$10M for Phase III of FAMU-FSU College of Engineering proves legislature is investing in school’s success, not dissolution

Schematic design for Phase III of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering

The 2014-2015 budget passed by the Florida Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott includes $10M to expand the facilities of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. That line item is proof that lawmakers are banking on the joint E-College’s long-term success, not its dissolution.

Back during the session, Sen. John E. Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, led an unsuccessful effort to split the joint E-College and give Florida State University $13M to begin the process of creating a separate college. He refused to offer one cent to help FAMU acquire the $100M that it would take to construct a brand new engineering college on the university’s main campus or the $5M necessary to replace all of the FSU faculty who would leave.

Thrasher got his proposed $13M through the Florida Senate, but the Florida House of Representatives said “no.” The two chambers came to a compromise by appropriating $500,000 for the Florida Board of Governors to conduct a study of the joint E-College.

But that $500,000 appropriations pales in comparison to the $10M that lawmakers designated for Phase III of the current FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in Innovation Park.

According to GRC Architects: “Phase III will consist of a new building, renovations to the existing buildings, Buildings A and B and some incidental remodeling in both buildings. Building C will be three stories with a total of +/- 82,500 GSF. The building will tie-in to the existing complex on all three levels at the Phase II Connector (atrium), the central organizing space of the engineering campus. Building C will house classrooms, teaching labs, research labs, student study area, graduate student offices, auditorium/exhibition hall, food services facility, meeting spaces, student academic support and new media resource center.”

The $10M that the Florida Legislature passed to support this construction project shows that it is much more interested in boosting its investment in the current joint College of Engineering than finding money to create two separate engineering schools in Tallahassee. As the old saying goes, “money talks.”