Chancellor James H. Ammons in a 2001 photo (Photo:Echo File Photo)

The search for the next Florida A&M University leader continues as the tour comes to N.C. Central University’s turf.

FAMU officials paid a visit to Durham January 26 to speak with members of the NCCU community.

In a January 25 meeting with student leaders, Chancellor James H. Ammons told students that those visiting the campus would speak to faculty and students.

Ammons, who is on the short list to become the next president of FAMU, will be in Florida February 1 to meet with its board of trustees, where they could make a final decision that day.

“There would be a process where we would interview each candidate for 2 to 2 1/2 hours,” said R. B. Holmes Jr., co-chair of the FAMU board of trustees in a conference call that included six board members, the presidential search committee, and representatives from the Hollins Group search firm, according to

The Famuan, FAMU’s student newspaper.

According to Carnell Hawthorne Jr., news editor for The Famuan described the conference call as pretty heated.

“Some members of the committee didn’t feel as if they knew some of the candidates as much as the others did.”

Members of FAMU’s board of trustees will make its decision that day if they are confident with the outcome of the February 1 meeting.

Other candidates being interviewed include: Howard Johnson, University of North Texas provost and vice president of academic affairs and Thelma Thompson, University of Maryland Eastern Shore president.

Ammons, who graduated from FAMU in 1974, was also provost there before coming to NCCU in 2001.

He refuses to speculate on whether he will get the job or what will happen if he is offered the position.

“I am still the chancellor of North Carolina Central University,” he told students.

When Ammons came to NCCU in 2001 he brought a dream team of leaders from his alma mater to NCCU.

The team includes: Charles O’Dour, vice chancellor for financial affairs; Sharon Saunders, director of the office of public relations; Kimberly Phifer-McGee, director of distance education for University College; and Roland Gaines, vice chancellor for student affairs. Gaines plans to retire at the end of this academic year.

Ammons also would not speculate about whether he would take his leadership team and others members of NCCU’s leadership team with him if given the job.