FAMU only has 3 appointed alumni trustees, UF has 10

Gov. Rick Scott speaks before the Board of Governors

The Florida Governor’s Office and Board of Governors (BOG) have treated the state’s two land-grant universities very differently when it comes to appointing alumni trustees. 

The governor’s office and BOG have appointed ten alumni to the Board of Trustees at the University of Florida. But they have only appointed three alumni to the Board of Trustees at Florida A&M, the only public historically black university in the state.  

UF’s appointed alumni trustees are: David L. Brandon, Susan M. Cameron, Christopher T. Corr, Charles B. Edwards, James W. Heavener, Rahul Patel, Jason J. Rosenberg, Robert G. Stern, David M. Thomas, and Anita G. Zucker.

FAMU’s appointed alumni trustees are: Kelvin Lawson, Belinda Shannon, and Karl White.

The other two alumni trustees were elected from inside of FAMU. Faculty Senate President Bettye A. Grable earned a master of science in journalism from FAMU. Student Body President Tonnette S. Graham graduated in Spring 2015 with a bachelor of science in healthcare management from FAMU. She is currently a graduate student in the FAMU master of public administration program.

A total of 12 of the 13 positions on the FAMU Board of Trustees are currently filled.

The terms of Lawson and Shannon will expire on January 6, 2016. They are both gubernatorial appointees.

Three appointment decisions will soon be made by the BOG. BOG appointee and FAMU alumnus Spurgeon McWilliams resigned on October 28 and his former seat remains vacant. The BOG also still hasn’t announced whether it will reappoint Cleve Warren, whose term expired on January 6, 2015. The term of White, another BOG appointee, will expire on January 6, 2016.