It’s safe to say that a few weeks ago not many people outside South Florida had heard about Florida Gulf Coast University.
Now, thanks to the school’s basketball team and its historic forward
march in March Madness, it’s the new “it” school, at least for the
moment. What exactly is it? And where is it?
Florida Gulf Coast University is a 760-acre accredited public
comprehensive university located in South Fort Myers, on the southwest
coast of the state. It has some 11,300 undergraduate students and 1,400
graduate students, 92 percent of whom are from Florida, and it offers 52
undergraduate degree programs, 30 graduate degree programs, two
doctoral programs and on specialist program, according to its Web site.
It has its own astronomical observatory
It was established in 1991 with the idea of being a commuter school
where most students took classes online, but it did not start classes
until August 1997. In 1999, the president, William C. Merwin, decided to
turn the school into a more traditional four-year school that used
technology both in class and elsewhere on campus. Dormitories were built
and the campus has a number of lakes. The average SAT score for new
students is 1530, and the average GPA for all students is 2.99, the
school’s website says.
On Sunday, Florida Gulf Coast’s basketball team earned a place
in the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16, the first No. 15 seed to reach that
round ever. Its next game is against another Sunshine State team: the
University of Florida Gators.
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