Tuesday, November 23, 2010

A Day in The Life - Theatre Student

A day in the life of Kendrick Jones, a graduating senior theatre and dance performance student, is often theatrical. This Broadway bound student knows the importance of balance when it comes to dance performance and his studies. This is a day in the life... after the curtains drop

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

A Day in the Life - A Drum Major




A Day in The Life of Wesley Hemmans, a FAMU drum major, is an instrumental one. From the Patch to the classroom, this senior music student from Orlando, Fla. uses his talent and love for the Marching "100" to get him through his day-to-day. This is a day in the life of a FAMU drum major

FAMU Opens a Juvenile Justice Research Institute


lorida A&M University (FAMU) has joined the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to open the Juvenile Justice Research Institute (JJRI) to identify research and implement cutting edge juvenile justice services that will address the needs of youths at greatest risk of delinquency involvement.

DJJ has facilitated the funding of the JJRI with $400,000 from Florida’s Juvenile Justice State Advisory Group and a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention.

The project, which is titled the Situational Environmental Circumstances Pilot (SECP), will provide non-traditional strategies that will enhance youth and family engagement and development, public safety and the effectiveness of existing juvenile services and programs.

“The over-representation of minorities, particularly black young men, is a special concern in juvenile justice systems across the country,” said Secretary Frank Peterman Jr., Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. “I believe support from the academic community in addressing delinquency will greatly encourage our troubled youth, and show them a positive path filled with young people who are not so very different from themselves.”

Minority over-representation in the juvenile justice system exists when the proportion of DJJ youths who are members of minority groups exceeds the proportion such groups represent in the general population. For example, DJJ data from 2009-2010 shows that black youth make up 39 percent of DJJ youth, although they account for only 21.5 percent of Florida’s youth population.

“Our center will focus on improving the recidivism rate of youth in the juvenile justice system,” said FAMU President James H. Ammons. “Florida A&M University and the Department of Juvenile Justice partner to develop strategies to address this crucial crisis. Today is the day the FAMU community kicks off this renewed commitment to work to ensure that the youth of Florida are offered and provided the services that will help them to become successful and productive citizens.”

The SECP Project will emphasize individual development, academic/vocational achievement, job readiness, family and community support to 150 moderate to high-risk youth, 75 per site, receiving DJJ residential and/or community supervision services.

Mentoring services will be provided by graduate and advanced undergraduate youth mentor advocates and volunteer mentors under the direction of a site coordinator at FAMU and Edward Waters College. Key components of the SEC Model include the following: motivation, habits and attitudes, goal setting, problem solving, decision making, family relationships, effective communication, lifestyle/environmental changes, and employability skills.

FAMU is establishing the JJRI in collaboration with Bethune-Cookman University, Edward Waters College, Florida Atlantic University and Florida Memorial University. These institutions are committed to addressing the inexorably linked problems of juvenile crime, academic failure, family dysfunction and other youth related problems associated with disadvantaged communities throughout Florida.

National Academies Ranks FAMU No. 1 Institution of Origin for African Americans Earning Doctorates in Natural Science and Engineering

Florida A&M University (FAMU) is No. 1 in the nation as the institution of origin for African Americans who earn doctorates in natural science and engineering.

In a pre-publication copy of Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America’s Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads, the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine reported that FAMU is No. 1 out of the top 25 universities in the U.S. An institution of origin is where a person earns his or her bachelor’s degree.

In the report, the top 10 baccalaureate institutions of African Americans who went on to earn doctorates in the natural sciences and engineering for the period 2002-2006 were historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Some of the other universities that were listed in the top 25 included Howard University, Morehouse College, Tuskegee University, Hampton University and North Carolina A&T State University. University of Florida was one of the non-HBCUs listed in the top 25.

“FAMU’s highly talented and dedicated faculty prepare and motivate our students to pursue doctoral degrees,” said FAMU President James H. Ammons. “These statistics also underscore the importance of HBCUs in producing our brain trust for the future.”

According to the National Academics web site, the national efforts to strengthen U.S. science and engineering must include all Americans, especially minorities, who are the fastest growing groups of the U.S. population but the most underrepresented in science and technology careers. Minority participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at all levels should be an urgent national priority, says the report, which offers a comprehensive road map for increasing involvement of underrepresented minorities and improving the quality of their education.

“It’s well-documented that the United States needs a strong science and technology workforce to maintain global leadership and competitiveness,” said Freeman Hrabowski III, chair of the committee who wrote the report and president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “The minds and talents of underrepresented minorities are a great, untapped resource that the nation can no longer afford to squander. Improving STEM education of our diverse citizenry will strengthen the science and engineering work force and boost the U.S. economy.”

The report also notes that underrepresented minorities, including African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans, comprised just more than 9 percent of minority college-educated Americans in science and engineering occupations in 2006. This number would need to triple to match the share of minorities in the U.S. population. Furthermore, to reach a national target that 10 percent of all 24-year-olds hold an undergraduate degree in science or engineering disciplines, the number of underrepresented minorities would need to quadruple or even quintuple.

The National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.