Florida Gulf Coast University

Establishment

The school was established by then-governor Lawton Chiles in 1991, although the site of the university was not chosen until 1993, and construction was delayed until 1995. The school first held classes in August 1997. Roy McTarnaghan was the university's founding president. In August 1998, the university completed its first phase of student housing. On May 1, 1999, McTarnaghan announced his decision to step down from his position as President of FGCU.

Expansion and growth

In July 1999, William C. Merwin became FGCU's second president. Merwin sought to create a traditional four-year university. On campus classes replaced online only classes. Merwin was an active fundraiser. In an eight-year period, he raised more than $250 million for the university and expanded the school. New buildings included: Lutgert College of Business, Holmes Hall (U.A. Whitaker School of Engineering), Whitaker Hall, a student union, Alico Arena and an expansion of on-campus housing. Student enrollment at FGCU increased from approximately 2,000 students in its first year, to over 15,000 students as of 2015. In 2007, Wilson G. Bradshaw became as the university's third president.

Recent history

Campus facilities continued to expand from 2007 to 2010. New residence halls housing over 1,200 students were built. The fine arts building and student union were expanded, a solar panel field was built. In addition to other construction, the university expanded.

Bradshaw also explored the possibility of football at FGCU, hiring a consulting firm to explore costs. The consulting firm determined it would cost as much as $144 million.

Campus

FGCU's 760-acre (3.1 km²) campus is located in unincorporated in Southwest Florida in Lee County, 21 miles (34 km) from Naples and south of Fort Myers. It is within San Carlos Park's fire district and uses a Fort Myers postal address. The campus is south of Fort Myers and 21 miles (34 km) from Naples. The site was donated by the Alico corporation and was selected to avoid a conflict between Naples and Fort Myers after a review by the Board of Regents., The 150-acre (0.61 km²) center of the campus known as the "academic core contains the academic research and buildings. There are three separate housing areas on periphery of the campus: North Lake, South Village, and West Lake Village. North Lake Village overlooks a lake with recreational activities including boating and water skiing.

Growth and new construction

The Lutgert College of Business building opened in 2008, the Holmes Hall – U.A. Whitaker School of Engineering Building opened in 2009, and in 2008 the Herbert J. Sugden Hall – Resort & Hospitality Management Building opened. Academic Building 7 for the College of Arts and Sciences was completed in 2010. In 2012, Academic Building 8 was completed, now Marieb Hall, it was dedicated to Elaine Nicpon Marieb on March 29, 2012. The $24 million, 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m²) building was designed for the College of Health Professions. Other construction projects include expansion of the student union building, an addition to the fine arts building and one of the largest solar panel fields at a university. The university announced it will build a shared-use facility at the Naples Botanical Gardens. In 2008, FGCU became one of the first academic institutions in the country to include the metric system on its roadsigns.

Acquisition of additional land and creation of satellite campuses

There are three other satellite campus locations: Naples, the Cape Coral Center and the Charlotte Center in Punta Gorda, which are yet to be expanded. FGCU recently purchased 12 acres adjacent to the main campus from Miromar Development for $3.8 million. The FGCU board of trustees voted in January 2010 to assume ownership of 500 acres (2.0 km²) in Buckingham. Located between East Fort Myers and Lehigh Acres, the land already contains over 60 buildings and housing for 300 people. Originally, the piece of land was controlled by the Florida Environmental Protection Agency; it was abandoned and given to FGCU.

In 2007, the university purchased the former Bonita Beach Plantation Resort in Bonita Springs for use as a marine research laboratory. The Norm and Nancy Vester Marine and Environmental Science Research Field Station site has 10 boat slips and is located on Estero Bay. The site includes laboratories, offices, apartments for visiting researchers and a classroom. In addition, the university has been preparing plans for a research center at the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve which is midway between Naples and Marco Island.

In October 2006, a 12-person panel of leading Charlotte County citizens was tasked with selecting the future location of an FGCU-Charlotte Satellite Center. There were five respondents to the Invitation to Negotiate (ITN). Each respondent met the minimum criteria of the ITN (although one was later removed from the process for falling short on (2) of the requirements) of 150 acres (0.61 km²) of land, $5M in cash to the university. In a unanimous vote by the panel (notably including Charlotte County Board of Commissioners Chairman, Tom Moore), only one was chosen, Hudson Sun-River. In their proposal to the FGCU, Hudson Sun-River offered $5M in cash, 150ac of land (located within their 2,458ac 'University Village' master-planned development), $750,000 in annual operating funds and up to $70M of built-out infrastructure.

