Jax Daily

FCCJ to become FSCJ on August 1

Wed, Apr 29, 2009 by Austin Cassidy

Florida Community College at Jacksonville (FCCJ) will become Florida State College at Jacksonville on August 1st of this year, according to the following message from Steven Wallace, the President of what’s currently known as FCCJ:

I am delighted to inform you that a few minutes ago the Florida Legislature passed the Florida College Bill that changes the name of our college and provides implementing statutes for Florida’s new state colleges. Accordingly, we will commence operation as Florida State College at Jacksonville on August 1, 2009.

In celebrating this great advancement of our college it is important to recognize that our accomplishment today was possible only because of the fine, dedicated work of our faculty, staff and leaders over the initial 44 years of the college’s history. It is important that we reaffirm that the foundational values of the community college mission – accessibility, affordability, and community responsiveness — remain as the cornerstones of the new state college. It is, in fact, our citizens’ need for affordable, accessible, career-oriented bachelor’s degrees to compete effectively in a knowledge economy that propelled us to this historic day in the college’s evolution.

The extraordinary transition from a community college to a four-year state college is, unquestionably, one of the most significant events in our college’s history. Formal affirmation by the legislature of our expanded mission is the demarcation point for important new opportunities to serve our students and our community. Truly regional in scope and impact, Florida State College is well positioned to be highly responsive and relevant to tremendous range of needs and interests in our service area, our state and our nation.

There is much work to be done prior to our emergence as a state college this summer. The most immediate requirement is to finalize the first budget of the new institution — something we cannot do until the Legislature approves our funding for next year. At the same time we will be implementing our new organizational structure, most of which we will be able to have in place by August 1. You will be hearing a lot about these plans over the next several weeks.

Finally, a word about our new identity in the community. We appeal to you to resist the temptation to reduce our wonderful new name to an acronym. The words “Florida State College” are far more compelling than the letters “FSCJ”.

I’m looking forward to working with you as we launch an exciting new era for our STATE college!

Dr. Steven Wallace
College President
Florida Community College
(904) 632-3222