It All Started With 37 Cents
Florida Tech was founded in 1958 as Brevard Engineering College. It all started as an idea in the mind of Jerome P. Keuper, a visionary physicist working at Cape Canaveral (now NASA - Kennedy Space Center).
As university lore would have it, Keuper expressed his desire to create a scientific and technological university to a friend over drinks at a local pub. Overhearing the conversation, a fellow patron pushed 37 cents in change across the bar and said,
“There’s your first donation, Jerry. Now, go and build that college.”
So, Keuper did. And what started with 37 cents as a night school for the early “missilemen” of the U.S. space program is now a comprehensive national research university recognized worldwide for excellence in preparing students for careers of the future.
Core Values
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Research for the Benefit of All Humankind
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Education for a Lifetime of Success
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Global Citizenship for a Better World
Mission Statement
Florida Institute of Technology’s mission is to provide high-quality education to a culturally diverse student body in order to prepare students for entering the global workforce, seeking higher-education opportunities and serving within their communities. The university also seeks to expand knowledge through basic and applied research and to serve the diverse economic, cultural and societal needs of our local, state, national and international constituencies.
In support of this mission, we are committed to:
- Promoting student development by fostering and sustaining a productive institutional culture of assessment that leads to the continuous improvement of academic and administrative programs;
- Developing an organizational culture that values and encourages intellectual curiosity, a sense of belonging and shared purpose among faculty, students and staff, and the pursuit of excellence in all endeavors;
- Recruiting and developing excellent faculty to become leaders in their respective fields and internationally recognized scholars;
- Achieving recognition as an effective, innovative, technology-focused educational and research institution;
- Recruiting and retaining an excellent, highly select and culturally diverse student body;
- Continually improving the quality of campus life for all members of the university community;
- Providing personal and career growth opportunities for both traditional and nontraditional students and members of the faculty and staff;
- Securing and maintaining professional accreditation for all appropriate programs.