Southeast
Florida universities: Where academic excellence meets athletic prowess
Florida recently overtook New York as the nation’s third-largest state.
With a booming population of 22 million and growing, the Sunshine State is making considerable investments in its public institutions of higher learning, while private universities are also seeing surging enrollment.
Here is a look at some of the top universities in Florida based on enrollment rates.
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University of Florida
Long famous for its legendary football program, the University of Florida now boasts an impressive academic record, and entrance is extremely competitive, with an acceptance rate of just 23%.
Located in northern Florida in Gainesville, it is the flagship school of the State University System of Florida. As the fifth-largest university in the country, it features over 57,000 students studying at 16 academic colleges.
Additionally, it offers numerous graduate programs, including medicine, pharmacy, engineering, law, business administration and dentistry.
Gainesville, University of Florida, campus entrance with students. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Florida State University
Founded in 1851, Florida State University is located in Florida’s capital, Tallahassee.
Comprised of 16 colleges, it features a student body of over 45,000 hailing from all 50 states and 130 countries. It has an annual budget of $2.2 billion, and its athletics programs have won 20 NCAA Division I national championships. It currently offers 104 baccalaureate programs, 112 master’s degree programs, and 70 doctoral programs.
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private research university, located in the Coral Gables neighborhood of Miami.
The university enrollment stands at nearly 20,000 students, and the school is the second-largest employer in Miami-Dade County. Like UF and FSU, it is renowned for its athletics programs, particularly football, in which it has won five national championships. Admission is highly competitive, with a 2023 acceptance rate of 18.5%.
University of Miami plays at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Samuel Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
University of Central Florida
Formerly known as Florida Technical University, the University of Central Florida is located near Orlando in unincorporated Orange County and features a study body of over 68,000.
It is particularly strong in science, technology, engineering and math, with a historical relationship with the U.S. Space Program at the nearby Kennedy Sapce Center. Located 13 miles east of downtown Orlando, the school features 230 degrees across 13 colleges.
Heavily research-focused, it is known for corporate partnerships with major companies, including Disney, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX and Universal.
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Florida International University
Florida International University, a research university commonly known as FIU, was founded in 1965 by the state legislature and is located in Miami-Dade County.
Being the third-largest university in the state, it has a budget of over $1.7 billion and has invested more than $1 billion in research expenditures in the past five years. It has over 45,000 undergraduate students and 10,000 graduate students. FIU offers 60 baccalaureate programs, 81 master’s programs and 34 doctoral programs. It features a student body from every state, including a considerable international student population, with the largest student groups coming from Venezuela, China, Kuwait, India, Brazil, and Cuba.
Students on campus at the Florida International University in Miami. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Florida Atlantic University
Florida Atlantic University is a public research university in Boca Raton, with 180 undergraduate and graduate programs across 10 colleges.
Its 30,000 students hail from all 50 states and 180 countries. The school consistently ranks as one of the most diverse in the nation, and it receives high marks for its two featured honors programs: the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College and the University Scholars Program.
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Florida A&M University
Florida A&M, located in Tallahassee, is a historically Black land-grant school, founded in 1887.
It is the third-largest historically Black university in the nation, and its creation was promoted by prominent abolitionist and Florida legislator Jonathan C. Gibbs. It offers 54 bachelor’s degrees, 29 master’s degrees, and 12 doctoral programs, and competes in NCAA Division I in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida was founded in 1956, with its flagship campus in Tampa.
Additionally, it has satellite campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. Its 14 colleges feature over 240 undergraduate and graduate level programs. The fourth-largest school in the state, its 50,000 student body comes from all 50 states and 145 countries.
Known for its cutting edge research, the USF community boasts over 2,400 patents, while the National Academy of Inventors and the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame are located on school grounds.
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Southeast
High school teacher arrested in alleged sex case involving student
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A Georgia high school teacher was arrested Wednesday after allegations of inappropriate contact between a teacher and a minor student surfaced at Lee County High School.
Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee, agent or foster parent, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI).
Lee County High School requested the Leesburg Police Department investigate the allegations on Feb. 3, and the GBI was called to assist the following day.
