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Milestones in FAU History (2000-Today)2000
• Fall semester enrollment is 21,466.
• FAU alumnus Scott Adams contributes $2 million to the College of Business to establish the Internet Institute and the Adams Center for Information Technology (IT) Product Management and Entrepreneurship. State matching funds increase the gift to $4 million.
• The School of Social Work, formerly the Department of Social Work, is established.
• The John M. DeGrove Eminent Scholar Chair in Growth Management and Development is established through a gift from an anonymous donor.
• The Helen Karpelenia Persson Eminent Scholar Chair in Community Caring is established through a gift from Helen Karpelenia Persson.
• The Davimos Family Eminent Scholar Chair in Brain Sciences is established through a gift from Richard H. Davimos.
• The women's softball team wins the TAAC championship for the fourth time.
• The 61,000-square-foot Tom Oxley Athletic Center, the only coeducational facility of its kind in the country, opens on the Boca Raton campus.
• Sponsored research funding exceeds $37 million.
2001
• Terrorists crash airliners into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania just as President Catanese is preparing to deliver the 2001 State of the University Address in the University Theatre. The address is postponed, replaced by a moment of silence. The University is evacuated after Governor Jeb Bush orders all state facilities closed. That evening, residence hall students hold a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims.
• Fall semester enrollment is 23,819.
• The Board of Regents is dissolved by action of the Legislature and replaced by individual Boards of Trustees at Florida's 11 public universities. The Trustees are appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush. John Temple is named the founding chair of FAU's Board of Trustees.
• Christine E. Lynn makes a gift of $10 million to the College of Nursing, which is named in her honor.
• The 12-story Florida Atlantic University/Broward Community College Higher Education Complex opens on the Downtown Fort Lauderdale campus, adjacent to the Reubin O’D. Askew University Tower. It is the first facility in the nation designed to house both university and community college programs under one roof.
• Indian River Towers, a 600-bed, state-of-the-art student residence facility, opens on the Boca Raton campus.
• Students in Florida Atlantic University’s School of Accounting place seventh among all colleges and universities nationwide in a study conducted by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy.
• Louis and Anne Green donate $1.5 million to establish the Louis and Anne Green Alzheimer’s Research Center and Care Facility on the Boca Raton campus. The Center is affiliated with the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and Boca Raton Community Hospital.
• Forseti Biosciences, Inc., the university's first biotechnology spin-off company, is founded by Dr. Ramaswamy Narayanan and Dr. Gary Perry of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science.
• The FAU Fighting Owls play their first football game on September 1, 2001, at Miami's Pro Player Stadium against Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, losing 40-7.
• The FAU Fighting Owls play their second football game on September 8, 2001, scoring a 31-28 upset victory over No. 22-ranked Bethune-Cookman University.
• The women's softball team records a fifth championship, playing in the Atlantic Sun Conference (formerly the Trans America Athletic Conference).• FAU's athletic programs are ranked among the best NCAA Division I programs in the nation by Sports Illustrated.
2002
• Fall semester enrollment is 24,119.
• President Catanese resigns to accept the presidency of the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne.
• Voters approve creation of a statewide Florida Board of Governors to oversee the State University System. The Boards of Trustees serving individual universities remain intact.
• Access to higher education on the Treasure Coast increases dramatically as FAU and Indian River Community College open a joint campus in Port St. Lucie.
• A team of FAU computer science and engineering students develops CodeBlue, a computer-based health monitoring system that can connect people to their healthcare providers via the web. The project is named one of the year's 10 best student inventions worldwide by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
• George Cornell makes a $10 million gift to the Honors College, which is named to honor his late wife, Harriet L. Wilkes. State matching funds increase the value of the gift to $20 million.
• Tamar and Milton Maltz make a $1 million donation to the Lifelong Learning Society on the Jupiter campus to build the 500-seat Tamar and Milton Maltz Center for Learning and the Performing Arts.
• The Charles E. Schmidt Biomedical Science Center is dedicated on the Boca Raton campus, with Governor Jeb Bush officiating.
• The three-building Florida Atlantic University/Indian River Community College campus opens in Port St. Lucie, greatly enhancing Treasure Coast residents’ access to higher education.
• The Eleanor R. Baldwin House, a presidential residence and University reception center, opens on the Boca Raton campus.
• The Kenan Evren Eminent Scholar Chair in Turkish Studies is established through gifts obtained by the Turkish American Business, Education and Cultural Development Organization.
• The Office Depot Eminent Scholar Chair in Small Business Research is established through a gift from Office Depot, Inc.
• The College of Liberal Arts is merged into the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science to eliminate duplication of programs.
• FAU’s first capital campaign ends with $199 million in donations and pledges, almost double its original goal.
