Strong and successful: the words UCF President John C. Hitt used to describe the second largest university in the nation, and for good reason.
On Oct. 27, hundreds of UCF alumni, students and members from the community filled the Pegasus Ballroom to hear Hitt utter the words he used to describe UCF.
He backed up his description with slew of statistics such as UCF having more undergraduate students enrolled to be teachers than any other public university in America, citing the latest data available from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
Hitt also revealed that UCF had the highest average SAT score for incoming freshman among Florida schools, with an average of 1250 compared to 976, and that Collegeboard is reporting that UCF has more high school students sending their SAT scores for consideration than any other state schools, with FSU and UF trailing at two and three, respectively.
After highlighting his five goals he established when first hired by the university in 1992 and recognizing a student for her contributions to society, Hitt turned the stage to new and current business.
Within the next year, UCF expects to move towards a smoke free campus and provide a general health improvement to the university.
"This move aligns us with several community partners, such as Orange County government and Florida Hospital, who are already heading in this positive direction," Hitt said.
UCF will be hosting public forums in the coming months to discuss the issue, but spokesman Grant J. Heston expects the transition to happen next fall.
After Ida Cook, chair of the Faculty Senate, addressed the room and announced the establishment of "senior" status, an initiative to provide the opportunity for advancement for instructors and lecturers, Student Government Association President Matt McCann shared announcements of recent developments within SGA.
McCann said that SGA will be providing free printing to students on the Rosen campus, for the first time, by December. Outside of the classroom, McCann said SGA is in the process of finalizing a contract to bring free DVD rental services to campus.
After an agreement with popular DVD distributor Redbox couldn't be met, McCann turned to another vendor who had the same services and was even a UCF alumnus.
The potential service is still in negotiation, but McCann said it should start this semester.
John Truitt, junior finance major, said he thinks UCF is going in a good direction, such as the potential smoke free environment, but disagrees with some of the things that are happening.
"I like the programs we are going to be adding in the future," he said. "But at the same exact time we are cutting programs that students are halfway through. It is cutting them off. You work for three and a half years and you get to your last semester and you lose it, you lose everything that you worked for."
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