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Florida A&M University will choose its next president this week

FAMU Day at the Florida Legislature
Adrian Andrews
/
WFSU Public Media
FAMU Day at the Florida Legislature

The four finalists will visit the campus, and the Board of Trustees will vote on Friday.

Florida A&M University is expected to choose its next president this week.

Each of the four finalists will visit the Tallahassee campus. And on Friday, the Board of Trustees will vote.

The candidates will have the same schedule depending on their assigned day, and many of their meetings will be available online.

They'll meet with the Board of Trustees, the senior leadership team, faculty, and students. At 5 p.m. each day, they'll meet with the alumni and broader FAMU community. And at least one of those community meetings could be contentious.

The search became controversial with the addition of a fourth candidate: Marva Johnson, the group vice president for state government affairs for Charter Communications. She was appointed by then-Gov. Rick Scott to the state Board of Education in 2014, and served four years as chair beginning in 2015.

At a town hall meeting last week, FAMU alumni argued that Johnson's track record as an educator doesn't measure up to the other candidates.

The other finalists are Rondall Allen, provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Gerald Hector, senior vice president for administration and finance at the University of Central Florida; and Donald Palm, FAMU executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Larry Robinson resigned as president last year after he failed to vet a later-ceased $237 million donation for the school. Robinson, who will return to FAMU to teach after a yearlong sabatical, was credited with stabilizing a school mired in accreditation and enrollment issues and a hazing death.

Timothy Beard has been serving as interim president.

Copyright 2025 WFSU

Margie Menzel
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