Florida A&M University Informations

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) is a public, historically black university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, it is located on the highest geographic hill in Tallahassee. It is the 5th largest historically black university in the United States by enrollment and the only public historically black university in Florida. It is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, as well as one of the state's land grant universities, and is accredited to award baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degrees by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

The 2020 edition of the U.S. News and World Report college rankings placed the university in Tier 1 among "national universities" (254th), 7th among all HBCUs and 2nd among all public HBCUs. The university is classified as an R2 Doctoral Research University under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, which denotes higher research activity.For 2017, the National Science Foundation ranked Florida AandM University 216th nationally and 2nd among HBCU for total research and development expenditures.

FAMU sports teams are known as the "Rattlers", and compete in Division I of the NCAA. They are a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC).

Abolitionist Jonathan C. Gibbs first introduced legislation to create the State Normal College for Colored Students in 1885, one year after being elected to the Florida Legislature. The date also reflects the new Florida Constitution of 1885, which prohibited racial integration in schools. The college was located in Tallahassee because Leon County and adjacent counties led the state in African-American population, reflecting Tallahassee's former status as the center of Florida's slave trade. (See History of Tallahassee, Florida#Black history.) The site of the university is the 375-acre slave plantation:94 of Florida governor William Pope Duval, whose mansion, today the site of the Carnegie Library, burned in 1905.

On October 3, 1887, the State Normal College for Colored Students began classes, and became a land-grant college four years later when it received $7,500 under the Second Morrill Act, and its name was changed to State Normal and Industrial College for Colored Students. However, it was not an official institution of higher learning until the 1905 Buckman Act, which transferred control from the Department of Education to the Board of Control, creating what was the foundation for the modern Florida AandM University. This same act is responsible for the creation of the University of Florida and Florida State University from their previous institutions. In 1909, the name of the college was once again changed, to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes, and in 1953 the name was finally changed to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. Florida AandM is the only publicly funded historically black college or university in the state of Florida.

In 1951, the university started a pharmacy and nursing program. In order to give these students hands-on experience, the university built a hospital. Until 1971 Florida AandM Hospital was the only one within 150 miles (240 km) of Tallahassee to serve African Americans. It closed in 1971, after then-Tallahassee Memorial Hospital started serving African Americans.

In 1963, FAMU students demonstrated against segregation in the city.

In 1992, 1995, and 1997, FAMU successfully recruited more National Achievement Scholars than Harvard.

In the fall of 1997, FAMU was selected as the TIME Magazine-Princeton Review "College of the Year" and was cited in 1999 by Black Issues in Higher Education for awarding more baccalaureate degrees to African-Americans than any institutions in the nation.

In 2011 Robert Champion, a band member, was beaten to death in a hazing incident. Two faculty members resigned in connection with a hazing investigation and 13 people were charged with felony or misdemeanor hazing crimes; one student, a band member, was convicted of manslaughter and hazing charges and sentenced to six years in prison. The scandal resulted in the resignation of FAMU's president and played a role in the university's regional accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, placing FAMU on probation for one year.

In 2017, FAMU became the first university to launch an African-American news network through its School of Journalism and Graphic Communications. The network is named "The Black Television News Channel" and is accompanied by a multimillion-dollar, media-training center for aspiring journalists. This network is expected to bring $30 million annually in economic stimulus to the Tallahassee region.

In 2019, FAMU and other HBCUs developed a partnership with Adtalem Global Education and its for-profit Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados.

The university offers 54 bachelor's degrees, 29 master's degrees, one professional degree, and 12 doctoral degrees. It has 12 schools and colleges. Florida AandM also has an honors program for high-achieving undergraduate students who meet the high performance criteria. FAMU is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.

In 2012, FAMU implemented the Medical Scholars Program (MSP). MSP is a rigorous pre-medical program designed to uniquely prepare academically talented undergraduate students for success in medical school and beyond. There is a cap of 10 freshmen accepted into this competitive four-year program each year.

FAMU has nine fully funded, endowed, eminent-scholars chairs, including two in the School of Journalism and Graphic Communications, four in the School of Business and Industry, one in the College of Education, one in Arts and Sciences, and one in its School of Pharmacy.

The Fall 2017 incoming freshmen class had an average GPA of 3.4 and an average SAT score of 1078.

Florida AandM University student enrollment population consists primarily of undergraduates. 84.1% of the school's enrolled students are African-American. The next largest demographic group is White (non-Hispanic) students at 7.71%. Native Americans, Hispanics and Asian Americans round out the remaining 8.19%.

Florida AandM University has been accredited by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) since 1935.

In 2017, the university had a four-year graduation rate of 21.8% and a six-year graduation rate of 47%, the lowest rates of all the universities in the State University System of Florida.

FAMU's School of Architecture and Engineering Technology is tied with seven other architecture-related schools in the No. 1 ranking by bachelor's degree production for African Americans by Diverse Issues in Higher Education.

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