Florida Trend | Florida's Business Authority

Talent Lives Here

World-class K-12 public schools, top-ranked universities and colleges, and a dynamic workforce training program make it easy to get schooled in Tallahassee. It’s no wonder the area is home to the most educated population in Florida.

One thing’s for certain: Education is not an afterthought in the Tallahassee area. According to Niche’s 2020 Best Schools data, the Leon County School District ranks as the seventh Best School District among the 67 districts in Florida. Nationally, the district is No. 530 of 11,838 Most Diverse School Districts in America and No. 347 of 10,815 for the Best School Districts for Athletes in America. The Leon County School District has nearly completed two major new construction and renovation projects at Fairview Middle School and Rickards High School.

Understanding that not every student wants to pursue an associate’s or bachelor’s degree, Lively Technical College, part of Leon County Schools, offers 40 career programs, 17 of which are available at night, to help train the next generation of skilled workers. Programs include training in automotives, nursing, aviation, building and construction, diesel systems, electricity, HVAC, medical and legal administration, nursing, welding, culinary arts, cosmetology, and barbering.

“Lively Technical College provides career-oriented education to the community designed to help build a skilled workforce,” says Shelly Bell, director of Career, Technical, and Adult Education for Leon County Schools and director of Lively Technical College. “It is important to recognize that there are many jobs and career pathways in our region and across the state that don’t require a traditional college degree but are in high demand and offer well-paying salaries.”

Lively continues to look at expanding program offerings to meet the workforce needs of our community. Lively partners with business and industry to ensure all training programs utilize industry-driven educational solutions and community partnerships to equip students to meet the needs of local and global employers.

A Smarter Workforce

45.5% of people 25 and older in Leon County and 37.7% within the city limits of Tallahassee have a bachelor’s degree or higher — a much higher percentage than the 28.5% estimate for the state of Florida and the highest percentage of any county in Florida.

TCC 2 The Future

Several years ago, Tallahassee Community College (TCC) made a concerted effort to provide specific classes that aligned with the major universities’ program requirements. As a result, TCC2FSU and TCC2FAMU are wildly successful, with “numbers going through the roof,” according to Alan Moran, TCC’s vice president of communications and marketing. “TCC is the No. 1 feeder school for these universities, with 75% of the college’s graduates transferring to a four-year school. Interestingly, 61% of the student body comes from outside the Tallahassee- Leon County area. About 8,000 students need apartments when they move here — that also has a big impact on our local economy.”

Simultaneously, TCC offers the TCC2WORK program as a way to fulfill its mission of providing quality training to local citizens, but also to address the ever-growing shortage of skilled workers in Florida. “We are one of two schools in the state that hasn’t eliminated the word ‘community’ in our name because that’s what we’re all about,” says Moran. “Our focus is on affordability, value, and access. To date we’ve trained 160,000 individuals who are now employed in our region.”

To date, the TCC2WORK program has 74 different job training programs available, from nursing and paralegal to air conditioning and cyber security. “Working with the business, health care, technology, and government sectors, we’ve thoughtfully created highquality, pragmatic training programs, some of which are highly specialized,” Moran says. “For example, the TCC Florida Public Safety Institute trains every Florida Highway Patrol state trooper in the state.” Some programs can be completed in four or five weeks, with a job guaranteed upon completion of the program.

FSU Breaks Top 20 Nationally

The accolades keep rolling in for Florida State University, which is partly why U.S. News & World Report ranked the school No.18 in its Best Colleges 2020 guidebook. The rise is due in part to the university’s designation as a preeminent university by the state Legislature in 2013. This designation increased funding, money that has been invested in new faculty and programs that contributed to FSU’s four-year graduation rate of 72% — the highest of any school in the State University System.

Among recent developments of note:

• Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Best College Value poll named FSU the No. 3 best value among public colleges for outof- state students.

• The university was selected for the top award in international education and study abroad programming by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.

