The FAMU Trustees moved quickly today to name a former Provost Larry Robinson as the successor to replace Castell Bryant. Robinson will serve until incoming president James Ammons takes over on July 2. Robinson's official title will be Cheif Operating Officer.Robinson's appointment reflects the BoT's desire to officially turn the page on the Bryant administration and distance itself from her and her appointees.
Dr. Larry Robinson is an experienced administrator and well-respected academician. He is a great selection and will be able to FAMU together until Dr. James Ammons arrives on July 2.
ReplyDeleteLarry Robinson doesn't care three nickels about the faculty. Hopefully, he won't become a permanent administrqtive fixture when Dr. Ammons comes. Just because he an "experienced administrator" and "well-respected academician," doesn't mean he's the right fit. But thank the Lord, the man will only be there as a seat-warmer for six weeks.
ReplyDeleteI can remember when Gainous was fired and a Trustee made a motion to make Robinson Interim, and Lowe said she didn't want instability in the Provost position so all the Trustess voted for Castell. Funny, not too long after Castell came aboard she removed him as Provost. This Provost is as dysfunction as they come!!! All the Trustees need to be replaced!!!
ReplyDeleteA six-weeks CEO to replace an interim president who resigned along with the provost who was appointed by the interim without faculty input and/or "competitive bidding." Yes, we are moving forward alright. Moving with the speed of lighting. yes, indeedy.
ReplyDeleteIt's ironic that Robinson,former provost, comes back to replace the lady who replaced him. Truly, there is a God! Isn't God good.
ReplyDeleteGod doesn't like ugly ways,and surely God didn't like Castell's ugly ways! This is pure redemption.
When the BOT held the interim presidential selection process in 2005, many faculty members made a huge show of support for Larry Robinson. Several professors nominated him for the job.
ReplyDeleteHowever, word spread that Jim Corbin had already rigged the search process for Castell Bryant, so Robinson's chances were already dead-on-arrival.
And yes, Challis did make the point that there should not be instability in the provost's position -- knowing full well that Castell had no intention of keeping Robinson in that office once she was hired.
It's something to see the way that things have really turned around.
To the annonymous who wrote the blog at 5:29 p.m. and said that "This provost (meaning Robinson) is dysfunctional, we ALL know that you are one of Castell's incompetents and need to exit with her and All the Vps and her other appointees. The Trustees are finally stepping up to the plate and acknowledging a terrible wrong was committed when Robinson was removed by the Witch from hell.
ReplyDeleteI knew it would be a black man
ReplyDeleteTo the blogger who said Dr. Robinson is not the "right fit".
ReplyDeleteSounds like a comment that would come from Vinny the man (oops! wrong choice of words) June, VP for Student Affairs. Let's see if you Mr. Vinny will be the "right fit" come July 2nd. The word Mister is used advisedly.
Some of you are awful! Dr. Robinson is one of the most brilliant MEN that will ever work at the University. He's intelligent, honorable, can't stand a lot of "stuff," and has shown his dedication to the University. Can you lay off the man before he gets started? Are you ever satisfied? Who, if not Robinson, would you have recommended to the BOT? And why weren't you at the meeting today if you wanted your "person" to be considered.
ReplyDeleteSOMEONE HAS TO BE IN THE SEAT! And it's just for a few weeks... C H I L L L L L L L L L L
The BOT is finally making right decisions. Bye Bye Castell.
ReplyDeleteHello Dr. Robinson; and Welcome Welcome Dr. Ammons. The morale of campus is slowly but surely inching upwards.
By placing Dr. Robinson,whose a very capable and respected administrator,as the new temporary leader for this brief, brief period before Dr. Ammons arrives, the BOT is finally, finally writing the final chapter to the Bryant's fiasco administration and to its credit burying or
ReplyDeleteattempting to bury the whole damn mess. The final nail is almost in coffin of the Bryant Administration. Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust a/k/a To the left, to the left.
A correction to the 5/14/2007 5:29 PM post.
ReplyDeleteI meant The BOT is dysfunctional as they come not the provost. [fat fingers]
First order of business. Find a permanent dean for the law school.
ReplyDeleteFor two and a half years, FAMU's been led down the drain by an inept JUCO administrator with an Ed.D. from a diploma mill (Nova).
ReplyDeleteToday, FAMU is being led by rocket scientist who holds a Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry from a top tier institution (Washington University in St. Louis) and has a proven track record of effective university-level management.
Just like Bill Withers said years ago, it's a lovely day.
IMO, Dr. Robinson is an excellent choice for this brief period before Dr. Ammons' tenure begins. He has the administrative experience, and he's an accomplished researcher/professor. I think that he will help prepare the university for a permanent president (finally!).
ReplyDeleteAnoyn 5:28 hit the nail on the head.
ReplyDeleteIt is without QUESTION that Dr. Robinson is highly qualified and able to lead a university. However his track record as provost indicates he has some rough edges that need to be smoothed out. I personally don't like the man, however I would follow him in a heartbeat concerning FAMU beacuse he is competent and very knowledgeable. Thank GOD the BOT has some sense.
