By Darryl JonesYou can either be a thermostat or a thermometer — thermometers merely measure temperature, thermostats set it!"
If there was ever a description to describe the most basic tenet of leadership, this would be the one. And it fits James Ammons like a glove.
This Homecoming weekend, Florida A&M University and the community at large pause to celebrate the leadership and burgeoning legacy of James Ammons, FAMU's 10th president. We are all aware of the challenges that Ammons inherited. Not only did he have to deal with academic and administrative conundrums in the shadow of the Capitol and the Turlington Building, but also under the microscope of both inside and outside constituencies (trustees, alumni, students, employees) who were praying for a miracle.
Ammons delivered, like Moses parting the Red Sea. Hallelujah!
His successful navigation of the university through these turbulent times creates life lessons for a new generation. FAMU alumni, parents and grandparents will recall these times and the first years of Ammons' administration and will tell their children at dinner tables, "Smooth seas don't make good sailors." Ammons readily admits that he did not do it by himself; he enlisted the help of every constituency on campus — the administration, faculty, staff and students — to meet the rigors of re-accreditation, and their effort was successful. If that were not enough, several schools and colleges had their own accreditation challenges and were duly enabled and empowered by Ammons to bring successful resolution. That's called setting the temperature!
Continue reading: Ammons perfect for FAMU
that's bull S.You better wake up he's not the man.
ReplyDeleteAmmons is a helluva lot better than that man from Miami he replaced !!!!
ReplyDeleteNo one is perfect....
ReplyDeleteAmmons has a deep hole to pull FAMU out of. He got off to a pretty good start, but to be honest, the progress has stagnated over the past several months. Faculty and students are still not getting paid, the People Soft system is still a mess, email and internet service is at best undependable, and I could go on and on. I believe all of this celebration is premature. The administration needs to consult faculty and staff at the departmental level to find out the real situation. Otherwise, we are going to increasingly see the "emperor has no clothes" syndrome played out before our eyes.
ReplyDelete12:44, I agree with you 100%. I teach at the University -- and have been there for almost 20 years. Those of us inside the camp know a whole lot more than all of the hoopla that is circulated in the paper and from those thos think they know. While much progress has been made, no doubt, there are serious cracks that ain't even beginning to get plugged by the administration. Yeah, yeah. We all know that we are in a much better place than we were 15 months ago, but, hey, let us tread the waters that Moses walks very, very carefully.
ReplyDelete