Danielle Weaver, 29, of Leesburg, Ga., is charged with child molestation and improper sexual contact by an employee. (Lee County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigators identified Weaver as the “subject,” and identified the victim as a student under 18 years old at Lee County High School, according to officials.
GBI agents continued the investigation along with the Leesburg Police Department, and arrest warrants were obtained for Weaver on Tuesday.
A Google Maps street view photo of Lee County High School in Leesburg, Ga. (Google Maps)
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Weaver turned herself in to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, and was later released on bond, according to a report from WALB News.
This investigation is active and ongoing, according to the GBI.
The incident allegedly happened at a high school in Georgia. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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Once complete, the case file will be given to the Southwestern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
Leesburg is located in South Georgia, and is about an hour and a half north of Tallahassee, Florida.
Lee County High School’s communications team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Southeast
Federal court clears way for Ten Commandments to be displayed in Louisiana public school classrooms
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A federal appeals court cleared the way Friday for a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms, lifting a lower court block and reigniting debate over religion in public education.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit voted 12-6 to lift a block first imposed in 2024, finding it was too early to determine the constitutionality of the law. Critics argue the requirement violates the separation of church and state, while supporters say the Ten Commandments are historical and foundational to U.S. law.
The court said in the majority opinion that it was unclear how schools would display the poster-sized materials, noting that the law allows additional content, like the Mayflower Compact or the Declaration of Independence, to appear alongside the Ten Commandments.
The majority wrote that there were not enough facts to “permit judicial judgment rather than speculation” when evaluating potential First Amendment concerns.
A federal appeals court on Friday lifted a lower court block on Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom law, bringing the measure closer to taking effect. (John Bazemore/AP)
In a concurring opinion, Circuit Judge James Ho, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote that the law was constitutional and “consistent with our founding traditions.”
“It is fully consistent with the Constitution, and what’s more, it reinforces our Founders’ firm belief that the children of America should be educated about the religious foundations and traditions of our country,” Ho said, adding that the law “affirms our Nation’s highest and most noble traditions.”
Circuit Judge James L. Dennis, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, wrote in a dissenting opinion that displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms would amount to “exposing children to government‑endorsed religion in a setting of compulsory attendance.”
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A federal appeals court ruling on Feb. 20 allows Louisiana’s Ten Commandments classroom mandate to proceed for now. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)
“That is precisely the kind of establishment the Framers anticipated and sought to prevent,” he added.
The ACLU of Louisiana and other groups representing the plaintiffs said they would pursue additional legal challenges to block the law.
“Today’s ruling is extremely disappointing and would unnecessarily force Louisiana’s public school families into a game of constitutional whack-a-mole in every school district,” the groups wrote in a joint-statement. “Longstanding judicial precedent makes clear that our clients need not submit to the very harms they are seeking to prevent before taking legal action to protect their rights.”
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Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry praised the appeals court decision on Feb. 20 allowing the Ten Commandments classroom law to move forward. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, file)
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Friday praised the court’s decision, writing on Facebook, “Common sense is making a comeback!”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill issued a statement following the ruling, saying schools “should follow the law.”
“Don’t kill or steal shouldn’t be controversial. My office has issued clear guidance to our public schools on how to comply with the law, and we have created multiple examples of posters demonstrating how it can be applied constitutionally,” she said.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said schools should follow the Ten Commandments display law after a federal appeals court lifted a lower court block on Feb. 20. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Joseph Davis, an attorney representing Louisiana in the case, celebrated the court’s decision.
“If the ACLU had its way, every trace of religion would be scrubbed from the fabric of our public life,” he said in a statement. “That position is at odds with our nation’s traditions and our Constitution. We’re glad the Fifth Circuit has allowed Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments in its public school classrooms.”
Friday’s ruling came after the full court agreed to reconsider the case, months after a three-judge panel ruled the Louisiana law unconstitutional.
