, also commonly referred to as '''FSU''' or '''Florida State''', is a comprehensive, graduate-national research
University founded in
1851 and located in
Tallahassee, Florida . Its president is Dr.
T. K. Wetherell . The
University is composed of 17 colleges and institutes that offer more than 300 programs of study. FSU's more notable programs include
Business ,
Creative Writing ,
Criminology ,
Education ,
Evolutionary Biology ,
Dance ,
Film ,
Music ,
Hospitality ,
Political Science ,
Information Studies , Physics and
Meteorology . FSU is the oldest continuous site of higher education in Florida.
Florida State's main campus is located at in
Tallahassee near the Florida State Capitol building. The campus is bordered by Tennessee Street (
U.S. Highway 90 ) to the north, Gaines Street to the south, Stadium Drive to the west, and Macomb Street to the east.
StarMetro provides free transportation for students to and from the university.
Florida State also maintains two additional campuses in
Panama City and
Sarasota . Additionally, Florida State operates an overseas branch campus with degree programs in the Republic of
Panama .
In addition to the branch campuses, the university offers a variety of overseas study opportunities for students during the regular academic year, as well as in special summer programs. FSU operates study centers for overseas study oppare located in
Florence, Italy ; Republic of
Panama ;
Valencia, Spain ; and
London, England .
The university is home to the
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory , funded by the
National Science Foundation . Other research centers, such as the Center for Advanced Power Systems, supported by the
Office Of Naval Research , place the university at the cutting edge of research and its application to industry. Beginning January, 2006 the Applied Superconductivity Center, formerly located at the University of Wisconsin at Madison will be located at the university. The Center is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and other government agencies.
The John and Mable Ringling Museum in
Sarasota is affiliated with the university, and is the largest museum/university complex in the U.S. and houses one of the most significant collections of fine art in
North America . It is recognized as the official State Art Museum of Florida.
The Legislature of the State of Florida in a Legislative Act of
January 24 ,
1851 provided for the establishment of two seminaries of learning, one to be located east and the other west of the Suwannee River. By 1854, the City of Tallahassee had established a school for boys called the Florida Institute. The city's hope was that the State would take it over as one of the seminaries. After an unsuccessful attempt by the city to make this happen in 1854, Mayor
Francis Eppes in 1857, again made the offer which was accepted by the Florida Legislature.
In
1857 first meeting of the Board of Education of the State Seminary West of the Suwannee River was held. The school became co-education the following year, when it absorbed the Tallahassee Female Academy, begun in 1843 as the Misses Bates School. The school existed as the West Florida Seminary from 1857 until 1863, when the state legislature changed the name to The Florida Military and Collegiate Institute, reflecting the addition of a military section which trained cadets. On March 6, 1865 Institute cadets and other men of Tallahassee successfully prevented Federal troops from taking Tallahassee at the Battle of Natural Bridge. This battle participation enables the current ROTC unit at FSU to display a battle streamer titled "Natural Bridge 1865". FSU is one of two universities to have this distinction.
In , Florida's educational system was reorganized by the state Legislature, and six state institutions of higher learning were consolidated into two when the
University Of Florida in
Gainesville was established and designated a men's school and the Florida State College became a women's school called the Florida Female College. In
1909 the name of the college was changed to Florida State College for Women. Demand by returning World War II veterans had brought men back to the campus in 1946 with the establishment of the Tallahassee Branch of the University of Florida.
On May 15, 1947, the Governor of Florida signed an act of the Legislature returning Florida State College for Women to coeducational status and naming it The Florida State University. Today, the student population is almost 40,000. Florida State is also the home of the first chapter (Alpha) of the
Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society in the state of Florida, and is home to one of the oldest schools of public administration in the country. Florida State is presently is comprised of seventeen independent schools and colleges.
The Westcott Building at Florida State University is located on the hill where the West Florida Seminary once stood, which has been the site of an institution of higher education longer than any other site in Florida.
Florida State University has leading graduate, undergraduate, and professional programs that include
Law and
Medicine .
In the 2006
U.S. News & World Report of Best Colleges, Florida State was ranked 51st (from 54th in 2005) among all public research universities in the U.S, and is ranked 109th (up from 111 in 2005) among all national universities. Florida State was ranked higher than any Florida public university except the
University Of Florida .
The fully accredited is the first new
M.D. program to be established in the
United States since 1982. It is charting a new course for medical education with an emphasis on the use of
Interdisciplinary Teams and emerging new
Technology . Created in June of 2000 by the
Florida Legislature , its mission is educating physicians to serve the state's rural, geriatric, minority and other medically underserved populations. The
Medical School 's regional campuses are in
Tallahassee ,
Pensacola ,
Jacksonville ,
Orlando ,
Sarasota , and
Ft. Myers .
The has jumped to 53rd in the 2006 edition of the influential national rankings of law schools by
U.S. News & World Report . The magazine's 2006 edition of America's Best Graduate Schools also ranks the College of
Law as one of the most diverse in the country.
