Dr. Elmira Mangum becomes FAMU president

(Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Florida Courier) — The Florida A&M University (FAMU) Board of Trustees has selected Dr. Elmira Mangum, 60, to serve as the institution’s 11th president. Upon confirmation by the Board of Governors, Mangum will make history as the first woman in FAMU’s 126-year legacy to be installed as a permanent president.

“Dr. Mangum brings to FAMU the experience, expertise and energy needed to lead the university into the next phase of its great legacy,” said Trustee Karl White, chair of the presidential search committee. “She emerged from a noteworthy pool of applicants as the candidate who the Board believes is the best fit for this pivotal season in the university’s history.”

Since 2010, Mangum served as vice president for planning and budget at Cornell University, an Ivy League research institution. While at Cornell, Mangum was the senior administrator charged with managing the university’s resources and annual budgeting process. She has been credited with helping the university overcome a structural deficit that impacted the university after the economic downturn.

“I would like to thank the members of the Board of Trustees, the faculty, the students, the staff, the alumni association and the community for the faith expressed in me through this recommendation. It is an honor to be recommended from among such an accomplished field of candidates,” Mangum said.

For more than 28 years, she has served as an executive at nationally recognized institutions of higher learning, including a stint as senior associate provost at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, vice provost at the University of Buffalo and operations specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mangum also has held faculty appointments at Cornell’s Johnson School of Management, the UNC Chapel Hill School of Government and the UB Graduate School of Education.

Mangum was a member of the inaugural class of the Millennium Leadership Institute, attended the Harvard Graduate School of Education Management Development Program and Cornell’s Administrative Management Institute.

She is also a member of the HERS Board of Directors, the NCCU Creating the Vision Board of Directors, the Board of Directors of the Network for Change and Continuous Improvement (NCCI) and was a university chair of the American Association of University Women. She is a life member of the National Council of Negro Women and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

“The Board of Trustees would like to express its appreciation to everyone who invested their time and effort into selecting our 11th president,” said Board Chairman Solomon Badger. “I’d like to express special gratitude to our trustees, presidential search committee and the entire FAMU community for their hard work and support during this process.”

Mangum’s official start date and salary are yet to be determined.

This article originally published in the January 20, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.