Colleges for Dentistry

Back while the University of South Florida and Florida Atlantic University were hammering out plans for big new health science schools, FAMU was stuck with trustees like Bill Jennings who let an out-of-control interim administration nearly sink the institution.

James H. Ammons made it clear during his presidential interviews in 2007 that he wanted to help FAMU catch up by establishing a College of Dental Medicine. But his first years as FAMU’s leader were consumed with cleaning up the accreditation and financial messes that Jennings and his buddies permitted the previous administration to create.

FAMU ended up missing a critical window of opportunity to get public support for a dental education program. Former Sen. Alfred “Al” Lawson worked hard to push a legislative authorization bill for the college after Ammons was finally able to dedicate greater attention to the proposal in 2009. He also had creative ideas for obtaining a building to house the school.

But by 2009, the Great Recession was in full swing and Public Education Capital Outlay funds were starting to dry up. Lawson was also heading toward the end of his term limit and had little to time to cut the deals necessary to bring home another big set of budgetary earmarks for his alma mater.

At that same time USF and FAU, which did not have to deal with low-quality trustees like Jennings, were well on their way to beefing up their health science program offerings. USF received approval for its new College of Pharmacy in 2008 and FAU received approval for its new College of Medicine in 2010. Those two schools are now well on their way to hauling in big revenue in tuition dollars and multi-million dollar federal grants for those two universities.

Jennings could have chosen to make fundraising and lobbying for the dental school proposal his top priority during his last year as chairman from 2010 to 2011. But he seemed to dedicate much greater energy to his bitter, behind-the-scenes battles with Ammons over issues such as the super-majority clause in the presidential contract.

FAMU has had a long-running problem with trustees who give more time and attention to ego-driven bickering inside the university than working to help FAMU compete for a bigger slice of the statewide funding pie. The chance to make headway on a College of Dental Medicine before the Great Recession is just one of the opportunities FAMU has lost because of such individuals.

If FAMUans do not get sick and tired of this type of trustee behavior, the university will continue to miss out on important time-limited opportunities to build upon its academic mission.