University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida

The University of North Florida, UNF to most of Jacksonville, is a public university at 1 UNF Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32224, on the Southside.

The UNF faculty handbook calls it a comprehensive, urban university offering degree programs at the baccalaureate, master's and doctoral levels. Its About page says approximately 80 percent of UNF graduates stay in Florida, that UNF is the number one supplier of talent in Northeast Florida, that its economic contribution to the state exceeds $1.375 billion, and that its 19 Division I athletic teams compete in the ASUN conference. The campus includes a nature preserve, miles of trails and the Ogier Gardens. Federal figures for the Jacksonville campus come from the NCES College Navigator:

UNF opened for classes on Monday, October 2, 1972, seven years after the Florida Legislature authorized a state university in Jacksonville in 1965.

According to the UNF history timeline, Thomas G. Carpenter was named the first president in 1969, and the Board of Regents selected a 1,000-acre campus site midway between downtown Jacksonville and the beaches. Ground was officially broken with Florida Governor Reubin Askew in attendance, and the UNF Foundation was established in 1971.

The UNF Digital Commons collection on Carpenter says he personally directed the physical development of the campus on 1,000 acres of virgin timberland while gathering a team of educators and administrators. On opening day the timeline counts 2,027 upper division and master's level students, four major buildings and three colleges: Arts and Sciences, Education and Business Administration. The Carpenter collection and the handbook round the first class to 2,000 students.

Thirty-five students received degrees at UNF's first graduation in 1973, the year the UNF Nature Trails opened, and the charter class of 685 students graduated in 1974.

UNF opened only for juniors, seniors and graduate students, and Jacksonville freshmen and sophomores were not admitted until 1984.

The handbook says UNF opened in 1972 as an upper division (junior and senior) and graduate institution with a 2,000-member student body, and received legislative authorization in 1983 to begin lower division offerings in the 1984-85 academic year. The timeline records that UNF admitted freshmen and sophomores for the first time in 1984, and that Osprey Village, the first on-campus housing, opened in 1985 with space for 435 students. Intercollegiate athletics began in 1983 in the NAIA, the College of Health was established in 1988, UNF accepted candidates for its first doctoral program, the Doctor of Education, in 1990, and enrollment topped 10,000 during fall registration in 1994.

UNF also reached Downtown Jacksonville early. From 1978 to 1987 it ran a Downtown Center in the Galleria building, now the location of MOCA Jacksonville, with enrollment there peaking at 2,247 students in 1981. In 2009 MOCA Jacksonville became a cultural institute of UNF.

Seven presidents and several interim leaders have run UNF, and the Florida Board of Governors confirmed an eighth president on September 30, 2026.

UNF's own pages differ on Carpenter's tenure. The handbook says he served from 1969 until 1979, followed by Interim President Andrew A. Robinson from 1980 to 1982, while the Carpenter Library fact page says that after 11 years as president he returned to his alma mater, Memphis State University, as its president. The library page also says he died on January 6, 2021 at the age of 94. The library opened on October 1, 1980 and was renamed the Thomas G. Carpenter Library in 1981; after a 2004 to 2005 addition it covers 199,000 square feet with seating for 2,441.

The timeline lists Curtis L. McCray as the second president in 1982 and Adam W. Herbert as the third in 1989; Herbert left in 1998 to become chancellor of Florida's State University System. Anne H. Hopkins took office in 1999 as UNF's first female president, and former Jacksonville Mayor John A. Delaney became the fifth president in 2003. The past presidents page calls Delaney the longest-serving president to date, says he retired on May 31, 2018, and lists David M. Szymanski from 2018 to 2021 and Moez Limayem from 2022 to 2026.

A UNF release of September 30, 2026 says the Board of Governors unanimously confirmed Dr. Michael P. Shannon, president of the University of North Georgia, as UNF's eighth president; trustees selected him on Sept. 16 after a five-month national search, and he will step into the role on Jan. 4. Until then the President’s Office page lists Angela Garcia Falconetti as interim president.

Students picked the Osprey as UNF's official mascot by write-in vote in 1979, and a 1988 campus vote named it Ozzie the Osprey.

The UNF timeline says the Osprey beat out the armadillo, seagull, manatee and shark in a campuswide election, and that the landmark Osprey Fountain outside the Arena was unveiled at spring graduation in 1994. UNF joined NCAA Division II and the Sunshine State Conference in 1993, the year the UNF Arena opened with seating for 5,800 in Jacksonville, and the Ospreys moved to the Peach Belt Athletic Conference in 1997. In 2005 UNF joined the ASUN and began the move to Division I, becoming eligible for Division I postseason play once reclassification was complete. In 2015 the men's basketball team reached the NCAA tournament for the first time, and in 2025 UNF softball made its first NCAA tournament appearance.

UNF has kept adding land, colleges and partnerships on the Jacksonville campus since 2010, including a coastal research station and a JEA energy lab.

The timeline lists the Hicks Honors College in 2015 and, in 2016, the William C. Webb Coastal Research Station, a 1,050-acre plot of wetlands donated by the Widan Investment Corporation. With the spring 2021 graduation the number of UNF alumni passed 100,000, and that year UNF received 190 acres valued at $21.5 million from the Duval County Research and Development Authority and created the Crowley Center for Transportation and Logistics through a gift from Crowley Maritime.

The past presidents page credits the Delaney years with a 168 percent increase in building space and a 116 percent increase in campus size, a capital campaign that raised more than $130 million, and hosting the CNN Presidential Debate in 2012 in Jacksonville. The timeline adds the 75,000 square foot Student Wellness Complex in 2012, when OneJax, an interfaith organization working since 1970, became a UNF institute, and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in 2019. In 2023 the JEA and UNF Sustainable Solutions Lab opened on campus, and in 2025 UNF announced the Silverfield College of Education and Human Services after a gift from the Silverfield family. The About page says that beginning with the fall 2025 class, every UNF student is guaranteed internships and hands-on experiences.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, by re-checking the UNF timeline, faculty handbook, About, President's Office and past presidents pages, the Carpenter Library facts page, the Carpenter Digital Commons collection, the September 30, 2026 UNF newsroom release and the NCES College Navigator record.