• The College of Business ranks No.13 overall, No.11 among public schools on U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 list of Best Online MBA Programs for Veterans.

• The College of Law is No.1 in Florida in job placement and maintains one of the highest bar passage rates.

• Best’s Review 2018 named the College of Business’s undergraduate risk management and insurance program one of four Top Performers for risk management and insurance undergraduate curriculums.

• In 2019, FSU was one of only nine public universities in the U.S. to receive an AA+ rating from S&P Global Ratings. FSU has also earned a high grade for financial management, receiving an AA+ rating in 2019 from Fitch Ratings, Inc. for the university’s strong financial profile.

• Researchers received a record level of funding from federal, state, and private sources in 2019, bringing in $233.6 million to the university to support investigations into areas such as health sciences, high energy physics, and marine biology.

• FSU is among the top producers of patented technologies, ranking No. 69 worldwide for the number of patents granted in 2018.

Tallahassee Welcomes U

Tallahassee’s business ecosystem welcomes the research, knowledge, and perspective of its college and university academics, so much so that the city hosts Tallahassee Welcomes U, a networking social that gives new faculty from all area institutions the chance to meet and connect with different community leaders. “As far as I know, we are the only community in the country to host a welcome reception for new faculty,” says Lester Hutt, director of communications and outreach at Diverse Computing. “For someone who has just moved to Tallahassee, making those first community connections can be incredibly valuable.”

Florida A&M: A Top HBCU

Florida A&M University (FAMU) ranks seventh in the nation among historically black colleges and universities in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges 2020 guidebook. It’s the second year that the university has ranked in the top 10, in part because of ongoing efforts to increase graduation rates, expand retention programs, and provide new resources on campus.

“These rankings are an indication of the excellent work of faculty, staff, administrators, and most importantly, our students themselves,” says Larry Robinson, president. “We continue to implement innovative and time-proven strategies to ensure the success of our students in every aspect of their lives.”

FAMU is home to several esteemed programs in pharmaceutical sciences, public health, physical therapy, engineering, physics, sociology, business, history, and public administration.

FAMU’s College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences associate professor of pharmaceutics Edward Agyare, Ph.D., was featured in National MagLab’s Fields magazine for his research on evaluating a method of verifying the effectiveness of pancreatic cancer drugs.

Options for Higher Ed

Complementing the higher education offerings in the city, several independent, nonprofit schools have satellite campuses serving the Big Bend area. The TCC University Center houses St. Leo University and Flagler College in a 2+2 partnership with TCC, “a great resource for those students looking to pursue a bachelor’s degree without leaving campus,” says Bob Boyd, president and CEO of Independent Colleges & Universities of Florida.

St. Leo offers the benefit of a degree from a top Catholic university in programs of psychology and criminal justice. Flagler College has programs in business administration, education, and communication. And Keiser University’s Tallahassee campus offers associate to graduate degrees in criminal justice, health care, and legal studies among other degrees, and specializes in career-focused education, offering a culinary arts and baking and pastry program.

Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative

Anticipating future education needs, FAMU recently opened the Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative to provide education to minority communities about the benefits of medical marijuana and its potential consequences to health and well-being from recreational use. “There is not a lot of research yet, so our job is to educate people about both the benefits and unlawful use of medical marijuana,” says Patricia Green-Powell, interim executive director.

To do this, Green-Powell has taken her show on the road, presenting workshops and panels that include experts to help people better understand this new drug. “My dad was a minister and he would not have advocated for medical marijuana use — because he didn’t understand it,” Green- Powell says. “We want to break through the stigma but also educate people about the unlawful use of medical marijuana.”

Being located in Tallahassee provides easy access to nearby rural areas. “We are surrounded by diverse communities that need these conversations, and being in Tallahassee lets me get to them quickly,” says Green-Powell. “It’s also great to be part of an amazing university like FAMU, where we have the resources and experts.”