University of Central Florida Motto Reach for the Stars Established 1963 School type Public President Dr. John Hitt Location Orlando, Florida, USA Enrollment 35,385 undergraduate, 7,452 graduate Faculty 1,600 Endowment US$70+ million Campus 1415 acres (5.73 km²) Nickname Golden Knights Mascot Knightro, the Golden Knight Colors Gold and Black Website www.ucf.edu State University System of Florida FAMU FAU FGCU FIU FSU NCF UCF UF UNF USF UWF The University of Central Florida (UCF), located in Orlando, Florida, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida. As of 2005, UCF is the largest undergraduate public university in Florida and second by total enrollment, trailing the University of Florida by fewer than 5,000 students. UCF is also the seventh largest university in the nation as of Fall 2005. UCF awards bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctorates. The main campus is located approximately 13 miles east of downtown Orlando and 55 miles from Daytona Beach, and there are twelve satellite campuses in eastern central Florida, though none is as large as the 1415 acre (5.73 km²) main campus. UCF's official colors are gold and black, the various sports teams go by the name of "Golden Knights" and the official mascot is a gold-armored black knight named Knightro, who is sometimes accompanied by his associate "Glycerine". The UCF academic logo, however, is Pegasus. The University of Central Florida is currently listed in “The Best 361 Colleges: 2006 Edition,” by The Princeton Review.[1] The Princeton Review’s recognition comes as the academic quality of UCF students continues to rise. Freshmen admitted in Fall 2005 posted average SAT scores of 1178, ACT scores of 25 and an average high school GPA of 3.62. Contents 1 History 2 Academics 2.1 Colleges 2.1.1 Proposed Medical College 2.2 Library 3 Athletics 3.1 Football 3.2 UCF Stadium 3.3 UCF Fight Song 4 Housing 5 Rankings 6 Famous Alumni 7 Points of Interest 8 Trivia 9 External Links 10 References History UCF's mascot, Knightro The university was established on 10 June 1963 when the State Legislature passed Bill 125. The first classes began in October 1968 with a class size of 1,948. UCF was known as Florida Technological University, nicknamed Florida Tech, from its establishment until December 6, 1978, when it was renamed to University of Central Florida by the State Legislature. FTU's former rival, the Florida Institute of Technology, has since been known as Florida Tech. In 2003, UCF had the distinction of being the fastest growing university in the United States in terms of undergraduate enrollment, and as of 2005, more than 44,000 students attend the school. One of the founding goals of the university was to act as a support system for the Kennedy Space Center, which is located about 50 miles (80 km) away. Additionally, the nearby Central Florida Research Park, which infuses research funds into the university and draws many interns and graduates from it, has a major focus of simulation as well space and defense related research. The official colors of the university were chosen by Dr. Charles Millican, UCF's Founding President. The university's first mascot was the short lived "Citronaut": a half-orange, half-astronaut hybrid. This was decided by a vote amongst the FTU students at the time, and other ideas included "Vincent the Vulture" and "Rocket Mickey." With the changing of name from FTU to UCF, the university's Athletics Association decided that a more serious mascot was needed, and thus the university's current mascot "Knightro" was born. Academics As of 2005, UCF's academic programs included 92 Baccalaureate Programs, 94 Master's Programs, 3 Specialist Programs, and 24 Doctoral Programs. In addition, 70% of the Faculty have Doctorate Degrees, and 42% currently have tenure at the university. In terms of six-year graduation rates, UCF ranks third in the state of Florida at 55%, trailing Florida State University (FSU) at 63% and the University of Florida (UF) at 77%.[2] Colleges The university currently houses nine different academic colleges: College of Arts and Sciences; Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences; Burnett Honors College; College of Business Administration; College of Education; College of Engineering and Computer Science; College of Health & Public Affairs; Rosen College of Hospitality Management; and College of Optics & Photonics. The university currently has plans for establishing new colleges, including a medical college. The college of arts and sciences plans to split into the College of Arts and Humanties, and the College of Science in the spring of 2006. College of Arts & Sciences Dean: Kathryn L. Seidel The largest college in the university, the College of Arts and Sciences offers over 60 baccalaureate, graduate, and pre-professional degrees. It includes the