FAMU President James H. Ammons Leads ‘Remarkable Turnaround’

                            Barack Obama And President Ammons

In the midst of Florida A&M University (FAMU) facing the greatest uncertainty in the schools 120 year history, the university appears to be back on a path to success now that it has received its first positive audit results in the last three years from the Florida Auditor General’s Office.

FAMU received preliminary findings from the Florida Auditor General earlier this week that noted a marked improvement in the university’s finances. This is welcome news for FAMU students, alumni, faculty and staff as the university confronts the possible loss of its accreditation because of past fiscal mismanagement.

Auditor General David W. Martin released the executive summary and noted, “The results of our test disclosed no instances of noncompliance or other matters that are required to be reported under Government Auditing Standards.”

“I am proud of the work of our staff,” said FAMU President James H. Ammons. “This means that FAMU has addressed issues in such a way that the Florida Auditor General Office has confidence in our management of the finances at FAMU.”

Despite these audit results, the Atlanta-based Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Commission on Colleges (COC) still decided to extend the university’s probation for another six months. However, university officials believe that this decision could have been different, but because the FAMU audit results did not reach the COC’s Criteria and Reports Committee in time for its deliberation, the results of this latest audit was not considered in the decision making process.

The current audit was a critical document that was required to show evidence of FAMU’s financial position. Auditor General’s Office worked with FAMU so the final audit could be submitted before the SACS meeting. Under normal circumstances, the audit may have been completed as late as February 2008. The Commission on Colleges authorized a committee visit to the campus in April 2008 to review the audit and verify that the corrective actions have been implemented. SACS will make a decision regarding FAMU’s probationary status during its June 2008 meeting.

“This decision was very disappointing in light of our efforts,” said President Ammons. “We did everything humanly possible in the last five months to turn this situation around. I am proud of the work of my leadership team and the support we received from key individuals throughout this process. We were responsible for the university receiving its first clean audit in three years and implementing a corrective-action plan that significantly improved the university’s fiscal affairs. Even with this decision, we will remain optimistic about FAMU’s future and continue the steadfast pursuit of excellence.”

On February 1, 2007, Ammons accepted the job as FAMU’s new president and put the fate of university on his shoulders. Just a few weeks before Ammons officially took office in July of 2007, FAMU was put on six months probation for a host of financial violations including $39 million in unaccounted for expenditures and missing employee paychecks. Fortunately, Ammons had experience turning universities around in similar situations. He is credited with reversing years of fiscal mismanagement at fellow HBCU North Carolina Central University, delivering a string of clean state audits, and raising enrollment 50 percent during his six years as chancellor.

So far Ammons appears to be leading FAMU out of its financial crisis the same way he led North Carolina Central, putting him on a path to solidify his legacy as a turnaround specialist.

Teresa Hardee, chief financial officer (CFO) and vice president for Administrative and Fiscal Affairs for FAMU summed up things best stating “It is difficult to put into words what a truly remarkable turnaround this represents.”