FAU - Here For You

Florida Atlantic University recently marked the 40th anniversary of the day it opened its doors on a former U.S. Army airbase in Boca Raton , becoming the fifth member of Florida’s State University System. Over the course of four decades, FAU has changed dramatically, expanding from a unique upper-division institution designed for juniors and seniors to a broadly comprehensive university offering a wide selection of undergraduate and graduate degree programs on seven beautiful South Florida campuses. And yet much remains the same.

As the University’s chief academic officer, I take enormous pride in the fact that students and alumni, in overwhelming numbers, identify interaction with the faculty as the best part of their FAU experience. This is something that has been a hallmark of this University since its earliest days, when the founding faculty brought an exciting educational enterprise to life on an abandoned airfield.

From that first day until now, the people who are FAU have focused on a single overarching goal: to make this University an agent of positive change in the lives of its students, in the communities it serves and in our state and nation. This is the kind of goal that must be pursued constantly over time as new generations of students seek educational opportunities and new challenges appear on the horizon. This year, as in 1964, FAU is working hard to provide those opportunities and meet those challenges. And today, we are, indeed, here for you.

John Pritchett
University Provost and Chief Academic Officer