following academic departments: Art, Biology, Chemistry, English, Foreign Languages and Literatures, History, Liberal Studies, Mathematics, Music, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology, Statistics, and Theatre. It also houses the School of Film and Digital Media, which supplies graduates to The Walt Disney Company, Lockheed Martin, and many other local companies; and the Nicholson School of Communication, one of the largest schools of communication in the nation. The College recently saw the completion of a third Engineering Building, and is currently seeing the construction of a Psychology Building. Due to a $5.6 million deficit in the college, however, the university is expected to split the College of Arts and Sciences into two new colleges, the College of Arts and Humanties and the College of Sciences, in Spring 2006. Numerous faculty members from the Nicolson School of Communication are hoping that the School can use this opportunity to become a college in its own right, but current plans are to place the School under the prospective College of Sciences. Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences Dean: Pappachan Kolattukudy The Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences houses the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, the Biomolecular Science Center, the Medical Laboratory Sciences Program and the Pre-Health Professions Advisement Office. The Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences became the 9th college at the university on August 10, 2004 after receiving a $10 million donation from Al and Nancy Burnett. The goal of the College is to build a nationally recognized biomedical research and education enterprise. It currently offers three academic degrees, and will serve as the foundation of the proposed medical college. Burnett Honors College Dean: Alvin Wang In 1998, the UCF Honors Program was granted college status. Al and Nancy Burnett donated almost 1.5 million dollars toward the completion of a building to house the honors college, and it subsequently named the Burnett Honors College in their honor. The Burnett Honors College Building was completed in May, 2002, and dedicated on October 23, 2002. Its mission is to provide a challenging academic program and a foundation for future achievement to UCF's most academically talented undergraduate students. With only about 1500 students (all undergraduates) as part of the the Burnett Honors College during an academic year, it combines the intimacy of a small liberal arts college with the advantages of a large metropolitan research university. The Burnett Honors College does not have any departments or offer any majors itself; all of its students are also students of one of the other colleges at the university. Honors students benefit from being able to take smaller Honors-versions of both lower-division and upper-division university courses, being able to enroll in Honors Seminars and Honors Interdisciplinary Seminars, usage an Honors Computer Lab and an Honors Reading Room, extended library privelages, scholarship opportunities, and other advantages. It offers two distinct Honors programs for students: University Honors, which is a 4-year program (students must apply as high school seniors) that requires students to take a certain number of Honors courses, and Honors in the Major, which allows juniors and seniors to take up original research in their major and write an Honors Undergraduate Thesis (these programs are not mutually exclusive). If a student completes one of these programs, an Honors distinction corresponding to the program that they completed will appear on the student's diploma and transcript. The College also offers many events and programs--such as the Student-Mentor Academic Research Teams (SMART) Program--that are open to UCF students regardless of whether they are Honors students or not, as well as the Office of Student Scholarship and Fellowship Advisement, which provides information and preperation services for all UCF students interested in applying for prestigious scholarships and fellowships. College of Business Administration UCF's College of Business Administration building Dean: Thomas L. Keon In response to the demands of the local business community, the entire business program at the university was recreated in 1993. Through work by alumni, faculty, business leaders, and students, the College developed the Business Education 2010 (BE2010) curriculum that is still used today. This curriculum focuses on specific competencies that are integrated throughout all coursework: Teamwork, Communication, Creativity, Adaptation to Change, Diversity, and Ethics. The College of Business now offers 17 academic degrees and is poised to be the largest college of business in the nation after the completion of its third building in the coming years. The College has become a leading business college in the South.