About FAU
Florida Atlantic University created in 1961 by act of the Florida Legislature, went into operation in 1964 as the first university in the nation serving upper-division and graduate students exclusively. The University was dedicated on October 25, 1964, by President Lyndon B. Johnson, becoming one of the few American institutions of higher learning to be so honored by a sitting President of the United States. Twenty years later, in 1984, FAU became a four-year university when the first freshman class was admitted.
Today, more than 110,000 men and women are FAU alumni, and the University is serving about 28,000 degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate students on seven campuses. In addition to the original 850-acre campus in Boca Raton, FAU serves students at locations in Fort Lauderdale, Davie, Dania Beach, Jupiter, Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce.
The University is organized into 10 colleges: the College of Architecture, Urban and Public Affairs, the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Biomedical Science, College of Business, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and the Graduate College.
FAU has fully funded Eminent Scholar Chairs in academic areas that include engineering, business, community education, the arts, social science, nursing, marine biology, philosophy, Holocaust studies, Judaic studies, brain science and growth management.
Playing an important part in furthering the mission of the University are a number of centers and institutes dedicated to specific academic or research pursuits. For example, FAU is home to two Florida Centers of Excellence: the first, in biomedical and marine biotechnology, is dedicated to expediting the discovery and commercialization of new medicines from the sea; and the second, in ocean energy technology, explores methods of harnessing energy from ocean currents. The Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute recently came under the FAU umbrella as a research center. In addition, FAU is now home to one of the world's finest American Revolution-era document collections.
The University has also entered into joint research and education agreements with three of the premier scientific research organizations in the world: The Scripps Research Institute, the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies and the Max Planck Society. Active partnerships with the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Research Institute – a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center – and the Smithsonian Marine Station enhance FAU's mission. And, through a unique public/private partnership, FAU offers a complete medical education program that has received full funding by the Florida legislature and is on-track to be self-sustaining.
One of Florida's 11 public universities, FAU is committed to serving the educational needs of persons of retirement age through non-credit courses offered by the Lifelong Learning Society, which is believed to be the largest and most successful organization of its kind in the United States.
