Update on Boca Raton Regional Hospital/Schmidt Medical Center

You may remember that FAU and Boca Raton Community Hospital had reached an agreement back in 2006 to build the "nation's newest academic hospital" and the "nations' safest hospital" on the southeast corner of the Boca campus where the new dorms are being constructed. The $750M deal, to be called the Schmidt Medical Center, would have really been a mark of distinction for both FAU and the hospital itself. It was going to be very nice:

Then it all fell apart. Ultimately the deal was canceled and the hospital lost something like $40M of time and development they had put into securing and imagining the property.

What happened there, and can something like that be renewed?

Turns out that a couple years ago, Boca Raton Community Hospital was "on the brink of failure," Jerry Fedele, the President and CEO, recently told the City Council before outlining bullet points of $120M revenue loss, physician alienation and rapid leadership turnover. "I don't think some people understood how close we were to being sold or closed."

Four years later, Boca Community has stabilized and become profitable again, changing their name to Boca Raton Regional Hospital to underline their renewed life as a regional referral center. And even though the deal fell through, "we've had a growing relationship with FAU on graduate medical education, supporting the medical school and in July of 2014 we will have our first residents on site at Boca Raton Regional Hospital... in medicine and surgery."

He noted that BRRH is fortunate to have most patients covered by insurance due to the demographics of the City, as most hospitals struggle with this. Just under 70% are Medicare patients, however, and the upcoming changes in Medicare mean that "we'll look back on 2012 as the good old days."

He lauded the support coming from the community and the council, noting that in the last two years alone, the community has donated $67M to BRRH. To put that into context, "If you add up my other 28 years altogether, they don't add up to $67M." Quite a statement. "But without that, we could not survive though. We'd be one of the big for-profit centers."

That's not to say donors wouldn't like BRRH to focus on things like pediatrics, which is what inspired the construction of the hospital in the first place. Unfortunately, "we cannot be everything to everybody. In this market you can only succeed if you're the best at what you do." Thus BRRH chooses to focus on cancer, cardiovascular, orthopedics/sports, women's health and neuroscience as the five main areas of care. "People coming here decide between BRRH and [places like] Johns Hopkins. That's why we have to be the best at what we do."

Apparently they have the busiest robotic surgery program in Palm Beach County. Soon they'll be the only comprehensive, tertiary neuroscience in South Florida.

Awesome! So now that the ship is righted and they're establishing a reputation for quality in certain fields, is it time to revisit the Schmidt Medical Center plan and move to FAU?

"When I came here four years ago, people talked about a new hospital on the FAU campus. We have a beautiful campus where we're situated now. We have plenty of room for growth. We've set out a plan to essentially rebuild our hospital in place on our campus in the next 8-10 years."

There it is, right from the guy at the very top. No academic hospital for FAU.

It's disappointing but we already knew the deal was canceled, so how upset can we be, really? On the upside, the hospital is still hosting our medical students and offering them residencies, and it looks to be on a tremendous upswing, which means that FAU College of Medicine grads could have plenty of great opportunities, both during medical school and otherwise.

After all, they're building a $9.5M ER in January 2013 and a $40M new Marcus Neuroscience Center breaking ground about that same time. Breaking ground in 2014 will be a new $20M Women's health center, of which $10M was donated by the Lynn family (whose name is on FAU's Nursing building). Other Master Plan upgrades include a new main entry, new lab and pharmacy facility, proton cancer therapy at the Heart and Vascular Institute, an expanded educational center and hospital signs on Glades and 13th, so people know where the hospital is. "Make it clear that you're entering a major academic center." Overall the plan cost about $150M.

Just wish it could be at FAU. But hey, that's more room on the Boca campus for other things like... new dorms! And any of the other crazy ideas up on this blog.

                                                                                GO OWLS!

FAU Law School?

FAU's medical school was an ambitious move that gave the university a much-needed shot in the arm, as the offering of a professional degree always elevates the academic profile of any university that offers it.

And of course once a medical school is in place, the natural thought is to move on and open a law school as well. Seems like a package deal, for some reason. If we can train doctors to "serve this community", surely we can train lawyers to stay here as well? Law schools are cash cows, everyone wants to be a lawyer, we need to jump on this train now, right?

Don't hold your breath.

See, a medical school is an easier sell to the Board of Governors because any institution can trot out the same statistics showing the number of physicians going into retirement and the insufficient armada of med students preparing to replace them, particularly in relation to the upcoming retirement age of the Baby Boomer generation and those who will now have medical insurance under Obamacare. Not only that, but the number of applicants to medical schools far exceed the number of seats available by about 50%; granted, that's an important filter to produce good doctors but any number showing a shortage is another feather in the cap of anybody (public or for-profit) that's trying to argue that they need to open up a medical school because the demand for spots exceeds the supply. It's all dollar signs to investors in schools like this one and this one. The result is a bunch of new medical schools.

In contrast, it doesn't sound like we're staring down the barrel of a lawyer shortage any time soon.

The New York Times recently reported that the number of people applying to take the LSAT (the law school admissions test) is down 16.4% this year. Above The Law is reporting that 51% of the nation's law schools are cutting class sizes, primarily because the jobs simply aren't out there to support all the new graduates. In fact, only a small percentage of graduates are actually landing jobs in law fields, with a number of them either "competing with college graduates and M.B.A.’s for jobs in compliance, risk management or business development" or returning to work as bartenders or servers at the same restaurants that put them through college... only this time they have $250,000 worth of student loan debt on their backs from law school.

From the CBS article:

"University of Colorado law professor Paul Campos has studied the legal job market and found that it's been shrinking because in part because of outsourcing and computer automation. He estimates that of the 45,000 law graduates each year, almost 45 percent can't get jobs that require a law degree.
 
"Many of the people who are going to law school right now are never going to be lawyers," Campos said."

Needless to say, it doesn't paint a rosy picture for the prospects of an FAU College of Law. While the graduates of schools like Harvard Law and Yale Law are still in demand, we'd be the new kid on the block and in the legal profession, that's not generally regarded as a good thing. Some existing law schools are looking at trying to add specializations in the third and final year of law school to make their graduates more attractive. If FAU were to open a law school, I imagine it would go this route.

But opening a law school means we'd have to make a compelling argument to the Board of Governors... and that compelling argument just isn't there. It certainly doesn't help that they greenlit a law school down the road at our rival institution, FIU, which further damages any case we might make for "serving the region." It's a fact that former President Brogan reminded me of a couple years ago when I asked him about it. He "really didn't think the state would allow any more law schools for a while."

Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. With some law schools now being sued because their graduates can't find law jobs, do we really want to get dragged into something like that?

Of course not. There are other programs that FAU could focus its energies on (like pharmacy school) while they wait out the storm. Maybe it will clear some day and we can make a proposal, but for now it's just not a good idea.

                                                                             GO OWLS!

Lots to Do at FAU

Year after year, tour group after tour group, incoming freshmen are advised to "get involved" on campus and join a club. To those who were part of clubs in high school, this is an easy sell. But others may be skeptical, at least until they've been here awhile and start looking for something more to do with their free time.

As you may know, FAU has 303 total student organizations, the majority of which are at the Boca Raton campus. There are religious groups - including a ton of Christian organizations - and ethnic groups, club sports, academic interest groups (math, biology, accounting, social work, etc) as well as "get into professional school" academic groups for Pre-Med, Pre-Dental, Pre-Vet, Pre-Law, Pre-Physician's Assistant students. Plenty of stuff to do.

