BlackboardFAMU-FSU College of Engineering celebrates 30 years
FAMU-FSU College of Engineering celebrates a unique partnership
It's neither silver nor golden. As anniversaries go, 30 rarely rates as special.
So you'll have to forgive the folks at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering if they are going out of their way to cut ribbons and cakes throughout the 2012-13 academic year. Not only is their school the first - and believed to be only - joint engineering program of its kind in the nation between a historically black university and a major research institution, it also has a new dean at the helm for the first time in almost two decades, Yaw Yeboah.
A native of Ghana, he earned multiple degrees in the United States, including a doctorate in chemical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Yeboah comes to his new post with equal parts energy and optimism, promoting the slogan: "Two universities, one college, twice the opportunities."
"I want people to focus more on taking advantage of the opportunities of having the two institutions and jointly having one college," Yeboah said. "It's truly unique."
Created in 1982 by the Legislature, the joint college had just 35 students in its initial class and was a joint college in name only as it got under way. Students from each university took classes on their own campus in borrowed spaces.
It has grown tremendously over the years, and today boasts a high-profile, combined campus in Innovation Park that offers bachelors, masters and doctoral degree programs across seven disciplines.
Its current makeup reflects the size differences between the two universities, where FAMU has an enrollment of about 12,000 students compared to 41,000 at FSU. Of the 2,229 undergraduates enrolled in the college this semester, FSU students outnumber FAMU by more than 4-to-1 (1,807 to 422), and the difference is more dramatic among graduate students (242 to 26). Each university has its own faculty at the college, with 58 full-time teaching faculty from FSU and 22 from FAMU.
Make no mistake, the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering is vitally important to each university's portfolio, not to mention the state's high-tech workforce.
"I would say engineering is one of the most important degrees in terms of its potential for economic impact," FSU President Eric Barron said. "Having a strong engineering program is essential for the research portfolio of the university and for students to have choices among degrees that have high-paying jobs."
Said Larry Robinson, FAMU's interim president: "The college of engineering is critically important to both universities. It's also critically important to this community and the State University System as we focus on creating more STEM jobs. It allows for students to pursue areas of study that lead to gainful and well-compensated employment."
While the marriage between the two public universities has not always been a blissful union - the engineering school is run by a Joint Operating Council made up of the president, provost and chief financial officer at each institution, with the chair rotating - both presidents are determined to focus on the positive. As is Yeboah.
"There's tremendous opportunity to take advantage of having an HBCU and a majority institution with a strong research component. It provides such an opportunity to enhance diversity," Yeboah said.
When pursuing federal grants and contracts, it sometimes makes more sense to have FAMU be the principle investigator, he added, while for other grant opportunities FSU is better suited to take that role.
"We can go either way and still collaborate. The possibilities are really unlimited. One thing we really have to understand is that diversity is an asset," Yeboah said.
That's a perspective Barron and Robinson both embrace.
"Sadly, engineering has been one of those degrees that has had a very low diversity over time," Barron said. "This is a program that can have a significant impact in altering that story."
Robinson said, "Both FAMU and FSU are contributing to a very critical role in diversifying the workforce with this partnership. We should never lose sight of this."
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