Previous interim deanship at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering lasted almost 1.5 years

John Collier (l) and Bruce Locke (r)

Back September, FAMU President Elmira Mangum responded to a Tallahassee Democrat request for an update about the search process for a permanent dean of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering (COE).

“Oh, it started in earnest. We’re at a point of using an external search firm. We’ve got the RFP out. We’re about ready to kick that off. If we were lucky, we’d get a Dean in January…” Mangum said.

January is now here. But FAMU and FSU have both been quiet about the status of the so-called “search” for a permanent dean at the COE.

If the current interim deanship of the COE lasts as long as the previous one, then a permanent dean won’t be in place before the June 30, 2016 deadline for a discussion on whether Mangum’s employment will be renewed. Mangum began a three-year contract on April 1, 2014.

Her contract says that: “Dr. Mangum and the Board’s representative shall confer by no later than June 30, 2016 regarding the renewal or extension of this Agreement and if such renewal or extension does not occur, the Parties agree to allow the natural expiration of the term of the Agreement regarding Dr. Mangum’s service as President.” 

Former COE Dean Ching-Jen Chen stepped down effective February 15, 2011. An interim dean, John Collier, started on that day. Yaw D. Yeboah then became the new permanent dean effective July 1, 2012.

Collier ended up holding the interim deanship for 16 months, or just under 1.5 years.

FAMU and FSU announced in a June press release that Yeboah, who is a professor with tenure at FSU, would step down on July 31, 2015. The press release said his “interim” replacement would be FSU Associate Provost Bruce Locke beginning on August 1, 2015 and that the tenure home for the permanent dean would be at FAMU.

Locke has been in office for more than six months. If he stays as long as Collier did, then he won’t leave the deanship until at least December 2016.

FSU President John Thrasher now holds all the cards for deciding when the “interim” deanship will end. The presidents of FAMU and FSU must both give their approval in order for a permanent dean to be jointly appointed. If Thrasher declines to give his okay on a joint appointment, then the deanship line at FAMU will just remain vacant. FAMU cannot make the call on when the “interim” dean must leave office because that individual is an employee of FSU. 

Mangum still hasn't explained why an engineering professor with tenure at FAMU wasn't chosen for the interim deanship even though the university has a number of faculty members who are fully qualified for the job. Thrasher needed Mangum’s agreement for Locke to be jointly appointed as the interim dean.

FSU has had both the interim deanship and the $12.9M that the legislature appropriated for the COE since August 1.

FAMU was in control of the core operating budget for the COE from 1987 until 2014. But in 2015 the new Joint College of Engineering Governance Council started to claim that it is in charge of the COE budget. Back at a May 20 meeting, the Joint Council unanimously voted to move the $12.9M COE core operating budget from FAMU to FSU.

All FAMU has now is a vacant faculty line that is designated for the permanent dean but can’t be filled until Thrasher gives his approval for that individual to be jointly appointed.