th, health care management tied for 33rd, nursing-midwifery tied for 35th, occupational therapy tied for 17th, pharmacy tied for 9th, physical therapy tied for 10th, physician assistant tied for 21st, physics tied for 37th, psychology tied for 39th, public health tied for 37th, speech-language pathology tied for 28th, statistics tied for 40th, and veterinary medicine 9th. The 2018 Academic Ranking of World Universities list assessed

2695-583: The Florida State College for Women and then Florida State University) for white women and the State Normal School for Colored Students (later Florida A&M) for African-American men and women, both in Tallahassee. The Buckman Act did not specify where the new University of the State of Florida would be located. The City of Gainesville, led by its mayor William Reuben Thomas , campaigned to be

2772-603: The Honors Program and show significant academic achievement to be accepted. There are over 100 courses offered exclusively to students in this program. In 2023, 14,089 students applied for 1,778 available seats. The Honors Program also offers housing for freshman in the Honors Village Residential Complex. The program also offers special scholarships , internships , research, and study abroad opportunities. The University of Florida Career Resource Center

2849-463: The State of Florida" to the "University of Florida". Murphree oversaw a reorganization of the university that included the establishment of several colleges, beginning with colleges of law , engineering , and liberal arts and sciences by 1910. Murphree was also instrumental in the founding of the Florida Blue Key leadership society and in building total enrollment from under 200 to over 2000. He

2926-494: The U.S. Postal service issued a commemorative stamp to celebrate the two institutions as "first of the land-grant type institutions to be founded." The mission of the land-grant universities was expanded by the Hatch Act of 1887 , which provided federal funds to states to establish a series of agricultural experiment stations under the direction of each state's land-grant college, as well as pass along new information, especially in

3003-419: The United States population. A 2014 social mobility report conducted by The New York Times found that 48% of UF undergraduate students came from families with incomes above the 80th percentile (>$ 110,000), while 6% came from families in the bottom 20th percentiles (<$ 20,000). The same report also indicates that 30% of the student body came from families from the top 10% of households, and 3% came from

3080-406: The United States. This article about an organization in the United States is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This honor society -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . University of Florida The University of Florida ( Florida or UF ) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida , United States. It

3157-421: The University of Florida achieved a notable milestone by becoming the first university in the state of Florida to rank among the top ten best public universities according to U.S. News. In the 2024 fiscal year, the University of Florida received more than $ 1.26 billion in annual sponsored research expenditures. In 2017, University President Kent Fuchs unveiled a plan to recruit 500 new faculty members to elevate

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3234-400: The University of Florida as 86th among global universities, based on overall research output and faculty awards. In 2017, Washington Monthly ranked the University of Florida 18th among national universities, with criteria based on research, community service, and social mobility. The lowest national ranking received by the university from a major publication comes from Forbes which ranked

3311-429: The University of Florida as tied for the fifth-best public university in the United States, and tied for 28th overall among all national universities, public and private. Many of the University of Florida's graduate schools have received top-50 national rankings from U.S. News & World Report with the school of education 25th, Florida's Hough School of Business 25th, Florida's Medical School (research) tied for 43rd,

3388-459: The University of Illinois System states, These lands were the traditional birthright of indigenous peoples who were forcibly removed and who have faced two centuries of struggle for survival and identity in the wake of dispossession. We hereby acknowledge the ground on which we stand so that all who come here know that we recognize our responsibilities to the peoples of that land and that we strive to address that history so that it guides our work in

3465-601: The areas of soil minerals and plant growth. The outreach mission was further expanded by the Smith–Lever Act of 1914 to include cooperative extension —the sending of agents into rural areas to help bring the results of agricultural research to the end users. Beyond the original land grants, each land-grant college receives annual federal appropriations for research and extension work on the condition that those funds are matched by state funds. While today's land-grant universities were initially known as land-grant colleges , only

