Florida Southern College (Florida Southern, Southern or FSC) is a

private college Private universities and private colleges are institutions of higher education, not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. They may (and often do) receive from governments tax breaks, public student loans, and grants. D ...

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is the most populous city in Polk County, Florida, part of the Tampa Bay Area, located along Interstate 4 east of Tampa. According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau release, the city had a population of 112,641. Lakeland is a principal ci ...

. In 2019, the student population at FSC consisted of 3,073 students along with 130 full-time faculty members. The college offers 50 undergraduate majors and pre-professional programs, graduate programs in nursing, business, and education as well as post-graduate programs in nursing, education, and physical therapy. Florida Southern is the home of the world's largest single-site collection of

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

. For its 2011 and 2012 rankings, ''

The Princeton Review The Princeton Review is an education services company providing tutoring, test preparation and admission resources for students. It was founded in 1981. and since that time has worked with over 400 million students. Services are delivered by 4,0 ...

'' selected Florida Southern's campus as the most beautiful in the country. Florida Southern has won 30 national titles in

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

competition in several sports, men's

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

(13 titles),

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

(9), women's golf (4), men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

(2),

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

(1) and women's

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

(1). The college's official mascot is Mocsie the water moccasin, but they are also referenced by their nickname, the Mocs. The official colors of the college and its athletic teams are scarlet and

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

History

Florida Southern is the oldest four-year private college in the state of Florida. The college was first founded as South Florida Institute in Orlando, Florida in 1883, and moved to nearby Leesburg in 1885. Historians contend that the college's formal establishment occurred when it was sponsored by the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelic ...

following the move to Leesburg in 1885. It was known as Florida Conference College. The college moved to Sutherland (now

Palm Harbor Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (ba ...

) in 1901, and changed its name to Southern College in 1906. Due to fires in the early 1920s, it was temporarily relocated to

Clearwater Beach Clearwater Beach includes a resort area and a residential area on a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico in Pinellas County on the west-central coast of Florida. Located just west over the Intracoastal Waterway by way of the Clearwater Memorial ...

and then finally moved to its current location in Lakeland in 1922. In 1935 it was renamed Florida Southern College by the college's board of trustees. In 1966 the school enrolled its first Black student, Gwendolyn Gibson High.

Campus

The present campus comprises 70 buildings on of land and is home to the largest collection of

architecture in the world. The

Florida Southern College Architectural District Child of the Sun is a collection of buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright on the campus of the Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. The twelve original buildings were constructed between 1941 and 1958. Another of Wright's designs, a ...

is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as a historic district due to the historical significance of its buildings. In 2012, the college became a part of the

National Historic Landmarks A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

of the United States. In 2011 and 2012, it was selected as the most beautiful campus in America by The Princeton Review. In September 2011,

Travel+Leisure ''Travel + Leisure'' is a travel magazine based in New York City, New York. Published 12 times a year, it has 4.8 million readers, according to its corporate media kit. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC, with trademark ...

listed it as one of the most beautiful campuses in the United States and noted that it was put under watch by the

World Monument Fund World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and trainin ...

as an endangered cultural site. Florida Southern commissioned

Robert A. M. Stern Robert Arthur Morton Stern, usually credited as Robert A. M. Stern (born May 23, 1939), is a New York City–based architect, educator, and author. He is the founding partner of the architecture firm, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, also known a ...

, the dean of Yale's architecture program, to lead their expansion efforts in 2005. Stern is an accomplished American architect who won the

Driehaus Architecture Prize The Driehaus Architecture Prize, fully named The Richard H. Driehaus Prize at the University of Notre Dame, is a global award to honor a major contributor in the field of contemporary traditional and classical architecture. The Driehaus Prize was ...