• Sponsored research activity exceeds $42 million.
• The Marching Owls band makes its debut at the season's first FAU football game.
• The women's softball team wins the Atlantic Sun Conference championship for the sixth time.
• The men's basketball team wins the Atlantic Sun Conference championship and gets invited to the NCAA Tournament --"the Big Dance."
• The baseball team wins FAU's first NCAA Regional Championship, beating No. 3-seeded Alabama and earning a No. 15 national ranking.
2003
• Fall semester begins with 25,261 students enrolled. FAU has the most diverse student body in the State University System, with enrollment of minority and international students totaling 41.3 percent.
• FAU alumnus Frank T. Brogan (M.Ed. ’81) is named the fifth president of Florida Atlantic University by the FAU Board of Trustees.
• Dr. George C. Zoley (BA '72, MPA '75) is named chair of the FAU Board of Trustees.
• FAU reaches $50 million in research expenditures.
• Dr. Ramaswamy Narayanan, a research professor in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, receives patent approval for a genetic approach to the detection of colon cancer.
• FAU is selected to become a member institution of Oak Ridge Associated Universities, a national consortium of research universities.
• Governor Jeb Bush announces that The Scripps Research Institute of La Jolla, California, one of the world’s largest and most accomplished biomedical research organizations, has decided to establish a major facility in Palm Beach County. Scripps chooses FAU as its first partner institution in Florida.
• Governor Jeb Bush delivers the keynote address as ground is broken on the Jupiter campus for the $12 million FAU/Scripps Joint Use Facility, which is to be the temporary home of Scripps Research Institute scientists pending construction of the research giant’s permanent South Florida headquarters on the eastern edge of campus.
• Black Issues in Higher Education ranks FAU 35th in the nation among four-year colleges and universities for conferring bachelor's degrees on African American students.
• Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education ranks FAU 47th in the nation among four-year colleges and universities for conferring bachelor's degrees on Hispanic students.
• FAU's School of Accounting is ranked sixth nationwide in a report issued by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. The ranking is based upon results of the CPA examination.
• Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel speaks at FAU and is awarded an honorary doctorate.
• The State of Florida awards FAU $10 million to establish the Center of Excellence in Biomedical and Marine Biotechnology, a research facility that will search the waters off Florida's coastline for drugs from natural sources that could be used to treat cancer, heart disease and other serious illnesses.
• Ground is broken for the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing Building on the Boca Raton campus.
• U.S. Secretary of Education Roderick R. Paige is the featured speaker at Florida’s first regional education conference, titled “Literacy in Teaching: Next Steps for University Partners.” The conference, held on the Boca Raton campus, is hosted by FAU’s College of Education.
• FAU becomes the regional training center for the Fulbright Program, America’s flagship international educational exchange program.
• The School of the Arts is created within the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters.
• Hoot/Wisdom Recordings, believed to be the first student-run label in the U.S., goes into operation at FAU under the supervision of Grammy-nominated composer/producer Michael Zager, the Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar in the Performing Arts.
• World-renowned primatologist Jane Goodall presents a lecture at FAU on chimpanzees, conservation and the environment.
• The women’s softball team wins the Atlantic Sun Conference championship for the seventh time and is listed among the all-time greatest teams in college softball history by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association. The team’s coach, Joan Joyce, ranks as a legendary figure in women’s sports.
• FAU football moves to Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. The Fighting Owls draw national attention as they advance to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs, becoming the youngest start-up program ever to achieve this. After defeating Northern Arizona 48-25, the Owls fall to Colgate, 36-24. With an 11-3 record, the team ends the season ranked No. 4 nationally by Sports Network.
2004
• Fall semester enrollment is 25,662.
• Wavelengths, an online classical radio station, is introduced by the Department of Communication. The webcast is a component of PROTEUS, the department’s multimedia website.
• The Board of Trustees grants conditional approval of FAU’s proposal to offer a high school program on the Boca Raton campus that will enable students to earn high school diplomas and university credits simultaneously.
• A study conducted by FAU’s Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Analysis shows that the University’s economic impact in its service area exceeds $1 billion annually.
• Heritage Park Towers, a 600-bed, state-of-the-art student residence facility opens on the Boca Raton campus.
• The first students accepted into a medical education program offered cooperatively by FAU and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine begin their studies in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science on the Boca Raton campus.
• FAU is awarded more than $10 million in federal funds to develop specialized research centers focusing on transportation, coastline security, secure telecommunications and Alzheimer's disease.
• The women’s softball team wins the Atlantic Sun Conference championship for the eighth straight time.
• Dr. Herbert Weissbach, director of FAU’s Center for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, publishes research results in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that suggest a new, enzyme-based treatment for heart and brain disease.
