Lynn University


Lynn University is a private university in Boca Raton, Florida. Founded in 1962, the university awards associate, baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral degrees. It is named for the Lynn family. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 2,095.

History

The school first opened in 1962 as Marymount College, a women's junior college founded by the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary. Due to financial hardship Marymount College sought to sell the books of its library. Donald E. Ross visited the campus to purchase the library, but was so inspired by the school he decided to stay and help it succeed. In 1971, a period of transition began, and the school was placed under the control of a lay board. At that time, Donald E. Ross was named president. In 1974, the name was changed to the College of Boca Raton. The college was granted accreditation at Level II in 1986. In 1988, it was accredited at Level III. During this time it was transformed from a two-year school to a four-year college with a master's program.
The College of Boca Raton became Lynn University in 1991 to honor its benefactors, the Lynn family.
In 2003–2004, Donald E. Ross was paid a salary over $5,000,000, making him at the time the highest paid college or university president in the nation. Lynn University retained the national accounting firm KPMG to determine an equitable retirement compensation package for Ross considering his performance and 35-year term of service. This was a third of the endowment for the university. On July 1, 2006, Ross retired after 35 years as the university's president; Kevin M. Ross succeeded his father in office.
On October 22, 2012, the university hosted the third and final 2012 U.S. presidential debate between U.S. president Barack Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney concerning U.S. foreign policy. The debate was held at the Keith C. and Elaine Johnson World Performing Arts Center and was moderated by journalist Bob Schieffer of CBS News.

Academics

Academic programs

Lynn offers an undergraduate and graduate curriculum. Lynn offers more than 45 undergraduate degrees and 14 graduate degrees through its six colleges. Lynn's core curriculum, the Dialogues of Learning, was recognized by Inside Higher Education as an example of how colleges and universities can increase the rigor of their academic offerings and improve the comprehensive education of their students.

Dialogues of Learning

All undergraduate students at Lynn University complete the core curriculum the Dialogues of Learning. A cohesive core curriculum, students take 1 class each year, for a total of 4 classes each, in 5 themes: the Dialogues of Justice and Civic Life, Dialogues of Self and Society, Dialogues of Belief and Reason, Dialogues of Quantitative Reasoning, and Dialogues of Scientific Literacy. At the freshman and sophomore levels students complete independent dialogues classes, such as DSL 100 and DSL 200. In their junior and senior years students take classes in their major that carry the themes of the dialogues and therefore double count not only as classes in their major, but also as dialogues classes. For example, in the College of Business and Management the core classes BUS 322: Business Analytics Using Excel Modeling also counts as a DSL 300 course and BUS 425: Operations Management and Business Process Modeling with Excel counts as a DSL 400 course.

January Term

All undergraduate day students must also complete the 3 course requirements of the January Term. J-term is a 3-week accelerated term where students take only one class, which meets every or almost every day. The 3 courses required to be completed by students during J-term are Citizenship Project, Language and Culture, and Career Preparation. Their freshman year students are required to complete Citizenship Project, a course where students design and implement a service learning initiative. During their remaining J-terms students complete the remaining Language and Culture and Career Preparation courses in any order. For Language and Culture students may pick from a variety of courses and languages. These courses focus on a specific geographical region or county in addition to the language of that area. For career preparation students take a class specific to their major in addition to developing more general skills, like resume writing. Each of these J-term classes is for 2 credits, in total fulfilling 6 credits towards the student's degree.

Colleges and schools

Founded in 1992 as the music division of the Harid Conservatory, the Conservatory of Music became part of Lynn University in January 1999. The conservatory presents more than 50 performances each year. The Philharmonia orchestra is directed by Guillermo Figueroa.

iPad initiative

In 2013, Lynn launched the iPad mini initiative. This initiative:
In 2016, Lynn elevated the program by providing all undergraduate day students and faculty with an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard.

Athletics

Lynn University's athletic teams are known as the Fighting Knights. The university is an NCAA Division II institution, the college's athletic teams participate in the Sunshine State Conference. Lynn University teams have won a total of 24 NCAA and NAIA national championships, and 38 Sunshine State Conference championships. Men's varsity sports are baseball, basketball, golf, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, swimming, cross country and track. Women's varsity sports include basketball, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, volleyball, cross country and track. Lynn has rapidly expanded its athletics roster since 2012, adding eight new programs: men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's swim teams, and men's and women's cross country and track.

Notable alumni