Florida A&M University plans on honoring one of its former presidents in a special way this homecoming season. During homecoming this year the university plans to unveil a 6-by-7-inch statue of former president Frederick S. Humphries. Humphries was the president of Florida A&M from 1985 to 2001. He is credited for his role in helping make Florida A&M the institution it is today. This statue is honoring Humphries posthumously, as he died in 2021 at age 81.
Humphries was also an alumnus of Florida A&M. He graduated with a chemistry degree in 1957. He later graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a doctorate in physical chemistry. A history maker in his own right, Humphries was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. Before becoming president, he taught chemistry at the university from 1974 to 1985.
During Humphries's tenure as the eighth president of Florida A&M, the university went through a major expansion in multiple areas. The university became a major producer of Black graduates in the fields of science and engineering, the number of doctoral programs increased from one to ten, and enrollment nearly doubled. He and his administration were also responsible for the creation of the “Life Gets Better” scholarship program as a way to attract the best students in the country.
Humphries was a key player in stopping the potential merger between Florida A&M and Florida State University during the late 1960s and 1970s. Although Florida A&M independence was important to Humphries, he oversaw the merger of Tennessee State University and UT-Nashville. Even after his time as president ended, Humphries loved and defended Florida A&M till the end.
“If anybody,” he went on, his voice still rising amid nervous laughter, “attempted to do harm to Florida A&M University, may his right hand lose his cunning and his tongue cleave to the roof of his mouth!”—he said during a graduation speech in 2008.
This statue unveiling comes a few months after Florida A&M elected Marva Johnson as president despite pushback from students, faculty, alumni, and other members of the HBCU community. She began her tenure as president on August 1. Johnson said the monument is a “reminder of the power of education to change lives.
