FGCU From Idea to Impact Brochure

FROM IDEA TO IMPACT A campaign to launch our next 25 years

A campaign to launch our next 25 years

FGCU

Education inspires growth, creates prosperity, strengthens community. With that idea, we launched a new university 25 years ago for Southwest Florida. Created a pipeline of teachers and nurses. Social workers and scientists. Engineers and entrepreneurs. For 25 years, our students have served the community.

Interned at local businesses and started their own. Brought a community together with the arts, athletics and advocacy. Together, we built a stronger Southwest Florida.

From idea to impact in just 25 years

A quarter century of

progress in Southwest Florida In January 1997, FGCU’s first student arrived on campus. Fittingly, she was a nursing student, foreshadowing the impact our school would soon create. Since that day, we have graduated 40,000 students, most of whom have stayed in Southwest Florida to become productive, active members of the community.

You can’t walk into a hospital, school, government building or even a golf course in this region without encountering our alumni.

Wherever you see someone conducting research on our waterways, starting an innovative business or providing healthcare in the community, chances are good they came from FGCU. Over the years we have been the region’s fastest growing university. We’ve been named the Top Green School in Florida. Our students and faculty have won coveted awards and scholarships. We built the top nursing program in Florida and our Daveler & Kauanui School of Entrepreneurship is ranked #22 in the nation. Conducted globally significant research. FGCU contributes approximately $600M to our Southwest Florida economy annually. And, for a couple of sweet years, we turned Fort Myers into Dunk City USA.

Join FGCU in making the next 25 years even more successful than the first

The new home of The Water School

In 2022, Florida Gulf Coast University will celebrate 25 years of ideas that have created impact for Southwest Florida. We have created opportunities for students and the community that did not exist just a short time ago. We have built a university, a community and a legacy. In just the past year alone: G E nrollment grew and, for the first time ever, approached 16,000 students G T he School of Entrepreneurship was named one of the state’s top entrepreneurship programs, added a master’s degree, and moved into its own newly constructed building GW e embraced new approaches and, in 2021, were ranked #7 among Most Innovative Schools by U.S. News & World Report G T he Water School became FGCU’s first “Program of Distinction,” focused on innovative and interdisciplinary ways to solve water problems for the region, state and beyond G T he Community Counseling Center opened its doors with a dual mission to train new counselors and provide affordable counseling to the community at a time when access to mental health was critically needed G F GCU’s public radio station, WGCU FM, has been ranked as No. 2 in the market, and WGCU TV is among the top PBS stations in the country

This brochure gives you a peek at our vision for the next few years and how you can help us make it real. An investment in FGCU is an investment in our students and the future of Southwest Florida’s healthcare, businesses, residents, water, environment and, on a broader scale, it is also an investment in our planet. We can’t turn these ideas into impact alone.

But, together, we can do all this and more.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

Raising the bar on academic excellence Pursuing academic excellence dominates the thoughts of everyone at FGCU on a daily basis. We are a small university, so we have the luxury to make learning personal, with small class sizes, individualized attention, and a continuous commitment to student success, retention and professionalism. We value innovation, progress and interdisciplinary learning. Our professors know their students by name and engage them in research opportunities typically available only to graduate students.

We’ve done so much in the first 25 years with the strong support and generosity of people like you. Continued support in the next 25 will build an even more vibrant and impactful university to benefit students and the region.

Mike Martin, President, Florida Gulf Coast University

Taking student success to

the next level

At FGCU, 60% of students work at least 20 hours a week to afford college, distracting them from their education.

Scholarships, paid internships and research stipends make a tremendous difference, allowing them to receive the full benefit of the college experience. Only in its third year of operation, our Office of Competitive Fellowships has helped students win three Goldwater Fellowships (more than many Ivy League schools) and a Fulbright Scholarship. Opportunities like these make students’ journeys richer so our region can receive optimal benefit from their passion and intelligence. Their success also demonstrates the academic rigor at FGCU, attracting like-minded students to our campus.

Ensuring academic excellence also means strengthening the instruction students receive from the best and brightest faculty. With many of our founding faculty now retiring, the time is ideal to increase endowments to attract and retain the next generation of extraordinary faculty. Private funding can be used to supplement state salaries for startup packages, research funding and administrative support in disciplines across the university.

HEALTH

Becoming an even more indispensable part of the region’s healthcare solutions

The curriculum at FGCU is so impressive and challenging that it prepares you for the future. I don’t think there’s another place I could have gone to find the mentorship and the right people with the right tools to help me become who I am now and have the impact on the community I have today.

Kelsey Jacobson, ’12, Biology, Resident Physician at NCH

In FGCU’s first 25 years, the Marieb College of Health & Human Services has made an indelible mark. We are the region’s top pipeline for counselors, physical therapists, social workers, nurses and other health professionals— one of the fastest-growing job categories in the nation.

But we are not just filling positions. We are filling them with well-rounded, extremely well-prepared professionals whose training often exceeds requirements and whose knowledge base includes issues particular to the region, such as aging, health education, rehabilitation and living a successful life. Frankly, we cannot graduate health professionals fast enough. Our school is currently at capacity.

The demand for our graduates far exceeds the supply and we aim to close that gap.

