Photo Tour of the University of Florida

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University of Florida Century Tower

University of Florida Century Tower
University of Florida Century Tower. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

Our tour of the University of Florida begins with one of the campus's iconic structures -- Century Tower was built in 1953 for the 100th anniversary of the university. The tower was dedicated to students who gave their lives in the two World Wars. A quarter century later, a 61-bell carillon was installed in the tower. The bells ring out daily, and student members of the Carillon Studio train to play the instrument. The tower stands near University Auditorium and Auditorium Park -- a perfect green space for putting down a blanket to listen to one of the monthly Sunday afternoon Carillon concerts.

The following pages present some of the sites from the University of Florida's large and bustling campus. You'll also find the University of Florida featured in these articles:

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Criser Hall at the University of Florida

Criser Hall at the University of Florida
Criser Hall at the University of Florida. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

Criser Hall plays an important role for all University of Florida students. The building is home to a range of student services. On the first floor, you'll find the Offices for Student Financial Affairs, Student Employment, and Financial Services. So if you need to discuss your financial aid, want to get a work-study job, or plan to pay your bills in person, you'll find yourself in Criser.

Everyone who applies to the University of Florida has an interest in what goes on up on the second floor, home to the Office of Admissions. In 2011, the office handled over 27,000 applications for new first-year students and thousands more for transfer and graduate students. Less than half of all applicants get in, so you're going to need strong grades and standardized test scores.

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Bryan Hall at the University of Florida

Bryan Hall at the University of Florida
Bryan Hall at the University of Florida. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

Built in 1914, Bryan Hall is one of many early buildings on the University of Florida campus to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building was originally home to UF's College of Law, but today it is part of the Warrington College of Business Administration.

Business is one of the most popular fields of study at the University of Florida. In 2011, over 1,000 students earned bachelor's degrees in accounting, business administration, finance, management science, or marketing. A similar number of graduate students earned their MBAs.

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Stuzin Hall at the University of Florida

Stuzin Hall at the University of Florida
Stuzin Hall at the University of Florida. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

Stuzin Hall, like Bryan Hall, is part of the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business Administration. The building has four large classrooms for business classes, and it is home to several business programs, departments, and centers.

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University of Florida Griffin-Floyd Hall

Griffin-Floyd Hall at the University of Florida
Griffin-Floyd Hall at the University of Florida. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

Built in 1912, Griffin-Floyd Hall is another of the University of Florida's buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. The building was originally the home to the College of Agriculture and included an arena for judging livestock and a farm machinery room. The building was named after Major Wilbur L. Floyd, a professor and assistant dean in the College of Agriculture. In 1992 the building was renovated with a gift from Ben Hill Griffin, hence the current name of Griffin-Floyd Hall.

This Gothic-style building is currently the home to the philosophy and statistics departments. In 2011, 27 University of Florida students earned bachelor degrees in statistics, and 55 earned philosophy degrees. The university has small graduate programs in both fields as well.

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University of Florida Music Building

University of Florida Music Building
University of Florida Music Building. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

With over a hundred faculty members, the fine arts are alive and well at the University of Florida. Music is one of the more popular fields of study within the College of Fine Arts, and in 2011 38 students earned bachelor's degrees in music, 22 earned master's degrees, and 7 earned doctorates. The university also has an undergraduate and graduate music education program.

Home to the university's School of Music is the aptly named Music Building. This large three-story structure was dedicated with great fanfare in 1971. It houses numerous classrooms, practice rooms, studios, and rehearsal rooms. The second floor is dominated by the Music Library and its collection of more than 35,000 titles.

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University of Florida Turlington Hall

University of Florida Turlington Hall
University of Florida Turlington Hall. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

This large, centrally located building serves multiple roles on the University of Florida campus. Many of the administrative offices for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are located in Turlington, as are numerous classrooms, faculty offices, and auditoriums. The building is home to the departments of African-American Studies, Anthropology, Asian Studies, English, Geography, Gerontology, Linguistics, and Sociology (English and Anthropology are both extremely popular majors at UF). The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the largest of UF's many colleges.