You've probably heard of the usual ones: the Greeks, Student Government, Hillel, Sailing and Water polo, Coastlines, Konbit Kreyol, etc. But here are some student organizations that you might not have heard of, with a description of their charter provided by the CollegiateLink website:

                                                                         *     *     *     *     *

Alternative Religions Club
Our club seeks to embrace any and all religions that don't already have a home at FAU. 
- A club was pitched for agnostics and atheists of FAU during my time there and it was thought that this "wouldn't go over well" on future resumes, and in fact might even incite violence from the Christian organizations on campus. So it's interesting to see this.

Apple Users of FAU (AUOFAU) 
The purpose of this organization is to provide a friendly environment where students can learn more about their Apple products to help further enhance their productivity within the classroom and beyond. 

The Archers  at FAU
(paraphrased) Archery!
- I'm a fan of archery and asked Campus Rec if they would consider an archery range in the design for the Rec Center. Maybe that will be a more serious consideration one day, but at the time they were looking to include things that would "maximize use of the space" and archery is considered a niche thing, like racquetball ("Nobody really plays that on college campuses anymore")

Bass Fishing Club
Our purpose is to compete in Bass fishing tournaments and spread knowledge about Florida's Bass fishery.
- This makes a lot of sense and it's interesting that this club didn't come up sooner. So now you know that FAU has a competitive fishing team to its credit. Speaking of competitive teams...

College Gaming League (CGL)
College Gaming League provides a friendly atmosphere for the student body of Florida Atlantic University to relax and enjoy video games together as well as allow FAU to participate in state-wide competitive gaming.
- All that time spent playing Smash Brothers and Halo could actually win you some big, big money. Competitive Gaming, or eSports, is actually becoming a pretty big deal now and enabling people to make careers out of playing video games. Major League Gaming is the wave of the future.

DezigNation (DN)
FAU's Premier Modeling Troupe aiming to prove that "There is A Nation Behind Dezign". We do fashion shows, photoshoots, fashion coordinating, and so on.
- see also Material World: The purpose of this organization is to allow students interested in the field of fashion to come together to discuss and create fashion.
- Not one but two fashion clubs on campus.

Dumbledore's Army
Dumbledore's Army is a fun and active team who practice and compete in foil fencing. Started in Fall of 2010, the club has been to several tournaments and will continue to represent FAU in tournaments across the state.
 - see also Fencers Anonymous. TWO fencing clubs on campus!

Fellowship of the Ring
A club dedicated to an appreciation of the works by author J.R.R. Tolkien, including (and especially) The Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as his many other works set in the fantastic world of Middle-Earth.
- One club to rule them all.

F-Word
FAU feminists.

The Gems
The purpose of The Gems is to provide an environment for students who have similar interests in jewelry making.
- I think this underscores the idea that there are always people out there that share (or are willing to share) your hobby.

Japanese Animation and Multimedia Society (JAMS)
A place to discuss Japanese culture, view Japanese anime and films, and play games from Japan.
- This club has actually been around for awhile. The interest in Japanese culture by Americans, moreso than other cultures, is kind of interesting.

Parkour and Freerunning Club at FAU (PFC)
The purpose of this club is to provide a safe enviroment to learn and practice Parkour and Freerunning.
- Especially popular at the Spaceship building. Check out a video of parkour here.

Quidditch Associaton
Muggle Quidditch is a coed sport made for people of all athletic abilities.
- The Harry Potter sport is played at colleges all over the nation. No, seriously.

Rats' Mouth Review
Florida Atlantic University's New Graduate Literary Journal
- Ah, this is a new one. This must be the "grown up" version of Coastlines?

SISTUHS, Incorporated 
The purpose of this organization shall be to improve the social disposition of underrepresented populations through community service, education, and other social services in our respective communities.- This is the group that contributed the totems to the Tortuga Trail. 

The Yarnatics
A great place to gather with fellow yarn crafters to create projects, share ideas, and learn new techniques.

*     *     *     *     *

Needless to say, there are lots of different interests to explore here at FAU... even if you aren't into awesome things like FAU sports!

GO OWLS!

Not Everything is Sunshine in the Sunshine State

Sometimes when you really care about something, you tend to minimize its flaws and play up its positives. That certainly applies to an alma mater as well: we brag about a new rec center, a new football stadium, raised GPAs, stores hanging up FAU banners.

But then there are people out there who aren't like us, dissenters who see FAU quite a bit differently, and they've been spreading their vitriol all over the internet, discouraging potential students to stay far, far away from the Boca Raton campus. Granted, the gripers who have been burned by certain people or certain situations are the ones that are most likely to post this stuff, but there's a kernel of truth in each case and like it or not, this is part of the free "publicity" we're getting.

To paraphrase, here are some the main complaints and the rebuttals they deserve:

"Parking sucks."
Nothing new there. Of the 30k+ students that attend FAU, ~23k of them use the Boca Raton campus as their main campus. Numbers aren't available for how many students use the campus on which days, but let's assume that all 23k are attending every day at some point to maximize the "issue" at hand here. Now, as discussed in the Parking Garage 3 article,  there are currently around 10,000 spots on campus that need to be used by students, faculty and staff... so not even half of the Boca Raton student population. To accommodate everybody, FAU would probably have to build another 15,000 parking spots. The problem with this is twofold, A) We don't have the money, and B) We don't have the land (even if we did, half of campus would be a parking lot... it'd be like Disney World). On top of which, let's say we somehow did have the money and space for 25,000 parking spaces - they're not all going to be close. You'd still have to park and walk... and walk... and walk to class. And students would just complain about that too. So the bigger problem here is that we don't really have an efficient public transportation system either. To our credit, we did institute the campus shuttle service to try and mitigate complaints of parking too far away. That was a nice move, as are the new parking lots. But we may need to consider other ways to stem the anger, such as offering "premium" parking spots closer to campus proper that students can pay extra for. That's a way of re-envisioning your current parking inventory while still making more students happy.

"Academic advisers don't know what they're talking about."
A number of students who enter college aren't entirely sure what to major in. Even if they do, they often change it because age or exposure changes your view of what you'd like to do with the rest of your life (or at least until you go to grad school, as the current trends are dictating). Students look to advisers to give them direction, though students get frustrated when they don't get the answer they want or can't get something accomplished on their schedule. Even worse, I've heard stories of advisers telling people they had "no shot" at professional programs, like a Physician Assistant hopeful who was told she had no shot at admissions even with a 3.8 GPA. On the other side of the table, advisers get frustrated when students haven't thought things through, acted irresponsibly or expect special exceptions to made for them. There's give and take here, and sometimes student and adviser are like ships passing in the night. And that's if you can even see one, as budgetary issues have slowed hiring despite increased enrollment. FAU's BOT may need to prioritize academic advising and ensure they are getting the right numbers and the proper satisfaction from students.

