Characteristics

Academic Excellence

The university places high priority on academics and provides a multitude of student opportunities for career development through experiential learning. As a result, major corporations actively recruit UWF students. Students work hand-in-hand with faculty and research centers on special projects in such areas as aging, archaeology, coastal and estuarine science, environmental science and bioremediation, human and machine cognition, economic and small business development, education and public service. Students may also gain work experience in a variety of disciplines through internships or cooperative education programs or participate in national and international student exchange programs.

Orginizational Participation

Partnerships between UWF and the community are more visible than ever before. The Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in downtown Pensacola is a research organization dedicated to leveraging and extending human performance through the confluence of computer, cognitive and medical science. West Florida Historic Preservation, now a direct support organization of the university, operates buildings in Historic Pensacola Village. UWF Archaeology Institute projects attract tourists and national media to Northwest Florida each year. Recent institute projects include excavations of the 300-year-old "first Pensacola," Spanish fort and cannons at Pensacola Naval Air Station, a 16th century shipwreck in Pensacola Bay and the Fort Walton Beach Indian Mounds. The university operates National Public Radio affiliate WUWF 88.1, a 100,000-watt FM station broadcasting 24 hours daily. The station sponsors several arts events annually, including a monthly musical variety program, RadioLive, now broadcast from Pensacola Historic Village's Museum of Commerce.

Academic Learning and Community Service

As a leader in its commitment toward incorporating students' academic studies with community service the university offers service learning through Volunteer UWF!. Participating students earn credit for volunteer service.

The Alma Mater

Where learning's light sends forth its beam
Through darkness of our youth,
There you, West Florida, home of dreams
Prepare the way of truth.
You guide us toward tomorrow's shore
With knowledge of our past;
Your power in us rests secure,
And evermore will last.
Your stately mansions were our home
Where minds and hearts are free
And though we may far from you roam,
We'll always honor thee.

The Chambered Nautilus

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!

The Chambered Nautilus is a poem selected by UWF founding president Harold Crosby. It is the reason for the school emblem, which is the Nautilus shell.

  

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