GENERAL INFORMATION

of our country: that knowledge passes the test of
quality by remaining vitally connected to indus-
try and commerce.
RESEARCH
 Research defines a certain type of university.
Our faculty must dedicate themselves not only
to the bedrock function of education, not only to
the land-grant function of service, but equally to
the essential activity of research.
 By research we mean the effort to expand our
understanding of the natural world, the world of
the mind, and the world of the senses. We define
research to include the theoretical abstractions of
the mathematician, the experimental discoveries
of the geneticist, the insights of the semiotician,
the re-creations of the historian, or the analysis
of the anthropologist. We define research to cap-
ture the business professor's analysis of econom-
ic organization, the architect's design, and the
musician's interpretation or the artist's special
vision. Research by agronomists improves crops,
and research by engineers enhances materials.
Medical and clinical research cures and prevents
disease. The list of research fields continues as
endlessly as the intellectual concerns of our fac-
ulty and the academic vision of our colleges.
 University research, whatever the field, must
be published. The musician who never performs,
the scientist whose work never appears for
review by colleagues, the historian whose note
cards never become a book may have accom-
plished much, but their accomplishments remain
incomplete. When we say research, we mean
research and creative activity that contribute to
the international public conversation about the
advancement of knowledge.

 The University of Florida remains committed
to delivering this mission with quality and effec-
tiveness on behalf of the citizens of the State of
Florida and in support of the continued
enhancement of their quality of life.

History
 Florida's oldest and largest university, the
University of Florida traces its beginnings to
1853 when the state-funded East Florida Semi-
nary acquired the private Kingsbury Academy
in Ocala. After the Civil War, the seminary was
moved to Gainesville. It was consolidated with
the state's land-grant Florida Agricultural Col-
lege, then in Lake City, to become the University
of Florida in 1906. Until 1947, UF enrolled men
only and was one of only three state universities.
The others were Florida State College for
Women (now FSU) and Florida A&M. In.1947,
the student body numbered 8,177 men and 601
women. Today UF is among the 20 largest uni-
versities in the nation.

Government of the University
 Direct supervision over the University of
Florida, its policies, and affairs is vested in the
Board of Regents, a body composed of 12 citi-
zens who are appointed by the governor for six-
year terms, one student appointed for one year,


and the State Commissioner of Education. Uni-
versity affairs are administered by the president
with the advice and assistance of the university
administration, the University Senate, and vari-
ous committees elected by the Senate and
appointed by the president.

Students
 University of Florida students-numbering
more than 35,000 in fall 1991--come from more
than 100 countries (1,872 foreign students), all 50
states, and every one of the 67 counties in Flori-
da. The ratio of men to women is 54-46. Thirty-
three percent are freshmen and sophomores and
43 percent, juniors and seniors. More than 6,100,
or 17 percent, of the student body are graduate
students, and 2,175, or 7 percent, are in the pro-
fessional programs of medicine, dentistry, vet-
erinary medicine, and law.
 Approximately 2,000 black students and
2,000 Hispanic students attend UF. Ninety per-
cent of entering freshmen rank above the nation-
al mean of scores on standard entrance exams
taken by college-bound students. In 1991, UF
ranked 4th in the nation among public universi-
ties in the number of new National Merit and
Achievement Scholars in attendance.

Faculty
 A distinguished faculty of more than 3,900
attracted more than $235 million in research and
training grants in 1991-92. More than 1,800 were
grant awardees, and 70 percent of the faculty's
grant proposals were successful. UF now has 55
eminent scholar chairs, more than all of the other
state universities combined. Nearly two dozen
faculty members have been selected to the
National Academies of Science and/or Engineer-
ing, the Institute of Medicine or a counterpart in
a foreign nation.
 A very small sampling of honored faculty
includes: a Nobel Laureate, Pulitzer Prize win-
ners in editorial writing and poetry, co-inventor
of the jet engine, one of the four charter mem-
bers of the Solar Hall of Fame, and an art faculty
with 80 percent of its members in Who's Who in
American Art.

Programs
 The University of Florida is among the
nation's 51 leading research universities as
categorized by the Carnegie Commission on
Higher Education. UF is a member of the Associ-
ation of American Universities, the nation's most
prestigious higher education organization. The
University of Florida is accredited by the South-
ern Association of Colleges and Schools-Com-
mission on Colleges to award the degrees of
bachelor, master, specialist and engineer, as well
as doctoral and professional degrees. UF is one
of the nation's top three universities offering
more academic programs on a single campus
than any of the nation's other universities. It has
20 colleges and schools and 100 interdisciplinary
research and education centers, bureaus, and
institutes. One hundred and fourteen majors are
offered in 52 undergraduate degree programs.


The Graduate School coordinates 123 master's
and 76 doctoral programs in 87 of the 137 UF
academic departments. Professional post-bac-
calaureate degrees are offered in law, dentistry,
medicine, and veterinary medicine.
 During the last year, more than 32,000 people
took advantage of the many university-spon-
sored opportunities made available through the
Division of Continuing Education. More than
25,000 people participated in non-credit confer-
ences, workshops, institutes, and seminars. And
more than 7,500 students enrolled in Indepen-
dent Study by Correspondence courses, both
credit and non-credit.

Semester System
 The University of Florida operates on a
semester system. The academic year begins and
ends in August. During this period there are two
semesters averaging 15 weeks of instruction,
plus a week of final examinations and two six-
week summer terms. Semesters begin in August,
January, and May, with summer term offered as
a whole as Term C, or in two sessions as half
terms, with Term A beginning in May and Term
B beginning in June. In most of UF's colleges,
courses are scheduled in such a way that a stu-
dent may enter in any term and proceed normal-
ly through an appropriate sequence of courses.
Consult the individual college sections of the
catalog to determine programs that begin only in
designated terms.

Facilities
 On 2,000 acres, most of it within the limits of
an 85,000-population urban area, the University
of Florida operates out of more than 800 build-
ings, 142 of them equipped with classrooms and
laboratories. Facilities are valued at more than
$550 million. Notable among these are the Uni-
versity Art Gallery, a microkelvin laboratory
capable of producing the coldest temperature in
the universe, a 100-kilowatt training and
research nuclear reactor, the second largest aca-
demic computing center in the South, and one of
the nation's few self-contained intensive care
hyperbaric chambers for treating near-drowning
victims.
 The Florida Museum of Natural History,
located near the center of UF's campus, is the
largest natural history/anthropology museum in
the Southeast, and one of the top 10 in the
nation. Its research collections contain nearly 6.5
million specimens.
 The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, with
18,000 square feet of exhibit space, is one of the
largest museums in the Southeast.
 The Center for the Performing Arts, which
opened in January 1992, attracts world-class
symphony orchestras, Broadway plays, opera,
and large-scale ballet productions to Gainesville.
 The Stephen C. O'Connell Center and the J.
Wayne Reitz Union provide space for a myriad
of student and faculty activities. One thousand
persons can participate simultaneously in eight
different recreational activities in the O'Connell
Center, which is home to the Gator basketball,
swimming, and gymnastics teams. More than