UF President Ben Sasse to announce university's new plans in Jacksonville

[thelakelander]

Plans for UF's Jacksonville expansion to be announced tomorrow:

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/education/2023/02/06/uf-president-ben-sasse-and-board-chairman-join-mayor-lenny-curry/69876477007/

[Charles Hunter]

Only right-thinking instructors need apply.

[Tacachale]

Well, here we go.

[Ken_FSU]

[thelakelander]

I know the general details and location but interested in hearing what they have to say.

[tufsu1]

Lenny Smash!

[pierre]

They only have to find 50 million bucks in the next three years first!

[Ken_FSU]

They only have to find 50 million bucks in the next three years first!

Maybe there are two Landings we can defer pulling down?

[Ken_FSU]

I know the general details and location but interested in hearing what they have to say.

What's the location?

They weren't very specific.

[pierre]

"Next steps include UF and city of Jacksonville officials working with Jacksonville's education, business,
medical and community leaders to determine the most critical academic needs and opportunities for
the regional workforce."

Like Nate said on Twitter. They don't even know what this campus will be for.

[Steve]

So what I heard is we committed $50M to, "Officials working with Jacksonville's education, business,
medical and community leaders to determine the most critical academic needs and opportunities for
the regional workforce."

This could end up being cool. Right now we spent $50M on, "Something".

[jaxlongtimer]

I have been talking with people who recruit employees to Jacksonville and Florida.  They are telling me their job is so much harder since DeSantis began his anti "woke" campaign.  Many people don't like his efforts to control conversations (this from the "freedom" governor!) and attack professionals in education, medicine and elsewhere.  Plus, his attacks on diversity, LGBTQ's, minority interests, science, history, etc.  They are in demand nationally and don't need to place themselves in an unwelcoming and overly controlling environment. 

I have also heard from business recruiters that it is driving away corporate relocations and expansions to Florida.  Clearly, this is and will have a negative economic impact on the City and the State.

Will be interesting to see how UF and other state educational institutions fare over the next few years given the current track Florida is on.

[tufsu1]

I have been talking with people who recruit employees to Jacksonville and Florida.  They are telling me their job is so much harder since DeSantis began his anti "woke" campaign.  Many people don't like his efforts to control conversations (this from the "freedom" governor!) and attack professionals in education, medicine and elsewhere.

I can confirm this is an issue in a recruitment I am involved with currently. It is also an issue for a higher education conference scheduled for Florida this fall...that is considering relocating

[vicupstate]

It sounds like this announcement was to give Curry something to crow about on his way out and Sasse something to crow about on his way in, yet there is no there, there, at least not yet.

[Charles Hunter]

News4Jax link: https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2023/02/07/new-uf-satellite-campus-coming-to-jacksonville-to-focus-on-ai-medical-technology-sources/

I agree, so far this is like an announcement that we will have an announcement in one to three years.