Colleges for Dentistry

FAMU is pushing ahead with its plans to launch a PhD program in chemistry despite painful state-mandated budget cuts. A multi-million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) is aiding the program’s development process.

Back in 2006, NSF awarded FAMU a $5,165,603 five-year grant to establish a Center for Astrophysical Science and Technology (CREST) at FAMU. CREST focuses on education and research in the field of astrophysics. A central objective of the center is to increase the number of African-Americans who earn PhDs in Astrophysics and Astrochemistry.

The Center supports collaboration between the FAMU physics and chemistry departments and will facilitate the startup of a PhD program in Chemistry. It is also helping FAMU establish a laboratory astrophysics program that has a new undergraduate minor and a PhD-level research concentration area.

The principal investigator for CREST is Charles Weatherford, chairman of the FAMU Department of Physics.

FAMU received support to launch a PhD in Chemistry back when the Florida Board of Regents approved a Center of Excellence in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (or COESMET) at FAMU. The program’s purpose: increase black Ph.D. recipients in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Specifically, the center was to add ten PhD programs in two phases from 2001 to 2010. Phase I consisted of: Physics, 2001; Computer Science, 2002; Chemistry, 2003; Biology, 2004; and Computer Engineering, 2005. Phase II included PhDs in Mathematics, Agricultural Sciences, Environmental Engineering and Biological and Agricultural Systems Engineering between 2006 and 2010.

So far, FAMU has only launched the Physics PhD. Former President Frederick S. Humphries and then Provost James H. Ammons had set the foundation for a PhD in Physics even before COESMET received formal authorization. Years earlier, they had begun scraping and saving money from FAMU’s general budget to hire as many physics professors as possible. This enabled the Physics PhD program to begin shortly after 2001.

Florida A&M University reduced its workforce by 48 employees, early last week, as part of its efforts to implement the University’s restructuring plan.

During the past three years, FAMU has experienced budget cuts totaling more than $34 million. Another $8 million will be cut from FAMU’s budget in the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2011.

The 48 employees were notified and immediately placed on administrative leave with pay. Their last day of employment with the University will be June 30, 2011. There are an additional 109 FAMU employees, who are on stimulus dollars, whose employment with the University will end on June 30, 2011.

As part of the restructuring, the university eliminated another 52 vacant positions last week.

“I thank all of these employees for their service to FAMU,” said FAMU President James H. Ammons. “Dealing with dwindling budgets during these tough economic times has not been easy. In fact, today is one of the toughest days of my administrative career. I know many of these employees personally and they have contributed greatly to the success of FAMU.”

As with other universities, institutions and state agencies, FAMU has had to do more with fewer resources. For a two-year period, FAMU has undergone a lengthy planning process to restructure core university functions and to develop a strategy to distinguish itself among other institutions while increasing the number of students receiving degrees in science, engineering, mathematics and technology.

The reduction in staff is a part of the university's sweeping plan to update academic programs, academic organizations, and replaces some of the business functions performed by employees with technology.