The ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ was known as Florida Technological University when Trevor Colbourn became president in 1978. Recognizing the university had grown beyond its early moniker as β€œFlorida’s space university,” Colbourn renamed the institution that same year.

In addition to that high-profile name change, also established ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½’s honors program and a football program that has earned national rankings; nurtured a fledgling researchΒ park;Β and developed a partnership with Orange County that has created thousands of high tech jobs and helped transform the region’s economy.

Colbourn, ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½β€™s second president, died Tuesday in Winter Park. He was 87.

“Trevor blazed trails for ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½, from giving us our name to the leap of faith that led to a nationally prominent football program,” said ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ President John C. Hitt. Β “He was an astute academic leader with a keen vision. As president, I greatly valued his advice and contributions to our university.”

β€œWe hear of presidents building coalitions of supportβ€”people, countries and materialsβ€”all designed to come together to achieve some great purpose,” said Colbourn’s friend and former ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ Alumni Association President Ron Page.Β  β€œOf the many accomplishments of Trevor Colbourn, I’m fond of focusing on the masterful way he marshaled support for the renaming and rebranding of the university.Β  He created a comprehensive plan, garnered support from all the appropriate constituencies and realized a victory.Β  All those who love this university are beneficiaries of his craftsmanship, in this instance and many others.”

Colbourn retired as president in 1989 and remained active as a history teacher, the university’s historian and a president emeritus who raised funds and goodwill for ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½. In 2001, ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½β€™s Humanities and Fine Arts Building was renamed Colbourn Hall in his honor.

The Scholar President

Colbourn, who was born Feb. 24, 1927, in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia, became president of Florida Technological University in 1978, after founding president Charles Millican retired.

During Colbourn’s tenure, ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ created an honors program that later would become the Burnett Honors College. The college’s enrollment has grown to more than 1,700, and its freshmen classes continue to post record SAT and GPA scores year after year.

During his presidency, Colbourn oversaw enrollment growth from 11,000 to 18,000 students and an increase in research funding from $3.8 million to $16.4 million annually. The ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ Foundation’s assets increased from almost $800,000 to more than $11 million.

β€œChange is what higher education is all about,” Colbourn once said. β€œThis institution has a distinguished past and will have a much more distinguished future. It’s been a lot of fun, some anguish and certainly no regrets.”

Known as the β€œScholar President,” Colbourn held degrees from the University of London, the College of William and Mary, and Johns Hopkins University, where he earned his doctorate in American History in 1953.

Prior to his ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ presidency, Colbourn taught history at Penn State University and Indiana University Bloomington before moving into adminstration.Β  He also served as the graduate dean at the University of New Hampshire and academic vice president and eventually acting president at San Diego State University.

An expert on the American Revolution and Thomas Jefferson, Colbourn penned a number of books and articles, including β€œThe Lamp of Experience,” β€œFame and the Founding Father” and β€œThe Americans: A Brief History.”

β€˜Crazy to Start Football’

Colbourn established ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½β€™s football program in 1979. Led by a volunteer coach, the team won its inaugural game, defeating host St. Leo College 21-0 in a rain-soaked cow pasture.

β€œA lot of people thought I was crazy to start football,” Colbourn said in 1998, three years after ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½β€™s football program advanced to Division 1-A. β€œ(But) it was the key to open the door for visibility.”  In 2008, he was inducted into the ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ Athletics Hall of Fame.

Twenty-eight years later in 2007, the ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ Knights played their first game on campus in Bright House Networks Stadium. Since then, more than 1 million fans have watched the Knights play on campus since the stadium’s opening.

The 2010 season saw ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ football reach new level of success, earning the team’s first bowl victory, winning its second Conference USA title and ending the season ranked in the top 20.Β  The program has continued to grow, joining the American Athletic Conference, winning the Fiesta Bowl and earning a Top 10 national ranking in 2013.

Leading ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ Innovations

Colbourn’s tenure as president saw ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ introduce the state’s first stand-alone doctoral program in computer science, followed by Ph.D. offerings in civil, computer, electrical, mechanical, industrial and environmental engineering; business administration; and human factors psychology. ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ also expanded master’s and bachelor’s programs, dedicated new buildings at the Daytona Beach and Cocoa campuses and established Greek Park on the main campus.

The Central Florida Research Park, adjacent to ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½β€™s East Orlando campus, today employs about 10,000 in a variety of high-tech industries. The park is home to one of the nation’s largest concentrations of federal defense technology agencies and ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½β€™s Institute for Simulation and Training, also founded during Colburn’s presidency.

ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ became one of the first schools in the nation to begin using a telephone system for course registrations. Colbourn’s efforts laid the groundwork for ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ becoming one of America’s β€œmost wired” universities with extensive Internet technology and services provided for faculty, students and staff.

Although known for the high-profile name change, football program and research park, Colbourn shouldered a long effort to establish equitable funding for the state’s newer universities to put them on the same financial footing as more established institutions.

β€œHe championed that cause, often standing alone before legislative leaders and the Florida Board of Regents, predecessor to today’s University System Board of Governors,” said Alan Fickett, who served as associate vice president for University Relations and ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½β€™s lobbyist in Tallahassee and Washington during Colbourn’s tenure.

Said James A. Donovan, executive director of the ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ Foundation in the early 1980s: β€œTrevor Colbourn recognized the need to augment state funding with philanthropic support from the community. He was fond of saying, β€˜We can have a good university with legislative funding, but we can have a great university with philanthropic support.’”

Reaching Out to the Community

Colbourn was active in the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the Industrial Development Commission of Mid-Florida (now known as the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission), the Orlando Crime Prevention Association, the Board of Visitors of the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, the United Way, the Greater Orlando Sports Organizing Committee, the Kiwanis Club, the boards of the local opera company and public television station and the Organization of American Historians.

Philanthropic firsts under Colbourn’s leadership included ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½β€™s first endowed chair, the Della Phillips-Martha D. Schenck Chair in American Private Enterprise, and the first endowed chair in the southeastern U.S. in computer science.

His wife, Beryl, played a key role in reaching out to the community in her role as ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½β€™s first lady by creating the Town & Gown Council, a women’s organization of community and campus leaders dedicated to β€œfriend raising” and sharing the ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ story.

A lifelong Episcopalian, Colbourn is survived byΒ Beryl, his wife of 66 years; and daughters, Katherine β€œKit” Wrye, of Fishkill, N.Y., and Elinor Colbourn, of Takoma Park, Md. Colbourn also leaves four grandchildren.