The University of West Florida has its first named academic college
April 27, 2016 | Michael Huggins, Dean, Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering | mhuggins@uwf.edu
It is now official. The University of West Florida has its first named academic college – the Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering. I want to thank Mr. Marcus for his incredible generosity and the opportunities provided by his $5 million gift. It is an incredible opportunity that comes at nearly the perfect time –the first year of our new college.
This gift will allow the College to move quickly towards achieving our vision of being recognized regionally, nationally and internationally as a leader for excellence and innovation in STEM education and research. More specifically, this gift will change the lives of the students in the Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering. Our normal budgets - generated from mainly student tuition and state taxpayers - provide us with the resources for the educational activities and experiences that take place in the traditional classroom and laboratory setting.
However, providing the high quality educational experiences needed for our graduates to compete for the best careers in science, engineering and mathematics require additional support, such as this incredible gift from Mr. Marcus.
The College has already begun launching exciting new initiatives for our students. For example, we have recently started a solar car competition team for students in our engineering programs. These students will get hands on experience building ….. In addition, we have launched a program to provide financial assistance for students in the Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering to participate in research experiences away from UWF. Research experiences at other institutions broaden student opportunities, as well as make them more competitive for the best STEM jobs and graduate programs.
We have recently begun work on a new 50,000 square feet building for our biology and chemistry programs. Once complete, the new building will provide state of the art biology and chemistry teaching and research labs allowing continued improvement in the quality of these growing programs.