Environmental Law Program Ranks 14th in Nation.
Hispanic Business Magazine has ranked the College of
Law among the top 10 law schools in the nation for
Hispanics for the second consecutive year. Hispanics made up 9% of the school's 748-member student body and received 11% of the 205 law degrees awarded to the class of 2004.
The '''College of was ranked 15th and is the highest ranked MIS program in the State of Florida.
The is in the College of
Business at FSU, and is located at Doak Campbell Stadium. Based on input from industry representatives, the
Hospitality Management major's business component is what attracts companies to FSU students; as a result the school boasts a consistent 100% job placement record. The Dedman School of
Hospitality also offers a major in
Professional Golf Management , one of seventeen programs nationwide accredited by The
Professional Golfers' Association Of America (PGA), to prepare students to meet the challenges found in the world of professional
Golf . The state of Florida has more golf courses than any other state in the country and is the headquarters for the
PGA ,
LPGA ,
PGA Tour , and
National Golf Foundation and FSU has a long, distinguished history of graduating professional golfers and educating students for business and hospitality operations.
FSU's program is the only Florida school that is a
National Center Of Academic Excellence In Information Assurance Education (CAE/IAE) by the
National Security Agency . Its peers includes schools such as the nation's first computer science school at
Carnegie Mellon University , and
University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign . This designation is attained through a competitive process that evaluates the school's ability to meet rigorous standards for information assurance education.
The 's programs in
Information Studies/Technology is one of the most respected and consistently top-ranked programs in the nation and has held such rankings for many years in the
U.S. News & World Report . The program tied for 12th, the School Library Media program ranked 2nd and the Services for Children and Youth specialization program tied for 2nd. The college has the largest online
MLS program in the nation. According to the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper, the undergraduate program in
Information Technology is sprouting in popularity.
The is one of the leading comprehensive theatre training programs in the United States.
U.S. News And World Report has consistently included FSU's graduate theatre programs in its top-tier rankings in the top-10, one of the few public university programs thus honored. The School is accredited by the
National Association Of Schools Of Theatre and is a founding member of the
University/Resident Theatre Association .
Many of FSU's other academic programs consistently rank among the nation’s top twenty-five public universities, including programs in
Chemistry ,
Creative Writing ,
Criminology ,
Dance ,
Ecology ,
Evolutionary Biology ,
Film ,
Meteorology ,
Music ,
Oceanography ,
Physics ,
Political Science ,
Psychology ,
Public Policy ,
Statistics , Social Work,
Sociology , and
Traumatology .
{Link without Title}
A significant achievement at the university was chemistry professsor and synthetic organic chemist, Dr.
Robert A. Holton's synthesizing of
Taxol on Dec. 9, 1993. The chemical has been used as an effective breast and ovarian cancer treatment.
Holton's and his Organic Chemistry team finished a race to develop a cheaper semisynthetic version. In 1993 Bristol Myers Squibb began marketing it. Just like other chemotherapy drugs, it had side effects. But it also prolonged lives and in many cases defeated cancer.
Before the drug company's exclusive license expired, Florida State made $350 million in royalties, vaulting the school into the ranks of
Columbia University and
California 's state universities in research profits. By comparison, Taxol has earned Florida State three times the amount the
University Of Florida earned from the popular beverage
Gatorade .
Fall 2005 enrollment is 39,218 students. Women account for 56.7% of FSU's enrollment. Minorities made up 24.2% percent of total enrollment. 47.8% of the minority enrollment was Black, 38.6% Hispanic, 12.0% Asian, and 1.6% was American Indian.
The Fall 2005 freshman class had a SAT mid-point of 1110 to 1260 with a 3.5 - 4.0 GPA.
{Link without Title}
Bachelors, master's, specialist's, doctoral, and professional degree programs are offered through the College of
Art s &
Science s; the College of
Business ; the College of
Communication ; the College of
Education ; the FAMU-FSU College of
Engineering , jointly administered with
Florida A&M University ; the College of
Human Sciences ; the College of
Law ; the College of
Medicine ; the College of
Social Science s; the School of
Criminology & Criminal Justice; the School of
Motion Picture, Television & Recording Arts (Film School); the College of
Information ; the College of
Music ; the School of
Nursing ; the College of Social Work; and the School of
Theatre , Visual Arts &
Dance . The School of Computational Science will begin admitting doctoral students in the Fall of 2006.
The school's colors are
Garnet and
Gold and the symbols of the athletic teams are
Chief Osceola And Renegade . School songs include the
Alma Mater , "
High Over Towering Pines " along with the "
Hymn To The Garnet And Gold " and the "
FSU Fight Song ".
Florida State's school colors of garnet and gold are a merging of the University's past. In 1904 and 1905 the Florida State College won football championships wearing purple and gold uniforms. When FSC became Florida State College for Women in 1905, the football team was forced to attend an all male school in Gainesville. The following year, the FSCW student body selected crimson as the official school color. The administration in 1905 took crimson and combined it with the recognizable purple of the championship football teams to achieve the color garnet. The now famous garnet and gold colors were first used on an FSU uniform in a 14-6 loss to
Stetson on October 18, 1947.
