Florida Senate - 2012                            (NP)    SR 2114
       
       
       
       By Senator Oelrich
       
       
       
       
       14-03204-12                                           20122114__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing February 16, 2012, as
    3         “University of Florida Day” at the Capitol.
    4  
    5         WHEREAS, the University of Florida, one of the nation’s
    6  most academically rigorous and comprehensive institutions of
    7  higher learning, is and has been since 1985 the state’s only
    8  university honored by membership in the prestigious Association
    9  of American Universities, and
   10         WHEREAS, the University of Florida is a land-grant
   11  university and, in 2012, will help lead the national celebration
   12  of the 150th Anniversary of the Morrill Act of 1862, which
   13  established the land-grant university system, and
   14         WHEREAS, the University of Florida is one of only 17
   15  universities in the nation classified as land-grant, sea-grant,
   16  and space-grant institutions, and
   17         WHEREAS, the university attracts the best students in the
   18  state, the nation, and the world, with an average incoming
   19  freshman grade point average of 4.23 and an average SAT score of
   20  1920, the highest of any state university in Florida, and ranks
   21  among the top 10 universities in the nation where corporations
   22  prefer to recruit new employees, and
   23         WHEREAS, the University of Florida is home to the finest
   24  faculty and staff, including 52 Eminent Scholar chairs and 35
   25  faculty elections to the National Academy of Sciences, the
   26  National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and
   27  the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded $619
   28  million in research and training grants in the 2011-2012
   29  academic year, more than any other state university, and
   30         WHEREAS, the University of Florida’s overall
   31  accomplishments and quality of education earned it a ranking in
   32  Kiplinger Magazine for the 7th consecutive year as one of the
   33  best values for a university education, and
   34         WHEREAS, the University of Florida, a vital economic engine
   35  with an annual statewide economic impact that exceeds $8.76
   36  billion, an amount as large as Florida’s spectator sports
   37  industry, generates more than 106,000 jobs statewide, resulting
   38  in a return of $15 for every state dollar invested in the
   39  university, and
   40         WHEREAS, a 2011 study rated the University of Florida as
   41  the most efficient public research university in the country in
   42  terms of tuition and graduation rates, and its 4-year graduation
   43  rate of 65 percent is the highest of any state university, and
   44         WHEREAS, the University of Florida is a leading institution
   45  in the STEM fields, with its Department of Chemistry ranked
   46  first in the number of STEM graduates at the graduate and
   47  undergraduate levels statewide, and has the highest percentage
   48  among all state universities of degrees awarded in STEM fields,
   49  and
   50         WHEREAS, the University of Florida also excels in its
   51  student-athletic program, which has been a top 10 program
   52  nationally for the past 28 years and whose athletic victories
   53  include 26 national team championships, 201 SEC titles, and more
   54  than 230 individual national titles, NOW, THEREFORE,
   55  
   56  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   57  
   58         That February 16, 2012, is recognized as “University of
   59  Florida Day” at the Capitol.
   60         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution, with
   61  the Seal of the Senate affixed, be presented to University of
   62  Florida President J. Bernard Machen as a tangible token of the
   63  sentiments of the Florida Senate.