[3] College of Education Dean: Sandra L. Robinson The College of Education awards nearly 60 academic degrees to prepare students for a career in education. The College is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), and houses the UCF Academy for Teaching, Learning and Leadership. College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean: Neal C. Gallagher Housing the university's premiere majors, the College of Engineering and Computer Science has three major divisions: the Engineering and Computer Science Division (which houses UCF's renowned School of Computer Science), the Engineering Technology Division, and the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Division. The Engineering and Computer Science Division consists of the School of Computer Science (SCS) and four engineering departments: the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department, the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department, the Industrial Engineering and Management Systems (IEMS) Department, and the Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering (MMAE) Department. The School of Computer Science itself comprises of the Computer Science Department and Information Technology. The Engineering Technology Division is comprised of the Engineering Technology (ENT) Department. The ROTC Division consists of the Aerospace Studies Department (Air Force ROTC) and the Military Science Department (Army ROTC). The College offers more than 100 degree programs overall. College of Health & Public Affairs Dean: Belinda R. McCarthy The College of Health and Public Affairs houses six departments and schools: the School of Nursing, the School of Social Work, and the departments of Communicative Disorders, Criminal Justice and Legal Studies, Health Professions, and Public Administration. Twenty-six degrees are offered to students through this college. Rosen College of Hospitality Management Dean: Abraham Pizam Located off the main University of Central Florida campus on Orlando's Universal Blvd., the Rosen College of Hospitality Management offers two degrees: Hospitality Management (BS) and Restaurant and Foodservice Management (BS). Orlando is the destination for over 42 million tourists each year, has over 400 hotels with 120,000 rooms, 5,000 restaurants, and 75 theme parks and attractions, making it the ideal setting for this college to thrive. College of Optics & Photonics Dean: Eric W. Van Stryland In 2004, UCF's Board of Trustees voted to give UCF's School of Optics and Photonics full college status, making it the first college dedicated specifically to Optics and Photonics at a public university in the United States. It currently offers only Masters and Doctoral degres in Optics. The college is comprised of two divisions: CREOL (Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers) and FPCE (the Florida Photonics Center of Excellence). Proposed Medical College UCF plans to build a new 113,000-square-foot Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences Building, a 130,000-square-foot medical college instructional building and a 60,000-square-foot library to form the base of a medical college at a new UCF Healthcare Campus. The new medical campus would be located on the eastern edge of Orlando near the Orlando International Airport. In October 2005, a local Orlando investment company donated $12.5 million and 50 acres of land to UCF to help establish the UCF Medical School at Lake Nona. The $12.5 million challenge grant is expected to generate matching funds from the community that would create a $25 million sum eligible for an additional $25 million state match. If approved by the state, the medical college would be established in Fall 2006. Its four-year curriculum would begin clinical education in Fall 2008 and would produce about 120 medical graduates each year. Library The Library at the university was the first building built on campus, and now rises five stories tall, and has been expanded upon many times. It currently houses over 1,500,000 volumes, 12,810 periodical subscriptions, 5,650 electronic journals, 2,800,000+ microform units, and over 39,000 media materials. It will soon be expanded yet again, with the university planning on doubling its size in the next few years. The library has also recently approved plans to construct a Java City coffee shop inside the main floor. The coffee shop is expected to be open by January 2006. Part of the profits from the cafe will be used to fund construction of the new library expansion. Athletics UCF Basketball made it to the NCAA Basketball Tournament in the 2003 and 2004 seasons under the Atlantic Sun Conference. It is remained to be seen how the Basketball team will fare in the arguably more difficult Conference