American chemist (1935–2021)
Frederick Stephen Humphries Sr. (December 26, 1935 – June 24, 2021) was an American academic administrator and chemistry professor who served as President of Tennessee State University (1974 to 1985), and President of Florida A&amp;M University (1985 to 2001). He was also President and CEO of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education from 2001 to 2003. Florida A&amp;M University conferred the President Emeritus title upon him on December 11, 2009. He was Regent Professor at the Florida A&amp;M University College of Law from 2003 until his retirement in 2014. 
Under his leadership Florida A&amp;M University enrollment grew from 5,100 in 1985 to 9,876 in 1993. By the 1998–1999 school year, enrollment had reached 11,828 students and by 2001 Florida A&amp;M had an enrollment of 12,316.
He had a bachelor's degree in physical chemistry from Florida A&amp;M University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1957. He received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh in 1964 where he was the first African American to receive a Ph.D in this discipline from the University.
Early life.
He was born in Apalachicola, Florida, on December 26, 1935, to Thornton Humphries and Minnie Henry, and received his early education there. A lifelong Catholic, he attended the Holy Family Catholic School and the small, all-black Wallace M. Quinn High School in Apalachicola. He was one of only nine graduates in the class of 1953. Yet, he contended that because of the quality and dedication of teachers, the small size of his school and the lack of sophisticated equipment did not handicap him. In an interview with Mike Radigan, Humphries said in Capital Outlook (May 9, 1985): "The greatest science teacher I had in high school was Mr. Charlie Watson. He taught me all my math and science courses. He was a very smart man and he cared about his students." Continuing his praise of Watson, Humphries said: "When he realized your abilities, he pushed you to the limit. When I left Wallace Quinn High School, I didn't know how well-prepared I was." Perhaps this early experience with his mathematics and science teacher instilled in him the concept of "excellence with caring" which became his motto upon becoming FAMU's eighth president. At FAMU he earned the bachelor of science degree magna cum laude in chemistry in 1957. He was also a distinguished military science graduate in 1957 and was reported to be the first black officer to be commissioned into the Army Security Agency (Army Intelligence Branch). After serving in the Army for two years, he entered the University of Pittsburgh in 1959 as a teaching assistant in chemistry, became a graduate research fellow the next year, and earned his Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry in 1964.
Presidency at Tennessee State University, 1974–1985.
The achievements of Humphries on the national level led the Tennessee Board of Regents to name him as President of Tennessee State University (TSU) in 1974, a position he held until being appointed to lead his alma mater in 1985. While at TSU he demonstrated administration skills which resulted in improved and expanded academic programs, upgraded faculty, increased enrollment and quality of students, and expanded scholarships and support activities. He fought for the rights of an historically black university which was located in the same area with an historically white university when he insisted on the predominance of TSU over the University of Tennessee at Nashville (UTN). This ultimately led to the merger of TSU and UTN, with TSU becoming the surviving institution, heralded as one of the fairest and most important desegregation decisions of the 20th century. The posture and eloquence of Humphries in court is largely held as being responsible for this decision along with the presentation of attorney Avon Williams and the efforts of the Tennesseans for Justice in Higher Education. Humphries did not initiate the court battle over merger of the two universities, but he inherited it upon becoming president of TSU in 1974. In 1968, after the University of Tennessee had announced plans to build a multimillion-dollar facility for its night school extension center in Nashville, a young black woman named Rita Sanders charged that such action would perpetuate segregation at TSU and continue the dual system of public higher education in the state. The controversy which ended up in U.S. District Court before Judge Frank Gray in 1968 was known as Sanders v. Ellington, et al. (April 5, 1977). Subsequent plaintiff was Rita Sanders Girer (after marriage) versus the governor of Tennessee who happened to be in office.
When Governor Blanton asked his reaction to merger, Humphries informed the governor that "he and his colleagues were agreeable to merger-under the Board of Regents, not the University of Tennessee trustees." Humphries and his colleagues contended, and so did Judge Gray, that "the existence and expansion of predominantly white UTN alongside the traditionally black TSU have fostered competition for white students and have thus impeded the dismantling of the dual system." The state was ordered by Judge Gray to merge the two schools into a single institution under the State Board of Regents by July 1, 1980. As a result of Judge Gray's ruling, plans were developed and implemented to merge UTN under TSU, making this the first time that a traditionally white university had been placed under the administration of a traditionally black university. In demanding a unitary system, the judge stated: "It is the purpose of this order to achieve a unitary system and not achieve a merger of existing systems of higher education in Tennessee." Humphries said of this settlement: "If TSU had been a white institution, this never would have happened. UT would not have been invited in here to set up a separate institution. But now that the judge has ordered a merger, I think it is important for this traditionally black university to have the full opportunity to develop into a major university serving the entire community."
