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Episode #1716
NCCU Chancellor
Holloway: Jay Holloway,
host
Ammons: Dr. James H. Ammons
Clement: Howard Clement
Todd: Barclay Todd, producer
Smith: William Smith
F: Female Voice
Holloway: Good
evening and welcome to Black Issues Forum. I'm Jay
Holloway. Tonight we profile the new chancellor of North Carolina
Central University, Dr. James H. Ammons. He's next on Black
Issues Forum. Stay tuned.
Voiceover: This program
was made possible by contributions to UNC-TV from viewers
like you. Thank you.
[THEME MUSIC]
Holloway: Good evening
and welcome to Black Issues Forum, I'm Jay Holloway.
Tonight we welcome Dr. James H. Ammons, the new chancellor
of North Carolina Central University. But before we talk with
Dr. Ammons, let's learn more about him with this brief introduction
from segment producer Barclay Todd.
Ammons: So what was
your major?
F: _____ Administration.
Ammons: Okay, are you
going to graduate school?
Todd: If you're looking
for North Carolina Central University's new chancellor, Dr.
James Ammons, you will often find him out among the students.
Ammons became the chancellor of the university in June. Those
who have gotten to know him say he wasted no time getting
to know the students, the campus and the community.
Smith: I think he's
energized the campus, which is very important. I think, the
very same way, eight years ago Julius Chambers energized the
campus when he came. So you just have different periods and
different times, but this energy for Dr. Ammons has been good
to watch and good to see.
Todd: William Smith
headed this election committee that nominated the Florida
native out of 80 other candidates to take over at the helm
of Central University, a selection he says he's even more
sure of today.
Smith: We stayed true
to our mission, to our purpose of finding the very best person
for the job at NCCU and I feel without a shadow doubt that
we have done that and I think you'll see the huge dividends
of that selection over the years of coming to NCCU.
Todd: One of the many
challenges facing Dr. Ammons is increasing enrollment, so
it's not surprising that he spends time talking and even eating
with students.
Ammons: It's a way
to stay in touch with the students. When I'm here on the campus
I try and make an effort ever so often to just go over to
the cafeteria, pick out a table, sit, have lunch and talk
with students about what's going on in the university.
Todd: Ammons comes
to the university from Florida A&M. There he served as
Vice President for Academic Affairs during a period when the
school more than doubled its enrollment and increased the
number of courses and programs it offered. Durham Mayor Pro-Tem
Howard Clement says Ammons is the right person at the right
time for the school.
Clement: The university
is at the crossroads in terms of where do we go from here.
And one of the primary needs is to build up the enrollment.
And I think Dr. Ammons with his energy and his outlook and
his vision, in my view, has the right stuff, so to speak.
Todd: Ammons says his
drive and consistent search for perfection was shaped during
his upbringing in the poor, working class African-American
community of Winter Haven, Florida.
Ammons: My sister and
I are two children of a single-parent home. My mother raised
my sister and me. She worked as a maid. I began working, I
think, when I was in sixth grade. At that time beginning to
buy my own school clothes. Working, cutting yards, picking
oranges. I even had a stint working in a watermelon field.
I didn't last very long at that though; the watermelons were
too heavy.
Todd: What he did excel
at was education. The avid reader says he often competed with
his friends to see who would make the highest grades on the
honor role. But even with never-ending determination and a
competitive spirit, Ammons says as a kid he never imagined
he would be where he is today.
Ammons: During the
time that I was growing up, in the African-American community
of Winter Haven, on a clay road, I did not have any kind of
notion that I would be a university chancellor, although I
did see my self as being successful; it just wasn't being
a university chancellor.
Todd: Ammons says it
was during his first visit to Central in 1986 that he and
his wife and son decided if they ever were to leave Florida,
it would be to come to Durham, North Carolina. Now that he's
here, he says he intends to pick up where former Chancellor
Julius Chambers left off, to make North Carolina Central University
one of the leading public liberal arts schools in the country.
Holloway: Chancellor
Ammons, welcome to Black Issues Forum.
