Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 5-31-16 Online Edition

Feature
FAMU’s President: Alum And Supporters Are Key Assets To School
Among FAMU grads who attended the breakfast were: Cheryl Byrd Washington, Dr. JaMia L. Washington, Tiffany Berry and Patsy Greene.
FAMU’s President, Dr. Elmira Mangum was in Tampa as the guest speaker for a breakfast at the Tampa Club. She is shown with Albert Lee.
Pamela Lee, Hosetta Coleman, Senior Vice President, Fifth Third Bank (event sponsor) and Vice Chairman, FAMU Foundation Board of Directors, and Katrina Stokes.
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
In the past year, Florida A&M University was named by national magazines as one of the best colleges for African- Americans, transferred thou- sands of acres of land under its umbrella, and classified as a high research activity univer- sity.
Much of this success and more is thanks in part to the college’s active and engaged alumni, university President Elmira Mangum told atten- dees at a breakfast on Wednes- day, May 25, 2016.
“You know you are our most precious asset and effec- tive recruiters,” she said. “It’s imperative for us that we con- tinue to have you engage with students on campus and be en- gaged in the community.”
Ms. Mangum’s visit to Tampa is part of the univer- sity’s national alumni associa- tion’s annual convention, which takes place through Sunday.
It’s expected that 500 peo- ple will participate in the con- vention, where the focus will be on how alumni can provide the university with financial and academic support, said Charles Lewis, III, the na- tional alumni association’s first vice president.
These gatherings can be a boon for both FAMU and the alumni association, he said.
“We generally see an in- crease in our alumni associa- tion chapters across the country,” he said in a tele- phone interview. “And we find the best and brightest to come to our university.”
George Cotton, FAMU’s vice president of University Advancement, implored alums at the breakfast to include the institution in their estate plan- ning to help the university ful- fill its mission.
“Create opportunities for other people just like other people created opportunities for us,” he said.
In her speech, Ms. Mangum ran down a list of accomplishments the univer- sity has achieved including re- ceiving the largest grant from
the National Institute of Edu- cation for its College of Phar- macy and offering students free passports to help them gain international travel and academic experience.
Additionally, Money and Essence magazines ranked FAMU among the top five of 50 colleges for Black students and the university was recog- nized by the Carnegie Founda- tion for the Advancement of Teaching as a R2 research in- stitution, the foundation’s sec- ond-highest designation.
One of the university’s most significant accomplish- ments is the acquisition of the former Subtropical Agricul- tural and Research Station in Brooksville.
The transfer gave FAMU more than 3,800 acres of land and includes 19 buildings, more than 2,830 square feet of laboratories, and 3,600 square feet of office space, according to the president’s annual re- port.
The university also will ex- pand its efforts in agriculture research, which is becoming increasingly important to na- tional security, Ms. Mangum said.
Modern agriculture isn’t “your daddy’s agriculture,” she said.
“It’s agribusiness and intel- ligence,” she said. “It’s impor- tant to our national security and our economy.”
Ms. Mangum said im- proving student success also is a high priority for the univer- sity and that means imple- menting initiatives that make FAMU a more student- fo- cused campus.
That includes the construc- tion of a new Student Services building and devising new re- tention programs, she said.
Ensuring students are suc- cessful at FAMU begins before they get to campus, Ms. Mangum said.
Alumni can push legisla- tors to give more resources and money to create more Ad- vanced Placement (AP) courses and provide more op- portunities for high school stu- dents to practice taking standardized tests, she said. (Photos by BRUNSON)
Erika
Marshall were at the breakfast.
Nunn and
Esther
Mr. and Mrs. Rigoberto (Sonja) Garcia were among those at the breakfast.
TUESDAY, MAY 31, 2016 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 3