Between 1980 and 1985, Humphries and his staff gave leadership to the merged TSU and provided for UTN and began serving an increasingly larger portion of the Nashville community. As Humphries progressed up the leadership ladder and proved himself as a national fighter for HBCUs and for enhanced opportunities for minorities in higher education, he was increasingly invited to membership on boards, commissions, committees and other influential groups at the state, regional and national levels. With a stern focus on improved education for minorities, he served as External Evaluator of Title III Programs; Minority Representative in Graduate Schools Special Academy of Science; as a member of the Planning Committee of the United Negro College Fund Pre-Medical Program, Fisk University; as a member of the Special Committee on Minority Participation in Graduate and Professional Education; and Chairman of the State Board of Education Advisory Committee on the Education of Blacks in Florida.
The Florida A&amp;M University years, 1985–2001.
Humphries was eighth President of Florida A&amp;M University from June 1, 1985, to December 31, 2001. He was originally expected to depart June 30, 2001. Under his motto of "Excellence with Caring", he worked with administrators, faculty, students, alumni, the corporate world, and other supporters of FAMU. As a result, under the Humphries administration, FAMU continuously improved its image and gained increasing recognition on the state, national, and international levels.
As a dedicated alumnus of FAMU, one of President Humphries' major goals was to increase student enrollment at all levels with high-achieving, quality students. Over his sixteen-year tenure, the enrollment at FAMU more than doubled from 5,101 in 1985, to 12,257 in 2000, with an average SAT score of 1028, and an average ACT score of 20. During the same period, FAMU attracted 657 National Achievement Scholars and surpassed such universities as Harvard, Yale and Stanford to lead the nation in numbers of National Achievement Scholars in 1992, 1995, and 1997, tying with Harvard in 2000. The focus on high-achieving students led to a tenfold increase in science and engineering students, with a corresponding increase at the master's degree level. Doctoral degree programs increased from one in 1985 to ten in 2000.
Along with the increases in the quantity and quality of FAMU students, the faculty was significantly upgraded, and academic programs were expanded and diversified. In addition to conducting effective classroom teaching and research, the Faculty was inspired and motivated to increase external funding from both the public and private sectors. The Division of Sponsored Research witnessed an increase in contracts and grants from $8.5 million in 1985 to $46 million in 2000. From the private sector, the FAMU Foundation, Incorporated showed a fund balance of only $6.2 million in 1986, but by 2000, the fund balance had reached $62.5 million. The FAMU Industry Cluster (comprising 152 major corporations) and the Life-Gets-Better Scholarship program, sponsored by select members of the Cluster are firm indications of corporate America's respect for FAMU's educational leadership and graduates of its academic programs. From 1989 to 2000 FAMU provided 873 Life-Gets-Better Scholarships to outstanding minority students majoring in such disciplines as Engineering, Physical, Life, Natural, and Computer Sciences and Pre-Law. In an effort to provide the appropriate facilities for educational programs and activities to flourish, President Humphries worked assiduously with his administrators, faculty, and staff to lead one of the most successful building programs in the history of the University. During his tenure, there were 51 facilities planned, designed, constructed, renovated or acquired between 1985 and 2000 at a grand total of $256,922,556. In 1985, FAMU's operating budget was only $59,940,563, but by 2000, it had grown to $249,951,788, an increase of 416 percent.
Under the Humphries administration, FAMU was selected as "College of the Year" by the TIME/Princeton Review in 1997, and recognized in the State University System as a Comprehensive/Doctoral University in 1999. With a broadened institutional mission emphasizing graduate studies and international affairs, the University can now offer additional masters and doctoral degree programs, and focus on a global perspective in many of its programs. Distance learning has become a major focus as FAMU expands its services and academic influence throughout the state and nation and on the international scenes.
Upon appointing Humphries as the eighth president of FAMU, the BOR challenged him to improve faculty morale and upgrade the faculty; effect sounder fiscal policies; increase student enrollment at all levels with quality students; expand, upgrade, and diversify academic programs; and increase extramural funding from both the public and private sectors.
For nearly four years he taught effectively at his alma mater and became totally involved in the academic, political and social life of the University. In 1965-66 Humphries was also an active and influential member of the FAMU Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). In the late 1960s FAMU was literally fighting for its life as a separate and autonomous university. Each legislative session would bring serious efforts by legislators to merge FAMU and FSU, presumably as a cost-cutting measure. Then State Senator Bob Graham of Miami and other urban senators from the central and southern sections of Florida were among the strongest proponents of merger. When a report from the Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) was submitted to the faculty in 1968 by Lionel Newsome, a former professor at Southern University, it appeared to support the legislative concept of merger. Gore called a meeting of the Faculty Senate to discuss ways and means to counteract the merger emphasis. In the aftermath of that meeting, the FAMU Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), with Howard E. Lewis serving as president, called a meeting to voice its objection to any consideration of merger.
As an outcome of that meeting, the members drew up a resolution stipulating that FAMU must remain a separate and autonomous university within the State University System. A decision was also made at that meeting to seek the endorsement of this resolution at the statewide meeting of the Florida AAUP. Because of the politically and racially volatile climate at the time, it was difficult to find professors who were willing to fight openly for the cause. Howard E. Lewis and Leedell W. Neyland, a past president of FAMU's Chapter of AAUP, persuaded Frederick S. Humphries and Ralph W. Turner to present and fight for the passage of the resolution at the statewide AAUP meeting in Gainesville. According to Turner, "Humphries made a very emotional and