Senate Bill sb2776

    Florida Senate - 2006        (NP)                      SR 2776

    By Senator Dockery





    15-1786-06

  1                        Senate Resolution

  2         A resolution recognizing the University of

  3         Florida.

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  5         WHEREAS, the University of Florida is a member of the

  6  prestigious American Association of Universities, is

  7  considered by many to be the best public university in the

  8  state, and is one of the top 20 public universities in the

  9  nation, as measured by U.S. News & World Report, and

10         WHEREAS, the university is the state's leading research

11  and education institution, drawing $493 million in research

12  grants during the last fiscal year and offering more than 100

13  bachelor's degree programs and more than 200 graduate and

14  professional degree programs, and

15         WHEREAS, these programs make the university, together

16  with its Health Science Center and Institute of Food and

17  Agricultural Sciences, one of the most comprehensive in the

18  nation, and

19         WHEREAS, the university is a major economic engine,

20  having an economic ripple effect worth more than $4 billion,

21  many times the state's investment, and

22         WHEREAS, the university is a major developer of new

23  technologies, disclosing 272 inventions, licensing 66

24  technologies, and earning $40 million in licensing revenue in

25  2005 alone, and

26         WHEREAS, perhaps the best-known invention to come out

27  of the university is Gatorade, the sports health drink that

28  has helped millions of athletes maintain peak performance and

29  resulted in more than $120 million in royalties to the

30  university, and

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    Florida Senate - 2006        (NP)                      SR 2776
    15-1786-06




 1         WHEREAS, Gatorade was created by UF physician-scientist

 2  Dr. Robert Cade, a nephrologist who has spent more 40 than

 3  years at the university and is renowned for his willingness to

 4  share both his knowledge and his good fortune, and

 5         WHEREAS, the university serves as a vital engine for

 6  the state's technology economy, with companies based on

 7  technologies developed by the university contributing nearly

 8  $500 million to Florida's economy annually, and

 9         WHEREAS, the university is home to some of the nation's

10  top faculty members, including more than two dozen who have

11  been selected to the National Academies, the Institute of

12  Medicine, or a counterpart in a foreign nation, and the

13  university has more than 50 eminent-scholar chairs, and

14         WHEREAS, the university, one of the five largest in the

15  country, attracts some of the best students in the nation,

16  ranking 1st among universities worldwide in the numbers of

17  International Baccalaureate students who attend its campus,

18  and producing the second-highest number of Ph.D.s in the

19  nation, and

20         WHEREAS, the university's students are steadily

21  becoming more diverse, with 10 percent of its freshman class

22  African-Americans and 14 percent Hispanic, and the university

23  seeks to enhance these percentages through the launch of the

24  Florida First Time in College Scholarship program, and

25         WHEREAS, UF athletes are among the most talented in the

26  nation, and UF most recently finished sixth in national

27  all-sports rankings, the 22nd straight year that Gator

28  athletics have placed in the top 10, and

29         WHEREAS, the University of Florida is the Foundation

30  for The Gator Nation, the source for hundreds of thousands of

31  UF graduates worldwide, NOW, THEREFORE,

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    Florida Senate - 2006        (NP)                      SR 2776
    15-1786-06




 1  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:

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 3         That the Florida Senate celebrates April 5, 2006, as

 4  "The University of Florida Day" in Tallahassee, in recognition

 5  of the University of Florida's contributions to the state, the

 6  nation, and the world.

 7         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution,

 8  with the Seal of the Senate affixed, be presented to Dr. J.

 9  Bernard Machen, President of the University of Florida, as a

10  token of the sentiments of the Florida Senate.

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