University of Central Florida

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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 second largest public university in Florida by enrollment, trailing the University of Florida by less than 5,000 students. UCF awards bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctorates. The main campus is located approximately thirteen miles from downtown Orlando and fifty-five miles from Daytona Beach, and there are a twelve satellite campuses in eastern central Florida, though none is as large as the 1415 acre (5.7 km²) main campus.

UCF's official colors are gold (or yellow) 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. The UCF academic logo, however, is the Pegasus. The official colors were chosen by Dr. Charles Millican, the first President of the University.

Contents

1 History 2 Academics 2.1 Colleges 2.2 Library 3 Housing 4 Rankings 5 Famous alumni 6 Points of interest 7 Trivia 8 External links 9 References

History

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 (or Florida Tech) until the name was changed on December 6, 1978 by the State Legislature. Now FTU's former rival, the Florida Institute of Technology, is named 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 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.

Academics

As of 2004, UCF's academic programs included 86 Baccalaureate Programs, 68 Master's Programs, 3 Specialist Programs, and 24 Doctoral Programs. In addition, 70% of the Faculty have their Doctorate Degrees, and 42% currently have tenure at the university.

UCF also has several specialized schools including the School of Computer Science, and the School of Film and Digital Media, which supply graduates to Disney, Lockheed Martin, and many other local companies. In 2004, the board of trustees voted to give the 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.

Colleges

• College of Arts & Sciences
• Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences
• Burnett Honors College
• College of Business Administration
• College of Education
• College of Engineering & Computer Science
• College of Health & Public Affairs
• Rosen College of Hospitality Management
• College of Optics & Photonics: CREOL & FPCE

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.

Housing

UCF currently has over 3,700 beds on campus in four different communities on campus. Residence hall style suites are available in the Libra, Apollo, and Academic Villiage community. Apartment style is also available in the Academic Village community, and in the Lake Claire Apartment community. A fifth community, the convocation center housing, is currently under construction with a planned housing capacity of 2,000 beds. Final construction will be complete by fall 2007, with parts done as early as fall 2005. There is also greek housing available on campus with over 400 beds, and over 3,750 beds available at affiliated housing.

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 is now 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.

Famous alumni

• Michelle Akers, champion women's soccer player and was named to the FIFA 100.
• Daunte Culpepper, professional football quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings.
• Ericka Dunlap, Miss America for 2004.
• Travis Fisher, professional football cornerback for the St.Louis Rams.
• Doug Gabriel, wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders.
• 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.
• Tari Phillips, professional basketball player in the WNBA.
• Asante Samuel, professional football cornerback for the New England Patriots.

Points of interest

• Arboretum of the University of Central Florida
• The University also is one of the few Universities in the country to have a Challenge Course
• UCF's Recreation and Wellness center offers a 3,000 sqft cardiovascular floor, 12,000 sqft weight floor (selectorized weights, free weights and stretching area), 3 multipurpose group exercise rooms, 4 indoor basketball courts and 41' Climbing Rock Tower. Additional student recreation facilities include a 230,000 gallon 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 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.

External links

• The University of Central Florida homepage (http://www.ucf.edu/)
• Official UCF athletics site (http://www.ucfathletics.com/)
• UCF Mascot, Knightro, Blog (http://www.knightro.blogspot.com/)
• UCF Stadium Site (http://stadium.ucf.edu/) Stadium website with current information about the new UCF Stadium.
• Virtual Tour of UCF (http://www.ucf.edu/vtour/)
• Satellite Picture (http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=28.601682,-81.199222&spn=0.018196,0.016994&t=k&hl=en) Satellite imagery provided by Google Maps (date: ~mid 2003).
• Central Florida Future (http://www.ucfnews.com/) Student Newspaper for UCF

References

• ACM 2005 Programming Competition Results (http://acm.baylor.edu/acmicpc/Finals/default.htm)
• UCF History (http://foundation.ucf.edu/Main/Default.asp?CategoryID=2&SubCategoryID=4) UCF Foundation Site with the History of the University
• Current facts about UCF (http://www.iroffice.ucf.edu/character/current.html) from the university's Office of Institutional Research.

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