• George McGovern, former U.S. Senator and 1972 Democratic presidential candidate, speaks at FAU in the Presidential Symposia Lecture Series.
• FAU is awarded more than $10 million in federal earmark funding to support research in the areas of transportation safety, coastline security, secure telecommunications, infrastructure integrity and Alzheimer’s disease. This level of funding represents an increase of more than 1,000 percent over the previous year.
• The Virtual MBA program in the College of Business earns national recognition as it is ranked fourth best among all such programs in the United States by GetEducated.com. This honor follows a similar accolade from U.S. News & World Report, which listed the program among the top 25 nationally.
• The FAU Libraries' Judaica Music Rescue Project receives nearly 600 78 rpm phonograph records from the “Golden Age” of Jewish music (1902-1955), becoming one of the largest repositories of vintage Jewish music in Florida.
• The Entrepreneurship Program in the College of Business is rated the best in Florida by Entrepreneur magazine.
• FAU submits a letter of intent to the NCAA outlining the university’s plan to reclassify its football team from Division I-AA to Division I-A, a major step forward for the young program, which finished the 2003 season with an 11-3 record and a no. 4 national ranking.
• Panavision acquires the license to market digital imaging technology developed by Dr. William Glenn, distinguished professor of engineering at FAU.
• As FAU observes its 40th anniversary year (dating from 1964, the year the University opened its doors), a luncheon for founding faculty and staff members is held in the Grand Palm Room of the University Center on the Boca Raton campus. Many retirees return to campus to renew old ties and see for themselves how much FAU has grown since its inception.
• Florida experiences its worst hurricane season in four decades. The Broward, Boca Raton, Jupiter and Treasure Coast campuses are especially hard hit by Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, sustaining millions of dollars in damage to buildings and grounds. The homes of some students, faculty and staff are heavily damaged. A university-wide relief effort swings into action, generating help for the hurricane victims.
• Konbit Kreyol, FAU's Haitian student organization,leads a drive to send aid to Haiti, where the storms left more than 400,000 people homeless.
• Former Massachusetts Governor and 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis is a speaker in the Distinguished Lecture Series on the American Presidency. He is a longtime friend of FAU, having taught political science to the university’s undergraduates and Lifelong Learners in the 1990s.
• FAU and the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution break ground for the $11 million Marine Science Partnership Building on the Harbor Branch property in Fort Pierce.
• Tequesta Marine Biosciences, the first spin-off company to grow out of the university’s relationship with Scripps, is founded by FAU chemistry and biochemistry professor Russell Kerr, Scripps chemistry department chair K.C. Nicolaou and attorney Rhys L. Williams. The company’s research focus is on developing anti-inflammatory drugs from raw materials found in Florida’s ocean waters. This mission aligns perfectly with that of FAU’s Center of Excellence in Biomedical and Marine Technology, which Dr. Kerr directs. The company uses scientific technology licensed from FAU.
• Custom Synthesis Inc. (CSI), the second spin-off company to emerge from the FAU-Scripps alliance, is founded by FAU assistant professor of chemistry Salvatore Lepore and his wife, Susan Lepore, a licensed professional engineer. CSI, which specializes in the synthesis of custom organic compounds for biotech and pharmaceutical researchers, is retained by Scripps Florida to support its medicina chemistry group. Again, there is a direct linkage to FAU's Center of Excellence in Biomedical and Marine Technology, where Dr. Lepore is carrying out his research. CSI plans to license technology from FAU for marketing to the private biotech sector.
• The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters receives a $1 million gift from the family of the late Alan B. Larkin to support the study of the American presidency. The donation funds establishment of the annual Alan B. Larkin Symposium on the American Presidency. When combined with matching state funds, the value of the gift increases to $1.75 million.
• The Alexander D. Henderson University School is named a U.S. Blue Ribbon School, becoming one of 239 schools nationwide, and just 12 in Florida, to receive this performance-based recognition.
• 2,068 students receive undergraduate and graduate degrees during fall commencement ceremonies, bringing the number of FAU alumni to more than 87,000.
2005
• Fall semester enrollment is 25,994.
• Sherry Plymale is named chair of the FAU Board of Trustees.
• Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities, causing widespread loss of life and property damage. FAU joins the national relief effort that quickly gets under way, sending money and supplies through the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and other agencies. Forty-five students from Tulane, Xavier and other New Orleans-area universities are admitted to FAU on a temporary, emergency basis in order to allow them to continue their studies while their home campuses are closed for repairs.
• FAU unveils new institutional identity marks, including a new logo, athletic mark and university seal.
• Nobel Prize winner Dr. James Watson, co-discoverer of the DNA double-helix, delivers the first lecture in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science Hall of Fame Distinguished Lecture Series.