in 2011. The Stern-designed Barnett Residential Life Center was completed in 2009. The complex includes Nicholas and Wesley Halls, and houses up to 235 students in lake-view rooms designed to complement Frank Lloyd Wright's existing architecture on campus. Marshall and Vera Lea Rinker bestowed to the school $1.5 million to construct a technology center in 2008. The 4,000 sq.ft. Rinker Technology Center opened in March 2010. According to Stern, his new buildings are intended to "honor Wright's historic legacy while putting my own mark on the campus by complementing, not copying, Wright." Stern also designed the Robert E. Christoverson Humanities and the Becker Business Building. In addition to improving the campus proper, FSC also expanded outwardly by acquiring properties in adjacent neighborhoods. The college acquired the Lake Hollingsworth Apartments and Lake Morton Apartments which are about a 12-minute walking distance from campus. In 2011, the school bought, renovated, and furnished Lake Morton Apartments for $5.7 million. As part of the Pathway to Independence Program, upperclassmen and graduate students who are in good standing may be invited to live at this location.

Collection of Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture

was an influential architect of the twentieth century. In 1938, the Florida Southern College president, Ludd M. Spivey, approached Wright with the task of transforming the 100-acre lakeside orange grove into a modern campus. The collection of Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture at Florida Southern College is called Child of the Sun. The name for the architecture came from Wright's idea of removing the "uninspired" buildings of the existing campus and replacing them with a campus that would, according to Wright, "grow out of the ground and into the light, a child of the sun." The works by Wright include the following: * Annie Pfeiffer Chapel – First completed Frank Lloyd Wright building, begun 1938, dedicated 1941, French-door balconies restored in 2007 * Buckner Building (originally the E.T. Roux Library) – begun 1942, completed 1946 * Ordway Building (originally the Industrial Arts Building) – begun 1950, completed 1952 * Danforth Chapel – begun 1954, completed 1955 * Polk County Science Building (commonly known as Polk Science) – begun 1952, completed 1958 * Watson Fine Building (administration building) – begun 1946, completed 1949 * Water Dome – partially completed 1949, fully completed and restored in 2007 to Wright's original plans * Three Seminars or The L A Raulerson Building (currently the Business Office) – begun 1940, completed 1942, and underwent renovations into one office building in 1958 * The Esplanades – various completion times, currently undergoing restoration around the campus * Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center, also known as the Usonian House, a visitor center and exhibition space constructed according to Wright's 1939 designs for faculty housing

Residential life

Residence Halls *Allan Spivey (first-year, men) *Joseph-Reynolds (first-year, women) *Hollis *Miller *Dell *Jenkins *Publix Commons (includes all sorority houses and most fraternity houses) *Wesley Hall (first completed building of the Barnett Residential Life Center, completed Fall 2008) *Nicholas Hall (second building of the Barnett Residential Life Center, completed Fall 2009) *Colony Arms Apartments *Lake Morton Apartments *Lake Hollingsworth Apartments *Garden Apartments (completed 2016) *Star Apartments (completed 2021) *Mississippi Apartments Roux Library at FSC

E.T. Roux Library

The E.T. Roux library, typically referred to as simply the "Roux Library," is located on the campus of Florida Southern College in

Lakeland, FL Lakeland is the most populous city in Polk County, Florida, part of the Tampa Bay Area, located along Interstate 4 east of Tampa. According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau release, the city had a population of 112,641. Lakeland is a principal ...

. Designed by

for his Child of the Sun campus, the original Roux Library was built between the years of 1941–1945 at the cost of $120,000. The building is circular and housed a multi-tiered reading room in addition to library stacks. In March 1968, the new Roux Library opened in a different location on campus. The new location was designed by Nils Schweizer in a mid-century modern style. Schweitzer was a protege of Frank Lloyd Wright and went on to have a successful architectural career in the state of Florida. McKay Archives Center

After the Roux Library moved in 1968, the original building was renamed the Thad Buckner Building and was used for lectures, seminars, and was the visitor's center for the Child of the Sun campus. Today, the visitor's center has moved into a new location. The space is still used for lectures and can also be rented for private events. Typical of Frank Lloyd Wright style, the original Roux Library was constructed of reinforced concrete and concrete blocks. Long, narrow windows crown the concrete walls and interspersed throughout the concrete walls are small colorful cubes of glass that cast the sunlight in prismatic patterns. The McKay Archives Center is located adjacent to the Roux Library. The archive is part of the same department as the Roux Library and maintains information on the history of Florida Southern College, alumni and faculty, in addition to its institutional records.