3542-599: The campus of Florida State College for Women in Tallahassee . By the end of the 1946–47 school year, 954 men were enrolled at the Tallahassee Branch. The following semester, the Florida Legislature returned the Florida State College for Women to coeducational status and renamed it Florida State University . These events also opened up all of the colleges that comprise the University of Florida to female students. Florida Women's Hall of Fame member Maryly Van Leer became

3619-530: The corporate, academic and government sectors. The Princeton Review ranked the Career Resource Center as the best among 368 ranked universities in career and job placement services in 2010, and fourth overall in 2011. The university spent over $ 1.26 billion on research and development in 2024, ranking it within the nation's Top 25 public and private universities. In 2024, the University of Florida's research portfolio surpassed $ 1.26 billion, marking

3696-439: The creation of new state colleges and the expansion of existing institutions to include these new mandates. In every state by 1914, the land-grant colleges gained political support and expanded the definition and scope of university curricula to include advanced research and outreach across the state. The federal Hatch Act of 1887 established an agricultural experiment station at each school to conduct original research related to

3773-415: The effect of facilitating segregated education, although it also provided higher educational opportunities for persons of color who otherwise would not have had them. Among the seventy colleges and universities which eventually evolved from the Morrill Acts are several of today's historically black colleges and universities . Though the 1890 Act granted cash instead of land, it granted colleges under that act

3850-489: The first Black student. In 1985, the University of Florida was invited to join the Association of American Universities . During President Bernie Machen 's tenure and with the backing of the University of Florida Board of Trustees , a significant policy shift was announced in 2009 for the university. This shift involved reducing the number of undergraduate students and reallocating financial and academic resources toward graduate education and research initiatives. In 2017,

3927-481: The first woman to receive from the University of Florida a master's degree in engineering. African-American students were allowed to enroll starting in 1958. Shands Hospital opened in 1958 along with the University of Florida College of Medicine to join the established College of Pharmacy . Rapid campus expansion began in the 1950s and continues today. The University of Florida is one of three Florida public universities, along with Florida State University and

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4004-550: The individual land parcels had not been purchased at all; treaties with tribes in California, for example, had been placed under seal by the U.S. Senate and were unratified at the time of the land grant. Upon passage of the federal land-grant law in 1862, Iowa was the first state legislature to accept its provisions, on September 11, 1862. Iowa designated the State Agricultural College (now Iowa State University ) as

4081-519: The land-grant college on March 29, 1864. The first land-grant institution open under the Act was Kansas State University , which was established on February 16, 1863, and opened on September 2, 1863. A second Morrill Act was passed in 1890, aimed at the former Confederate states . This act required each state to show that race was not an admissions criterion, or else to designate a separate land-grant institution for persons of color. This latter clause had

4158-412: The latter types of parcels. For instance, they could identify what portions of their current resources are traceable to Native American lands and reallocate some of those resources to help Native Americans. Land-grant universities are not to be confused with sea grant colleges (a program instituted in 1966), space grant colleges (instituted in 1988), or sun grant colleges (instituted in 2003). In

4235-403: The mission of these institutions: to focus on the teaching of practical agriculture, science, military science, and engineering—although "without excluding other scientific and classical studies." This mission was in contrast to the historic practice of existing colleges which offered a narrow Classical curriculum based heavily on Latin, Greek and mathematics. The Morrill Act quickly stimulated

4312-575: The needs of improving agriculture, as well as a system to disseminate information to the farmers eager to innovate. By 1917 Congress funded the teaching of agricultural subjects in the new public high schools that were opening. The Second Morrill Act of 1890 further expanded federal funding for the land-grant colleges, and funded the founding of new land-grant colleges for African Americans (now called historically black colleges and universities or HBCU). The 1994 expansion gave land-grant status and benefits to several tribal colleges and universities . Most of

