Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...
with its main campus in
Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in
Dania Beach,
Davie
Davie is a surname and a form of the masculine given name David.
It can refer to:
Surname
* Alan Davie (1920-2014), Scottish painter and musician
* Alexander Edmund Batson Davie (1847-1889), Canadian politician and eighth Premier of British Co ...
,
Fort Lauderdale
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
,
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...
, and
Fort Pierce
Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Atlantic Coast Florida. It is also known as the Sunrise City, sister to San Francisco, California, the Suns ...
.
FAU belongs to the 12-campus
State University System of Florida and serves
South Florida. Established as Florida's fifth public university in 1961, FAU has quickly grown to become one of the largest institutions in the state by enrollment. Florida Atlantic University is
classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". Florida Atlantic offers more than 180 undergraduate and graduate degree programs within its 10 colleges.
The university is accredited by the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
FAU opened in 1964 as the first public university in the Miami metro area, offering only upper-division and graduate level courses. Initial enrollment was only 867 students, increasing in 1984 when the university admitted its first lower-division undergraduate students.
As of 2021, enrollment has grown to over 30,000 students representing 180 countries, 50 states, and the
District of Columbia
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
. The university has an annual budget of $900 million and an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion. Since 1964, Florida Atlantic University has awarded degrees to over 185,000 alumni.
FAU's intercollegiate sports teams, the
Florida Atlantic Owls
The Florida Atlantic Owls are the athletics teams of Florida Atlantic University. The Owls participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I as members of Conference USA. On October 21, 2021, Florida Atlantic accep ...
, compete in
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
(NCAA)
Division I and the
Conference USA (C-USA). With 19 varsity athletic teams, the Owls have won numerous titles and championships within the conference and division. On October 21, 2021, Florida Atlantic accepted the invitation to join the
American Athletic Conference
The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...
(AAC) and will become a full-member on July 1, 2023.
History
Establishment
On July 15, 1961, to meet the burgeoning educational demands of South Florida, the state legislature passed an act authorizing the establishment of a new university in the city of Boca Raton. Florida Atlantic University was built on
Boca Raton Army Airfield
Boca Raton Army Air Field was a World War II United States Army Air Forces airfield, located northwest of the 1940s borders of Boca Raton, Florida. During World War II, it operated the only training for the then new and secret technology of ...
, a 1940s-era army airbase. During World War II, the airfield served as the
Army Air Corps Army Air Corps may refer to the following army aviation corps:
* Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), the army aviation element of the British Army
* Philippine Army Air Corps (1935–1941)
* United States Army Air Corps (1926–1942), or its p ...
' sole radar training facility. The base was built on the existing
Boca Raton Airport
Boca Raton Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located two miles (3 km) northwest of the central business district of Boca Raton, a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The airport is immediately adjacent to Florida ...
and on 5,860 acres (23.7 km
2) of adjacent land.
A majority of the land was acquired from
Japanese-American
are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...
farmers from the failing
Yamato Colony. The land was seized through
eminent domain
Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...
, leaving many Japanese-Americans little recourse in the early days of World War II.
![LBJ FAU Dedication](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/LBJ_FAU_Dedication.gif)
The airbase was used for radar training, anti-submarine patrols along the coast, and as a stop-over point for planes being ferried to Africa and Europe via South America. The airfield was composed of four runways, still visible on the Boca Campus today and mainly used for parking.
By early 1947, the military decided to transfer future radar training operations to
Keesler Air Force Base in
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
. The departure of the air force in 1947 would leave Boca Raton Army Airfield essentially abandoned.
Expansion and growth
Florida Atlantic University opened on September 14, 1964, with an initial student body of 867 students in five colleges. The first degree awarded was an honorary doctorate given to President
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
on October 25, 1964, at the dedication and opening of the university.
At the time of its opening, there were 350 employees, of which 120 were faculty. On-campus housing for students was first added in September 1965, when Algonquin Hall opened.
Florida Atlantic's history is one of continuing expansion as the university's service population has grown. The university originally served only upper-division and graduate level students, because the state intended the institution "to complement the state's community college system, accepting students who had earned their associate degrees from those institutions."
