HR 9095

1	House Resolution
2	A resolution recognizing April 6, 2005, as "The University
3	of Florida Day" in Tallahassee.
4
5	WHEREAS, the University of Florida, the largest and most
6	comprehensive institution of higher learning in Florida and the
7	state's only university honored by membership in the prestigious
8	Association of American Universities, has recently inaugurated
9	its new president, Dr. J. Bernard Machen, and increasingly is
10	recognized as an international leader in advancements in the
11	arts, science, and medicine, and
12	WHEREAS, through an unrelenting resolve to promote
13	excellence, the university attracts the best students in the
14	state, the country, and the world, now ranking first among all
15	public universities in the number of enrolled National Merit
16	Scholars, ranking first for the number of National Achievement
17	Scholars enrolled for the third year in a row, and again ranking
18	first among all universities in the world in landing
19	International Baccalaureate students, and
20	WHEREAS, the university is home to the finest faculty and
21	staff to be found on any campus in Florida, where a record
22	$469.8 million in research and training grants were awarded in
23	academic year 2003-2004 and where its overall accomplishments
24	and quality of education earned the university a Top 5 ranking
25	by Kiplinger Magazine in its most recent rankings, and
26	WHEREAS, the university, one of the five largest in the
27	United States, also is one of the most diverse in the number of
28	academic programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels,
29	thus providing the state a center of education sufficient in
30	size and scope to offer the full range of professional skills
31	necessary for a 21st century society, and
32	WHEREAS, its service to its state is unrivaled, its student
33	enrollment representing all 67 Florida counties; its Institute
34	of Food and Agricultural Sciences, including the Tropical
35	Research and Education Center at its Homestead office, providing
36	extension services to each Florida county; and its health-
37	related clinics and research serving Floridians each day, such
38	as the Hialeah Dental Clinic that provides vital dental care to
39	its southeastern Florida community, and
40	WHEREAS, the university's student athletic program, which
41	has been a Top-Ten program nationally for the past 21 years,
42	posting a program-record 12 Top-Ten ranked teams, was once again
43	in 2003-2004 the top-ranked Southeastern Conference varsity
44	program for men and women, its chief cheerleader for three
45	generations of Gator fans being the indefatigable George "Mr.
46	Two-Bits" Edmonson, and
47	WHEREAS, the University of Florida takes great pride in
48	each community it serves, from Greater Gainesville, recently
49	identified by Popular Science Magazine as one of the Top 30
50	"technologically advanced" cities in the nation, to Miami-Dade
51	County, where its synergistic effort has made the New World
52	School of the Arts a global resource for today's artistic
53	expression, to Florida's Panhandle region, where its Graduate
54	Engineering Education Center (soon to be renamed the Research
55	Engineering Education Facility) works closely with our national
56	defense programs to create new technologies to protect our
57	servicemen and servicewomen wherever they are deployed, NOW,
58	THEREFORE,
59
60	Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of
61	Florida:
62
63	That the House of Representatives recognizes April 6, 2005,
64	as "The University of Florida Day" in Tallahassee in honor of
65	the university's singular contributions to its state, its
66	nation, and its world.
67	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be
68	presented to Dr. J. Bernard Machen, President of the University
69	of Florida, as a tangible token of the sentiments expressed
70	herein.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.