• Former state Senator Kelli Stargel has joined Florida Polytechnic University as a senior advisor for strategic relationships.
• Her role includes maintaining statewide relationships and partnerships, and maximizing engagement opportunities for industry partners, donors, business, and community leaders.
• During her time as a senator, Stargel helped secure over $20 million in state funding for the construction of the university’s Applied Research Center, which serves as a research hub for various STEM industry fields.

Former state Senator Kelli Stargel has joined Florida Polytechnic University as a senior advisor for strategic relationships, according to the university. In her role, she will maintain statewide relationships and partnerships.

The university states that her role as senior advisor further encapsulates “maximizing engagement opportunities for industry partners, donors, business and community leaders, and other major constituent groups throughout the state.”

University leaders state that during her tenure as a lawmaker, Stargel was able to help procure more than $20 million in state funding to help construct Florida Polytechnic’s new Applied Research Center and was featured as a speaker at its unveiling. Encompassing more than 90,000 square feet, the Applied Research Center houses university research and teaching laboratories, student design spaces, conference rooms, faculty offices, and study areas. The ARC was specifically designed to become a research hub and a magnet for various STEM industry fields

“In the past, I helped to fund and then let people take those funds and develop them into amazing things. Now, I get to be on the other side in a very different role of support,” Stargel said. “I’ll be able to tell the story of what Florida Poly brings to the state so that others get to be just as excited about what this University can do for Florida.”

Stargel was elected to the Florida Senate in 2012 where she served as chair of the Appropriations Committee. Prior to that, she served two terms in the Florida House of Representatives.

“Kelli has been a powerful supporter of Florida Poly from the beginning, and we are honored to have her come on board,” said Florida Polytechnic University President Randy K. Avent.

Florida Polytechnic was founded in 2012 as the state’s 12th university and is focused on the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).