Johnson Outlines Student Success, Academic Excellence and R1 Priorities During Fall Faculty Planning Conference
Florida A&M University President Marva B. Johnson, J.D., outlined a forward-looking vision centered on student success, academic excellence, faculty investment and institutional accountability during a fireside chat at the Fall Faculty Planning Conference.
In a wide-ranging conversation with Vice President Brandi Tatum-Fedrick, Ph.D., Johnson reflected on lessons from her first year as president while discussing the University’s financial health, academic priorities, enrollment growth, performance-based funding, shared governance and pursuit of R1 research status.
Johnson opened by thanking faculty for their role in sustaining the culture and legacy that distinguish FAMU.
“I got to deepen my understanding through conversations with each of you or many of
you. I get to deepen my understanding of your commitment to our students, to our school's
success,” Johnson said. “I got to deepen my understanding of the fact that what carries
the culture and the legacy that makes FAMU the number one public HBCU is truly the
culture that you all drive.”
President Marva B. Johnson, J.D. emphasized the University's journey to R1 status
during the three-day Fall Faculty Planning Conference. (Photo by Jeff Adams/FAMU)
Using the growth of a tree as a metaphor, Johnson characterized the past year as one focused heavily on strengthening FAMU’s roots, including its financial systems, operations and public trust.
“We spent the first year focusing more on our roots, making sure that we cleaned up some of the things that were really debilitating our success,” she said.
That work included strengthening financial management, tightening budgeting processes and improving operational excellence. Johnson emphasized that responsible stewardship is critical to maintaining the confidence of state leaders and ensuring continued investment in the University.
“It’s not to restrict investment, it’s actually to optimize it,” Johnson said of the University’s approach to budgeting. “It’s to make sure that we understand where money is, that when we’re making decisions about how to spend it, we are making the decision that’s best across the enterprise because we don’t get five extra dollars. We get one dollar to spend, and we only get to spend it once.”
Student Success at the Center
As the conversation turned to academic priorities for the 2026-2027 academic year, Johnson was clear.
“The thing that I would love for all of us to agree on as it relates to our academic priorities is first and foremost, student success. That is our number one priority,” she said.
Valencia Matthews, Ph.D. dean of the College of Social Sciences Arts & Humanities
had conference goers engage in some theatre performance exercises in a light-hearted
moment. (Photo by Jeff Adams)
Johnson said the University will place greater emphasis on helping students graduate on time, strengthening academic advising and ensuring students understand how their individual progress contributes to FAMU’s overall performance.
“You’re going to hear us talking a lot more with our students about finishing in four or finishing on time,” Johnson said. “We’re going to talk a lot more with our students about what it is that we need to do to help them from an academic advising perspective.”
She also called for continued alignment of academic programs with workforce needs and the State University System’s programs of strategic emphasis, pointing to opportunities in health sciences, engineering and other high-demand fields.
The president connected academic excellence directly to another major institutional goal: achieving R1 research status.
“When you think about where we have the greatest opportunity to lift our curriculum, it truly is in those areas that are nicely aligned with our path to R1,” Johnson said.
Investing in Faculty and Growth
Johnson stressed that FAMU cannot achieve its academic ambitions without investing in the faculty and staff responsible for carrying them forward.
“Investing in our faculty is truly an investment in our student success, and it’s truly an investment in our academic excellence,” she said.
Faculty and administrators participated in working sessions throughout the planning
conference to prepare for the upcoming academic year. (Photo by Jeffrey Adams/FAMU)
She highlighted a $3 million recurring investment secured from the Florida Legislature as one resource that can help the University continue addressing compensation, faculty needs and institutional growth.
That investment becomes particularly important as enrollment grows in programs including engineering, business, nursing and pharmacy.
Johnson said the University is working to ensure faculty staffing keeps pace with that growth while protecting what she described as one of FAMU’s “superpowers”: the close relationships faculty develop with students.
“One of the reasons our students are incredibly successful, one of the reasons our students leave with the level of confidence that you don't see in any student ... is because you all pour into them,” Johnson told faculty.
A Deliberate Path Toward R1
Johnson also offered a candid assessment of FAMU’s R1 aspirations, noting that the University must accelerate its work as peer institutions make significant research gains.
“We’re really going to have to step up our R1 tactics,” Johnson said. “And we know it can be done because North Carolina A&T did it.”
She pointed to the health sciences enterprise and engineering programs as critical components of that strategy and announced that FAMU had received another $10.25 million from Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration to continue rural research, investment opportunities and partnerships.
Rather than approaching R1 as an aspirational goal without measurable benchmarks, Johnson said FAMU is developing a tactical, data-driven strategy that includes identifying the investments needed to increase doctoral production and research activity.
“We’re going to have a very deliberate set of tactics that are going to be metrics driven, that are going to be measurable, that are going to be time bound, and we will know whether we’re on track,” she said.
The University also plans to develop an R1 dashboard to monitor leading indicators
and measure progress toward the goal.
Faculty members dressed in their FAMU apparel, showing their school spirit on the
highest of seven hills. (Photo by Jeffrey Adams)
Protecting FAMU’s Momentum
The conversation also focused on performance-based funding and the connection between student outcomes and FAMU’s financial future.
Johnson credited faculty for helping FAMU achieve its strongest performance since Florida implemented its performance-based funding system, while acknowledging the University’s score declined from 83 to 80 points in the most recent assessment.
“We know what our students are capable of. We know what we're capable of, and we're gonna show the world,” Johnson said, recounting the mindset that has driven FAMU’s progress.
The decline places greater importance on maintaining momentum in areas such as retention, graduation, academic advising and post-graduation outcomes. Johnson urged faculty to identify students who may be struggling before their challenges become barriers to completion.
“Make sure that if there’s a student who looks like they’re slipping, we don’t wait till they’ve slipped and it’s too late to save them,” she said.
The theme for this year's Faculty Planning Conference was "A New Attitude." (Photo
by Jeffrey Adams/FAMU)
Johnson also discussed shared governance, describing consensus-based leadership as consistent with her leadership philosophy and emphasizing the importance of faculty engagement in University decision-making.
“I know that as a leader, no matter what I think is right, no matter what course I want to take, if I don’t have the buy-in from the people who are actually doing the work, then I’m just a person on a walk, right?” she said.
As the University enters another academic year, her message was clear: FAMU’s next chapter will require a strong foundation, measurable goals and a collective commitment to ensuring students succeed.
“We know that we don’t get anything done without your hard work and without your direct engagement and without you all pushing that barrel up the hill for us,” Johnson said.
Media Contact
Rachel James-Terry
Senior Director of Strategic Communications
rachel.jamesterry@famu.edu
