plaques & signs
university of central florida
the university of central florida has stood at the edges of orlando for 40 years a major institution of research culture education and professional development stitched into the fabric of one of the nations most dynamic and influential metropolitan areas . conceived in 1963 at the height of americas fascination with the space program and less than an hour from floridas space coast the school began as florida technological university a vast and remote tract of wild palmettos and swampland that held the promise of a cutting edge space university . but 1963 was the same year that walt disney made his fateful fly over central florida and chose the location for walt disney world a decision that would ultimately transform the entire region . florida tech found itself growing along with the surrounding community in size prominence and power into a diverse institution that no one in those early years could have envisioned . renamed the university of central florida in 1979 to better reflect its broad curriculum and its strong marriage with the region the school has blossomed into the prototype for the modern metropolitan university .