TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) — "The state of the university is strong,” FAMU President Dr. Larry Robinson said during his annual state of the university address given to students and faculty.
President Robinson said FAMU administration is striving to make the school a top 100 public university through an investment in student academic resources, like more specialized advising programs.
Students said the school needs to focus on fundamentals like housing to ensure more success.
"As we go to the number one public HBCU in the nation, I feel like a lot of people are going to gradually come in numbers,” student Dyan Cadet said. “And an increase in housing and parking would be beneficial to the current student body and the new student body coming in."
FAMU just purchased two complexes near campus to turn into student housing.
President Robinson said this will help ease the demand for housing but will not fully be able to accommodate every student seeking on-campus housing.
"With about 120 units each to allow us to provide those to upper class students as well as graduate students to alleviate the pressure on campus, so they can be priority for to first time in college students," Robinson said.
FAMU administration is also working to keep retention rate high for staff and recruit more faculty to avoid past issues like compliance mistakes that kept many football players off the field in August.
Undergraduate student Elijah Hooks said while he agrees the school needs to address some issues, he also said FAMU is living up to its name as the number one HBCU in the nation.
"We're also producing some of the top leaders, some of the top innovators and some of the top change makers who are African American, which means a lot to diversity and change within many fields," Hooks said.