USA. UCF Baseball and Soccer are also rather respectable teams. Football UCF is a NCAA Division I school. In 2005, UCF joined Conference USA and left its football-only membership in the Mid-American Conference and its membership in the Atlantic Sun Conference. UCF football is largely known as the alma mater for future NFL stars Daunte Culpepper and Asante Samuel. In 1998, Culpepper led UCF to it's best season ever with a 9-2 record (with losses only coming to Purdue and Auburn), and was on the verge of a top 25 ranking. In 2004, George O'Leary was named UCF's head coach, after his controversial resignation from the University of Notre Dame. That season, UCF did not record a single win as they went 0-11 in way to their worst season in school history. This led to popular and humorous UCF description, "A drinking college with a football problem." In 2005, the team's luck changed when they defeated Marshall University 23-13 to end the school's 17 game losing steak. UCF fans celebrated by storming the field and tearing down the goal posts. Students came back to the campus and celebrated further by jumping into UCF's Reflection Pond, which is regarded as the central point on campus. By winning a "come from behind game" against Rice University on November 19, 2005 with a final score of 31-28, UCF football became the 2005 Conference USA East Division Champions but lost the Conference USA Championship Game at the Citrus Bowl, their current home stadium, on December 3, 2005 against Tulsa with a final score of 44-27. On December 4,2005 the Knights accepted a bid to play in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu,Hawaii on December 24,2005 against the University of Nevada-Reno Wolfpack which will be televised on ESPN at 8:30pm EST. UCF currently plays its home games in downtown Orlando's Citrus Bowl stadium; however, the university has recently approved the plans for an on-campus football stadium which is hoped will be completed by the beginning of the 2007 season. UCF Stadium On November 9th, 2005, the UCF Board of Trustee's unanimously approved the proposed 45,000 seat on-campus football stadium. The stadium will be placed on the north side of the campus, near the Convocation Center and UCF Arena. The official date for the beginning of construction is still to be determined, but it is believed that the stadium will be finished in time for the start of the 2007 football season. UCF Fight Song "UCF charge onto the field, with our spirit we’ll never yield. Black and Gold - Charge right through the line Victory is our cry... V-I-C-T-O-R-Y. Tonight our Knights will shine! U-C-F Knights... UCF let’s go Knights!" Housing Libra Community residence halls at UCF UCF currently has over 4,500 beds (5,700 by 2007) on campus in five different communities on campus. Residence hall style suites are available in the Libra, Apollo, Hercules, and Nike communities. All of the residence hall suites have bathrooms shared between 2 or 3 rooms as opposed to communal bathrooms, and are reserved for freshmen. Apartment style housing is also available in the Academic Village (Nike and Hercules) communities, the Towers at Golden Knight Plaza (Gemini Community), and the Lake Claire Apartments. The Towers at Golden Knight Plaza (formerly known as the Convocation Center Apartments due to their proximity to the planned convocation center) are currently under construction with a planned housing capacity of 2,000 beds. Final construction will comprise four towers and is scheduled to be complete by Fall 2007; as of Fall 2005, the first tower has finished construction and is completely occupied. The second tower is under construction, scheduled to be completed and occupied by Fall 2006. Apartments in the Towers are offered in various plans ranging from 1 bedroom/ 1 bathroom to 4 bedroom/ 4 bathroom; however, thus far, only 4 bedroom apartments are available since Tower 1 contains only 4 bedroom/ 4 bathroom and 4 bedroom / 2 bathroom aparments. All residents of the Towers sign aunnual contracts to rent their apartments for a full calendar year, whereas residents of all other communities on the main campus sign Academic Contracts to rent their rooms only for one or two semesters at a time. The Towers will eventually be part of the planned Golden Knight Plaza- which will include the new convocation center as well as 100,000 square feet of retail space. Greek housing is also available on campus with over 400 beds. Furthermore, upwards of 3,750 beds are available at the University-affiliated housing communities of Pegasus Landing and Pegasus Pointe, which are apartment communities that have housing affilation agreements with the school. Approximately 10% of students live on campus. Rankings UCF accounting students had the highest pass rate in the nation on the National CPA exam in the fall 2003. UCF is one of the