In Florida State athletic department, budget cuts coming, Orlando Sentinel

January 27, 2009
By Andrew Carter

I’m playing catch-up here, and I apologize for the absence yesterday, but wanted to touch on this story from the Tallahassee Democrat. Florida State athletic director Randy Spetman told the newspaper that a 10 percent athletic department budget cut is possible in the 2009-10 academic year.

Working in the newspaper business, I’m familiar with that kind of talk. And it’s not good.
Spetman told the Democrat, “What we are doing right now is looking at a 10-percent reduction in our budget for next year, 2009-10, which is a huge (measure). We have not finished that study to see how we get there because we have a lot of hard costs.”

For the rest of this story, click here.

Financial considerations prompt Florida State Seminoles to agree to face South Florida Bulldogs, St. Pete Times

January 23, 2009
By Brian Landman

Florida State coach Bobby Bowden didn't sound particularly optimistic, or even particularly enthusiastic, about scheduling ever-improving USF as recently as last summer.

"You usually try to find somebody that you've got a chance to win (against) instead of getting your nose bloodied," he said in July.

For the rest of this article, click here.

Law schools dealing with budget cuts, American Lawyer

January 19, 2009
By Karen Sloan

JoAnne Epps got the bad news in September.

Instead of an expected 1% budget increase, the dean of the Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law learned that she would need to cut about 2% of the budget for the current academic year. The reductions were necessary because the Pennsylvania government — facing a major budget shortfall — was preparing to cut funding to the university by more than 4%.

For the rest of this story, click here.

Researchers leaving state and taking their grants, Palm Beach Post

By December 25, 2008
By Kimberly Miller

When a lead Florida State University researcher needed five faculty members last year to start a landmark center dedicated to studying autism, state budget cuts prevented the school from hiring the additional professors.

The Ohio State University, however, had the money, recruited the researcher - and his more than $1 million in federal grants - and in a few years could be reaping the benefits of an autism program that may bring $10 million annually to the school.

For the rest of this story, click here.

Donors, athletics foot the bill for tutoring, Chicago Tribune

By Ron Grossman
November 28, 2008

Where does the money come from to build and run athletes-only academic facilities?

Many universities find a sports-minded benefactor to underwrite construction costs. His or her name often goes on the tutoring center, in the same way a library or science lab might be named for a donor.

For the rest of this article, click here.

Florida State Board of Trustees Meeting, WCTV

November 14, 2008

The Florida State board of Trustees held a meeting today (11-14-08) to discuss a number of items. Student fees, budget cuts, and an evaluation of FSU President T.K. Wetherell all took place. By fall 2009, the activity and service fee, health fee, and athletic fees will all increase about 30 to 48 cents per credit hour.FSU President T.K. Wetherell commented on the meeting, saying, "Really the issue with us today was more--we have fewer students so we have fewer students paying those fees and we had to adjust the budget from this current year based on the reductions that come in."Trustees feel that President Wetherell has done a very good job of handling the budget situation, and they have renewed his contract as President of Florida State University.

For the related TV feed, click here.

FSU, FAMU mulling a split of the College of Engineering, Tallahassee Democrat

By Stephen D. Price and Angeline J. Taylor
November 13, 2008

Officials at Florida A&M and Florida State universities have begun discussions to possibly split the College of Engineering, a move that would dismantle an agreement in place since 1982.

Florida State officials hope having their own engineering program would improve their chances for an invitation to the exclusive Association of American Universities, officials said.

For the rest of this article, click here.

BB& T gives FSU $3M in gifts, Tallahassee Democrat

By Dave Hodges
November 8, 2008

Financial services company BB&T Corp. presented two gifts totaling $3 million Friday to Florida State University in support of new programs in business and economics education.

Joined by FSU President T.K. Wetherell and the deans of the College of Business and the College of Social Sciences, BB&T City/Area Executive Paul Sullivan and Nan Hillis, president of BB&T's Orlando-based East Florida Region, made the donation at the courtyard outside the Rovetta Business Building.

"We could not be more excited about this gift, which will go toward establishing the BB&T Program of Free Enterprise at Florida State," Sullivan told the gathering.

The gift will help launch a program that will encourage a thorough discussion of the moral foundations of capitalism. Another will examine the proper role of government in a free-market economy. A third will help train future teachers of economics.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

When nanotechology pays off, Independent Online (Cape Town, South Africa)

October 22, 2008

Tallahassee - It's called "buckypaper" and looks like ordinary carbon paper, but don't be fooled. It could revolutionise the way everything from airplanes to TVs are made.Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are pressed together to form a composite. Unlike conventional composite materials, though, it conducts electricity and disperses heat."All those things are what a lot of people in nanotechnology have been working toward," said Wade Adams, a scientist at Rice University.

That idea - that there is great future promise for buckypaper and other derivatives of the ultra-tiny cylinders known as carbon nanotubes - has been floated for years. But now researchers at Florida State University say they have made important progress that may soon turn hype into reality.

For the rest of this article, click here.

