Former state Senate President Don Gaetz is among four candidates scheduled for on-campus interviews next week as the University of West Florida nears completion of its search for a new president.
The university’s Presidential Search Committee this week picked Gaetz, along with Martha Saunders, a University of West Florida provost and vice president; Frank Ashley, a vice president with The College Board; and William M. “Mike” Sherman, a vice president and provost at The University of Akron, as the candidates who will be on the Pensacola campus for final interviews beginning Sunday.
Each candidate will spend a day at the 13,000-student school, with the last interview conducted Wednesday.
The following day, the search committee, guided in part by post-interview surveys of its members as well as the campus community, will select at least three candidates for consideration by the university Board of Trustees.
The trustees will pick a president to succeed Judy Bense, who is stepping down at the end of this year.
Gaetz, who has a master’s degree from Troy State University, has the least university academic experience of the candidates, but he has extensive experience in the business world, having helped found a hospice company that became a $500 million enterprise.
He has academic experience as the former superintendent of schools in nearby Okaloosa County and as a former member of the county’s school board.
Gaetz’s strength is his political background, including serving as Senate president from 2012 to 2014.
He has a deep understanding of the budget process for state universities, most recently chairing the Senate budget subcommittee on education spending. He also is a proven fundraiser, another requirement for a university president.
Saunders has the strongest academic leadership experience, serving previously as president of the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
With a doctorate from Florida State University, Saunders also has deep ties to UWF, where she began teaching in 1984, rising to a professorship and then becoming dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 2000. She left in 2002 to take a vice president post at Columbus State University.
She served two years as president of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and five years as president of the University of Southern Mississippi. She returned to UWF as the provost in 2013.
With a doctorate from the University of Alabama, Ashley has been with The College Board since 2013, working as a vice president. He has extensive experience at Texas A&M University, where he began teaching in 1986, rising to a professorship and then chancellor in 2007. He also served as the chief of staff at the school.
Sherman has a doctorate from the University of Texas. His longest academic stint was at The Ohio State University, where he began teaching in 1985, becoming a professor in 1993. He moved to The University of Akron, where he has served as chief operating officer and vice president for innovation and economic development.