"Classes are too easy, too much extra credit is given out, you don't learn anything, this is busywork compared to a real university."
The load of an individual class is highly dependent on the instructor, the general quality of student taking the class and the expectation of the department. Some professors don't care. Some professors recycle tests because it saves time. In an ideal world you'd have to work your butt off for an A, memorizing every last detail and then applying it as a process rather than word recognition or "match the terms." Even better, tests should probably require you to formulate and defend an argument. That's really what higher education is about - active expression of education versus passive test-taking. However, the reality is that multiple choice tests are useful because you can just run scantrons through a machine versus losing entire nights grading short answer responses, almost none of which are concise enough and usually ramble on about nonsense in a shotgun approach to throw everything a student knows on a paper and hope they get credit for some of it. Once you do lose all your life grading short term responses, students will then fight you tooth and nail in office hours that a vague sentence in the answer is actually saying one thing even when you've decided it absolutely isn't. It all becomes very political, and I've seen instances wherein deans and even lawyers are involved. So multiple choice trims all this down into more black and white, but it also means that a student succeeds by agreeing with a professor's "voice" ("Which of the following BEST describes..."). It's a complicated issue, made more complicated by the fact that students can be mixed in a class such that certain questions are too tough for certain students and "way too easy" for other students. There's a fine line to walk there, and hopefully professors care enough to walk it, constantly tuning it to be just right. If too many fail, there's administrative heat on the professor, and if too many pass, students can complain it was too easy, too much extra credit, too much busywork. Given those two outcomes, is it that hard to understand why professors tend to lean on the side of too easy? Still, perhaps each dean needs to scrutinize the class offerings and ensure that students are being adequately challenged - a tremendous task, to be sure, but perhaps a necessary one. We cannot have people graduating from this school saying it's too easy or they simply cheated their way to a degree.

"Staff is rude, unhelpful and doesn't know what they're doing."
This one I mostly agree with. Getting anything done administratively - whether it's registering for classes or checking on Financial Aid or getting certain papers signed - is usually an absolute nightmare. There needs to be a Customer Service program employed here because the attitudes and the misinformation can really turn people off. A student shouldn't have to go to three different offices on a wild goose chase to turn in a form to the right person, each office telling them that they're in the wrong place. Financial Aid shouldn't be snapping at students who don't understand and treating them like an inconvenience. Everybody has a bad day, and good days can become bad days when something that seems so simple to you is misunderstood by so many people, one after another, yes, but that's the job. These are customer service jobs and students have more frequent contact with these people than most others except for professors, so how they're treated is exceptionally important. Most of the complaints about FAU all stem back to customer service, how students don't feel welcome and then don't feel satisfied that they accomplished what they wanted. This cannot continue. Really.

Then there are the crazy misunderstandings, like "FAU has money for a $6 billion new football stadium but not summer classes?" In fact, the football stadium has gotten (and continues to get) a ton of flak from students, because in their mind FAU somehow pulled tens of millions of dollars out of its pocket to build a stadium for a "mediocre team" instead of applying that same tens of millions of dollars to their classes. This complaint comes up over and over and over. There may be a point in the near future when FAU has to release a press release saying, "We didn't take millions of dollars to build a football stadium instead of investing in your education."

Similarly, students believe that since they're paying so much in tuition, everything should be perfect. They think FAU is like an expensive restaurant and their power as a customer supercedes any and all other directives, including the wishes of other customers, and that every new fee or tuition increase isn't going toward operating costs but is instead driven by desire for profit. It's a weird assumption but for some reason students keep making it, and I think it's mostly perpetuated because they keep getting hit with tuition increases every. single. year. It wasn't until recently that someone on the BOT other than the SG President expressed remorse for having to raise the cost. The BOT doesn't have to pay these fees, but they do have to pay the bills, so the tuition and fees go up and up and up.

Meanwhile other schools have BOTs that have really fought for students and said, "you know what, we're not going to raise the cost of ______ this year. We did that for you."

It's a small gesture that goes a long way and I think it's the kind of small gestures FAU may need to start making to improve its customer service rapport and establish this as the exciting, forward-moving institution we all want it to be. We need everyone on board for something like that, and as the complaints build up over the course of an undergraduate career, they pull people further and further away from being faithful, philanthropic alumni who promote the university to young college hopefuls they know. Everything comes back around.

GO OWLS!

5 Franchises That Should Open Near Campus

Next year, the the highly-regarded Shake Shack will open right across the street from campus in University Commons. Not only do they make great food (including awesome cheese fries) but they'll also have an outdoor patio area, giving students their first opportunity to chill outside at University Commons to enjoy a burger and a beer with friends. Residential students have complained about a lack of "walkable" dining options, especially since so much of campus shuts down around dinner time, so having this awesome place right across the street is really a feather in our cap. A Shake Shack recently opened across from the University of Miami and hosted specialty menu items like "The U Malt," so I'm interested to see what they do for FAU!

In the meantime, here are some other franchises that should open near campus (in no particular order):

Sandwich U

We're fortunate to have some good sandwich places in Boca: Laspada's, 620-SUBS and V&S Deli... so why do we need another sandwich shop? Well, the three best arguments for SandwichU are: 1) their commitment to going balls-out for the local university where the shop is located, 2) dedication to late night food and 3) their crazy menu. Here are two perfect examples:

Fat Bitch®         $8.99
Cheese Steak. Chicken Fingers. 2 Mozzarella Sticks. Ketchup.

Fat Mojo®       $9.99
2 Cheese Burgers. 2 Mozzarella Sticks. Chicken Fingers. Bacon. Egg. Mayo. Ketchup.

Oh... and not only are they open late but they deliver to dorms too. Do I need to say more?

Can't have a SandwichU? CONSOLATION PRIZE: 100 Montaditos, which offers $1 sandwiches and $1 beers on Wednesdays. Talk about livin' on a college student budget!

Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers

Yes, it's a pizza place. And there a million pizza places all over south Florida and Boca Raton. Some people especially like Boca's Best Pizza Bar in downtown... haven't been there in awhile but from what I remember it was good. Cannoli Kitchen should be a local favorite, but nobody seems to be shouting their names from the hills either. California Pizza Kitchen is a personal favorite of mine but it's all the way at the boca mall (and it's fairly expensive). Mellow Mushroom, on the other hand, seems to be the best "fit" for a college town. It's got a hippie flair, with designs inspired by 60's and 70's era rock'n'roll, groovy colors and a rock soundtrack. Oh, and the food is awesome, obviously. Don't believe me? Try it yourself in downtown Delray. Then you'll understand why this place, already popular in college towns, should open in Boca Raton (preferably in University Commons next to the new Shake Shack).

Can't have a Mellow Mushroom? CONSOLATION PRIZE: Bleh. Well, in that case, maybe a Stevi B's Pizza Buffet... which is NOTHING like a Mellow Mushroom but hey, a pizza buffet could do well by FAU and it doesn't have the stigma of a Cici's. Also, it's a little bit better than Cici's... for what that's worth.



Wawa

Thanks Wikipedia.

A northeastern-U.S. convenience store with great food, especially sandwiches. It's hard to describe why this place captivates so many people but it just does. I've often heard people say they've chosen places to live and work based upon the proximity to a Wawa (and Trader Joe's, but that's another story). Since we have so many people in Boca Raton from the northeast, especially Jersey, Wawa is a natural fit for our city. And hey, it may not seem like such a longshot since Wawa recently opened seven stores in Orlando. "Florida is our future," said Howard Stoeckel, Wawa's CEO."

Can't have a Wawa? CONSOLATION PRIZE: No idea. The only other convenience store worth talking about is 7-11 and Boca citizens want nothing to do with that.


Howl At The Moon

Yes, it's a dueling piano bar, and yes, Boca already had one of those for a short time before it closed down. However, FunKey Nuts (the forementioned Boca piano bar) was in a terrible location over in a corner of downtown that wasn't even facing the main street (Federal Highway) and was surrounded by, what, art galleries, nail salons and other such nonsense? I don't think anything will be successful in that location. Howl At The Moon would have better success because it's a name brand with 13 locations across the U.S. in places like Boston, Chicago, Orlando and... Destin, Fl, so why not Boca? Dueling piano bars are great and this one just needs a good location (like across from FAU) and it'll take off. I know I keep referencing University Commons, and not everything can go in University Commons (like our next one, which wouldn't be a good fit) but if UC is going to have one entertainment/bar venue, it should be this one. And right along Glades Road... can't get better exposure than that.


