University of West Florida

The University of West Florida competes in NCAA Division II athletics and the school mascot is the Argonaut. The mascot is meant to honor the ancient Greek legend of Jason and the Argonauts, a band of warriors.

The Florida Legislature established the University of West Florida in 1963, and the university officially opened its doors in 1967. Initially, UWF was organized into three resident or cluster colleges: Alpha, Gamma, and Omega. The university later reorganized into a more traditional college structure and by 1999, had Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, and Professional Studies. Established as a senior institution enrolling upper-division and graduate students to address the needsof the Northwest Florida region, UWF began accepting lower-division students, becoming a four-year institution in 1983. In 1995, UWF began offering its first doctoral program.

Many individual programs and faculty members have achieved national prominence. UWF has garnered additional recognition from Forbes Magazine, ranked as one of "America's Top Colleges," from The Princeton Review as one of the "Best Southeastern Colleges," from U.S. News and World Reports as one of the "Top Online Education Programs," from The Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the "Great Colleges to Work For," and from G.I. Jobs Magazine as a "Military Friendly School."