Alumni

Biography

Dr. Frederick S. Humphries

Dr. Frederick S. Humphries – Regent Professor, Florida A&M University, Former President and CEO, National Association For Equal Opportunity, Former President, Florida A&M University and Former President and President Emeritus, Tennessee State University

Dr. Humphries, a renowned scholar and admired public servant, had a distinguished, 30 year, career as president of the National Association for Equal Opportunity (NAFEO), Florida A&M and Tennessee State Universities.

During his nearly 17 year tenure at Florida A&M, where he created the Life Gets Better and Graduate School Feeder Program (GSFB), he more than doubled enrollment while simultaneously raising academic standards. He increased the number of National Achievement Scholars at the school ranking first in the nation three times, out recruiting Harvard and Stanford, and made Florida A&M the nation’s number one producer of African-Americans with baccalaureate degrees and third in the nation as the baccalaureate institution of origin for African-American doctoral degree recipients. His crowning achievement came when Florida A&M was selected as the first TIME Magazine/Princeton Review “College of the Year” in 1997.

Dr. Humphries is respected throughout the United States and Internationally for his keen insights on the education of minority students, particularly in math and the hard sciences, and his unique and visionary approaches to producing successful educational outcomes.  He has served as Chairman, Board of Directors of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, Member, Board of Trustees, University of Pittsburgh, Member of President Bill Clinton’s White House Advisory Committee on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Corporate America has also sought his expertise as a member of the Board of Directors of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.; Brinker International; Barnett Bank (Bank of America), Florida, the National Merit Corporation, the Princeton Review, Academy for Educational Development (AED) and a Founder and Board Member, Thurgood Marshall Fund. Dr. Humphries has a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Florida A&M University (Magna Cum Laude) and a PHD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was the first African American to obtain a PHD in this discipline.

Dr. Humphries led the successful merger of the University of Tennessee, Nashville (a Traditional White Institution) and Tennessee State University (a Historically Black University - HBCU's) in a landmark legal case that set the precedence for the first time a Historically Black College had successfully merged and/or acquired a Traditionally White Institution in the history of the United States.  In response to the nation's inability to retain African American students called "the revolving door syndrome" in the Higher Education system, where African American first year students were admitted in the Fall semester and failed out in the Spring semester. Dr. Humphries, provided leadership to a team of educators from thirteen institutions of higher education to create a curriculum for the development of the "Thirteen College Curriculum Program" which was a comprehensive first year college academic program to enhance the learning achievements of and retention of African-American Students in American higher education in their freshman year.  In response to HBCU's not having mechanisms in place to track enrollment, faculty by discipline, number and types of academic programs and strengths and weaknesses of their institutions. Dr. Humphries, led twenty-seven HBCU's in the planning and establishment of respective institutional research offices dedicated to tracking key trends and data on the status and capabilities of each university.

Dr. Humphries has been honored with many awards, including the 1991 Thurgood Marshall Award for Higher Education (Sponsored by Johnson Publishing Company), the 1993 Drum Major for Justice Award for Higher Education (Sponsored by Southern Christian Leadership Conference - SCLC), 1997 Floridian of the Year (Sponsored by the Orlando Sentinel), 2001 The Trumpet Award for Education (Sponsored Time Warner - Turner Broadcasting Systems), 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to African Americans in Engineering (National Association of Black Engineers) and numerous honorary doctrorate degrees. On the 100th Anniversary of the University of Pittsburgh granting it's PHD. In the Arts & Sciences, the University granted Dr. Humphries the Centennial Medallion of Honor to their most distinguished alumni - only five people have ever received this award from the University.