Due to fires in the early 1920s, it was temporarily relocated to Clearwater Beach and then finally moved to its current location in Lakeland in 1922.

[11] The present campus comprises 70 buildings on 110 acres (45 ha) of land and is home to the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.

[15][16] In September 2011, Travel+Leisure listed it as one of the most beautiful campuses in the United States and noted that it was put under watch by the World Monument Fund as an endangered cultural site.

[17] Florida Southern commissioned Robert A. M. Stern, the dean of Yale's architecture program,[14] to lead their expansion efforts in 2005.

[19] The complex includes Nicholas and Wesley Halls, and houses up to 235 students in lake-view rooms designed to complement Frank Lloyd Wright's existing architecture on campus.

[22] In addition to improving the campus proper, FSC also expanded outwardly by acquiring properties in adjacent neighborhoods.

[25] In 1938, the Florida Southern College president, Ludd M. Spivey, approached Frank Lloyd Wright with the proposal of transforming the 100-acre lakeside orange grove into a modern campus.

[26][27] The collection of Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture at Florida Southern College is called Child of the Sun.

[33] Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for his Child of the Sun campus, the original Roux Library was built between the years of 1941–1945 at the cost of $120,000.

The archive is part of the same department as the Roux Library and maintains information on the history of Florida Southern College, alumni and faculty, in addition to its institutional records.

For 2022, U.S. News & World Report ranked Florida Southern #8 in Regional Universities South, #8 in Best Undergraduate Teaching, and #14 in Best Value Schools.

[38] Florida Southern receives over 11,000 undergraduate applications annually and admits approximately 51% of applicants using a holistic admissions approach, with 2022 first year students having a 3.8 average high school GPA, a middle 50% test score range for the SAT of 1170 - 1310 and middle 50% ACT of 25 - 30.

This gesture came shortly after Richard W. "Bill" Becker ('65) gifted $5 million to the School for the construction of a new undergraduate business building.

Research courses are required, giving students the opportunity to investigate, compile data and present their results at the semiannual Department of Natural Sciences Poster Competition.

Dedicated to Bishop John Branscomb of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, the auditorium hosted its first performance in 1964.

The institution's Festival of Fine Arts is the longest-running theater and musical performance in Polk County and has hosted artists Kathleen Battle, André Watts, I Musici di Roma, Jennifer Larmore, Sylvia McNair, and The Munich Symphony Orchestra.

[51] Notable alumni include athletes such as Major League outfielder Matt Joyce, first baseman Lance Niekro, pitcher Rob Dibble, infielder Greg Pryor, and pitcher Brett Tomko,[52] as well as professional golfers Lee Janzen, Rocco Mediate and U.S. Women's Open champion Kathy Cornelius.

Alexi Cortez currently plays professional indoor soccer for the Lakeland Tropics, whose head coach is alumnus Clay Roberts.

[54] Other graduates include judges, politicians, a secretary general of OPEC, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, CEOs, correspondents, lawyers, and bishops.