President James Ammons has hit the ground running in an effort to rebuild FAMU's sagging enrollment and recruit top scholars. At the MEAC/SWAC Challenge late last month Ammons held a reception for over 150 top students from Alabama and handed out 26 of the university's, trademark, "Life Gets Better, scholarships which pays for full tuition, housing, books, a laptop, and a $500 a semester stipen.
Last Saturday night, Ammons took his road show to Tampa where he awarded on-the-spot "Life Gets Better" scholarships to six incoming students while reaching out to potential students in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties. The educational packages are worth about $40,000 each. He also used the opportunity to reassure supporters that the school is repairing its image.
"We are fixing the problems at FAMU," he said. "We have identified the root of all the problems and have put in place policies and procedures to ensure the financial stability of FAMU."
Freshman enrollment is up 18 percent, he said. About 650 of the school's students are from Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, but the school wants to double that number, he said. In addition to recruiting top students, FAMU is bringing in high-profile professors to carry out its goal of "developing scholars for global leadership".
"We are going to be accountable to our students, our parents, our alumni, the people of this state ..." Ammons said. "I am very optimistic about the future of Florida A&M."
The next stop on the Ammons recruitment tour is Atlanta.
Also see: Ammons revives recruitment program
This is GREAT!! But how is it that we are able to afford this? When just last year we were so broke? I love FAMU, yet how can we afford the 400 member band on every road trip? I do not want to lose my beloved school. I need to know how we are able to pay for the LGB and everything else. Maybe CVB was lying? I sure hope so....
ReplyDeleteI think Ammons is just getting it done. We have lots of scholarship money every year from the various endowments and the like. Castell just DID NOT RECRUIT anyone, and Ammons PR office is making these good news public. We are well on our way baby!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat band are you talking about? 400 members? Goes on every road trip? FAMU paying for it? LOL!
ReplyDeleteWhat road trips are the 100rd going on that are paid not for by sponsors (classics)?
ReplyDeleteAlso, good students attract corporate donations to the University.
Ammons knows what he's doing! He's recruiting great students back to the Hill to attact corporate dollars!
9/24/2007 8:22 AM
ReplyDeleteFAMU can afford it. Like one of the other bloggers said, CVB just didn't recruit, or rather do anything but give FAMU a bad name.
The are reports that when CVB entered office in January 2005, she immediately revoked all the scholarship offers that Fred Gainous had made to class he and Bill McCray recruited during the fall.
ReplyDeleteCVB's gave lame excuses claiming that she didn't know if FAMU could afford the recruitment program or if it was even effective.
So yes, CVB just let lots of scholarship money sit there idlely. She also let the Industry Cluster crumble, which was another pipeline for scholarship funds.
I'm glad FAMU is putting more money into recruitment. I would rather have 10,000 well educated students than 14,000 students who don't take school seriously.
ReplyDeleteDitto 5:29 PM...
ReplyDeleteGood news like this spreads quickly, and more students will take an interest in FAMU. This makes me smile!
Glad to see the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual support for FAMU!
ReplyDeleteLGB - Life Gets Better
ReplyDeleteRumor is that Ammons told persons in the Comptrollers Office to "find the money" for the scholarships AFTER he had handed them out. Can you say "fiscal irresponsibility"!
ReplyDeleteRumor is that Ammons told persons in the Comptrollers Office to "find the money" for the scholarships AFTER he had handed them out. Can you say "fiscal irresponsibility"!
ReplyDeleteThat's nothing but a lie. Unlike Castell, our current president actually understands how to run multi-million dollar fiscal operation.
The money for presidential scholarships is clearly laid out in the 2007-2008 university budget that was approved by the Board of Trustees. Additionally, Ammons has tapped into scholarship endowments in the foundation that Castell refused to use. Furthermore, Ammons has gotten help from Fred Humphries in re-establishing FAMU's relationship with many of the companies that once sponsored Life-Gets-Better packages (Castell burned bridges with as many of those corporations as she could).
Ammons has FAMU's finances and recruitment program back in good shape.
Ammons is recruiting all of these so-called "good students," and plenty more students, but professors are the ones who wind up with overloaded classes and underprepared students who should go first to a community college and not a four-year institution, because they don't have the critical basics in place when they get to the university. He's doing what Humphries did: just going out recruiting all of these students who may or may not(and many times are not) prepared for collegiate work. I teach many of these students that come to the university unprepared to do the most basic of collegiate level work. Same ol' same old. Plus, all this money. Where, oh, where is all of it coming from (so suddendly)?
ReplyDeleteMaybe now that we are not paying consultant fees in excess of $49M, some of that cheddar can stay on campus.
ReplyDeleteSo "SUDDENLY" we have funds. LOL!