Insert Coins Videolounge and Gamebar

With only two stores, it might be a stretch to call INSERT COINS a "franchise" but there are plans to expand it to other places. Basically this is a bar with various TV screens to play video games... as well as full arcade machines. It may seem a bit "dorky" to some but the atmosphere is great, it has a unique theme and it can draw out some of those students who might be turned off by the monotony of a regular bar. There would also be the opportunity to do "live Rock Band" here. Said one reviewer on Yelp: "I firmly believe that every town should have this bar in it.  Video games, drinks, loud music.  god yes."

Can't have an Insert Coins? CONSOLATION PRIZE: Barcade, a very similar concept in NY, NJ and Philly.

There you have it.

GO OWLS!

Part 2: BOT Retreat Notes

Here are some more highlights from the Board of Trustees Retreat back in September, especially with relation to development (remember what blog you're reading?)

LET'S BUILD SOMETHING

President Saunders wants to increase enrollment by ~5% every year, and as the enrollment increases there's obviously going to be a need for more classroom space and more buildings. Facilities is looking at a $2.5M expansion of the Breezeway, renovating Science and Engineering as well as getting Parking Garage 4 going (which should be right next to Parking Garage 3). There's also a $9M CITF request for Student Union Renovation and Expansion for Fall 2013.

Trustees also asked about the possibility of reacquiring the land leased to Palm Beach State College before the lease is up. Not saying that will happen, but they did talk about it.

An interesting note on Parking Garage 3 (the Innovation Village garage): I'm reading that the design is fluctuating because there is some consideration of classroom/office space in the garage for programs displaced by the closing of the Ft. Lauderdale and Port St. Lucie campuses... not sure what that will mean for the ground floor retail, but FAU might have their back up against a wall a little bit as the PECO funding (which usually finances academic building construction) has "dried up."

I understand the situation but I hope if that's the case, they have space for both. It would not be a good idea to make it all academic space. That retail component is super important to the Innovation Village area.

Time will tell.

WHAT KIND OF SCHOOL SHOULD WE BE?

The BOT was asked about their long-term view of the university. A long time ago, FAU's then-BOT decided that the role of the university was "accessibility to higher education" which translated into building campuses "shotgun-style" (as President Brogan described it) all over south Florida, each one being a commuter campus. You come, you attend class, you go home. That was the focus.

Then over the last decade or so - probably as far back as President Cantonese - that feeling started to change. More dorms. Traditions Plaza. Football stadium. Innovation Village. Gyms. Statues.

We've made good progress, but at times the school does feel a little half and half: half commuter, half traditional.

Did the BOT want to continue that way, as half and half, or did they want to go full traditional? The consense was a traditional four-year university with high research activity for attracting outstanding graduate students. Part of growing the research aspect is looking for non-traditional funding sources for the research, i.e. outside business investment into FAU research.

Building a stellar business reputation was a point of protracted discussion - what can we do to be known for research? There's an enormous cost - could be in the billions over 20 years - to building a big time research university. It was noted that it wasn't just about incentivizing faculty with money (and doing so without a lot of state support), but also freedom and endowed chairs. There was a lot of talk about how difficult it is to attract "name" faculty with the budget cuts. Furthermore, it's always walking a fine line when you have loyal faculty who have worked here for years, suffering from lack of bonuses because the BOT cries poormouth, and then they hire new people at 1.5-2x the salary. It's inevitable but profoundly political. Some will walk. Some already have. It's a touchy subject.

Unfortunately, it may come to that. "Zemsky said if you want to get to where you want to be, the faculty will be different in the future from what you have now. He noted that online learning is not the same as being in a classroom. He suggested the trustees go see other universities, especially the ones FAU wants to be like, such as NC State, Michigan State, and the University of Illinois-Chicago." 

THE WHOLE STEM THING

As you know, Florida Governor Rick Scott has pushed his STEM agenda (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) on the state to push students toward vocationally-centered degrees and away from "unemployable" things like the arts or, uh, anthropology.

The trustees noted that community/state colleges can offer STEM disciplines easier because they don't have the cost burden of supporting research facilities.

Some particularly interesting notes in this section. Apparently 75% of students take easy STEM classes off-campus late in their careers, and that "students often don’t want the majors that businesses want (because they are hard and jeopardize GPAs), and businesses don’t want the majors that many students choose." Furthermore, "most students will take the path of least resistance. Students don’t understand the end product when they graduate. Moabery agreed and added that 90-percent of business jobs are sales." This leads to a stalemate after graduation with frustration on both sides.

We talked yesterday about the flirtation of a Dental School after the Medical and Nursing school, but moving forward the BOT may also need to consider that "if FAU becomes a STEM university, it will need to add a whole new set of degrees, such as Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Physician’s Assistant." 

WHAT HAS THE PRESIDENT BEEN DOING, ANYWAY?

Quite a bit, actually. Although the faculty may not be pleased with her, the President earned a $40,000 bonus with 27 pages of accomplishments, everything from speaking in the community to entertaining important guests to increasing philanthropy to fighting for the university in Tallahassee to directing and overseeing rises in enrollment, social media presence and god knows what else. 

GOALS FOR NEXT YEAR

• We're undergoing a 10-year reaccreditation process (kinda important that it goes well)
• Increase new out-of-state enrollment by 10% (that's big - trustees want to play to our strength: a campus in Florida).
• "Enhance" Honors education at Boca (should have here from the beginning)
• Renovate Student Union
• Double external research
• Increase internships by 10%
• Just be a better school than FIU, overall (okay, that one was mine... but wth, it's Shula Bowl week!)

GO OWLS!

FAU's Board of Trustees Dream Big

Every year the FAU BOT gets together for a two-day long workshop called the Board Retreat where they discuss a number of things like how we're doing and where we're going. They discuss challenges and ambitions as well as the politics and finances involved in bringing our goals to life.

We'll be talking about this as a two part series, but today I thought it would be most interesting to look at how the BOT responded when asked, "If you had an unlimited budget, what would FAU look like 20 years from now?" Divided into three breakout groups,they came up with the following ideas (categories mine):

HOUSING
- A fully residential campus, with 75% of students in on-campus dorms.
- Greek Housing and a Thriving Greek Life (all three groups wanted Greek Housing)
- Davie Campus Residential Halls
- High School Residential Halls
- Housing/FAU/Scripps/Max Planck with Private Developer

ATHLETICS
- New Basketball Arena
- Roof for Football Stadium
- Indoor Tennis Stadium
- Add Men’s and Women’s Track and Field teams
- Beach Volleyball Stadium
- University Golf Course

ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
- Dental School
- FAU offering graduate and undergraduate STEM degrees
- Establish/expand lower division programs on Davie Campus
- Narrow focus of academic offerings to best serve community/market needs
- Coordinate with Broward College to reinforce 2+2 and master degrees
- Add Science, Medical Business to Scripps and Max Planck

OTHER BUILDINGS/DEVELOPMENT
- Hi-speed rail line to Boca Raton campus
- Academic Center
- Hotel/Welcome Center
- First-class Student Union
- Electronic Video Billboard on the Spanish River exit
- Conference Center adjacent to College of Business
- More contiguous campus
- Parking garage
- Charter Lab School – High STEM, Oceanographic and Marine Science Masters
- Physical presence of Woods Hole Institute, Jacques Cousteau Society, Navy, Private Sector, all marine research institute

BROAD INITIATIVES
- Monetize FAU’s west Boca parcel
- Develop Southeast corner
- Convert Barry Kaye Hall to ten stories
- Buy properties east of El Rio
- Fully developed teaching/research campus
- Global marine science leader
- Lease facilities to Nova
- Strategic Class Offerings
- The bio-science hub of the eastern U.S.
- Derive money from the bio-science cluster
- Recognized as National Science Center
- Increase Science offerings at undergraduate and graduate levels
- Visiting faculty offering summer STEM courses
- Visiting faculty seminars for FAU faculty
- Retraining K-12 teachers for STEM


I know this is "pie-in-the-sky" stuff and a lot of it may never happen, especially with regards to buildings now that the state is no longer matching donations which is a big deal because a new building could cost $30M and it's much "easier" to raise $15M than a donation of $30M.

