The University of North Florida: A Brief History

[jcjohnpaint]

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.

What would you consider relevant research?  I know many professors at tier 1 schools that don't do much research at all.  I know many professors at UNF (teaching centered institutions), including my self and most in my dept, that are involved in lots of international wide research.  Every year our dept takes about 50 students to Brazil, London, and all cities in Italy to learn on site.  I feel that most of my research is informed by my teaching.  I can't speak for everyone, but if I had a school shooting money at me and telling me to (dodge most of my teaching responsibilities for my work), I don't think my scholarly investigation would move much past graduate school. 

[CityLife]

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.

For comparison sake, UF and FSU's 6 year rates are around 90%, while the 6 year rate for all of the state's universities is 68%. Obviously that figure drops quite a bit when you take the state's flagship schools out. UNF has definitely made good strides, but still has a ways to go. I think you're right Taca that the ship has probably sailed for research. Focusing on the undergrad experience seems like a good niche to fill.

[Tacachale]

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.

What would you consider relevant research?  I know many professors at tier 1 schools that don't do much research at all.  I know many professors at UNF (teaching centered institutions), including my self and most in my dept, that are involved in lots of international wide research.  Every year our dept takes about 50 students to Brazil, London, and all cities in Italy to learn on site.  I feel that most of my research is informed by my teaching.  I can't speak for everyone, but if I had a school shooting money at me and telling me to (dodge most of my teaching responsibilities for my work), I don't think my scholarly investigation would move much past graduate school. 

I've heard UNF described as a "comprehensive university", combining elements of research universities and teaching universities. The faculty are generally expected to spend more time teaching classes, maintaining office hours, and such than at a research university (and more time doing research than at a teaching university). Expanding research is great, but not at the expense of the teaching, which is UNF's real strength. Especially since there are already six schools in the system trying to distinguish themselves as research universities, plus Miami. The areas where we'll see the largest research growth at UNF will be in the Flagship programs, which are the things we do well and which by and large are things the other schools don't focus on.

[gjosephunf]

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.

What would you consider relevant research?  I know many professors at tier 1 schools that don't do much research at all.  I know many professors at UNF (teaching centered institutions), including my self and most in my dept, that are involved in lots of international wide research.  Every year our dept takes about 50 students to Brazil, London, and all cities in Italy to learn on site.  I feel that most of my research is informed by my teaching.  I can't speak for everyone, but if I had a school shooting money at me and telling me to (dodge most of my teaching responsibilities for my work), I don't think my scholarly investigation would move much past graduate school. 

I've heard UNF described as a "comprehensive university", combining elements of research universities and teaching universities. The faculty are generally expected to spend more time teaching classes, maintaining office hours, and such than at a research university (and more time doing research than at a teaching university). Expanding research is great, but not at the expense of the teaching, which is UNF's real strength. Especially since there are already six schools in the system trying to distinguish themselves as research universities, plus Miami. The areas where we'll see the largest research growth at UNF will be in the Flagship programs, which are the things we do well and which by and large are things the other schools don't focus on.

Agreed! I enjoyed my undergraduate experience at UNF. Unlike my close knit friends who attended the larger state universities I was able to have a more personable collegiate experience from my professors and gained tremendous field experience. If I had remained in Tampa and attended USF I don't think I would have gained the experiences, and attention unless I was a STEM student. UNF is no longer the "regional" school, a-lot of my UNF friends relocated from South and Central Florida and I even have a cousin from Curacao attending the university. It is a true gem, the secret is already out 

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

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.

Thanks for being a smart ass. It more or less is. However, the point still remains.

Nonetheless, I think UF's growth into Medical City was necessary for the project to get off the ground. The state financed a significant portion of the funds as a result. If Jax would have thought bigger and pushed such ideas, that could have been here with Florida Blue, UF, Mayo Clinic, etc.

I also agree that UNF needs to focus on teaching, undergraduate studies, and high need post-graduate. Attracting students to Jacksonville is a huge plus to UNF.

[fieldafm]

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.

How does that compare with UWF, FIU, FAU, UCF and USF?

[Tacachale]

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.

How does that compare with UWF, FIU, FAU, UCF and USF?

No clue about how many students they have transfer. Conceivably the numbers are similar; other than UCF the others have similar graduation rates overall.

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

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.

How does that compare with UWF, FIU, FAU, UCF and USF?

No clue about how many students they have transfer. Conceivably the numbers are similar; other than UCF the others have similar graduation rates overall.

Here are the 6 year graduation rates:

http://www.floridacollegeaccess.org/2013/03/13/grad-rates-at-public-universities-in-florida-inch-higher/

[cayohueso]

I graduated from UNF ('97) when we had about 8,000 students total. I am amazed with its growth and have been back to the campus a few times just to look around. I always loved the mod architcture! Great school and superb instructors. Only bad...parking tickets galore back in the day! Yeah, yeah...another for the collection