JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville University has been part of the city’s story for more than 90 years.
Founded in 1934 during the Great Depression, the private university has grown from a small two-year college downtown into a thriving campus on the banks of the St. Johns River.
“Pretty rich history for the university,” said JU President Tim Cost. “We were founded in 1934 by a judge in downtown Jacksonville, very close to our College of Law today. We grew throughout the years, came out here to Arlington in 1950, where we’re pleased to be today. And so here we are about to enter our 92nd year. It’s exciting.”
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Cost first arrived on campus in 1977 as a student-athlete, graduating in 1981. Decades later, he returned as the university’s president in 2012.
Legends and legacy
For generations of Dolphins, JU is more than just a university — it’s a community.
Cost said certain names loom large in JU’s legacy.
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“You’ve started the Mount Rushmore of the university with Fran Kinne and Artis Gilmore,” Cost said. “Certainly, Division I sports is very, very big as the profile of the university. What Fran Kinne built in her 62 years at this university, I have inherited a great palette, and we’ve kind of gone further. She started a business school, now the Davis College of Business and Technology, and she started us going down the path of nursing, which is now our largest major. We have over 900 nurses here in a university of 4,000.”
Cost calls Dr. Kinne a defining influence.
“She was a magical person who was tenaciously optimistic and tough as nails, and that’s a hard combination to pull off,” Cost said. “But her spirit is the culture of this university.”
Meeting today’s challenges
Like all institutions of higher education, Jacksonville University has weathered challenges. Cost says the key has been to stay nimble and responsive to community needs.
“In any industry — and I do a lot of times call higher ed an industry — the disintermediation or the challenge comes from technology. Now you’re looking at generative artificial intelligence, the future of large language models, whether they’re a pro or a con. I believe you embrace technology. That is the way to go, and you damn technology at your own peril. And we’ve been fairly nimble," he said.
That mindset has driven JU to expand health care and science programs in partnership with regional employers.
“We thought there was a need for us to step up significantly the last time there was a challenge,” Cost said. “So we doubled down and tripled down on nursing and speech pathology and kinesiology and mental health counseling and occupational therapy and all the things that it looked to us like Mayo and Baptist and Florida Blue and Ascension and Advent needed, and that’s been a very good way for us to go.”
Connected to community
While the Arlington neighborhood has changed over the years, Cost said JU remains committed to being a good neighbor.
“We don’t believe in the so-called ivory tower of a university,” he said. “We think we shouldn’t just be in Arlington. We should be of Arlington. We should sit on the committees and the councils. We should host things on our campus, and we do. We’re trying to be culturally valuable here. We’re trying to be a place where people know they can rely on us. We’re a large employer, and we’re not going anywhere.”
Future in medicine
As Jacksonville grows, so does JU. Cost said the university is making difficult choices to focus on the programs that matter most to students and the region.
“We can’t teach 115 majors. It doesn’t make sense,” Cost said. “Getting closer and closer to the ultimate end result of what the young person wants, I think you’re going to see more focus, tighter focus, closer to the community. And it is certainly an arms race for investment. Right now, people are needing to put a lot of money into these universities, and we’ll partner aggressively to get there.”
One of the boldest steps yet is JU’s new medical school, opening in partnership with the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.
“This four-year medical school, where you can come here and go through all the paces, including your rotations… at the end, we looked all over the country and tried to attract and then did the nation’s largest educator, LECOM,” Cost said. “And we are starting next year, right on time. Middle of 2026, building’s up, almost up, 73,000 square feet. It’s called LECOM at Jacksonville University, and I think it’s going to revolutionize the north end of our campus. I think it’s going to change what kind of housing is needed in Arlington, and what kind of places to eat. You’re about to have hundreds of medical school students. These are not 19-year-olds, and they’re going to want these services and amenities. And I think it’s going to lift a lot of boats.”
Looking ahead
From a small college in Depression-era Jacksonville to a modern university with a medical school on the way, Cost says JU’s history is long — but its future is just beginning.
“The future here is about being a partner with this city, with this region and preparing students not just for jobs, but for lives of impact,” he said.