FAMU has tenured professors fully qualified to be interim COE dean, but weren’t appointed

(L-R: Reginald J. Perry, Kamal Tawfiq, and Samuel A. Awoniyi)

The FAMU administration continues to defend a resolution that was unanimously passed by the Joint College of Engineering Governance Council of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering (COE) on May 20. That resolution called for a switch in a set of responsibilities that the two universities held in the program. FSU is now serving as the fiscal agent and FAMU will receive the line for the deanship in August.

A press release from FAMU last week said that becoming the tenure home for the COE dean was an important change that needed to happen because it would help FAMU. But despite that statement, the FAMU administration agreed to let a professor with tenure at FSU become the interim dean of the COE. The FAMU and FSU administrations have appointed FSU Associate Provost Bruce Locke to serve as the interim dean after current Dean Yaw Yeboah, who is also an FSU employee, steps down on July 31.

The FAMU administration still hasn’t explained why a professor with tenure at FAMU wasn’t chosen for the interim deanship. Whatever the reason is, it can’t be that there weren’t any tenured FAMU professors who were qualified for the job because that isn’t true.

Administrative experience is a core requirement for a deanship at a research-oriented college. Qualifying positions include department chairmanships, assistant deanships, and associate deanships.

FAMU has a number of tenured engineering professors who have those qualifications. Information about three such professors is available below.

The FAMU Board of Trustees needs to ask tough questions about the process that was used to select the interim dean of the COE. Were tenured FAMU professors given a chance to apply for the job? Was the FAMU faculty asked for its input about candidates for the interim deanship?

FAMU trustees will speak with President Elmira Mangum about the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering when they meet on July 21.

Name: Reginald J. Perry

Faculty Appointment: Professor of Electrical Engineering

Administrative Experience at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering: Chairman of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 1999-2004; Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Curriculum, 2004-present

Name: Kamal Tawfiq

Faculty Appointment: Professor of Civil Engineering

Administrative Experience at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering: Interim Chairman of the Department Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2004-2005; Chairman of the Department Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2005-present

Name: Samuel A. Awoniyi

Faculty Appointment: Professor of Industrial Engineering

Administrative Experience at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering: Chairman of the Department of Industrial Engineering, 1986-1992, 1992-1993; Associate Dean for Curriculum and Instructions, 1996-2004