Author Topic: The University of North Florida: A Brief History  (Read 15392 times)

jaxnative

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Re: The University of North Florida: A Brief History
« Reply #15 on: February 19, 2014, 06:26:33 PM »
My father was the mechanical construction superintendant on the initial building phase of the college and was brought in as a consultant quite a few time when new construction was planned.  He used to take me to the job site on the weekends when he had so much to catch up on while I enjoyed all those pristine acres on my dirt bike.  I graduated from there in the early eighties.

jcjohnpaint

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Re: The University of North Florida: A Brief History
« Reply #16 on: February 19, 2014, 06:28:22 PM »
As someone who teaches here, I don't think the numbers are that clear.  I get many students who takes classes here and there and seem to hang around forever.  It is not the universities fault that some students take their time.  They have hired well certified counselors to guide students.  If a student is too unmotivated to talk to the help that is provided then it is the students fault.  I see it all the time. 

jaxnative

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Re: The University of North Florida: A Brief History
« Reply #17 on: February 19, 2014, 06:57:27 PM »
That is true.  My situation was a little different.  Having to pay my own way if I wanted a college education the number of classes I took each term was dependent on my financial situation.  It took me a little longer but I was not going to put myself into years of debt.  When I went to see the counseler to sign me off for graduation he asked me who I had met with to set up my course work for my desired program.  I told him I had never met with anyone.  He looked at my transcripts and said I still didn't need anyone, signed and said congratulations.

jcjohnpaint

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Re: The University of North Florida: A Brief History
« Reply #18 on: February 19, 2014, 07:18:36 PM »
They are doing a lot now.  They have an advisor in every Dept.  We have one for Vis Arts and Music.  It has helped a lot.  I do have a lot of elderly students that never seem to graduate.  They take classes as they please.  UNF seems to be pushing more toward a traditional university in the last few years, so we will see what happens. 

Charles Hunter

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Re: The University of North Florida: A Brief History
« Reply #19 on: February 19, 2014, 07:52:45 PM »
When I started, there were only 4 buildings, plus the original Boat House (the most important building on campus).  By the time I graduated, just a couple years later (remember, just a senior college), there were several more - including two expansions of the library.

UNF did have a downtown presence during the 1980s, ironically in the building now housing MOCA, which is now a UNF presence.  They offered several classes, mostly business related.

And, I guess this was just a perk for the first class - I would have appreciated receiving one:
Quote
The graduating class consisted of thirty-five students, with twenty-eight receiving bachelorettes, most of them belonging to the College of Arts and Science, and the other seven receiving graduate degrees.

thelakelander

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Re: The University of North Florida: A Brief History
« Reply #20 on: February 19, 2014, 08:21:25 PM »
UNF Downtown Center





Quote
From 1978 to 1987, UNF operated a Downtown Center in the currently named MOCA building, at 333 North Laura Street, at the corner of Duval Street overlooking Hemming Park. This building was then called the Galleria, with retail shops on the first floor, including the legendary women's shoe store, La Rose Footwear. In opening the Center, the University hoped to make courses more accessible to inner city, Northside and Westside residents, and to major downtown businesses. At that time, there were no bus routes to UNF's main campus on the Southside, and transportation issues were a major consideration in opening the Center in the core of urban Jacksonville.

The fifth and top floor of the Galleria building, approx. 8,000 square feet, was remodeled by UNF to include eight classrooms, five office spaces, a student lounge, small library, and a reception and registration area. Classes opened in the Center on Sept. 25, 1978, with an enrollment in the first year of 1839 students. The Center offered a limited range of upper division and graduate courses drawn from Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and General University curricula.

For the first three years, enrollment continued to climb, and reached a peak in 1981 with 2247 students. After that, enrollments started to decline steadily, attributed to factors such as a sluggish economy with cutbacks in student aid, a decrease in the number and type of courses offered at the Center due to low enrollment, and the beginning of bus routes operating to the main Southside campus. Only 428 students were enrolled in 1987, and with the rising costs of maintaining the site, the Center in the Galleria Building closed in August 1987.

