Highlights from Fall 2013
December 11, 2013
To the JU Community,
With a renewed energy on our campus, we are proud to invite you to our Fall 2013 Commencement this Saturday, December 14.
The celebration will take place at 10:30 a.m. on our beautiful Science Green. Congratulations to our graduates, their families and our faculty.
What an outstanding semester it’s been.
Just a few highlights include:
- Welcoming our largest student body in many years (more than 4,000);
- Continued work on the new College of Health Sciences building;
- A completely overhauled Riverview Café;
- A new Chick-fil-A right on campus;
- More than $1.2 million in research grants awarded to the JU College of Health Sciences;
- Our 10th straight appearance as one of “America’s Best Colleges”;
- Our top 1% rank among all Florida colleges for “Return on Investment” for our graduates;
- Completion of the Student Veterans study center in the Founders Building;
- Our Student Veterans of America chapter named December “National Chapter of the Month”;
- Groundbreaking on a $1 million reimagining of the River House campus gathering spot;
- Our JU Public Policy Institute hosting the region’s premier Healthcare Policy Conference;
- National media attention for our top-scoring Women’s Lacrosse team, which also has the nation’s second-highest GPA;
- The 40th anniversary of JU’s renowned Wilma’s Little People’s School;
- An exciting concert at Strom Amphitheatre by Billboard-charting rockers We The Kings;
- The first undergraduate classes offered in our new Speech-Language Pathology program in the College of Health Sciences;
- Completion of a new floating dock at the JU Marine Science Research Institute to berth a state-of-the-art floating classroom;
- More than 30 outstanding performances during the first half of our College of Fine Arts season, with even more to come in Spring;
- The naming of JU Communications Prof. Annmarie Kent-Willette as Duval County Education Commissioner; and
- Conference championships in Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse, Women’s Soccer, Volleyball, Women’s Indoor Track and Women’s Outdoor Track.
These positive signs are all about improving the social, cultural and learning experience for our students, and so many are happening because of them. Their ideas and energy are bringing about many of the changes being seen campus wide.
Much more is to come, and you’ll be hearing about new additions and upgrades in the coming months. Progress is well under way. My personal thanks to faculty and staff for their outstanding dedication and effort.
I invite you to celebrate our students, and the promise of their encouraging futures, this Saturday. There’s never been a better time for all of us who are linked to Jacksonville University to take pride in the next chapter of its success.
Go Dolphins!
Sincerely,
Tim Cost
President
Jacksonville University
Class of 1981