• Former U.S. Senator and 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern again speaks at FAU in conjunction with the Distinguished Lecture Series on the American Presidency.
• A ribbon-cutting ceremony is held on the Boca Raton campus for the Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center, a unit of the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing.
• The University Club donates a three-tiered bronze fountain topped by a sculpture of burrowing owls, which is placed on the back lawn of the Eleanor R. Baldwin House on the Boca Raton campus. The fountain and sculpture are the work of artist Bill Klug.
• Hoot/Wisdom Recordings releases its first two CDs: "Synchrofunkinicity" by The People UpStairs and "Dream Chasers: North American Nightscapes" by Dr. Heather Coltman, chair of the Music Department.
• The Treasure Coast campus marks the University's 40th anniversary by installing "The Port St. Lucie Arch," a piece of outdoor sculpture by artist Kenneth M. Thompson.
• A life-sized statue of FAU benefactor Charles E. Schmidt is unveiled in the lobby of the Charles E. Schmidt Biomedical Science Center on the Boca Raton campus. The artist is nationally known sculptor Seward Johnson.
• Former Tuskegee Airmen Richard Rutledge, Eldridge Williams and Pierre Henry speak at FAU in conjunction with the Distinguished Lecture Series on the American Presidency.
• Susan Eisenhower, an expert on U.S.-Russia relations and granddaughter of the late President Dwight D. Eisenhower, speaks at FAU in conjunction with the Distinguished Lecture Series on the American Presidency.
• A ribbon-cutting ceremony is held for the Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic Learning Through Listening® studio on the Boca Raton campus. The independent non-profit organization records textbooks for the use of visually, physically and neurologically impaired students.
• A ribbon-cutting ceremony is held for the FAU/Scripps Research Facility on the Jupiter campus. The keynote speaker is Gov. Jeb Bush.
• The first two graduates of FAU High School receive their diplomas in a ceremony held at the Eleanor R. Baldwin House and officiated by President Frank T. Brogan. The members of the two-person graduating class are Melissa Geary and Michael Barash.
• The University confers its 100,000th degree at the spring commencement ceremonies.
• Barry Kaye makes a $5 million gift to FAU to establish the Barry Kaye School of Finance, Insurance and Economics in the College of Business.
• The Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa sign an agreement to engage in a collaborative effort to develop new drugs and technology to treat cancer.
• The one-millionth book added to the FAU Libraries collection is titled A Field of Owls: The Burrowing Owl Observed. This handmade, limited-edition collection of essays is produced by the FAU Libraries' own publishing arm, Minerva: The Press at Wimberly.
• Black Issues in Higher Education lists FAU among the top 100 universities in the United States in conferring graduate degrees on minorities.
• The Division of Research and Graduate Studies presents its inaugural Research Day, featuring displays and presentations about research under way at FAU.
• In recognition of Carole and Barry Kaye's donation of $500,000 to FAU's arts programs, the University Center Auditorium is named for them. When combined with state matching funds, the value of their gift exceeds $1 million.
• The gymnasium on the Boca Raton campus is renamed the FAU Arena.
2006
• Fall semester enrollment is 25,657.
• The Charles E. Schmidt College of Biomedical Science is established, providing an administrative home for FAU’s medical education partnership program with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
• FAU creates the Council for Excellence in Undergraduate Education.
• The Department of Communication in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters becomes the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies.
• Peter and Susan Stein make a gift in excess of $1 million to the College of Business to establish a scholarship fund in memory of their son, Sean. The College's entrance area is named the Sean Stein Pavilion.
• The Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing headquarters facility opens on the Boca Raton campus. Certified at the gold level by the U.S. Green Building Council, it becomes FAU's first "green" (energy efficient) building.
• The College of Business opens a simulated Wall Street trading room that allows students to access tools similar to those used by investment management professionals.
• Office Depot makes a $2 million gift to the College of Business to fund construction of the Office Depot Center for Executive Education on the Boca Raton campus. State matching funds increase the gift to $4 million.
• Noted health and wellness expert Andrew Weil, M.D., presents a public lecture on the Boca Raton campus.
• Two FAU students, an alumnus and a College of Business faculty member participate in the Bike2Belarus project, a fundraiser for children in the Eastern European nation who are suffering from cancers caused by the meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 1986. Students Geno Roefaro and Christina Rodrigues, faculty member Dr. Michael Mullen and alumnus Robert Keller join other university- affiliated riders from across Europe in a 200-mile bicycle ride to fund construction of a hospice and other services for ill children and their families.
• FAU enters into an exclusive licensing agreement with CHS Resources LLC for commercialization of a new therapy for the treatment of skin cancer, developed by Dr. Herbert Weissbach, director of the Center for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science.
