UNF’s five colleges offer 53 undergraduate
and 28 graduate degree programs.
JACKSONVILLE AND NORTHEAST FLORIDA SPONSORED SECTION 21
The University of North Florida continues
to accumulate academic recognition,
including a “best regional” university for the seventh
consecutive year by U.S. News & World Report. Meanwhile,
UNF’s Coggin College of Business has been
recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the
nation’s best business schools for 11 consecutive years.
UNF will have an entrepreneurship center located in
downtown Jacksonville as soon as 2018.
The center will be a destination for anyone to pitch
their entrepreneurial ideas. If there is potential, they will
be given space at the center for six months to pursue the
project.
Mark Dawkins, dean of the Coggin College of Business,
is overseeing development. He looked at the top 50 most
successful entrepreneur centers in the country for inspiration.
“When you look at entrepreneurship centers that are
successful around the country, most have a university as
part of that process,” said Dawkins.
Dawkins helped put together a task force including
entrepreneurs from
all five colleges at
UNF. He wanted
ideas from the
college of arts, health,
education and engineering
as well as
business.
UNF marketing
students will be able
to intern there for
credit, and Dawkins
also hopes nonmarketing
students
who want entrepreneur experience will volunteer as well.
Dawkins wants the center to benefit not only UNF
students, but the Jacksonville community as a whole.
“We are designing the center to be a living, learning
lab for entrepreneurship,” says Dawkins. “It’s all about
building a pipeline of entrepreneurs to benefit the city of
Jacksonville.”
Northeast Florida is home
to two state colleges:
Florida State College at
Jacksonville and St. Johns
River State College. Both
offer degree and training programs
at a number of levels at locations
throughout the region.
The largest, FSCJ, provides
specific training for companies
and important industries in
Northeast Florida, based on input
from local businesses.
“Our advisory boards are giving us
direction on what they want to have,”
says FSCJ Provost John Wall.
For example, FSCJ offers a bachelor’s
degree in logistics to support the
area’s burgeoning logistics industry.
Students have opportunities to earn
industry certifications to validate
their expertise and advance their
careers.
In partnership with corporations
CSX and Georgia-Pacific, FSCJ offers
an associate degree in engineering
technology to train students in
advanced manufacturing technology.
The college is also working with local
hospitals to train students for careers
as registered respiratory therapists.
Besides providing opportunities for
college students, FSCJ has a cybersecurity
program in two Jacksonville
high schools and has extended its
advanced manufacturing program to
students at Englewood High School.
The college works with Johnson &
Johnson Vision Care, a Jacksonville
company that makes contact lenses,
in the Englewood program. Students
have the opportunity for paid internships
at the company and can begin
taking classes toward the degree in
engineering technology while still in
high school.
Johnson & Johnson sees the
program not only potentially helping
the company but also helping the
community advance education in
the science, technology, engineering
and math, or STEM, fields.
The program “is our approach to
develop an industry-led education
program, ultimately incentivizing
local technology companies to invest
in skilled talent from right here
in our local community,” says Abe
Alangadan, senior project portfolio
manager for J&J Vision.
Also in Jacksonville, Saint Leo
University offers traditional courses
and online learning options at
Mayport Naval Station and Oakleaf
Town Center.
FSCJ Medical Simulation Lab