BOT notes: FSU lands aerospace project; Doak renovation begins next week

The Florida State Board of Trustees met last Friday for a far-reaching update on subjects ranging from athletics to important new research grants, to on-going Veterans’ initiatives. The meeting also included the presence of flag waving pro-Palestinian protesters who chanted “Free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

According to the Tallahassee Democrat, “When pro-Palestinian groups showed up for public comment at Florida State University's Board of Trustees meeting Friday, they were surprised to learn it had already happened.

“The schedule said the general meeting started at 3 p.m. Members of the FSU Students for a Democratic Society and other organizations began arriving around 2:15 p.m.

“FSU spokeswoman Amy Farnum-Patronis said the committee meetings that ran before ended early.

"Thus, the general board meeting started earlier than the time listed," Farnum-Patronis wrote in an email. She pointed to a meeting notice that read, "The agenda will be followed in subsequent order and items may be heard earlier than the scheduled time."

We’ll address the athletics issues in detail later in this article but want to provide you with information on other important university discussions.

FSU President Richard McCullough opened his remarks by recognizing Veterans Center Director Billy Francis. “Billy is a tireless advocate for our veterans and does a fantastic job of making sure that each one of our veteran students and everyone associated has an amazing experience and that’s one of the reasons why we are one of the best universities in the country for veterans,” McCullough said. “Want to thank all of our service men and women for all the things that they have done for this great country, and we thank them for their service on this Veterans’ Day.”

The board made provision for Francis to make remarks about the Veterans Center during which he commented on the support he gets across the entire campus.

“Watch the game tomorrow and you’ll see the Alliance Arrowhead the team will wear on the back of their helmets, which is another symbol of the support we get from across the campus,” Francis said. “That symbol is the proud symbol of the university-wide commitment to being a national beacon of veteran support and success.”

McCullough then bullet-pointed these key topics:

· Building the team with faculty and staff

· Growing research dollars and our reputation

· Investing in our faculty

· Investing in research. “As we grow our research and our reputation, we want to expand our reputation and make sure we are improving our reputation with our peers, the greater world, and also to market and sell all the great things that we do at this amazing university, to tell our story better than we have in the past.”

· Building on an entrepreneurial ecosystem. We are increasing startups and licenses.

· Working on fundraising, alumni development and outreach.

· Winning in Athletics the right way. 9-0 is a big part of my speech and women’s basketball beat No. 11 Tennessee on Thursday night.

In terms of building the team and research, FSU hired Valerie McDevitt, JD, CLP as the new Associate Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Innovation. “This is a key hire for our university because this is a person who has taken essentially nothing within universities and built them to massive tech transfer success in patents, startups,” McCullough said. “She is one of the best people in the United States at doing this and we attracted her here.”

According to the Advent Health website, McDevitt was a former Associate Vice President at the University of South Florida (USF) for new venture development, serving the USF CONNECT program, which includes the TampaBay Technology Incubator and Student Innovation Incubator. She has 20 years of experience in supporting research and technology commercialization including incubation, technology transfer, economic development programs and related grants.

“I’m so excited for what she is going to do to build our innovation ecosystem here at FSU,” McCullough said of McDevitt, who will also oversee the Office of Commercialization and Office of Business and Industry Solutions.

FSU is also building the Foundation advancement team in preparation for a major capital campaign.

The Mag Lab search has attracted “extraordinary candidates” McCullough is optimistic of hiring.

When FSU hired McCullough, who had extensive experience in research, the university was generating $325 million annually in research dollars. FSU is over $400 million in research today and, as McCullough notes, moving toward $500 million.

The two major propellants for research growth are both located in the Florida panhandle and specifically Panama City.

One is FSU Health, a strategic partnership with Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, to manage health care in Panama City Beach for an exploding retirement community. McCullough noted the parties have agreed to a term sheet and expects the agreement to be completed soon.

The other propellant – aerospace –has been gestating for nine months and came to fruition last Tuesday when Triumph Gulf Coast and Florida State University agreed to a $98.4 million grant for workforce development and training.

“We had talked about putting together an audacious plan to go to Triumph Gulf Coast to build something in aerospace and advanced manufacturing down in the panhandle because there is Airbus in Mobile, Alabama, Naval Research, Eglin AFB, Tyndall AFB, which you heard is investing $5 billion (in the area), so aerospace has a tremendous concentration already going there but one of the things missing is workforce training and development.”

McCullough praised and named a large team of FSU staff members and faculty who “worked diligently on it for nine months.”