Florida Atlantic began its expansion beyond a one-campus university in 1971, when it opened its Commercial Boulevard campus in Fort Lauderdale. Due to a rapidly expanding population in South Florida, in 1984 Florida Atlantic opened its doors to lower-division undergraduate students. The following year, the university added its third campus in downtown Fort Lauderdale on
Las Olas Boulevard
Las Olas Boulevard is a major east-west thoroughfare in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alab ...
.
Recent history
![FAU Social Science Building](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/FAU_Social_Science_Building.jpg)
In 1989, the
Florida Legislature recognized demands for higher education in South Florida by designating Florida Atlantic as the lead state university serving Broward County. To fill this role, the university would establish a campus in
Dania Beach in 1997 and another campus in the City of
Davie
Davie is a surname and a form of the masculine given name David.
It can refer to:
Surname
* Alan Davie (1920-2014), Scottish painter and musician
* Alexander Edmund Batson Davie (1847-1889), Canadian politician and eighth Premier of British Co ...
in western
Broward County
Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 m ...
in 1990. Florida Atlantic later purchased 50 acres (20 ha) of land in
Port St. Lucie
Port St. Lucie is a city in St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. It is the most populous municipality in the county with a population of 204,851 at the 2020 census. It is located southeast of Orlando and north of Miami. The Port St. Lu ...
in 1994 to establish a campus on the
Treasure Coast
The Treasure Coast is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is located on Florida's East Coast, bordering the Atlantic Ocean and comprising Indian River, Martin, and St. Lucie counties. The region, whose name refers to the Spanish Treasure ...
. This would be the institution's fifth campus. The university continued its expansion in 1999 when it opened its
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...
Campus, named for the late
John D. MacArthur
John Donald MacArthur (March 6, 1897 – January 6, 1978) was an American insurance magnate, real estate investor and philanthropist who established the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, benefactor in the MacArthur Fellowships.
...
. This campus houses the university's honors college.
Florida Atlantic University and the
University of Miami
The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...
's
Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine (UMMSM) is the University of Miami's graduate medical school in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1952, it is the oldest medical school in the state of Florida.
Campus
The University of Miami's Leonard M. Miller Sch ...
established a
medical training program within the
Charles E. Schmidt College of Biomedical Science
The Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine is the medical school of Florida Atlantic University located in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. The college offers the degrees of Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), Doctor of Medicine/Doctor of Philosophy ( ...
in 2004. Plans originally called for the construction of a new
teaching hospital
A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-located ...
in coordination with
Boca Raton Community Hospital
Boca Raton Regional Hospital is a 400-bed, not-for-profit health care organization located in Boca Raton, Florida. It was established in 1967 and provides patient care in areas such as cardiovascular, oncology, women's health, orthopedics, emergen ...
on the main campus. Following successive budgets deficits in 2007, the hospital delayed its participation indefinitely. However, Florida Atlantic later established its own College of Medicine in 2010.
The
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution (HBOI) also joined the university in 2007, creating Florida Atlantic's seventh campus.
To bring HBOI into the university family the Florida Legislature allocated $44 million to Florida Atlantic to acquire the institution.
Florida Atlantic has changed dramatically since its opening in 1964. There are now more than 30,000 students attending classes on seven campuses spread across 120 miles (193 km). The university consists of ten colleges and employs more than 3,200 faculty and staff. As of 2020, the university's endowment has increased to over $240 million.
Since its founding, the university has been led by seven presidents. The university's immediate past president is
Mary Jane Saunders. She was named president on March 3, 2010, then resigned on May 15, 2013. Her appointment followed the resignation of
Frank Brogan. Brogan, a former
Lieutenant Governor of Florida
The lieutenant governor of Florida is a statewide elected office in the government of the U.S. state of Florida. According to the Florida Constitution, the lieutenant governor is elected to a four-year term congruent with that of the governor of ...
, left the university in late 2009 to become Chancellor of the
State University System of Florida. Past university presidents also included
Anthony J. Catanese, Helen Popovich, Glenwood Creech, and Kenneth Rast Williams. On January 17, 2014, the Board of Trustees announced the selection of John W. Kelly, formerly a vice president of
Clemson University
Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...
, to be the seventh president of the university with a starting date of March 1, 2014.
Academics
![Florida Atlantic University College of Arts and Letters](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Florida_Atlantic_University_College_of_Arts_and_Letters.jpg)
As of 2021, the university's student body consists of 24,663 undergraduates, 3,380 graduate students, 440 doctoral students, and 254 medical students.
