History
When Florida Institute of Technology was founded in 1958, classes were held in leased classrooms at Eau Gallie Junior High School (now Westshore Junior/Senior High School at 250 West Brevard Avenue) and at University of Melbourne's lone building on Country Club Boulevard. Classes were moved from Eau Gallie Junior High School to Melbourne Methodist Church on Waverly St. in 1959 after the school district disapproved of two black students using the junior high school classrooms.
In 1961, Brevard Engineering College purchased the property of the University of Melbourne (Florida) which became the main campus in the heart of Melbourne, Florida. The only existing building at the time was the current Ray A. Work building. The next building to be built was the Keuper building, originally used as a library. Today it houses the Admissions, Financial Aid and Student Employment departments. In the 1960s and 1970s many buildings were constructed on the main campus.
Since 1996 the university has been in the midst of much construction and expansion. Following a $50 million grant given to them by the F. W. Olin Foundation, Florida Tech has constructed three new facilities for their engineering, life science, and physical science departments.
In the early 1990s Florida Institute of Technology changed its promotional identity from FIT to Florida Tech, to avoid confusion with the Fashion Institute of Technology at the State University of New York. This name change created some confusion in the Orlando, Florida area with the existing Florida Technical College and Florida Technological University, the former name of the University of Central Florida.
As part of Florida Tech's 50th Anniversary celebration, new constructions began in summer of 2006 with the construction of the Panthereum, a concert and lecture venue located adjacent to the Homer Denius Student Center. The south campus began expansion as well. A new, three-building residence hall complex, Harris Village, was completed in time for the fall 2008 semester.
More south campus construction began in 2008 with the start of the Scott Center for Autism Treatment and the Harris Center for Science and Engineering. Construction will begin in 2009 on a new dining center, parking complex, and NCAA-certified swimming pool and diving center. On the main campus, the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts is rising quickly next to Evans Library.
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“English history is all about men liking their fathers, and American history is all about men hating their fathers and trying to burn down everything they ever did.”
—Malcolm Bradbury (b. 1932)
“There is a history in all men’s lives,
Figuring the natures of the times deceased,
The which observed, a man may prophesy,
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)