FSU Budget & Academic updates

 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:

• FSU’s maintenance complex (relocation): $10 million
• Veterans Legacy Complex (construction): $7.5 million 
• FAMU-FSU College of Engineering Building C (planning and construction): $5 million
• Center for Energy Independence: $3 million
• New College of Nursing facility (design and planning): $2 million

Here are other allocations that will go toward FSU from the budget:

• Grants and aids: $622,764,018
• National High Magnetic Field Laboratory: $25 million
• Kellogg Research Building Remodeling: $19.2 million
• Florida Institute for Child Welfare: $10 million
• Institute for Governance and Civics: $8 million
• Veterans Legacy Complex: $7.5 million
• Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases: $5 million
• Nursing Education Programs: $2.6 million
• College of Medicine’s Autism Institute: $1.48 million
• Multidisciplinary Educational Services Centers: $1.45 million
• Wakulla Springs Research: $750,000
• FSU Behavioral Health: $525,000
• Student Veteran Center: $500,000
• Florida Center for Reading Research: $250,000
• Boys and Girls State Housing: $200,000

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:

• FSU's current student enrollment is 43,700 compared to 42,800 five years ago.
• This year, FSU has $415 million in research expenditures compared to about $200 million six years ago.
• FSU’s payroll in 2019 was $678 million, and this past year, it was $856 million. Collins predicts the university will cross the billion dollar threshold — just in salaries — in the next few years.
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