Collections

The UCF Police Department collection, 1969-2012, includes materials from and about the University of Central Florida Police Department (UCFPD). It consists of news clippings, officer training materials and other departmental files, and printed ephemera relating to the activities of the department and its involvement with the UCF and Central Florida community. Established in 1973, the University of Central Florida Police Department (UCFPD) serves the main campus as well as UCF Downtown, the Rosen College of Hospitality and Management, the Health Sciences Campus in Lake Nona, and all UCF-managed housing facilities. The UCFPD serves nearly 68,000 students, 13,000 employees, and thousands of visitors each year. UCFPD has Patrol, Criminal Investigations, Community Partnership, K-9, and Community Service Units, as well as a Communications Center and Records department. As one of the few universities in the country with its own dedicated Communications Center, UCFPD has 24/7 dispatchers.

Dr. Roger Handberg is a Political Science professor as well as the former chair of the Political Science Department. This collection of his papers contains essays presented at conferences, published articles, research reports, and interdepartmental memorandums. The arrangement of the materials, including the numbering system of the folders, was established by the office of Dr. Handberg.

The University of Central Florida Pulse collection, 2016-2022, documents the University of Central Florida's response to the shooting at Pulse nightclub on June 12, 2016. It chiefly consists of event programs, flyers, and brochures, artwork from the Resilience: Remembering Pulse exhibit at the UCF Art Gallery, messages and items gifted to UCF from other universities, and other memorabilia of the candlelight vigil and other events held in remembrance of the victims. UCF Special Collections & University Archives staff collected items that were left on the UCF seal in the Student Union Rotunda, including votive candleholders, stuffed animals, ribbons, bracelets, illustrations, and flags. Messages of support from whiteboard displays were also collected. This collection demonstrates how the UCF community expressed support for the victims and families of the Pulse shooting and the LGBTQ+ community, and memorialized two Pulse victims who were UCF students, Christopher Andrew "Drew" Leinonen and Juan Ramon Guerrero. Most items in the collection are from 2016 through 2017. On June 12, 2016, Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida was the scene of the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in U.S. history at the time. Forty-nine people were killed, including two members of the University of Central Florida (UCF) community, student Juan Ramon Guerrero and alumnus Christopher Andrew "Drew" Leinonen. On June 14, 2016, UCF held a candlelight vigil in honor of the Pulse shooting victims and created a memorial on the UCF Pegasus seal in the Student Union Rotunda. In July 2016, the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity and UCF Greek Council held the Orlando Strong 5K run at the UCF reflection pond to raise funds for the Pulse employees impacted by the shooting. In 2017, UCF continued to pay tribute to the victims and their families with a remembrance ceremony titled "UCF Remembers...6.12.16." A blood drive was held on campus, in addition to an art exhibition at the UCF Art Gallery titled Resilience: Remembering Pulse. Artists Michael Pilato and Yuriy Karabash created a mural memorializing Juan Ramon Guerrero and Drew Leinonen outside the Student Union. In 2018, in addition to the "UCF Remembers" event, the UCF Libraries held an exhibit to highlight the LGBTQ+ community with materials from this collection along with books, articles, a movie, and other materials written about or by LGBTQ+ members. The university and its community continue to remember Pulse through an annual vigil called UCF Remembers, hosted by LGBTQ+ Services, and through a blood drive held annually on campus.

The Registrar's Office maintains student records and provides important services, such as transcript requests, enrollment verification, and veteran services. This collection includes memoranda from university departments, correspondence, employment information, registration information, and operation manuals.

The UCF Retirement Association, Inc. was organized in 1989 to promote the general welfare of UCF retirees and the university community. This collection consists of photographs, newsletters, and correspondence that document the association's activities.

The University of Central Florida scrapbooks contains bound and unbound scrapbooks created by offices, organizations, and individuals affiliated with Florida Technological University (FTU), now University of Central Florida (UCF) which relate to the University's history, including university presidents, academics, athletics and extramural sports, student organizations and activities, and alumni. Materials in this collection include news clippings, photographs, correspondence, ephemera, and microfilm. This collection provides insight into UCF's history, the early activities of university organizations and programs, and the way these actitivties were documented. The University of Central Florida (UCF), then Florida Tecnhological University (FTU), was founded in 1963 and welcomed its first class of students in 1968. At its founding, FTU aimed to provide science, technology, enfineering and math education to support the growing United States space program in Florida. FTU was renamed in 1978 to the University of Central Florida, and broadened its academic scope. These scrapbooks were created and collected by various parties affiliated with UCF.

The UCF Small Business Development Center was founded in 1980-81 to foster the growth of small businesses throughout the Central Florida area. The following are documents encompassing the four branches (Main, Brevard, Daytona, and Seminole) of the SBDC. The collection contains quarterly reports and training course records from the years 1998-2002.

Since his arrival at the University of Central Florida in 2001, Dr. James Wright worked on several publications, was directly involved in community organizations, and worked on the development of the University of Central Florida Sociology department. This collection of his papers contains documents related to these subjects.

The UCF Staff Council laid its groundwork in 1971 with its first chairman Richard V. Neuhaus. Since then the council has been involved in numerous activities including fund raisers, meetings, charter revisions, elections, and award dinners. This collection is the written records along with a few audio records of the staff council's accomplishments and undertakings from 1971-2010.

The division of Student Development and Enrollment Services began as the Office of Student Affairs when Florida Technological University opened to students in 1968. Since that time the division has overseen the work of various offices and departments on campus dedicated to enhancing the quality of the university as a whole and the quality of the student experience. This collection contains materials about the activities of many of the offices, departments, and programs contained within SDES.