Florida Senate - 2014                            (NP)    SR 1718
       
       
        
       By Senator Bradley
       
       
       
       
       
       7-03297-14                                            20141718__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing April 2, 2014, as “University
    3         of Florida Day” in Florida.
    4  
    5         WHEREAS, the University of Florida tradition of enrolling
    6  some of the most academically talented students in the nation
    7  continued during the 2013-2014 academic year, with incoming
    8  freshmen having a grade point average of 4.4 and an average SAT
    9  score of 1,960, and
   10         WHEREAS, in 2014, the University of Florida launched UF
   11  Online, the first fully online 4-year bachelor’s degree program
   12  at a public university in Florida and one of the first such
   13  programs nationwide to be offered at a leading national research
   14  university, and
   15         WHEREAS, in 2013, the University of Florida dedicated more
   16  than $13 million in state preeminence funding to hiring new
   17  faculty, whose work will further 16 university research
   18  proposals in fields including computing, biology, and business,
   19  and
   20         WHEREAS, in 2013, the University of Florida’s Innovation
   21  Square continued to draw outside technology companies, including
   22  Boston-area mobile application developer Mobiquity and CurtCo
   23  Robb Media, the publisher of the Robb Report, to Gainesville,
   24  where they established offices and created jobs, and
   25         WHEREAS, in 2012, the University of Florida ranked fourth
   26  nationally among universities in launching startup companies
   27  that use the school’s own technologies, a testament to the
   28  university’s world-renowned faculty, and
   29         WHEREAS, the business incubator Florida Innovation Hub at
   30  the University of Florida contributed to the creation of 250
   31  jobs in its first 20 months of operation and already has more
   32  than two dozen tenants, and
   33         WHEREAS, in 2013, the University of Florida surged to
   34  number 14 among the nation’s best public universities as ranked
   35  by U.S. News & World Report, and
   36         WHEREAS, in 2012, the Wall Street Journal’s Smartmoney
   37  magazine reported that the University of Florida offers students
   38  and their families the second-highest return on investment of
   39  any university in the nation, and
   40         WHEREAS, in 2013, the University of Florida continued to
   41  grow and expand its campus, including the completion of the
   42  Clinical and Translational Research Building, the launch of a
   43  major renovation and expansion of the J. Wayne Reitz Union, and
   44  the groundbreaking for both Heavener Hall and the Harrell
   45  Medical Education Building, and
   46         WHEREAS, in 2013, the University of Florida significantly
   47  expanded its scientific research computing capabilities with the
   48  completion of HiPerGator, the state’s fastest supercomputer that
   49  is among the top 200 supercomputers in the world, and
   50         WHEREAS, the University of Florida unified the six colleges
   51  of the UF Health Science Center and Shands Hospital by bringing
   52  them together under one shared brand, UF Health, and
   53         WHEREAS, the University of Florida also excels in its
   54  student athletic program, the only program in the nation to rank
   55  in the top ten nationally for the past 30 years and whose
   56  athletic victories include 31 national team championships, 213
   57  Southeastern Conference titles, and more than 259 individual
   58  national titles, NOW, THEREFORE,
   59  
   60  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   61  
   62         That April 2, 2014, is recognized as “University of Florida
   63  Day” in Florida.
   64         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be
   65  presented to J. Bernard Machen, D.D.S., Ph.D., President of the
   66  University of Florida, as a tangible token of the sentiments
   67  expressed herein.