"TO CELEBRATE THE LIFE OF THE MIND".

that was the lofty ambition of Sarasota Manatee county leaders more than 40 years ago as they embarked on a bold plan to create a distinguished institution of higher education in Southwest Florida. Such a college would not only enrich young minds, they believed, it would enrich the growing community as well. The result, of course, was New College, a small, private, liberal arts college with an extraordinary commitment to intellectual exploration, which opened its doors in 1964 to 101 bright and adventurous students on a campus at the gateway to both Sarasota and Manatee counties.

At the same time, leaders in the State of Florida were responding to the state's explosive population growth by establishing a comprehensive university in Tampa--the University of South Florida (USF). It wasn't long before Sarasota-Manatee residents clamored for the university's educational services, and USF began to offer classes during evening hours at a public high school in Sarasota. By 1975, the demand was so high USF knew it would need a home of its own in the area.

It was here that the fate of these two very different institutions converged. New College, thriving academically but burdened by debt and inflation, was failing financially. USF desperately needed a Sarasota-Manatee campus. On July 1, 1975, the two struck a deal: USF would assume responsibility for the New College campus and bring to it the university's course offerings. And New College would become an elite member of the state's system of higher education--the honors college of Florida.

It was a marriage of the private and the public; the joining of a residential, liberal arts college for students from all around the country with a regional branch of a large state university attracting students from the immediate region. Many people looked at the differences and warned the marriage would never last. But others, understanding that the strongest unions rise from the attraction of opposites who together create a balanced whole, predicted a bright future.

They were right. Today, this campus on Sarasota Bay is home to both a thriving major research university and a distinguished liberal arts honors college. Not only are both institutions prospering; they ate also entering a new and exciting stage in their development. Fired by a mutual vision, they are working together to become a dynamic center for intellectual engagement and enrichment for the region--just as the original founders envisioned.

AN INTELLECTUAL ADVENTURE

Based on a thrilling academic promise, New College has risen to the forelrant at American colleges.

In 1964, New College welcomed its first class of students with the promise that "each student, in the last analysis, is responsible for his or her own education." It was an idealistic and thrilling promise that dared the intellectually talented and curious to take a chance on a brand-new college in a quiet but fast-growing Southwest Florida community. The students who accepted the challenge were some of the brightest high school graduates in the country that year, young people who could have gone to college at any of the nation's top schools. They fought the doubts of parents and guidance counselors for a chance to head to a half-finished campus in the sweltering Florida sun that September 1964.

Today New College is a nationally lauded, highly selective, public, liberal arts honors college awarding the Bachelor of Arts degree. Now part of the state university system, it has remained true to its idealistic beginnings and continues to attract the intellectually independent and high-achieving student who wants the freedom to cross boundaries, test ideas and create unique ways of living, learning and working.

The New College undergraduate experience is unique. It is based on an academic contract that enables each of irs 617 students, in close consultation with a faculty member, to develop an individual academic program of coursework, tutorials (there are more than 400 each semester), field and lab research and study abroad.

Instead of grades, students receive detailed narrative evaluations from professors, which explain and encourage exploration and mastery rather than rote learning and competition.

In addition to their regular coursework, students undertake an intensive independent study project (ISP) every January. New College students must also complete a senior thesis before they graduate, a challenging project that must be defended in an oral exam.

New College seeks and attracts serious, motivated students. Incoming freshmen have an average grade-point average (GPA) of 3.8, and 75 percent of all students scored higher than 1260 on the SAT and 27 on the ACT. Graduates go on to professional and graduate programs at a high rate, and New College ranks near the top of schools whose graduates earn Ph.Ds.

During the 1990s, Money magazine published an annual ranking of "Best Buys" in American colleges and universities, and New College consistently topped the list. It is also one of only 53 colleges--and the only Florida college--selected for Barton's 1999 "Guide to the Most Competitive Colleges."

Although the cost of attending New College is about the same as attending any of Florida's public universities, a New College education does cost more to provide. The New College Foundation and its generous donors have made up this difference since 1975, providing enrolled students with the support they need ($30.6 million since 1980) and raising money for future generations of students with a $27 million endowment.

A KEY PLAYER IN THE REGION AND STATE USF at Sarasota-Manatee's University Program brings the resources of a major university to Sarasota-Manatee.

Many people may not realize that USE is the second largest university in Florida and the 15th largest in the country, serving more than 37,000 students on four campuses. It is a key player in Florida, educating tomorrow's leaders, conducting important medical and scientific research and finding solutions to problems in a state that has experienced the challenges as well as the rewards of explosive growth. In Sarasota, USE brings the resources of a major university to its University Program at Sarasota-Manatee.

In 1974, USF was offering a few area residents some limited coursework in a Sarasota high school. Today, USE at Sarasota-Manatee is an upper division campus, where thousands of students in the Sarasota and Manatee area have received their undergraduate or graduate degrees, or professional certifications in dozens of different areas. USF's Sarasota-Manatee campus has also helped fuel this area's economic growth and address the concerns of local business, from conducting demographic studies to training employees.

Yet while the students have the resources of a large university at their fingertips, they also enjoy a unique university-in-a-college atmosphere, through the small classes and close student/faculty contact that makes education on a small campus so productive and attractive. Approximately 1,600 students of all ages are enrolled at USF at Sarasota-Manatee. Both part-time and full-time, they study a range of liberal arts and professional disciplines.

