By Jim Turner ©2024 The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — University of Florida trustees Tuesday brought back former President Kent Fuchs to lead the school on an interim basis, after the sudden resignation of President Ben Sasse.
Fuchs, who spent about eight years as UF president, will return to the role on Aug. 1.
Sasse, who has been president less than two years, announced Thursday he will step down effective July 31 because of his wife’s health. He said he would work with Fuchs on the transition.
“I just want to offer whatever help. I’ll be able to carry water and row alongside him,” Sasse said.
Fuchs’ return was first announced in an email distributed to the university before a vote by the Board of Trustees late Tuesday afternoon. The appointment also requires approval from the state university system’s Board of Governors.
Fuchs said his role over the next year will be to ensure the university maintains its momentum and to “make sure the university’s in just great shape and prepared for that next leader.”
“I plan to lean into the job and enjoy it. And I believe that can become contagious for all of us,” Fuchs said during the brief trustees conference call. “So, it’ll be a year of fun, as well as hard work.”
Fuchs, who left the presidency in early 2023, came to UF in 2015 after serving as provost of Cornell University. During his time as president, he was credited with helping boost UF into the top 10 of public universities in the closely watched U.S. News & World Report rankings and for guiding the university during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Fuchs also drew controversy over issues such as a decision to prevent three political science professors from serving as expert witnesses against the state in a lawsuit over a high-profile elections law. The university ultimately walked back the decision, but not before the issue drew national media attention and a federal lawsuit in which six professors alleged a UF policy violated First Amendment rights.
After leaving the presidency, Fuchs worked as a professor in the university’s Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.
Sasse left a Nebraska U.S. Senate seat to take the Gainesville job and will remain at the university as a professor.
A compensation package for Fuchs wasn’t immediately released.
Sasse’s five-year contract includes a $1 million base salary, with annual performance bonuses of up to 15 percent. He will forego a $1 million payout that would have been provided if he served the full five-year term.
Fuchs had a total compensation package of $1.4 million a year when he left the president position.
The Board of Trustees is expected to start a national search for a permanent replacement for Sasse.