In 2021, the undergraduate student body consisted 61% ethnic minorities and includes students from more than 180 countries. Florida Atlantic has long ranked as the most racially, ethnically and culturally diverse institution in
Florida's State University System. ''
U.S. News & World Report'' has ranked FAU the 27th most diverse university in the nation.
For the incoming freshman class of fall 2021, the acceptance rate was 60%.
The university has ten colleges which altogether offer over 180 different
bachelor's,
master's
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. and
doctoral degree programs:
the
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science,
Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine
The Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine is the medical school of Florida Atlantic University located in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. The college offers the degrees of Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), Doctor of Medicine/Doctor of Philosophy ( ...
,
Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, College for Design and Social Inquiry,
College of Business,
College of Education
In the United States and Canada, a school of education (or college of education; ed school) is a division within a university that is devoted to scholarship in the field of education, which is an interdisciplinary branch of the social sciences en ...
,
College of Engineering and Computer Science,
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters,
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, and the Graduate College.
The university offers two honors options: the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College and a University Scholars Program. The Wilkes Honors College is located on the John D. MacArthur campus in Jupiter, Florida. It offers a
liberal arts education in the platform of a public university, yet is comparable to a private liberal arts college.
The Boca Raton campus houses the University Scholars Program, which offers special honors seminars, forums, courses, and advanced course substitution for freshmen.
The fall 2021 incoming freshmen profile for the middle 50% was a 3.73–4.33 high school
GPA
Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...
, a 23–29
ACT composite score, and a 1100–1270 SAT total score. Additional admission requirements are needed for the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the School of Architecture, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, and the College of Science.
The average class size at FAU for undergraduates is 33 students, and for graduate classes, 12 students. The student-to-faculty ratio is 20:1.
The top three undergraduate majors by enrollment are
elementary education
Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or fir ...
, accounting, and management, respectively. The top three graduate majors by enrollment are
business administration, educational leadership, and accounting, respectively. The average age for first-year students is 18; however, the average age for all undergraduates is 24 and the average age for graduate students is 33.
The average 4-year graduation rate in 2021 was 47.5%.
Enrichment opportunities include internships, hands-on research, study abroad experiences, and 310 clubs and campus organizations. The Lifelong Learning Society operates programs that serve the educational interests of more than 19,000 senior citizens by providing classes focusing on subjects of specific interest, and audit options for regular university classes.
Under the university's Commercial Music Program, Hoot/Wisdom Recordings was created in 2002, enabling students to work in all creative and business aspects of the music industry. This program generated music that landed a Top 10 spot on the
Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales Chart during its first week of release.
The university's two-story
trading room
A trading room gathers traders operating on financial markets. The trading room is also often called the front office. The terms "dealing room" and " trading floor" are also used, the latter being inspired from that of an open outcry stock exc ...
simulator, located in the College of Business, provides hands-on financial education using 25 dual-monitor computers and can accommodate 50 people at one time. A second lab provides full audio/visual connectivity and 25 additional workstations. Florida Atlantic allows local financial businesses to use the Trading Room for training.
Rankings
For 2023, ''
U.S. News & World Report'' ranked Florida Atlantic University as the 132nd best public university in the United States, and 263rd overall among all national universities, public and private.
In 2023, ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranked the undergraduate nursing, business, and engineering programs 93rd, 164th, and 165th nationally, respectively.
The university was named one of the "Best Southeastern Colleges" in the United States by the
Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an education services company providing tutoring, test preparation and admission resources for students. It was founded in 1981. and since that time has worked with over 400 million students. Services are delivered by 4,0 ...
for 2023.
In 2022, Florida Atlantic was ranked 72nd in the nation by ''
Washington Monthly
''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alterna ...
'' in their 2022 National University Rankings.
Research
![Schmidt Biomedical Center](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Schmidt_Biomedical_Center.jpeg)
FAU is classified by
the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT) is a U.S.-based education policy and research center. It was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of the United States Congress. Among its most nota ...
as a research university with high research activity.
The university has established notable partnerships with major research institutions such as
the Scripps Research Institute, the
Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies
Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, also commonly referred to as TPIMS, is a non-profit biomedical research institute "dedicated to the discovery of causes, treatments and cures for a wide variety of diseases and afflictions including he ...