What happen to Henry Lewis and his bid to be interim again? Didn't the board recognize the outstanding job he did the first-time?
ReplyDeleteHe's better than Robinson. Remember Robinson fired him.
Maybe Ammons has a spot for Lewis when he comes on board on July 2. As we all know, Castell had NO BUSINESS trying to run a university. The woman has an EdD, from Nova university, for Christ's sakes. That, plus, she's a JUCO administrator. Hello? Same thing with Debra Austin: EdD and community collebe experience. I mean, damn, it's ridiculous that the two of them were even allowed to park on campus, much less at or around Lee Hall and Foote Hilyer. Good Damn Riddance to both of those people! Hit the road, Jack, and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more. Hit the road, Jack, and don't you come back no more. We don't like your kind.
ReplyDeleteI have learned from experience that you can not satisfy everybody all of the time. No matter what decision was made today and will be made in the future, there will be varying opinions about them.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to say this one thing about Castell Vaughn Bryant and then go on about my business: Castell Vaughn Bryant was one, mean, nasty, horrible, no good, sorry, SOB (because she looks like a man). And if I ever in this life time get the chance to tell her that, I will do so in no uncertain terms. She was the most vicious, horrendous, nasty, conniving, callous, heartless, contemptable, disrespectful person--man or woman-who's ever walked the sidewalks of Florida A&M University, and I, for one, am glad to see that her tired, shiftless, condescending, worthless piece of a self is gone away from the university, never, ever to set so much as an ankle or toe on or near Florida A&M University again in her lifetime.
ReplyDeleteHow did universities come to be places where it takes such a huge, complex administration to run them, and the administrators are paid so amazingly much more than faculty?
ReplyDeleteAnd why is it that so few people are alarmed by this inversion of priorities?
Why has the entire educational process become so bureaucratized that those who perform the defining tasks of the university -- teaching and research -- are so much subordinated to those who perform management functions?
Why hasn't the FAMU administration, or any university administration, come out to acknowledge that the only thing they do is provide support services so that teachers can teach and students can learn?
Instead, administrators rarely overcome the temptation to arrogance that such power brings them.
Administrators (even our esteemed Dr. Robinson and Dr. Ammons) have been defined as having positions of authority and value many multiples in value above the worth of the professors and researchers. But what do administrators actually DO that has substantive value, in contrast to the kind of made-up paperwork activities governmental agencies get bogged down in?
If you step back and look at it, this is a bizarre situation. How do you account for it?
Or how do you justify the power, affluence, and authority of such large university administrations? Does it really take so much top brass, such high salaries, and so much expense to run a university?
Why aren't universities leaner, more efficient, and run closer to the activities they exist for -- teaching and learning?
5/14/2007 11:29 PM wrote:
ReplyDeleteWhy hasn't the FAMU administration, or any university administration, come out to acknowledge that the only thing they do is provide support services so that teachers can teach and students can learn?
I'd like to applaud you on that excellent verbiage. You have done a terrific job summing up what is arguably the most important crisis in higher ed today.
The key problem is that university-level education is becoming commercialized and learning institutions are being reshaped in the image of for-profit companies. Governing boards are treating presidents like CEOs. The concept of a professor-president who is simply first among his/her peers in the faculty is dying out.
A university president must understand classroom instruction and should, ideally, be a person who qualifies for tenure/full professorship. While a president should be well-versed in business activities like fundraising, he/she should never become detached from the academic life of the university.
Personally, I like the title "chancellor" over the title "president." Many universities in Europe use the title "rector."
Perhaps the title "ranking professor" (like the military term "ranking officer") would be more appropriate for the heads of universities.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteFirst order of business. Find a permanent dean for the law school.
5/14/2007 7:46 PM
I hope it's in the top two at least...
It seems as if the general consensus is that Dr. Robinson is a good choice for these few remaing weeks until Dr. Ammons comes. What has he been doing lately?
To 5/14/2007 10:23 PM:
ReplyDeleteIf Robinson fired him, he had cause, If not I'm sure Lewis would have sued by now and would have used the media to support his claims...Think people. This is one of the best decisions the BoT has made since it's inception (and there aren't many good ones).
To 5/14/2007 11:29 PM:
ReplyDeleteWhose more arrogant than faculty? They somehow think a PhD is equated with "I know everything and if you don't have one, then you can't tell me anything". Kudos to them for their accomplishment, don't get me wrong, I hope to join their ranks soon. But I hope I never forget that the learning process is ongoing and there are lessons to be learned from even the most meek among us.
To: 5/14/2007 11:11 PM
ReplyDeleteI take it that you did not like Castell.
Whew. You must feel better after getting that off your chest.
LOL
PLEASE STOP THE LIES!!! THE BOT ASKED DEBRA AUSTIN TO ACT AS INTERIM FIRST BEFORE ASKING ROBINSON! THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THE FALL CAUSED BY THE ARROGANCE AND IGNORANCE OF THE PAST 20 YEARS! DID YOU CHECK OUT MARK ROSENBERG'S FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AT AMMON'S RATIFICATION? IT AIN'T THAT EASY NO MORE- CAROLYN ROBERTS OBVIOUSLY REMEMBERS THE DAYS OF THE FL REGENTS WHEN HUMPHREYS & AMMONS WOULD COME AND PLAY THE RACE CARD WITH THE BACKING OF BOB GRAHAM. WELL THERE ARE SOME NEW FOLKS IN TOWN. AND A WOMAN IS IN CHARGE! I can't wait until the good old boys begin to turn on each other. The honeymoon is over before it began.