Ammons: Thank you,
Jay, it's great to be here.
Holloway: Well, I think
the state is fortunate to have you, with such an impressive
background, bringing from Florida and Florida A&M to North
Carolina Central. But one of the things that struck me in
that brief introduction is your involvement with the students.
You know, a lot of people don't see that kind of thing with
chancellors, a head of institutions, that involved often with
students.
Ammons: Well, they're
the lifeblood of the institution, they're the reason that
we're here. And it's just important for me to make certain
that I maintain a connection with the students. So I take
time out to go to the cafeteria, to do the fireside chats
in the dormitories. And as I see students across the campus,
I always ask them how they're doing, how are their classes,
how are their families doing.
Holloway: Well, you
know that from personal experiences, your son is still enrolled
in higher education right now?
Ammons: Yes, he's a
senior at Florida A&M, and hopefully this coming semester
is the last one. Hopefully he'll be a college graduate very
soon.
Holloway: So you know
how the students feel, you know how the parents feel. And
you've taken a lot of their personal experience in your work,
I guess.
Ammons: Yes. As a parent
of a student who is enrolled in a university, I want to feel
that everyone there, including the president, will have an
interest in my child proceeding on to graduation, and I know
that everyone else, every other parent feels the same way.
Holloway: A lot of
institutions, especially some of the HBCUs, historically black
colleges and universities, are struggling financially, especially
the private ones. You have a track record from a public institution
at Florida A&M that is amongst the best in the country
and there are many high expectations that people have of you
of transferring that success here in North Carolina. What
are some of the challenges that you are facing that you hope
to overcome to meet some of these expectations?
Ammons: Well, one of
the patterns that we see among historically black colleges
and universities is their size. Florida A&M, Howard, Southern,
North Carolina A&T are among the largest HBCUs, and the
way that the funding is structured, you have to have a growing
enrollment in order to have a stable budget and that's really
the key. And so as we look at North Carolina Central University,
today we're over 5800 students. We really need to get up between
8000 and 10,000 students to be able to realize some of the
economies of scale, to be able to continue to add programs
and hire the kind of faculty and support staff that we would
need in order to have quality programs.
Holloway: One of the
things that you alluded to earlier was being in tune with
your consumer, which is a student, to find out what they really
want. What are some of the things you're finding out from
these students in terms of-that will be beneficial to you
as you grow the institution from an enrollment point of view?
Ammons: Well, I don't
know if I discovered anything that is unknown, and North Carolina,
because of the bond initiative, would help us in many ways
with some of the issues that students have. They don't like
the old barrack, traditional-style dormitory. They want to
have the suite style with themselves and perhaps one other
person sharing a bathroom. And they want to make certain that
when they go to class and they have their laptops, that they
can connect to the Internet and do all of the things that
they do in terms of using technology. So those two issues,
the dormitories and the academic buildings are issues that
they talk about a lot. The other issue has to do with the
food, although I have to tell you I think that the food is
pretty good. They have choices: they have a hot bar that has
two sides to it, there is a salad bar and there is a pizza
bar. So there are choices that students have; but they still
talk about the food, and I think what it is, it's the variety.
I don't know if the menus have been changed as much as they
would like for them to be.
Holloway: And what
about recruiting quality faculty and staff and so forth, and
retaining those that are there as well?
Ammons: That is a challenge
that all of American higher education is confronted with today.
And in addition to being able to attract them and retain them,
we're going to have a mass exodus through retirement from
the faculty over the next few years. And so we are going to
have to replenish our ranks. And the worry that we have is
this pipeline that's out there. Like everyone else, we want
to have both quality and diversity among our faculty. However
when we look at what's going on in American higher education
with the production of African American and women Ph.Ds, we
have a lot to be worried about. The other issues has to do
with salary, start-up packages, etc., that it takes today
in order to recruit truly outstanding faculty to the university.
So we have the salary issue and then are we able to provide
the start up funds, the laboratories and all of the equipment
that it takes in order to attract some of the outstanding
faculty to the campus.
