UNF celebrates innovation, excellence and record-breaking achievements in 2024-25

June 10, 2025

The University of North Florida celebrated the newly named Silverfield College of Education and Human Services, announced a 100 percent experiential learning guarantee for incoming students, hit record student retention levels and continued groundbreaking research during the 2024-25 school year.

It was another year filled with innovation and excellence and record-breaking achievements, demonstrating UNF’s impact on the lives of its students, faculty and staff, alumni, business partners and the Northeast Florida community.

Here are highlights from the year:

STUDENT SUCCESS

Experiential learning: UNF guarantees experiential learning for all incoming students.
Retention: UNF’s first-year retention rate hits record levels, up more than 5 percentage points since 2022.
Career Week: More than 1,600 students and alumni attended UNF’s Career Week with a lineup of more than 340 employers.

CAMPUS UPDGRADES

Silverfield: UNF celebrated the newly named Silverfield College of Education and Human Services, following a transformational gift from Silverfield family.
Esports: The City of Jacksonville approved $3 million in support for The Flight Deck, UNF’s innovation arena where technology and learning converge.
New Dorm: Work is being finalized on a new Honors Residence Hall, which opens this summer and provides about 520 beds for students. It will include a living-learning community for honors students.
Coggin: UNF broke ground on the extension and updates to the Coggin College of Business, which will provide more classrooms, research labs, offices, conference rooms and study spaces.

BUSINESS COLLABORATIONS

VyStar: UNF students recently collaborated with VyStar Credit Union to develop marketing plans for the VyStar Orlando Magic co-branded debit and Visa® credit cards that were recently launched.
Miller and JEA: UNF joins forces with JEA and Miller Electric to develop workforce training that builds future skilled leaders and professionals in the clean energy sector.
Mayo Clinic: A UNF graduate and Mayo Clinic engineer creates opportunities for students to conduct 3D materials science research.
JAXPORT: UNF students gain real-world experience helping JAXPORT improve traffic flow and tenant operations.
HCA: UNF MedNexus and HCA Healthcare partnership offers students a pathway to success.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT AND ENGAGEMENT

Giving Day: UNF’s 2025 annual Giving Day raised $2,407,024 from 4,513 donors, marking UNF’s largest single day of fundraising.
Civil Discourse: The UNF Office of Public Policy Events continued its series of discussions and debates, with conversations this year about clean energy, social media regulation, Supreme Court ethics and immigration.
TEDxJacksonville: UNF hosted TEDxJacksonville’s “The Overlap,” which included national and local thought leaders talking about a variety of topics. The event was open to the public.

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

Coastal Resilience: National Park Service awards UNF grant to significantly expand Florida and Georgia coastline restoration efforts.
Muscle Atrophy: Biological sciences professor receives NIH grant to study muscle atrophy.
Sports Safety: Engineering students develop groundbreaking technology to detect traumatic brain injuries in sports.
Dark Matter: Researchers awarded NSF grant to advance dark matter detection.
AI: UNF first in U.S. to enter international consortium on AI and logistics solutions.

RANKINGS

During the Summer 2024, Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 commencement ceremonies, UNF celebrated 4,140 students earning their diplomas, bringing the total Osprey alumni membership to 115,798.

Tags

Coggin College of Business, Community, Brooks College of Health, Silverfield College of Education and Human Services, College of Arts and Sciences, University News, College of Computing, Engineering and Construction, Hicks Honors College