Academics

Florida Southern College has over 50 undergraduate majors in a variety of disciplines and offers the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Music Education, and Bachelor of Science in Nursing. At the graduate level, the school offers the degrees Master of Business Administration, Master of Accountancy, Master of Arts in Teaching, Master of Education, Master of Science in Nursing, Doctor of Physical Therapy, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership. Florida Southern College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. For 2022, ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranked Florida Southern #8 in Regional Universities South, #8 in Best Undergraduate Teaching, and #14 in Best Value Schools. Florida Southern receives over 11,000 undergraduate applications annually and admits approximately 51% of applicants using a holistic admissions approach, with 2022 first year students having a 3.8 average high school GPA, a middle 50% test score range for the SAT of 1170 - 1310 and middle 50% ACT of 25 - 30. Florida Southern uses the learning style of engaged learning, in which the college incorporates engaging, hands-on experiences in every academic program. Florida Southern College was awarded the William M. Burke Presidential Award for Excellence in Experiential Education in 2010.

Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise

In 2011, the college announced an undisclosed contribution from Carol Jenkins Barnett ('79) (daughter of George W. Jenkins, founder of the Lakeland-based grocery chain

Publix Publix Super Markets, Inc., commonly known as Publix, is an employee-owned American supermarket chain headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, Publix is a private corporation that is wholly owned by present and ...

, for whom the school's gymnasium is named) in honor of her husband, Barney Barnett ('65). The funds would be used to establish the Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise. This gesture came shortly after Richard W. "Bill" Becker ('65) gifted $5 million to the School for the construction of a new undergraduate business building. Construction of the Becker Undergraduate Business Building and the Graduate and Executive Building was scheduled to begin late 2012 or early 2013. Like the Barnett Residential Life Center, these two buildings were also to be designed by architect

Undergraduate students at the Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise study in one of six programs: accounting, business administration, business and free enterprise, finance and economics, healthcare administration, or political economy. The school also allows students to focus on career tracks in finance, international business, management, marketing, and sport management. The Barnett School also offers the Master of Business Administration to full-time students in its 16-month accelerated program, as well as part-time students in the form of evening and Saturday classes. The Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise was accredited by AACSB-International in 2013.

School of Arts and Sciences

There are five primary disciplines within the school: communications, fine and performing arts, humanities, natural science and mathematics, and the social and behavioral sciences. The school features a combination of traditional programs and interdisciplinary studies that includes the opportunity for students to design their own major through the "Venture into Adventure" program. The citrus science program has the nation's only

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...

bachelor's degree program, including courses taught by industry leaders.

Biology

The Division of Biology offers the Bachelor of Science degrees in biology, biochemistry and molecular biology (BMB; in conjunction with the Division of Chemistry), Environmental Studies and Marine Biology. Research courses are required, giving students the opportunity to investigate, compile data and present their results at the semiannual Department of Natural Sciences Poster Competition.

