New FAMU Provost Comes With Controversy
University community disappointed provost position was not advertised
By Marlon A. Walker
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.
With stints as a top administrator at Florida State University and as
But the president of the FAMU chapter of the United Faculty of Florida, Dr. Bill Tucker, is outraged with the appointment process.
Usually the selection of an administrator is advertised says Tucker, a physics professor. He says by not following the correct process for a selection of this sort, interim president Dr. Castell Bryant denied the FAMU community an opportunity to learn about Austin or the provost opening.
Austin, who has 25 years of experience in higher education, says she and Bryant are working out the specifics of her transition to the school.
“FAMU is an outstanding institution that’s a part of (Florida’s) State University System,” Austin says. “It has the basic ingredients to make it even better. Why not become involved at an institution that has so much going for it?”
The current provost, Dr. Larry Robinson, had been director of FAMU’s Environmental Sciences Institute before he was promoted in May 2003. He will return to the institute as a faculty member.
Dr. Mary Diallo, president of FAMU’s faculty senate and a member of the university’s board of trustees, says a meeting scheduled for Aug. 25 was supposed to give the president an opportunity to explain why she went about hiring Austin without including the FAMU community.
“We need to move forward,” Diallo says, adding that recent changes look to bring more stability to the university.
According to Bryant, a 1970 FAMU graduate, the selection of Austin was easy because, “She was extremely and exceptionally qualified.”
But Tucker says Bryant robbed the faculty of the opportunity to stand behind the provost appointment.
