Black PR Wire Power Profiler on Dr. Elmira Mangum

Dr. Elmira Mangum began her tenure as president of Florida A&M University in April 2014. In this capacity, she is responsible for the operations of the University, which includes approximately 11,000 students and more than 700 faculty.

Previously, Dr. Mangum served as Vice President for Planning and Budget at Cornell University where she was the senior administrator responsible for the management of Cornell's resources and the annual budgeting process. She arrived at Cornell in January 2010 when the operating budget had a growing annual structural deficit and over 26 percent of the endowment had been lost in the economic downturn. The recovery from this condition defines much of her service and leadership at Cornell as a change leader. She spearheaded implementation of the changes to the university budget model, documented current conditions while creating an environment of transparency, and established administrative controls and operating parameters for the future. These challenges allowed Mangum to work with the senior leaders, the provost and deans, and faculty to leverage university resources to meet Cornell's institutional priorities and academic programming needs while redistributing existing resources and reducing funding to administrative services. Her duties also included serving as the division liaison with the Cornell Board of Trustees and advising the board on the full range of policy, strategy and budgetary matters. Her areas of responsibility also included institutional research and planning, operating and capital budget development, administrative streamlining for efficiency, institutional intelligence and space use planning.

A seasoned administrator with more than 28 years of experience in executive higher education financial and resource management, Dr. Mangum's administrative leadership began at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Geological and Natural History Survey as an operations specialist. She also held positions at the University at Buffalo (UB) a State University of New York System university. From 1984 to 2001, she served as assistant dean, associate and assistant provost for resource management and as vice provost. For approximately nine years, she served at the University of North Carolina "" Chapel Hill, leaving as Senior Associate Provost in 2010 to become a Vice President at Cornell University.

Dr. Mangum held a faculty appointment in the Johnson School of Management at Cornell and similar positions at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Government and UB Graduate School of Education, where she taught higher education administration, and leadership theory and practice. For several years, she taught leadership and financial management in the UNC Bridges leadership program and served on the Bridges Board. Among many service activities, Dr. Mangum is a member of the HERS Board of Directors, the NCCU Creating the Vision Board of Directors, the Board of Directors of the Network for Change and Continuous Innovation (NCCI) and was a state representative and university chair of the American Association of University Women. She continues to present on current topics at the annual meetings of the National Association of College and University Business Officers and other organizations in higher education.

Dr. Mangum received a bachelor's degree in geography and education from North Carolina Central University and graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with two master's degrees, one in public policy and public administration and another in urban and regional planning. She received her Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy from the University at Buffalo, where she received distinction for her work on leadership in higher education. Additionally, she was in the inaugural class of the Millennium Leadership Institute, attended the Harvard Graduate School of Education Management Development Program, and Cornell's Administrative Management Institute. More recently, she completed the leadership program at the Center for Creative Leadership in North Carolina. Dr. Mangum is a life member of the National Council of Negro Women and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.