The courtyard in front of Turlington is a bustling location between classes, and the building sits next to Century Tower and University Auditorium.

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University Auditorium at the University of Florida

University Auditorium at the University of Florida
University Auditorium at the University of Florida. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

Built in the 1920s, the University Auditorium is one of many University of Florida buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. This attractive building, as the name suggests, is home to an auditorium. The hall has seating for 867 and is used for a range of concerts, recitals, lectures, and other performances and ceremonies. Complementing the auditorium is the Friends of Music Room, a space used for receptions. The auditorium's organ, according to the university's website, is "one of the major instruments of its kind in the Southeast."

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University of Florida Science Library and Computer Science Building

University of Florida Science Library and Computer Science Building
University of Florida Science Library and Computer Science Building. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

Built in 1987, this building complex is home to the Marston Science Library and the Department of Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering. The ground floor of the Computer Science building has a large computer lab for student use.

The University of Florida has broad and deep strengths in the sciences and engineering, and the Marston Library supports research in the natural sciences, agriculture, mathematics, and engineering. All are popular areas of study at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

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University of Florida Engineering Building

University of Florida Engineering Building
University of Florida Engineering Building. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

This shiny new building was completed in 1997 and is home to classrooms, faculty offices and laboratories for several engineering departments. The University of Florida has impressive strengths in engineering, and every year roughly 1,000 undergraduates and 1,000 graduate students earn engineering degrees. Options include Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Environmental Engineering Sciences, Civil and Coastal Engineering, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Material Science and Engineering.

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Alligators at the University of Florida

Alligator Sign at the University of Florida
Alligator Sign at the University of Florida. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

You won't find a sign like this at any of the prestigious universities in the Northeast. It's evidence that the University of Florida Gators get their team name honestly.

Taking photos at UF was truly a pleasure because the campus has so many green spaces. You'll find designated conservation areas and urban parks across the campus, and there's no shortage of ponds and wetlands as well as the larger Lake Alice.

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Tree-Lined Walk at the University of Florida

Tree-Lined Walk at the University of Florida
Tree-Lined Walk at the University of Florida. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

If you spend some time wandering around the University of Florida's campus, you'll often stumble upon stunning locations such as this tree-lined walk in the historic section of campus. On the left is Griffin-Floyd Hall, a 1912 building on the National Register of Historic Places. To the right is the Plaza of Americas, a large urban green space surrounded by academic buildings and libraries.

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University of Florida Gators

Bull Gator at the University of Florida
Bull Gator at the University of Florida. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

Athletics are a big deal at the University of Florida, and the school has had impressive successes in recent years with multiple football and basketball national championship wins. There's no mistaking a football game day on campus when Ben Hill Griffin Stadium fills with over 88,000 fans and the campus is awash with orange.

Outside the stadium is this sculpture of a gator. The "Bull Gators" engraved on the sculpture are donors who have pledged a sizable annual sum to the university's athletic programs.

The Florida Gators compete in the powerful NCAA Division I Southeastern Conference. The university fields 21 varsity teams. If you compare SAT scores for the SEC, you'll see that only Vanderbilt University outperforms the Gators.

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Weimer Hall at the University of Florida

Weimer Hall at the University of Florida
Weimer Hall at the University of Florida. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

The University of Florida is a great place to study journalism, and Weimer Hall is home to the program. The building was completed in 1980, and a new wing was added in 1990.

The 125,000 square-foot building houses the programs of Advertising Journalism, Public Relations, Mass Communication, and Telecommunication. In 2011, over 600 UF undergraduates earned bachelor's degrees in these fields.

The building is also home to several radio and television studios, four newsrooms, a library, an auditorium, and many classrooms and laboratories.

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Pugh Hall at the University of Florida

Pugh Hall at the University of Florida
Pugh Hall at the University of Florida. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

Pugh Hall is one of the newer buildings on the University of Florida. Completed in 2008, this 40,000 square-foot building has a large teaching auditorium as well as a public space for a wide range of events. The third floor is home to the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and you'll find faculty offices for Asian and African languages. In 2011, over 200 students earned bachelor's degrees in language fields.

