Andrew Hugine Jr.
Andrew Hugine Jr. is the current and 11th President of Alabama A&M University, located in Normal (Huntsville), Alabama. He was board-approved for the position on Friday, June 26, 2009.[3] More recently, at the regular scheduled summer meeting on June 22, 2018, the AAMU Board of Trustees extended Hugine’s contract through 2023.[4] The mathematician, educator, and administrator was formerly president of South Carolina State University,[5] his alma mater, based in Orangeburg, South Carolina. [6]
Early Life
Hugine was born on June 21, 1949,[7] in Green Pond, South Carolina,[8] an unincorporated community in Colleton County.[9] He is the son of the Rev. Andrew and Irene Short Hugine, Sr. It was in the Colleton County public school system that he received his elementary and secondary education before a lengthy affiliation with higher education and South Carolina State University, where he was nurtured by the late former SCSU President Maceo Nance.[10]
Also throughout his formative years, a young Hugine would become steeped in the tradition of the African Methodist Episcopal Church[11] through his lifelong ties with Jerusalem A.M.E. Church, where his father served as pastor for 27 years.[12]
Educational Pursuits
Hugine earned a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and Master of Education in mathematics from South Carolina State University. He went on to complete studies leading toward the Doctor of Philosophy degree in higher education/institutional research from Michigan State University.[13]
Collegiate Years
According to The T&D, a South Carolina-based newspaper, Hugine’s undergraduate years were immersed with scholarly activity in addition to involvement with civic organizations. Hugine served two terms as president of the student government association. He continued his religious affiliation in Orangeburg, South Carolina, as a member of Williams Chapel A.M.E. Church.[14] Back on campus, he joined the Xi Psi chapter of Omega Psi Phi[15]
Early Academic Career
Hugine amassed a diverse career in higher education—primarily at South Carolina State University—prior to his career culmination as president. A series of positions of increasing responsibilities highlights his chronology. He served as Director of the Special Services Program; Director of University Year for Action Program; Research Fellow; Assistant and Director of Institutional Self-Study; Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs; Professor of Mathematics; and Interim Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.[16]
Other roles include employment as an instructor of mathematics at Beaufort High School in Beaufort, South Carolina;[17] as well as serving as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and Assistant Professor of Institutional Research at Michigan State University.[18]
Throughout his ambitious career, Hugine still managed to author three mathematics textbooks [Mathematics: An Intuitive Approach for College Students (with Leon E. Myers); Precalculus with Applications (with Leon W. Myers and Krishna Gopala); and Essentials of College Mathematics for College Students (with Leon W. Myers][19] and numerous articles and presentations on higher education evaluation and assessment. He has been the recipient of a number of grants aimed at both increasing the participation of minorities and students’ performance in the STEM disciplines.[20]
The Presidency
South Carolina State University
From 2003–2008, Hugine culminated his 30-year affiliation with South Carolina State University as its President. He was credited with the construction of a large residence facility and earnest preparations for a new School of Engineering building.[21]
During his tenure at South Carolina State University, most notable among his achievements, was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with BWXTY-12 of Oakridge Lab which resulted in an assignment of a high level research executive on loan for three years. Relative to capital improvements, he secured $33 million for the completion of the science building addition and construction of a new engineering and computer science building. He also secured a $42 million loan for the construction of a 755-bed apartment style housing complex for students that was later named in his honor. At the time, the loan was the largest non-student aid funding project ever provided by the U.S. Department of Education to any institution.[22]
In 2005, the SCSU board gave Hugine a five-year contract extension but a divided board voted to not renew his contract in December 2007, citing performance and school infrastructure issues. Hugine, in turn, sued the school and its trustees for acting improperly. He and the board later settled.[23]
Immediately upon his appointment as the 11th President of Alabama A&M University, Hugine addressed the University’s probationary status with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges resulting in the removal of the university from SACSCOC’s sanction in December 2009; developed a financial plan to address the university’s budgetary issues; reorganized the five academic schools into four colleges: College of Agricultural, Life and Natural Sciences; College of Business and Public Affairs; College of Engineering, Technology and Physical Sciences; and the College of Education, Humanities and Behavioral Sciences; established the division and position of Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management/ Director of Admissions; and expanded institutional advancement to provide increased emphasis on marketing and communication.
