Eckerd College

Eckerd College is Florida's first private liberal-arts college. EC is most widely known for it's Marine Biology and Environmental Science programs - among the best in the nation - as well as its International Relations and Political Science programs.

Eckerd College has 1,652 full-time equivalent students and 130 full-time equivalent faculty members, for a 13:1 student:faculty ratio. The college's students come from nearly every state, with about one-third from Florida. The gender distribution is 44% male and 56% female. The college's Program for Experienced Learners serves about 1,500 non-traditional students, with classes taught largely in the evenings and on weekends. At the May, 2006 commencement, 353 degrees were awarded in the residential program and 190 in the Program for Experienced Learners.

The college's waterfront, located on Frenchman's Creek, is home to EC-SAR (Eckerd College Search and Rescue) - a non-profit, non-credit volunteer group of elite students who respond to maritime water rescues alongside local agencies through the use of 5 boats and a hi-tech communication/operations center. Eckerd's full-scale marina, the largest collegiate complex south of Annapolis, also supports the nationally-ranked Triton's sailing team.

Eckerd College is a member of the Sunshine State Conference (NCAA Division II) with athletic teams in basketball, soccer, baseball, volleyball, golf, tennis, sailing, and other sports. The college's basketball and volleyball teams play in the MacArthur Physical Education Center's gymnasium. An Olympic-sized swimming pool, adjacent to the gymnasium, is open to all students.

The new 50,000 square-foot Peter H. Armacost library, opened in 2005, houses one of Tampa Bay's largest and most recent collections of scholarly journals, books, and periodicals.