Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on Florida's oldest continuous site of higher education.
Florida State University comprises 16 separate colleges and more than 110 centers, facilities, labs, and institutes that offer more than 360 programs of study, including professional school programs. In 2021, the university enrolled 45,493 students from all 50 states and 130 countries. Florida State is home to Florida's only national laboratory, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, and is the birthplace of the commercially viable anti-cancer drug Taxol. Florida State University also operates the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the State Art Museum of Florida and one of the nation's largest museum/university complexes. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
Florida State University is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". In 2020, the university had research and development (R&D) expenditures of $350.4 million, ranking it 75th in the nation. The university has an annual budget of over $2.17 billion and an annual economic impact of $14 billion.
FSU's intercollegiate sports teams, commonly known by their "Florida State Seminoles" nickname, compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). In their 113-year history, Florida State's varsity sports teams have won 20 national athletic championships, and Seminole athletes have won 78 individual NCAA national championships.
History
In 1819, the Florida Territory was ceded to the United States by Spain as an element of the Adams–Onís Treaty. The Territory was conventionally split by the Appalachicola or later the Suwannee rivers into East and West areas. Florida State University is traceable to a plan set by the 1823 U.S. Congress to create a higher education system. The 1838 Florida Constitution codified the primary system by providing for land allocated for the schools. In 1845 Florida became the 27th State of the United States, which permitted the resources and intent of the 1823 Congress regarding education in Florida to be implemented.
The Legislature of the State of Florida, in a Legislative Act of January 24, 1851, provided for establishing the two institutions of learning on opposite sides of the Suwannee River. The Legislature declared the purpose of these institutions to be "the instruction of persons, both male, and female, in the art of teaching all the various branches that pertain to a good common school education; and next to instruct in the mechanic arts, in husbandry, in agricultural chemistry, in the fundamental laws, and in what regards the rights and duties of citizens." By 1854 the City of Tallahassee had established a school for boys called the Florida Institute, with the hope that the State could be induced to take it over as one of the seminaries. In 1856, Tallahassee Mayor Francis W. Eppes again offered the institute's land and building to the Legislature. The bill to locate the Seminary in Tallahassee passed both houses and was signed by the Governor on January 1, 1857. On February 7, 1857, the first meeting of the Board of Education of the State Seminary West of the Suwannee River was held, and the institution began offering post-secondary instruction to male students. Francis Eppes served as the Seminary's Board of Education president for eight years. In 1858 the seminary absorbed the Tallahassee Female Academy, established in 1843, and became coeducational.
The West Florida Seminary was located on the former Florida Institute property, a hill where the historic Westcott Building now stands. The location is the oldest continuously used site of higher education in Florida. The area, slightly west of the state Capitol, was formerly and ominously known as Gallows Hill, a place for public executions in early Tallahassee.