Title: University of Central Florida Day

Summary: Commends President John C. Hitt & recognizes January 24, 2018, as "University of Central Florida Day" in Florida.

Full Text:
WHEREAS, UCF has grown from 21,000 students to more than 66,000 under President Hitt's leadership, making it the largest university in Florida and one of the largest universities in America, and WHEREAS, President Hitt has led even more impressiv egains in the quality of a UCF education, with average SAT scores of incoming freshmen rising from 1060 to 1318, the number of National Merit Scholars climbing from to 315, and the average GPA of incoming freshmen increasing to a school record of 4.06, and WHEREAS, President Hitt has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to strengthening his community and the state by fostering an educated workforce through partnerships with private industry and other universities, and WHEREAS, UCF has earned a top "R 1: Doctoral Universities WHEREAS, President Hitt, as the first in his family to attend college, recognized the power of a college education to change lives and has worked tirelessly to remove barriers to obtaining a degree, a nd WHEREAS, one in four UCF students is the first in his or her family to attend college, and freshman minority enrollment is at an all-time high of percent, and WHEREAS, UCF now awards more than 15,000 degrees annually, more than any other public uni versity in the nation, and WHEREAS, President Hitt oversaw the establishment of the UCF College of Medicine in 2006, and it has attracted and graduated some of the nation's top students and faculty members and will soon be joined by a university hospital being developed in partnership with the Hospital Corporation of America, one of the nation's leading providers of health care services, and WHEREAS, President Hitt has been recognized as one of the most innovative university presidents in America, and UCF now ranks alongside Harvard, Stanford, and Duke as one of the nation's most innovative universities, according to U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges of 2018,and WHEREAS, President Hitt has supported the success of student-athletes on and off the field, so that UCF student athletes have held the Number NCAA Graduation Rate of any public university in the Division Football Bowl Subdivision for the last consecutive years, and WHEREAS, on January 1, 2018, the UCF Knights football team completed a perfect season with a-27 win over the Auburn University Tigers in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, the only team to go undefeated in the 2017 NCAA Division Football Bowl Subdivision, NOW, THEREFORE, Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of th eState of Florida: That the extraordinary achievements of the faculty, staff, administration, and students of the University of Central Florida and President John C. Hitt, Ph.D., are commended, and January 24, 2018, is recognized as "University of Cen tral Florida Day" in Florida. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be presented to the University of Central Florida President John C. Hitt, Ph.D., as a tangible token of the sentiments expressed herein.