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
chancellor of the State University System of Florida, snagging Dr. Debra Austin to become second in command at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee could be seen as a major coup.
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.
