University of Florida

Mission Statement

University
The University of Florida is a comprehensive learning institution built on a land-grant foundation.  We are The Gator Nation, a diverse community dedicated to excellence in education and research and shaping a better future for Florida, the nation, and the world. Our mission is to enable our students to lead and influence the next generation and beyond for economic, cultural, and societal benefit. 

College of the Arts
We intend to be a transformative community responding to and generating paradigmatic shifts in the arts and beyond. We embrace the complexity of our evolving human experience and seek to empower our students and faculty to shape that experience fearlessly through critical study, creative practice, and provocation. We seek to prepare students to access and unsettle centers of power in a radically changing world and position emerging artists, scholars, and designers as catalysts for equity on local and global levels.

Graphic Design Program
We are makers, researchers, and thinkers with a focus on creating better futures for all. For over 50 years, we have prepared students for a range of practices and careers in design. In addition to critical design competencies, we value and emphasize community and shared learning experiences to prepare students for the collaborative work that is fundamental to design practice. Situated within a top-tier research university, our programs emphasize the integration of research, process, and making to inform a range of responses to challenges we see in the world. Our goal is to create design interventions and engagements that are responsible, sustainable, and innovative. As such, our programs focus on addressing the issues and challenges that matter to people in context.

International Role

The University of Florida connects to the world’s best international universities and institutions through formal partnership agreements. These agreements facilitate research among faculty; enable faculty and student exchanges; protect intellectual property, and serve as a basis for ensuring ethical best practices. The relationships that may flourish as a result of these agreements are an important aspect of our internationalization efforts. International Visiting Scholars are also vital in supporting the global mission of the University of Florida. International Visitors promote cultural exchange, enrich international research, and connect UF to leading universities around the world.

The figures cited here are for the 2018/19 academic year (pre-pandemic). A summary of international activities includes: 

• 517 total agreements 
• 286 Cooperative Agreements (56.7%) 
• 101 Reciprocal Agreements (20%) 
• UF has formal agreements with 89 countries 
• Reciprocal Agreements with institutions in 33 countries 
• Cooperative Agreements with institutions in 71 countries 
• 594 awards for an estimated $295 million in sponsored activity. 
• 1,538 International Visiting Scholars from 88 countries. 
• 11,926 international student applications from 166 countries. 
• 4,736 international students from 71 countries enrolled in classes (Fall 2018). 
• 2,145 OPT Students. 
• 2,637 students studied abroad. 
• 18% of all graduating students participated in at least one study abroad. 
• Funding for 12 new courses with globally-focused learning outcomes. 
• 703 UF students enrolled in the International Scholars Program 
• Faculty, students, and staff made 4,342 trips to 141 countries 

National Role

The University of Florida (UF) is a comprehensive public research university and a member of the Association of American Universities, the top 63 research institutions in North America. It ranks among the nation’s most academically diverse public universities. Its faculty are members of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, or the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Awards include a Fields Medal, three Pulitzer Prizes, NASA’s top award for research, and Smithsonian Institution’s conservation award.

UF’s research expenditures totaled a record $942.2 million in 2020. UF typically conducts over $47.5 million of industrial/company-sponsored research annually. This level of collaborative industry/academic research places UF among the top 25 public research universities in the United States for overall industrial sponsored research. These research collaborations occur across the entire campus, in diverse fields that include engineering, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, and medicine, as well as the physical and social sciences. Research into improving education techniques and learning outcomes has also been sponsored by a variety of companies, particularly in areas pertaining to improving the education of students from underrepresented and low-income demographic groups. Industrial funding for UF research comes from Global 1000 companies as well as local and regional start-ups and corporate entrepreneurs, all of which seek to leverage the expertise of UF’s world-class faculty to promote discoveries that will benefit the health and overall well-being of people worldwide. Going beyond its education, research, and service missions, UF's activities encompass tourism, economic development, and job creation to benefit the state.

Main Focus

We offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design and a Master of Fine Arts in Design & Visual Communications. Areas of study include graphic design history, theory, methods, methodologies, envisioning an expanded design practice, professional practice, design for and with business, experiential learning, social innovation, designing with people, participatory design, and responsible community engagement.