, and the
Max Planck Society.
The university is the home of two centers of excellence: the Center of Excellence in Biomedical and Marine Biotechnology and the Center for Ocean Energy Technology. These centers have been selected by Florida's Emerging Technology Commission to receive grants to continue and increase their operations. FAU beat out some of Florida's top research universities, including the
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
and
Florida State University, for the initial funding from the state.
Since receiving its startup funding, Florida Atlantic has secured additional funds from other sources, including federal and private research grants. As a result, both centers have engaged in academic and industry partnerships, combining expertise in
ocean engineering
Marine engineering is the engineering of boats, ships, submarines, and any other marine vessel. Here it is also taken to include the engineering of other ocean systems and structures – referred to in certain academic and professional circl ...
,
marine biotechnology,
functional genomics
Functional genomics is a field of molecular biology that attempts to describe gene (and protein) functions and interactions. Functional genomics make use of the vast data generated by genomic and transcriptomic projects (such as genome sequencing ...
,
proteomics, and
bioinformatics. Researchers, scientists, and students at the centers are designing technologies to explore the sea, harvest
renewable energy, discover new medicines, and develop new therapeutics to combat agents of
bioterrorism
Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents. These agents are bacteria, viruses, insects, fungi, and/or toxins, and may be in a naturally occurring or a human-modified form, in much the same ...
.
As a result of this research, in 2007 the university and
Lockheed Martin announced an exclusive licensing agreement to develop and produce a rapidly deployable and autonomous mooring buoy system for military and scientific uses.
In 2010, the
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United Stat ...
designated FAU as one of three national centers for ocean energy research and development. The Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center joins centers in the Pacific Northwest (
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...
and
Oregon State University
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering c ...
) and in Hawaii (
University of Hawaii
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
). The Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center is undertaking research and development of technologies capable of generating renewable power from ocean currents and ocean thermal energy.
The university houses both an Imaging Technology Center and a
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
Imaging Technology Space Center. Located in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the centers specialize in digital imaging research and development for use in both government and commercial applications in the areas of
medical technology,
surveillance, communications, education,
inspection,
scientific observation
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
, manufacturing, visual recognition and identification, and motion picture and
digital video. The Florida Atlantic Imaging Technology Center is developing a curriculum for
digital imaging
Digital imaging or digital image acquisition is the creation of a digital representation of the visual characteristics of an object, such as a physical scene or the interior structure of an object. The term is often assumed to imply or include t ...
and processing, thereby establishing Florida Atlantic as the only university in the nation to offer this technical concentration.
The NASA Imaging Technology Center is one of 12 NASA Research Partnership Centers throughout the nation which develop dual-use research and development with the participation of NASA and other related industries in the US. The center occupies two sets of laboratories and administrative offices, one on Florida Atlantic's main campus in Boca Raton, the other at the Fort Lauderdale campus.
FAU is affiliated to the
Research Park at Florida Atlantic University, with properties in Deerfield Beach and Boca Raton. The Research Park provides outside research facilities for companies which enable them to interact with the university community and its facilities, resources, and expertise. The Research Park operates the Technology Business Incubator; The incubator works to foster the start-up and growth of technology-based businesses, seeking to scale them and build relationships for them with the university. The Boca Raton campus is also home to the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences.
Campus
Florida Atlantic University's geographical distribution is located on six campuses spread across
Palm Beach,
Broward, and
St. Lucie counties. The region is home to more than three million people.
The university's main campus is located in the City of Boca Raton in Palm Beach County. The county is also home to the John D. MacArthur Campus located in Jupiter. FAU operates three campuses in the Broward County cities of Dania Beach, Davie, and Fort Lauderdale. Florida Atlantic University also operates a campus in the
St. Lucie County city of Fort Pierce. In addition to students who attend classes on the universities campuses, there are 1,612 distance learning students who conduct their studies over the internet or through other means. These students account for 6% of the university's student body.
FAU is a signatory of the American College & University presidents Climate Commitment Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. This commits the institution to ensuring all new construction projects meet the
U.S. Green Building Council
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...
's
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver standards. In 2011, the College of Engineering and Computer Science Building was LEED Platinum certified.