Full history of the UNF Downtown Center: http://www.unf.edu/library/specialcollections/archives/Buildings_-_Downtown_Center.aspx
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BoldBoyOfTheSouth

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Re: The University of North Florida: A Brief History
« Reply #21 on: February 19, 2014, 09:26:46 PM »
What's does UNF stand for? University of North Florida or U'all Never Graduate?

fsquid

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Re: The University of North Florida: A Brief History
« Reply #22 on: February 19, 2014, 09:37:38 PM »
What's does UNF stand for? University of North Florida or U'all Never Graduate?

Graduate doesn't start with a "F"

BoldBoyOfTheSouth

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Re: The University of North Florida: A Brief History
« Reply #23 on: February 19, 2014, 09:41:39 PM »
One can only hope that within the coming decades that UNF will evolve into a major research university.

Great cities flourish via their great research universities and the intellectual stimuli of its faculty, student body and alumni.

We all know graduates from UNF, how many of them have intellectual curiosity and think outside of the box?

They really need to be intellectually challenged, however, it's most difficult when so few are up to the challenge.

With this said, UNF is still a small regional safety school at this point in its history, it can evolve into so much more only if its leadership and the good people of Jacksonville expect / demand more from them.

Charles Hunter

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Re: The University of North Florida: A Brief History
« Reply #24 on: February 19, 2014, 09:53:55 PM »
UNF - U Never Finish

For_F-L-O-R-I-D-A

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Re: The University of North Florida: A Brief History
« Reply #25 on: February 19, 2014, 10:09:11 PM »
You'll get no argument from me about trying to expand UF's presence in our region.

Especially with UF Online taking off, Jax should be bending over backwards to do extern/internships in the city for UF students. Imagine if Jax entered into a serious partnership with UF to get students experience/internships in corporations such as FIS, Everbank, CSX, etc, and have them living and working in downtown and taking tests at FSCJ.

UNF can be a great asset to the city long term, but it will never be a research university. Not enough research dollars to go around. It would be a waste of state funding to build the infrastructure for it to be a serious research university. Likewise, businesses are looking for prestige over everything else when they relocate. That is why it is important to the state to solidify UF at top 10 public status (currently 17, 47 overall) and Jacksonville to cash in on the proximity of UF/bring more UF medical and other programs to Jax.

Research Spending:

UF - $700 million (only AAU member)
USF - $400 million
FSU - $200 million
UCF - $180 million
UNF - $30 million
« Last Edit: February 19, 2014, 10:32:41 PM by For_F-L-O-R-I-D-A »

Tacachale

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Re: The University of North Florida: A Brief History
« Reply #26 on: February 19, 2014, 11:10:07 PM »
As someone who teaches here, I don't think the numbers are that clear.  I get many students who takes classes here and there and seem to hang around forever.  It is not the universities fault that some students take their time.  They have hired well certified counselors to guide students.  If a student is too unmotivated to talk to the help that is provided then it is the students fault.  I see it all the time.

Speaking from experience, there's also something to be said about having a different environment and educational style than the big schools that emphasize the statistics. Different people learn in different ways. If we can't come to understand that we'll continue to have an underwhelming college graduation rate in this state.

All sorts of things affect UNF's numbers. Though it's changing quickly UNF still has a lot of students who take fewer classes due to work. The 4-year graduation rate is complicated by the fact that over 10% of students transfer to a bigger school after finishing their lower levels. And the 5- and 6-year rate is actually around 40% and the total graduation rate is 48%- that's quite a difference. But at any rate, the graduation rate is probably the biggest problem the school still faces. Fortunately it seems that a lot of the major developments in recent years are paying off in that regard.

One can only hope that within the coming decades that UNF will evolve into a major research university.

Great cities flourish via their great research universities and the intellectual stimuli of its faculty, student body and alumni.

We all know graduates from UNF, how many of them have intellectual curiosity and think outside of the box?

They really need to be intellectually challenged, however, it's most difficult when so few are up to the challenge.

With this said, UNF is still a small regional safety school at this point in its history, it can evolve into so much more only if its leadership and the good people of Jacksonville expect / demand more from them.