• The FAU Libraries receive a collection of Revolutionary War era books, original documents and papers valued at $3.8 million. The gift, from Marvin and Sybil Weiner, establishes FAU as nationally important resource center for scholars studying this period in American history.
• Researchers from FAU, Boca Raton Community Hospital and the University of Breman (Germany) develop an enhanced MRI imaging system for the early detection of breast cancer.
• The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics ranks FAU's NCAA Division I athletics program 79th best in the U.S.
• FAU receives a donation of Russian art valued at more than $2.25 million from Michael and Tonya Aranda of EH Building Group. The 997-piece collection is the single largest donation of artwork ever received by the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters.
• The Alexander D. Henderson University School is recognized by Florida Education Commissioner John Winn as one of the best-performing schools in the state.
• FAU is selected by the Florida Technology, Research and Scholarship Board to receive a $5 million state grant to establish the Florida Center of Excellence in Ocean Energy Technology. The mission of the Center is to develop ways to generate energy by harnessing ocean currents, with special focus on the Gulf Stream.
• FAU joins the IBM-led Latin American Grid, a supercomputer system uniting IT resources in North America, Latin America and Spain.
• Dr. Cecilia Campoverde of the School of Social Work is named Social Worker of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers. She is honored for her work as the founder and volunteer director of the Guatemalan Project, a non-profit organization assisting low-income rural families in Guatemala.
• FAU and the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies sign an agreement to enter a research and education partnership. Scientists from the internationally known, California-based biomedical research institute move into temporary quarters at FAU's Harbor Branch facility in Fort Pierce, pending construction of their own permanent home on the Treasure Coast.
2007
• Fall semester enrollment is 26,525.
• Norman Tripp is elected chair of the FAU Board of Trustees.
• Glades Park Towers, a 600-bed, state-of-the-art student residence hall, opens on the Boca Raton campus.
• Ground is broken on the Boca Raton campus for the Marleen and Harold Forkas Alumni Center, a $3.7 facility funded entirely by private donations. The naming gift of $1 million is provided by FAU benefactors Marleen and Harold Forkas.
• Ground is broken for a K-8 developmental research charter laboratory school in the new planned community of Tradition in Port St. Lucie. The FAU-affiliated public school is modeled on the A.D. Henderson University School.
• Ground is broken on the Jupiter campus for the first phase of the Scripps Florida complex – three buildings totaling 350,000 square feet of laboratory and administrative space.
• The five-story, 20,000-square-foot Paul C. Wimbish Wing of the S.E. Wimberly Library opens on the Boca Raton campus.
• Under the auspices of FAU's Daniel B. Weppner Volunteer Center, 29 students, one alumnus and five advisers spend Spring Break in New Orleans doing volunteer work among low- and moderate-income families whose lives were disrupted by Hurricane Katrina.
• Ground is broken for an environmental magnet school at FAU's Pine Jog Environmental Education Center in West Palm Beach. The public elementary school is the first school in Florida designed to meet "green" standards.
• Harold and Patricia Toppel, through the Toppel Family Foundation, make a $3 million donation to the College of Education to establish the Toppel Family Early Childhood Education Institute on the Boca Raton campus.
• FAU and the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies enter into an agreement to work collaboratively on the development of anti-cancer drugs and therapies.
• Ground is broken on the Boca Raton campus for the Office Depot Center for Executive Education, which will be part of the College of Business. Construction of the facility is made possible by a $2.8 million gift from Office Depot, which doubles to $5.6 million when combined with state matching funds.
• The first Freshman Convocation is held, with Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief, as keynote speaker.
• The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University welcomes its inaugural class of four- year medical students.
• Ground is broken for a 31,000-square-foot classroom building on the Treasure Coast campus.
• Vince Wilson Traditions Plaza is dedicated on the Boca Raton campus. A gift of the 2006 and 2007 senior classes, the plaza is named after lead donor Vince Wilson, a 2002 alumnus.
• FAU is awarded a patent for an invention by Dr. Larry Lemanski and Dr. Chi Zhang that induces and restores cardiac muscle function
• The Princeton Review places FAU on its 2008 best business schools list.
• FAU embarks upon "Mission Green," a campaign to promote sustainability through education, operations and community engagement.
• The Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce becomes part of FAU. Its name is changed to the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.
• The Graduate College is established as FAU's 10th college.
• The FAU Owls, under Head Football Coach Howard Schnellenberger, stun the world of college sports by winning both the Sun Belt Conference Championship and the New Orleans Bowl. The seven-year-old team becomes the youngest in NCAA history to win a bowl game.
2008
• Fall semester enrollment is 26,897.