4389-753: The present and the future. Another example comes from the University of Connecticut which states, We would like to begin by acknowledging that the land on which we gather is the territory of the Eastern Pequot, Golden Hill Paugussett, Lenape, Mashantucket Pequot, Mohegan, Nipmuc and Schaghticoke Peoples who have stewarded this land throughout the generations. We thank them for their strength and resilience in protecting this land, and aspire to uphold our responsibilities according to their example. In an article in High Country News , Robert Lee and Tristan Ahtone criticized such statements for failing to acknowledge

4466-468: The reasons for the choice are unclear. The most likely rationale was that they are a combination of the colors of the university's two largest predecessor institutions, as the East Florida Seminary used orange and black while Florida Agricultural College used blue and white. The older schools' colors may have been an homage to early Scottish and Ulster-Scots Presbyterian settlers of north central Florida, whose ancestors were originally from Northern Ireland and

4543-667: The same legal standing as the 1862 Act colleges; hence the term "land-grant college" properly applies to both groups. Later on, other colleges such as the University of the District of Columbia and the "1994 land-grant colleges" for Native Americans were also awarded cash by Congress in lieu of land to achieve "land-grant" status. In imitation of the land-grant colleges' focus on agricultural and mechanical research, Congress later established programs of sea grant colleges (aquatic research, in 1966), space grant colleges (space research, in 1988), and sun grant colleges (sustainable energy research, in 2003). West Virginia State University ,

4620-505: The site of the new university, with its primary competitor being Lake City . After a brief but intense period of lobbying, the Board of Control selected Gainesville on July 6, 1905, and funds were allocated for the construction of a new campus on the western edge of the town. However, because the campus would take several months to build, the new school was housed on the campus of the now-defunct Florida Agricultural College in Lake City during

4697-416: The state schools were coeducational—indeed they led the way in that reform. A new department was added: home economics . However, relatively few women attended and they had second-class status. Ultimately, most land-grant schools became large state universities that today offer a full spectrum of educational and research opportunities. Some land-grant colleges are private, including Cornell University ,

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4774-411: The state would be "adverse to the university’s interests as a state of Florida institution," igniting controversy over alleged inappropriate political influence at the university, interference in academic freedom, and violation of the professors' First Amendment rights. Earlier in the year, the chairman of UF's Board of Trustees, Morteza Hosseini, reportedly pushed the university to hire Joseph Ladapo ,

4851-463: The summer break. Lassie Goodbread-Black from Lake City became the first woman to enroll at the University of Florida, in the College of Agriculture in 1925. Murphree died in 1928 and John J. Tigert was named UF's third president. Disgusted by the under-the-table payments being made by universities to athletes, Tigert established the grant-in-aid athletic scholarship program in the early 1930s, which

4928-528: The top 1%. In 2016, the university had 5,169 international students. According to the Annual Admissions Report conducted by UF in 2019, roughly 17% of the incoming freshman class was entering from outside of Florida. The majority of freshmen starting at the University of Florida come from urban backgrounds with the biggest demographic hailing from South Florida cities; the metropolitan areas of Tampa , Orlando , and Jacksonville historically form

5005-442: The true breadth of the benefits derived by European Americans from formerly Native American land. They pointed out that land grants were used not only for campus sites but also included many other parcels that universities rented or sold to generate funds that formed the basis of their endowments. Lee and Ahtone also pointed out that only a few land-grant universities have undertaken significant efforts at reconciliation with respect to

5082-445: The university 68th in the nation in 2018. This ranking focuses mainly on net positive financial impact, in contrast to other rankings, and generally ranks liberal arts colleges above most research universities. University of Florida received the following rankings by The Princeton Review in its 2020 Best 380 Colleges Rankings: 13th for Best Value Colleges without Aid, 18th for Lots of Beer, and 42nd for Best Value Colleges. It also