Environmental sustainability

Since its founding, 400 acres (1.6 km²) on the main campus has been set aside for environmental preservation. FGCU also has constructed a number of lakes on the campus which are home to large numbers of wildlife; the lakes also help promote the ecology of the area. Environmental sustainability is the principal goal expressed in the university charter. Academic Building 7, the new facility housing science laboratories and classrooms for the College of Arts and Sciences, achieved platinum certification, the highest level awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The University’s 15-acre (61,000 m²) solar field supplies about 85 percent of the energy needed to operate Holmes and Lutgert halls as well as Academic Building 7, reducing FGCU’s reliance on Florida Power & Light Co. by 18 percent. An ice thermal storage plant sends chilled water through an underground loop that cools campus buildings, saving more than $1.64 million over five years. The newest residence halls, Everglades, Biscayne, Palmetto, and Osprey, heat their water via rooftop solar panels.

Library

The library is located on FGCU's campus in Fort Myers.The current dean of the FGCU library is Kathleen Miller. In the 2015-2016 school year, the library was visited 940,637 times. The FGCU library has over 1.5 million items in their collection that can be accessed by students or any patron with a library card. The FGCU library also subscribes to over 400 databases to allow their students and patrons access to over 700 million full-text articles. The east wing of the library includes a 115 seat computer lab that provides access to Mac computers as well as specialty software for the engineering and visual design students. The library is also dedicated to making sure that the collection housed within the library stays relevant. In 2014, the Collection Analysis Project (CAP) began so that the FGCU library could determine what parts of the collection was still being utilized by students and what could be removed in order to make way for various new projects within the library such as new study spaces, adding new power outlets, and moving in more technology to be access by students. The CAP project is slated to be finished by Spring 2017. In addition to its various print and electronic collections, the library also houses various art pieces, including 7 signed lithographs by Salvador Dali. The Archives and Special Collections unit of the library has held various exhibitions since Fall 2013. The list of past exhibits is found here. Other resources that are located within the FGCU Library are:

Academics

Florida Gulf Coast University academics are divided into six colleges. The Fall 2010 acceptance rate for FGCU is 60.3 percent. For 2011, new matriculants averaged an ACT score of 21.9, an SAT score of 1032, a high school GPA of 3.35, and a college GPA of 2.97.

US News ranks FGCU as first-tier among Regional Universities in the southern United States. The Lutgert College of business is an AACSB accredited institution, offering undergraduate degrees in Accounting, Computer Information Systems, Economics, Finance, Management and Marketing. In addition, the college offers the following graduate degrees: Accounting and Taxation, Computer Information Systems and Business Administration (both traditional and executive). Princeton Review also cites it as one of the top 301 business schools in the country. Hospitality Management is a popular major on campus, with students getting the opportunity to gain supervised field work experience at one of many resorts in the area. Professional Golf Management is a unique program with limited access, much like the Nursing, Music and Athletic Training programs. FGCU has a unique requirement prior to graduation, University Colloquium, as it was built in an ecologically sensitive area. The aim of this Colloquium is to educate graduates on the importance of ecology and preservation. FGCU recently announced the addition of a real estate undergraduate degree to begin in fall of 2012 As of 2011, the student body carries an average GPA of 2.97.

Engineering program

FGCU also offers Civil, Environmental, Bioengineering, and Software Engineering, the last of which being a new major that has replaced Computer Science. The first graduating classes of the Civil, Environmental, and Bioengineering disciplines received their diplomas in May 2009. As of Fall 2012 FGCU's Civil, Environmental, and Bioengineering programs are ABET accredited, with Software Engineering to be reviewed for accreditation in 2015 with the first graduating class. Holmes Hall was built primarily to facilitate the new Engineering program; however, some nursing and elective classes take place there as well. As of 2011 the engineering program has become a separate entity known as the U.A. Whitaker College of Engineering, and FGCU ranks with an 80% passing rate on the Fundamentals of Engineering exam.

Environmental forensics

The university is currently expanding its graduate offerings and is adding to its research capabilities, with an Environmental Forensics Facility or "body farm" in the works. The Division of Justice Studies in the College of Professional Studies is in its 3rd year of offering a Master of Science in Criminal Forensic Studies. Students can choose to become qualified as a Forensic Behavior Analyst or in Human Identity.

Death Investigator concentration

The Death Investigator concentration prepares students to work in the field as medico-legal death investigators for Medical examiner's offices, as well as crime scene investigators or law enforcement detectives. Those in Death Investigations specialize in Human Identity and Trauma Analysis. The Human and Trauma ID concentration trains students to identify human remains through skeletal attributes, and analyze decomposed and skeletal remains for signs of trauma. The forensic behaviorist track offers students an opportunity to learn how to analyze the psychological aspect of crime scenes, specifically pertaining to pedophilia.

Research

In FGCU's inaugural year, under $3 million of research was funded. By 2013, $13.5 million in funds were granted for research annually. Research institutes include: the Biotechnology Research Group, the Lucas Center for Real Estate, Coastal Watershed Institute, Center for Environmental & Sustainability Education, FGCU Center for Leadership and Innovation, Florida Institute of Government, Center for Positive Aging, Whitaker Center for Science, Mathematics, & Technology Education, Institute for Youth and Justice Studies. Since FGCU first opened, the total funds awarded for research has amounted to 174.6 million.

