Central Florida Future

Central Florida Future: A Living Archive of Orlando, Florida is a compelling record of one of the largest and longest-running student newspapers in American history and the university it served. Part of the acclaimed Living Archive Series published by Robert Shumake and Shumake Media Group, this volume preserves the documented history of the Central Florida Future and the University of Central Florida, restoring nearly five decades of campus journalism for students, alumni, journalism historians, and Orlando residents alike.

Founded in 1968 as "FuTUre" — its name a playful acronym drawn from Florida Technological University, UCF's original name — the newspaper grew alongside its university, adding "Central Florida" to its masthead as the school itself was renamed in the late 1970s. By its final decade, the Future had become one of the largest student-run newspapers in the country, reaching a readership of more than 30,000 with a weekly circulation of 14,000.

This volume traces the paper's 48-year run as an independent training ground for generations of journalists, many of whom went on to newsrooms across the country, and follows UCF's own transformation from a small technological institute into one of the largest universities in the United States. It also documents, with honesty, the paper's 2016 closure under Gannett ownership — part of a broader wave of student and local newsroom closures that reshaped American journalism in the 2010s.

The volume features campus life, UCF's institutional growth, notable alumni, and the newsroom culture that shaped a generation of Central Florida journalists. Researched and restored using advanced artificial intelligence, this historic newspaper archive returns the record of student journalism at UCF to the public it served. An essential addition to any collection of Florida history, journalism history, or university archives.