Florida State announces plan to continue rise in national rankings

[parent2noles]

<p>From the university webpages:</p>

<p>

**Florida State announces plan to continue rise in national rankings
**
Florida State University is well positioned to continue its rise to preeminence in independent national rankings with the development of a comprehensive plan to move into the Top 25 of public universities in the nation.</p>

<p>Florida State is currently listed 42nd among public universities by U.S. News & World Report, while also being recognized at the top of their list in efficiency among all highly ranked universities.</p>

<p>“I have no doubt Florida State can reach the Top 25 within a fairly short period of time if our investments are strategic. We have momentum, our plan is realistic, and with our current rankings in both quality and efficiency, it is clear we know how to invest a dollar,” said Florida State President Eric J. Barron. “We intend to be a national model for affordable and accessible excellence — this is a plan that delivers for the state of Florida.”</p>

<p>The plan for continuing Florida State’s rise into the Top 25 of public universities calls for targeted investments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses and programs and a comprehensive focus on entrepreneurial educational initiatives. These initiatives are intended to position the university as a preeminent national leader in student career readiness and job placement.</p>

<p>Representing 300,000 alumni, the Florida State University Alumni Association has unanimously endorsed Florida State’s plan to reach the Top 25 and has urged “the state’s elected leaders to provide financial resources needed to attain this worthy objective.” </p>

<p>“The Florida State Alumni Association commissioned a scientific survey of its graduates that revealed the value of their Florida State degree as their highest priority,” said Scott F. Atwell, president of the Alumni Association. “There are few better ways of enhancing the value of Florida State degrees already earned as well as those yet to be awarded than to increase the national ranking of the university.”</p>

<p>Governor Rick Scott recently invited the university to submit a plan to reach the Top 25. The plan closely follows the objectives of the “preeminence bill” passed last year by the Florida Legislature, and fulfills key objectives of the governor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Higher Education Reform. It is directly responsive to the strategic and planning objectives set for Florida State University by the State University System Board of Governors.</p>

<p>Costs associated with implementing this comprehensive plan amount to increases of approximately $15 million a year over the next five years.

Reference: [Florida</a> State University](<a href=“Florida State University”>Florida State University)</p>

<p>As an FSU alumnus…yes, we support this goal without reservation. This includes seeking admission to the AAU. One aspect of this includes FSU receiving [recently</a> $168M from the National Science Foundation](<a href=“http://www.news.fsu.edu/Top-Stories/NSF-delivers-five-year-168-million-grant-to-National-High-Magnetic-Field-Laboratory]recently”>http://www.news.fsu.edu/Top-Stories/NSF-delivers-five-year-168-million-grant-to-National-High-Magnetic-Field-Laboratory) for the Mag Lab.</p>

[parent2noles]

<p>This is heating up as an issue between Florida State and the supporters of the Gainesville school:</p>

<p>

Scott’s offer of $15 million to UF to spark showdown with FSU</p>

<p>The rivalry between University of Florida and Florida State University may have cooled on the football field in recent years, but it might get hot this year in the State Legislature thanks to lawmakers with strong school ties.</p>

<p>Gov. Rick Scott’s proposes to award the University of Florida $15 million in an effort to boost it into the upper ranks of higher education. That money is tucked in with $118 million for operation expenses, in lieu of a tution increase, and $167 million tied to performance for the 11 universities in the system.</p>

<p>On Wednesday, however, Sen. John Thrasher, who graduated from Florida State University in 1965 and from its law school in 1972, asked Scott’s budget director if other schools, without naming names, could get the same money that UF is getting.</p>

<p>“In higher education, one particular school it looks like you want to get into the top 10 and I recognize that, I assume the governor wouldn’t have a problem with additional funding to help a couple of other universities to maybe move up the ladder a little bit either, would he?” asked Thrasher, R-St. Augustine.</p>

<p>Scott’s budget director, Jerry McDaniel, said he would refer the question to Scott. Minutes later, Senate Appropriations Chair, Joe Negron, amplified Thrasher’s request, putting it in stark school terms.</p>

