How Entrepreneurial Spirit Can Help Us All

By Franklin D. Murphy

FSU Communications Group

Today government financing for higher education is a common problem for state universities. Florida State is no exception, but we are finding ways to become more entrepreneurial and make our programs self-sustaining whenever we can.

Our newest entrepreneurial effort opens up the Florida State Times and many other university publications to advertisers and sponsors. This program can help us and, at the same time, offer an opportunity to alumni and friends to become part of our success story.

Let's check the record on what others are saying about Florida State.

* FSU ranked first among Florida universities and in the top 10 of U.S. universities selected by students to be notified of their recognition in Who's Who Among American High School Students. That category included such institutions as Harvard, Duke, Stanford and Yale.

* FSU is seventh in the top 10 "most efficient schools" in relation to spending per student, and 19th in the top 25 "best values" list -- that is, cost vs .quality -- according to the Sept. 26, 1994, edition of U.S. News & World Report.

* FSU is the top school in the southeast United States -- and No. 2 in the country -- to which high school students request that their SAT and ACT scores be sent.

* The Educational Testing Service said FSU ranks 25th among universities to which college students have their GRE scores sent.

* Florida State ranks 49th among all doctoral granting institutions and 36th among public institutions in the number of doctoral degrees awarded. And FSU ranks 12th among all universities and eighth among public institutions in awarding doctorates to African Americans.

* FSU is now classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a Research I university -- one of only 88 in the country.

Besides all this, Florida State is a school with a heart. The new Center for Civic Education and Service is an exciting experiment in making the most of the desire to serve of students and faculty.

Recent examples could be seen during the Sugar Bowl weekend in New Orleans, when students, alumni, administrators and other FSU supporters helped out at shelters for the homeless and the poor, homes for disabled adolescent boys and residences for homeless children and their mothers.

We think business leaders will want to be part of this success story.

FSU's Corporate Sponsorship Program offers customized Florida State marketing packages for businesses and, at the same time, the opportunity to support the university and higher education in Florida.

Yes, government funding for higher education must be improved. But to paraphrase psychologist Abraham Maslow, if the only tool you have is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail. At FSU, our Corporate Sponsorship Program creates a new tool that can help pay for some of our communications operations while it helps our advertisers and sponsors market their products and services.