In 1977, Arthur Keiser and his mother, Evelyn, created a career college, the Keiser School, in Fort Lauderdale to prepare students for jobs in Florida's growing business and healthcare communities. In 1982, with the addition of paralegal and computer programs, the school changed its name to the Keiser Institute of Technology. In 1986, the school began to award associate degrees and became Keiser College. In 2001, the Keiser created its first bachelor's degree programs. Five years later, in 2006, the for-profit school again changed its name and became Keiser University. In 2010, the Florida Attorney General began to investigate Keiser University and several other for-profit schools based in the state. In 2011, the University switched from a profit to a not-for-profit model when Arthur Keiser sold the institution for an undisclosed sum to Everglades College Inc., a non-profit entity founded by Keiser that also operates Everglades University. In 2015, Keiser University added a 100-acre campus to its West Palm Beach campus, on the site of what was formerly Northwood University's Florida campus. The goal of this expansion was to help in providing students with a residential, traditional, educational experience in West Palm Beach, Florida. In 2016, the university launched the new College of Chiropractic with Dr. Michael Wiles serving as the Dean. This is the first program of its kind started in southern Florida.
In 2020, U.S. News & World Report ranked Keiser University #272 out of all national universities and #34 in "Top Performers of Social Mobility."
In 2019, Washington Monthly ranked Keiser University 263rd out of 395 schools on its national universities list. This ranking is based on three broad categories: social mobility, research, and promoting public service.
In 2018, Money magazine rated Keiser University - Fort Lauderdale at #8 in top colleges for the money in Florida.
Athletics
Basketball was started in the 2006-2007 season, after the hiring of Rollie Massamino in 2005 as Director of Basketball Operations for both men's and women's basketball. In 2016 Keiser graduate Steven Bruce signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers. Also in 2016, the Keiser University women's golf team won 2016 NAIA Women's Golf National Championship Title. This marked the second-straight year and the third time in school history that the Seahawks claimed top honors. Keiser University won the Sun Conference Commissioners Cup for the 2015-16 athletic season. In 2016 Keiser announced it planned to add football to its slate of varsity athletic programs, beginning during the 2018-19 academic year. Per ESPN, on December 14, 2016, Rollie Massimino, Keiser University's men's basketball coach, became the third active coach to achieve 800 career wins and the ninth coach overall. Massimino was 82 years old at the time. In 2018, Keiser announced that the inaugural Men's wrestling season will begin during the 2019-2020 academic year. Keiser, along with Southeastern University and St. Thomas University, are the current institutions that sponsor scholarship wrestling programs in Florida. This brings the total number of varsity teams to 25.
