Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of the State University System of Florida, also gave remarks, emphasizing FSU’s rankings, enrollment and research expenditures.
“Our state is the number one in the nation for higher education, and the reason for that is that ranking is based on objective data — and only objective data,” Rodrigues said. “The performance of flagships like Florida State University plays a large role in why our state has the success that we have in the rankings.”
Rodrigues likened FSU’s student retention rates to those of elite private Ivy League institutions, noting that the university received over 88,000 applications for about 6,000 available seats. He further commended the university for increasing research expenditures by 50% since 2021, truly putting the “research” in research university.
To conclude the program, FSU fans cheered as the Women’s Soccer team brought their 2025 NCAA Championship trophy to the Capitol steps. McCullough praised the program for reaching “dynasty” status after they won their fifth national title last month and second under Coach Brian Pensky.