[2] FGCU's intercollegiate athletic teams, the Eagles, compete in the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) in NCAA Division I sports.

The board of regents selected a 760-acre (310 ha) site in the south Fort Myers area donated by Ben Hill Griffin III on which to build the university.

McTarnaghan and a small number of employees set up temporary base in downtown Fort Myers in a space provided by the Lee County Commission.

An active fundraiser, Merwin raised more than $250 million for the university in eight years, rapidly expanding the school.

Bradshaw announced that he would step down after the 2016–17 academic year, and the Board of Trustees selected Michael V. Martin as his successor.

[10][11] Responding to a challenge for state universities to improve their four-year graduation rate, FGCU in 2016 introduced a program, Soar in 4, that reimburses out-of-pocket tuition expenses for the freshman year of students who graduate within four years and meet certain other criteria.

[16] FGCU's 807-acre (3.27 km2) campus is in unincorporated Southwest Florida in Lee County, 21 mi (34 km) from Naples and south of Fort Myers.

FGCU has created the Everglades Wetland Research Park (EWRP), housed in the Kapnick Education and Research Center on the campus of the Naples Botanical Garden in Naples, Florida, approximately 35 miles south of the main FGCU campus.

The EWRP provides teaching, research, and service related to wetland, river, coastal science and ecological engineering.

[24] There are three other satellite campuses: Naples, the Atrium in Fort Myers, and Herald Court Centre in Punta Gorda, where continuing education and lifelong learning classes are held.

Located between East Fort Myers and Lehigh Acres, the land already contains over 60 buildings and housing for 300 people.

Originally, the property operated as Gulf Coast Center, a residential facility for people with developmental disabilities.

After the state phased out such large-scale institutions, FGCU's board of trustees accepted the land donation.

The Norm and Nancy Vester Marine and Environmental Science Research Field Station site has 10 boat slips and is located on Estero Bay.

Seidler Hall, the new facility housing science laboratories and classrooms for the College of Arts and Sciences, achieved platinum certification, the highest level awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

An ice thermal storage plant sends chilled water through an underground loop that cools campus buildings, saving more than $1.64 million over five years.

In addition to its various print and electronic collections, the library also houses various art pieces, including seven signed lithographs by Salvador Dalí.

The college offers the following graduate degrees: accounting and taxation, computer information systems, and business administration (both traditional and executive).

FGCU also makes service learning a graduation requirement, and students have contributed more than 2.2 million volunteer hours in the community since the university opened in 1997.

In the south category, FGCU was also named the #16 Most Innovative School and #66 in Top Performers in Social Mobility.

FGCU plays its men's and women's basketball games at Alico Arena and its baseball games at Swanson Stadium, with other on-campus facilities including softball and soccer fields, tennis courts and an aquatics complex for intercollegiate competition.

[55] The FGCU baseball team has sent several players to professional leagues, including Major League Baseball pitchers Richard Bleier who was selected unanimously as the Atlantic Sun Conference Pitcher of the Year and First Team All Sun Conference, and all-star Chris Sale and Kutter Crawford, both of whom played for the 2021 Boston Red Sox.

[56] On March 24, 2007, FGCU's women's basketball team ended its 35–1 season with a loss in the Division II National Championship to Southern Connecticut State University.

[59] The women's team has since won the Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season and/or tournament championship each year since (except for 2010) with annual postseason appearances either in the NCAA Tournament or the WNIT, in which the Eagles finished second nationally in 2016 after losing to South Dakota in the championship game.

In 2012, FGCU's first year of full Division I postseason eligibility, the men's team played in the Atlantic Sun Championship final, losing to Belmont.

West Lake Village was previously owned by American Campus Communities and formerly called College Club Apartments.

FGCU enhanced the North Lake Village complex in 2017 by opening a new lakefront boardwalk and dining facility.

The official Campus Recreation department organizes several day and overnight trips annually, including rock climbing, skydiving, white-water rafting, sea kayaking and more.

[69] Florida Gulf Coast University is listed as a census-designated place (CDP) in 2020 for statistical purposes.