UF President Ben Sasse and board chairman join Mayor Lenny Curry

University of Florida leaders will join Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry for an announcement Tuesday about a planned collaboration between the university system and the city.

The partnership could involve the creation of a campus in Jacksonville that would encompass the technology side of two of the city's most dynamic economic sectors: health care and financial services.

A tweet Monday night by Curry indicated that UF was considering a downtown area location.

"Huge for our city, metro area and downtown," Curry said in his tweet. "This one is a generational game changer."

A media advisory from the city said Curry would be joined by UF Board of Trustees Chairman Mori Hosseini and UF President Ben Sasse for a "special announcement."

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Sasse started his tenure as UF president on Monday, so his appearance in Jacksonville will be one of his first official acts for the university system. Hosseini, chairman and CEO of ICI Homes, has built large-scale residential communities in Jacksonville.

UF already is woven into Jacksonville in health care because UF Health oversees a medical campus on Eighth Street and a second hospital on the Northside. Those UF hospitals are part of a health care network in Jacksonville that includes Mayo Clinic, Baptist Medical Center with the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Ascension St. Vincent's Riverside Hospital and Memorial Hospital.

In the sphere of financial services and technology, known as FinTech, Jacksonville officials have talked in the past with UF about the university putting a FinTech campus in the city where FinTech is a driving force behind job growth.

Jacksonville is the global headquarters for FIS, which is the world's largest FinTech company by revenue, according to JAX Chamber. Other companies with Jacksonville offices that use technology in their operations include Black Knight, Deutsche Bank, SS&C Technologies, SoFi and Dun & Bradstreet.

Last year, the state Legislature supported $100 million for a UF technology campus in West Palm Beach in South Florida. In that case, private contributions and contribution of land were part of the mix for UF agreeing to establish the campus.

In 2020, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the state would put $3.7 million toward starting a financial technology education initiative in Northeast Florida.

"We have the potential to do a lot of good things," DeSantis said during an announcement of the grant at Florida State College at Jacksonville, where he was joined by company executives and college presidents from around the region.

Jacksonville University launched a FinTech program last fall as a major for undergraduate students and as an MBA concentration for graduate students. The courses combine finance, computer science, business analytics, data science, and advanced technologies, according to JU.

Moez Limayen, who became president of the University of North Florida last year, came to Jacksonville after serving as dean of the business school at the University of South Florida when it launched new programs in FinTech and cybersecurity.