By TYLER ALICEA
Updated Thursday, Oct. 16 with additional information
Provost Kent Fuchs will become the University of Florida’s 12th president after being selected by its Board of Trustees Wednesday.
Fuchs was selected following the completion of a three-day process comprising of meetings and interviews with faculty and the trustees, according to The Associated Press. He will begin following the retirement of the incumbent president, Bernie Machen, on Jan. 1 after the trustees’ decision is ratified by the Florida Board of Governors next month.
“With the great privilege and responsibility you have given me, I will devote all of my energies, talents and abilities to helping move the University of Florida toward its preeminence goals,” said Fuchs in a University of Florida press release. “We won’t be complacent. We will focus on being an even greater institution than we are today.”
It was announced that Fuchs was one of two finalists for the position earlier this week; David McLauglin, provost of New York University, was the other contender. As the head of the University of Florida, he will oversee a land grant institution with over 50,000 students and 4,200 full-time faculty members.
Fuchs