But I wanted to comment on a couple things anyway, for better or worse:

- HOUSING: I don't think it would be a good use of money to offer high school dorms (what?) or dorms at the Davie campus. Beside Boca, we only have student housing on the Jupiter campus, and the only reason we offer it there is to attract more people to the Honors program. The rest I agree with, though 75% is way too high. 25% would even be fine, because if the enrollment is 40k in 20 years (which it could easily be 40K+) then that's 10K people on campus... and I think that's the number we need to shoot for.

- ATHLETICS: Strange they don't mention a new baseball stadium. Maybe it just slipped their mind. I had thought about a University-owned golf course too but wondered if we really needed that considering how many excellent courses there are in Boca already (unless they meant buy one of those... if you can even do that)

- ACADEMICS: Dental school is a good idea, though that initiative was defeated recently as a number of Florida universities were looking into it (FAU, UCF, FAMU, if I remember correctly). Personally I think we need a pharmacy school more than a dental school. People should realize, however, that professional students tend to be way more loyal to their undergrad than their professional schools when it comes to donations in the future.

- OTHER DEVELOPMENTS: Hi-speed rail... well, there is an initiative to get commuter service going on the tracks that run along Dixie Highway, and they've also talked about establishing new train stations there (Dixie and 20th) and downtown Boca at Mizner... can you imagine? First-class Student Union, Hotel/Conference Center, electronic video board, physical presence of research centers... all good things. Especially Woods Hole, if we could get them here. I know what "contiguous" means but I'm not sure what they mean by "more contiguous campus" unless they mean to start cutting out more of the satellite campuses...

- BROAD INITIATIVES: Barry Kaye Hall to 10 stories? That's... that's definitely dreaming big, that's what that is. "Buy properties east of El Rio" YES, YES, YES. Muy importante. As far as "develop southeast corner", I suppose they mean the idea to build more Innovation Village Apartment-style housing south of the University Village Apartments... or maybe something else entirely.

Interesting stuff! More on the way from the Board Retreat in Part 2.

GO OWLS!

Should the Rick Newman Show move to FAU?

 "The Rick Newman Show" has to be one of Boca's "best kept secrets." The annual light and display shows go up every Halloween and Christmas in front of Newman's house at 699 NW 9th Ave, behind the Boca Raton mall, and they've become a holiday tradition for thousands of people in the area.

 My family and I are among those people who enjoy the show and I've been several times. One time during Christmas I actually got to speak to the man himself and he explained a little bit about his background. From what I remember, before he retired Newman used to coordinate the light shows for big concerts and festivals, so the displays in his front yard typically involve a number of animatronics, inflatables, flashing lights and even a "snow" blower machine. He's put a lot of time and money into the presentation and it shows. Newman uses a computer program that costs about $5,000 to sync various songs that can be heard on a dedicated AM station. Crowds gather to enjoy the show, which runs on a loop about 30-45 minutes long. A special basket outside asks for donations to the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

Unfortunately, his neighbors seem to have a problem with the show every year. Newman is constantly having to fight the police and his neighbors to keep the show going and at one point the City Council itself was asked to intervene, although they ultimately ruled in favor of the show. To be honest, it's not that difficult to see where they're coming from: for as great as the show is, and what it means to the community, it's still a corner house in a residential neighborhood that's drawing big crowds. People like us have to drive over and either block the street or park on other people's lawns, which no doubt can ruin the grass. The lights, though they're not constant, could beam into your living room until 10:30 at night. Because the music plays on a radio station, and the even is outside, people tend to turn it up in their car and roll the windows down so everyone on the street can hear it. That doesn't always happen, of course, but you could see why it would bother people when it did.

So as much as people like this, you have to wonder how many more years Newman is willing to fight against the neighbors over this. It would be a shame to see something this wonderful disappear from Boca altogether simply because it's too popular for its location.

I wonder if Newman would consider moving this show to a better location - say a large university down the street that is basically immune from City intervention - where he wouldn't be hassled about it anymore? This would be a win-win for FAU, since it would bring the community to campus, thus increasing its visibility and helping to further cement the university as the cultural epicenter of the city.

So if the RNS did come here, where would it go? My first thought would be the outdoor field behind the Student Union. That creates an area that could be opened and closed by gates, it has plenty of bushes and open space for the different pieces of the show, it has electrical access (because Program Board holds concerts back there) and it's obviously used to handling thousands of people. Furthermore, it's much easier to direct people in the community there as opposed to, say, the Campus Green by SO; he could put up a sign in his yard saying, "See the Rick Newman Show, now behind the FAU Student Union!" No irritated neighbors, no yards being destroyed, no roads being blocked and no cops serving noise violations. Just plenty of parking and good cheer all around.

The only downside, of course, is that it takes up that space so student organizations can't use it from October through December. Would FAU, particularly Program Board, want to give up a space like that for three months? Well, let's be honest: there's very little that you can do in there that you absolutely can't do somewhere else on campus. I've seen shows with electronic components done on the Housing Quad and the Campus Green. And half the concerts held back there get moved inside to the Barry Kaye Auditorium anyway (where they should be). So are we really losing that much? Doubt it. I think the trade-off would be worth it.

Other universities certainly reap the benefits of holiday displays/shows. The most poignant example that comes to mind is Light Up UCF, an event created to drive more traffic to their Knights Plaza area and encourage vendors that have setup shop there (the businesses there aren't doing so hot). This event has holiday lights, an "ice" skating rink, film festival and carnival. It's a really great idea and looks to be very successful.

I'm not saying FAU has to go full-bore on this with a ferris wheel and everything. I'm just saying that something like this is a great way to create good vibes toward the community, from current students to retirees who have never set foot on campus. Even if the Newman Show doesn't ever come here, we can start small and do up Diversity Way like Columbia University does along College Walk:

Picture via Rufusowliebat of Flickr (Creative Commons use)

...or maybe do something in the plaza between the Alumni Center and the Rec Center. That's a high traffic area, and it could lead over to the new basketball arena when it's built next to the stadium (whenever that happens). Both football and basketball run from October through December, so the Innovation Village plaza could be a great place for that - like UCF did with Knights Plaza - especially when the stores open as the ground floor retail of Parking Garage 3.

And the beauty of light displays is that you can build it up over time. You don't have to start with hundreds of thousands of lights and animatronics. You can buy more and more over time. In fact, maybe the FAU Alumni Office could send out an email saying this is something we want to do, so bring us your old Christmas lights! And then once we have them, students could help string up the lights - kind of like they would do at home, only here, now, at FAU... their home away from home.

GO OWLS!

If You Build It and Neglect It, They Won't Come

Back in 1996, the Flowering Tree Society of Palm Beach County partnered with FAU to bring a Flowering Tree Park to campus.

Not to be too hipster here but you've probably never heard of it. I've talked to a number of people about it trying to figure out what happened and nobody seems to know what I'm even talking about.