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A similar law in Arkansas faces a federal court challenge, while Texas implemented its own Ten Commandments classroom requirement last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Southeast
Guy Fieri once had ‘nothing else to sign’ on the beach but postcards; now, he’s built a food TV empire
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MIAMI BEACH – Twenty years ago, a contestant named Guy Fieri on the second season of what was then “The Next Food Network Star” showed up at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival with little more than spiked hair and ambition.
“He came to that festival that year and was walking around signing postcards because he had nothing else to sign,” recalled Lee Brian Schrager, founder of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and its New York City counterpart.
Today, Fieri is one of the most recognizable faces in food on television. But, in 2006, he was just another up-and-comer working a crowd on the sand.
Speaking to “Fox & Friends” from Miami Beach, Florida, Friday morning, Fieri said he wasn’t chasing TV fame.
“I was doing what I wanted to do,” he told Steve Doocy while walking the beach. “I wanted to be a great dad. I wanted to be a great husband. I wanted to be a chef. I wanted to own my own restaurant. So, I had accomplished the things I wanted in life and never really saw the other side of it.”
South Beach Wine & Food Festival founder Lee Brian Schrager and celebrity chef Guy Fieri pose for a photograph back in 2009. (South Beach Wine & Food Festival)
Two decades later, Fieri still comes back.
“He’s been part of our festival every year since he won ‘Food Network Star,’” Schrager told Fox News Digital.
The knack for spotting and elevating talent is part of the festival’s legacy as it marks its 25th year in Miami Beach.
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Schrager recalled a similar instinct with Giada De Laurentiis. When her agent suggested she might be ready the following year, Schrager pushed back.
“I said, ‘I don’t want her next year. I want her this year so she’ll remember where she got her big start,’” Schrager said.
Giada De Laurentiis, pictured here in 2015, was another celebrity chef who got her start at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. (Manny Hernandez/Getty Images)
Yet the festival doesn’t claim to have created celebrity chefs.
“We don’t take responsibility for turning anyone into a superstar,” Schrager told Fox News Digital. “We do take some credit for giving them a platform and putting them in front of their fans.”
“Rock stars became chefs and chefs became rock stars.”
Over the past 20 years, the platform has grown alongside the broader transformation of food culture.
“Rock stars became chefs and chefs became rock stars,” Schrager said.
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What began as a one-day wine event on the campus of Florida International University evolved after Schrager was tasked with reimagining it. His directive was to “make it better — not bigger, but better.”
Schrager had a solution.
The South Beach Wine & Food Festival is where chefs like Fieri “became rock stars,” said Schrager, founder of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. (Jason Koerner/Getty Images)
“Move it to the beach, partner with the Food Network, get all their celebrities and make it more than just local,” Schrager said.
Today, the festival draws marquee names from the culinary world as well as from music and entertainment. Among those who showed up for Thursday night’s Burger Bash event were comedian Bert Kreischer and Cloud 23 hot sauce founder Brooklyn Peltz Beckham.
Chefs don’t get paid for appearances at the festival.
“If it’s somebody new, the first question out of their agent’s mouth is, ‘Oh, what’s the honorarium? What’s the fee?’ I’m like, ‘Zero,’” Schrager said.
Brooklyn Peltz Beckham is among the celebrities to attend the food festival for free. (Scott Roth/Invision/AP)
The model works, Schrager said, because the festival operates as a nonprofit benefiting FIU’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.
“Everyone’s doing it to support the cause, or they’re doing it because they want to do it,” Schrager said. “It’s not a bad place to be in the middle of winter.”
Schrager, left, appears along with Rachael Ray and Brooklyn Peltz Beckham onstage at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s Burger Bash. (Scott Roth/Invision/AP)
The festival has raised more than $50 million for student scholarships.
“To me, that’s why we do it,” Schrager said.
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Along the way, the festival has outlasted many imitators and weathered shifting food trends by staying nimble.
“We listened to the consumers,” Schrager said.
Fieri, left, and a shirtless Bert Kreischer share a moment onstage at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. (Jason Koerner/Getty Images)
“There was never any ego involved in this festival.”
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He added, “Our goal was never to be the biggest.”
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“It happens that we turned out to be the biggest, but being the best, or at least doing our best, has always been the most important to me.”
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