A HISTORY YOU CAN BE PROUD OF
 The University of Florida is a state land-grant university offering an excel-
lent faculty, a challenging curriculum, and a well-rounded student life.
 Until 1853 when the East Florida Seminary was established at Ocala, there
were no state colleges in Florida.
 In 1862, with the passage of the Morrill Act, the State of Florida began to
make its first strides towards a great state university. The State Legislature
took an action unprecedented in state education and passed the Buckman
Act, 1905 which provided for the establishment of the Florida Female Col-
lege at Tallahassee and the University of the State of Florida at GainesvilJe.
 Florida's modern history dates from the Buckman Act and since that time,
progress towards the goal of a great university has been steady.
 The first president, Dr. Andrew Sledd, had only two permanent buildings
and a faculty of 15 members with which to conduct classes for approximately
119 students. Dr. A. A. Murphree became the second president, and under
his guidance, additional buildings were built and new colleges and departments
were added to the curriculum.
 During the administration of the University's third president, Dr. John J.
Tigert, the famous University College, in which you will spend your first two
years at Florida, was organized to give students a broad and comprehensive
background in the several fields of study.
 In 1947, the University entered upon another great period of progress when
Dr. J. Hillis Miller assumed the reins of the presidency, and co-education was
introduced. In these last six years, the University's facilities and curricula
have been expanded to a greater degree than ever before. Many new buildings
have been built while future building plans include: new residence halls, an
Alumni Memorial Center, an Agriculture Building, a Business Administration
Building, and a Physics Building.
 This is but a portion of the story of the growth of your State University, but
it should be evident that the University of Florida has come far within the last
one hundred years and that it will continue to progress. It is for you, the
freshmen to individually take it upon yourselves to work and cooperate to keep
your University in the fore of the nation's finest institutions of higher learning.
 Famed General James A. Van Fleet, former football coach to the Uni-
 versity, returned to his alma mater last Spring as the honored guest at
 the Centennial Celebration.