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FAMU School of Business and Industry’s 50 years comes as product of founding dean’s legacy

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FAMU School of Business and Industry’s 50 years comes as product of founding dean’s legacy

As Florida A&M University’s homecoming week is in full effect, the celebration goes beyond the annual get-together as the internationally known School of Business and Industry celebrates its 50th anniversary. 

And for the FAMU SBI community, celebrating the significant milestone would not be possible without reflecting on the late founding dean Sybil Collins Mobley’s legacy and impact as a woman “ahead of her time.”

Married couple and Pasadena, California natives DeAndré and Latrice Parks – FAMU SBI graduates who Mobley would often refer to as a “corporate merger and the marriage of SBI’ans” – expressed the impact the business school had on their lives as students under Mobley’s leadership and as alumni. 

Their daughter Dominique Parks, a 2019 FAMU alumna, also is an SBI graduate. 

“A common saying is ‘FAMU has changed my life,’ but more specifically, SBI has changed my life,” DeAndré, a fund manager for Franklin Templeton Investments told the Tallahassee Democrat. “That’s where I met my wife, that’s where my daughter went to school and that’s where my best man went to school.

“When you talk about the whole SBI connection, it’s very meaningful.” 

While DeAndré graduated with his bachelor’s in accounting from FAMU in 1992 and Latrice graduated with her bachelor’s in business administration in 1991, they met each other as SBI graduate students and earned their master’s degrees in business administration in 1993.

Prior to attending FAMU SBI, Latrice grew up in a predominately white suburb of Jacksonville, and said she quickly fell in love with the university’s campus and its business school after hearing so much about it.

“I wanted more exposure in terms of an HBCU experience,” said Latrice, who formerly worked in sales for Baxter Health and American Express. “When I visited the campus, I felt instantly at home and comfortable.” 

“At that time, there was a lot of media about the School of Business and Industry,” she added, “and I wanted to make sure that when I left with my degree, I’d also leave with a job.” 

In DeAndré’s case, he said SBI sparked his interest when he met Mobley for the first time as a high school senior at a recruitment event. He recalls Mobley giving a “superstar speech” where she said that if “you come to FAMU, you’ll have a future so bright that you’ll have to wear shades.” 

He remembers how Mobley was a big proponent of teaching SBI students skills such as speed reading, memory skills and fundamental concepts. 

“I remember her telling me ‘Parks, I’m trying to teach you competencies and not necessarily a body of knowledge. I’m teaching you how to critically think,’ ” DeAndré said. 

Mobley set ‘standard for excellence’ at SBI 

Mobley – a Shreveport, Louisiana native who died in 2015 after a short illness – graduated from Bishop College in Texas in 1945 with a bachelor’s in sociology and began her career as a secretary at FAMU that same year. 

She went on to earn her master’s in business administration from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania in 1960 and her doctorate in accounting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1964. After ascending to professorship and department chair by 1970 at what was then simply known as the university’s business department, she became FAMU SBI’s founding dean upon the school’s designation in 1974 until her retirement in 2003.

During Mobley’s leadership, she launched innovative academic programs by integrating complimentary professional development and mandatory internships at the business school. Her legacy continues through endowed scholarships, the Sybil Collins Mobley Endowed Professor, the Sybil Collins Mobley Endowed Chair and the SBI (four-wing) Complex being renamed the Dr. Sybil Collins Mobley Business Complex in her honor. In addition, Mobley served on the boards of many Fortune 500 companies including Anheuser-Busch, Champion International Corporation, Dean Witter, Hershey Foods Corporation, Sears Roebuck & Company and Southwestern Bell Corporation.

FAMU SBI Interim Dean Ira Bates described Mobley as an “innovator well before her time.” 

“Many of the marketing strategies that she employed to establish the FAMU School of Business and Industry were trendsetting and laid the foundation for how to train students in business and position them for success in corporate America and around the globe,” said Bates, a veteran SBI professor of accounting who also serves as chair of Accounting, Finance and Business Law.

Some notable FAMU SBI alumni include John W. Thompson, a former Microsoft chairman, The Lip Bar Founder Melissa Butler, Richard A. Dent, who formerly served as senior vice president, chief operating officer and co-leader of Victoria’s Secret PINK and Cheryl Harris, who serves as a senior vice president for Allstate.

“As we celebrate SBI’s 50th Anniversary, I am grateful for Mobley’s leadership and the indelible mark that she left with every student whose lives she touched,” Bates said. “She set a standard for excellence that we, as the next generation of leaders, continue to pursue daily.” 

SBI changes, consistencies over the years

Although DeAndré and Latrice are alumni, they still have a strong connection to SBI and frequently return to campus to speak to classes and interview students for internships. They are also active donors and are listed in the university’s 2022-2023 Donor Honor Roll for a contribution of $10,000 to $25,000.

“Because of the impact the school of business has had on my life, I feel duty-bound to give back to a place that has made such a difference in my life,” Latrice said.

During the couples’ SBI visits, they say notable changes over the years have been the increased degree options as the school currently has over a dozen offerings, including supply chain management, which started being offered on an undergraduate and graduate level in 2017 and 2018.

SBI’s infrastructure has grown over the years as well with additional wings that were added to the building, and the school’s current student enrollment is 1,164. “It’s so fascinating to see everything that Dean Mobley talked about come into fruition,” DeAndré said.

At the same time, with Mobley’s traditions still intact, some things have not changed – like the way students “dress for success” in suits for professionalism on class days, which is something DeAndré remembers doing as a student. 

Acknowledging SBI’s faculty and staff, he says individuals such as Shawnta Friday-Stroud – Sybil Collins Mobley Endowed Chair and executive director of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development – have been working “extremely hard” to keep Mobley’s legacy going. 

Friday-Stroud, FAMU SBI’s previous dean who also served as vice president for University Advancement and executive director of the FAMU Foundation before resigning from the two roles, says Mobley was a “trailblazer ahead of her time.”

“As students, Dean Mobley taught us to give back and that the world is the unit of analysis way back in the 80s long before globalization and internationalization were commonplace,” Friday-Stroud said, referring to the unit of analysis term as the main element of a project that is studied and analyzed.

“She also taught us to live by the SBI Motto – ‘No excuse is acceptable. No amount of effort is adequate until proven effective.’ I consider myself fortunate to have learned so much academically, personally and professionally from such an amazing woman.”

Other 50-year milestones at FAMU

Besides the business school’s 50th anniversary this year, other FAMU schools are celebrating similar milestones.

The university’s School of Architecture and Engineering Technology is kicking off a year-long celebration of “50 Years of Academic Excellence” Thursday with a series of events that will end next year to commemorate its 1975 founding.

FAMU’s School of Journalism & Graphic Communication (SJGC) is also celebrating 50 years from when the university had its first journalism degree curriculum in 1974. At the same time, SJGC was founded in 1982 as the School of Journalism, Media and Graphic Arts before being renamed 20 years later. It is currently in its 42nd official year.

The Parks couple and many others in the SBI community are participating in the business school’s 50th anniversary celebrations during homecoming, which consist of a Celebration Gala Mixer Thursday at 7 p.m., a Big Board Unveiling Friday at 2:30 p.m. and other events.

“The School of Business and Industry has a big impact on the world in terms of creating future leaders,” DeAndré said. “I’m proud to be a part of the SBI family.” 

Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on X: @tarahjean_.

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