State Sen. Don Gaetz makes bid to become University of West Florida president


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  • | 12:00 p.m. August 16, 2016
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State Sen. Don Gaetz is among more than 70 applicants seeking to become president of the University of West Florida.

Gaetz, 68, a Niceville Republican who led the Florida Senate as its president from 2012-14, said Monday he informed the consulting firm handling the search he would like to be considered after he was nominated by several people.

A presidential search committee will meet today at the university’s Pensacola campus to go through the applications and decide which candidates will be asked for formal interviews.

After the interviews are conducted this month and in September, the search committee is expected to forward three names to the university’s Board of Trustees.

A new president is scheduled to be selected at the board’s Sept. 15 meeting.

The overwhelming majority of applicants to replace President Judy Bense, who is retiring at the end of the year, have an academic background.

Gaetz, a former health-care executive, said he is “not a looking for a job.”

But he said the University of West Florida was “my university,” citing his longtime association with the school, which serves about 13,000 students.

Over the past 15 years, Gaetz said he has worked closely with faculty, administrators and trustees to create career technical and STEM education programs.

He said he has helped the school secure $90 million in campus projects, improve its endowment opportunities and create an economic development fund that has helped generate about 7,000 jobs.

Gaetz’s bid for the job is not unusual in Florida. The state historically has picked a mix of university presidents that have academic, political or business backgrounds.

Florida State University President John Thrasher is a former state House speaker. University of North Florida President John Delaney is a former Jacksonville mayor.

 

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