Does University of Florida have a permanent ‘interim’ leadership problem?
Last August, the University of Florida’s then-Faculty Senate Chair Sarah Lynne was hoping the school would have found permanent replacements for several of its temporary leadership appointments by the end of the academic year.
At her final meeting as chair on May 1, she offered a stark update to the faculty senators: “Not a lot has happened in the last nine months.”
“I’d like to see a little bit less ‘interim’ in some of these titles,” she added. “But we’ll see how that goes.”
For several years, Florida’s flagship university has faced top-level turbulence — from Ben Sasse’s short and controversial presidency, to a brief return of longtime leader Kent Fuchs, and most recently, a failed bid to appoint Santa J. Ono, the former president of the University of Michigan. That volatility has rippled through the institution, affecting leadership at every level.
Sasse’s 17-month tenure ended last July, leaving five of UF’s 16 colleges without permanent deans — including four of its most prominent academic units: the College of Medicine, Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, Levin College of Law, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
UF’s top academic officer is also there temporarily, with no clear succession plan for interim Provost Joe Glover. Four other high-level posts — including chief financial officer and general counsel — are held by interim appointees. And the director of UF’s much-ballyhooed, GOP-backed Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education is soon departing for the University of Texas at Austin.
Holding out for a permanent president
UF had pinned its hopes on Ono to stabilize its leadership crisis, offering him a contract with directives to hire academic leaders “firmly aligned” with Florida’s higher education agenda. But the State University System’s Board of Governors rejected Ono’s nomination last month in a 10-6 vote, citing his past support for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
More than a month later, UF has yet to announce a plan to replace interim President Fuchs, whose contract ends July 31. A university spokesperson declined to comment on the succession plan or the status of dean searches.
Days before Ono emerged as the sole finalist of UF’s presidential search on May 4, Fuchs paused all dean selections until his successor was in office and scrapped the liberal-arts dean search amid conservative backlash to the final four candidates — even as the school was on the brink of making a final hire.
At the time, Fuchs said he froze hiring for positions including the liberal-arts dean to avoid drawing political scrutiny upon the presidential search.
“It would have been a mistake — an absolute mistake — for us to make a decision and to announce it and let the consequences flow,” Fuchs said at the May 1 Faculty Senate meeting. “Letting things calm down, letting us then evaluate and specifically the next president — who, again, I’m absolutely convinced will have exactly the right set of values — is the right thing.”
The canceled liberal-arts dean search cost UF tens of thousands. Public records obtained by the Miami Herald in May show UF paid $29,208 to WittKieffer, the headhunting firm hired for the process, as part of a $146,300 contract. UF has not responded to requests for records that would show how much it paid SP&A Executive Search, the boutique firm that helped recruit Ono. SP&A earned nearly $293,000 for the search that brought in Sasse.
The leadership freeze has disrupted multiple colleges. The College of the Arts canceled its dean search without explanation, according to a June 27 memo from interim Dean Jennifer Setlow, who plans to stay another year. The status of the College of Engineering’s dean search is unclear, though candidates were still scheduled to visit campus in May, according to the interim provost’s remarks at that month’s Faculty Senate meeting.
Meanwhile, interim deans are cycling out. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is now on its second interim dean in a year, with Kevin Ingersent taking over from Mary Watt on Monday.
Engineering Dean Forrest Masters, who’s held the interim role since 2023, is leaving this month to become dean at Oregon State University. Warren Dixon, chair of the mechanical and aerospace engineering department, will step in as interim dean on July 11.
Progress despite setbacks
UF’s leadership churn has been so persistent that Fuchs has floated the idea of removing the “interim” title altogether from some positions, according to Faculty Senate minutes from March.
The interim label often signals temporary stewardship, which can undercut authority and morale. Such leaders must juggle administrative duties with academic work — usually for significantly less pay than permanent appointees.
Melissa Johnson, interim director of the UF Honors Program for nearly three years, earns less than half of her predecessor’s salary. Yet, students and faculty now view her as the program’s de-facto director, she said in an interview.
Though her “interim” title persists, Johnson takes pride in tangible progress — including a new strategic plan for the program.
“In a lot of cases, interim leaders are really seen as placeholders just kind of maintaining the status quo,” she said. “That has never been anything I’ve been comfortable with.”
Other interim leaders are also pushing forward. Johnson pointed to the Levin College of Law, where bar passage rates rose by more than 10 percentage points last year under Merritt McAlister, who’s served as interim dean since June 2023.
Still, UF’s stop-start approach to leadership takes its toll. Johnson was a finalist for the permanent honors director position in 2023, but Sasse quietly canceled the search. Two years later, it hasn’t resumed.
“There’s definitely a sense of uncertainty after several years of high level leadership changes and competing priorities,” Johnson said. “But there’s also this sense of restlessness as we wait for more permanent leadership. We need that overarching vision to set UF in forward motion again. It’s exciting to think about getting that spark back across campus.”
