But the agenda doesn’t say anything about another very important federal research funding opportunity in the 2018 Farm Bill. The Farm Bill provides $10M per year for five years ($50M total) to support three new HBCU Centers of Excellence at 1890 HBCU land grant universities. Funded centers will address areas like agricultural workforce development, nutrition and food security, economic development and emerging technologies. The location of the three centers will be determined by a competitive grant process through the USDA.
The competition for those three research centers will be tough. You can bet that Ruth Simmons at Prairie View A&M University, Harold Martin at North Carolina A&T University, Makola Abdullah at Virginia State University, and Andrew Hugine at Alabama A&M University will all submit first rate applications for the program. They are all working to bring more research funding to their campuses.
Some members of the Florida Board of Governors (BOG) might react in a negative way if FAMU tries to get one of the research centers. Last year, a member of the BOG told the FAMU president that graduation/retention rates should be a bigger focus for the university than getting new programs or recruiting top students.
“Aim higher, please because these students are smart…that the success rate would be much, much more significant than striving to create more programs or try to compete in recruiting more students that have the grades and are able to go to other universities that are having better success right now,” BOG member H. Wayne Huizenga said.
Getting one of the new 1890 Centers of Excellence funded by the Farm Bill would give FAMU a new research program that would help the university recruit more top students in Florida and across the nation. FAMU doesn’t have to put research growth and the recruitment of top students on pause as it continues taking steps to also improve its graduation/retention rates.
FAMU needs to seek one of the research centers no matter what anyone on the BOG says. Two FAMU alumni in the U.S. House of Representatives, David Scott (GA-13) and Al Lawson (FL-5), put their political careers at risk in order to help the Farm Bill pass. They did this in order to ensure that benefits such as food stamps for 19.9 million children and the $400M for HBCUs in the Farm Bill would be available in time for the new fiscal year.
The bravery of Scott and Lawson needs to be shared by the administration of their alma mater. The FAMU administration must not fail to compete for one of the 1890 HBCU Centers of Excellence.