<p>The hiring of academic superstars to hoist Florida State University to the upper reaches of research and graduate universities has begun.</p>
<p>Anne Coldiron, an English professor from Louisiana State University specializing in 15th- to 17th-century English and French literature, and Richard Emmerson, a medieval scholar formerly with The Medieval Academy of America in Boston and now the new chairman of FSU's Department of Art History, are the first to be hired among 200 scholars who will be part of FSU's new interdisciplinary clusters.</p>
<p>"The buzz is already out. Florida State is doing something," FSU President T.K. Wetherell said in his annual state of the university address on Friday.</p>
<p>"Who we hire, how we hire is different than in the past," he said. "Normally in most institutions, it was done individually."</p>
<p>The academic clusters are the latest of FSU's strategies to achieve what Wetherell described as being recognized as "a top-flight, first-tier" university. The program, costing $100 million to $150 million over five years, has FSU reaching deep into its general budget pocket rather than raiding department funds.</p>
<p>For more see the Tallahassee Democrat: <a href="http://www.tdo.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060909/FSU01/609090328/1010/NEWS01%5B/url%5D">http://www.tdo.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060909/FSU01/609090328/1010/NEWS01</a></p>