Holloway: Now, one
of the things that you did that received a lot of accolades
so far in your brief time here has been this fall summit that
you had with industry and business. Talk about why that's
important to your institution.
Ammons: We're in the
business, Jay, of creating pathways to success, providing
ways for students to find their end place in society. And
because business is such an important component of the American
society, we thought that we would enlist the support of corporate
America to assist us, but to also assist them. Because they
too want top talent and they want to have a diverse workforce.
And with the legacy that North Carolina Central University
has, I think that given that combination of the full force
of our faculty and support staff at the university and the
support of companies across America, that we could have a
pretty good combination to make us competitive in terms of
providing scholarships, internships and permanent jobs for
graduates of North Carolina Central University with the companies
across America.
Holloway: That's certainly
important. Speaking of graduates, I'm sure you have tens of
thousands of NCCU alumni watching right now, and what would
you say to them, I mean I guess support is not always where
it should be, but you have a lot of supporters out there.
Ammons: The alumni
really has been tremendous. One of the things that I saw here
during Homecoming, when we had the 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50
class reunions, was their love for this institution. They
showed it by coming back to the University during that week
to be a part of founders day, to be a part of connecting with
the students, talking with them about what it's like to be
out in the real world. But in addition to that, they also
showed their support and love for the institution through
their financial contributions. And they gave in a very significant
way and I want to thank them for showing that support. But
then too, there are other things that alumni are doing across
America. We started, when I came on during the summer, down
in Atlanta and we moved up to Washington, DC and we've gone
across the state of North Carolina. They are going out and
helping us recruit students to this university. They are hosting
receptions, they are taking us to the schools within their
communities, to the churches and helping us to tell the story
of North Carolina Central University and holding themselves
up as role models for young people to see that they went to
this institution, they're successful, and that these young
people can do the same thing. And that's so important for
us to have alumni working on behalf of the university to build
enrollment.
Holloway: Enrollment
is something we've brought up twice already and it's important.
But there's one element in terms of increasing enrollment,
increasing access to higher education, and that's the area
of distance learning, or e-learning. And perhaps that terminology
may be new to some people, but can you share with us what
North Carolina Central University's plans are to involve these
modes of access to higher education.
Ammons: Again, we are
very fortunate here in the state of North Carolina because
the people of North Carolina and our government realize that
the institutions are going to have to develop different ways
to reach people who want an education but who cannot come
to the campus during regular traditional hours. And so for
some time now, the state of North Carolina has funded distance
learning here in the system, in the university system. At
North Carolina Central University, we have been engaged in
distance learning for quite some time, but this year we began
some new programs. We have a criminal justice program that
we're doing with the highway patrol, we're expanding our education
programs across North Carolina. Also our nursing program is
being taught via distance learning technology. And faculty
members are developing other courses and programs that we'll
do in the same way. In addition to that, we were fortunate
enough to recruit a new director of distance learning, Kimberly
Pfeiffer McGee, who comes from a family that sort of pioneered
distance learning technology among the historically black
colleges and universities. And it just so happened that I
was fortunate enough to recruit her to Florida A&M and
she came to North Carolina Central University to continue
to develop the capacity of our university to expand our expertise
across the state, across the nation and indeed across the
world.
Holloway: Let's go
back a little bit; you brought up Florida A&M; that institution
had a lot of success and a very strong track record, not only
amongst HBCUs but in higher education in general. Talk
about some of those successes that you think you can transfer
here to North Carolina.
Ammons: I was, again,
extremely fortunate to have an opportunity to work with president
Humphreys, Fred Humphreys, who was president of Florida A&M
for 16 years. I was there for 18 years and rose through the
ranks to provost and vice president for academic affairs.
We realized that we had great potential at the institution
and the key for us realizing that potential was in the development
and growth of academic programs and academic quality. We worked
very hard and we were able to do that, and in 1997, the university
was recognized as College of the Year by TIME, Princeton Review.
But I can tell you the key to the success of Florida A&M
and any institution is the quality of the academic programs.