So I took some pictures for you guys. The Flowering Tree Park is on the very southeast portion of campus at the end of El Rio Trail. You can reach it from the University Village Apartments by heading south on the old paved path running through the "owl fields."

Entrance plaque...

...which you can see on the left. This is the formal entrance. You can see that nobody's been here for awhile.

Probably the only good path left there as overgrowth has reabsorbed everything. The park had all the makings for a great place, with defined edges and sign posts, but that has fallen to the wayside. Most of the paths don't look like this anymore. They're congested with fallen branches, spiderwebs, weeds and more. Had I not discovered this place years ago and saw what it used to look like, I wouldn't even be sure there WERE paths.

The original intention would be to separate the park as gardens by seasons so you'd understand why some were blooming at a particular time and others were not.

They were working on an irrigation system. Not sure if it still works.

Some flowers have managed to survive in this wilderness!

Around one side of the park is an FAU signature banyan tree that's sort of grown around itself and created a cavernous interior. It's kind of cool. On the other side of this tree is a rest area for El Rio Trail bikers/joggers with a picnic table.

It's not even represented on the El Rio Trail sign that's right next to it.

I've sent an email off to SEEDS, the student organization building the Tortuga Trail, to see what they know about it and if there's anything they can do to give it a new life again. A little mulch, a few signs, some benches... it could be a very nice place, a little slice of Eden right there on the corner of campus.

For what it's worth, most universities have gardens/nature trails/parks on their campuses. It gives students a place to unwind and get some zen.

Imagine something like this. Thanks Wikipedia.

A number of campuses also have full-fledged arboretums, or a collection of trees which sometimes represents every kind of tree in that state. I'm not saying we have to go that far, especially since we probably don't have enough land for something like that, but I do think it's worth expanding the green space - and this Flowering Tree Park - on campus. For instance:

The area above marked "Potential Park Space" toggles between being owl preserve (possible) and future dorm space (most likely) on Campus Master Plans; the latter fits in with the idea of preserving a campus "core" (with academic buildings) encircled by support buildings like student housing around it. Still, if you want to develop that land and disregard the one or two owl nests over there (that I saw... there may be more), then you could still potentially extend Indian River Street east to create a north and south division of that potential park space. The north side could have another IVA-esque tall dorm building. The south aspect of it could be the new, expanded Tree Park with things like koi ponds, orange trees, all the different kinds of palm trees, oak trees and ferns from Florida. That would truly be a great place. And I'm sure President Saunders, who earned a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, would dig it too. 

Years ago I wrote to President Brogan and told him about the impasse between the Boca Raton Botanical Society and City officials. The Botanical Society wanted to develop "an $8.3 million botanical garden in Countess de Hoernle Park in the next five years. It will consist of an 80-foot high dome for a conservatory, an amphitheater, a play garden for children and an area for research" but the City wanted the Botanical Society to have way more money up front than they had and also wanted them to construct the sidewalks and such to the dome, which eventually caused the entire deal to break down. I suggested to Brogan that FAU approach the Botanical Society about building the dome on campus instead over by the tree park, noting that it would not only give the university a distinct landmark structure but also a plethora of educational and research opportunities, as students gave tours and worked on various projects with FAU professors inside the dome. He passed it on to the university planners, who must have said "thanks but no thanks" since, well, we still don't have the dome.

I still stand behind that idea and I think the park is a great idea. During undergrad I tried to help by cleaning up and planting some things there. Maybe this post will raise some awareness of it now because it really has a lot of potential... and nobody seems to know about it!

Have a good weekend!

GO OWLS!

The Difficulty of Creating Tradition

Back in 2007 when the FAU football team was selected to face Memphis in the New Orleans Bowl, Athletics Director Craig Angelos was surprised to find a short line of excited fans waiting outside of the Oxley to buy tickets to the game. "Looks like we have a new tradition forming," he quipped, a comment criticized by the media as indicative of how badly FAU wanted to establish popular traditions here in Boca Raton.

But why do people even care if we have traditions? Well, it's fun, obviously. And most people are attracted to universities with "rich heritages", even if the traditions themselves are kind of silly. Case in point: the "Rolling of Toomer's Corner" at Auburn University where, for celebratory reasons, students throw toilet paper into the branches of old oak trees. It's an event that can draw thousands of people, as seen below:

Thanks Wikipedia.

I'm not denigrating the Rolling of Toomers whatsoever because it looks like a great tradition. Seriously. This would be awesome to have at FAU (unless you were the one that had to clean it up, of course)

What I'm trying to point out is that if something like this perseveres, it can become a city-sponsored activity a hundred years after its inception. But in the beginning, in the first year, you might have to pitch something like this as, "Hey, let's throw toilet paper in trees to celebrate something cool!" while the person you're suggesting it to looks at you like you have three heads. Student Government might say, "We're not spending money on that." And then the university Administration shuts it down by arguing that it would cause a mess and who is going to pay to clean it up?

I'm not projecting there: I know a little bit about this because I sought out something similar for Homecoming a couple years back. I had suggested that we be allowed to decorate Traditions Plaza with red and blue crepe paper so that when students saw it, they'd know something special was going on. It wasn't an ode to Toomer's Corner - I'm not sure if I even knew about that at the time - but just grew naturally out of the idea of wanting to decorate as much of campus as possible. Long story short, it didn't go over well with some people who didn't understand it, didn't want to be part of it or wanted us to fund a special clean-up crew to deal with the aftermath (and I get that, I do).

That's what happens with ideas: sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. Not every idea is good, even if you think it is because it's your idea.

And then there are the ideas that do get off the ground but suffer a short run before being snuffed out. That's the difficulty with most prospective traditions: somebody (SGA member, club president, etc) comes up with an idea, they get married to the idea, they run with it during their tenure and then hand off the baton to the next administration. If the next administration doesn't see the merit in it, especially if it eats into an already tight budget, a tradition can die right then and there.

For instance, there was once a "Naked Mile"/ "Underwear Run" type of event where students got together, stripped down to their undergarments and ran to the pool to jump in. The clothes they shed were then donated to charity. It was a charity event. I'm not sure how this event went the first time, if it ran into hurdles as people complained about "public indecency" or if someone slipped and fell on the way to the pool (there are always risks involved in every activity, and if the risks are reasonably accounted for we should still move forward or we'll never do anything). For one reason or another, it wasn't carried forward. And it was a great event. It's sad.

Fortunately, FAU has a number of traditions that have survived and we do have some things to beam about. From a physical standpoint, the students have fought Administration so we could keep Algonquin (as mentioned before) and the sidewalks out front of the Student Union with the political messages (like "Spiro Agnew's father should have been sterile.") It represents our history and need to be preserved.

From a behavioral/event standpoint, we have the Owl Fingers (which have been around longer than you thought), Basketball Clap (stomp stomp clap clap F-A-U woooo) and tailgating (not many schools do that, so we should build on it), the Timucua Pageant (and obviously the rest of Homecoming), the Step Show, Greek Week, the Freshmen Foam Party, the Fall Bonfire, the Sexually Responsible Bed Race and the Pumpkin Drop. Those are just the ones that come to mind. I'm sure there are more, especially when you start getting down into the individual colleges.

So don't ever let someone tell you that FAU has "no traditions", heritage, or identity... because we certainly do and over the years we'll continue to build on what we have. Understand that there may be opposition in the beginning. It may cost us money. People may not understand it. Students may not show up in the numbers you thought. And the next administration may drop it.

