Florida Senate - 2020                            (NP)    SR 1898
       
       
        
       By Senator Powell
       
       
       
       
       
       30-02612-20                                           20201898__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing February 6, 2020, as “FAMU
    3         Day” in Florida.
    4  
    5         WHEREAS, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
    6  (FAMU) was founded in 1887, named a land-grant institution in
    7  1891, and designated a university in 1953, and
    8         WHEREAS, FAMU, a historically black college and university
    9  (HBCU) offering undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate, and
   10  professional degree programs, seeks qualified students from all
   11  racial, ethnic, religious, and national groups and has provided
   12  immeasurable educational opportunities for young men and women,
   13  and
   14         WHEREAS, academic components of the university consist of
   15  seven colleges and seven schools: the Colleges of Agriculture
   16  and Food Sciences; Education; Engineering; Law; Pharmacy and
   17  Pharmaceutical Sciences; Science and Technology; and Social
   18  Sciences, Arts, and Humanities; and the schools of Allied Health
   19  Sciences; Architecture and Engineering Technology; Business and
   20  Industry; the Environment; Graduate Studies and Research;
   21  Journalism and Graphic Communication; and Nursing, and
   22         WHEREAS, FAMU ranks first among HBCUs in the number of
   23  African-American students receiving baccalaureate degrees, and
   24  ranks first in the nation in the number of students it graduates
   25  with doctoral degrees in pharmacy, pharmaceutical sciences, and
   26  administration, according to Diverse Issues in Higher
   27  Education’s “Top 100 Producers, 2019,” and
   28         WHEREAS, FAMU is ranked first among HBCUs in research and
   29  development, according to the National Science Foundation, and
   30  is listed as a research university offering doctoral degrees
   31  with “high research activity” in the Carnegie Classification of
   32  Institutions of Higher Education, and
   33         WHEREAS, subsequent to authorization by the Legislature in
   34  2019 for FAMU to pursue low-interest financing, the United
   35  States Department of Education approved the largest financing
   36  package in the history of the HBCU Capital Financing Program to
   37  allow construction of a new 700-bed residence hall on campus,
   38  and
   39         WHEREAS, in 2019, FAMU received a 5-year, $14.8 million
   40  grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health
   41  Disparities, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to
   42  address health disparities by enhancing FAMU’s research
   43  capacity, increasing the number of minority research
   44  investigators, and promoting minority health as a catalyst in
   45  reducing health disparities, and
   46         WHEREAS, FAMU received three grants totaling $2.2 million
   47  from the United States Department of Education’s Minority
   48  Science Engineering Improvement Program to increase the number
   49  of minority students participating in the university’s Program
   50  of Excellence in STEM, and
   51         WHEREAS, the FAMU Program of Excellence in STEM is a
   52  collaborative effort across disciplines which has impacted more
   53  than 200 students by providing them with exposure to research
   54  and coursework in various STEM-related fields, with more than 90
   55  percent of these students selecting STEM majors in college and
   56  nearly 80 percent of them attending FAMU, and
   57         WHEREAS, FAMU was recognized in U.S. News & World Report’s
   58  2019 ranking of the “Top Public Schools” as the highest ranked
   59  public HBCU in the nation, and
   60         WHEREAS, FAMU, was also recognized as one of the most
   61  affordable universities in this state by College Choice, and
   62         WHEREAS, FAMU was recognized as a “National Top College for
   63  Diversity and Inclusion” by Latino Leaders Magazine, and
   64         WHEREAS, in 2019, the FAMU Rattler football team had its
   65  best season since 1998, with a record of 9-2 overall and 7-1 in
   66  the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, finishing the season ranked
   67  No. 1 by the Black College Sports Network, NOW, THEREFORE,
   68  
   69  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   70  
   71         That February 6, 2020, is recognized as “FAMU Day” in
   72  Florida.
   73         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution, with
   74  the Seal of the Senate affixed, be presented to Larry Robinson,
   75  Ph.D., president of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical
   76  University, as a tangible token of the sentiments of the Florida
   77  Senate.