Thrasher holds all the cards for deciding when “interim” College of Engineering deanship ends

Selection process for FAMU-FSU College of Engineering dean since 1987

Back in a September interview with the Tallahassee Democrat, FAMU President Elmira Mangum was asked 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.

But despite Mangum’s use of the word “we,” FSU President John Thrasher really holds all the cards for deciding when the current interim deanship at the COE will end because he must agree to jointly appoint a new permanent dean.  

The rules for appointing deans at the COE were set in a 1987 agreement. It says that: “The presidents shall appoint the dean on the advice of the Joint Management Council based on the recommendations of a faculty search committee composed of an equal number of faculty members from the two universities.”

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

A July 7 editorial in Rattler Nation said that “FSU can make an extension of the ‘interim deanship’ happen without FAMU’s approval. The two universities must make a joint decision on the appointment of a dean, so Thrasher could decline to let a new dean be selected. Locke will be in charge of hiring faculty members at the COE until FSU comes to an agreement with FAMU on who the new dean will be. That means the 'interim deanship' could go on for months or even years.”

The Mangum administration fired back with a press release on July 10 that claimed: “The dean reports directly to the provosts of FAMU and FSU. Thus, FSU cannot unilaterally decide that an extension of the 'interim' deanship is needed as has been reported in some publications and online.”

Rattler Nation continues to stand behind its statement that FSU can make an extension of the “interim deanship” happen without FAMU’s approval. 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 $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.

The FAMU voting representatives on the Council are Mangum (or her designee), Provost Marcella David, Vice-President for Research Timothy E. Moore, and Chief Financial Officer Dale Cassidy.

No changes have been made to the rule that requires the COE dean to be jointly appointed by the presidents of FAMU and FSU.

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