But every once in awhile, a spark catches just right and becomes a fire, and that fire can burn for decades. If you're a student and you have an idea, propose it. Put in the effort. You never know what could happen. 20 years from now your son or daughter could enroll as a freshmen at FAU and attend an event that was your idea.

How cool would that be?

GO OWLS!

Admissions and the Numbers Game

FAU broke a new admissions record for Fall 2012 by enrolling 30,038 students overall, with 23,660 calling the Boca Raton campus home. Last year the media talked about our increased enrollment but I guess they didn't want to write that story this year, so I will.

Our freshmen class size was 3,237 students. The average GPA was 3.5, the average ACT was 23 and the average SAT was 1600 (out of a possible 2400, which translates to ~1090 by the old "1600" SAT system).  The GPA went up 0.1, the ACT stayed the same and the average SAT increased slightly... I'd like to see it around 1200-1300 by the old SAT system, so we're still a ways from that. Maybe in the next five years.

Everybody likes to talk about selectivity and some students are still under the wrong impression that we "accept everyone." For Fall 2012 there were 27,888 FTIC (first time in college, aka freshmen) students that applied of which 10,876 were admitted (39%). The overall number (including the 2,913 students who applied for the highly-coveted 63 medical school spots) was only slightly higher at ~40%.

So, have we gotten more exclusive? The short answer is "yes." Over the years FAU has admitted the following percentages of FTIC applicants:

52% (in Fall 2006)
55% (2007)
46% (2008)
46% (2009)
51% (2010)
36% (2011)

It fluctuates a bit year to year because we have to admit and enroll X number of students to make our budget. That's automatic. But depending on the year, for instance in 2011 we had a surge in applications because of the opening of the new football stadium. As you can see, we literally turned away 15% more students in 2011 than in 2010, and it's got to be because of the stadium. We've increased from 36% to 39% primarily because Mary Jane Saunders supposedly wants to increase the freshmen class size every year to grow enrollment (that's the rumor, anyway), and I'm with her on that. After all, 39% is still pretty respectable. 50, 52, 55% is not. You want to keep that number down around 25-30% to maintain a certain quality of student.

And once they're admitted, what are these students pursuing, anyway?

Well, the three most popular colleges by enrollment are: Business (5,847), Science (4,994) and, surprisingly, Arts & Letters (3,819) - I really thought Education (2,943) would have been in the Top 3 considering our reputation for developing good teachers!

Remember that "Business" covers about 10 different degrees and four certificates, so perhaps it's more important to look at degrees instead of colleges.The top 3 degrees are Biology, Psychology and Elementary Education at the undergraduate level, with Business Administration, Nursing and "Educational Leadership" (future University Presidents?) as the top 3 at the graduate level.

Not ocean engineering, huh? We're really dropping the ball there...

Anyway, in the 48 years that FAU has offered classes, we've graduated 128,961 students from all campuses. That number would be higher if we focused our efforts on offering more classes and ensuring that there are enough sections for students to graduate. Some senior upperclassmen have one shot at a class required to graduate, and if they can't get into it, they may have to wait an entire year for the class to be offered again. Sad, but it happens all too often and the way for us to improve our 4-year graduation rate is to ensure that the junior and senior classes are available to everyone in the major; for instance, if there are 40 seniors pursuing Class X needed to graduate, make sure Class X isn't capped at 25 and instead can take on 40 students. It would be a dynamic class size system.

As I've mentioned before, we want to grow our graduate enrollment as well since graduate students produce research and act as ambassadors for the school at academic conferences. Of those ~129k alumni, only 1,605 got their doctoral (Ph.D.) degree here (approximately 1.2%). We definitely need to increase that number. One of the ways a school is judged is based upon hoe many doctoral degree programs it offers and how many people graduate from them. We have 19 doctoral level degrees and one professional degree, so let's say we have 20 overall. Schools with names you recognize offer more like 80-100 Ph.D. programs. As mentioned before, that can't just happen overnight - you need faculty, you need research space and programs, and you need interest. FAU wants to qualify for the highest ranking of research activity and that means increasing the graduate enrollment and doctoral student population.

It's not as hard to know where we'll go from here as it is to predict how quickly we'll get there. How do we attract valedictorians away from the Floridas and the Vanderbilts? And once they get here, how are we challenging them? A student with a 4.0 GPA from high school needs significant more challenge and stimulation than someone who graduated with a 2.5 GPA, and I've read various reviews from people saying some of our classes are more busywork than truly challenging. Are we pandering too much to ensure that enough people are graduating from the class, thus robbing them of a more in-depth understanding? If that is the case, the good news is that the professors will catch onto the rising GPA/SAT and feel a little more comfortable asking more from our students. At the end of the day we want that reputation to come back to other high school students and potential employers, that an FAU degree was an challenge to get, not just something you invested four years worth of of busywork for. When you cross that stage, it should mean the world to you because you broke your back to get there.

It's going to be a long journey but the numbers are looking good, and with good numbers comes good reputation, which means higher rankings, and the whole thing is a positive feedback loop. Soon we'll have an average GPA of 3.7, SAT of 1200 and be able to brag that we accepted a dozen valedictorians and graduated them in four years. It happened at UCF. It can happen here. Just give it time.

GO OWLS!

FAU Museum(s)

Did you know that FAU has an art museum?

You didn't miss it on the Boca campus - it's at the Jupiter campus. 10,000 square feet of exhibition space is not bad at all, and with free admission, the price is definitely right.

Simply put, universities and museums have a harmonious relationship because both have an educational mission. "University museums" also tend to house research laboratories for various departments, from history to anthropology to biology. For instance, in Gainesville the Florida Museum of Natural History also houses the laboratories for the entomology department, specifically their butterfly research labs (hence why one of the main attractions is an indoor butterfly garden). And in the case of art museums like the MFA (Museum of Fine Arts) at FSU, a small gallery space grew and grew until the demand was great enough to transition from a gallery into a full-fledged museum.

Our Boca campus currently has two art galleries: the University Gallery (in the Performing Arts building) and the Ritter Art Gallery (on the second floor of the Breezeway). Neither are particularly large and yet they have still housed some pretty impressive exhibitions over the years; one of my favorite events was a rock poster show at the University Gallery back in 2006/2007.

Having a museum on campus pays off in different ways. First and foremost, there's the educational aspect. We have a duty to educate both our students and the general public (and this is partly the reason why FAU established the Lifelong Learning Society). Universities are "knowledge engines" yet not everyone can attend the university or participate in the research, so museums are another way to bring that knowledge to the people. In doing so, we can foster stronger subconscious associations between "FAU" and "knowledge," enhancing our local and academic reputation. Museums host traveling exhibits, which in turn can focus the spotlight on the university and raise our visibility (one of our goals). Museums offer jobs and provide opportunities for Museum Studies programs to flourish here. And finally, museums inspire donations.

Furthermore, Boca doesn't have many museums, nor are there many notable ones in the South Florida outside of The Morikami Japanese Museum & Gardens (in Delray) and the Museum of Discovery and Science (in Ft. Lauderdale).

So there a lot of good reasons to have one at FAU, if you can make it financially viable. If capable donors are involved, the museum can operate on its endowment and not charge admission. If not, it must have interesting enough attractions and events that can draw in repeat customers, and this is where a good portion of museums have difficulty. That being said, pretty much anything can become a "museum" so it's not all that surprising when things like the Cartoon Museum close their doors (unfortunately... I liked that place!)

