The Princeton Review Names UCF as 1 of Nation’s ‘Best Values’

January 31, 2014

UCF Today     By gkruckemyer      Wednesday, January 29, 2014

The University of Central Florida is again one of the nation’s “best value” universities, according to The Princeton Review’s annual analysis of 2,000 institutions around the nation.

The Princeton Review, one of America’s best-known education services and test-preparation companies, named 150 “best value” institutions—75 public universities and 75 private colleges—with UCF again returning to the annual list.

The list was based on surveys of undergraduate institutions concerning their academics, cost of attendance, faculty-to-student ratio, and financial aid. The company said it also analyzed student survey data collected during the past three academic years.

Only the top 10 schools on the list are ranked in order, with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill coming in at No. 1.

UCF also was named last month by Kiplinger’s magazine as one of the nation’s 100 best values among public colleges and universities, the fourth consecutive year UCF has made the list.

UCF placed 42nd in the annual compilation, the same ranking as 2012. Kiplinger’s ranks institutions on criteria such as student-faculty ratios, admission rates, on-time graduation rate, sticker price and financial aid. The list was drawn from nearly 600 public four-year schools around the nation.

http://today.ucf.edu/princeton-review-names-ucf-1-nations-best-values/

UCF aims to build retirement community near campus

School, foundation buy 59 acres for $6 million

UCF is planning a retirement community near campus that will allow residents to recapture a bit of their college years, with access to classes, athletic events and the arts.

The school and its foundation this month acquired 59 acres about a mile from campus in southeast Seminole County for $6 million, with plans for a development offering independent living, assisted living and memory-care housing for Alzheimer’s patients.

Robert Holmes, chief executive of the foundation, said the purchase of the property along Old Lockwood Road was a “significant step” toward realizing an idea discussed for more than eight years.

“The project is great in its concept,” Holmes said. “But a project isn’t a project until you’ve got the land. It took a while to locate a piece of land, and then it took time to work with the sellers to come to an agreement.”

As planned, construction would start within three years on a community that eventually would have about 500 residents in independent-living villas, assisted-living condominiums and memory-care units.

Modeled after Oak Hammock near the University of Florida in Gainesville, the development is aimed at UCF alumni and others seeking a college environment. Residents would have access to university classes, lectures, athletic events, the library and performing-arts events. About half of Oak Hammock residents are UF alumni, and the rest were drawn to living in a college town.

The foundation is studying examples across the country to determine the best options for partnerships with schools.

“Our concept here is to have the university at their fingertips,” Holmes said. “And with that, the university would treat them as VIPs so they could come onto campus and feel as though they are a part of things.”

In addition, UCF students studying everything from physical therapy to business management could do internships there, he added.

The “Continuing Care Retirement Community” concept has been popular near university campuses in recent decades and reflects the maturation of UCF, whose early graduates are reaching retirement age. Holmes estimated that residents in the proposed community would be an average of 70 years old. Since its founding in 1963, UCF has grown to have a student body of about 60,000 — one of the largest in the country.

Nationally, an estimated 745,000 residents live in continuing-care communities, which offer advancing levels of care as people age. Typically, residents sell their homes to cover an “entry fee” and pay additional monthly charges.

UCF has not set rates for its proposed development, but a 2010 report by the U.S. General Accounting Office surveyed eight communities and found the price of admission ranged from $160,000 to $600,000 per person and that monthly charges ranged from $2,500 for independent-living arrangements to as much as $5,400 for nursing care.

Read the complete story: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-ucf-housing-retirees-20140123,0,1618994.story

UCF Developing ‘Smart Grid’ for Plug-in Electric Vehicles

The Energy Chronicle: Energy News from the Florida Solar Energy Center, a Research Institute of the University of Central Florida   By Sherri Shields

“Today, electric vehicles—using Florida utility power—operate at an equivalent gasoline price of 99 cents a gallon,” said FSEC director James Fenton. “With fuel costs that low, it’s no surprise projections indicate that Florida will have as many as 500,000 electric vehicles on its roads within 10 years, placing an unprecedented demand on today’s utility grid.”

Plug-in electric vehicle sales in the U.S., led by the Volt, Leaf and plug-in Prius, were 50,000 in 2012. The upward trend in sales is expected to continue during the next several years as automakers introduce up to 40 different plug-in models.

Transformation of the U.S transportation system into one that uses electricity and its integration into a dynamic electrical grid will occur over many years and require extensive research and development.

The new Electric Vehicle Transportation Center will leverage the resources of the University of Central Florida and its partner universities – the University of Hawaii and Tuskegee University – to conduct the research and development, and to train and support the scientists, engineers and technicians of the future.

The University of Central Florida’s EVTC is among 33 universities funded to address critical transportation challenges facing the nation. To view a map of the selected universities, go to: http://www.rita.dot.gov/utc/sites/rita.dot.gov.utc/files
/Consortiums_2014.pdf

For more information, contact the EVTC program director David Block at block@fsec.ucf.edu or 321-638-1001.

About FSEC: The Florida Solar Energy Center, a research institute of the University of Central Florida, is the largest and most active state-supported energy research institute in the nation. Current divisions and their research activities include Advanced Energy Research: alternative transportation fuels, batteries, hydrogen fuel and fuel cells; Buildings Research: energy-efficient buildings; and Solar Energy: solar water and pool heating, and photovoltaic (solar electric) systems. For more information about the center, visit http://www.floridaenergycenter.org or call the FSEC Public Affairs Office at 321-638-1015.

50 Years of Achievement: The University of Central Florida, the nation’s second-largest university with nearly 60,000 students, is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2013. UCF has grown in size, quality, diversity and reputation, and today the university offers more than 200 degree programs at its main campus in Orlando and more than a dozen other locations. Known as America’s leading partnership university, UCF is an economic engine attracting and supporting industries vital to the region’s success now and into the future. For more information, visit http://today.ucf.edu.

http://blog.floridaenergycenter.org/echronicle/2013/10/dot-selects-ucf-to-develop-smart-grid-for-plug-in-electric-vehicles/

Nicholas Nickleby at Orlando Shakes in collaboration with Theatre UCF

January 15, 2014

January 22 – March 9, 2014