<p>“If we’re going to spend $15 million for UF, which I think is a great idea, we should give an equal amount to FSU,” said Negron, R-Palm City, who on the face of it has no dog in this hunt, having graduated from Stetson University. “So I look forward to working with (Sen. Bill) Galvano on that.”</p>

<p>…</p>

<p>Afterward, Thrasher clarified his comments. He said he thinks FSU should get the same amount that UF gets.</p>

<p>“I’d be in favor of it,” Thrasher said. “Florida State has a plan. It’s not like they’re just pulling $15 million out of the air. There is a need to have these two universities elevated, no question about it. I’m for everybody being raised up if there are other resources for it.”</p>

<p>No word yet from the House and how its leaders feel about UF vs. FSU. But keep in mind, House Speaker Will Weatherford’s brother, Drew, was a star quarterback for the Seminoles. And his father-in-law, former House Speaker Allan Bense, now sits on the Florida State University Board of Trustees.</p>

<p>In other words, don’t count FSU out just yet.

Reference: [Scott’s</a> offer of $15 million to UF to spark showdown with FSU | Florida politics blog: The Buzz | Tampa Bay Times](<a href=“http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/scotts-offer-15-million-uf-spark-showdown-fsu]Scott’s”>Florida Politics)</p>

<p>Don’t give an inch, Florida State!</p>

[parent2noles]

<p>The same article is now posted in the Miami Herald:</p>

<p>[UF</a> - FSU rivalry heats up in State Senate | Naked Politics](<a href=“Naked Politics | Miami Herald & MiamiHerald.com”>UF - FSU rivalry heats up in State Senate | Naked Politics)</p>

<p>There is NO WAY UF should get these funds without FSU receiving them as well. As an FSU alumnus I write to my state senator and representative about these issues. This kind of contact counts.</p>

[ryanx13]

<p>The second article is interesting. First of all, I would like to know what impact $15 million would have on a university or universities. It doesn’t seem like a big enough amount to make a significant difference in either school let alone split among both.</p>

[parent2noles]

<p>It’s not comparatively a lot of money; but it’s enough to help to reduce the student-faculty ratio for a time. This ratio figures in many rating services, such as US News. Improve this ratio and your rank likely improves.</p>

<p>The real issue is parity between the two Florida flagship universities.</p>

[SweetheartCroc]

<p>Florida will soon be the third-largest state in the US. California and Texas both successfully support two prestigious, public flagship universities: US Berkeley, UCLA, UT Austin and Texas A&M. Why should the Florida legislators artificially limit Floridians to only one while ignoring the other, when other states already successfully support two? FSU is already a highly-ranked school. Why not utilize what we have built over the last 150 years?</p>

[parent2noles]

<p>

Florida will soon be the third-largest state in the US. California and Texas both successfully support two prestigious, public flagship universities: US Berkeley, UCLA, UT Austin and Texas A&M. Why should the Florida legislators artificially limit Floridians to only one while ignoring the other, when other states already successfully support two? FSU is already a highly-ranked school. Why not utilize what we have built over the last 150 years?

</p>

<p>Good question. The UF people for decades trafficked a special deal for themselves based on the misogynistic perspective that the “boys school” was worth more investment than the “girls school”. All this goes back to the 42 year between 1905 and 1947 when the schools were segregated by race and sex. This terrible event ended right as WWII ended.</p>

<p>Prior to 1905 FSU was the main school in Florida and the first university in the state. Funny enough, though - FSU still earned the first chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in Florida and the first Rhodes Scholar in the state, even with the “girl’s school” burden of getting fewer resources.</p>

<p>It really is time to move forward, especially in a state with some 14 million citizens, but the UF group STILL has the attitude they “deserve” preferential treatment. I say give it up - that ship sailed decades ago and UF will never be declared sole “flagship” in Florida regardless of how many UF journalism grads push this position in media. FSU grads will NEVER go for this.</p>

[SweetheartCroc]

<p>“especially in a state with some 14 million citizens”</p>

<p>Believe it or not, it’s over 19 million now.</p>

[parent2noles]

