University of Central Florida - (Campus History) by Nathan Holic & Ucf Alumni Association (Paperback)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br> <p><b>Arcadia's University of Central Florida illuminates the history of a major institution of research, culture, education, and professional development that is stitched into the fabric of one of the nation's most dynamic and influential metropolitan areas.</b></p><br><p>Conceived in 1963, at the height of America's fascination with the space program and less than an hour from Florida's Space Coast, the school began as Florida Technological University, a vast and remote tract of wild palmettos and swampland that held the promise of a cutting-edge "Space University." But 1963 was the same year that Walt Disney made his fateful fly over Central Florida and chose the location for Walt Disney World, a decision that would ultimately transform the entire region. Florida Tech found itself growing along with the surrounding community in size, prominence, and power into a diverse institution that no one in those early years could have envisioned. Renamed the University of Central Florida in 1979 to better reflect its broad curriculum and its strong marriage with the region, the school has blossomed into the prototype for the modern metropolitan university.</p> <p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br> Title: Campus history - and Mystery<br>Author: Nathan Holic<br>Publisher: Pegasus: UCF Alumni Magazine<br>Date: Sept/Oct 2009 <p/>One afternoon last autumn, as I was piecing together the complete history of UCF, I searched through old photos in University Archives with senior archivist Judith Beale, trying to trace the origins of Spirit Splash. You can't write a history book about UCF without detailing the start of the school's greatest tradition, but strangely, we couldn't find anything definitive. <p/>Fittingly, this was around Homecoming Week, and the campus was engulfed in the usual mayhem. I remember thinking that Spirit Splash, like so many other events on this campus of 50,000+, had grown into something larger than anyone could have imagined: a festival, almost, boasted about to incoming students during campus tours, and attended by radio stations, newspapers and magazines that sought not simply to witness the pep rally, but also to capture the spectacle of thousands of young men and women cramming into the Reflecting Pond, chanting, dancing and cheering. Perhaps no other UCF event has been more extensively photographed. <p/>And yet... no one seems quite able to narrate the particulars of how Spirit Splash came about. Ask one student, and he'll tell you that it has been around forever. Ask an alumna from 1988, and she might remember pep rallies at the pond, but no splashing. Ask an alumnus from 1970s FTU, and he might tell you about illegal late night swims, but not a word about Spirit Splash. <p/>Separating rumors from reality was tough because early newspaper accounts offered only sparing Homecoming coverage. Judith and I pored through old Central Florida Futures, going year by year to see if and when students began jumping into the pond. Throughout the '70s and early '80s, the Homecoming parade weaved between the pond and the library, with pep rallies at the steps of Millican Hall. Students gathered on the patio and on the greens surrounding the pond, so, occasionally, the newspaper ran a photo of a student in the water. But never anything conclusive. One story from 1997 sent us on a wild goose chase, as it maintained that Spirit Splash had existed for 12 years. An e-mail from the Office of Student Involvement traced the event back to 1994, but other students insisted that they began the tradition in 1995. <p/>Such is the nature of history: It is rarely clean and easy, and we don't always know when we are witnessing the birth of tradition. During my time researching this book, I learned that the flowering of myth and legend is sometimes just as important to a campus culture as the indisputable names and dates of record. <p/>The University of Central Florida campus history collects the full fourdecade story of UCF's rise to prominence, including the story (stories?) of Spirit Splash. It will be available first from the UCF Alumni Association (see www.ucfalumni.com), and on Oct. 26 at Barnes & Noble on campus and major bookstores across Central Florida, as well as online at www.arcadiapublishing.com.
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