5159-582: The university and community. Louise Courtelis established the Alec Courtelis Award in honor of husband, a successful businessman and former chairman of the Florida Board of Regents in 1996. According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency , UF has "the largest Jewish student body in the US." It is estimated that 18% of UF undergraduate and graduate students identify as Jewish compared to around 2% of

5236-420: The university had prohibited at least five more professors from offering expertise in legal cases, including a professor of pediatric medicine who was not allowed to offer expert testimony in a case related to masking of children during the COVID pandemic, a measure supported by medical experts but opposed by Governor DeSantis. In response to the allegations, UF's administration appointed a task force to "review

5313-440: The university's conflict of interest policy and examine it for consistency and fidelity" and reversed its decision to bar professors from testifying, stating that they were permitted to testify pro bono on their own time. The recommendations of the task force were accepted by UF President Kent Fuchs in late November 2021. However, a December 2021 report from the UF Faculty Senate deepened the controversy, citing external pressure and

5390-480: The university's ninth president John V. Lombardi , is a merit scholarship for Florida students. The scholarship offers $ 2,700 a semester for eight to ten semesters. The J. Wayne Reitz Scholars Program, created in 1997 and named in honor of the university's fifth president J. Wayne Reitz , is a leadership and merit-based scholarship for Florida students. Its yearly $ 2,500 stipend may be renewed for up to three years. The Machen Florida Opportunity Scholars Program

5467-574: The university's ranking among the top five best public universities. The majority of these new hires are concentrated in STEM fields. In 2018, 230 faculty members were hired, with the remaining 270 faculty positions expected to be filled by the fall of 2019. In October 2021, three professors filed a federal lawsuit against UF, claiming they were barred from testifying in a voting rights lawsuit against Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee and Governor Ron DeSantis . The university claimed that testifying against

5544-497: The university, and Thomas Hall , named after the mayor of Gainesville who had led the successful effort to bring the school to town. Both structures were designed by William A. Edwards , who designed many of the university's original buildings in the Collegiate Gothic style in his role as lead architect for Florida's Board of Control. During his term, first university president Andrew Sledd often clashed with key members of

5621-525: Was Georgia, which set aside 40,000 acres for higher education in 1784 and incorporated the University of Georgia in 1785. The College Lands were a tract of land in Ohio that the Congress in 1787 donated for the support of a university. The Ohio state legislature assigned the lands in 1804 to the creation of a new school, Ohio University . Michigan State University was chartered under state law as an agricultural land-grant institution on February 12, 1855, as

5698-598: Was created in 2005. This is a full grant and scholarship financial aid package designed to help new, low-income UF students that are the first to attend college in their families. Every year, 300 scholarships are awarded to incoming freshmen with an average family income of $ 18,408. The Alec Courtelis Award is given annually at the International Student Academics Awards Ceremony. The award is given to international students, in recognition of their academic excellence and outstanding contribution to

5775-453: Was named the number one vegan-friendly school for 2014, according to a survey conducted by PETA . On Forbes' 2016 list of Best Value Public Colleges, UF was ranked second. It was also ranked third on Forbes' Overall Best Value Colleges Nationwide. The University of Florida is ranked among The Best Colleges in America in 2022 and positioned #8 on Money.com ’s list. The University of Florida

5852-595: Was the genesis of the modern athletic scholarship plan used by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Inventor and educator Blake R. Van Leer was hired as Dean to launch new engineering departments and scholarships. Van Leer also managed all applications for federal funding, chaired the Advanced Planning Committee per Tigert's request. These efforts included consulting for the Florida Emergency Relief Administration throughout

5929-575: Was vetoed by President James Buchanan . Morrill resubmitted his bill in 1861, and President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act into law in 1862. The law gave every state and territory 30,000 acres per member of Congress to be used in establishing a "land grant" university. Over 17 million acres were granted through the federal land-grant law. Recent scholarship has emphasized that many of these federal public lands had been purchased from Indigenous peoples through treaties and land cessions, often after they were defeated in war. Approximately 25% of

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