FAMU Names Interim CAFS and SON Deans, Associate Provost for Academic & Faculty Affairs

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Florida A&M University (FAMU) Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Allyson Watson, Ph.D. has appointed three individuals to serve in interim leadership roles within the Division of Academic Affairs.

Dale Wesson, Ph.D. will serve as interim dean for the College of Agriculture and Food Sciences while continuing to serve in his current role as associate vice president for research.

Caption:(from left) Lisa Gardner, DNP, Reginald Perry, Ph.D., and Dale Wesson, Ph.D.

He will succeed Dean Robert Taylor, Ph.D., who will return this fall as a faculty member after 10 years. Under Taylor’s leadership, CAFS has received the largest quantity of grant funding in the college’s history within the last three years, which is estimated to total approximately $36 million by the end of the current fiscal year.

Lisa Gardner, DNP, associate dean of graduate programs, has been named interim dean for the School of Nursing. Dean Shelley Johnson, Ed.D. has resigned from the University, effective July 12. Since 2020, Johnson has led the oldest baccalaureate nursing degree program in Florida. During her tenure, the school has experienced a promising trajectory and tremendous turnaround of licensure passage rates, which have risen to 98 percent. Gardner will ensure the momentum continues to build for preparing students to enter the nation’s largest healthcare profession.

“We are thankful for the outstanding work that both Deans Taylor and Johnson have accomplished during their tenure at the university and wish them well in their future endeavors,” said Provost Watson. “I extend my personal gratitude to the capable individuals who have accepted the responsibility to remain committed to achieving student success and academic excellence in programs of strategic emphasis.”

The Office of the Provost also welcomes new leadership in administrative roles. Starting July 1, Reginald Perry, Ph.D. will be interim associate provost for academic and faculty affairs. It is a role previously held by Genyne H. Boston, Ph.D., who was recently named provost and executive vice president of Edward Waters University. Perry is the associate dean for student affairs and curriculum in the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.

Herbert Bailey, longtime associate vice president for fiscal management has been named chief of staff to the provost and vice president of Academic Affairs. He will serve in both capacities. Bailey has worked at FAMU since 1989 and has served directly under eight university provosts.

All interim positions will be permanently filled through a national search during the upcoming 2023-2024 academic year.