{Link without Title}
FSU is also the home of the
Marching Chiefs , the largest collegiate marching band in the world and the only marching band to ever be featured in
Sports Illustrated . The Marching Chiefs are the force behind the famous War Chant.
Also see:
Florida State University Seminoles for detailed sports information.
The school has an athletic department with programs for men and for women. The men's program consists of as
Baseball ,
Basketball ,
Cross Country Running ,
Football ,
Golf ,
Swimming ,
Tennis , and
Track & Field . The women's program consists of basketball, cross country running, golf,
Soccer ,
Softball , swimming, tennis, track & field, and
Volleyball .
The school's athletic teams are called the
Seminoles .
This Native American Name is used with official sanction of the
Seminole Tribe Of Florida, Inc. They participate in the
NCAA 's
Division I (Division I-A for football) and in the
Atlantic Coast Conference . Their traditional rivals include the Gators of the
University Of Florida and the Hurricanes of the
University Of Miami .
Under head coach
Bobby Bowden , currently in his 30th year, the Seminole football team became one of the nation's perennial powers, greatly expanding the tradition that had been virtually non-existent for the 30 years of football before Bowden. The Seminoles played in five national championship games between
1993 and
2001 , and have claimed the championship twice, in 1993 and
1999 . The FSU football team was one of the most successful teams in college football during the 1990s, boasting an 89% winning percentage. FSU also set an NCAA record for most consecutive Top 5 finishes in the
AP football poll - the Seminoles received placement 14 years in a row, from
1987 to
2000 . The Seminoles were the first college football team in history to have gone wire-to-wire (ranked first place from preseason to postseason since the AP began releasing preseason rankings in 1950).
In
2005 , FSU's men's football team won the
Atlantic Coast Conference championship, earning them a berth in the
2006 FedEx Orange Bowl , in which the #22 ranked Seminoles lost 26-23 in triple overtime against #3 ranked Penn State University. FSU head coach
Bobby Bowden is the winningest college football coach in the NCAA with 359 career wins, followed by Penn State's
Joe Paterno with 354. FSU football is well-known for introducing great talent into the NFL, including Deion Sanders, Derrick Brooks, Warrick Dunn, and Peter Boulware in recent history.
- Westcott Building
- WFSU - FSU's Public Broadcast Center
- WVFS
- FSU is home to a pair of cutting edge nuclear resonance magnets that are used for theoretical physics research as well as for developing cures for cancer and neurological disorders. The (NHMFL), or "Mag Lab", is one of only nine such facilities in the world.
- Also notable is FSU's , the largest repository of Antarctic sedimentary core samples in the world.
For a listing of athletic facilities please see
Florida State University Seminoles .
Please see:
Notable Florida State Seminoles
- --- Matt Chapman - co-creator of Homestar Runner
- --- Tiffany Fallon - Playboy Magazine's Playmate and 2004 Playmate Of The Year
- --- Doug Marlette - cartoonist, comic strip '' Kudzu ''
- --- Sam Beam - sole member of Iron & Wine
- --- Rita Coolidge - singer
- --- Jim Morrison , singer/songwriter, the band '' The Doors ''
- --- Marcus Roberts - jazz pianist
- --- Scott Stapp - musician, the band '' Creed ''
- --- Mark Tremonti - musician, formerly of '' Creed '', currently with the band '' Alter Bridge ''
- --- David Ward-Steinman - composer Chicago Symphony Orchestra
- --- Ellen Taaffe Zwilich - composer, 1st woman to win Pulitzer prize in music
- --- Dan Bakkedahl - correspondent on Comedy Central's '' The Daily Show ''
- --- Alan Ball - screenwriter, director, '' Six Feet Under '', '' American Beauty ''
- --- Davis Gaines - stage actor, The Phantom Of The Opera (1986 Musical)
- --- Paul Gleason - actor, '' Star Wars '', '' Die Hard '', '' The Breakfast Club ''
- --- Tara Dawn Holland Christensen - Miss America (1997), singer
- --- Traylor Howard - actress, '' Monk '' on USA Network , '' Son Of The Mask ''
- --- Nancy Kulp - actress, '' The Beverly Hillbillies ''
- --- Christine Lahti - actress, '' Chicago Hope '', '' Jack & Bobby ''
- --- Henry Polic - actor, ''All You Need'', ''Combustion''
- --- Burt Reynolds - actor, '' Boogie Nights '', '' The Longest Yard '', '' The Dukes Of Hazzard ''
- --- Sonny Shroyer - actor, ''The Dukes Of Hazzard (TV)''
- --- Richard Simmons , fitness expert
- --- Tonea Stewart - actress, '' In The Heat Of The Night (TV) ''
- ---''
- --- Drew McWeeny - screenwriter, film critic, internet columnist, '' Masters Of Horror ''
More distinguished/notable alumni can be found at the FSU Alumni Association,
{Link without Title} .
