FLORIDA AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL UNIVERSITY

byname Florida A&M University public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Tallahassee, Fla., U.S. It is a land-grant institution and part of the State University system of Florida. The university includes colleges of Arts and Sciences, Education, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Studies, and Engineering Sciences, Technology, and Agriculture. The university cooperates in a college of engineering with nearby Florida State University. It also includes schools of allied health sciences, architecture, business and industry, journalism, nursing, general studies, and graduate studies. Master's degree programs in architecture, business, education, psychology, and sciences are available. There are both master's and doctoral programs in engineering, pharmacology, and toxicology; a professional degree in pharmacy is also offered. The College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Studies runs clinical training programs and a research unit in Miami. Total enrollment is approximately 10,000. Florida A&M University was founded in 1887 as the State Normal (teacher-training) School for Colored Students, and its student body remains predominantly African-American. In 1890 it was designated Florida's land-grant institution for blacks, and a year later its name was changed to State Normal and Industrial College for Colored Students. Women were first admitted in 1905. It became Florida A&M College in 1909, and it awarded its first bachelor's degree the next year. Florida A&M was granted university status in 1953. It became a full member of the State University system in 1971.