Winter Haven native previously led Florida A&M
| The Ledger
James Ammons took over temporary leadership of Southern University at New Orleans in tenuous circumstances.
Ammons’ appointment as interim chancellor in November 2019 came several months after an accrediting agency put the historically Black university on probation because of persistent financial problems. A few months after that, the COVID-19 pandemic struck the United States, forcing colleges and universities to quickly adopt alternatives to the traditional classroom model.
But Ammons, a Winter Haven native, navigated the school through those difficulties and was rewarded last month when the university’s board of supervisors installed him as permanent chancellor of Southern University at New Orleans.
Ammons said he regards SUNO’s challenges as opportunities. Though he previously served as president of Florida A&M University, his alma mater, and as chancellor at North Carolina Central University — both larger schools — Ammons said he is happy to be in his new role at SUNO, which has about 2,300 students.
“It’s such a privilege to have the opportunity to serve in positions like this, and it’s something that I’ve never taken for granted, even though I’ve served as provost and as president at Florida A&M, chancellor at North Carolina Central, and now where the opportunity is here in Louisiana,” said Ammons, 68. “I’m just thankful that I have the opportunity to share my talents with the academic community and certainly with the Southern University system.”
Southern University is the only historically Black university system in the country. Founded in 1881, the system includes the flagship campus in Baton Rouge, with a law school and an agricultural and research center also in the state capital.
The New Orleans institution, established in 1956, lies on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain, about seven miles northeast of downtown. The school offers associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Southern University also has a campus in Shreveport.
Polk background
Ammons was raised in Winter Haven’s Florence Villa neighborhood and graduated from Winter Haven in 1970, two years after Polk County racially integrated its public schools. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Florida A&M, added a master’s in public administration and then gained a doctorate in government from Florida State University.
After teaching for several years at the University of Central Florida, Ammons joined FAMU in 1983 as an associate professor of political science and advanced to become vice president for academic affairs. He served as chancellor at North Carolina Central from 2001 to 2007 before being hired as president at Florida A&M.
Ammons’ time at his alma mater ended in 2012 as controversy engulfed the historically Black university. The previous fall, student Robert Champion, a drum major in FAMU’s renowned Marching 100 band, died on a bus in Orlando after the annual football game against Bethune-Cookman University.
An investigation found that Champion had been subjected to a hazing ritual before he collapsed and died. Ammons suspended the band program for the rest of the school year, but increasing criticism and a pending lawsuit led to a vote of “no confidence” from the board of trustees. Ammons resigned in July 2012.
He was hired in 2018 as executive vice president and executive vice chancellor for the Southern University System and Southern University Baton Rouge. With his appointment as permanent chancellor in New Orleans, Ammons said he still serves as executive vice president, or chief academic officer, for the university system.
Ammons said Southern University’s leaders picked him to lift the New Orleans institution out of its financial woes and accreditation problems. Retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honore’, known for coordinating the military’s relief operations after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, chaired the search committee.
Ray L. Belton, president and chancellor of the Southern University System, recommended the hiring of Ammons as the permanent chancellor, the school reported in a news release.
“It was evident that the committee felt that Dr. Ammons could ‘hit the ground running,’ ” Belton said during the board of supervisors’ January meeting, according to the release. “He is aware of the challenges the university must navigate as well as opportunities that must be taken.”
Ammons said a review found several reasons for the financial instability that led to the probation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges. He said the lingering impacts of Hurricane Katrina hurt the financial picture, but he said support from the state of Louisiana and the Federal Emergency Management Agency helped restore the campus.
The review also determined that the athletics program at the New Orleans campus had a negative financial effect, and the university system suspended sports last fall.
Tackling COVID-19
Ammons said enrollment declined in recent years, and his main priority is to make SUNO more appealing to potential students. The COVID-19 crisis has added to the challenge of boosting enrollment.
“The pandemic, as you know, has actually revealed a lot of inequities in our society and has exacerbated some of them, especially the ability of students of color — African-Americans, Hispanics — to afford attending college, given the impact on the economy and the loss of jobs,” Ammons said. “So as we move to fulfill the goals of our strategic plan, providing scholarships and grants are our main priority for stabilizing and growing the enrollment at the university.”
Ammons said he also emphasizes dual-enrollment programs, which allow high school students to take classes and earn credits that can shorten their time in college and reduce their costs. Local school districts cover the tuition payments for students, he said.
The accrediting association removed SUNO from probation in September, Ammons said.
After the pandemic struck, SUNO shifted to entirely remote instruction, a format that is still in place. Ammons said the campus lacks the communal bustle of a typical semester, though he said some students choose to live in school housing and some faculty and staff members still work on campus.
Sports are integral to the culture of many historically Black colleges and universities, and Ammons said he hopes to revive athletics eventually at the New Orleans school. For now, though, he said his attention is directed toward strengthening academic programs.
Ammons said the Southern University System is in some ways a mirror of Florida A&M, his alma mater. Both FAMU and Southern’s flagship schools are situated in state capitals along with large, traditionally white state universities, and both have substantial alumni bases that take pride in their alma maters.
“So they’re very similar, but there is one huge difference,” Ammons said. “The food is much better in Louisiana.”
Ammons’ wife, Judy Ruffin Ammons, also graduated from Winter Haven High School, and both still have many relatives in Polk County, including a son who owns a business in Winter Haven. The couple canceled a Christmas trip last year out of concern about COVID-19, but Ammons said they hope to pay a visit this summer after getting vaccinations.
At age 68, Ammons said he is not contemplating retirement in the near future.
“I really love what I do,” he said. “Every day I get up with the privilege of creating pathways to a better life for students, and it really brings a lot of satisfaction. And as long as I feel that I’m making a contribution and the president of the system and the board of supervisors think the same, I’ll continue to do this until I run out of ideas and run out of energy and motivation. But right now, having this new appointment, I’ve just been recharged.”
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.
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