2016 Fact Book

26 2007 NSU’s newest residence hall, The Commons, opened its doors to students on the Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus. This new living and learning facility has a capacity of 525 beds, configured in single and double rooms. It also has 5 classrooms, 2 conference rooms, 16 community living rooms, 16 study rooms. The Office of Residential Life and Housing is located at The Commons, as well. The U.S. Department of Education awarded NSU a $2.8 million Title V—Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions grant for its Fischler School of Education and Human Services undergraduate program. The grant, paid over a five-year period, will provide support to develop research-based programs targeted at increasing Hispanic student engagement and leading to academic success. Shannon Sawyer (softball); Teofilo Cubillas, Jr. (soccer); David Riley (basketball); Abraham S. Fischler (NSU president emeritus); and Charles “Sonny” Hansley (former NSU athletic director and head coach) were enshrined in the inaugural NSU Athletics Hall of Fame class. The Rolling Hills Hotel was purchased for conversion to graduate student housing. 2008 The Rolling Hills Graduate Apartment Complex, designated for graduate student housing, opened its doors to students. The complex can accommodate up to 373 graduate students in fully furnished, single and quad rooms. Nova Southeastern University signed a merger agreement with the Museum of Art—Fort Lauderdale. The merger provides continuing opportunities for appreciation of the arts by the general public, and new educational and collaborative opportunities for NSU faculty members and students. The University Aquatic Center opened. The center has a 10-lane, 50-meter pool with state-of-the-art starting blocks and a dive well. The center will host swimming competitions for the NSU University School swim team and provide practice facilities. The center will also be hosting NCAA team practices and competitions. 2009 The University Center was renamed in honor of businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Don Taft, in recognition of the university’s largest single gift to date, received from The Taft Foundation. A 19-foot, bronze mako shark sculpture on top of a 10-foot-high water fountain was placed at the entrance to the newly christened Don Taft University Center. This sculpture of the university’s mascot was commissioned by NSU students and created by renowned wildlife sculptor Kent Ullberg. NSU was one of 22 Hispanic-serving institutions nationally, and one of 3 in Florida, to receive the first Title V grants ever awarded by the U.S. Department of Education that are focused specifically on graduate programs. The $2.7 million grant will support the development of programs in the Fischler School of Education and Human Services that enhance graduate student engagement, retention, and success. 2010 As part of the board of trustees’ presidential succession plan, Ray Ferrero, Jr., who was then president, became university chancellor and CEO, and George Hanbury, who was then executive vice president and COO, became university president and COO. The Division of Applied Interdisciplinary Studies was created. This new division encompasses the Center for Psychological Studies, the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Mailman Segal Institute for Early Childhood Studies, and the Criminal Justice Institute. A new, state-of-the-art, 87,000-square-foot research facility was approved to be built on the Oceanographic Center campus at John U. Lloyd Beach State Park in Dania Beach, Florida. Partially funded by a $15-million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the facility will be the only one in the country dedicated to the study, research, and preservation of coral reefs. The new Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Ecosystems Science was opened in September 2012.