HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — On Friday morning, all eyes were on Alabama A & M University as the campus of 147 years officially installed its twelfth president, Dr. Daniel K. Wims.
FOX54’s Keneisha Deas was there to catch the ceremony and has a glimpse of the university’s future, promise, and the beginning of a new era.
On Friday, campus, city, and state leaders bore witness to Dr. Wims investiture or official installment as the school's new leader.
Wims speaks on the school's presence in STEM. “We are by far the largest producer of minority and African American STEM graduates in the state of Alabama.”
City leaders have made an effort to strengthen their relationship with the university.
“We’ve met monthly since the first of the year, and we’ve talked about the partnership that the city of Huntsville has had with Alabama A&M, and the partnership goes two ways..the city of Huntsville is to provide support for Alabama A&M,” said, City of Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle.
Wims believes the university’s reach has no bounds. “You’ve heard a lot about who we are historically, but we’re not just an 1890 Land Grant HBCU who has a motto to ‘start here and go anywhere’. We’re an HBCU who has a motto of start here and go anywhere. We’re going to start here and we’re going everywhere,” said Wims.
The university held a twelve-week investiture countdown ahead of installing Wims as the university's new president.
Dr. Wims succeeds former AAMU President Andrew Hugine, who served from 2009-2021.
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