Fine arts

The music department offers programs for degrees such as a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Music in performance, Bachelor of Music Education, and Bachelor of Science in Music Management. The department maintains several large ensembles, including the wind ensemble, symphony band, jazz ensemble, symphony orchestra, and several choral groups. Each large ensemble is featured in concert at least once every semester through the Festival of Fine Arts. Smaller chamber ensembles include the flute choir, clarinet choir, saxophone choir, horn choir, trumpet choir, trombone choir, tuba choir, cello choir, viola choir, percussion ensemble, and vocal chamber ensemble. The opera theater usually produces one fully staged opera every academic year in collaboration with the Imperial Symphony Opera at the Branscomb Auditorium. The music faculty is a group of accomplished performers and teachers, who over the years have been joined by internationally acclaimed performers like Beverly Wolff and Robert MacDonald. Branscomb Memorial Auditorium is located on the Frank Lloyd Wright campus of Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Architect Nils Schweitzer, a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright, designed the structure to complement Wright's original “Child of the Sun” concept. Construction was completed in 1963. Dedicated to Bishop John Branscomb of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, the auditorium hosted its first performance in 1964. Since that time, the Branscomb Memorial Auditorium stage has presented artists and performing groups from six continents through the college's annual Festival of Fine Arts series. Not only is Branscomb Memorial Auditorium a historic structure, it is acoustically one of the very best concert halls in the United States. With a natural audio reverberation time of approximately 1.3 seconds, it has been compared by many artists to Carnegie Hall. The theater department puts on five main-stage shows a year in the Buckner Theater, including two musicals. A musical theatre major was added in Fall 2013. The college's Festival of Fine Arts is the longest-running theater and musical performance in Polk County and has hosted world-renowned artists

Kathleen Battle Kathleen Deanna Battle (born August 13, 1948) is an American operatic soprano known for her distinctive vocal range and tone. Born in Portsmouth, Ohio, Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performance ...

André Watts André Watts (born June 20, 1946) is an American classical pianist and professor at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University. In 2020, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society. Life and early performances Born in Nurember ...

, I Musici di Roma, Jennifer Larmore, Sylvia McNair, and The

Munich Symphony Orchestra The Munich Symphony Orchestra (Münchner Symphoniker) is a German orchestra based in Munich but active statewide in Bavaria. It gives subscription concerts at the Herkulessaal and the Prinzregententheater and, to a lesser degree, at the Philha ...

. , Florida Southern College was rated #19 Best Theatre Program by the Princeton Review.

Athletics

Florida Southern's athletic teams are known as the Moccasins, often shortened to Mocs. Prior to 1926, Florida Southern athletes were known as the Southerners. The official colors are scarlet and

, though athletes sport

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

, white, and

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

uniforms. Florida Southern is an

institution, the college's athletic teams participate in the Sunshine State Conference (SSC). Florida Southern has won 30 NCAA Division II championships. The Moccasins have won national titles in each of the last three seasons. The men's golf team won its 13th title in 2017; women's lacrosse won its first championship in 2016; and in 2015, the men's basketball team won its second overall national championship. Men's sports *

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

* Cross country *

Cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

* Esports - club *

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

Ice Hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

- club *

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

* Soccer *

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

Track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

Water Ski Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires suffi ...

- club Women's sports * Beach volleyball *

* Cross country * Esports - club *

Equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

- club *

* Soccer *

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

- club

Student life

, Florida Southern College's student population consisted of 2,234 students, of which 2,200 were undergraduate students. The college offers a number of ways to participate in student life options including fraternities, sororities, student organizations and honor societies.

Convocation

Students are required to attend the quarterly Convocation, held in the Branscomb Auditorium. Past speakers include: Conservationist

Jeff Corwin Jeffrey Corwin (born July 11, 1967) is an American biologist and wildlife conservationist, known for hosting Disney Channel's '' Going Wild with Jeff Corwin'', ''The Jeff Corwin Experience'' on Animal Planet, ABC's ''Ocean Mysteries with J ...

Herbert Fisk Johnson III Herbert Fisk Johnson III (born May 19, 1958), known as Fisk, is an American billionaire businessman. He is the fifth generation of his family to lead S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc of Racine, Wisconsin, as chairman and CEO. As of March 2022, his net ...

of S. C. Johnson, Jamie Tworkowski of

To Write Love on Her Arms To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA) is an American nonprofit organization that aims to present hope for people struggling with addiction, depression, self-injury and thoughts of suicide, while also investing in treatment and recovery. Based in M ...

, ''New York Times''' best-selling author Da Chen, and author-businessman Stephen Covey.

Greek life

Fraternities

Theta Chi Theta Chi () is an international Fraternities and sororities, college fraternity. It was founded on April 10, 1856 at Norwich University then-located in Norwich, Vermont, and has initiated more than 200,000 members and currently has over 8,700 c ...

