Horizons Fall 2013

22 HORIZONS community.” He welcomed all county residents to use the $43-million facility. In 2003, the library received a gift of $7 mil- lion from South Florida real- estate developer Alvin Sherman. In recognition of his generous gift, the library was named the Alvin Sherman Library, Re- search, and Information Tech- nology Center. As of September 30, 2013, the Sherman Library has distributed more than 88,000 library cards to Broward County residents. On July 1, 2008, the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale became a part of the expanded creative campus of Nova Southeastern Unviersity when the two institutions agreed to a merger. THE FUTURE WhenGeorge L. Hanbury II, Ph.D., became the sixth president of NSU, he spoke of a shared vision for the univer- sity. It was the first time Vision 2020 was mentioned. It is now a cornerstone for the school moving forward into the 21st century. A vital part of Vision 2020 is recog- nition for the university’s landmark re- search. “We have always been, in the past 50 years, a teaching institution, but for the first time in our history, we are now including research as a major com- ponent of that,” said Hanbury. The pres- ident’s goal is to increase grant funding at NSU from the current $82 million to $300 million by 2020. One of the biggest feathers in NSU’s research cap was the completion of the Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Ecosystems Research, the largest facility in the United States dedicated to studying coral reef ecosystems through- out the world. NSU received the largest grant in its history to build the center, when it applied for and received a $15-million grant from the U.S. Depart- ment of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology. Nova Southeastern University contributed an additional $35 million to build and furnish the center, as well as revamping an adjacent research vessel marina. The center also houses NSU’s National Coral Reef Institute and Guy Harvey Research Institute as well as the U.S. Save Our Seas Shark Center. Scheduled for groundbreaking in 2014 is Nova Southeastern University’s Center for Collaborative Research—a $70-million, 214,131-square-foot train- ing research facility with full-service laboratories. Plans include offices that will serve as the United States Geo- logical Survey’s headquarters for its involvement with the Everglades Restoration Project. Hanbury’s concept for the univer- sity’s Academical Village is inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s plan for the found- ing of the University of Virginia, which continued from page 18