Florida Atlantic has been undergoing a search for the university president since 2022 and is on its second attempt. Here are all stories related to both FAU presidential search attempts, from 2022 to present day. Updated frequently.
(Left to right) FAU Interim President Stacy Volnick, BOT Chair Piero Bussani, BOT Vice Chair Earnie Ellison, and Trustee Robert Flippo listen as other trustees approve the position criteria during Tuesday’s meeting. Screenshot courtesy of the BOT meeting livestream.
After 16 public listening sessions, the Florida Atlantic University Board of Trustees approved the Presidential Search Committee’s finalized position criteria at Tuesday’s meeting, as the search for the next university president continues.
Yates recognized that the FAU community values a president’s stern focus on students, the community, financial/executive management and good political judgment.
“The successful candidate must exhibit the highest level of integrity, earn and maintain public trust, and show a commitment to transparency, ethical leadership, shared governance, and free expression,” the profile reads.
The Florida Board of Governors (BOG) met Friday to approve Interim President Stacy Volnick’s employment agreement, allowing her to remain in the position from January through December 2025 or until Florida Atlantic University hires a new president.
Official logo for the State University System of Florida’s Board of Governors. Screenshot courtesy of Julie Leftheris’ presentation on Dec. 14, 2023.
Volnick has served as the temporary president of FAU since January 2023, following the departure of former president John Kelly in 2022. During her tenure, an FAU presidential search in 2023 failed to find a permanent president, leading to another active search that began in June.
On Sept. 30, FAU’s Board of Trustees (BOT) met to approve the agreement. The agreement stated that the BOT unanimously rated Volnick’s performance thus far as “Exceptional,” the highest rating possible.
The Florida Atlantic University Presidential Search Committee has more work to do as the search for the next President is believed to continue until next semester. The committee raised concerns about the language of the recommended position criteria and questions about the diverse reach of candidates for the next university president at the Sept. 25 meeting.
Buffkin/Baker search firm representative Ann Yates stated that they will not begin recruiting until the Board of Trustees (BOT) approves their position description, which is estimated to happen in October.
“We don’t have the final timeline because some of this depends on how long it takes to get this approved. That’s when we really start the clock, if you will, in terms of recruiting. And we need a good couple months in the marketplace to work with candidates,” said Yates.
Anthropology graduate student Sydney Worrall talks to FAU Presidential Search Committee Chair Sherry Murphy during the final Boca Raton listening session on Sept. 9. (Elisabeth Gaffney)
Monday marked the last of 16 listening sessions for Florida Atlantic University’s new presidential search, where the FAU community across all three campuses got the chance to share their desires for the next university president.
Faculty and staff have dominated attendance, sharing their concerns about political interference, referencing the last search, which was suspended shortly after Florida State Rep. Randy Fine did not make the cut.
Only a few students showed up at each session. Two graduate students in particular made their presence known Monday morning, emphasizing a need for more housing on FAU campus.
“It’s tough out here for graduate students, housing-wise,” said Sydney Worrall, who is pursuing a master’s degree in anthropology and works on campus as a peer academic coach with FAU’s ACCESS program.
A week after Florida Atlantic University’s first Presidential Search listening session on Aug. 29 — where students were noticeably sparse — the Buffkin/Baker search firm, which the search committee has hired to assist in the search for a new president, held the second listening session of the semester on Thursday.
Different FAU stakeholders brought up concerns about talent retention, academic freedom, housing concerns, low wages and more.
The damaged relationship between administration, faculty and staff caused concerns about academic freedom, said sociology professor Phillip Hough.
“A lot of dictates are coming down–political dictates from the Board of Governors [BOG] that are antithetical to what we’ve been trying to do at the university,” said Hough. “One [thing] like promote diversity, equity, and inclusion has been a really important and core value of what we’ve been trying to do.”
Schmidt Family Complex for Academic and Athletic Excellence, Room 107 during the Presidential Search listening sessions on Tuesday, Aug. 29. (JD Delcastillo)
On Thursday, Florida Atlantic University (FAU)’s Presidential Search Committee held its first listening session, where faculty, staff and community members expressed their opinions on the future leadership of the university – but students were nowhere to be found.
“I think it’s extremely important for us students to know what the president’s role in a university system is; they’re going to have a much greater, larger, and more fulfilled experience if you have an idea what’s happening on the broader level as opposed to just what major you’re in,” said Joseph Kleinhenz, a junior who transferred from Palm Beach State College at the start of the semester.