– Gamma Delta chapter, 1946, recolonization 2007, reinstalled 2009 *

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American fraternal literary societies. The fraternity has 244 active (undergraduate) chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has initiated more t ...

– Epsilon Sigma chapter, 1959 *

Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly known as Lambda Chi, is a college fraternity in North America which was founded at Boston University in 1909. It is one of the largest social fraternities in North America, with more than 300,000 lifetime members a ...

– Epsilon Xi Zeta chapter, 1938 *

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is t ...

– Florida Gamma chapter, 1949 * Pi Kappa Alpha - Inactive since Fall 2021 * Alpha Gamma Rho – Gamma Alpha chapter, 2006 *

Pi Kappa Phi Pi Kappa Phi (), commonly known as Pi Kapp(s), is an American Greek Letter secret and social fraternity. It was founded by Andrew Alexander Kroeg Jr., Lawrence Harry Mixson, and Simon Fogarty Jr. on December 10, 1904 at the College of Charleston i ...

– Beta Beta chapter, 1948, inactive 2001, recolonized 2011, refounded 2013

Sororities

Alpha Chi Omega Alpha Chi Omega (, also known as Alpha Chi or A Chi O) is a national women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1885. As of 2018, there are 132 collegiate and 279 alumnae chapters represented across the United States, and the fraternity counts ...

– Beta Omicron chapter, 1936 *

Alpha Delta Pi Alpha Delta Pi (), commonly known as ADPi (pronounced "ay-dee-pye"), is an International Panhellenic sorority founded on May 15, 1851, at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. It is the oldest secret society for women. Alpha Delta Pi is a memb ...

– Gamma Gamma chapter, 1946 * Alpha Omicron Pi - Kappa Gamma chapter, inactive since Spring 2020 *

Kappa Delta Kappa Delta (, also known as KD or Kaydee) was the first sorority founded at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University), in Farmville, Virginia. Kappa Delta is one of the "Farmville Four" sororities founded at the university, whic ...

– Gamma Epsilon chapter, 1955 *

Zeta Tau Alpha Zeta Tau Alpha (known as or Zeta) is an international women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1898 at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University) in Farmville, Virginia. Its International Office is located in Carmel, Indiana. It ...

– Delta Beta chapter, 1957 *

Gamma Phi Beta Gamma Phi Beta (, also known as GPhi or Gamma Phi) is an international college sorority. It was founded in Syracuse University in 1874, and was the first of the Greek organizations to call itself a sorority. The main archive URL iThe Baird's Man ...

– Eta Beta chapter, 2010 *

Delta Delta Delta Delta Delta Delta (), also known as Tri Delta, is an international women's fraternity founded on November 27, 1888 at Boston University by Sarah Ida Shaw, Eleanor Dorcas Pond, Isabel Morgan Breed, and Florence Isabelle Stewart. Tri Delta part ...

– Epsilon Sigma chapter, 2017

Student organizations

The college has over 80 student organizations on campus, including: Studio Box (An Improv Comedy troupe who perform bi-weekly on Campus),

Pi Sigma Alpha Pi Sigma Alpha ( or PSA), the National Political Science Honor Society, is the only honor society for college and university students of political and social sciences in the United States. Its purpose is to recognize and promote high academic ...

(Political Science Honorary),

Sigma Tau Delta Sigma Tau Delta () is an international excelled English honor society for students of English at four-year colleges and universities who are within the top 30% of their class and have a 3.5 GPA or higher. It presently has over 850 chapters in ...

(English honors society),

Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta Beta ( or TriBeta), is a collegiate honor society and academic fraternity for students of the biological sciences. It was founded in 1922 at Oklahoma City University by Dr. Frank G. Brooks and a group of his students. As of 2012, it has ...

(Biology Academic Fraternity),

Delta Sigma Pi Delta Sigma Pi () (officially the International Fraternity of Delta Sigma Pi, Inc.) is a coeducational professional business fraternity and one of the largest in the United States. Delta Sigma Pi was founded on November 7, 1907, at the Schoo ...

