• First donation - 37 cents
  • First classes held at Eau Gallie Junior High School - September 22, 1958
  • First chairman of the board, George Shaw
  • First board of trustees meeting - February 25, 1959
  • First degree, an associate's in engineering, awarded to Reagan Dubose - 1961
  • First honorary doctorate given to Astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom - 1962
  • First dormitory, Brownlie Hall - 1964
  • First yearbook, called the Erudition, published - 1968 (thereafter Ad Astra)
  • First vessel, Miss FIT, takes maiden voyage - 1968
  • First Faculty Senate meeting - January 13, 1970 (A. W. Revay, Jr., President)
  • First off-campus program launched (MSEE at Patuxent River Naval Aviation facility) - 1972
  • First woman appointed to the board of trustees - Mrs. John H. (Florence) Evans, Jr. - 1973
  • First football game - September 7, 2013