Florida Atlantic University – Profile, Academic, Cost & Ranking

The county is also home to the John D. MacArthur Campus located in Jupiter. FAU operates three campuses in the Broward County cities of Dania Beach, Davie, and Fort Lauderdale. Florida Atlantic University also operates a campus in the St. Lucie County city of Fort Pierce.

In addition to students who attend classes on the universities campuses, there are 1,612 distance learning students who conduct their studies over the internet or through other means. These students account for 6% of the university’s student body.

FAU is a signatory of the American College & University presidents Climate Commitment Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. This commits the institution to ensuring all new construction projects meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver standards.  In 2011, the College of Engineering and Computer Science Building was LEED Platinum certified.

FAU’s main campus in Boca Raton was established on the remnants of a World War II American Army airbase in 1964. Spanning 850 acres (3.5 km²), the site is located between the cities of Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. The campus was designated a burrowing owl sanctuary in 1971 by the Audubon Society.

The owls find the campus appealing because there are few predators, due to the university’s proximity to the Boca Raton Airport, and because the campus was originally cleared of vegetation when operating as an airbase during World War II. “The feisty bird, traditionally associated with wisdom and determination, serves as the university’s mascot.”

The Boca Raton campus is home to a wide variety of university programs and facilities. These facilities are labs and classrooms, housing for students, a 6,000-gallon shark tank for aquatic research, a movie theater, athletic and recreational facilities, and the student-run record label Hoot/Wisdom Recordings.

In addition to academic and cultural programs, the campus also houses Florida Atlantic’s Division I athletics program. The main campus serves approximately 19,077 students, or 70% of the university’s student body, offering a number of academic programs, activities, and services.

The Boca Raton campus also houses a number of other institutions, including the A. D. Henderson University School, FAU High School, one of Florida Atlantic University’s Research Parks, and the Lifelong Learning Society.

In addition to the Boca Raton campus in southern Palm Beach County, FAU operates a campus in northern Palm Beach County, in Jupiter. The John D. MacArthur Campus, named after businessman and philanthropist John D. MacArthur, was established in 1999 to serve residents of central and northern Palm Beach and southern Martin counties.

The MacArthur Campus occupies 45 acres (0.18 km²), upon which are eight classroom and office buildings, a library, a 500-seat auditorium, three residence halls, a dining hall, museum building, and utility plant.^[69] The MacArthur Campus also houses the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, Scripps Florida, FAU Brain Institute, and the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. The campus serves approximately 1,262 students, or 4% of the university’s student body.

The Dania Beach Campus, also known as SeaTech, was founded in 1997 as a state-funded Type II research center.^[70] The institute is part of FAU’s Department of Ocean Engineering which was founded in 1965 as the first ocean engineering undergraduate program in the nation.

The campus is located on 8 acres (0.03 km²) of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway. SeaTech is home to university faculty and students engaged in sponsored ocean engineering research and development in the areas of acoustics, marine vehicles, hydrodynamics and physical oceanography, marine materials and nanocomposites. The Dania Beach Campus serves approximately 70 students, roughly 1% of the university’s total student body.

The Davie Campus of Florida Atlantic University was established in 1990 on 38 acres (0.15 km²) of land in western Broward County. The campus serves approximately 3,488 students, or 13% of the FAU student body, making it the university’s second largest campus by enrollment.

The campus features a multi-story student union with offices for student government and student organizations, a multipurpose area and student lounge, a bookstore, and cafeteria. The union also contains a student health center that provides medical services and health counseling. Davie is also the home of “environmental research initiatives focused on Everglades restoration.” FAU colleges offering courses at the FAU Davie campus include Social Work and Criminal Justice, Arts and Letters, Business, Education, Nursing, and Science.

The campus is located on Broward College’s Central Campus. Students may enter BC as freshmen and graduate from FAU with undergraduate degrees in over 14 disciplines. More than 315,000 square feet of carefully designed classrooms, laboratories and faculty, staff and student offices are located on this campus along with a shared-use, 112,000 square-foot FAU/BC library designed for the 21st century.

Other support facilities include a shared Childcare Center, a student Wellness Center and a multi-service Student Union. The campus also offers a rich and varied program of student activities provided by the Division of Student Affairs. Students have all of the services they require for career counseling, wellness, testing and evaluation, tutoring, health services, student government and financial aid, among others. Like a small college within a large university, the Davie Campus is seen as a “model” branch campus for the state of Florida and the nation.

The university has two buildings in downtown Fort Lauderdale, both of which are considered part of one Fort Lauderdale campus. The Askew Tower (AT) and the Higher Education Complex (HEC) on Las Olas Boulevard. The campus offers courses in communication, graphic design, architecture, and urban and regional planning. The campus is home to approximately 900 students or 3.2% of the university’s student body. St. Lucie County campuses.

In addition to the Treasure Coast Campus, FAU operates a campus in Fort Pierce at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution. Harbor Branch merged with the university in 2007 to become the HBOI at FAU.  The Florida Legislature allocated $44 million for the university to acquire the institution and its 600-acre (2.4 km²) campus.

Treasure Coast Campus of Florida Atlantic University operated through a partnership with Indian River State College (IRSC). Florida Atlantic purchased 50 acres (0.2 km²) of land in Port St. Lucie in 1994. At the end of spring 2012 class term, Florida Atlantic University ended offering classes at the Port St. Lucie campus.