STATE NEWS

[Photo courtesy uf.edu]

UF launches president search

The University of Florida Board of Trustees on Dec. 5 approved starting a search for a president, after the state university system’s Board of Governors in June rejected its initial pick.

A search committee will oversee the process, with trustees also giving authority to board Chairman Mori Hosseini to approve hiring a search consultant and an executive-compensation firm.

“The president of the University of Florida is one of the most influential and impactful positions in all of public higher education and in the state of Florida,” Hosseini said.

After a search, the Board of Trustees in May approved hiring former University of Michigan President Santa Ono. But the pick remained subject to approval by the university system’s Board of Governors, which rejected Ono.

UF began looking for a president in 2024 after the resignation of Ben Sasse. Former UF President Kent Fuchs served as interim president for a little more than a year and was succeeded in September as interim president by Donald Landry, a physician and former chairman of the Columbia University Department of Medicine,

Albritton plans quick vote on ‘rural renaissance’

After the proposal died in the House during the 2025 session, Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, said on Dec. 8 that the Senate will take up his “rural renaissance” plan during the first week of the 2026 legislative session.

Albritton, who has made the issue a priority of his time as Senate president, told reporters he is “hopeful” the plan will get final approval during the session that starts Jan. 13.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to approve the bill Wednesday, teeing it up to go to the full Senate.

The bill (SB 250), sponsored by Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, is aimed at boosting such things as health care, education, transportation and economic development in rural areas. For example, the bill would provide $25 million for a new program aimed at helping physicians, physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses set up practices in rural communities, according to a Senate summary of the bill. As another health-care example, the bill would increase Medicaid reimbursement payments for what are known as “critical access” hospitals in rural areas.

As examples on other topics, the bill would create a program to provide student-loan payment assistance for educators in rural areas, increase money to help rural counties resurface and rebuild roads and create an Office of Rural Prosperity at the Florida Department of Commerce, according to the summary. The Senate passed a rural-renaissance measure during the 2025 session, but the package got broken up in the House and did not pass.