Athletics

FGCU's athletics teams are known as the Eagles. FGCU completed the four-year transition to NCAA Division I for all athletics programs in 2011. The Eagles currently compete in the Division I Atlantic Sun Conference (A-Sun), which they joined in 2007.

FGCU intercollegiate athletics offers:

FGCU is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, as well as the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association. FGCU plays its men's and women's basketball games at Alico Arena and its baseball games at Swanson Stadium.

The average GPA of a student athlete at FGCU was 3.13 in the spring semester of 2010.

Baseball

The FGCU baseball team has won the Atlantic Sun Conference championship three years in a row, and became eligible to compete in the NCAA post season in 2010 after the two-year NCAA reclassifying period. FGCU has a number of former baseball players playing in the minor leagues, and has three pitchers (Richard Bleier, Chris Sale, and Casey Coleman) pitching in the majors.

Basketball

On March 24, 2007, FGCU women's basketball team ended their 35–1 season with a loss in the Division II National Championship to Southern Connecticut State University. One year later, in 2008, the Women's Basketball team qualified for the WNIT, becoming the first team to qualify for the WNIT in its first season of Division I sports. During the 2008 WNIT Tourney, the team became the first Atlantic Sun conference team to win a post-season game since 1998, when Florida International University won in the Women's NCAA tourney. The Women's team won the Atlantic Sun Conference regular season championship with a conference record of 17–3 but was ineligible to compete in the conference tourney, as the team was in transition from Division II to Division I athletics. In the 2010–2011 season, the FGCU woman's basketball team won the Atlantic Sun Conference again. In the 2011–12 Season, the Women's team won both the Atlantic Sun Conference's regular season and conference tourney titles, earning its first berth into the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship. The Eagles lost to St. Bonaventure University in the first round of the tournament 72–65 in Tallahassee, Florida.

In 2012, FGCU's first year of full Division I postseason eligibility, the men's team played in the Atlantic Sun Championship final, losing to Belmont. In 2013, the team won the Atlantic Sun championship, beating top-seeded Mercer in the conference tournament final. That earned the team an automatic invitation to the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. In its first-ever tournament appearance, the No. 15 seeded Eagles upset the No. 2 seeded Georgetown Hoyas in the first round of the tournament and the No. 7 seeded San Diego State Aztecs in the second round. The Eagles became the seventh No. 15 seed to advance to the round of 32 and the first to advance to the Sweet 16.

Residence life

On-campus housing is made up of three sections: North Lake Village, South Village, and West Lake Village. North Lake Village is located on an 80 acres (320,000 m²) lake and features apartment-style residence halls, with waterfront recreation. West Lake Village was previously owned by American Campus Communities and formally called College Club Apartments. Housing 501 students, the University purchased the apartment complex for $17 million and the apartments officially became part of FGCU Housing and Residence Life in October 2010. Themed housing is available, such as Honors and Wellness communities. South Village (SoVi) is composed of suite-style residence halls with five buildings: Everglades Hall, Biscayne Hall, Palmetto Hall, Osprey Hall and Eagle Hall, housing a total of over 1720 first-year students. In December 2012, the Office of Housing & Residence Life announced that a fifth residence hall, Eagle Hall, will be built and open roughly by Spring 2014. Eagle Hall will be similar in design to Osprey Hall. In the Summer of 2013, South Village opened the SoVi Pool, a recreation pool featuring a "beach-entry" and built in pool volleyball court. The pool is the result of a collaboration between the Office of Housing & Residence Life and Campus Recreation. In total, there are currently over 3,200 students living in both North Lake Village and SoVi. Freshmen are not required to live on campus; however, given the unique, apartment-like nature of the residence halls, on campus housing is still filled to capacity every year. Individual halls sponsor their own activities and socials, and leadership positions are available in the Resident Hall Association. A commonly used form of transportation on campus is called the Eagle Express. This shuttle operates daily, taking students from their residence halls to classes and activities around campus. There is also a shuttle which takes students from the residence halls to Gulf Coast Town Center that runs from Thursday through Saturday.

Greek life

Florida Gulf Coast University has 19 fraternity and sorority chapters currently on campus. Greek life is governed by the Panhellenic Council, the Interfraternity Council, National PanHellenic Council, and the Multicultural Greek Council. There is no Greek housing on campus.

Campus recreation

Eaglepalooza is a campus wide event organized by student government each fall. It was free for the student body. The event attracted 7,000 people in 2008, scheduled performers included Flo Rida (who was forced to cancel due to schedule conflict) and Busta Rhymes. Performers have included Yung Joc in 2007, Sean Paul and Mims in 2009 and in 2010, hip-hop group LMFAO. After 2010 Eaglepalooza changed venue to the Germain Arena and began charging students admission. There is also a spring event called Nest Fest.

Media

The university has operated public broadcasting stations WGCU television and WGCU-FM since 1996, when the license was transferred from the University of South Florida in Tampa. WGCU is a PBS member while WGCU-FM is an NPR member and broadcasts news, talk and jazz. The Eagle News is the school's official newspaper.

Notable alumni