On Aug. 21, the Chair of Florida Atlantic University’s Presidential Search Committee, Sherry Murphy announced via email the official schedule for the search’s listening sessions, which will take place from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9.
A week after the Presidential Search Committee’s meeting on Aug. 14, where the draft of the listening search sessions was discussed but was unclear due to a lack of planning, locations and stakeholder participation in the sessions. In yesterday’s email, the chair announced that three in-person sessions will be held on the FAU’s three campuses and two virtual ones.
On Wednesday, Florida Atlantic University’s Presidential Search Committee announced listening sessions, although some key details remain unclear.
At the meeting, Ann Yates of Buffkin/Baker, a search firm specializing in hiring across different industries, outlined plans for listening sessions from Aug.29 to Sept. 9. The sessions are intended to gather diverse input from stakeholders across FAU’s campuses.
Despite their significance in the presidential search, key details—such as session logistics, locations, and stakeholder participation—remain unclear. However, the committee approved the overall calendar.
The first Florida Atlantic University Presidential Search Committee meeting took place Wednesday, officially kicking off the search for the university’s next president after a year-long hold.
The Presidential Search Committee Chair, Sherry Murphy, led the meeting to discuss important elements of the new search process, including the duties of the Presidential Search Committee, the implications of Florida’s Sunshine Law and an overview of the recruiting procedures managed by Tennessee-based search firm Buffkin/Baker.
Almost a year after the Board of Trustees announced the suspension of the presidential search amidst controversy, Bussani announced that a new 15-member search committee, guided by Trustee Sherry Murphy, will begin its search process this summer.
The new Presidential Search Committee consists of Craig Mateer, Pablo Paez, Ernie Ellison, Kevin Wagner, Stefan Andjelkovic, Brian Poulin, Roland Valdivieso, Jeff Joyner, Michelle Hagerty, Scott Clenaghan, John Tolbert, Robert “Bobby” D’Angelo, Stephanie Toothaker, and Robert Allen.
The Board of Governors (BOG) met Wednesday to confirm the renewed appointment of Interim President Stacy Volnick.
Volnick has served as interim president since 2022 as the school has searched for a successor to former President John Kelly. On Nov. 14, 2023, FAU’s Board of Trustees (BOT) voted to extend Volnick’s appointment as interim president and reconvened on Feb. 8 to approve her employment agreement as interim president.
Brian Lamb, chair of the BOG, congratulated Volnick for her achievements in this position, expressing that Volnick has “gotten off to a fantastic start” and saying her reappointment is “well deserved.”
“Dr. Volnick,… I principally want you to know how grateful this state is…[for] your service,” Lamb said. “We owe you a tremendous amount of gratitude for your public service, and I am proud to carry this motion.”
Bussani noted that during Volnick’s tenure, FAU has climbed 19 points in rankings.
Headshot of Piero Bussani. Courtesy of FAU’s website.
FAU Board of Trustees (BOT) Chair Brad Levine resigned at the Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday. The BOT unanimously appointed Piero Bussani as the next chairman. Bussani was appointed to the board in 2022 by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“The university is poised to select a permanent president, a search that has been arduous and now must commence anew,” Levine said. “Unfortunately, I have personally become a part of this narrative. The selection of an experienced and visionary leader deserves no such distractions.”
Board of Trustees Chair Brad Levine reacts to Governor Alan Levine’s concerns at Wednesday’s Board of Governors meeting. Courtesy of TheFloridaChannel.org.
The Board of Governors (BOG) debated Wednesday over the extension of FAU Interim President Stacy Volnick’s contract, but not because of Volnick – instead because there was never a contract to begin with. This discovery led to a no-confidence vote in Board of Trustees (BOT) Chair Brad Levine.
FAU’s presidential search violated state law and failed to meet audit and compliance regulations, Florida Board of Governors (BOG) Inspector General Julie Leftheris reported of her investigation Thursday during an Audit and Compliance Committee meeting.
“Our review found areas in which the FAU presidential search was out of compliance with state law and [a] Board of Governors regulation related to the use of a preference candidate survey in May 2023,” Leftheris said.
On Nov. 12, Levine delivered a performance evaluation letter to Volnick praising her and the university’s growth over the past year, noting how she supported public affairs staff in generating $1.7 billion as the men’s basketball team made its run to the Final Four. Levine wrote that the chair of the Board of Governors, university friends and community leaders commended and praised Volnick’s success “at the helm of FAU during some challenging times.”
He rated her work at the highest level — exceptional.
