44 NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY Historical Highlights • 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 employees 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 and provide practice facilities for the NSU University School swim team. The center will also host 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 of 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 1 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 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 • Ray Ferrero, Jr., then president, became university chancellor and CEO, and George L. Hanbury II, 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 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 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching awarded NSU the Community Engagement Classification, which acknowledges significant commitment to, and demonstration of, community engagement. NSU was 1 of 15 colleges and universities in the U.S. selected for the award in 2010, and 1 of only 311 colleges and universities nationally to receive the award since inception of the classification. • NSU University School opened its new “Campus within a Campus,” which included a new building for the Lower School, a Center for the Arts, an aquatics center, and athletic fields. 2011 • George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D., took office as the sixth president and CEO of Nova Southeastern University. He began the creative process for implementing NSU’s Vision 2020. • NSU was elevated from Doctoral Research University to Research University—High Research Activity, reflecting two of NSU’s core values: scholarship and research. At the time, NSU was 1 of only 37 universities in the nation with both the Carnegie classification of high research activity and community engagement.
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