Kelvin Lawson, chair of the FAMU Board of Trustees
and a participant in the meeting, said he was encouraged by the session and
believes it was very productive.
“I thought it was a good forum. The governor has been very
interested in higher education in the state, very interested in job creation,
and very interested in making sure that when students graduate from one of our
institutions that there is a job available to them, primarily in the State of
Florida,” said Lawson, who is a FAMU alumnus.
“He really threw a challenge out to the boards to be even
more engaged with university leadership to ensure that all of those things were
happening,” Lawson said.
Additional areas Lawson discussed during his presentation to
the governor included goals established for Interim President Larry Robinson
and the First Year Experience Program.
After learning more about measures being implemented for at
each institution, Lawson said he was also encouraged by the feedback received
from Scott and Criser.
“We had a lengthy discussion on performance metrics. I think
the good news coming out of that discussion is they are open to hearing our
perspective on how those metrics can be tweaked,” he added.
Overall, Lawson believes the session was highly productive
and hopes it will serve as a footprint for future meetings
“He (Gov. Scott) was complimentary of FAMU and feels that
things appear to be moving in the right direction and complimented us on the
makeup of our board. We also challenged him to hold similar discussions at
least once a year with the board chairs. I believe it elevates each board’s
level of responsibility as it relates to working with the administration,”
Lawson said.