{"id":6120,"date":"2026-07-01T16:07:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T16:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6120"},"modified":"2026-07-01T16:07:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T16:07:24","slug":"florida-confirms-stuart-bell-as-ufs-14th-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6120","title":{"rendered":"Florida confirms Stuart Bell as UF\u2019s 14th president"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>The University of Florida finally has a permanent president.<\/p>\n<p>The Board of Governors, in a nearly unanimous vote, approved former University of\u00a0Alabama\u00a0president\u00a0Stuart Bell\u00a0on Wednesday morning, signaling a stronger focus on athletics at the state\u2019s flagship school.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6118\">Nikola Vucevic returning to Orlando Magic in NBA free agency<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bell is UF\u2019s first permanent president in two years.<\/p>\n<p>After former\u00a0U.S.\u00a0Sen.\u00a0Ben Sasse\u00a0stepped down in 2024, former UF president\u00a0Ken Fuchs\u00a0and\u00a0Columbia University\u00a0professor\u00a0Donald Landry\u00a0served as interim presidents.<\/p>\n<p>Bell will begin his five-year term on\u00a0July 1. He led the\u00a0University of Alabama\u00a0for a decade, which took home three national championship football titles under his leadership.<\/p>\n<p>The sole finalist for the presidential job last summer,\u00a0Santa Ono, was blocked by the\u00a0Board of Governors. Board members largely took issue with his past stances on diversity initiatives and response to pro-Palestinian encampments while leading the\u00a0University of Michigan.<\/p>\n<p>The lead-up to Bell\u2019s vote was contentious, even without the memory of Ono\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n<p>Bell\u2019s confirmation vote was planned for last week\u2019s\u00a0Board of Governors\u00a0meeting, but board chairperson\u00a0Alan Levine\u00a0pulled the agenda item.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6116\">South Florida coyotes are now feasting on iguanas and peacocks, study finds<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <!--Ad-Slot: outstream_video--><\/p>\n<p>In a letter to State University System chancellor\u00a0Ray Rodrigues, Levine voiced concerns about UF chairperson Mori Hosseini\u2019s scope of authority. Levine wrote that he had asked\u00a0Board of Governors\u00a0staff to review each university\u2019s compliance with state governance rules. The review found that most have a clear understanding of the regulations, but that \u201csignificant delegations of authority\u201d were granted to Hosseini, he wrote in the letter.<\/p>\n<p>A\u00a0heated discussion ensued\u00a0at last week\u2019s meeting, with Hosseini and Levine arguing back and forth and other board members questioning why Bell\u2019s candidacy had become intertwined with the trustee leadership review.<\/p>\n<p>Levine said he felt the governance issue needed to be addressed before any vote on Bell, and he didn\u2019t want it to come across as a negative statement about Bell\u2019s candidacy.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a92026 Tampa Bay Times. Visit\u00a0tampabay.com. Distributed by\u00a0Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=6114\">Boy\u2019s death in hot car is third in Florida this year, a tragic reminder of risks<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <!--Ad-Slot: cube_article-->\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Board of Governors, in a nearly unanimous vote, approved former University of\u00a0Alabama\u00a0president\u00a0Stuart Bell\u00a0on Wednesday morning, signaling a stronger focus on athletics at the state\u2019s flagship school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Florida confirms Stuart Bell as UF\u2019s 14th president - 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