Palm Beach County campuses
Boca Raton
![FAUStadium night](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/FAUStadium_night.jpg)
FAU's main campus in
Boca Raton was established on the remnants of a World War II American
Army airbase in 1964. Spanning 850 acres (3.5 km
2), the site is located between the cities of
Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. The campus was designated a
burrowing owl
The burrowing owl (''Athene cunicularia''), also called the shoco, is a small, long-legged owl found throughout open landscapes of North and South America. Burrowing owls can be found in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts, or an ...
sanctuary in 1971 by the
Audubon Society
The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such orga ...
. The owls find the campus appealing because there are few predators, due to the university's proximity to the Boca Raton Airport, and because the campus was originally cleared of vegetation when operating as an airbase during World War II. "The feisty bird, traditionally associated with wisdom and determination, serves as the university's mascot."
The Boca Raton campus is home to a wide variety of university programs and facilities. These facilities are labs and classrooms, housing for students, a 6,000-gallon shark tank for aquatic research, a movie theater, athletic and recreational facilities, and the student-run record label Hoot/Wisdom Recordings.
In addition to academic and cultural programs, the campus also houses Florida Atlantic's
Division I athletics program. The main campus serves approximately 19,077 students, or 70% of the university's student body, offering a number of academic programs, activities, and services.
The Boca Raton campus also houses a number of other institutions, including the
A. D. Henderson University School,
FAU High School, one of Florida Atlantic University's Research Parks, and the Lifelong Learning Society.
Jupiter–John D. MacArthur Campus
In addition to the Boca Raton campus in southern
Palm Beach County
Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous county ...
, FAU operates a campus in northern Palm Beach County, in
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...
. The John D. MacArthur Campus, named after businessman and philanthropist
John D. MacArthur
John Donald MacArthur (March 6, 1897 – January 6, 1978) was an American insurance magnate, real estate investor and philanthropist who established the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, benefactor in the MacArthur Fellowships.
...
, was established in 1999 to serve residents of central and northern Palm Beach and southern
Martin Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austr ...
counties. The MacArthur Campus occupies 45 acres (0.18 km
2), upon which are eight classroom and office buildings, a library, a 500-seat auditorium, two residence halls, a dining hall, museum building, and utility plant.
The MacArthur Campus also houses the
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College,
Scripps Florida, FAU Brain Institute, and the
Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. The campus serves approximately 1,262 students, or 4% of the university's student body.
Broward County campuses
Dania Beach–SeaTech
The
Dania Beach Campus, also known as SeaTech, was founded in 1997 as a state-funded Type II research center.
The institute is part of FAU's Department of Ocean Engineering which was founded in 1965 as the first ocean engineering undergraduate program in the nation. The campus is located on 8 acres (0.03 km
2) of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the
Intracoastal Waterway
The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following t ...
. SeaTech is home to university faculty and students engaged in sponsored ocean engineering research and development in the areas of
acoustics, marine vehicles,
hydrodynamics and
physical oceanography, marine materials and
nanocomposites.
The Dania Beach Campus serves approximately 70 students, roughly 1% of the university's total student body.
Davie
![FAU Davie Campus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/FAU_Davie_Campus.jpg)
The
Davie
Davie is a surname and a form of the masculine given name David.
It can refer to:
Surname
* Alan Davie (1920-2014), Scottish painter and musician
* Alexander Edmund Batson Davie (1847-1889), Canadian politician and eighth Premier of British Co ...
Campus of Florida Atlantic University was established in 1990 on 38 acres (0.15 km
2) of land in western Broward County.
The campus serves approximately 3,488 students, or 13% of the FAU student body, making it the university's second largest campus by enrollment.
The campus features a multi-story
student union with offices for
student government and student organizations, a multipurpose area and student lounge, a bookstore, and cafeteria.
The union also contains a student health center that provides medical services and health counseling.
Davie is also the home of "environmental research initiatives focused on
Everglades
The Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissim ...
restoration."
FAU colleges offering courses at the FAU Davie campus include Design and Social Inquiry; Arts and Letters; Business; Education; Nursing; and Science. The campus is located on
Broward College
Broward College is a public college in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System. It was established in 1959 as part of a move to broaden Florida's two-year colleges. In 2008 it adopted its current name, reflecting that ...
