Stetson University is a private , co-educational university in DeLand , Florida . According to Gilbert Lycan , a Stetson history professor who wrote the university 's official centennial history in 1983 , Stetson University is Florida 's first university , public or private . Stetson University was founded in 1883 by Henry Addison DeLand , a New York philanthropist , as DeLand Academy .