FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Tallahassee, Fla., U.S. It consists of eight schools and eight colleges, including a college of law and a college of engineering that is jointly operated with Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. A branch campus is located in Panama City, Fla. Among the university's schools are the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and the School of Motion Picture, Television, and Recording Arts. The university offers about 140 bachelor's degree programs, 110 master's degree programs, and doctoral degrees in 90 areas, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree. Important research facilities include the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Institute, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, the Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, and a Tandem Van de Graff Accelerator. Total enrollment exceeds 28,000. The history of the university began in 1851 with the establishment of the West Florida Seminary, a state-supported school for men. It opened its doors in 1857 and began admitting women in 1858. The name was changed to Florida Military and Collegiate Institute in 1863 to reflect the school's changing mission. With the reorganization of Florida's institutions of higher education in 1905, the institute became the Florida Female College, open to women only; the male students were moved to the University of Florida in Gainesville. The name was changed to Florida State College for Women in 1909. It became Florida State University in 1947 and at that time reinstituted a coeducational policy. The university was racially integrated in 1962.