Florida Trend Names FSC President Dr. Anne B. Kerr One of State’s Most Influential Leaders and Executives
Nov 17, 2022
For the third time in as many years, Florida Trend magazine’s Florida 500 list features Dr. Anne B. Kerr, president of Florida Southern College, as one of Florida’s most influential leaders and executives. The Florida 500 feature list covers more than 60 business categories, including education, agriculture, hospitality, and law, and offers “a personal, engaging look at the state’s most influential business leaders.”
“I am humbled to be included among Florida Trend’s influential executives,” said Dr. Kerr. “Florida Southern College offers a unique opportunity to teach our extraordinary students how to make a consequential impact on society. Our entire campus, including our world-class faculty, talented students, dedicated staff, and a dynamic, experiential engaged-learning academic program share in this honor.”
just one example of engaged learning.
Since coming to Florida Southern College in 2004, Dr. Kerr has transformed the campus dramatically through her innovative vision for the school and her committed leadership. Florida Southern has blossomed under her determined guidance, establishing the school’s place on the national stage. Year after year over the past decade, FSC has been celebrated and ranked ever higher by a multitude of prestigious national and worldwide college rankings guides. The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) has recognized the College as a Top Producer of Fulbright Award winners on multiple occasions.
“On behalf of Florida Southern College’s Board of Trustees, I want to express our most sincere gratitude to Dr. Kerr for her unwavering support and unrivaled vision for the College,” said Dr. Robert L. Fryer, Jr. ’70, chairman of FSC’s Board of Trustees. “Dr. Kerr has raised the national profile of the College on all fronts, while improving the student experience on campus. Her foresight and leadership in the areas of engaged education, innovation, service, and overall excellence have advanced Florida Southern College immeasurably.”
U.S. News & World Report praised FSC as a Best College 2022-2023, highlighting the College’s place among the “Best Regional Universities in the South” for the 13th consecutive year, and among the “Most Innovative” universities. The guide includes FSC's Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise and Ann Blanton Edwards School of Nursing and Health Sciences among top undergraduate business and nursing programs.
The Princeton Review named FSC as one of the Best 388 Colleges in the nation for 2022-2023, with FSC recognized as a Best Southeastern College. The guide specifically honors FSC as having the 24th Best Career Services department in the country, the 25th Best Theater department, and the 25th Most Beautiful Campus in the entire nation. FSC is the only Florida-based school on all three lists.
one of 22 new buildings Dr. Kerr has brought to campus since 2004.
The College’s increasing accolades have been accompanied by the institution’s unparalleled growth. The College’s student body has increased from 2,500 total students in 2005 to more than 3,200 total students for the 2022-23 academic year, with 2021 featuring FSC’s largest ever incoming class of over 800 new students. Economically, Florida Southern generates an economic impact of more than $388 million in gross domestic product at the regional level. Dr. Kerr has guided academic expansion across FSC’s arts, sciences, education, business, and nursing programs with more than 20 new undergraduate majors introduced during her tenure. Alongside new graduate degrees and programs such as master’s degrees in accounting, education, and nursing, Dr. Kerr also added new doctoral programs in education, physical therapy, and nursing practice.
Dr. Kerr has cared for FSC’s Frank Lloyd Wright architectural heritage while driving new expansions across the campus with over 22 new buildings and creative learning spaces such as the Joe K. and Alberta Blanton Nursing Building, the Bill and Mary Ann Becker Business Building, the Carol Jenkins Barnett Center for Early Childhood Learning and Health, the Carole and Marcus Weinstein Computer Sciences Center, and the Roberts Academy, which serves as Florida’s only transitional school for children with dyslexia.
Florida Southern is rising to meet the state and nationwide need for innovative and experienced nurses and nurse practitioners, entrepreneurs, and creative and critical scientific and artistic thinkers by educating talented students to make a positive and consequential impact on our world.