Florida Senate - 2025 (NP) SR 1862
By Senator Passidomo
28-02368A-25 20251862__
1 Senate Resolution
2 A resolution designating March 25, 2025, as “Florida
3 Gulf Coast University Day” in Florida.
4
5 WHEREAS, in May 1991, then-Governor Lawton Chiles signed
6 into law a bill authorizing the creation of Florida’s tenth
7 public university, Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU), to
8 provide higher education opportunities and workforce development
9 in the previously underserved region of Southwest Florida, and
10 WHEREAS, FGCU opened its doors to 2,584 students on August
11 25, 1997, and held its first commencement in May 1998 with 81
12 graduates, and
13 WHEREAS, FGCU has been led by five outstanding and dynamic
14 presidents: Dr. Roy McTarnaghan, Dr. William C. Merwin, Dr.
15 Wilson G. Bradshaw, Dr. Michael V. Martin, and Dr. Aysegul
16 Timur, and
17 WHEREAS, under the leadership and vision of Dr. Aysegul
18 Timur and the FGCU Board of Trustees, FGCU strives for students
19 to possess an entrepreneurial spirit and for graduates to be
20 well prepared to lead productive lives as civically engaged and
21 environmentally conscious citizens with successful careers, and
22 WHEREAS, FGCU has strategically grown into a regional
23 university with an enrollment of more than 16,000 students and
24 today offers 65 undergraduate, 27 graduate, and 7 doctoral
25 programs and 19 academic certificates, and
26 WHEREAS, the pathways to student success at FGCU have led
27 to national prominence in student service learning as one of the
28 only public institutions to make service learning a graduation
29 requirement for all undergraduate students, with more than 4.9
30 million hours contributed to Southwest Florida communities since
31 1997, and
32 WHEREAS, FGCU emphasizes innovative and interdisciplinary
33 learning, with restored or preserved nature making up half of
34 its 800-acre campus to serve as a living laboratory for
35 learning, while offering students diverse opportunities to
36 participate in meaningful research led by their professors, and
37 WHEREAS, FGCU established The Water School, which opened
38 its doors in 2022, to create a university of distinction located
39 in the midst of Florida’s complex freshwater and saltwater
40 systems, and is uniquely positioned to explore water-based
41 issues, including the health of waterways that impact
42 surrounding ecosystems, regional and state economies, and the
43 people who rely on water for life and leisure, making FGCU a
44 catalyst for change in the community and throughout the world,
45 and
46 WHEREAS, FGCU continues to work collaboratively with the
47 State University System to meet regional and statewide workforce
48 needs by graduating career-ready students from the Marieb
49 College of Health and Human Services’ School of Nursing, with
50 six programs, and having a 100 percent first-time pass rate on
51 the NCLEX RN nursing licensure examination in 2018, 2019, 2023,
52 and 2024, and
53 WHEREAS, the FGCU Alumni Association has 22 chapters with
54 more than 48,000 members, with 2,000 businesses in Southwest
55 Florida started by alumni and approximately 70 percent of alumni
56 working in their field of study, and
57 WHEREAS, FGCU strives to bring diversification of the
58 economy to the region it serves through innovation in
59 agribusiness, construction management, and environmental
60 engineering, and
61 WHEREAS, FGCU serves and engages its surrounding community
62 with outreach through employers to determine the needs of the
63 region and the workforce skills necessary to achieve a thriving
64 region, and
65 WHEREAS, the athletic programs at FGCU are a growing source
66 of pride for loyal fans, with nine programs having earned a top
67 25 national ranking and student athletes continuing to
68 demonstrate their academic strengths, and
69 WHEREAS, the collegiate experience continues to enrich the
70 lives of FGCU students as they transition from high school to
71 college to career and serve their communities through “Turning
72 Ideas Into Impact” and the university’s longstanding commitment
73 to service, NOW, THEREFORE,
74
75 Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
76
77 That March 25, 2025, is designated as “Florida Gulf Coast
78 University Day” in Florida.
79 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution, with
80 the Seal of the Senate affixed, be presented to Dr. Aysegul
81 Timur, president of Florida Gulf Coast University, as a tangible
82 token of the sentiments of the Florida Senate.