The Brogan Years
A Timeline of University Milestones during Brogan Administration
2003
• FAU alumnus Frank T. Brogan (M.Ed. ’81) is named the fifth president of Florida Atlantic University by the FAU Board of Trustees.
• 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. FAU is chosen as the research giant’s first partner institution in Florida.
• Black Issues in Higher Education and Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education rank FAU among the nation’s top 50 four-year colleges and universities for conferring bachelor's degrees on African American and 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.
2004
• 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 on its service area exceeds $1 billion annually.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• 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 over the course of four decades.
2005
• 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.
• 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' publishing arm, Minerva: The Press at Wimberly.
2006
• The Board of Trustees approves FAU’s strategic plan, a comprehensive document created over an 18-month period by a broadly inclusive task force. The plan provides a road map for the University’s growth through 2013.
• The Council for Excellence in Undergraduate Education is established at FAU.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 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 Harbor Branch, FAU’s partner facility in Fort Pierce, pending construction of their own permanent home on the Treasure Coast.
2007
• 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 on the Boca Raton campus for the Office Depot Center for Executive Education, which will be part of the Barry Kaye College of Business. Construction of the facility is made possible by $2.8 million from Office Depot, which doubles to $5.6 million when combined with state matching funds.
• FAU alumnus Steve Swanson ’86, a NASA astronaut and mission specialist, takes the FAU flag into space aboard the space shuttle Atlantis on a trip to the orbiting International Space Station.
• The Princeton Review places FAU on its 2008 best business schools list.
• The first Freshman Convocation is held, with Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief , as keynote speaker.
• 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
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Palm Beach County Commissioners unanimously approve an allocation of $89.6 million to build and operate a 100,000-square-foot biomedical research facility for the Max Planck Society 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.
• 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 designed to achieve the platinum standard of energy efficiency established by the U.S. Green Building Council. The ceremony consists of dignitaries pouring dirt around the base of a tree that will become part of the landscaping.
• FAU's football team wins the Motor City Bowl, becoming the youngest team in NCAA history to win back-to-back bowl games.
2009
• 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.
• The Public Ethics Academy is established within the College of Architecture, Urban and Public Affairs.
• Fort Lauderdale’s first large-scale solar array is installed on the roof of the FAU/Broward College Higher Education Complex. The project, sponsored by the School of Urban and Regional Planning and funded by a private donor, originated with a suggestion from a student. A portion of the energy cost savings is used to create the Sun Fund Scholarship.