's Central Campus. Students may enter BC as freshmen and graduate from FAU with undergraduate degrees in over 14 disciplines. More than 315,000 square feet of carefully designed classrooms, laboratories and faculty, staff and student offices are located on this campus along with a shared-use, 112,000 square-foot FAU/BC library designed for the 21st century.
Other support facilities include a shared Childcare Center, a student Wellness Center and a multi-service Student Union. The campus also offers a rich and varied program of student activities provided by the Division of Student Affairs. Students have all of the services they require for career counseling, wellness, testing and evaluation, tutoring, health services, student government and financial aid, among others. Like a small college within a large university, the Davie Campus is seen as a "model" branch campus for the state of Florida and the nation.
Fort Lauderdale
The university has two buildings in downtown
Fort Lauderdale
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
, both of which are considered part of one Fort Lauderdale campus. The Askew Tower (AT) and the Higher Education Complex (HEC) on
Las Olas Boulevard
Las Olas Boulevard is a major east-west thoroughfare in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alab ...
. The campus offers courses in communication,
graphic design, architecture, and urban and regional planning.
The campus is home to approximately 900 students or 3.2% of the university's student body.
St. Lucie County campuses
Fort Pierce–Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
In addition to the Treasure Coast Campus, FAU operates a campus in
Fort Pierce
Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Atlantic Coast Florida. It is also known as the Sunrise City, sister to San Francisco, California, the Suns ...
at the
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution. Harbor Branch merged with the university in 2007 to become the HBOI at FAU.
The Florida Legislature allocated $44 million for the university to acquire the institution and its 600-acre (2.4 km
2) campus.
Former Campuses
Port St. Lucie–Treasure Coast Campus
Treasure Coast Campus of Florida Atlantic University operated through a partnership with
Indian River State College
Indian River State College (IRSC) is a public college with a main campus in Fort Pierce, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System and serves the counties of Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie on the Treasure Coast region ...
(IRSC). Florida Atlantic purchased 50 acres (0.2 km
2) of land in Port St. Lucie in 1994. At the end of spring 2012 class term, Florida Atlantic University ended offering classes at the Port St. Lucie campus.
Athletics
Florida Atlantic's 19 varsity sports teams, the
Owls, compete in NCAA's Division I. The Owls joined
Conference USA for the 2013–14 season. The university's athletics program began in 1979, when Florida Atlantic first started sponsoring intercollegiate teams.
Since then, the university has worked to expand the quality of its intercollegiate program by attracting coaches such as
Howard Schnellenberger
Howard Leslie Schnellenberger (March 16, 1934 – March 27, 2021) was an American football coach with long service at both the professional and college levels. He held head coaching positions with the National Football League's Baltimore Colts a ...
,
Matt Doherty,
Rex Walters
Rex Andrew Walters (born March 12, 1970) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as an assistant coach for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Previously, he was the Associate Hea ...
,
Lane Kiffin
Lane Monte Kiffin (born May 9, 1975) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. Kiffin formerly was the offensive coordinator for the USC Trojans football team from 2005 to 2006, head coach of the Nati ...
,
Mike Jarvis
Michael D. Jarvis (born April 12, 1945) is an American college basketball coach most recently as head men's basketball coach at Florida Atlantic University. He has coached at Boston University, George Washington University and St. John's Univers ...
,
Dusty May, and
Willie Taggart
Willie Author Taggart (born August 27, 1976) is an American football college coach. He has held the head coach position at five NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision programs: Western Kentucky (2009 to 2012 seasons); South Florida (2013 to ...
. The university's colors are FAU Blue, FAU Red, and FAU Silver.
On October 21, 2021, Florida Atlantic accepted the invitation to join the
American Athletic Conference
The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...
(AAC) and will become a full-member on July 1, 2023.
Traditions
![New Rat's Mouth](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/New_Rat%27s_Mouth.jpg)
FAU is home to a number of sports-related traditions and school spirit organizations.
Every fall before the first football game of the season, FAU's Student Government Association sponsors the annual football "Bonfire" where the opposing team's mascot is burned in effigy. This event typically includes a concert and a speech by the university's head football coach.
Also in football, Florida Atlantic challenges its rival
Florida International (FIU) in the annual
Shula Bowl
The Shula Bowl is the name given to the Florida Atlantic–Florida International football rivalry. It is an annual college football rivalry game between the only two public universities in the Miami metropolitan area: Florida Atlantic Univer ...