Meeting Southwest Florida’s pressing needs for care FGCU already offers lauded programs in health and human services. But we need more— more capacity, more options, and more graduates going into the marketplace to care for the community. One way to get there is by expanding our programs. Each year our Physician Assistant program receives 2,000 applications for 20 seats. At the same time, the nursing shortage

in Florida and across the nation is at critical mass. FGCU’s nursing program has been named the top program in Florida by Registered Nursing.org, making it one well worth expanding. Increasing that program by 50% is a step toward addressing that crisis, particularly here in Southwest Florida. To grow these programs, we will also need to increase faculty, staff and space.

Marieb Institute for Successful Living With its large population of seniors, Southwest Florida is the perfect living laboratory for researching and fulfilling their needs.

With the Marieb College’s focus on health, rehabilitation, exercise and mental health, we are perfectly positioned to provide a holistic approach to successful living that could become the model for communities around the nation. The mission of the institute would be to enhance aging, care delivery and quality of life through research, education and service. Community support would allow the college to move forward to establish this invaluable resource.

Through FGCU’s Community Autism Network, the university promotes education, service, research and training for those on the autism spectrum, their families and the agencies who serve them. The goal is to enrich the lives of all involved. Expanding this program will help us reach more people who need this assistance and allow them to be more successful.

The Soaring Eagle Academy at FGCU, a post-secondary program for students with intellectual disabilities, prepares students for community employment while providing them with the social, cultural and recreational opportunities of college while also readying them to become more economically independent throughout their lives. This program is the only one of its kind in the region. Based on the interest expressed when the academy launched this year, it’s clear that with private support, many more students could reach their full potential from a more expansive program.

MUSIC &

THE ARTS

Enhancing cultural education in Southwest Florida The Bower School of Music & the Arts brings more than 150 arts events to the region each year and educates performing artists, educators, music therapists and digital media designers who share their talent and knowledge with the community.

Our music education students enjoy a 100 percent employment rate upon graduation. Some Bower graduates have secured tenured university posts. Approximately 30 percent of our music performance graduates go on to graduate school, young artist programs and professional training opportunities.

We are an All Steinway Piano School and continue to attract students who excel in competitions regionally, nationally and internationally. Peruvian pianist Priscila Navarro (’15, music performance) won the International Chopin Competition and the opportunity to perform a solo recital at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

She and her mentor, FGCU Professor Michael Baron, recently released a CD and will perform together at Carnegie Hall in March. Paul Berlinsky (’19, music education) recently won the ASCAP Foundation’s Morton Gould Young Composer Award for a wind quartet composition. Four more piano students are now semifinalists in a South American competition. Other students travel the world teaching bands and music classes, sharing their considerable talents with others.

Music therapy graduates are also in great demand, working at area hospitals, senior centers and other places in which music helps people of all ages heal and thrive. The program is among the fastest growing and most popular degrees in the school and one of just three in the state – and one of two at public universities.

Despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic, we continue to stay true to the core of our mission. Each day we strive to make the best of this challenging situation while maintaining focus on excellent education and inspiring results in the art studio, in the music practice room, on a virtual stage or the computer screen.

Krzysztof Biernacki, Director of the Bower School of Music & the Arts

More space means more students can master the arts

The Bower School of Music & the Arts is the only school between Tampa and Miami that offers the breadth of programs FGCU does for performing arts. As we achieve more and more success, the demand for our curriculum grows significantly. When our stunning, LEED-certified building was completed a decade ago, it was built for 150 students. We now have 200. Far more students would like to attend.

We are in need of more rehearsal rooms, classrooms, instructional space, faculty studios, a large choral rehearsal room and multipurpose performance space for music and theater events.

Doubling the size of this program with additional space will allow us to better meet demand.

There is a need for expansion of the art and theatre facilities as well. The art complex’s single gallery has limited exhibition space. More expansive galleries and exhibit space would allow us to share more of our collection and display the works of student and visiting artists on a larger scale than currently possible.

One resource all students have in common is the University Library. The way the library space is used has changed dramatically since it opened in 1997. Renovating the interior to expand the creative space, build its research capacity and provide a higher-profile central location for the Honors College offices will serve students and the Southwest Florida community well.

As the library expands its technological capacity, the need for space to incorporate equipment grows as well. With 16,000 students crossing our threshold on a regular basis, we need to expand our maker space with 3-D printers, augmented and virtual reality software, video and audio editing capabilities, high-end cameras and other tools they need to complete assignments and achieve their visions.

The library also has rare and unique collections that need to be housed in temperature-controlled spaces. Body heat alone limits the number of people who can view the galleries at any one time.

A larger space will allow us to share our gifts with more people and create more exciting programs for the community.

You have to be able to dream.

The library offers a space where students, faculty and the community can do that — a democratic space where everyone can experience the world through their unique viewpoint and feel comfortable doing it.

Tracy Elliott, Library Dean

Together we can turn more ideas into impact FGCU exists because our community came together to create and nurture it. The influence, expertise and funding of those who saw our potential accelerated FGCU’s growth and development. To build on that foundation, to deepen our impact and achieve our collective dreams, we need the support of our community more than ever.

The ideas outlined in these pages – and many more initiatives across the campus – can only be brought to life with your support. You can help us make the next 25 years even more remarkable than the first!

Much of our most generous support has come from individuals who are committed to the principles of higher education and who believe in FGCU’s ability to innovate and deliver value to the community. If that describes you, let’s have a conversation about how you can help shape the next 25 years at FGCU. Contact Cindy Learned at (239) 745-4785.

fgcu.edu/advancement

10501 FGCU Blvd. S. Fort Myers, FL 33965 239-590-1067