President's Message
Florida State University is recognized around the world for the quality of its faculty, academic programs and strong focus on student success, producing graduates who are critical thinkers, innovators, and leaders.
Designated as a pre-eminent university by the Florida Legislature for meeting rigorous standards of achievement, FSU is ranked among the nation's Top 20 public universities. FSU also ranks among the Top 5 Best Value Colleges in the country among public colleges and universities.
From its excellence in the sciences, arts and humanities, to its entrepreneurial culture, championship athletics and a prime location in the heart of the state capital, Florida State is widely known for offering an outstanding academic environment.
Located on Florida's oldest continuous site of higher education, FSU is proud of its rich heritage and core values that champion excellence at every level. Building on its unique strengths, it is a recognized model for student success, distinctively providing academic rigor and an amazing array of research, creative efforts, and engagement opportunities to students in a personal and caring atmosphere.
FSU students are among the nation's best and brightest. They graduate at the highest rate found at any university in Florida, 74 percent in four years, a rate that ranks among the Top 10 nationally. An outstanding student-faculty ratio combined with a student-centered approach ensures every student receives a world-class education. FSU has eliminated disparities in its diverse student population and is now the largest and most diverse university in the country with an experiential learning requirement before graduation. Undergraduate students who excel in multiple areas of engagement outside the classroom are inducted into the University's Garnet and Gold Scholar Society.
Our Student Veterans Center and programs designed to aid student-veterans' transition to academic life and our Honors Scholars and Fellows House, Office of National Fellowships and Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement are all examples of our strong commitment to help our more than 43,000 students reach their highest academic goals.
With its impressive breadth of leading graduate, professional, and undergraduate programs, Florida State University is a demanding, intellectually stimulating, yet warm and caring environment for students and faculty. Recognized nationally for its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, Florida State has been named by the Institute for Higher Education Policy as one of the top 10 "Access Improver" institutions in the country for its outstanding efforts to improve access and support and educate traditionally underrepresented students. In addition, Florida State is annually named a Diversity Champion by INSIGHT into Diversity and has received the magazine's Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award for seven consecutive years. FSU has also been recognized as a Top 5 College for Free Expression.
Led by a world-renowned faculty that has included six Nobel laureates; numerous eminent scholars in the arts and sciences; Tony, Oscar, Emmy, Pulitzer award winners, Guggenheim Fellows, members of the National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, our academic programs continue to receive major recognition for their quality and overall strength.
The University is creating a culture across all academic disciplines that embraces entrepreneurship, interdisciplinary learning and creativity. Through the largest private gift to a public university in Florida-$100 million-Florida State has established the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, the first degree-granting college of its kind in the nation. Unique in the country, the College offers a truly interdisciplinary curriculum allowing undergraduates an entrepreneurial degree in the arts, the sciences, commercial management, health, engineering, and computer science.
Florida State University now has 18 colleges in addition to The Graduate School, which offer more than 275 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, professional, and specialist degree programs, including medicine and law, covering a broad array of disciplines critical to society today. The diverse and highly talented student body is selected from all 50 states and more than 120 countries. Each year the University awards approximately 3,000 graduate and professional degrees.
Florida State's programs in fine arts-dance, film, interior design, music, and theatre-are among the best in the world, offering an arts education comparable to leading conservatories. Our creative writing program is ranked among the nation's best and is home to the most consistently honored and published student body in the country. Florida State is responsible for governance of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and associated arts programs, one of the largest museum/university complexes in the nation.
Other nationally recognized top programs include physics, chemistry, psychology, criminology, public administration, statistics, political science, risk management and insurance, real estate, library science, information, education, sport management, business, and law. The Florida State University College of medicine is among the Top 3 medical schools in the nation for instruction in community health and consistently ranks as one of the nation's most selective medical schools for admissions.
At the doctoral level, interdisciplinary programs draw on notable research faculty strengths that transcend the traditional disciplines, including neuroscience, molecular biophysics, computational science, materials science and research at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory-home to the world's most powerful magnets.
Our excellence shines beyond traditional academic settings. Located in countries around the globe, our international programs are unparalleled. In the area of athletics, our scholar-athletes continue to perform at championship levels on and off the field, and their hard work and dedication add to this University's outstanding reputation. Our students supplement their academic pursuits each year with hundreds of thousands of hours of community service outside of the classroom. In immeasurable ways, the University reaches out to our community, region, state, and nation. This level of service has been recognized by the Carnegie Foundation, which has selected Florida State for inclusion in its prestigious Community Engagement classification.
With a dedicated faculty and staff committed to excellence in teaching, research, creative endeavors, service, and a powerful research agenda that contributes to the nation's economic well-being and quality of life, Florida State University is an exciting leader in higher education. I hope you will join us in our continuing pursuit of excellence.