Ken Atwater, President, Hillsborough Community College

May 2026 — Invest: spoke with Ken Atwater, president of Hillsborough Community College, about how the college is aligning new programs with regional workforce needs, from AI and cybersecurity training to completion-focused student support. “A job changes everybody’s life. It changes your life, your family’s life, and your community life,” Atwater said.

The college recently secured major support for an AI innovation center. What practical changes will students and local employers see first?

AI is going to change the workforce tremendously over the next 20 years. The specific changes are still being developed across industries, but what we can do right now is make sure students and employers have a place to learn and build skills as those needs become clearer.

We have created an innovation lab at one of our main campuses, the Dale Mabry site. The lab has two primary focus areas: AI and cybersecurity. The goal is to position us to train people as company needs are identified, particularly as employers start to define what AI-related competencies they want in their workforce.

To equip the lab and support the training, we have secured multiple funding sources. We received roughly $800,000 to $900,000 from the state in last year’s budget. We also received a FIPSE grant for about another half a million dollars. And we have learned we are slated for an additional $300,000 to $350,000 for AI training in this year’s budget, assuming it survives the governor’s veto process. We are in the budget, and it is high on the list.

What matters most is that this effort cuts across the workforce. It is not limited to one discipline. AI training could apply in health care, IT, finance, and other sectors. It will also support our fintech program. We will look at the industries we serve, identify how AI aligns to their needs, and adjust training accordingly. That is where students and employers will see the impact: targeted, workforce-driven training that can adapt as expectations and tools evolve.

Florida is ranked No. 1 in workforce education and No. 1 in two-year college graduation rates. From your perspective, what has driven that success?

I like to look at it from a local perspective first, because local support drives what becomes statewide momentum.

When I first came to the college as president, a local reporter asked me a simple question: 10 years from now, looking back at your leadership at Hillsborough College, what would be your instrument for measuring success? I answered quickly that I measure success by the number of degrees and certificates the college awards. The reason is straightforward: When you get certified or earn a degree from us, you can get a job. A job changes everybody’s life. It changes your life, your family’s life, and your community life, so it’s a very practical focus on completion and outcomes.

From there, the question became: How do we improve completion? We adopted what was commonly called a completion agenda. We looked at barriers that were preventing people from graduating, and we started removing them.

One example is that we used to charge a graduation fee. Students paid tuition, and then, to graduate, they had to pay an extra fee. We eliminated that. We also recognized that if we want more people to complete, they need a clear pathway. We put education plans in place so students know what it takes to graduate, what sequence to follow, and how to move forward.

Then we strengthened student support. We brought on more advisors, upgraded technology systems, and improved the tools that help students stay on track. We also used a technology-supported approach to connect with students who were close to completing. We targeted students within 30 credit hours of graduating and reached them through text-based outreach to help them understand what they still needed and how to build a plan to finish.

We worked to shift the culture as well. We wanted students to understand the value of completing, rather than leaving early to transfer. Completion gives you a leg up in the job market, and the credential matters.

Another key piece was making sure our associate in science programs are stackable. I use nursing as an example. Someone can start as a nursing assistant, then build toward LPN, then RN, then BSN. The point is that each step along the way creates job eligibility. If students have to pause, they are not left without a credential, and they can re-enter the pathway when they are ready.

The results show the approach works. We were awarding degrees and certificates to about 3,000 students. Last year, we exceeded 8,000. That tells you the agenda is working, and when colleges improve completion locally, statewide outcomes move with it.

You recently approved an MOU connected to the Tampa Bay Rays and a potential mixed-use development. What would that mean for the college and the community?

We were approached in the fall, around late September or early October, about the Rays exploring potential sites for a future ballpark. One of the sites they were looking at was our Dale Mabry campus.

The concept goes beyond a ballpark. They want a mixed-use development with the ballpark as the hub. They have used Water Street as a local reference point for what mixed-use can look like, and they want to do something on a larger scale, with the baseball park driving activity around it.

Our campus is appealing in part because of the location and the land. The college manages about 120 acres at Dale Mabry, and our footprint on that property is relatively small compared to the full site. The Rays indicated they were looking for a parcel that could support development across roughly 100 acres, so the site fits what they are trying to do.

Our first priority in those conversations was very clear. We have a distinct identity where we are. Students come to us because we are accessible, and we serve a population that depends on that location. We did not want to lose our identity, and we did not want to move off the site in a way that would make the college less accessible to the community we serve.

At first, the idea of the college staying on the site was met with a lukewarm response. But within a few weeks, they came back strongly in favor of the college being part of the development. They saw the college as a unique feature, because you do not often see a major league sports organization and a two-year college integrated on the same site in a way that supports both education and economic activity.

They also saw our existing daily activity as an advantage. We have tens of thousands of people who come to the site already for a specific reason. Their projections suggest that, in the long term, a fully realized destination could draw significant annual traffic. From a development perspective, an institution that already brings consistent activity becomes a meaningful asset.

So the conversation shifted to how we could remain on the property, preserve accessibility, and still allow the development plan to move forward. The proposal became: the ballpark would move to the front of the property, and the college would shift to a different location on the same property. They indicated they would build a new campus for the college as part of that arrangement.

For us, it is transformational. It changes what the campus could look like, and it changes how the college can participate in regional growth. We have described the concept in simple terms as live, learn, work, and play, with the idea that education is not separate from the economic activity around it.

Looking ahead, what are your key goals and priorities for the next several years?

Our biggest priority is preparing for the transition of our largest campus into a mixed-use development in partnership with the Rays. That is a major undertaking, and it requires careful planning so we maintain continuity for students and protect access.

We are looking at a three- to four-year transition. During that period, we expect to move into temporary quarters while construction and development take place. The focus for the board and for me is ensuring the college is prepared operationally and that the transition is managed in a way that supports students, faculty, and staff.

At the same time, we cannot lose sight of our mission. We still want to graduate people. We still want to build programs that respond to the economic growth of the region we serve. We will continue looking for new opportunities that align directly with workforce needs, because that alignment is how we create value for students and for employers.