• Norman Tripp leaves the FAU Board of Trustees to accept a position on the statewide Board of Governors. Nancy Blosser is named chair of the FAU Board of Trustees.
• FAU hosts five Republican candidates for president of the United States in a nationally televised primary debate sponsored by Leadership Florida, the Florida Press Association and the Florida Public Broadcasting Service. NBC, MSNBC and PBS stations throughout Florida carry the broadcast live. The candidates are Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. Moderating the debate are NBC newscasters Brian Williams and Tim Russert.
• Dr. Günter Blobel, recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, is the featured speaker at the 2008 Distinguished Nobel Laureate Lecture, presented by the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and Scripps Florida.
• The Student Union on the Davie campus opens.
• The Information Resource Management Computer Center on the Boca Raton campus opens.
• The FAU Libraries receive a gift of more than 4,000 vintage Judaica recordings, many of them rare and in mint condition.
• Pine Jog Elementary School, Florida's first "green" school, opens on the grounds of the newly rebuilt Pine Jog Environmental Education Center in West Palm Beach.
• The Weppner Center for Civic Engagement and Service (formerly known as the Weppner Volunteer Center) organizes an "alternative spring break" trip for 26 students, who conduct clean-up projects at several state parks in Florida.
• World-renowned primatologist and United Nations Messenger of Peace Jane Goodall makes a second appearance at FAU, addressing an audience of more than 1,500 in the FAU Arena.
• The newly renovated Ocean Discovery Center, an interactive community educational facility, opens at Harbor Branch.
• Veteran journalist Helen Thomas, who has covered the White House since the Kennedy Administration, delivers a lecture to an audience of more than 1,700 in the Carole and Barry Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium.
• The Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing hosts the first Caring in Nursing conference, bringing together six of the most eminent nursing scholars in the world.
• FAU announces plans to build Innovation Village, a housing, dining and shopping complex on the Boca Raton campus that will be anchored by a football stadium.
• FAU's student delegation to the 2008 National Model United Nations simulation in New York receives a Distinguished Delegation Award.
• An emergency alert system is installed on the Boca Raton campus, consisting of a siren and public address system. Components with University-wide reach include email, voicemail and web alert systems, as well as telephone hotlines.
• FAU files a patent for a robotic device designed to help rehabilitate people suffering from neurological damage to their arms due to stroke, Parkinson's disease and other disorders. The device was developed by Dr. Oren Masory, chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and graduate student Melissa Morris.
• Diverse: Issues in Higher Education and Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education rank FAU among the top 50 universities in the U.S. for conferring bachelor's degrees on minority students.
• President Brogan is named president of the Sun Belt Conference Executive Committee. He also serves on the NCAA Board of Directors.
• Palm Beach County Commissioners unanimously approve an allocation of $89.6 million to build and operate a 100,000-square-foot biomedical research facility on the Jupiter campus for the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science. on FAU's Jupiter campus. This facility, the first to be established in the United States by the internationally prominent Max Planck Society, will focus on advancing knowledge of molecular processes.
• The FAU Board of Trustees unanimously votes to extend President Brogan's employment contract for six years, commencing in March 2009. BOT Chair Nancy Blosser commends him for providing "strong, effective, goal- oriented leadership to Florida Atlantic University" during his first six-year term.
• Living Room Theaters, Inc. makes a $1.5 million donation to the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies to build a multimedia movie theater complex on the Boca Raton campus.
• The Princeton Review names the College of Business to its 2009 list of best business schools.
• The Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History provides a three-year, $250,000 gift to establish the Jack Miller Forum for Civics Education at FAU.
• The Marleen and Harold Forkas Alumni Center opens on the Boca Raton campus.
• The Palm Pointe Educational Research School at Tradition in Port St. Lucie opens. The K-8 charter laboratory school is patterned on FAU's A.D. Henderson University School and has links to FAU faculty members and education researchers.
• A "ground greening" ceremony is held to mark the beginning of construction of a new headquarters facility on the Boca Raton campus for the College of Engineering and Computer Science. The facility has been planned to become a model of best practices advocated by the U.S. Green Building Council. The ceremony consists of dignitaries pouring dirt around the base of a tree that will be part of the landscaping.
• The Office Depot Center for Executive Education opens on the Boca Raton campus.
• The Phase II Expansion Building opens on the Port St. Lucie campus. The two-story, 31,432-square-foot facility doubles the amount of classroom space on the campus while also providing additional office space.
• FAU mathematics student Oleg Rudenko places in the top 16 of the 2008 William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, a prestigious event that attracted 3,627 participants.
• FAU's football team wins the Motor City Bowl, becoming the only college team in Florida to win back-to-back bowl games during the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
2009
• The university welcomes an all-time-high student body of just over 28,000 as the fall semester begins.