2:52 I am sad that there are faculty like you at FAMU. If you did half a cent worth of research concerning only black males and Community College you would know just because that’s where you start the vast majority do not finish. Having stated that, it is in part do to, the fact that there are no HBCU Community colleges in Florida and the faculty at most Community Colleges could give a damn about the black males or black students’ period! FAMU took me and while my grades said one thing my ability said another. The faculty that worked with me were and are blessed and in the art of blessing. I am two years away from my PhD and when I go back to campus I remember where it all started! So if you want to help, then go to T.C.C. or spend extra time with your students, offer extra work, reinvent your teaching style for the 21st century, ask not what the University can do for you, ask what you can do for the University or simply shut up!
ReplyDeleteMost black males that make it into FAMU do not finish either.
ReplyDeleteAt least a Community College is designed to have remedial courses. FAMU ain't designed for that ish, we're a hardcore University. Dude in the above post is the exception, not the rule. At least a CC is CHEAPER than FAMU, so when the at-risk student flunks out, he wouldn't have blown his allotment of Financial Aid Money.
The new president of Coppin State gets it. Do you?
8:13--obviously you have not set foot on a college campus--except perhaps to go to a football game--and therefore have no idea what a 21st college atmosphere is like--except to go to a football game. You do your lil' state job, and let me do mine. I have no idea what you do on your job (and do not care), so do not even attempt to engage a discourse about the intimacies of teaching at the university. When's the last time you set foot in a classroom at FAMU, walked the halls of a building? Talked to professors about the collegiate preparation of students? When's the last time you read anything culturally intellectual? Answer: NeverWhen, that when. Be quiet until you can offer specifics--which will be when? NeverWhen.
ReplyDeletefamu is a university, 8:13, and while you might be one exception, the university is so not in the business of remediating students, but professors do it, nonetheless. good that you are "two years away from a terminal degree." and your point is? 2:52 has a solid point.
ReplyDelete3:41pm—1st of all thank you for all that you do and are doing at FAMU. Well since I am in Graduate School now that would imply that have set foot on a college campus. And yes I have set foot on several college campuses for football games as well, as I feel that is an integral part of collegiate life. All of this taking place in the 21st century. In addition it is obvious that while I love and support FAMU (with my money) you are no addition to that shinning college on a Hill. And by all means please do your job that is exactly what you are paid for. As for you assuming that I have a “lil state job” it shows that you do not read well. Furthermore, discourse is the hall mark of academia, so I would encourage you not to try and stifle civil discourse at any level in any arena such as Rattler Nation. I have set foot in a classroom just this year at FAMU, as several students who were recipients of scholarships that my family, friends and personal organization made continuing their college careers possible. And since I deal with three of the colleges at the University I have and will continue to speak with those in leadership positions and professors who want to offer positive ideas that we may be able to utilize in helping the University and its students. As to your question about when was the last time I read anything culturally intellectual (should have been intellectually) and the answer is I do so daily. When is the last time you wrote anything worthy of being printed in any scholarly journals in your field of concentration? In conclusion, I will not be quiet! I will champion the hope of all students who are simply in need of Excellence With Caring! Also, if you want to support better students coming to the University, go teach at the high school level and help the students and University.
ReplyDelete3:46 my point was obvious but if you did not get the point. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was at FAMU(98-02, there were remedial classes available for those who needed them. And trust me, there were a lot of kids who did.
ReplyDeleteI entered FAMU as a non traditional student and because I was thrust in their enviroment, I befriended many students who were at least 9 years my junior. Most of them had to take remedial Math and Reading classes and they had just graduated from high school the previous summer !!!
Many of them went on to graduate from FAMU and many of them didn't. I ,on the other hand, graduated from high school 9 years before that and I didn't have to take any remedial classes.
In essence, I agree with an above poster, many parents send their child to college just to say they have a child in college. A lot of students I came in contact with were just not interested in college...plain and simple and because of that, just didn't perform well.
We have a PhD and a Masters degree candidate posting and I'm seeking entrance into our law school. It's evident that we are all doing well so why can't we stand together and support each other's efforts and our belove alma mater instead of bashing each other.
FAMU is the bigger picture and she needs all of us standing together.
~Peace
Funny thing is 2:52 is intentionally making misleading statements. The students that are participating in LGB have scored 1300 or better on the math and critical reasoning sections of the new SAT. Now if 2:52 and the other CVB delusionals are saying that National Achievement Scholars arrive on campus needing remedial classes, then they are flat out lying.
ReplyDeleteYou CVB'ers need to move on. Your day in the sun is over. You now, rightly, sit on history's garbage heap.
You has beens are done!
Great achievement for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual students!
ReplyDeleteGo LGB!
Go Rattlers!