FSU's board of trustees approves budget, WCTV

September 19, 2008

They knew the cuts were coming, the budget was no surprise to the members of FSU's Board of Trustees. They unanimously approved a new two year spending plan.

This year deep cuts were made to deal with a 32 million dollar loss in state funding. And students and faculty are already seeing the effects.

For the rest of this story, click here.

FSU students start process to establish a union for better work conditions, Tallahassee Democrat

By Angeline J. Taylor
September 17, 2008

There are about 3,200 students at Florida State University who work as graduate assistants. They teach or do research. Recently, they’ve joined forces in an attempt to establish a union.

For the rest of this story, click here.

"Special" treatment for star athletes, Indianapolis Star

By Mark Alesia
September 7, 2008

Former Indiana University football coach Gerry DiNardo doesn't recall any battles to get recruits into school, including the 42 percent of his first class that didn't meet IU's normal entrance requirements.

As at Louisiana State, where DiNardo also coached, he said if players met the NCAA's minimum academic standards, he could count on them being admitted.

To read the rest of this article, and the underlying report, click here.

Preparation pays, Fiscal foresight helps FSU, Tallahassee Democrat

August 29, 2008

Public universities and other state agencies are facing difficult financial struggles, and Florida State University is no exception.

But FSU, to its great credit, has cushioned the impact of budget cuts and actually managed to give raises to professors and staff by anticipating Florida's financial crisis and doing something about its impact on campus before the roof began to buckle.

To read the rest of this editorial, click here.

UF's bid to rise in rankings stalls, Gainesville Sun

By Nathan Crabbe
August 21, 2008

The University of Florida’s quest to rise in the national rankings has stalled.
UF placed 49th among national universities and 17th among public universities in the U.S. News and World Report rankings released today. The university had identical rankings in last year’s edition of the coveted but controversial rankings.

UF President Bernie Machen said the rankings, based in part on the university’s

For the rest of this article, click here.

For related stories, click here and here.

Arriving Students Find Fewer Teachers, Capital News Service

August 20, 2008

College kids across the state are moving into their dorms this week but with the state’s 11 public universities losing 174 million dollars to budget cuts they can expect less. As Whitney Ray tells us, students moving into their new dorm rooms can expect fewer creature comforts and fewer study partners.

Hear it Here: Universities Drop Enrollment to Balance Budgets

Omar Butcher is moving back into the dorms at Florida State University for his senior year. Omar worries about budget cuts diminishing his quality of education.

For the rest of this story, click here.

Budget cuts slash FSU's freshman class, Tampa Bay Channel 10

August 21, 2008

Tallahassee, Florida - Florida State University's incoming freshman class is unlike any in the school's history. Its members are smarter than any other freshman class and it's the smallest in at least a decade. But Malia Dreyer won't be a part of FSU's wave of incoming students, though she had a 3.6 grade point average at her college preparatory high school in Winter Park. She's among more than a thousand who didn't' get in because of budget cuts.

Officials at FSU had to further restrict admission because of state budget cuts. This year's incoming class is 5,053. That's down from about 6,326 who entered last fall. In the last two years, FSU officials have had to deal with about $41 million in cuts and more are looming.

For the rest of this story, click here.

For a related story, click here.

Florida State must stop stonewalling, Orlando Sentinel

By Mike Bianchi
August 20, 2008

Not much sunshine in Orlando this week because of Tropical Storm Fay.Not much Sunshine in Tallahassee either due to another tropical storm on the horizon -- a top-secret list of alleged NCAA violations.

The Sunshine we're talking about is the State of Florida's Sunshine Law, which Florida State is once again trying to finagle around amid an academic fraud scandal that has turned into a national embarrassment for the Seminoles and their athletic department.

For the rest of this column, click here.

FSU turns research into business, Tallahassee Democrat

By Stephen Price
August 17, 2008

High-powered microscopes and scientific research have become important tools that officials at Florida State University are using to transform ideas into jobs.

The Office of Intellectual Property Development and Commercialization (OIPDC) has focused its vision on spawning private companies in hopes of producing significant benefits for the area’s economy and an infusion of cash for the university.

To read the rest of this story, click here.

UF, 2 others use 'dirty little secret' for alums' kids, Palm Beach Post

By Kimberly Miller
August 10, 2008


The children of University of Florida alumni were more likely to be accepted to the school this year than their non-Gator-related peers.

One reason: legacy, an admissions policy that some education experts call the "dirty little secret" in public university enrollment offices and one that three Florida schools use.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

Florida's skinflint sheepskins, Palm Beach Post

August 10, 2008


Florida has taken pride in offering a college education at a bargain-basement price, but students are starting to get what their parents are paying for.

Consider this statistic:

If Florida's 11 public universities raised their lowest-in-the-nation tuition 1 percent statewide, it would bring in all of $4 million. This year and last year, the Legislature cut $200 million from the universities' budgets. So the colleges would have to raise tuition 50 percent just to make up what they lost.

To read the rest of this editorial, click here.