Yeboah had emphasized the diversity component of the COE mission during his short time as the dean.
But the new focus of the COE and its current deanship search appears to be Thrasher’s goal of helping FSU become one of the top 25 public universities.
“Time is a gift that we have to use to grow, produce and
serve — which is synonymous with the motto of the college: ‘Quality, Growth and
Diversity,’” he said during his first year. “My long-term plan is for the college to grow
strategically, be diverse and have nationally ranked engineering programs from
both the academic and research viewpoints.”
But the new focus of the COE and its current deanship search appears to be Thrasher’s goal of helping FSU become one of the top 25 public universities.
Ammons liked Yeboah’s proven commitment to historically
black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Yeboah had previously served as an
associate dean at Clark Atlanta University (CAU), an HBCU, and built an
engineering program there. He was also
the technical director of the Research Center for Science and Technology at CAU
from 1995 to 2004.
One of Yeboah’s accomplishments at CAU was serving as the
co-principal investigator for a $498,966 National Science Foundation grant for
a Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics Scholarship Program from 2000
to 2004.
“Since its inception, Clark Atlanta University has been
vitally concerned with ameliorating the acute underrepresentation of African
Americans and other minorities in technical fields such as science,
mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET),” Yeboah and his co-principal investigator Larry Earvin wrote in the abstract of the grant proposal. They stated that the
grant would help that work at CAU by “increasing the number of scholarship
opportunities available to undergraduate SEM students.”
Barron liked Yeboah’s achievements at Pennsylvania State
University as department head of the John and Willie Leone Family Department of
Energy and Mineral Engineering from 2004 to 2012. Barron was on the faculty of
Penn State from 1986 to 2006.
When Yeboah became the dean of the FAMU-FSU College of
Engineering in 2012, he spoke on a regular basis about the need to increase diversity at
the college and in professional engineering jobs.
“There’s tremendous opportunity to take advantage of having
an HBCU and a majority institution with a strong research component. It
provides such an opportunity to enhance diversity,” Yeboah said in a 2012
Tallahassee Democrat article.
Barron and Interim President Larry Robinson both agreed in
the same article.
“Sadly, engineering has been one of those degrees that has
had a very low diversity over time,” Barron told the newspaper. “This is a
program that can have a significant impact in altering that story.”
“Both FAMU and FSU are contributing to a very critical role
in diversifying the workforce with this partnership. We should never lose sight
of this,” Robinson said in the article.
FAMU and FSU later announced in a June 2015 press release that
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.
FAMU President Elmira 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.
FAMU now has 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.
Yeboah’s exit from the deanship appears to have nothing to
do with his performance in the job and everything to do with the political
dealings that cleared the way for Thrasher to get what he wants. The way Yeboah
was treated is a stain on the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.