McCullough called the grant “big news” and a “big bet.”

“Overall, it’s a $400 million project where we will have over 100 people in two buildings of 100,000 square feet,” he said. “It could be transformational for that region. It’s a big bet but we believe this kind of bet is the kind of bet that will lead to very large amounts of new research funding.”

The grant is targeted to generate an additional $38 million in research dollars per year over the next five to 10 years.

McCullough said some of the work would be classified research. “We’ll be doing things like hypersonic testing, hypersonic wings, hypersonics for the future. It will have a major impact in the panhandle and also help transform our engineering school.”

McCullough talked about investments in faculty retention, putting $22 million in new money into play to attract targeted national academy members, of which engineering has already hired one and is expecting to hire a second.

In addition to creating more research on campus, McCullough’s background is in bringing the research to market and has worked to transform the campus’s focus on entrepreneurship.

In addition to encouraging and attracting faculty with an entrepreneurial leaning, McCullough released some news about the Jim Moran Foundation, which gave a very large gift to form a College of Entrepreneurship several years ago.

Jim Moran built his fortune with the creation of Southeastern Toyota, one of the largest US importers of Toyotas.

“All entrepreneurship activities are under the Moran Institute, which is building a brand-new facility in Daytona Beach, where a portion of the building will be devoted to Global Entrepreneurship,” McCullough reported.

McCullough closed his report with a perfect lead-in to Vice President and Athletic Director Michael Alfords update.

“We’ve had a lot of success this year and we are on the case. Every day we wake up to think ‘How can we make this university even better?’ And are working tirelessly to do that,” McCullough said. “I was thinking of the student-athletes we have, who are already phenomenal, who get up every day to try to get better even though they are at the top of their game. And that is what we are trying to do. We are a great university, and we are trying to make it even better. That takes a lot of work, but our competitive spirit is there and we’re going to continue to work towards making this place the best it can possibly be. Thanks for your work and Go Noles.”

While the Board of Trustees will entertain no discussion of conference alignment until after the football season is over, FSU men’s football and women’s futbol teams certainly made Alford’s athletic report an easy one to present.

The women’s soccer team won the ACC Championship and is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. The men’s football team has clinched a spot in the ACC Championship game and is ranked No. 4 in the Football Playoff.

Alford started with a positive report on the Seminole Boosters’ fundraising efforts, especially the annual fund, which collected over $20 million in annual contributions through Oct. 30, which was 112 percent of goal with more than 4,000 new members.

“The annual membership is the lifeblood of our operating budget and (Seminole Boosters) have done a marvelous job on the annual fund,” Alford said, noting the annual fund alone accounts for 38 percent of FSU athletics’ operating budget.

“I really can’t thank them enough and the fanbase for joining the Boosters and how important it is to be an annual member,” Alford said.

The Bowden Society now has 341 members who give $50,000 or more paid over five years.

While the annual fund is used to fund the operating budget, and is tied to seat assignment, gifts to the Bowden Society are used to fund new and enhanced athletic facility projects, as well as contributing to the scholarship endowment fund.

“We now have $63.4 million in pledges but what’s more important than that is the $32 million in payments,” Alford noted, adding, “This program will allow us to make a difference in student-athlete facilities and the resources we are able provide them to be championship programs. Can’t thank our Bowden Society members enough.”

Seminole Boosters’ revenues in 2023 were $53 million, up substantially from $41.39 million 2022.

Alford said overall fundraising efforts continue to grow the past two years with $170.8 million raised in 2022 and 2023.

The East Annex Building of the Dunlap Indoor Practice Facility, which includes a satellite training room, storage and restrooms, is running 19 days behind schedule. Originally expected to be completed by Nov. 1, it will be complete Nov. 20. Construction can then begin on a shoring wall to be built along Stadium Drive, followed by the demolition of the existing West Annex Building to make room for the Dunlap Football Operations Building.

Florida State has received all approvals from the Board of Trustees and Board of Governors’ Bond Finance Committee to proceed. Florida State entered into a construction agreement on Oct. 25 with Manhattan, who will be the contractor for this project.

“Want to thank you (Chairman Peter Collins) and the President and Kyle (VP Clark) for getting the Bond passed for the stadium debt service,” Alford said.

A Board of Trustee member asked a follow-up question to Collins.

“Yes, good with the structure, good with everything,” Collins responded of the bonding. “Kyle and the team, you did the briefings, they did similar briefings with every BOG member who wanted it.”