Research will likely to continue to increase, but UNF has no intention of ever being a large research university. To be honest, there's too much of that in the system and they're all competing for the same limited resources. UNF's master plan is to develop the things it really does well and the areas where it stands out.
Do you believe that when the blue jay or another bird sings and the body is trembling, that is a signal that people are coming or something important is about to happen?

Tacachale

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Re: The University of North Florida: A Brief History
« Reply #27 on: February 19, 2014, 11:36:59 PM »
UNF Downtown Center





Quote
From 1978 to 1987, UNF operated a Downtown Center in the currently named MOCA building, at 333 North Laura Street, at the corner of Duval Street overlooking Hemming Park. This building was then called the Galleria, with retail shops on the first floor, including the legendary women's shoe store, La Rose Footwear. In opening the Center, the University hoped to make courses more accessible to inner city, Northside and Westside residents, and to major downtown businesses. At that time, there were no bus routes to UNF's main campus on the Southside, and transportation issues were a major consideration in opening the Center in the core of urban Jacksonville.

The fifth and top floor of the Galleria building, approx. 8,000 square feet, was remodeled by UNF to include eight classrooms, five office spaces, a student lounge, small library, and a reception and registration area. Classes opened in the Center on Sept. 25, 1978, with an enrollment in the first year of 1839 students. The Center offered a limited range of upper division and graduate courses drawn from Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and General University curricula.

For the first three years, enrollment continued to climb, and reached a peak in 1981 with 2247 students. After that, enrollments started to decline steadily, attributed to factors such as a sluggish economy with cutbacks in student aid, a decrease in the number and type of courses offered at the Center due to low enrollment, and the beginning of bus routes operating to the main Southside campus. Only 428 students were enrolled in 1987, and with the rising costs of maintaining the site, the Center in the Galleria Building closed in August 1987.

Full history of the UNF Downtown Center: http://www.unf.edu/library/specialcollections/archives/Buildings_-_Downtown_Center.aspx

I'm glad the old downtown center was brought up. It was started as something of a compromise for those who had wanted the school in an urban location. It's worth pointing out that in 1981, when 2247 were enrolled at the Downtown Center, UNF only had about 5000 students total. It only started to change at the point that classes at the main campus became easier to access than the ones downtown for the students of the day. And of course it's an interesting coincidence that UNF's now back in the same building years later with MOCA.

As for the discussion of another downtown branch, it's probably coming at some point, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. The focus has been much more on developing the main campus. MOCA was one of those serendipitous things that came along. Hopefully the relationship will continue to grow and more students will be interested in classes downtown.

UCF's downtown campus is just one of 12 branch campuses throughout central and eastern Florida; I don't foresee UNF ever going that direction. If anything, it will likely be something like the UNC Charlotte example, where they essentially moved some of their masters programs to the new facility to reach people with day jobs.
Do you believe that when the blue jay or another bird sings and the body is trembling, that is a signal that people are coming or something important is about to happen?

tufsu1

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Re: The University of North Florida: A Brief History
« Reply #28 on: February 20, 2014, 07:14:05 AM »
Research Spending:

UF - $700 million (only AAU member)
USF - $400 million
FSU - $200 million
UCF - $180 million
UNF - $30 million

Thanks for the stats...guess this negates your previous claim that UF's $700 million in research funding was more than all the other state universities combined.

CityLife

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Re: The University of North Florida: A Brief History
« Reply #29 on: February 20, 2014, 08:16:24 AM »
Research Spending:

UF - $700 million (only AAU member)
USF - $400 million
FSU - $200 million
UCF - $180 million
UNF - $30 million

Thanks for the stats...guess this negates your previous claim that UF's $700 million in research funding was more than all the other state universities combined.

I also believe a substantial portion of that figure is from UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Science, which does mostly rural stuff that isn't really relevant to Jacksonville. UF also turned its back on Jacksonville by partnering to form the Florida High Tech Corridor in central Florida and by opening medical research facilities in Orlando. These are both pretty big blows to our region.

Of course I'm biased, but something more relevant for Jacksonville, would be partnering with FSU who does  research in high performance materials, which could form a synergistic partnership with the military locally. FSU is also aiming to be one of the most military friendly schools in the country, so there is another potential tie in.