Now, I believe that FAU should consider earmarking some land for a "museum street" south of Indian River Street for 2-3 museums in the future. Understand that I don't mean in the next 3-5 years, I mean in the next 20-30 years after the rest of campus is built up. Originally I thought that it would have been nice to give FAU's "Surfing Florida" exhibit a permanent home on campus, but then I read this somber review and realized it's probably for the best if it isn't (maybe we could have it line a hallway somewhere?). Still, there are a number of ideas that could work:

- An ocean engineering/marine sciences museum. Show easy-to-understand diagrams of how boats and submarines are made, what research we're doing, show off the Talon-1 and the various boats our students have made, maybe have a coral reef area/aquarium, have a wall of seashells that the Geology department has dug out of the Everglades, fish and turtle skeletons, effects of ocean acidification, the sea turtle rehab project at Gumbo Limbo and talk about the research we're doing to create medicines from the sea.

- A medical museum to tie in with the medical school with exhibits about rare diseases, X-ray puzzle rooms ("can you spot the difference between the normal X-ray and the bad one?"), diseases of famous people, mannequin ER, stuff like that. The BODIES exhibit proved that people are interested in even "gross" medical stuff!

- An art museum specializing in art installations with a name like "The Boca Art Experience." I like all kinds of art museums but I can understand why the general public doesn't want to spend $20 to go room to room looking at pictures and drawings that don't impress them. I really like the idea of an art installation museum because it brings people "into" the art: it's a room you walk through, a hole for you to pop your head into, a console with switches and buttons that you can manipulate.

The University of Illinois, Chicago has a virtual reality exhibit called The CAVE. Thanks Wikipedia.

More cool stuff here, here and here.

- A jazz museum. I'm always hearing about how this and that person donated a ton of one-of-a-kind jazz recordings to FAU. Not sure why we're that lucky, but we just are. According to this site, we have over 21,000 pieces in the archive... I'm sure some of that could be parlayed into a small museum. Maybe this could just be an addition to the new Culture and Society building.

And lastly:

- A museum of the future. I know this seems counter-intuitive, as museums are usually retrospectives, but as universities look to the future as much as they look to the past, this would fit in well. And it would definitely be one of a kind! The general idea here is to look at how people in the past (50's, 60's, 70's)  thought the world would be like in the future (now known as the present), from watch phones to jet packs; to examine the "futuristic" advances we're completing now (from cars to computers) and then look at various concepts for the future, from vertical farms to vacuum tube trains to, well, jetpacks! And the museum could have various new technologies (like the very impressive Google Glass) on display for people to try out and get them excited about buying in the future - meaning corporate sponsorship of exhibits!

And who doesn't like to think about the future? :)

GO OWLS!

Showing Their Support

Mayor Susan Whelchel has referred to Boca Raton a "university town" on a couple occasions and it's certainly no secret that we here at the FAU DIEHARD blog certainly want the city to develop that way. A big part of accomplishing that - besides growing the university and increasing student housing near campus - is creating a palpable off-campus presence that constantly reminds people that they're "in the FAU area" (aka "Owl Country")

Back in 2009, I collected a number of Owl head cutouts and purchased felt pennants to hand out to local businesses. I made some headway here and there but overall Boca businesses were more hesitant about hanging up FAU stuff than I had predicted. See, I had been operating on the idea that businesses were interested in supporting FAU (and the college town idea), they just hadn't/didn't want to spend the money (an FAU flag, for instance, costs $50).

Fast forward a couple years to late 2011/early 2012 when Student Government picked up the baton and ran with it for their Owl Country campaign. Needless to say, they did an awesome job and were much more successful than me. Here's the result of their efforts as well as other progress made on integrating FAU/Owl spirit into the community (the following pictures are all mine):

You'll find these banners up at 16 Handles froyo shop and this Sprint (?) cell phone store in University Commons. It's also hanging up right over the register at Shane's Rib Shack (next to Moe's) and in a corner of Starbucks on Glades.

Speaking of Shane's Rib Shack, look what else they have up in their dining area...

The "mural" at Laspadas and in a prime location: right next to the drink machine. To the left of this, by the register, is two UM pennants though (bleh)

Here's an unexpected find at the Corner Bakery Cafe, a Panera Bread-esque place with paninis, soups and salads over by Five Guys.

Hey, a University Press bin by the Hooters! If that's not the only big off-campus, it's certainly one of the few of them that are. Inside the restaurant, for those who haven't been there, they have FAU pennants, an Owl Head logo table and a multi-arrow sign showing FAU to the east only 2.6 miles (or whatever it is) away. Great touches, especially since the owner is a UCF alum.

Moe's continues their split FAU/Lynn love. Moe's in other college towns goes a little further than ours does, with things like a line banner of mini pennants around the central burrito building station. Not even sure if we make something like that, to be very honest...

The University Commons Barnes & Noble has decreased their support, in a way. Here their stock of FAU shirts are tossed in a corner like a pile of garbage. I doubt you'd know it was here unless you asked. A cashier told me they do sell, just not as much as the campus bookstore. Considering they have two shops and a mobile vending trailer selling FAU stuff on-campus, I guess that might be enough to satisfy a fanbase at our level.

Upstairs in Barnes the former dedicated "FAU Study Area" has been reduced to an area for children's games, leaving at least one person to study on the floor. In fairness to B&N, they may have needed the space and the study tables WERE attracting more Boca citizens than students who just wanted to sit down and read books all day instead of buying them...

Of course this isn't the only representation we have in Boca Raton. 620-SUBS has been basically FAU-themed for a long time now, and we've rewarded them with our business. Publix on Federal Highway will often put up football posters near the entrance and sell FAU shirts/hats (of questionable quality). The Boca Diner on Federal also flies an FAU flag and puts up football posters in their waiting area (thanks to one of their employees being a dedicated FAU football fan). McDonald's on Yamato Road has FAU stuff up as well. And of course there's the entire FAU-themed gas station on 20th Street, the (Valero) Owl's Nest.

And I'm sure there are plenty more that I'm overlooking.

Point is: it's a good start. It's especially a good start because these businesses don't have to do this for us. Not even at University Commons! And Publix obviously doesn't need to put up FAU paraphernalia to attract throngs of customers. Nor does Starbucks.

I was surprised that Pita Pit (next to Starbucks on Glades) didn't have any since that's a business that usually caters to college students. I'd also like to see something up at Panera and Pei Wei, but again, that might be a harder sell, as might be stores in the Boca Mall or Mizner (like the Boston Market across from Mizner)

There's sometimes a feeling that Boca businesses should support the Owls because we're the "hometown team" (I'm sure Lynn says the same thing) but when you get down to it, I bet a large percentage of these owners/managers have no affiliation to FAU other than location. They might have gone to schools like Florida or Miami and, if they were going to hang up anything, it would be Gator or Hurricane stuff. So we're lucky to have made this much progress, and once our football and basketball teams really start to shine, you'll see more banners and more FAU gear on sale again. Things may ebb and flow in this town but as mentioned before, interest from one business can spur interest in another, and slowly but surely Owl spirit can flood the community. Hopefully SGA's Owl Country campaign can continue for the next few years to expand our reach into Boca Raton.

I still believe it is critical to add FAU spirit to University Commons, as it is one of the largest "attractions" in Boca Raton and located along a road that regularly attracts ~80,000 cars a day. I think it's important for us to extend our FAU banners on Glades to University Commons on each lightpost in the parking lot.  I also believe we should heavily consider a repaint of the University Commons sign at the intersection of Glades and Airport Road to something like this:

Work in progress. There are a lot of different variations that could accomplish this same goal.

You know, work in the school colors.

Remind them of the red and blue. 

Remind people that this is Florida Atlantic University Commons.

Remind them that this is Owl Country.

GO OWLS!