I visited the University of North Florida (“UNF”) early Sunday morning, May 16, 2010. UNF is located in Jacksonville (Duval County) Florida and it is a public university.
Here is a little history and other information about UNF: It was established in 1969 and classes began in 1972. So it is a relatively new university! The university is comprised of five separate collages (College of Arts and Sciences; Coggin College of Business; College of Computing, Engineering and Construction; and College of Education; Human Services and Brooks College of Health) and the current president is John Delaney. Mr. Delaney is a former mayor of the City of Jacksonville. UNF has approximately 16,500 students enrolled and has a faculty of 558. The mascot and symbol for UNF is the osprey. The website for UNF is www.unf.edu.
Since 2006, every new campus building has been constructed to meet the standards of the U.S. Green Building Council for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), demonstrating UNF’s commitment to the environment. The College of Education and Human Services moved into its new building that is the first no campus to achieve the LEED Gold rating, the second-highest award. Ospry Fountains houses 1,000 students in a new campus complex that includes a swimming pool, game rooms and fitness center. The new Student Union has become a hub of student activities, providing a base for all Student Government-related functions as well as restaurants, student lounges and game rooms. A new Science and Humanities building will become home of the Costal Biology Flagship Program when it opens in 2012.
UNF’s Jazz Program is considered one of the top undergraduate jazz programs in the country. Jazz and other regularly scheduled Music Department concerts offer entertainment at the Fine Arts Center, site of a 1,300 seat Lazzara Performance Hall. The Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, the University Gallery and theLufrano Intercultural Gallery of Art play an integral role in UNF’s cultural offerings. Sports fans can enjoy a variety of athletic events; fans can take in a baseball game at the Harmon Stadium, see swimming and diving meets at the Aquatic Center and watch basketball and volleyball in the UNF arena. UNF recently made the move to NCAA Division 1 Athletics. The UNF campus has 28 major buildings and five housing facilities on campus. “The Green” is a central open grassy area on the campus that is popular with the students. There is a state-protected wildlife and bird sanctuary featuring miles of nature trails and numerous lakes and ponds with an abundance of wildlife on and around campus.
When I visited the campus – I saw wildlife all over. There were a great number of big, ugly black birds – ospreys and vultures (I was a little frightened of them). We also saw a family of ducks and that was very cute! Here are some pictures I took:
The campus is located on a natural preserve and consists of 1,300 acres (at present only 150 of those acres have been developed). A major emphasis of Physical Facilities at UNF is to protect the environment and to conserve and protect our resources, especially the natural beauty of the campus. The UNF Preserve occupies approximately 300 acres of the campus. The Environmental Center at UNF was founded in 2004. Its mission is to develop and foster multidisciplinary education and research related to the environment. The center is governed by an Executive Board representing all five UNF colleges.
UNF is home to the Robert W. Loftin Nature Trails, the John Golden Memorial Environmental Education Pavilion and the Eco-Adventure Outfitters Center. In 1973 campus faculty, students and staff joined together with community groups to build 12 miles of Nature Trails surrounding the campus. Today the remaining trails are complemented with interpretive education signs and are maintained for environmental education, research and low impact recreation. In 1977 UNF applied to the National Department of the Interior and was granted membership as part of the National Recreation of Trails system. UNF maintains that status to date with five miles of trails. With over 500 acres of natural lands within the nature trail system and hundreds more surrounding the university, UNF has one of the best natural assets of any Florida university.
At UNF there are three well-marked trails (Goldenrod, Blueberry and Red Maple Boardwalk). On my visit to UNF I went on the Red Maple Boardwalk trail.
We (my husband – Steve – and I) arrived at UNF in the early morning. Apparently, we were the first ones on the nature trails – because the trails had tons of spider webs on them and we kept having to walk through the spider webs. One interesting thing I noted about the trails is that part of the path is made from wood planks, but a part of the path is made from plastic milk cartons that had been formed into woodlike planks. I thought that was pretty cool!
Lake Oneida is an 18 acre freshwater lake with large picnic area, an island and a bridge which is popular for fishing and wildlife viewing. The Robert W. Loftin Nature Trails are open daylight hours, 365 days per year.
During my visit to UNF I also learned that they have Eco Camps in the Summer for children. (I thought this was great in reference to our recent studies in this class about Nature Deficit Disorder and children not getting out and experiencing nature enough.) The camps are for kids ages 6 thru 16 and activities include hiking, canoeing, exploring nature, field trips, games, etc. The .pdf of the brochure for Eco Camps can be found online at: http://www.unf.edu/recsports/nature/2010%20Eco%20Camp%20Brochure.pdf
REFLECTION of my experience for the UNF field trip. I did enjoy the field trip. It was early in the morning when we went and the weather was cool and it was very pleasant. There was no traffic as it was a Sunday morning. We encountered a few joggers and hikers when we went on the nature trail. I enjoyed the trails – although it is still painful for me to walk very long and to walk on uneven ground due to the foot surgery on my left foot I had in March. I have to be very careful when I walk. That is very annoying to me.
I thought that the campus was beautiful! It is very modern, but yet very green and nature friendly at the same time. There is also a lot of construction going on at the campus. I had attended UNF about 25 years ago when I obtained my paralegal certificate. I thought that the campus was very nice then – but it is much nicer and much larger now! In the past I have taken my kids to concerts at the facilities on UNF and the sound system and the venue there for concerts is amazing and state of the art.
UNF is still growing and I believe that one day it will be a major university in Florida.
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