FSU has quietly replaced FAMU as the fiscal agent for the
college and still has the deanship. FAMU now has no meaningful say in running
the program.
FAMU isn’t about to get the any real influence in the college again any time soon. A joint
press release from FAMU and FSU on June 1 stated that “the tenure home for the next dean will rotate to
Florida A&M University.” But when current Dean Yaw Yeboah steps down at the
end of the month, the “next dean” will not be an employee of FAMU. The “next
dean” will be Bruce Locke, an FSU associate provost who will begin serving as “interim”
dean on August 1.
The search process for a new dean isn’t even scheduled to begin until the fall. Searches for academic officials such as deans often take up to 12 months.
But there is already talk on the FAMU campus that the time
of the “interim” deanship could be extended for a number of years.
If FSU decides that an extension of the “interim” deanship
is needed, then it can make that happen without the approval of FAMU. The two universities must make a joint decision on the appointment of a dean, so FSU could decline to let a new dean be selected. FAMU cannot
make the call on when the “interim” dean must leave office because that
individual will be an employee of FSU.
The FAMU Board of Trustees has not voted to approve any
changes to the 1987 agreement that designated FAMU to be the fiscal agent of
the College of Engineering. FSU President John Thrasher told his Board of
Trustees on June 26 that FAMU agreed to transfer its fiscal agent status to
FSU, but did not specify who had agreed to that policy change on behalf of
FAMU.
That policy change that was done without a vote from the
FAMU Board of Trustees has now made FAMU a part of the FAMU-FSU College of
Engineering in name only.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story included an incorrect description of the payroll process that is to be used after the selection of a new dean on a FAMU line.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story included an incorrect description of the payroll process that is to be used after the selection of a new dean on a FAMU line.