The Aspen Institute named Valencia College as the nation's best community college.

Valencia was selected over 1,200 colleges around the country for the inaugural Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The award is based on student performance and graduation data and Valencia was commended for its higher than average graduation rates, assistance for students who transfer and its success with a large, diverse population.

The State of Florida was recognized by P3 Update Magazine's annual ranking of top states for film production. Florida ranked as the 3rd best state for the "most attractive combination of tax incentives, crew base, talent pool, infrastructure, accessibility, significant production revenue and overall popularity among filmmakers."

Florida has historically been recognized as a top ten state for filmmakers but had fallen off the list in recent years. Thanks to the recently revamped Florida film incentive program, the state is back on top.

In addition to the incentive program offered by the state, Metro Orlando has always been a major hub for production thanks to strong film infrastructure, experienced crew, large talent pool base, weather and variety of locations.

In just the last year, a few of the productions that have filmed in Metro Orlando include: Feature films - Tooth Fairy 2, Renee, Transformers 3 and Cassadega; Television pilots - MTV's The Inbetweeners, Big Mike and Bad Mom; and Television commercials - Massey Services, Minute Maid, PepBoys, New York Life and HH Gregg.

For more about filming in Orlando, visit www.filmorlando.com.

Orlando has received a great deal of praise nationwide lately. The region has been named a "top comeback city" and the city "leading Florida out of economic recession". Here are a few of the recent accolades Orlando has received:

Orlando is "leading Florida out of the economic recession" and "one of the fastest growing cities in the country" according to Reuters.

Kiplinger named Orlando as a top "comeback city". The article recognizes cities who are seeing an "upward bounce" in their economy.

Forbes named Orlando as one of the "best cities for minority entrepreneurs" and one of "the next big boom towns in the U.S."

Orlando was ranked the top U.S. large city for business friendliness by Foreign Direct Investment Magazine in the annual American Cities of the Future issue.

Author William J. Holstein named Orlando as one of nine communities in the U.S. that will bring about the next wave of economic growth, in his book The Next American Economy.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recognized Florida last month as the top state in the nation for workforce training programs in its Enterprising States report.

For more Metro Orlando rankings, click here.

While Orlando consistently ranks as one of the top places in the nation for business, now Orlando also ranks as the least expensive city in the nation for entrepreneurs to launch a business, according to a new report by The Boyd Co. of Princeton, N.J.

The University of Central Florida (UCF) ranks among the nation's top research institutions according to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. UCF joins Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Johns Hopkins, and Stanford in this impressive ranking.

During the last year, UCF researchers were awarded a record $133.3 million in external research funding. Much of the research that takes place at UCF is commercialized and brought to the marketplace thanks to the nationally renowned UCF Business Incubation Program which has helped develop 100 companies with an economic impact of $200 million.

This week, Forbes.com ranked Orlando as one of the top 10 "coolest cities." Using research from Harris Interactive and data from AOL City Guides on the number of nightlife, cultural and recreation outlets in each city, Orlando landed at the #6 spot. That puts our cool city three places above Miami, Florida's only other city on the list.

The availability of a skilled workforce consistently ranks as one of the most critical, sought-after factors that companies take into account when deciding which locations to expand in or relocate to. That's great news for our state as Florida was just ranked number one in the nation for its workforce by CNBC's fourth annual America's Top States for Business rankings.

This is the second time Florida has been ranked #1 for its workforce and the third consecutive year it has been ranked in the top three spots for its workforce. The CNBC study rated all 50 states based on the education level of their workforce, number of available workers, union membership and the success of the state's worker training programs.

The diversity of this region's workforce impacts its ability to nurture innovative thinking and offer companies a competitive advantage in the global marketplace. No matter what level of skill is needed, Metro Orlando's labor pool is well prepared. With a young, median age of 38 and a population diversity that leads the rest of the nation by 35 years, this region is home to the kind of well rounded and highly-skilled employees that companies seek to help their business thrive.

And with access to state-sponsored workforce training grant programs that allow them to keep their talent sharp and on the cutting-edge in their respective fields, the combination for Florida's workforce can't be beat.

A recent study - published in Science - named the State of Florida as the 3rd happiest state in the U.S.

The study, led by researchers at the University of Warwick (UK) and Hamilton College (NY), found that a person's self-reported happiness matches up with objective measures of state-level happiness. The results are based on both personal reports of happiness and objective quality of life measures.

While there are many deciding factors that go into the site selection process for where businesses decide to expand and/or relocate, quality of life definitely plays a big role. If workers are happy in a region, it tends to enhance employee recruitment and retention. And the #1 factor businesses look for in the site selection process is the quality of workforce. Therefore, this new ranking bodes well for the State of Florida.

Here are just a few of the reasons why residents of Metro Orlando are happy:

Year-round sunshine. Outdoor recreation. Proximity to beaches, lakes, springs, parks, trails, and fields. World-class entertainment options. Distinctive neighborhoods. World-class shopping. (Closets free of winter coats, scarves and gloves!) The region's amenities, natural and "man-made", make Metro Orlando a great place to work and to live.

Orlando has received a plethora of accolades lately. From a "top place to start a business" to "where the jobs are" to "best place to live" and beyond. Here are a few of the rankings Orlando has received:

Entrepreneur magazine named Orlando as one of the "top ten places to start a business."

Money magazine ranks Lake County, FL #8 on their newest list of "where the jobs are," a compilation of the 25 counties that have experienced the most job growth over the last eight years.

The cities of Lake Mary and Oviedo are named among Money magazine's "Top 100 Best Places to Live" in the magazine's list of America's best small towns.

Forbes names Orlando a "best city for technology jobs", noting: "Where is the tech-sector growth? It's in less-celebrated areas of the country...By region, the fastest gainers turned out to be places like Orlando, Fla."

Florida ranks fourth in the nation in terms of high-tech employment, with 20,000 doctoral scientists and engineers and more than 276,000 high-tech workers, according to a report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Intellectual Property Center.

Orlando is a "hotspot for young professionals" to live and work in the U.S. according to Next Generation Consulting. Since 1998, Next Generation Consulting has studied the relocation patterns of 20-40 year olds. Young professionals increasingly look for quality of life factors when deciding where to live. Next Generation Consulting ranked the cities based on a combined index of opportunities for earning, learning, vitality, around town, after hours, cost of lifestyle and social capital.

For more Metro Orlando rankings, click here.