Top 60 schools in the country that enroll the largest number of National Merit Scholars. The UCF trial team took first place at Yale's annual Invitational Mock Trial Tournament, beating 61 other teams including Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Cornell, and Brown. Team UCF was a part of the semi-finals for the 2005 DARPA grand challenge. UCF is ranked 38th in the nation for the strength of its research and patents by Technology Review, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's magazine of innovation. Only the University of Florida, at 20th, ranks higher among Florida state universities. The Computer Science Programming Team placed 15th in the world at the ACM International Programming Competition, placing third in the United States. UCF is included in the Top 361 Colleges & Universities of 2006 rankings as done by The Princeton Review. Famous Alumni Michelle Akers, champion women's soccer player and was named to the FIFA 100. John Bersia, Pulitzer Prize winner, writer for Orlando Sentinel Lee Constantine - State Senator of Florida Daunte Culpepper, professional football quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. Robert Damron, PGA Tour, Winner of 2001 Byron Nelson Classic. Ericka Dunlap, Miss America for 2004. Travis Fisher, professional football cornerback for the St.Louis Rams. Tyler Fisher, Rhodes Scholar (2002) Doug Gabriel, professional football wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders. John Hart, Executive V.P/General Manager, Texas Rangers Cheryl Hines, an actress most famous for her role on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. Glenn Hubbard, Dean of Columbia Business School and former chairman of US President’s Council of Economic Advisers. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, co-authors and co-directors of The Blair Witch Project. William Parsons, Director, Space Shuttle Program, NASA. Tari Phillips, professional basketball player in the WNBA. Asante Samuel, professional football cornerback for the New England Patriots. Monica Spears, Miss Venezuela for 2005. Al Weiss, President, Walt Disney World Resorts. Points of Interest Arboretum of the University of Central Florida Student Union administered through the Student Government Association of UCF UCF is one of the few universities in the country to have a Challenge Course UCF's Recreation and Wellness center offers a 3,000 ft² (300 m²) cardiovascular floor, 12,000 ft² (1,200 m²) weight floor (selectorized weights, free weights and stretching area), 3 multipurpose group exercise rooms, 4 indoor basketball courts and 41 foot (12 m) Climbing Rock Tower. Additional student recreation facilities include a 230,000 US gallon (870 m³) 6 lane outdoor pool, a new sandy beach bottom lagoon style swimming pool, 4 sand volleyball courts, an 18 hole disc golf course, 2 softball/baseball fields, 9 acre (36,000 m²) multipurpose field, the Challenge Course and the Lake Claire Recreation Area. Trivia In 2004, the WB recorded and produced a reality television series called "Big Man on Campus" (BMOC) on the campus of UCF with enrolled students. UCF holds the Guinness Book of Records entry for most people on a waterbed (108). Though it is not run or operated by students, UCF has a 5.6 kW Jazz broadcast radio station, one of the first digital studios in the Orlando area. External Links The University of Central Florida homepage Official UCF athletics site UCF Stadium Site Information regarding UCF's approved on-campus football stadium Campus Map and Virtual Tour Greek life at UCF Satellite Picture Satellite imagery provided by Google Maps (date: ~mid 2003). Campus Aerial Photos Aerial plane-based photos provided by UCF. Includes recent and historial aerial photos back to the 1960s. Central Florida Future Student Newspaper for UCF UCF Marching Knights 40 Years of UCF/FTU Mascots UCF Library References ACM 2005 Programming Competition Results UCF History UCF Foundation Site with the history of the university Facts About UCF from UCF's Office of Institutional Research. UCF Undergraduate Catalog 2005-2006 UCF Graduate Catalog 2005-2006 The Burnett Honors College website Conference USA   East Division: East Carolina | Marshall | Memphis | Southern Miss | UAB | UCF   West Division: Houston | Rice | SMU | Tulane | Tulsa | UTEP State University System of Florida: Florida A&M University | Florida Atlantic University | Florida Gulf Coast University | Florida International University | Florida State University | New College of Florida | University of Central Florida | University of Florida | University of North Florida | University of South Florida | University of West Florida Search Term: "University_of_Central_Florida" Categories: Universities and colleges in Florida | Universities and colleges near Orlando | Space-grant universities | Public universities