The University of West Florida, founded in 1963, is a public university in Pensacola on the Gulf Coast of Florida's Panhandle. With about 13,000 students, UWF is known for its cybersecurity, business, education, nursing, and anthropology programs. The campus is set within a 1,600-acre nature preserve with longleaf pine forests, wetlands, and creeks — one of the largest campus nature areas in the country — just minutes from the white sand beaches of Pensacola.