Timothy Beard addressed questions from students

 

 

Florida A&M moves forward with in their search of finding a
 new Vice President of Student Affairs with an open forum with
 candidate Timothy Beard. Beard answered questions about how he
 would fulfill the role in Lee Hall on Monday in front of a small group 
of faculty, staff and students.

Beard currently serves as the Vice
 President of Student Development and Enrollment Management at
 Pasco-Hernando Community College and has nearly 25 years of experience
 in higher education as an administrator, assistant professor and 
instructor.

“There was a level of 
hope that was instilled in me when I attended FAMU” said Beard. “I knew I would
 come back. Timing is everything.”



Concerns were presented and questions were asked on topics ranging 
from budgeting to leadership style.

Michael Jefferson, 19, SGA secretary of academic affairs, said they 
collected several questions from the student body and those are the 
questions that are given to the candidate.

“The selection of the next
 VP of student affairs is paramount to the future of student life,” said Jefferson. 

 

One of the only questions asked by a student in the audience was in 
regards to how Beards would simplify and speed up the financial aid
 process.

 “We need more bodies to serve the students,” said Beard. “
Personnel increase is linked with student increase. I’m the number one
 advocate of getting more staff, but first I would assess the system in 
place. Human processing and technology processing, we need to make 
sure those systems are efficient. We can’t wait for problems to 
occur.”



As he fielded questions, Beard said that as a leader, you are
 only as good as the people that surround you and that former president Fredrick Humphries and even current President James
 Ammons’ success is contingent on the people they hire. 

In 2001, Beard
 was chosen as ” Teacher of the Year” at FAMU and was appointed by the
 governor of Florida to serve on the State Board of Independent
 Colleges and Universities. 

Beard’s perspective on student engagement 
and involvement directly correlates with faculty and staff.

” It takes positive energy, said Beard. “If you want results you have to 
possess positive energy yourself. It will stem from me and we are 
hoping it will have a domino effect. If we can get student and faculty 
together, we can work wonders.”



With the unemployment rate at almost 10 percent, Beard said he recognizes the
 challenges ahead with job placement of FAMU students. 


“We’ve never seen anything like this since the great depression, said Beard. “Everyone wants to hear good news about his or her situation, but we 
have to challenge ourselves to tell it like it is. These are hard 
times. I will ensure our students have career 
opportunities and financial assistance if they want to extend their 
education.”



Beard’s overall vision for student affairs and his hope for his legacy 
are to help create, perpetuate and sustain student success.