Alford said sales are going well. The mid-level skyboxes are sold as well as the founders suites, and FSU is ahead of schedule on club seat sales.

“Pacing ahead of pace,” Alford said, noting 40 appointments are schedule for this weekend. “The Preview Center is full so people can make an educated decision.”

The metal structure on the west side, along with the seating, concessions and restrooms buildings between the brick classroom office buildings and the field will be demolished starting Dec. 6.

“As you’re coming out of the North Alabama game, there will be construction guys with hard hats walking in that night,” Alford told the BOT. “The west stands move out and make safe will be Nov. 20 to Dec. 5.”

Alford also alerted the Board of Trustees, faculty, staff and students of impending impacts on parking and pedestrian traffic around the stadium for the next 18 months.

The impacted parking lots will include Lot 1, where the Bobby Bowden Statue is located. The parking lots outside the Gate A loading dock and the Gate D bus loop on the west side of the stadium as well as the parking lot on Hendry Street across Stadium Drive from Doak Campbell will be impacted. In addition, the pedestrian tunnel that comes under Pensacola Street and Stadium Drive will be within the footprint of the construction site.

Ram Construction will be managing the work on the east side of Doak Campbell Stadium, which will feel the impact of construction as well.

Alford also spoke about the Seminole Heritage collection and the use of the color turquoise on FSU coaches’ apparel and some team uniforms.

“The use of the color turquoise is to showcase our relationship with the Seminole Tribe of Florida as well as to drive education and messaging,” Alford said. “With the support of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, we donate a portion of royalties to the new Native American and indigenous Studies Center to ensure that we are spreading the message of the Seminole Heritage across campus and the community.”

Florida State created a Seminole Heritage landing page on Seminoles.com and social media graphics that are designed to educate fans on the Seminole Tribe of Florida. FSU also worked with retailers to provide signage and marketing support to call out the turquoise color. Alford noted retail sales were strong for headwear, T-shirts and adult jerseys at Follet, Fanatics, Garnet and Gold, Alumni Hall and Dicks, strong enough to form a Seminole Heritage Committee within Athletics for future endeavors to better incorporate the Seminole Tribe of Florida across all events and to commission Florida artists to design more unique pieces.

Alford reported that during the Miami game on Saturday, FSU would announce a five-year, $75 million Capital Campaign for Women’s Athletics — called Elevate Champions — which will be chaired by former volleyball alum and professional player, Gabriel Reece, who appeared on the field Saturday with McCullough and Alford.

“This university, and this athletics department, takes a lot of pride in our women’s programs as we look to how we provide them with the resources they need to continue to win championships and win at an elite level,” Alford said. “This fundraising initiative will provide better resources to continue that drive for championships, particularly in terms of facilities.”

Elevate Champions will provide financial support for facilities, athletic scholarships and coaches’ clubs, including women's lacrosse (which will begin play in 2025).

Just when you thought the meeting was over, Trustee Drew Weatherford asked Alford if he would share information regarding macro challenges to college athletics, including lawsuits being heard and lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C.

Alford, who has travelled to Washington to meet with Congress, agreed to make those reports available in future meetings.

“Where is our women’s sports going to be if half of our football revenue goes away?” Chairman Collins asked, in reference to House vs. the NCAA, the latest anti-trust lawsuit that could require college athletics to pay some athletes as employees or compensate them in a professional, revenue-sharing model.

McCullough chimed into the conversation to say he received information this past week from the ACC office that he will share with the BOT and the general public once he has time to digest and circulate.

“The ACC has hired an outside firm, which the board has pushed them to do, to try to do something on the (public relations) side with activity up on the Hill on the Federal side,” McCullough said. “What the average fan doesn’t realize is that if any of these things happen, that’s the end of college football, I think, because it will essentially be professionalizing, forced through revenue sharing and pay for play.”

“The consequences for some of these things are astronomical, so I think it would be good to hear the outcomes we just hope from a federal solution. There is information we have received from the ACC we can share with all the board members and the general public we just got last week, a website where you can go and collectively people can petition and be active in the public relations.”

A member of the Board asked if FSU was preparing for it.

In the Associated Press story linke above, Arizona State president Michael Crow was asked a similar question. To which he replied, “I don’t support that. And so, are we preparing for it? The answer is no, we’re not,” Crow said. “That is not an outcome which is conducive, in my view, to the success of the pluralistic, gender-balanced, college-sports framework that we presently have in the United States.”

The Osceola has requested a copy of the ACC action document and will bring you more on this matter once we receive.

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