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The Â鶹´«Ã½ celebrated the newly named Silverfield College of Education and Human Services, announced a 100 percent experiential learning guarantee for incoming students, hit record student retention levels and continued groundbreaking research during the 2024-25 school year. 

It was another year filled with innovation and excellence and record-breaking achievements, demonstrating Â鶹´«Ã½’s impact on the lives of its students, faculty and staff, alumni, business partners and the Northeast Florida community. 

Here are highlights from the year: 

STUDENT SUCCESS 

• Experiential learning: Â鶹´«Ã½ guarantees experiential learning for all incoming students.
• Retention: Â鶹´«Ã½’s first-year retention rate hits record levels, up more than 5 percentage points since 2022.  
• Career Week: More than 1,600 students and alumni attended Â鶹´«Ã½’s Career Week with a lineup of more than 340 employers. 

CAMPUS UPDGRADES 

• Silverfield: Â鶹´«Ã½ celebrated the newly named Silverfield College of Education and Human Services, following a transformational gift from Silverfield family.
• Esports: The City of Jacksonville approved $3 million in support for The Flight Deck, Â鶹´«Ã½’s innovation arena where technology and learning converge.
• New Dorm: Work is being finalized on a new Honors Residence Hall, which opens this summer and provides about 520 beds for students. It will include a living-learning community for honors students.
• Coggin: Â鶹´«Ã½ broke ground on the extension and updates to the Coggin College of Business, which will provide more classrooms, research labs, offices, conference rooms and study spaces.

BUSINESS COLLABORATIONS 

• VyStar: Â鶹´«Ã½ students recently collaborated with VyStar Credit Union to develop marketing plans for the VyStar Orlando Magic co-branded debit and Visa® credit cards that were recently launched. 
• Miller and JEA: Â鶹´«Ã½ joins forces with JEA and Miller Electric to develop workforce training that builds future skilled leaders and professionals in the clean energy sector.  
• Mayo Clinic: A Â鶹´«Ã½ graduate and Mayo Clinic engineer creates opportunities for students to conduct 3D materials science research. 
• JAXPORT: Â鶹´«Ã½ students gain real-world experience helping JAXPORT improve traffic flow and tenant operations. 
• HCA: Â鶹´«Ã½ MedNexus and HCA Healthcare partnership offers students a pathway to success. 

COMMUNITY SUPPORT AND ENGAGEMENT 

• Giving Day: Â鶹´«Ã½’s 2025 annual Giving Day raised $2,407,024 from 4,513 donors, marking Â鶹´«Ã½’s largest single day of fundraising. 
• Civil Discourse: The Â鶹´«Ã½ Office of Public Policy Events continued its series of discussions and debates, with conversations this year about clean energy, social media regulation, Supreme Court ethics and immigration. 
• TEDxJacksonville: Â鶹´«Ã½ hosted TEDxJacksonville’s “The Overlap,” which included national and local thought leaders talking about a variety of topics. The event was open to the public.

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION 

• Coastal Resilience: National Park Service awards Â鶹´«Ã½ grant to significantly expand Florida and Georgia coastline restoration efforts.
• Muscle Atrophy: Biological sciences professor receives NIH grant to study muscle atrophy.
• Sports Safety: Engineering students develop groundbreaking technology to detect traumatic brain injuries in sports.
• Dark Matter: Researchers awarded NSF grant to advance dark matter detection. 
• AI: Â鶹´«Ã½ first in U.S. to enter international consortium on AI and logistics solutions.

RANKINGS 

• Â鶹´«Ã½ landed for the sixth consecutive year on U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 Best Colleges list.  
• Wall Street Journal ranks Â鶹´«Ã½ among Best Colleges in the U.S. to set graduates up for financial success. 
• Â鶹´«Ã½ was ranked among the nation’s “Best Online Programs” in 2025 by U.S. News & World Report.
• CEO Magazine ranks Â鶹´«Ã½ among 2025 Best Global MBA Programs. 
• Â鶹´«Ã½ ranks among U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 Best Graduate Schools.
• Â鶹´«Ã½ earns 2025-26 Military Friendly School designation for 16th consecutive year.

During the Summer 2024, Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 commencement ceremonies, Â鶹´«Ã½ celebrated 4,140 students earning their diplomas, bringing the total Osprey alumni membership to 115,798.