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 The University
of North Florida is located in
Jacksonville,
Florida and is part of
Florida’s State University System.
Despite being located in one of
Florida’s most populated areas, UNF remains modest in
size, with enrollment at around 16,000 students in 2009.
The university opened for classes in 1972 and has recently been named by
The Princeton Review as a Best
Southeastern
College, as well as being tagged in
2006 and 2009 as one of the best value undergraduate institutions in the
United States
by the same publication. When North Florida
was founded, the only other publicly-funded institution of higher learning in
Jacksonville
was a community college.
At first, the
university was a considered a ‘Senior
College,’ meaning only
upper division and graduate students were admitted.
Starting in 1984, freshmen and sophomores were also admitted.
There was a legislative effort in 1980 to merge the UNF with the
University of Florida,
but the bill was vetoed by then-governor Bob Graham.
In 2009, the University
of North Florida
athletic programs were classified into NCAA Division I.
Programs the
University of
North Florida is known for
include coastal biology, business, jazz, and nursing.
There are five colleges at North Florida:
Brooks College of Health, Coggin College of Business, College of Arts &
Sciences, College of
Computing, Engineering and Construction, and
College
of Education and
Human Services. The School of Nursing is the most
popular program in the Brooks College of Health, but also included in the
College are a variety of programs and certifications relating to what the school
calls “community and public health, rehabilitation counseling, nutrition, health
administration, physical therapy and athletic training.”
The collection of programs in the Coggin College of
Business has earned it “distinctive accreditation” and endorsement by the AACSB
International (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business).
There are two flagship programs in the College, which are singled out as
giving
North Florida
a competitive advantage in attracting potentially strong business
students: International Business and Transportation
& Logistics. Other programs in the
College
of Business at
North Florida
include some usual business school suspects such as accounting, finance,
management, marketing, and economics.
The College of Arts & Sciences is the largest college
at the
University of North Florida,
boasting 15 different programs, including a newly added Center for Environmental
Studies. There are also pre-Law and pre-medical programs in the college.
Especially noteworthy is the College’s music department, which maintains a
limited access, performance-based program which focuses on American music,
including jazz.
The College of Computing, Engineering and Construction
consists of a School of Engineering, which offers masters and bachelors degrees
in civil, mechanical and electrical engineering, the School of Computing, and
the Department of Construction Management, which along with offering a bachelors
degree, works in conjunction with the College of Business in offering a M.B.A.
degree with a construction track.
The College of Education & Human Services is accredited
by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), Council
for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP),
Council on Education of the Deaf (CED) and the Florida Department of Education
(FDOE). There are several degrees and certificates offered at bachelors,
masters, and doctorate levels with varying tracks and concentrations offered at
the
College
of Education at
North Florida.
Various graduate degrees are offered in all five
colleges at the
University of North Florida.
Most of the degrees are at a Master’s level, with some nursing and education
doctorates also being available. UNF has come a long way in a short
period of time. In 1972 on the University's first day of classes slightly more
than 2,000 students were registered. Now that number is more than 16,000.
While our University has grown, both in stature and in size, we have retained
our most distinctive feature. That feature is the individual attention each
student receives. It distinguishes UNF from other state universities and
explains why we attract students from nearly every state in the union and more
than 90 foreign countries. |