ReplyDelete8:49, what is with you "this is a woman vs. man" people. The overwhelming disapproval of Castell Bryant has little to do with her sex. Rather, it is because of her nasty attitude and approach to people. The woman is a train wreck, when it comes to motivating and encouraging people and nothing short of an abortion when it comes to managing FAMU.
ReplyDeleteTo: 11:59 and 11:58--So very nicely stated. I won't add to the commentaries, but I do want you both to know how very true your remarks are. I am a faculty member at the university, and I see the disparity in faculty salaries vs university administrators and it's more than a shame. It's a pure disgrace. Nowhere in this appointment of Dr. Ammons have I heard mention of faculty salaries. FAMU's teachers' salaries rank at the bottom of university salaries statewide, yet no one has thought to include this topic among the thousands of discussions about fiscal accountability and management. The transition team, I sure, has not given one thought to the discussion of salaries for the university's faculty members. On any given day, I sure much of what is being discussed at these so-called "advisory meetings" is not much more than bells and whistles. In the mix of the madness that has consumed the university over the past two years, people forget that teaching and research is at the core of the university: no students? no university. No faculty? No university. But we're always, always the last to be recognized--even slightly--or acknowledged--even remotely, for doing what parents trust us to do when they send their children to college: teach them to the best of our ability. And while I'm certainly not advocating the fact that faculty members deserve anything that they have not earned, the discussions of the disparities between "us" and "them" is simply alarming, but never discussed in any real and/or meaningful way.
ReplyDelete"10:58am" ...
ReplyDeleteIt seems that NOW would also be a good time for the Faculty to finally get themselves united ... And present their Agenda(s) to the upcoming Administration as well.
Not attending your own meetings, nor giving responses like "Why Bother" to the press when previous instances came up that could have been to your benefit doesn't exactly endear you guys into believing that you all have much of an interest in your OWN existence ... So why should anyone else?
Much like everyone else up there that's looking to keep their jobs after July 2nd ... Time for you guys to "Man Up" ... And "show & prove" yourselves worthy - and viable - of consideration too!
the BOT did ask Austin first, and I think that was the right thing to do in the name of stability. A new guy would have to learn all these things for just six weeks. A lot of lost time right there.
ReplyDeleteBut Austin knew she had to get her Darth Vader ass out of dodge along with Castell. With Castell and Challis, all the heat would have fallen on her, and she would probably be damaged to the point where they wouldn't even give her her old job back at TCC.
Larry Robinson look like Teddy Pendergrass lil' brother in dat pic....lol...Larry Pendergrass
ReplyDeleteFAMU faculty make a pretty decent amount of pay. The real workers are the support staff that deal with the constant cursing out, the crying students and the other headaches on a daily basis. Thank Goodness I'm not in it for the money. I do it to give back to my alma mater.
ReplyDeletewhy do you have a job if you are "not in it for the money?
ReplyDelete11:21--Oh, how many, many, many times has the faculty done just what you have suggested. Believe me, no one cares about the faculty. We're always the last ones to be considered for anything, except, of course, when it comes to dispensing of more work that is unrelated to the teaching of the students and/or research. Believe me, we've done everything except stand in rush-hour traffice with a sign, waving to the higher-ups. (Maybe that's what we will have to do.)
ReplyDeleteTeachers at the university have to deal with unhappy parents, disruptive students, grievances, grade appeals, administrators who don't support us, tons and tons or paperwork which has absolutely nothing to do with anything, low pay, non-reimbursements for conferences, pay-out-of-your-own-poscket for conferences that benefit the students and the university, silly meetings that accomplish nothing, rants and raves. Don't think for a NY minute that pay compensates for any of the aformentioned, which, by the way, is only a partial listing. 99.9% of the students are good kids, there's that one percent that should not be there. It's the 99.9% of students that we love and enjoy seeing grow, academically, socially, morally and ethically.
ReplyDeleteThe Selection of Dr. Robinson was a good choice. He is an intelligent, experienced administrator, who is well respected.
ReplyDeleteQuestion? Bryant and Austin have departed, what about the Deans hired by the Hollins group? Hopefully some of them will be leaving too. Especially the one in the School of Nursing. She has all of the mean ugly characteristics of Mrs. Bryant, and is basically destroying the integrity of the nursing program.
Aw shit, tell me when challis cared about FAMU? Debra Austin didn't even try to defend FAMU when it boiled down to the engineering school. Castell, didn't even appear on the campus when the student's were protesting, she is a sorry SOB. Dr. Ammons have a wonderful track record as well. Some of yall running crazy yall might not have a damn "JOB" I advise you to start looking elsewhere. Some of yall know yall ain't hitting on shit. Run.... I think your time is about to expire.
ReplyDelete