In addition, there have been a number of high-level partnerships. They include signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in partnership with Auburn University; signing a mentor-protégé agreement with NASA/Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne which was only the third such agreement with a historically black college or university; signing a Memorandum of Understading with Nanjing Forestry University in China to serve as the sponsoring institution for the AAMU Confucius Institute; established degree programs at Lawson State Community College in Birmingham, Alabama, in the undergraduate areas of: management, computer science, criminal justice, and social work; and graduate areas of: masters of business administration and social work. [24]
AAMU Milestones[25] under the Hugine administration include:
- AAMU hosted the 2010 White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and a National Poultry Conference jointly sponsored by two United States Cabinet members: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
- Via backing by the U.S. Department of Education, AAMU achieved the largest-ever ($96 million) funding package, part of which funded the 580-bed residence hall facility opened to new residents in spring 2018.
- Hugine served as the Honorary Chair of Salute to Education during the Centennial Celebration of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. He was honored by the Southern Company and Essence magazine with the Educator Advocate of the Year Award at a joint-sponsored event with the Congressional Black Caucus’s Annual Leadership Conference.
- Enrollment has increased from 4,500 to 6,001 from 2009-2018.
- Alabama A&M University (AAMU) has an economic impact of over $350 million statewide and $228 million in the region, according to the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce.
- Through its more than 6,000 students and 900 employees, AAMU is among the Top 20 largest employers in the Tennessee Valley region.
- AAMU had two census tracts contiguous to the University, as recommended by Governor Kay Ivey and approved by the U.S. Treasury Department, included in the federal Opportunity Zones Programs. The programs are an alternative economic development program established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage long-term, private-sector investments in eligible urban and rural communities nationwide. The program provides a federal tax incentive for investors to re-invest their unrealized capital gains into Opportunity Funds dedicated for investing in designated Opportunity Zones.
- In September 2017, the University completed its first-ever capital campaign by raising $27.3 million, a 68% increase over the original goal of $16.26 million. During the capital campaign, alumni giving increased from 1% to 11.6%, which exceeded the national average of all institutions.
- The Hundred-Seven, an organization created to positively promote HBCUs, ranked Alabama A&M University #3 in the nation in the production of African American Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors. Alabama A&M University is also one of the top 50 colleges in the U. S. in graduating African-Americans with bachelor’s degrees in computer science, engineering, math and science. It is one of the top 10 HBCUs for graduating black engineers and mathematicians.
- NBA Hall of Famer, Charles Barkley, made a $1 million commitment to Alabama A&M University in 2016. This is the largest philanthropic commitment from an individual in the history of the institution.
- Alabama A&M University has a branch of Redstone Federal Credit Union on its campus. The Alabama A&M University Branch powered by Redstone Federal Credit Union is the first credit union branch on a university campus. The AAMU Campus Branch provides face-to-face cash transactions via an ATM virtual assistant.
- Alabama A&M University is recognized as a Gold-Level Military Friendly School, the only HBCU with such a distinction. This distinction reveals that AAMU’s commitment to serving the military and veteran community is comprehensive in scope and meaningful in terms of actual outcomes and impact.
- Alabama A&M University has been designated “Storm Ready” by the National Weather Center. AAMU is now part of the Weather-Ready Nation and is fully prepared for the campus’ increasing vulnerability to extreme weather and water events.
- Alabama A&M University’s forestry program is accredited by the Society of American Foresters and is one of only two programs at HBCUs.
- Alabama A&M University Family and Consumer Sciences Professor Cynthia Smith is president of the 67-chapter, 92,000-member Alpha Kappa Mu National Honor Society The African-American organization celebrated its 80th anniversary in November 2017.
- Directed by Dr. Horace Carney, chair of the Department of Visual, Performing and Communication Arts, the world-renowned AAMU Concert Choir counts among its distinct events a performance at the Lincoln Center, marking the first such performance by a historically black college or university.
- AAMU annually plays in the Magic City Classic, first played in 1924. The Magic City Classic is one of the oldest and now largest continuing rivalries between historically black colleges and universities.
