mary_a._obanner.jpgMIAMI GARDENS – Florida Memorial University (FMU), South Florida’s only historically black university, has started 2013 with the reaffirmation of the 133-year-old institution’s accreditation by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) for another 10 years.

“To learn that Florida Memorial University’s accreditation has been reaffirmed — with no recommendations — was the perfect way to end 2012 and to begin the New Year,” said Mary A. O’Banner, FMU acting president. “We are moving forward, knowing that our academic programs are competitive and the overall operation of the university is sound.”

The official news of the university’s affirmation came in December while O’Banner and other university officials were attending SAC’s Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas.

In other good accreditation news recently for South Florida’s only Historically Black University (HBCU), widely recognized for being the birthplace of the Negro National Anthem, Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing, and the home of student Barrington Irving Jr., the first pilot of African descent and youngest pilot ever to fly solo around the world.

The accreditation of three FMU programs was reaffirmed over the last several months: the School of Business by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) through 2020; the Computer Science, Math and Technology Program, one of the nation’s few historically black universities to earn the ABET designation, through 2014; and the School of Education.

Makola Abdullah, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs, said the university had been preparing for the reaccreditation for about three years.

“The news is a testament to the teamwork of the FMU family,” Abdullah said. “It reaffirms the quality of our programs.”
“This means,” O’Banner added, “that our students can return from the holidays knowing that their university is still fully accredited and in good standing.”