Florida Senate - 2018                            (NP)    SR 1904
       
       
        
       By Senator Simmons
       
       
       
       
       
       9-01889C-18                                           20181904__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution commending the extraordinary achievements
    3         of the faculty, staff, administration, and students of
    4         the University of Central Florida and President John
    5         C. Hitt, Ph.D., and recognizing January 24, 2018, as
    6         “University of Central Florida Day” in Florida.
    7  
    8         WHEREAS, founded in 1963, the University of Central Florida
    9  (UCF) is located in Orlando and, during the 2016-2017 academic
   10  year, with its 13 colleges, provided educational opportunities
   11  to 64,318 students from all 50 states and 153 countries, and
   12         WHEREAS, during that academic year, UCF had 289 enrolled
   13  National Merit Scholars and boasted a freshman class with an
   14  average SAT score of 1,262 and an average high school weighted
   15  grade point average of 4.02, and
   16         WHEREAS, UCF now awards more than 15,000 degrees annually,
   17  more than any other public university in the nation, and
   18         WHEREAS, in the 2015-2016 academic year, UCF awarded 2,317
   19  baccalaureate degrees in STEM fields, and, each year, more than
   20  20,000 students gain practical experience through co-ops,
   21  internships, and service-learning projects, and
   22         WHEREAS, UCF has a diverse student body, with a 44.6
   23  percent minority population and a 23.8 percent Hispanic
   24  population, and
   25         WHEREAS, on January 1, 2018, the UCF Knights football team
   26  completed a perfect season with a 34-27 win over Auburn
   27  University in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, the only team to go
   28  undefeated in the 2017 collegiate football season, and
   29         WHEREAS, in March 1992, John C. Hitt, Ph.D., became UCF’s
   30  fourth president, and at that time the university’s enrollment
   31  ranked fifth in Florida and 115th in the nation, and
   32         WHEREAS, Dr. Hitt oversaw the establishment of the UCF
   33  College of Medicine in 2006, and it has attracted some of the
   34  nation’s top students and faculty members and will soon be
   35  joined by a university hospital being developed in partnership
   36  with the Hospital Corporation of America, the nation’s largest
   37  hospital company, and
   38         WHEREAS, Dr. Hitt has been recognized as one of the most
   39  innovative university presidents in America, and UCF now ranks
   40  alongside Harvard, Stanford, and Duke as one of the nation’s
   41  most innovative universities, according to U.S. News & World
   42  Report’s Best Colleges of 2018, and
   43         WHEREAS, under Dr. Hitt’s leadership, enrollment at UCF has
   44  tripled, making it the largest university in Florida and one of
   45  the largest in the United States, and
   46         WHEREAS, most importantly, over the course of the past 26
   47  years, Dr. Hitt has overseen tremendous gains in the quality of
   48  academic programs, faculty, and students and in the development
   49  of UCF as a major metropolitan research university of global
   50  impact, and the university has launched more than $1 billion in
   51  new construction, and
   52         WHEREAS, Dr. Hitt will retire on June 30, 2018, after more
   53  than 26 transformative years as UCF president, NOW, THEREFORE,
   54  
   55  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   56  
   57         That the extraordinary achievements of the faculty, staff,
   58  administration, and students of the University of Central
   59  Florida and President John C. Hitt, Ph.D., are commended, and
   60  January 24, 2018, is recognized as “University of Central
   61  Florida Day” in Florida.
   62         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution, with
   63  the Seal of the Senate affixed, be presented to University of
   64  Central Florida President John C. Hitt, Ph.D., as a tangible
   65  token of the sentiments of the Florida Senate.