- AAMU’s 100,000-watt WJAB-FM airs a nationally syndicated radio program, “Return to the Source,” hosted by political science professor and jazz enthusiast Douglas Turner. The show is a welcomed addition to the African-American Public Radio Consortium’s listings.
- The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) awarded the Department of Social Work, Psychology and Counseling a $1.92 million grant for the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program (BHWTP). The goal of the BHWTP is to increase the capacity of Master of Social Work students in their final year of internship to implement integrative behavioral health inventions with rural, vulnerable and medically underserved populations across our region.
- The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded nearly $1 million for an HBCU-RISE proposal on the “Design of Nanostructures for Energy Efficient Devices.” Housed in the Department of Physics within the College of Engineering, Technology and Physical Sciences, the three-year project, funded for $999,866, will run through March 31, 2019.
- The National Science Foundation funded the Alliance for Physics Excellence (APEX) program at $8 million, which is the largest in the university’s history. APEX is housed in the Department of Physics within the College of Engineering, Technology and Physical Sciences. The purpose of the APEX program is to transform secondary physics education in Alabama by encouraging physics teachers to acquire a deeper knowledge of physics content and employ more effective pedagogical strategies based on physics education research in order to ultimately enable students to achieve higher gains.
- The Normal Legacy Society was established by President Andrew Hugine, Jr., to recognize lifetime contributions of $100,000 or more to AAMU. The members include: Dr. Henry & Mrs. Nell Bradford; Dr. Belvie Brice and Mrs. Dorothy Brice; the late Ms. Bertha M. Jones; Dr. Ernest and Mrs. Marion Knight; the late Mrs. Ella Byrd McCain and Dr. John McCain; the late Rev. Lucien M. Randolph; the late Ms. Velma Walker; the late Mrs. Geneva Wright and the late Mr. Elbert Wright; the Tom Joyner Foundation; Atty. W. Troy and Mrs. Sue Massey; Huntsville Hospital; Mr. Ronald and Mrs. Patricia McIntosh, Sr., and Mr. DeWayne O. Carter.
- Hugine established the Service is Sovereignty Society to celebrate employees with 30 years or more of continuous service at Alabama A&M University.
- The Alabama A&M University Foundation now has an endowment of more than $46 million, one of the highest among public HBCUs in the nation.
Personal Life
Andrew and his wife Abbiegail Hamilton Hugine (a former educator and school principal) of more than 45 years, have an adult son, Andrew Hugine, III, and a daughter-in-law, Karen; an adult daughter, Akilah Hugine-Elmore and a son-in-law, Quincy Elmore; a grandson, Amir; and a granddaughter, Nylah.[26]
In the News
In an August 31, 2018, piece, The HBCU Digest (HBCUDigest.com) praised Hugine for his ability to negotiate through capricious state politics, while achieving growth and stability for Alabama A&M University.[27]
References
[1] http://www.aamu.edu/aboutaamu/office-of-the-president/pages/default.aspx
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal,_Alabama
[3] http://blog.al.com/breaking/2009/06/hugine_hired_as_new_president.html
[6] http://www.orangeburg.sc.us/
[8] http://www.city-data.com/city/Green-Pond-South-Carolina.html
[9] https://www.colletoncounty.org/
[11] https://www.ame-church.com/
[13] https://www.aamu.edu/aboutaamu/office-of-the-president/about-the-president/pages/default.aspx
[15] Ibid.
[16] https://www.aamu.edu/aboutaamu/office-of-the-president/about-the-president/pages/default.aspx
[17] https://bhs.beaufortschools.net/
[18] https://www.aamu.edu/aboutaamu/office-of-the-president/about-the-president/pages/default.aspx
[20] https://www.aamu.edu/aboutaamu/office-of-the-president/about-the-president/pages/default.aspx
[22] Ibid.
[23] Ibid.
[24] https://www.aamu.edu/aboutaamu/office-of-the-president/about-the-president/pages/default.aspx
[25] http://www.aamu.edu/news/2011/Pages/142-Points-of-Pride.aspx
[26] https://www.aamu.edu/aboutaamu/office-of-the-president/about-the-president/pages/default.aspx
[27] https://hbcudigest.com/alabama-am-makes-andrew-hugine-the-million-dollar-man/
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