The number of candidates for the position of vice president for research has been narrowed to five.
According to a university press release, President Fred Gainous said the search committee has done a great job of finding a group of extremely qualified and notable candidates. With the original number of candidates being 21, the search committee is rapidly moving forward.
The top five candidates for the vice president for research include Gwendolyn C. Davis, chief of the office of minority recruitment and equal opportunity in Bethesda, Md., Robert L. Ford, assistant associate commissioner for Sponsored Programs at the Louisiana Board of Regents, in Baton Rouge, La., and Phyllis Gray-Ray, dean of the school of graduate studies and research at Winston-Salem State University, in Winston-Salem, N.C., John H. Hall Jr., professor of natural sciences at Morehouse College, in Atlanta and Charles A. Weatherford, professor and associate director of the FAMU Institute for Molecular Computations, in Tallahassee, are also
candidates for the position at hand.
“The vice president for research is supposed to develop ways to assist
faculty and staff in gathering research funds on the state and federal
level,” said LaNedra Carroll, a spokeswoman for the university office of
public affairs.
The person selected for this position will have an indirect impact on daily
students life through FAMU’s faculty and staff.
In addition, the chosen candidate is expected to be skilled in creating
and nurturing partnerships. These partnerships should be between the
university and the corporate and private sectors, but they are not limited.
Dr. Dhyana Ziegler is the acting vice president for research. Under
Ziegler’s direction as acting vice president, many partnerships have been
enhanced. One example of a partnership that has been formed and enhanced is
with the Defense Intelligence Agency.
The Defense Intelligence Agency visited FAMU and as result of their visit
and due to the capabilities of the faculty, FAMU now has the potential to
generating meaningful sums of revenue for the university, according to Wanda
Ford, acting director of sponsored research.
The search committee headed by Dr. Larry Robinson, director of the
Environmental Sciences Institute, will interview the five candidates and then
redirect the top three candidates to President Gainous.
President Gainous expects the search process for a new vice president for
research to be completed by the end of the year.