Welcome to

Florida A&M University has a new “interim” President tonight. 58-year-old Dr. Larry Robinson was given the job, subject to confirmation in August, of cleaning up problems at FAMU while a permanent search takes place. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, FAMU trustees waived a 90-day notice for out going Dr. James Ammons resignation and want to move forward quickly with fixing problems at the University.

Surrounded by portraits of previous presidents, Provost Larry Robinson listened expressionlessly as the FAMU Trustees debated whether he should be named interim president immediately, or if other names should be considered. Trustee Rufus Montgomery questioned why the board was moving so quickly.

“We haven’t made any monumental decisions like this,” Montgomery said. “We couldn’t make a decision when someone was killed.”

Calling the situation an emergency, the compromise was to name Robinson Interim President immediately, subject to an in person vote by Trustees in August.

Trustees want a ten day, thirty day and 90 day plan from Robinson. He calls it a good idea and says his presidency will not maintain the status quo.

“There’s going to be a lot of things we do that are fairly aggressive, that are going to be different from the way we have done them in the past,” Robinson said.

Robinson was interim president for three months in 2007. He has been at FAMU since 1997, and has the backing of both students and faculty.

“I know that he is a very, very capable leader,” Faculty Trustee Narayan Persaud said. “Plus, I know that he is very deliberate and is not afraid to make the hard decisions.”

The former president will continue to receive his salary for the next year while he is on sabbatical. After that, he has the option to become a tenured professor.

The search for a new president is expected to take about a year.

Trustees say making the change now will allow the new president to have an imprint right away, rather than waiting until after the school year begins to change leadership.