The University of Central Florida soon will start designing the expansion of student housing in Academic Village and Greek Park.
UCF intends to add 670 beds to the Academic Village community located next to the Recreation and Wellness Center. Two new houses in Greek Park would include an additional 80 beds. A Greek Life Center that would provide programming, meeting and operational space also is part of the project.
Trustees on Thursday voted to proceed with hiring design consultants for the projects. The university’s goal is to open the additional housing in 2012-13. Funding for the expansion is scheduled to come from future bond issues and Housing and Residence Life resources.
In other action at Thursday’s Board of Trustees meeting:
— Professors Arlen and Diane Chase of Anthropology and John Weishampel of Biology presented research that has revolutionized archaeology worldwide and vividly illustrated the complex urban centers developed by one of the most-studied ancient civilizations — the Maya. Their NASA-funded research was featured this spring in the New York Times.
— President John Hitt updated the trustees on the growth in academic quality of UCF’s freshman class. The average SAT score for the fall freshman class is 1236, and the average high school GPA is 3.8. The class also includes 45 new National Merit Scholars, bringing the total number enrolled at UCF to 204.
— Hitt also recognized the strength of UCF’s patents portfolio, which ranked eighth in the country on the 2010 Patent Scorecard issued by the Patent Board. UCF joined MIT, the California Institute of Technology and the university systems of California and Texas in the top rankings.
— Trustees recognized UCF’s student-athletes for their exceptional performance in the classroom. Overall, UCF had the highest all-sports cumulative GPA of any public school in Conference USA. Trustees thanked Mark Gumble, director of Academic Services for Student-Athletes, for leading the effort to ensure student-athletes’ success in the classroom.
— Trustees praised the university for earning recognition during the fifth-annual Beacon Awards for promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
— The College of Medicine was lauded for implementing the World Health Organization’s Patient Safety Curriculum. WHO has said that UCF’s medical college is the first in the United States to implement the curriculum.
— Nursing professor Mary Lou Sole was recognized for delivering the distinguished research lecture at the National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition in Washington, D.C., earlier this year.
— Trustees recognized Patricia MacKown, assistant vice president for Student Development and Enrollment Services and director of Student Rights and Responsibilities, for receiving the 2010 Elizabeth Berg Streeter Community Service Award, a national award for “service to the legal community, social justice, and equality.”