. This intercollegiate football game is named after legendary coach
Don Shula; so named because at the time of its inception, both head coaches, Florida Atlantic's
Howard Schnellenberger
Howard Leslie Schnellenberger (March 16, 1934 – March 27, 2021) was an American football coach with long service at both the professional and college levels. He held head coaching positions with the National Football League's Baltimore Colts a ...
and Florida International coach
Don Strock
Donald Joseph Strock (born November 27, 1950) is a former American football player and coach. He played professionally as a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) with the Miami Dolphins (1973–1987), Cleveland Browns (1988), and Ind ...
, had worked under Shula at some point during their careers. Even though both universities have since moved on to new head coaches, the Shula Bowl is still played. As a home game, the competition takes place at university's own stadium; as an away game, the bowl is played at
FIU Stadium
Riccardo Silva Stadium is a college football and soccer stadium on the campus of Florida International University (FIU) in Westchester, Florida. It is home stadium of the FIU Panthers football team and the Miami FC soccer team from the USL Cha ...
.
For basketball, Florida Atlantic celebrates the "Red Hot Madness and Stroll Off" pep rally that introduces fans to the team and coaches, host a number of basketball-related contests such as 3-point shoot-outs and slam dunk competitions, and features step performances by the school's
National Pan-Hellenic Council
The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) is a collaborative umbrella council composed of historically African American fraternities and sororities also referred to as Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs). The NPHC was formed as a permanent ...
fraternities and sororities. During the regular season, the "Bury the Burrow in Red" event calls for Florida Atlantic students to wear as much red as possible and fill the
Burrow, the university's multi-purpose arena, during the annual
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
rivalry game between Florida Atlantic and Florida International University.
The official spirit group supporting Florida Atlantic athletics is the "prOWLers". The group began in February 2002 to support the men's basketball program during the team's run for the
Atlantic Sun Conference Championship. The group is funded by the Student Alumni Association, and can now be found at most sporting events cheering for Florida Atlantic. The prOWLers are joined by the Owl Rangers, a fan group that paints their bodies in the Florida Atlantic school colors. The hOWLetts are a student club that attend gameday events and assist in recruiting athletes.
Since 2002, Florida Atlantic students have been using Owl Fingers (the "OK" hand sign) to show school pride and wish the athletic teams luck during football point after attempts (PATs) and basketball free throws.
Student life
Residential life
![FAU Parliament Hall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/FAU_Parliament_Hall.JPG)
Residential housing at FAU is available on the Boca Raton and John D. MacArthur campuses. "All full-time freshmen are required to reside in university housing," however, "exemptions from this policy are made for students who: are 21 or older by the first day of class, reside with parent(s) or legal guardian(s) within a radius of the Boca Raton campus, or are married."
As of 2021, over 4,000 students live on-campus in Boca Raton. The Wilkes Honors College on the MacArthur Campus requires all students live on-campus within its two residence halls, however, exceptions are made for students who are 26 years of age, married, or have dependent children.
![FAU Innovation Village](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/FAU_Innovation_Village.JPG)
Boca Raton's on-campus housing facilities are: Indian River Towers (opened 2001), Heritage Park Towers (opened 2004), Glades Park Towers (opened 2007), Parliament Hall (opened 2013), University Village Apartments (UVA), and Innovation Village Apartments (IVA) (opened 2011). Heritage Park and Glades Park Towers each offer 602 beds with 96 single rooms.
UVA and IVA exclusively serve upperclassmen while the other residence halls exclusively serve freshmen students. The university also offers upper-division undergraduate and graduate student housing in the Business and Professional Women's Scholarship House for women with a strong academic background.
One of the newest residences on the Boca Raton campus is the Innovation Village Apartments (IVA), consisting of two buildings: IVA North and IVA South. It is a 1,200-bed apartment-style housing facility for upperclassmen, graduate, and medical students. It offers amenities that one would find in a high-rise apartment complex: lounges, retail dining, fitness centers, a pool/cabana, a volleyball court, common areas, and more. The facility opened in fall 2011.
FAU's newest residence hall is Parliament Hall, a lakeside freshmen housing facility offering 614 beds, a fitness center, lounges, retail dining, and views of the nearby Atlantic Ocean from top floors.
