Located in the north central region of the sunshine state, Gainesville has an average temperature of 70 degrees. The area basks in Gulf breezes that make summer days warm and nights cool. The average rainfall is 35 inches per year. Alachua County boasts many lakes, rivers, and fresh water springs, which offer students and faculty easy accessibility to such activities as swimming, sailing, snorkeling, canoeing, and fishing. Also, an hour's drive to either coast adds to the delightful leisure opportunities. Seven professional theaters, several art galleries and nature parks, plus numerous music performing arts series combine to make Gainesville a culturally enriching place to live. Gainesville also enjoys world-class public radio (Classic 89) and public television, and within the last decade, major new facilities for the performing and visual arts.
The University of Florida is the flagship of the State University System; it is the oldest and largest in Florida, currently the fourth largest university in the country. Its principal instructional units are: the College of Architecture; the College of Business Administration; the College of Education; the College of Engineering; the J. Hillis Miller Health Center which includes the College of Dentistry, the College of Health Related Professions, the Shands Teaching Hospital, the College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Pharmacy, and the College of Veterinary Medicine; the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences which includes the College of Agriculture and the School of Forest Resources and Conservation; the College of Journalism and Communications; the College of Law; and the College of Liberal Arts and Science which is the largest instructional unit in the University. The presence of such a diversity of colleges and schools on a single campus encourages a wide range of interdisciplinary teaching and research and offers numerous employment opportunities. The University also has major Centers for African, African American, Florida, Greek, Jewish, Latin American, Oral History, and Women's Studies and Gender Research.
The University Libraries hold some four million volumes and five million reels of microfilm. Their resources include many important research collections for African, Asian, British, European, Latin American, and United States history. Its research holdings are especially strong for the southeastern United States and the Caribbean area.
For more detailed information on the University of Florida and the Gainesville community, please see the community description provided by the Graduate School Editorial Office, or take a leisurely stroll through the campus virtual tour. The Alachua FreeNet provides information about Gainesville and the surrounding communities. See this site for directions to the Department of History in Keene-Flint Hall. Telephone: 352-392-0271.
Gainesville and the University Community
