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| FAMU President James H. Ammons (left) and Carla Willis, vice president for University Relations and executive director, FAMU Foundation, Inc., (right) accepts a $2.5 million check from Lenora Peters Gant, Ph.D., National Senior Intelligence Service and director of the Intelligence Community Center Academic Excellence and Program Office, to establish and fund a Center of Academic Excellence at FAMU. |
October 24, 2009
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Office of the Director of National Intelligence Community awarded Florida A&M University (FAMU) a $2.5 million grant over five years (2009-2014) to establish and fund a Center of Academic Excellence. FAMU is now the 22nd U.S. institution of higher learning to earn such a distinction.
Lenora Peters Gant, Ph.D., National Senior Intelligence Service and director of the Intelligence Community Center Academic Excellence and Program Office, presented a check to FAMU President James H. Ammons during halftime at FAMU’s homecoming football game.
Gant, a 1978 graduate of FAMU’s School of Business and Industry, said it felt great to come back to make the presentation.
“We are not responsible for how we find this world when we are born; however, we are responsible for how we leave the world," she said.
The principal goal of the Center is to encourage faculty-led student research on national security issues. The Center will be a multidisciplinary research, instructional and pre-college school outreach unit aimed at increasing the pool of talented young men and women. It will focus primarily, though not exclusively, on minorities and women from which Intelligence Community agencies (consisting of 16 federal executive departments and agencies) may recruit new employees.
Some examples of U.S. Intelligence Community departments and agencies include: the State Department, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and the Central Intelligence Agency. The Center will conduct a number of programs and activities whose aim will be to enhance research spearheaded by faculty, but with FAMU students and precollege students substantively engaged with faculty. Ultimately, research enhancement efforts will broaden the pool of available researchers and provide an important window of exposure to students and faculty who will desire to become a part of the intelligence community in some capacity or other, yet consistent with the needs of the National Intelligence Community.
Keith Simmonds, Ph.D., assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of public administration and political science, will serve as principal investigator.
“For the first time in a significant way, we are enabling our minorities and women to prepare to come to the decision-making table where decisions on national security and international relations are made,” said Simmonds. “We are contributing to the diversity that this nation seeks and needs on such a major national matter. This grant really establishes a direct pathway to this very important table.”
Gary Paul, Ph.D., associate professor for political science and public administration, will serve as co-principal investigator along with co-principal investigator Ren Moses, Ph.D., associate professor of civil engineering.
Larry Robinson, Ph.D., professor and vice president for Research, said, “This award shows the tremendous breadth of the talents of faculty and students at FAMU.”
Other Center personnel will include the daily management by a director who will serve as the operational liaison between FAMU and the U.S. Intelligence Community and will be responsible for working with university officials to achieve the goals and objectives of the Center. Leadership will be provided to develop strategic partnerships with the Intelligence Community agencies such as the Department of State, Department of Defense, and other public and private organizations in order to facilitate the preparation of students for professional careers in the U.S. Intelligence Community.
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