The Florida Board of Governors on Thursday approved UCF\u2019s ambitious plan to attain the status of \u201cPreeminent Research University\u201d within five years.<\/p>\n
The unanimous vote formally recognizes the University of Central Florida as an \u201cEmerging Preeminent Research University\u201d and authorizes the release of an additional $5 million in state funds to the university.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith your ongoing support, UCF will help advance Florida to national prominence as we make Central Florida an extraordinary place to study, to work, to play, and to live,\u201d President John C. Hitt told board members gathered at New College in Sarasota.<\/p>\n
With Thursday\u2019s vote, UCF and the University of South Florida have now been awarded the newly created designation of \u201cEmerging Preeminent Research University\u201d by meeting certain quality benchmarks established by the state. That designation allows UCF to work toward the same preeminent status now held only by UF and FSU.<\/p>\n
The university plans to use the additional $5 million in state money to enhance quality and move closer toward preeminent status.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the same strategy that has guided the university\u2019s use of performance funding from the state over the past several years.<\/p>\n
Four years ago, the Legislature instituted performance funding, which awards additional revenue to state universities that meet quality standards in areas including graduation and retention rates, post-graduation employment, continuing education and others.<\/p>\n
This year, UCF was first among the state\u2019s 12 public universities \u2013 its second first-place finish. UCF is the only institution to be in the top three every year the rankings have been in place.<\/p>\n
UCF has used most of that extra money to hire 200 additional tenured and tenure-track faculty members, and plans to use this year\u2019s performance funds to add another 45.<\/p>\n
The university already has achieved seven of the 12 measures required to earn preeminent status, including national rankings, GPA and SAT scores, graduation rates, research spending, patents earned and doctoral degrees awarded.<\/p>\n
\u201cUCF will remain diligent in building on the metrics we have reached. And we will use the emerging preeminence funding to help us attain full preeminence status,\u201d Hitt said.<\/p>\n
UCF\u2019s goals for achieving that status include:<\/p>\n
In a separate presentation, the Board of Governors also heard about best practices in 2+2 articulation, with the DirectConnect to UCF program serving as a model. Jeff Jones, UCF\u2019s vice provost for Regional Campuses, explained how the program provides smooth transitions and timely degree completion for students who transfer to UCF after earning associate\u2019s degrees from six partner state colleges.<\/p>\n
Jones explained how UCF and its partner state colleges are coordinating curriculum and degree programs to ensure transfer students are ready when they come to UCF, and how UCF faculty and staff are embedded at partner institutions. At the same time, DirectConnect to UCF is closing the achievement gap between traditional and transfer students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vote is a Milestone in University’s History<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":74135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,27],"tags":[516,15761],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-74134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-student-life","tag-board-of-governors","tag-pegasus-briefs"],"yoast_head":"\n