Florida Senate - 2015                            (NP)    SR 1574
       
       
        
       By Senator Bradley
       
       
       
       
       
       7-01819-15                                            20151574__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing March 24, 2015, as
    3         “University of Florida Day” in Tallahassee in honor of
    4         the University of Florida’s significant contributions
    5         to its state, to its nation, and throughout the world.
    6  
    7         WHEREAS, The Business Journals ranked the University of
    8  Florida seventh on the publishing company’s 2015 list of the
    9  best public colleges in America, and
   10         WHEREAS, using funding designated by the Legislature for
   11  preeminent universities, the University of Florida has hired
   12  nearly 75 top faculty from around the world to focus work in
   13  more than two dozen areas addressing complex social issues, and
   14         WHEREAS, the University of Florida continues to enroll
   15  academically talented students, with the fall 2015 admitted
   16  students having an average grade point average of 4.3 and SAT
   17  score of 1918, and
   18         WHEREAS, as part of its innovative efforts to increase
   19  access, the University of Florida launched Pathway to Campus
   20  Enrollment in February 2015, a program offering prospective
   21  freshmen admission to UF Online with a guarantee of acceptance
   22  later as third-year residential students, and
   23         WHEREAS, the University of Florida aids low-income students
   24  who are the first in their families to attend college through
   25  its Machen Florida Opportunity Scholars Program, which, since it
   26  was founded in 2006, has supported more than 3,200 such
   27  students, and
   28         WHEREAS, the University of Florida in August reported
   29  receiving a record $702 million in contracts and grants in the
   30  2013-2014 fiscal year, and
   31         WHEREAS, the University of Florida continues to develop the
   32  public-private partnership known as Innovation Square, with
   33  Signet Enterprises starting construction of a first-of-its-kind
   34  residence hall and entrepreneurial living community where
   35  students will be able to launch their own businesses, and
   36         WHEREAS, the University of Florida softball team swept the
   37  University of Alabama during the 2014 Women’s College World
   38  Series in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to claim its first NCAA
   39  national championship, and
   40         WHEREAS, the University of Florida gymnastics team in 2014
   41  won its second straight NCAA national championship in
   42  Birmingham, Alabama, sharing the title with the University of
   43  Oklahoma, and
   44         WHEREAS, aided by $42 million in funding from the
   45  Legislature, the University of Florida broke ground in October
   46  2014 on its 110,000-square-foot chemistry/chemical biology
   47  building, which will support collaboration between the College
   48  of Medicine and the College of Engineering on important drug
   49  discoveries, and
   50         WHEREAS, the University of Florida has opened Heavener
   51  Hall, an innovative classroom and learning facility for
   52  undergraduate majors in business, and launched Cypress Hall, a
   53  new residence hall that will include the university’s first
   54  specially equipped rooms for students with disabilities, and
   55         WHEREAS, for the third year in a row, Kiplinger’s Personal
   56  Finance ranked the University of Florida third on its list of
   57  the 100 best values in public college, and
   58         WHEREAS, the University of Florida maintains that value
   59  ranking with its in-state tuition of $6,310 for a full-time
   60  undergraduate carrying a course load of 30 semester credits,
   61  which is considerably lower than the national average of $9,139
   62  for a 4-year public university, and
   63         WHEREAS, the University of Florida conferred its 500,000th
   64  degree in 2014, making it one of only a handful of universities
   65  nationwide to reach such a milestone and sustaining its lengthy
   66  history of providing Floridians with higher education and
   67  economic opportunity, NOW, THEREFORE,
   68  
   69  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   70  
   71         That March 24, 2015, is recognized as “University of
   72  Florida Day” in Tallahassee in honor of the University of
   73  Florida’s significant contributions to its state, to its nation,
   74  and throughout the world.
   75         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution, with
   76  the Seal of the Senate affixed, be presented to the University
   77  of Florida as a tangible token of the sentiments of the Florida
   78  Senate.