University of Central Florida

Public university in Orlando

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2024 UCF cheerleading team won their fourth national title at the College Cheerleading and Dance Team Nationals.
2023 University of Central Florida ranked 124th in National Universities category and 14th most innovative school by U.S. News & World Report. Also ranked 8th best in online bachelor's programs nationally.
2022 The library began working on its 21st Century Library Project, a multi-phased plan to create additional space for student learning, technology, collaboration, and research expansion.
2022 Enrollment reached 68,442 students, making it the fourth-largest on-campus student body of any public university in the United States.
2022 The National Science Foundation announced that the Arecibo Observatory would not be rebuilt, and plans were made to establish an educational facility on the site.
2021 Maggy Tomova, Ph.D. became the new dean of the College of Sciences.
2020 UCF cheerleading team won their third national title at the College Cheerleading and Dance Team Nationals.
2020 Undergraduate tuition costs were set at $212.28 per credit hour for in-state students and $748.89 for out-of-state students.
2020 UCF's admission rate for first-time-in-college freshmen declined to 42%. 335 National Merit Scholars enrolled for the fall term, with 34% of accepted applicants in the top ten percent of their graduating class.
2020 UCF's financial endowment, administered by the University of Central Florida Foundation, Inc., is valued at $162 million.
2020 Published a research paper on thermal extraction of water ice from the lunar surface using a 3D numerical model in Planetary and Space Science journal, contributing to lunar exploration research.
2020 Michael Johnson was elevated to Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, concluding his role as dean.
December 1 2020 The Arecibo Observatory sustained a catastrophic collapse, effectively ending its decades of scientific operations.
November 6 2020 Second support cable broke at the Arecibo Observatory, further compromising the telescope's structural integrity.
August 10 2020 First support cable broke at the Arecibo Observatory, signaling the beginning of structural issues.
April 13 2020 Alexander Cartwright is inaugurated as the fifth president of the University of Central Florida, succeeding acting president Thad Seymore.
2019 Downtown Orlando campus opened in collaboration with Valencia West, featuring the Dr. Phillips Academic Commons, Union West, and UCF Center for Emerging Media buildings.
August 2019 A final report reveals total misdirected funds of $99.61 million between July 2010 and August 2018. UCF is fined 120% the cost of misused funds.
February 2019 John Hitt resigns from the presidency of the University of Central Florida, with Thad Seymore taking over as acting president.
February 2019 President Dale Whittaker resigns after seven months in office due to allegations of knowledge about fund misappropriation. Board of Trustees Chairman Marcos Marchena also resigns.
January 2019 UCF severs ties with President Emeritus John Hitt after an investigation reveals misspending of over $85 million between 2013 and 2018.
2018 UCF defeated the eighth-ranked Auburn Tigers in the Peach Bowl.
2018 Dale Whittaker succeeds John C. Hitt as president of the university.
2018 Conducted low-velocity impact experiments studying regolith behavior under asteroid-level gravity conditions, published in Progress in Earth and Planetary Science.
September 13 2018 UCF admits to misappropriating funds for Trevor Colbourn Hall, leading to the resignation of CFO Bill Merck.
August 2018 The state university system's Board of Governors and Florida Legislature initiate an investigation into UCF for misuse of state funds.
2017 UCF finished with an undefeated season, won their third AAC Championship, and was named national champions by the Colley Matrix.
2017 University enrollment began tracking, showing 66,183 total students across undergraduate and graduate programs.
2016 Student enrollment reached 64,318, representing a more than 60% increase since 2000.
2016 Performed experimental study of a multi-particle system on a suborbital rocket, examining submillimetre-sized dust aggregate collision and growth properties, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
July 2016 Arecibo Observatory was surpassed as the world's largest single-aperture telescope by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China.
2015 Aviation Week & Space Technology workforce study named UCF the No. 1 supplier of engineers to aerospace and defense industries.
2015 UCF received more freshman and transfer student applications than any other public university in Florida, and awarded more bachelor's degrees than any other Florida public university.
2014 UCF won the inaugural AAC Football Championship and upset the sixth-ranked Baylor Bears in the Fiesta Bowl.
2014 UCF receives $18 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help counter budget decreases.
2013 UCF joined the American Athletic Conference (AAC) as a full member.
2012 UCF board of trustees approved a 15% tuition increase for the 2012-13 academic year, following budget decreases and increased university demands.
2012 UCF researchers discovered and named a planet UCF-1.01.
2012 The main campus library was dedicated to honor John C. Hitt, UCF's fourth president, on the occasion of his twentieth anniversary as university president.
2012 Florida legislature cuts $53 million from UCF's fiscal year budget.
2011 Michael Johnson, Ph.D. began his tenure as dean of the College of Sciences.
2010 UCF won the CUSA Football Championship and earned their first bowl victory against Georgia. Women's basketball team also won the CUSA Championship.
2010 UCF was ranked 2nd in Florida and 34th in the United States for the number of National Merit Scholars enrolled.
2010 During the Spring graduation ceremonies, UCF awards its 200,000th degree, less than five years after awarding its 150,000th degree.

This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Florida Space Institute, University of Central Florida & University of Central Florida College of Sciences, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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