Florida’s 12th University to Focus on STEM
A new college that’s almost exclusive to science, technology, engineering, and math will soon be opening its doors. Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland features a 162,000-square foot, $60 million Innovation, Science and Technology building that will house the school’s laboratories, classrooms, auditoriums and other meeting rooms. That’s according to Associated Press reporter Kyle Hightower, who explains there are a few big challenges ahead. “With early challenges like recruiting students, no immediate accreditation and no tenure for professors, the school’s viability is still a question. It will open with 500 students, less than half the 1,200 it eventually needs.” Florida ranks at the fifth from the bottom in the number of states with STEM-related jobs, states Hightower.
