|
Dear Florida Tech Parent,
At Florida Institute of Technology, we continue to build upon a tradition of high technology with a human touch. The university is dedicated to providing every undergraduate student a unique learning environment that blurs the line between teaching and research. With a student to faculty ratio of 9:1, our faculty are able to involve interested students in funded research projects as early as the freshman year.
Funded research at Florida Tech is soaring, having better than tripled in the past four years with over $41 million in projects. Our research ranges from national defense and homeland security to treatment for autistic children. We are developing technologies to combat diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease as well as designing magnetic levitation systems for launching space ships. National centers were established by Congress for hydrogen fuel, small business information and computer security. With this growth comes a greater opportunity for your student to become involved in rewarding academic work. I invite you to encourage your student to participate.
In recognition of our growth as a high technology university, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has granted Florida Tech a full 10-year reaccreditation. This seal of approval is your assurance of the quality and integrity of the university. Joined with specialized accreditation by such bodies as the Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology, Florida Tech is firmly positioned as it nears its 50th anniversary in 2008.
We will continue to focus on providing the strongest possible environment for research and learning. In 2005 the university opened the F.W. Olin Physical Sciences Center; this addition brings the total amount of classroom and laboratory space on campus to over one million square feet. In 2006 we welcomed the state’s largest university telescope to campus, as well as new high tech classrooms in the Crawford Science Tower and upgraded classrooms all over campus. As of today, all academic buildings on campus are wireless, and soon all residence halls will follow suit.
As proud as we are of our commitment to high technology, we continue to emphasize the human side of higher education. The American University is unique in the world in its commitment to public service. Because technology can be used for evil as well as good, we want to support parents in instilling in our students the values, morals and ethics they will need to make the world a better place.
One example of this commitment is prominent in the curriculum of our College of Business. Every business course taught at Florida Tech contains an ethics component. Outside the classroom, many of our students work with our adopted elementary school as mentors. As vital members of the Florida Campus Compact, other students work with organizations like the American Cancer Society, Habitat for Humanity, and the Juvenile Diabetes Association.
While our students are focused on academics and community service, the university continues to find ways to improve student quality of life. In the past year we’ve created a Student Wellness Program combining exercise regimes with seminars on eating healthy and caring for one’s body. We’re creating new spaces for relaxation as well, including new student lounges across campus and a relaxation station in the Clemente Center.
This combination of high technology and human touch has not gone unnoticed by the media and other critics of higher education. Washington Monthly magazine recently named Florida Tech the top private university in the state of Florida. They recognized us for, among other criteria, our commitment to both the U.S. Army ROTC program, which is among the 10 best in the nation, and to the U.S. Peace Corps. We continue to be listed among the nation’s elite colleges and universities by U.S. News and World Report, the Fiske Guide to Colleges and Baron’s Best Buys in Higher Education.
Please accept my best wishes to you and yours during the New Year, and we look forward to a dynamic 2007.
Sincerely,
Anthony James Catanese
|
