Archival Collection of Dr. Charles N. Millican from the Collection of Norman Van Meter

According to CFF Vol. 1 No. 11, 1/24/1969, "Mr. Norman Van Meter of Louisville, Kentucky, co-designer of FTU's official seal and brother-in-law of President Millican, designed the original Citronaut more or less as a joke. When a cover was needed for the student handbook, Dean Brown suggested that the Citronaut be used and the suggestion was approved. The handbook cover was probably responsible for the misconception that the Citronaut would be the mascot for Florida Tech. Because his original Citronaut was widely circulated, Mr. Van Meter re-designed it into a more appealing figure in case the Citronaut was to be used at any future time."

Charles Norman Millican was born October 9, 1916 in Wilson, Arkansas. While studying for a B.S. in Business and Religion from Union University, he worked part-time as a reporter for Dun and Bradstreet. After graduating in 1941, he became pastor of the Olive Branch Baptist Church (Mississippi), while also briefly teaching high school science. Continuing with his church duties, he entered the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky before returning to Jackson to serve as the college coordinator for the Forty-fourth College Training Detachment USAAF (Army Air Corps) from 1943-1945. He married Frances Hilliard of Jackson, Tennessee on May 15, 1945. The following year, he received his M.A. in Economics from George Peabody College and became Acting Head of the Commerce Department at Union University. The Millicans moved to Florida in 1948 where Millican studied for his Ph.D. in Business Finance and Economics. At the University of Florida, he worked as a teaching assistant, instructor and finally as Assistant Professor. Although he was appointed Assistant Dean of the College of Business Administration in 1956, he moved almost immediately to Texas where he became Dean and Professor of the School of Business Administration at Hardin-Simmons University. In 1959, he returned to Florida to become Dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of South Florida.

When Dr. Millican was appointed President of the new university in 1965, the university had no name, no buildings, no faculty and no students; he had to create the university over which he would preside. After Millican's appointment, he hired staff, found premises, and began the slow process of creating his university. He established the twin tenets of "Accent on the Individual" and "Accent on Excellence," which continue to guide the University, and the motto, "Reach for the Stars". Although he retired as President in 1978, Millican returned to teaching finance as a professor in the College of Business at the University of Central Florida, as it was now known, and earned the title President Emeritus. In addition to his career in higher education, Charles Millican has worked as a consultant to business firms and Florida counties on economic growth and financial management and as a church pastor/pulpit supply minister. He chaired the Orange County Community Referendum Committee, which passed the resort tax that built the Orange County Convention Center. He has received Distinguished Alumnus awards from both the University of Florida and Union University, and he received honorary LL.D. degrees from Rollins College and UCF.