Robinson has FAMU laser focused on becoming a top 100 public university

FAMU retained its place as the top ranked public historically Black college or university in the latest U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) rankings, while improving in several key measures considered in the publication’s methodology. 

FAMU came in at No. 117 on the list of Top Public Universities, up from 123 a year ago, and No. 241 among all national universities public and private. The next highest ranked public HBCU came in at No 136. The rankings appear in USNWR’s “Best Colleges 2021” guidebook. 

The trusted report compared more than 1,400 undergraduate institutions across 17 measures of "academic quality".
 
“Our rankings reflect the University’s commitment to academic excellence, student success and our motto “Excellence with Caring,” said President Larry Robinson, Ph.D. “Rankings are important barometers, but it is impossible to measure the hard work of everyone on our team and the impacts of our students throughout their careers,” he stated.
 
FAMU looking to crack Top 100
At this past Board of Trustees meeting, Robinson told trustees that he was laser focused on continuing the university’s upward trajectory to break the USNWR’s Top 100 public universities rankings.
 
Florida currently has five public universities ranked among USNWR’s Top 100, four of those universities are receiving additional state support to achieve success from either preeminent or emerging preeminent funds. FAMU, on the other hand, which ranks as the sixth best public university in Florida out of the state's twelve public universities has been rising in academic stature without any supplemental funding.
 
Getting strong & better academically, faster
Lately, the University has taken aggressive steps to increase its graduation and retention rates.  In the past five years FAMU has increased its four-year graduation rate from 13% to 34.6%.  And, since 2019, the average GPA of incoming freshman jumped from 3.66 (fall 2019) to an expected 3.8 or better (fall 2021).

The university has also focused its attention transforming its student residence halls and amenities by adding nearly 1,500 new dorm rooms, renovating its main dinning room and building a new one and adding a new full sized artificial turf football field, complete with scoreboard, to its intramural field complex.  These amenities should help attract better students.

The university's latest Accountability Report, submitted to the Board of Governors says, it plans to apply the many lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that the University is well-position to become an even stronger “first-choice” education institution for the best and brightest students.