SESSION WATCH
THE BILL ITSELF

HR 8111

Florida Gulf Coast University Day

VERSION H 8111 Filed · BACK TO THE SUMMARY · OFFICIAL RECORD

underlined language is being added; struck language is being deleted. Line numbers are the Legislature's own — the same ones amendments cite.

1 House Resolution
2 A resolution designating January 27, 2026, as "Florida
3 Gulf Coast University Day" in Florida.
5 WHEREAS, in May 1991, then-Governor Lawton Chiles signed
6 into law a bill passed by the Florida Legislature authorizing
7 the creation of Florida's tenth public university, Florida Gulf
8 Coast University (FGCU), to provide higher education
9 opportunities and workforce development in the previously
10 underserved region of Southwest Florida, and
11 WHEREAS, FGCU opened its doors to 2,584 students on August
12 25, 1997, and held its first commencement in May 1998 with 81
13 graduates, and
14 WHEREAS, FGCU has been led by five outstanding and dynamic
15 presidents: Dr. Roy McTarnaghan, Dr. William C. Merwin, Dr.
16 Wilson G. Bradshaw, Dr. Michael V. Martin, and Dr. Aysegul
17 Timur, and
18 WHEREAS, under the leadership and vision of Dr. Aysegul
19 Timur and the FGCU Board of Trustees, FGCU strives for students
20 to possess an entrepreneurial spirit and for graduates to be
21 well prepared for productive lives as civically engaged and
22 environmentally conscious citizens with successful careers, and
23 WHEREAS, FGCU has strategically grown into a regional
24 university of over 16,000 students and today offers 66
25 undergraduate programs, 28 masters programs, 7 doctoral
26 programs, and 19 academic certificate programs, and
27 WHEREAS, the pathways to student success at FGCU have led
28 to national prominence in student service learning as one of the
29 only public institutions to make service learning a graduation
30 requirement for all undergraduate students, with over 4.9
31 million hours contributed to the Southwest Florida community
32 since 1997, and
33 WHEREAS, with restored or preserved nature making up half
34 of its nearly 800-acre campus, FGCU emphasizes innovative and
35 interdisciplinary learning by serving as a living laboratory
36 while offering students diverse opportunities to participate in
37 meaningful research projects led by their professors, and
38 WHEREAS, the establishment of The Water School, which
39 opened in 2022, created a university of distinction located in
40 the midst of Florida's complex freshwater and saltwater systems
41 and uniquely positioned FGCU to explore water-based issues,
42 including the health of waterways that impact surrounding
43 ecosystems, regional and state economies, and the people who
44 rely on water for life and leisure, making FGCU a catalyst for
45 change in the community and throughout the world, and
46 WHEREAS, FGCU continues to work collaboratively with the
47 State University System to meet regional and statewide workforce
48 needs by graduating career-ready students from the Marieb
49 College School of Nursing, with the bachelor of science in
50 nursing program having a 100-percent first-time passage rate on
51 the required nursing licensure examination in 2018, 2019, 2023,
52 and 2024, and
53 WHEREAS, the FGCU Alumni Association has over 48,000
54 members, with 2,000 businesses in Southwest Florida started by
55 alumni and approximately 70 percent of the alumni working in
56 their field of study, and
57 WHEREAS, FGCU strives to bring diversification of the
58 economy to the region it serves through innovation in
59 agribusiness, construction management, and environmental
60 engineering, and
61 WHEREAS, FGCU serves and engages its surrounding community
62 with outreach through employers to determine the needs of the
63 region and the workforce skills necessary to achieve a thriving
64 region, and
65 WHEREAS, the athletic programs at FGCU are a growing source
66 of pride for their loyal fans, with nine programs having earned
67 a top 25 national ranking and student athletes continuing to
68 demonstrate their academic strengths, and
69 WHEREAS, the collegiate experience continues to enrich the
70 lives of FGCU students as they transition from high school to
71 college to career and serve the surrounding community through
72 the university's longstanding commitment to service and its
73 strategic plan that turns ideas into impact, NOW, THEREFORE,
75 Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of
76 Florida:
78 That January 27, 2026, is designated as "Florida Gulf Coast
79 University Day" in Florida.
80 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be
81 presented to Aysegul Timur, Ph.D., president of Florida Gulf
82 Coast University, as a tangible token of the sentiments
83 expressed herein.