FMU expanding campus, programs
With a new semester fast approaching, Francis Marion University is expanding in more ways than one. At the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees on Thursday, President Fred Carter reported the university had received legislative funding for $39 million in capital improvement projects and operating for 2021-22. He also discussed new academic programs that will be added this fall. New capital improvement projects include two academic facilities: $23 million for a facility to accommodate the Schools of Business and Education and $21 million to reconstruct the Circle Park facility on Cheves Street in downtown Florence. Circle Park will house a medical education consortium comprised of FMU, the Medical University of South Carolina, and the University of South Carolina. By 2023, this partnership will host an expanding number of 3rd and 4th year medical students from USC’s School of Medicine and new 3rd and 4th year medical students from MUSC. Also included in the state appropriations was $8.9 million for infrastructure projects on FMU’s main campus and $1.6 million in recurring operating funding. On the academic front, Carter discussed five new programs that will be added to the university’s offerings for the 2021-2022 academic year. These programs include a Veterinary studies option in Biology, a Network Systems management track and a Digital Marketing Degree in the School of Business, an Engineering Technology Program in Mechanical Engineering, and a new healthcare track in Sociology. Carter stressed the importance of these upcoming additions. “The next few years will be extraordinary for FMU,” Carter said. “We have additional funding. We’ll be constructing new facilities. We’ll be offering several new programs, while teaching the exemplary curriculum that’s already in place – all with the finest faculty in the state. This university’s future has never been brighter.”