And I think having served as a provost and vice president
for academic affairs, I know that very well. And so a lot
of the time and effort that we will spend towards developing
the university would be in the area of academic affairs and
building quality in our academic programs.
Holloway: You are a
product of an HBCU, Florida A&M as well?
Ammons: Yes.
Holloway: One of your
goals is to make North Carolina Central University one of
the leading public liberal arts institutions in America, and
you said just prior to that that quality academic programs-are
there specific ones, and you'd mentioned some earlier that
you are really going to focus on, that you want NCCU to be
known for?
Ammons: Well, right
now North Carolina Central University is known as a liberal
arts institution with a law school. This is the historic mission
of the university and it's something that we are going to
maintain and enhance. However when we look at today's world
and we look at the fields that the students that we're really
going after now, the National Merit, National Achievement,
National Hispanic scholars, want to major in, it means that
we are going to have to expand the mission of the university
to begin to offer courses and programs that we don't have
but are not competitive with the other programs. In other
words, we are not going to diminish our emphasis on the liberal
arts. We're going to enhance them. But I think as we go across
North Carolina and across the country and we talk with high-achieving
students about the areas that they want to go into, they're
talking about e-business, software engineering, computer engineering,
journalism and many of the other programs that are associated
with disciplines that are the real drivers in this new economy.
So we're going to engage in a strategic planning process to
look at our environment and determine where we have strength
and where we have potential to develop and enhance new degree
programs.
Holloway: One area
that there's a tremendous need in North Carolina, and I didn't
hear you mention that students are interested in this, and
it's not only at NCCU, but is the area of teacher education
and there's a shortage problem. Have you thought about that
and how NCCU might address that?
Ammons: Well again,
historically teacher education has been one of the premier
areas at the university. We have been blessed with a new facility
to house the School of Education. We just got the Masters
of School Administration program back and we are working very
hard to reduce this critical shortage of teachers in North
Carolina. and in fact when you take a look at the numbers,
one of the real stories in there is that there is an even
more critical shortage of African-American teachers that I
think we have a way of helping with as well as the general
population of teachers. But teacher education is a very important
component of the program repertoire at North Carolina Central
University.
Holloway: There is
also research that ties quality teaching to the academic achievement
of students. And of course there's another problem in our
state and across the country of an achievement gap or between
the achievement between black and white students. And I know
that some of the universities in the UNC system, which NCCU
is a part of, that's also an initiative as well. Is that something
that you think NCCU can be helpful in resolving this problem?
Ammons: Well, in fact,
North Carolina Central University is the leader or the host
university in the consortium for reducing this achievement
gap between white students, African-Americans and other minorities.
It is also one of our strategic initiatives at the institution,
which means that it's a very high priority. Just this morning
before I came over, we were over at Oxford Manor where one
of our trustees, Gary Hock, invested $26,000 to the university
to allow us to partner with Oxford Manor and the Housing Authority
to put computers in that housing development. So additionally
we're also looking at bridging the digital divide that we
find between white students and African-American students
and other minority students. So we see this as a part of the
mission, a part of the work plan for North Carolina Central
University to be a part of solving some of these hard problems
and issues that we have in our community that especially affect
African-American students.
Holloway: Chancellor
Ammons, I want to thank you so much, because we've run completely
out of time now, but there are so many issues that I'd like
to talk to you about, and welcome to the state and best wishes
to you in your leadership at NCCU.
Ammons: Well, thank
you very much and thanks for having me here.
Holloway: Thank you.
And thank you for joining us tonight on Black Issues Forum.
We'd like to hear from you. You can contact us via email at
bif@unctv.org,
call us at (919) 549-7167 or if you want more information
about Chancellor James H. Ammons, NCCU or more information
on any other programs you can visit our website at www.unctv.org.
For Black Issues Forum, I'm Jay Holloway. Please join
us every Friday night at 9:30 only on UNC-TV. You have a blessed
evening. Good night.
[THEME MUSIC]
Voiceover: This program
is made possible in part by contributions from UNC-TV viewers
like you.
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