• FAU’s Daniel B. Weppner Center for Civic Engagement and Service is named to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service-learning and civic engagement. The Weppner Center is recognized for its service-learning curriculum, creative community service programs and student participation in those programs.
• An emergency alert siren/PA system is installed on the Jupiter campus.
• Ground is broken on the Davie campus for a 75,000- square-foot joint-use facility that will house environmental researchers from Florida Atlantic University and the University of Florida
• Bert Sakmann, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology in Munich, Germany, delivers the 2009 Nobel Laureate Lecture, an event sponsored by the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. Dr. Sakmann and physicist Erwin Neher shared the 1991 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
• Researchers at FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute agree to work joingly with Egyptian scientists on advancing marine research in the Red Sea.
• The Public Ethics Academy is established within the College of Architecture, Urban and Public Affairs.
• KULTUR Festival 2009, a five-day inaugural celebration of Jewish music and arts, kicks off at FAU.
• Harbor Branch researcher and colleagues discover first vertebrae with eyes that use mirrors rather than lenses.
• Researchers at FAU’s Center for Complex Systems and Brain Science contribute the January 2009 cover story to Progress in Neurobiology. Their work presents a theoretical model of how areas of the human brain can operate independently and in cooperation with one another at the same time.
• FAU’s Center for Autism and Related Disabilities hosts a statewide conference.
• The Charles E. Schmidt College of Biomedical Science launches a pilot program to interest high school students from medically underserved areas in becoming physicians.
• The first large-scale solar roof project in Fort Lauderdale is installed on the roof of the Higher Education Complex on the downtown Fort Lauderdale campus. Governor Charlie Crist presides at the unveiling ceremony. Suggested by graduate student Rachel Kalin and brought to fruition through the efforts of Dr. Jaap Vos of the School of Urban and Regional Planning, it attracts widespread attention including an inquiry from King Juan Carlos I of Spain through the Spanish consulate in Miami.
• The Recreation and Fitness Center is dedicated on the Boca Raton campus.
• FAU receives $2.1 million from the South Florida Water Management District to participate in the Kissimmee River Restoration.
• The inaugural Women’s Leadership Forum is presented, sponsored by the Women’s Studies Center and the Diversity Committee. The keynote speaker is Dr. Suzanna Rose, senior associate dean for the sciences at Florida International University.
• NASA astronaut and FAU alumnus Steve Swanson takes the flag of the College of Engineering and Computer Science into space aboard a shuttle flight. Upon the mission’s conclusion, he presents it to Dean Karl Stevens.
• The fau.com website is launched by the Division of University Communications and Marketing as an adjunct to the fau.edu website. It highlights people and events at FAU of interest to the greater community, links to FAU on iTunes U and offers visitors the opportunity to purchase FAU merchandise, among other features.
• Michael Zager, the Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar in the Performing Arts and director of FAU’s commercial music program, goes to Thailand under the Fulbright Specialist Grant program and facilitates establishment of a student-run record label at Payap University. An Emmy Award-winning music producer, he is the founder of FAU’s Hoot/Wisdom Recordings, believed to be the first university-based label in the United States.
• FAU’s Model United Nations delegation receives a Distinguished Delegation Award for its participation in the 2009 National Model United Nations simulation in New York City.
• The Center for Ocean Energy Technology deploys acoustic Doppler current profilers to monitor South Florida’s ocean current as part of the effort to establish a sustainable ocean energy industry.
• FAU High School graduates the largest class in its five-year history. The 2009 class of 18 outstanding students includes National Merit finalists, a graduate with a perfect SAT score in mathematics and the school’s youngest-ever graduate, a 16-year-old.
• Ground is broken on the Boca Raton campus for an innovatively designed classroom building to serve FAU High students and middle-school students enrolled at the A.D. Henderson University School.
• The governance structure for the six partner campuses is consolidated, as Dr. Joyanne Stephens assumes oversight responsibilities as vice president and associate provost of regional campuses.
• President Brogan is named to the NCAA Division I executive committee.
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) select Harbor Branch as the site of the Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research and Technology. The designation comes with a five-year, $22.5 million award. The institute will be co-managed by Harbor Branch and the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
• Harbor Branch receives $2 million from the U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Naval Research, to continue the development of underwater laser imaging technology to promote coastal and port security and expand eco-system monitoring.
• Ground is broken on the Boca Raton campus for a classroom/office facility that will include the first all-digital motion picture complex to be located at a university. The movie complex will be operated by Living Room Theaters, Inc., which donated $1.5 million toward its construction.
• Diverse: Issues in Higher Education ranks FAU 12th in the nation among four-year colleges in conferring bachelor’s degrees on African American students and 26th in the nation in conferring bachelor’s degrees on Hispanic students.
