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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. Were 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 Tuesdays 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>Its 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>Were 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 colleges 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</p>