The University Program is upper division only, which means it serves juniors, seniors and graduate students. Students holding an Associate in Arts degree from a Florida community college are admitted for transfer upon application. Manatee Community College students often head to USF as the next step in their education.

Undergraduate degree programs include those in the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business Administration, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and the College of Nursing.

A 21st CENTURY VISION

Becoming a resource and catalyst for community growth and improvement.

Today, USF at Sarasota-Manatee and New College are poised for the next stage in their growth and development. While both continue to expand and improve their distinct academic programs, they share a beautiful bayfront campus and a determination to become a major player in the future of the Sarasota-Manatee community. Their joint future and commitment to the bi-county region is reflected in the 1998 hiring of Dean and Warden Michael Bassis, the first shared chief academic and administrative officer in their history. For the first time, the campus has a leader who can speak for both schools with a single voice.

The campus wants nothing less than to become the center for intellectual engagement and enrichment for the entire Sarasota-Manatee region. The higher education landscape is changing dramatically in response to powerful economic, demographic and competitive forces and the ongoing technological revolution. Increasingly, communities and businesses are looking to their educational institutions to assist them in adapting to change and seizing emerging opportunities. Many of the nation's most vibrant cities, from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, to Austin, Texas, have achieved much of their growth and success through their relationships with the top-quality educational institutions in their midst.

Schools today must continue to attract and serve highly qualified students and deliver quality education. But they must also serve the community outside their walls--the businesses, cultural organizations, civic groups and medical institutions that look to them for leadership and support and to which they are ultimately accountable.

The USF campus in Sarasota-Manatee, with its two degree-granting units, its faculty and its students, is perfectly poised to become such a resource and catalyst for this region. Already, the campus is becoming engaged with a variety of groups and initiatives of local, state and national significance. Here are just some of the developments:

* A Community Action Research Initiative, driven by local needs and interests, will provide a location and forum for discussion, research and problem-solving among citizens, scholars and students. The aim will be to enhance the area's civic culture and help tomorrow's leaders take responsibility for the world they live in. Initial plans include working with the Human Services Planning Association of Sarasota to assess and address community needs; establishing a center for regional data sharing; and partnering with local, national and regional agencies to redevelop a former community landfill.

* The campus is creating non-credit, continuing education programs such as the new Senior Academy to serve the lifelong interests of community residents.

* Campus leaders and faculty are developing stronger relationships with the region's business, cultural, educational, civic, medical and scientific institutions. Among the plans: providing professional consultation and technical assistance to the Sarasota and Manatee county schools in a variety of ways; continuing to participate on the Economic Development Council, the SCOPE project and the Suncoast Technology Alliance; and creating partnerships with the Ringling Museum, the Sarasota Ballet and other arts organizations.

* The campus will strengthen its citizenship and civic responsibility by creating a faculty speakers bureau and developing a mentoring/tutoring program with the Boys and Girls Club of Sarasota and other community organizations.

* The campus will host more public and special events for scholars and civic leaders.

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS AND EXPANSION

A fresh face and new facilities for the campus.

Mirroring the campus' growth in enrollment and community outreach is its multi-million-dollar physical transformation. For visitors and alumni who haven't been on campus in the last three years, the change is dramatic.

The west side of campus has always been enchanting, with its pink marble mansion and swaying palm trees overlooking the sailboats and soaring pelicans of Sarasota Bay. Once the winter estate of Charles Ringling of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the campus contains other landmark buildings, such as the Mediterranean Revival mansion the Ringlings built for their daughter, a former carriage house with chauffeur's quartets and an estate manager's house, which today all hold classrooms and offices.

In contrast, the east side of campus is defined by the striking, modern architecture of I.M. Pei. But despite these significant buildings, for years the front yard of the campus, which is on U.S. 41, did very little to notify passing drivers of the treasures beyond.

But soon the campus, which stretches for 144 acres just south and west of the Sarasora-Bradenton Airport, will have a strong and identifiable presence on U.S. 41.

General Spaatz Boulevard, which had only been a short leg on the east side of campus, now extends across U.S. 41 to the west side, connecting both sides of the campus with a road for the first time in its history. This new entryway is being landscaped and will include an information kiosk and parking for visitors. The new road will also loop along the periphery of the bayfront campus, improving traffic flow and leaving the majority of this lovely, historic campus to pedestrians.

The improvements go far beyond aesthetics and convenience, however. In the last few years, the campus has been the site of major construction, with a number of important new buildings rising to meet the needs of expanding programs and enrollment.

* The Betty Iserman Fine Arts Building, a one-story, 6,285-square-foot facility with a teaching gallery, studios and offices.

* Two residence halls: Dallas and Elizabeth Dort Residence Hall, a three-story, 74-bed dormitory; and Ann and Alfred Goldstein Residence Hall, a three-story, 75-bed ball.

* R.V. Heiser Natural Sciences Complex, a two-story, 36,214-square-foot building with classrooms, laboratories, offices and an 88-seat auditorium.

* Rhoda and Jack Pritzker Marine Biology Research Center, a two-story, 9,248-square-foot building for research laboratories, display and exhibition area and offices.

Just as important are the improvements you can't see. The campus is undergoing an infrastructure overhaul that includes a new utilities plant and an upgrade of existing infrastructure. Sidewalks and other campus roadways are also being improved.