• The Talon 1, a one-person, human-powered submarine designed, built and operated by students, wins first place for speed and second place overall in the 10th International Submarine Race at the U.S. Naval Warfare Center’s Carderock Division in Bethesda, Maryland. The sub reaches a speed of 6.298 knots to lead the field of 21 teams from around the nation and the world.
• Laura Daniels, a student in the School of Architecture, designs a prototype for a new generation of bus shelters for Broward County Transit. Her design features solar panels that generate electricity to run the information system, alert passengers to bus arrival and provide lighting in the evening. Broward County Transit plans to install the first of the shelters at selected locations by the end of 2010.
• The Florida Board of Governors unanimously appoints Frank T. Brogan chancellor of the State University System, giving him administrative oversight authority over all 11 member institutions. He resigns the presidency of FAU after serving for just over six years.
• Dr. John F. Pritchett, provost and chief academic officer at FAU since 2004, is named interim president by unanimous vote of the FAU Board of Trustees. The national search for FAU’s next president gets under way.
• FAU’s Klezmer Company Orchestra (KCO), under the direction of Aaron Kula, wins two major awards from Just Plain Folks, the world’s largest grassroots music organization. KCO’s CD “Beyond the Tribes” is named the Best Klezmer Album of 2009, and the group’s single “2nd Avenue Hoedown” takes Best Klezmer Song honors.
• The world premiere performance of “Encircling Skies” by American composer Libby Larsen is presented at FAU by the FAU Wind Ensemble, the FAU Chamber Singers, the FAU Symphony Orchestra and faculty artists Edward Turgeon, Anne Louise-Turgeon, Heather Coltman, Tim Walters and James Cunningham.
• FAU receives a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to establish the Center for Advanced Knowledge Enablement. The center, one of two funded by the NSF in Florida, will work in the areas of information technology, communication and computing.
• The Max Planck Florida Institute finalizes an agreement to locate permanently on a six-acre site adjacent to Scripps Florida on FAU’s Jupiter campus.
• Dr. Charles H. Hennekens, who was the first to demonstrate that aspirin can prevent a first heart attack or stroke, presents findings at the American Heart Association’s Annual Scientific Sessions showing another beneficial effect of aspirin therapy, the release of nitric oxide from the blood vessel wall. This action may decrease the development and progression of plaques leading to heart attacks and strokes.
• The Klezmer Company Orchestra presents its second six-day Kultur Festival celebrating Jewish music and arts.
• Scientists at Harbor Branch unlock the mystery of creating high-quality cultured pearls from the queen conch.
2010
• The university’s Breathe Easy campaign gets under way. Smoking is restricted to certain designated areas on the Boca Raton campus and free clinics are offered to help smokers quit.
• A devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake hits Haiti on Jan. 12, killing up to 200,000 people and leaving 2 million homeless. The FAU community joins the international relief effort, donating canned food, clothing and money through Food for the Poor. FAU’s outreach is coordinated by the Weppner Center for Cvic Engagement and Service.
• On Feb. 24, FAU has the privilege of hosting His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet during his first visit to Palm Beach County. The Dalai Lama delivers a public address in the FAU Arena titled “Compassion as a Pillar of World Peace.” Five thousand people hear him speak in person as an overflow crowd watches via a simulcast beamed to the Carole and Barry Kaye Auditorium.
• On March 3, the FAU Board of Trustees unanimously selects Dr. Mary Jane Saunders to serve as the university’s sixth president. Formerly provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Cleveland State University, Dr. Saunders has a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Massachusetts.
• Ground is broken on the Boca Raton campus for the first phase of Innovation Village Apartments, a residential complex for upper-division and graduate students.
• The Pine Jog Environmental Education Center celebrates its 50th anniversary with a “Green Gala.”
• The 2010 Nobel Laureate Lecture is delivered by Professor Sir Harold “Harry” Kroto, recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his co-discovery of C60, a pure form or carbon and one of the first building blocks of nanotechnology.
• Dr. Marc Kantorow, professor of biomedical sciences in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Biomedical Science, receives a grant renewal of $1.6 million from the National Institutes of Health to investigate natural eye repair systems that could be used to treat age-related eye diseases.
• The Florida Legislature and Governor Charlie Crist approve an independent medical education program at FAU. Students in the program will be able to earn both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees, with the Ph.D. in biomedical sciences offered through FAU’s partnership with the Scripps institute Kellogg School of Science and Technology.
• The College of Architecture, Urban and Public Affairs changes its name to the College for Design and Social Inquiry.
• On June 7, Dr. Mary Jane Saunders begins serving as the sixth president of FAU.
