Dr. H. Douglas Lee

As Florida’s first private university, Stetson University sets the standard for excellent teaching and innovative, superior programs. We’re proud to be a nationally recognized leader in education with a commitment to values and social responsibility. Perhaps most important of all, Stetson is committed to making top-quality, private education affordable to a diverse group of qualified students.

Stetson University’s rich tradition began in 1883 when it was founded by New York businessman Henry DeLand and named for his friend, Philadelphia hat manufacturer John B. Stetson.

Today the DeLand campus serves about 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business Administration and School of Music.  In St. Petersburg/Gulfport, the Stetson University College of Law serves about 900 students.  Stetson University’s four colleges and schools offer 13 degree programs in more than 60 majors and minors, giving students the best of two worlds: the variety of a university with the individual attention found at small colleges. The $7.2 million Stetson University Center at Celebration opened in 2001 and offers graduate programs in business, education and counseling, along with professional development programs for educators and an arts academy.

We’re proud that Stetson University always fares well in national college guides. Stetson ranked fourth among the top regional universities awarding master's degrees in the 2005 U.S. News and World Report national survey, which also recognized our College of Law as among the best in the nation in trial advocacy programs. U.S. News and World Report also recognized Stetson as one of the South's "best values," ranking it sixth, based on the relationship between academic quality and net cost of attendance for students who receive an average amount of financial aid. In addition, Stetson University is listed in the Princeton Review's Best 351 Colleges for 2004 and was named one of about 300 "best and most interesting institutions" in the country in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2004.

The university is a diverse mix of old and new. The campus is part of DeLand’s beautiful historic district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  With all this history in mind, the university continues to update its facilities and stay current with modern technology.  Our latest campus project was the $12.7 million renovation and expansion of the Lynn Business Center, the first Green building in Florida.

Despite such substantial, progressive improvements, Stetson’s focus will always be on the heart of the enterprise - people and performance. With an 12-to-1 student/faculty ratio, our commitment is to teaching in the liberal arts tradition. We are dedicated to helping students learn in a radically changing world and perform with intensity and self-discipline to meet the highest standards of graduate schools and employers. Excellence in performance and academic rigor have always been a university hallmark.

At the heart of our commitment to excellence is our outstanding faculty. They are all committed to superior teaching and nearly all hold doctorates. Classes are small, fostering intensive interactive teaching and learning. We measure the quality of our teaching by the quality of time spent by professors, students, and external partners, such as employers, in interactive learning processes.

Our commitment to student and faculty performance also includes a values component. We believe that values and ethics are essential aspects of human life and work, critical to the holistic education process and to authentic leadership and career success.

When you add it all up, our ability to offer more opportunity, innovation, quality and value to a broader group of students is what makes Stetson University the very special place it is.

— Doug Lee, President