Within its existing residential life programs, FAU offers a number of Learning Communities for freshmen and students with similar interests and concentrations. Participants meet people with similar interests, live on the same floor and take courses with others in their community, while receiving additional guidance related to those interests.
The university's Learning Community programs are divided into two categories, Freshman Learning Communities and Living Learning Communities. The freshman program offers 16 different concentrations, including business, nursing, and education. The Living program offers six concentrations for students residing in the Glades Park Towers
dormitory, including engineering, computer science, and a Women's Leadership program.
The university's Department of Housing and Residential Life and the university's fraternities and sororities sponsor a program for
freshmen
A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions.
Ara ...
and other students returning to Florida Atlantic in the fall semester. This program, called the "Weeks of Welcome", spans 11 days and all campuses, and works to acclimate students with university life and to build a good on-campus community.
On each day, a number of different events are scheduled, including Hall Wars, which are athletic competitions between dormitories,
Luaus, and a number of other events.
The Weeks of Welcome is the second largest campus-wide event held by Florida Atlantic.
Student housing
Campus organizations and activities
FAU has approximately 300 registered student organizations. Among the groups are academic organizations, honor societies, spiritual/religious organizations, diversity-appreciation organizations, service organizations, personal interest organizations, sports clubs, and student government agencies. These clubs and organizations run the gamut from
sailing
Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...
to
Ultimate Frisbee
Ultimate, originally known as ultimate Frisbee, is a non-contact team sport played with a frisbee flung by hand. Ultimate was developed in 1968 by AJ Gator in Maplewood, New Jersey. Although ultimate resembles many traditional sports in its ath ...
, from varsity and club sports and a
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
group to a
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...
guild
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...
, from political organizations to chess and video game clubs.
These organizations are funded by student tuition, from which $12.32 per credit hour goes toward an activities and service fee fund. This generates approximately $10 million per year that is then given to
student government for allocation to student clubs and organizations. The student government also finances other student life programs, including career fairs, the ''
University Press
A university press is an academic publishing house specializing in monographs and scholarly journals. Most are nonprofit organizations and an integral component of a large research university. They publish work that has been reviewed by schola ...
'', OWL TV and Owl Radio, and Homecoming.
Florida Atlantic's
homecoming
Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States, Canada and Liberia.
...
, also known as the "Owl Prowl," is celebrated annually in the fall semester. Events occur mainly on the Boca Raton Campus, but a number of other campuses host their own events as well. In the past, homecoming has had kickoff parties, costumed dances,
bonfires, comedy shows, alumni events and dinners, a golf cart parade, and
tailgating
Tailgating is the action of a driver driving behind another vehicle while not leaving sufficient distance to stop without causing a collision if the vehicle in front stops suddenly.
The safe distance for following another vehicle varies depend ...
.
Florida Atlantic students have an organized football tailgating area known as the Rat's Mouth. The name references the Spanish translation of
Boca Raton.
FAU completed an $18.6 million Recreation and Wellness Center in spring 2010. The facility houses an outdoor leisure and lap pool, a cardio equipment and free weight room, two multipurpose rooms, three indoor courts and health club-style locker rooms. In 2011, the facility won the NIRSA Outstanding Sports Facilities Award. Other recreation facilities include a $4.2 million track and field complex, with synthetic turf (opened January 2007), a ropes challenge course and the 6.5 acre Henderson Fields, utilized most often by the FAU Intramural Sports and Club Sports programs.
Greek life
FAU is home to approximately 28 chapters of national
fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America.
Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradu ...
, encompassing approximately 1,077 members or 5% of the undergraduate population.
The highpoint of Greek life at Florida Atlantic is "Greek Week". This event is held annually during the spring semester and showcases a number of themed competitions between the university's Greek organizations. There are currently no on-campus Greek houses.
However, a Greek Life Housing
task force has been formed to explore various housing models, including the cost of construction, "and make recommendations on how to improve the overall quality of the Greek housing...."
Alumni
Notes
References
External links
*
*
Florida Atlantic Athletics website''University Press''– student newspaper
{{authority control
1961 establishments in Florida
Buildings and structures in Boca Raton, Florida
Educational institutions established in 1961
Public universities and colleges in Florida
Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Universities and colleges in Broward County, Florida
Universities and colleges in Palm Beach County, Florida