I've been traveling for work the last few weeks and just now had time to update the #ACC football viewership spreadsheet. Also, I found an error in Notre Dame's non-ACC numbers, so I corrected it.
— Did The ACC Die Today? (@DidTheACCDie) November 21, 2024
Enjoy. https://t.co/1YXc1GGgTd pic.twitter.com/AMNgLHwgUw
As Florida State University still basks in the glow of a successful legislative session, its Board of Trustees recently approved a $219 million state budget request — one with a STEM focus — for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
While the request includes five main initiatives with $96 million in new money, one of them is an ask for $56 million for the modernization of Tallahassee’s National High Magnetic Field Laboratory that is headquartered at FSU.
The board met last week to discuss the budget request for next year, which comes about a month and a half after the university received nearly $83 million in new funds from the state’s $116.5 billion budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
FSU trustees also recently approved the university’s largest operating budget in history, which is $3 billion for 2024-2025.
Besides the state budget money being requested for the National MagLab — which is billed as the largest and highest-powered magnet lab in the world — FSU’s wish list for next year’s session shows millions of dollars being requested for a new Translational Aging Research Hub as well as FSU Health and research operations.
The budget also includes recurring funding requests for the joint FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and for growth of FSU’s national prominence, where $65 million is being requested compared to $50 million that was requested for this current fiscal year.
“This will be a lot of work, and we appreciate any chance that any of you as trustees will get to talk to our representatives to support our vision,” FSU President Richard McCullough told the board Monday. “Our time is now.”
When it comes to the MagLab, the facility is Florida’s only national laboratory. It is also home to 17 world-record magnet systems and it hosts nearly 2,000 users every year who conduct ground-breaking research.
Headquartered at FSU since 1994, the MagLab is primarily funded by the state and the National Science Foundation, which gave the laboratory a five-year fund of $195.5 million in 2022.
This year, the state budget included $25 million of Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) funds that went toward the MagLab.
“I think we've done a really good job over the last two or three years of educating a lot of the senior leadership in the legislature, but there's still a lot of legislators that really don't understand the impact of Florida having a national lab, the prestige it brings and the researchers it brings to Florida and to Florida State,” Collins said. “We're definitely going to have to do some more educating, but I feel really good about this request.”
A little over $5 million dollars of recurring funds is being requested for the 2025-26 fiscal year while $51 million would come from non-recurring funds for modernization tasks — including facility upgrades to maintain world-record magnet systems and the construction of a new Magnet Fabrication building to expand capacity for new magnet creation.
FSU’s $35.5 million request for a Translational Aging Research Hub is in efforts of positioning Florida to be the national leader in healthy aging research, care delivery and digital health solutions.
Investments include creating a center for excellence focused on healthy aging and digital health, creating a statewide informatics and data science infrastructure to support interdisciplinary public health research, and creating training programs and information networks for caregivers and health services providers around healthy aging, according to a report of the legislative budget request.
While $7 million of the request would be recurring funds, $28.5 million would come from non-recurring funds.
Here’s a list of the remaining top items from FSU’s wish list in the legislative budget request for the 2025-26 fiscal year:
Florida’s $116.5 billion budget includes millions for FAMU, FSU, TCC. Here’s what they got
One of the projects that hit the jackpot in this year’s budget was FSU’s Dittmer Chemistry Lab Building, which received $55.4 million for the university to renovate and redesign its research space.
The chemistry lab building was built in 1967, and the legislative appropriation it received will fully fund the project, according to the university.
FSU will receive $20 million in recurring operational enhancement funds, which will be invested in hiring research faculty and student success efforts.
The university will also get $55 million in non-recurring operational enhancement funds for capital renewal, investments in information technology infrastructure and start-up costs for FSU Health — an initiative that aims to build a health care ecosystem in North Florida.
Besides allocations for the Dittmer Chemistry Lab building, the other projects that will receive new funds from the state budget are:
Here are other allocations that will go toward FSU from the budget:
FSU Board of Trustees Chair discusses 'most transformative thing' since Bobby Bowden
Florida State University’s Board of Trustees Chairman Peter Collins brought a group of local business leaders up to speed Monday about FSU’s changing landscape and its 2020-2030 Campus Master Plan initiatives on the horizon.
While a good chunk of Collins’ talking points referred to the ongoing FSU versus ACC litigation, he also touched on some of the university’s major projects — such as FSU Health and the future of student housing — as he spoke to a group of about 60 Capital Tiger Bay Club members at the Tucker Civic Center during a luncheon.
When it comes to FSU Health, an initiative that aims to build a health care ecosystem in North Florida, Collins says he thinks it's the “most transformative thing done at FSU since hiring Bobby Bowden.”
“It’s our biggest undertaking, and it’s probably the thing that will separate us the most when we talk about AAU (Association of American Universities),” said Collins, an FSU College of Business alumnus.
“FSU Health is all about academic clinical research, raising the level of the physician scientists in Tallahassee and growing that apparatus, but it takes time,” he added.
Ahead of Collins’s guest speaking opportunity at the Monday event, the university’s Board of Trustees met Thursday and approved a $3 billion operating budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, which marks the largest annual spending amount in FSU history.
The university has increased its budget by 50% in the last five years.
Over $500 million from the budget will go toward capital projects — including the Doak Stadium seating enhancements, the College of Business’s Legacy Hall and the FSU partnership with Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare to build a new academic health center.
But looking further ahead, Collins told the club members about FSU’s future expansion plans that include establishing four new residence halls between the next five to six years to meet on-campus housing demands, building an art district and growing its Innovation Park area.
Here are some other FSU highlights Collins addressed during the Capital Tiger Bay Club event:
Florida State golfers Luke Clanton and Lottie Woad atop the World Amateur Golf Rankings
Twice as nice never sounded better.
The latest World Amateur Golf Ranking was released Wednesday and a Florida State golfer was ranked No. 1.
Make that two Seminole golfers.
Luke Clanton is No. 1 in the men's ranking and Lottie Woad in the women's.
This marks a first at FSU, and possibly at any collegiate program.
All-Time 10-Win Seasons (thru 2023)
Number of 10+ Win Seasons Each College Football Team Has All-Time 🏆 pic.twitter.com/hIS35vxll0
— College Football Report (@CFBRep) August 21, 2024
Big number in Week 0 for the @cfbireland.
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) August 27, 2024
ESPN drew 4.99 million viewers for the @GeorgiaTechFB -@FSUFootball game on Saturday afternoon, up 31% from 3.8 million for Notre Dame-Navy last year from Ireland, and well above Fox's 4.42 million for Northwestern-Nebraska in 2022 pic.twitter.com/ObCD6E6EfV
Florida State achieved the second largest TV audience in Week O since 2012. We know the TV draw wasn't for GA Tech based on historical TV ratings data.
— Big Ten information. College football fan (@Genetics56) August 27, 2024
People who say Florida State doesn't bring a lot of TV value are lying.
And remember, this was a cable game, not OTA. https://t.co/e9NQGMrBEB
College Football Teams with the Most Weeks at AP No. 1‼️ pic.twitter.com/W90vhQOTev
— On3 (@On3sports) July 5, 2024
