The fall semester is up and running, and this year it’s really special, marking the 50th anniversary of the day FAU opened its doors to a charter student body of 867 local residents. The exact opening day was Sept. 14, 1964 – six days behind schedule because of Hurricane Cleo, which left much of the brand new Boca Raton campus flooded. A little more than a month later, President Lyndon Johnson was the keynote speaker at the university’s official dedication ceremony, saying that America’s goal “must be to open the doors of higher education to all who can possibly meet that standard and qualify.”
Over the past half-century, FAU has been dedicated to serving that mission, and the results have been nothing less than spectacular. To date, the university has awarded more than 157,000 undergraduate and graduate degrees to students from South Florida, around the nation and throughout the world. A point of special pride is the fact that FAU has the most racially, ethnically and culturally diverse student body among all institutions in Florida’s State University System. U.S. News & World Report ranks our student body the 27th most diverse in the nation.
No matter what your life situation, background or educational goal may be, FAU is here for you. I urge you to take full advantage of all the great resources this university has to offer you, from its world-class faculty to its wealth of career development opportunities and extracurricular activities. Today, just like 50 years ago, FAU is focused on your success.
Go Owls!