It All Started With 37 Cents

Florida Tech was founded in 1958 as Brevard Engineering College. It all started as an idea in the mind of Jerome P. Keuper,  a visionary physicist working at Cape Canaveral (now NASA - Kennedy Space Center).

As university lore would have it, Keuper expressed his desire to create a scientific and technological university to a friend over drinks at a local pub. Overhearing the conversation, a fellow patron pushed 37 cents in change across the bar and said,

“There’s your first donation, Jerry. Now, go and build that college.”

So, Keuper did. And what started with 37 cents as a night school for the early “missilemen” of the U.S. space program is now a comprehensive national research university recognized worldwide for excellence in preparing students for careers of the future.