2019 NSU Fact book

38 NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY Historical Highlights Vice President of the United States Al Gore. The building is Silver Leadership in Energy, and Environmental Design certified. 2013 • Nova Southeastern University’s financial outlook con- tinues to be strong. The long-term rating of the univer- sity’s bonds was upgraded by Moody’s to Baa1 from Baa2 with a positive outlook. According to the announcement made by Moody’s on July 16, 2013, “the rating upgrade is driven by the university’s consis- tently positive operating performance and reduced liquidity risk due to debt structure modifications.” The new rating came in anticipation of the 2014 groundbreaking of NSU’s Center for Collaborative Research, a 215,000-square-foot, $80-million research center that will significantly expand the university’s research capabilities and further its economic impact in the state. NSU also earned a “Perfect Financial Responsibility Score” from the U.S. Department of Education, confirming that NSU is considered finan- cially responsible. • The university opened the nation’s first Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine to treat patients and conduct research in neuro-immune conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME) and Gulf War illness (GWI). Located at NSU’s Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus, the institute is the first in the nation to study neuro- inflammatory and neurodegenerative disorders—such as CFS/ME, GWI, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis—using the newest genomic techniques. By studying individual genes and what they code for, the institute’s scientists will better understand the cause of, and find new ways to treat, these complex disorders. This important basic research will provide answers that will help scientists develop new pharmaceutical medications to treat these illnesses. • In 2013, NSU excelled not just in academics, but also in athletics. The rowing team captured the program’s first NCAA Division II National Championship. This is the sixth national championship for NSU athletics, all of which have come in a five-year span. • A multimillion dollar “Cooperative Development Grant” totaling approximately $3.9 million was awarded to the university by the U.S. Department of Education. The grant, from the DOE’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions Division, is the single largest Title V award received by the university. NSU is one of only four institutions in the nation to receive the Cooperative Development Grant and the only college or university in the state of Florida to receive this award for FY 2013. • Named to the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), NSU received the highest honor a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement. • NSU was named in IDG’s Computerworld 2013 List of 100 Best Places to Work in Information Technology. The listing, compiled by the Computerworld editorial team, is based on a comprehensive questionnaire regarding company offerings in categories such as benefits, diversity, career development, training, and retention, as well as a worker satisfaction survey com- pleted by a random sampling of IT employees at the participating organizations. 2014 • NSU’s Master of Science Program in Marriage and Family Therapy received full accreditation for the maxi- mum number of years allowed with zero stipulations from COAMFTE in December 2014. • Construction on NSU’s Center for Collaborative Research (CCR) began and is to be completed in 2016. This facility will provide wet labs for many of NSU’s innovative researchers, as well as a General Clinical Research Center—an outpatient facility that will pro- vide a centralized clinical research infrastructure to benefit investigators in multiple disciplines. The CCR will also house NSU’s Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine; Rumbaugh-Goodwin Institute for Cancer Research; Emil Buehler Research Center for Engineering, Science, and Mathematics; and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).