The University of Fort Lauderdale (UFTL) is a private non-denominational Christian university in

Lauderhill Lauderhill, officially the City of Lauderhill, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census,the city's population was 74,482. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,0 ...

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 Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Founded in 1995, the school offers associate, 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 degrees and has a mission statement of being a "premier Christian institution of higher learning empowering future leaders through higher educational degrees rooted in Biblical principles". UFTL co-founder Henry B. Fernandez leads the school as chancellor and CEO.

History and leadership

The University of Fort Lauderdale was founded as Plantation Christian University in 1995, by Henry and Carol Fernandez, senior pastors of The Faith Center. Henry Fernandez has led the university as its chancellor and CEO since its founding; he is the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from St. Thomas University, and is styled "Dr. Henry Fernandez" by UFTL. A "president" is also mentioned in the school's 2021–22 catalog, and the school's athletics website lists Fernandez as both the chancellor and the president.

Other leadership and administration

The school lists five other administrators apart from Fernandez. Dawn Piper is the university's

chief academic officer A provost is a senior academic administrator. At many institutions of higher education, they are the chief academic officer, a role that may be combined with being deputy to the chief executive officer. They may also be the chief executive offic ...

, Dr. Brian Hankerson is the chief financial officer, Gregory Sidberry is the university

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time ...

, Lenice Barnett is the

registrar A registrar is an official keeper of records made in a register. The term may refer to: Education * Registrar (education), an official in an academic institution who handles student records * Registrar of the University of Oxford, one of the se ...

, and Winsome Brown is the

bursar A bursar (derived from " bursa", Latin for '' purse'') is a professional administrator in a school or university often with a predominantly financial role. In the United States, bursars usually hold office only at the level of higher education ( ...

. The school has both a faculty and student senate; the faculty senate president is Dr. Veronica Carter.

Academics

The university contains three colleges - a College of Business Leadership, a College of Religious Studies, and a College of Liberal Studies. The application fee is US$35 and completion of an entrance exam is accepted in lieu of submission of

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...

or ACT scores.

College of Business Leadership

The College of Business Leadership offers students the opportunity to "learn and apply real-world market concepts to help ensure their success in the 21st century marketplace." The college offers an Associate of Arts in business administration, a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in business administration, with eight possible concentrations ( accounting, business administration, construction management,

criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

healthcare administration Health administration, healthcare administration, healthcare management or hospital management is the field relating to leadership, management, and administration of public health systems, health care systems, hospitals, and hospital networ ...

, human resource management,

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a Government agency, government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includ ...

, and

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

), and a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

degree.

College of Religious Studies

The College of Religious Studies offers coursework that allows students to pursue ministry and pastorship. The college offers four levels of degree: an Associate of Science in ministry, a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

in ministry, with four possible concentrations (

Christian counseling Christian counseling is distinct from secular counseling. According to the International Association of Biblical Counselors, Biblical counseling "seeks to carefully discover those areas in which a Christian may be disobedient to the principles a ...

, ministry,

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, and

Christian education Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the r ...

), a Master of Divinity or

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

in pastoral counseling, and a Doctorate of Ministry.

College of Liberal Studies

The College of Liberal Studies, also referred to as the College of Liberal Arts by the school's website, offers "the development of broad knowledge and abilities...informed by the Christian tradition." The college offers only one degree, a

liberal studies Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term '' art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically th ...

, with seven possible concentrations –

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting beg ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, history,

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of Data (computing), data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information te ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

, and

theatrical production A theatrical production is any work of theatre, such as a staged play, musical, comedy or drama produced from a written book or script. Theatrical productions also extend to other performance designations such as Dramatic and Nondramatic theatre, a ...

Campus

UFTL's campus is located in

Lauderhill, Florida Lauderhill, officially the City of Lauderhill, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census,the city's population was 74,482. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,01 ...

, and is 33,006 square feet in size. Among the university's facilities is the Henry B. Fernandez Library, which contains over 5,500 books and is a member of the Library Information Resource Network.

Campus life

The university has an enrollment of 225 students. Students are required to attend chapel once per month, as it is referred to by the school as "an integral and indispensable part of the learning experience"; the course code MIN 180 is used for chapel, which does not provide students with credits.

Athletics

The University of Fort Lauderdale competes in the South Region of Division I of the NCCAA and fields eight teams, known as the Eagles. The athletics program is a relatively recent addition to the college, with the announcement of its establishment published on Twitter on May 11, 2020. UFTL's acceptance into the NCCAA was announced on March 25, 2021.

References

{{coord missing, Florida Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools Educational institutions established in 1995 Education in Broward County, Florida 1995 establishments in Florida Buildings and structures in Broward County, Florida Evangelicalism in Florida