Pugh Hall sits between Dauer and Newell Halls in the historic section of UF's campus.

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University of Florida Library West

University of Florida Library West
University of Florida Library West. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

Library West is one of the main research and study spaces at the University of Florida. It is one of nine libraries on the Gainesville campus. Library West sits on the northern end of the Plaza of the Americas in the campus's historic district. Smathers Library (or Library East), the university's oldest library, stands on the same end of the Plaza.

Library West is often open all night for those late-night study sessions. The building has seating for 1,400 patrons, numerous group study rooms, quiet study floors, 150 computers for student use, and three floors of books, periodicals, microforms and other media.

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Peabody Hall at the University of Florida

Peabody Hall at the University of Florida
Peabody Hall at the University of Florida. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

If you have any special needs, the University of Florida most likely has you covered. The main Office of Student Services is located in Peabody Hall, and it is also the home to Disabled Student Services, the Counseling and Wellness Center, the Crisis and Emergency Resource Center, APIAA (Asian Pacific Islander American Affairs), LGBTA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Affairs), and many other services.

Built in 1913 as the College for Teachers, Peabody Hall sits on the eastern edge of the Plaza of the Americas and is one of the many attractive buildings in the campus's historic district.

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Murphree Hall at the University of Florida

Murphree Hall at the University of Florida
Murphree Hall at the University of Florida. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

Many public universities cater to large commuter populations. The University of Florida, however, is primarily (but certainly not exclusively) a residential university for traditional college-age students. 7,500 students live in residence halls, and nearly 2,000 more live in campus apartments for families. Many more students live in independent living groups such as sororities and fraternities or in apartments within walking and biking distance to the Gainesville campus.

Murphree Hall, one of the many residence hall options available to undergraduates, sits on the northern edge of campus in the shadow of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and with convenient proximity to Library West and many classroom buildings. Murphree Hall is part of the Murphree Area, a complex of five residence halls -- Murphree, Sledd, Fletcher, Buckman, and Thomas. The Murphree Area has a mix of single, double, and triple rooms (first-year students can not select single rooms). Three of the halls have central air conditioning, and the other two allow portable units.

Murphree Hall was built in 1939 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Over the decades the building has been through several major renovations. It is named after Albert A. Murphee, the university's second president.

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Hume East Residence at the University of Florida

Hume East Residence at the University of Florida
Hume East Residence at the University of Florida. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

Completed in 2002, Hume Hall is home to the Honors Residential College, a living-learning environment designed to support the students, faculty and staff of the university's Honors Program. Hume East, shown in the photo here, is the mirror image of Hume West. Combined, the two buildings house 608 students in mostly double-room suites. Between the two is a commons building with study spaces, classrooms and offices for the Honors Program. 80% of the residents in Hume are first-year students.

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Kappa Alpha Fraternity at the University of Florida

Kappa Alpha Fraternity at the University of Florida
Kappa Alpha Fraternity at the University of Florida. Photo Credit: Allen Grove

The Greek system plays a significant role in student life at the University of Florida. The university has 26 fraternities, 16 sororities, 9 historically Black Greek-letter organizations, and 13 culturally-based Greek-letter groups. All sororities and all but two fraternities have chapter houses such as the Kappa Alpha house shown above. All in all, about 5,000 students are members of Greek organizations at UF. Greek organizations aren't for everyone, but they can be a great way to build leaderships skills, get involved with philanthropic and other service projects, and, of course, be part of a lively social scene with a close group of fellow members.

To learn more about the University of Florida, be sure to visit the UF admissions profile and the university's official webpage.

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Grove, Allen. "Photo Tour of the University of Florida." ThoughtCo, Feb. 9, 2021, thoughtco.com/university-of-florida-photo-tour-788576. Grove, Allen. (2021, February 9). Photo Tour of the University of Florida. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/university-of-florida-photo-tour-788576 Grove, Allen. "Photo Tour of the University of Florida." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/university-of-florida-photo-tour-788576 (accessed March 29, 2024).