Headshot of Attorney General Ashley Moody. (Courtesy of Moody’s website)
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody determined on Oct. 30 that Florida Atlantic University’s use of a straw poll in its suspended presidential search violated Sunshine Law, spurring calls for the process to be restarted completely.
“This process is inconsistent with the Sunshine Law because it uses an evasive device to circumvent public deliberation,” wrote Moody, in a letter to the State University System of Florida General Counsel Rachel Kamoutsas. “In fact, it appears that the very purpose of the process you describe is to inject secrecy into the deliberative process.”
“I am asking this board to explore with the Board of Governors whether an adjustment could be made to the presidential selection process to allow us to consider extending a multi-year contract to Stacy Volnick to serve as our next president,” said Kimberly Dunn, the president of the Faculty Senate during the Sept. 26 meeting.
Fine confirmed that he and Feingold, FAU Board of Trustees (BOT) vice chair and search committee member, are “close friends” via an August 27 email to the University Press.
“As State Chairs of the Republican Jewish Coalition, I met the Feingolds when I first entered politics in 2015 and over the years, we have become close friends,” he wrote.
Top: Governor Ron DeSantis, FAU Board of Trustees Chair Brad Levine. Bottom: State University System of Florida Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, Florida State Rep. Randy Fine.
“It is, I think, one of the worst jobs in higher education right now, to be a president of a public university in Florida given the political interference that we see. So the fact that they got three really viable candidates that have all you would want to see in a university president, that’s impressive,” said Michael Harris, associate professor of higher education at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Barbara Feingold is the Vice Chair of the FAU Board of Trustees. Headshot courtesy of FAU Media Relations.
“I resent the fact that you’ve been talking for all of us, which you shouldn’t because of the NDA, and I resent the fact that today you’re talking for me out of turn. I’m meaning that that’s not supposed to be out there for public information yet. That’s why the Board of Governors got involved, and that’s why the inspector general is involved. Because there were not only anomalies, there were ethics violations and a lot of irregularities. You may be painting a certain picture, but it’s not an accurate and true picture. And I resent that,” said Feingold.
Tyler Branson, an English professor at the University of Cincinnati, has served on multiple academic search committees. He feels that leadership teams involved in the search should provide the community with regular updates.
“It’s a fine line between being able to discuss an ongoing search and then providing the campus community updates and transparency about what’s going on,” he said. “And I think you can do both of those, right? You can maintain confidentiality and follow the law, but you can also be transparent and open and honest with the community and I think that’s what a good leadership team should be able to do effectively.”
Official headshot of Dick Schmidt. Courtesy of the Sun Sentinel. (Downtown Photo)
“The intersection of politics and academia is at the same time both fragile and dangerous. This has never been more clear than this past week, when it appears that political influence may have pressured the State University System Board of Governors to halt the search process for the next president of Florida Atlantic University.”
“Following a written request from the Chancellor of the Florida State University System Board of Governors, FAU Board of Trustees Chair Brad Levine has agreed to suspend the university’s presidential search until further notice,” FAU’s statement read.
Vice Admiral Sean Buck (top left), Michael Hartline (top right), Jose Sartarelli (bottom). Photos courtesy of US Naval Academy, Florida State University College of Business, and the Wilmington Business Journal.
Scheduled for July 10, 12, and 13, the meetings would have showcased the three presidential candidates and their visions before they interviewed with the Board of Trustees, the governing board of the university.
“This applicant pool is one of the strongest we have ever seen,” Rod McDavis, managing principal of AGB Search, said in a statement, “It is the result of the committee’s hard work, dedication to the process, and adherence to the highest standards for the conduct of the search. AGB Search is proud to have assisted FAU in assembling such an exceptional pool.”
All FAU students, faculty, staff, and alumni are welcome to attend the listening sessions and share their thoughts on the desired qualifications and characteristics of the next FAU president.
Rep. Randy Fine. Source of Republican House Majority.
Gov. Ron DeSantis approached Republican Florida House of Representative Randy Fine and encouraged him to apply to be the next president of Florida Atlantic University, FAU Associate Vice President of Media Relations and Public Affairs Joshua Glanzer wrote in a statement.
“Volnick was an obvious choice for a smooth and seamless transition during the presidential search,” Chairman Brad Levine wrote in an email announcement to the FAU community Tuesday morning.
FAU President John Kelly smiles during a Florida Board of Governors meeting on November 4, 2021. (Eston Parker III)
“My new role as University President Emeritus will afford me the time and flexibility to complete certain projects that are important to me personally, and are important to the Board of Trustees, also,” wrote Kelly.