<p>This is the best definition I have ever found - written by a historian who is the former president of the [Association</a> of American Universities](<a href=“https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:KZtbhXfxlF4J:https://www.aau.edu/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx%3Fid%3D11262+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShmBTA_sUKI-ia2pghp2tWyvymNt0_hC9DVhzShpa7TgR6ja1tV_CtHV37RqYC1TbeCyCMeYvRNlOnMtATEK8IQeldTc48XLFLxcA3p7-N7thedyKWsD4uLKjL59h_p5EnX9-0z&sig=AHIEtbSvo4fwkXBQ2V7TvLfrpi1xoeIY1A]Association”>https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:KZtbhXfxlF4J:https://www.aau.edu/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx%3Fid%3D11262+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShmBTA_sUKI-ia2pghp2tWyvymNt0_hC9DVhzShpa7TgR6ja1tV_CtHV37RqYC1TbeCyCMeYvRNlOnMtATEK8IQeldTc48XLFLxcA3p7-N7thedyKWsD4uLKjL59h_p5EnX9-0z&sig=AHIEtbSvo4fwkXBQ2V7TvLfrpi1xoeIY1A) Robert M. Berdahl, PhD.

What do we mean by the term “flagship” universities? The term applies, in all the cases I can think of, to the fully mature public universities serving most of states. In most cases, these institutions were the first public universities to be established in their states. Many of what we now call the flagship campuses were established in the extraordinary period of university building that took place in the United States in the roughly three decades from the mid-1850s to the mid-1880s. Many came into being after the Morrill Act of 1863 provided the federal grants of land to the states to establish public universities. Some states built two institutions, a land-grant college focused on agriculture and the “mechanical arts” as well as general education, and another more directed at classical education and the other professions. For example, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Washington, and Texas, among others, built separate institutions, while Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, and California combined the land-grant and liberal arts function on a single campus. These institutions formed the core of the public systems of higher education in their respective states. State teachers colleges, later evolving into regional state colleges or universities, formed the rest of the higher education institutions in most states.</p>

<p>But it was always clear that the one or two institutions that were the original land-grant or public universities in the states were the flagships–the leaders–even though they may not have been referred to as such. They became the centers for research and graduate education and they developed an array of professional schools that added to their size, scope, and pre-eminence.

</p>

<p>Reference: <a href=“http://www.webcitation.org/5wJUI60xL[/url]”>http://www.webcitation.org/5wJUI60xL&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>It is clear that Florida has two flagship universities - FSU and UF.</p>

[fmhskid]

<p>Parent2Noles, Florida Legislature has designated THREE flagships: FSU, UF, USF. </p>

<p>:)</p>

[fmhskid]

<p>Oh and @Sweetheart, California has a lot more prestigious universities. The UC system itself in Berkeley, UCLA, but then there’s Stanford, USC, UCSD. Not counting the private ones (USC, Stanford) that leaves still the entire UC system, and I believe not a single one of them claims “flagship” status. They’re like different heads of the same beast.</p>

[SweetheartCroc]

<p>Since Stanford and USC are not public schools, I did not include them. And unless something has changed recently, UC Berkeley and UCLA are the legislated “flagship” campuses.</p>

[Pasbal]

<p>I don’t think that USF has been designated a flagship school either. Last I heard, the criteria to be designated a flagship was only met by two schools- UF and FSU. While USF was the closest of the rest of the schools to meeting that criteria, I don’t believe that they have reached that level yet. </p>

<p>I believe there was a set of 14 criteria for a university to meet before they were considered a flagship (I think they only had to meet 12 or 13 though?) and FSU and UF met them, while USF I think only had 11 of the 14. I could be wrong, though.</p>

[fmhskid]

<p>sweetheart, you’re correct. sorry.</p>

<p>Pasbal: [University</a> of South Florida - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_South_Florida]University”>University of South Florida - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>under “type” it is a “Flagship”. Oh, and in UF’s page on Wikipedia it says they’re “one of three” in FL, alongside FSU and USF.</p>

[parent2noles]

<p>It seems you are confusing the recent (vetoed) “pre-eminence” bill goals with the flagship definition of Dr. Berdahl.</p>