FSU College of Engineering - not affected by budget

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While Florida A&M and Florida State universities are wrestling with tough budget cuts, the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering is being spared.</p>

<p>The joint management council of the college of engineering voted unanimously on Tuesday to restore $864,717 in proposed cuts for the 2008-09 school year.</p>

<p>The six-person council – made up of the two universities’ president, provost and vice president for finance – also agreed to hire a design consultant for a $32 million project to renovate, remodel and construct a new building at the engineering school.</p>

<p>“Somebody on campus is going to take a disproportionate cut,” FSU President T.K. Wetherell said, “but engineering is vital to both institutions. We’re willing to go somewhere else and do the whacking.”</p>

<p>The college of engineering had been facing an 8 percent cut to its $10.7 million budget before Tuesday’s decision by the council. Most of the cuts would have been to faculty and staff positions.</p>

<p>The engineering school is the one program jointly run by the two universities. As recently as last fall the two schools had talked about ending their commitment to a shared program with each university maintaining its own engineering college.</p>

<p>“It’s clear that both universities want a world-class college of engineering,” FAMU President James Ammons said. “I think the steps we took this morning will lead us in that direction.</p>

<p>“We’re going to go down this path together.”</p>

<p>While the engineering school is expensive to fund, FSU Provost Larry Abele noted that it is a growth program and is an identified state need.</p>

<p>“This is very positive for the students,” Abele said of the restoration of funds to the college’s budget.</p>

<p>The $32 million building project at the engineering school is being funded by money provided by the Florida Board of Governors.

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<p>See: [FAMU-FSU</a> College of Engineering spared budget cuts | tallahassee.com | Tallahassee Democrat](<a href=“http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20090127/BREAKINGNEWS/90127014]FAMU-FSU”>http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20090127/BREAKINGNEWS/90127014)</p>