Mangum has no plans to shake up FAMU leadership

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- New Florida A&M President Elmira Mangum said Friday she has no plans to clean house when she settles into Lee Hall later this year.

Mangum, the vice president for budget and planning at Cornell University, was selected by FAMU’s trustees on Thursday to be the university’s 11th president, the first female CEO in the school’s 126-year history.

Already back in Ithaca, N.Y., home to the land-grant Ivy League university where she has worked since 2010, Mangum said during a Friday phone interview that she will need time to assess the current leadership team at FAMU before she makes any decisions about who she wants working side by side with her.

“I need to understand the staff, what the current leaders’ strategic plan is and their willingness to continue the services they’ve been providing,” Mangum, 60, said. “The whole higher education community is on the drawing board. The first people on the drawing board are the people at FAMU.”

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