Frederick Stephen Humphries served as president of Tennessee State University (TSU) in Nashville, Tennessee, between 1974 and 1985, and Florida A&M University (FAMU) in Tallahassee, Florida, between 1985 and 2001. Humphries was born on December 26, 1935, in Apalachicola, Florida. He received his B.S. degree in chemistry from FAMU in 1957, and his Ph.D. degree in chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh in 1964. Before his university presidencies, Humphries worked as associate professor at FAMU from 1964-1966 and then as assistant professor at the University of Minnesota from 1966-1967. He then returned to FAMU as professor of chemistry from 1968 to 1974. During the summers of 1967 and 1968, he was the program director of the Thirteen-College Curriculum Program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This program strengthened the faculty and curriculum at HBCUs and was headed by Humphries until 1974. When Humphries became president of Tennessee State University in 1974, there were two public, four-year universities in Nashville – one for blacks and one for whites. Humphries was the first TSU president to face the challenge of merging the two campuses and academic programs. He became the president of the unitary effort. As president of FAMU, Humphries worked to increase the number of Black students majoring in the sciences and engineering and entering PhD programs.