(Business Fraternity), Circle K International (Service Organization, college branch of Kiwanis),

Delta Omicron Delta Omicron () is a co-ed international professional music honors fraternity whose mission is to promote and support excellence in music and musicianship. History Delta Omicron International Music Fraternity was founded on September 6, 1909 at ...

(Chapter Alpha Phi, International Professional Music Fraternity), Southern Heat (Dance Team), Interlachen (Yearbook), ''The Southern'' (Newspaper), Omicron Delta Kappa (National Leadership Fraternity),

Psi Chi Psi Chi () is a college student honor society in psychology with international outreach founded in 1929 at the University of Kansas in the United States. Psi Chi is one of the largest honor societies in the United States, with more than 1,150 cha ...

(Psychology Fraternity), Sigma Rho Epsilon (Religious Community Service Fraternity), Theta Chi Beta (Gimel Chapter, Religion Honorary), and

Phi Alpha Delta Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, International ( or P.A.D.) is the largest professional law fraternity in the United States. Founded in 1902, P.A.D. has since grown to 717 established pre-law, law, and alumni chapters and over 330,000 initiated m ...

(Law Fraternity, International). FSC also has a number of Campus Ministries such as: Beyond,

Fellowship of Christian Athletes The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is an international non-profit Christian sports ministry founded in 1954 and based in Kansas City, Missouri. It has staff offices located throughout the United States and abroad. History FCA was foun ...

, Newman Club (former Catholic campus ministry), Sandwich Ministry (ministry to the homeless community), Upper Room Ministries, and Wesley Fellowship (United Methodist Campus Ministry).

Notable alumni

Notable alumni include athletes such as Major League outfielder Matt Joyce, first baseman

Lance Niekro Lance William Niekro ( ; born January 29, 1979) is a baseball coach and former first baseman, who is the current head baseball coach of the Florida Southern Moccasins. He played college baseball at Florida Southern for coach Chuck Anderson from 1 ...

, pitcher

Rob Dibble Rob or ROB may refer to: Places * Rob, Velike Lašče, a settlement in Slovenia * Roberts International Airport (IATA code ROB), in Monrovia, Liberia People * Rob (given name), a given name or nickname, e.g., for Robert(o), Robin/Robyn * Rob ( ...

, infielder Greg Pryor, and pitcher

Brett Tomko Brett Daniel Tomko (born April 7, 1973) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, Los Ange ...

, as well as professional golfers

Lee Janzen Lee McLeod Janzen (born August 28, 1964) is an American professional golfer who is best known for winning the U.S. Open twice in 1993 and 1998. He currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions, and was an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour. Early yea ...

Rocco Mediate Rocco Anthony Mediate (born December 17, 1962) is an American professional golfer who has won six times on the PGA Tour and three times on the PGA Tour Champions. In the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines South Course, he finished runner-up after ...

and U.S. Women's Open champion

Kathy Cornelius Kathy Cornelius (née McKinnon, born October 27, 1932) is an American professional golfer. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Cornelius attended Florida Southern College, where she played on the men's golf team, as the school did not have a women's ...

. Alexi Cortez currently plays professional indoor soccer for the Lakeland Tropics, whose head coach is alumnus Clay Roberts. Numerous leaders of the citrus industry also attended FSC including Citrus Hall of Fame inductee C. D. Atkins. Actress Charleene Closshey graduated from FSC as a business major in 2002. Other graduates include judges, politicians, a secretary general of OPEC, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, CEOs, correspondents, lawyers, and bishops.

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial athletics website
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1883 Frank Lloyd Wright buildings Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Universities and colleges in Lakeland, Florida Universities and colleges in Polk County, Florida 1883 establishments in Florida Private universities and colleges in Florida Florida Southern Moccasins football American football teams established in 1912 American football teams disestablished in 1935 1912 establishments in Florida 1935 disestablishments in Florida