The Florida Board of Governors on Wednesday confirmed Dr. Stuart R. Bell as the 14th president of the University of Florida (UF), ending a confirmation process that had been clouded by questions over UF governance policies.
Bell’s confirmation is effective immediately and follows his unanimous selection by the UF Board of Trustees and unanimous recommendation by the university’s Presidential Search Advisory Committee. Bell previously served for a decade as president of the University of Alabama.
The confirmation comes less than two weeks after Board of Governors Chair Alan Levine raised concerns that UF policies may have given Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini broad authority over personnel, financial, contractual and procurement matters. Levine said the provisions appeared to conflict with Board of Governors rules requiring university boards to act collectively and limiting the authority of individual trustees.
Those concerns threatened to delay Bell’s confirmation and led UF trustees to appoint him interim president, effective July 1, while awaiting final Board of Governors approval. UF officials said at the time that the delay was unrelated to Bell’s qualifications.
“With Dr. Bell’s steady hand at the helm and with his vast experience, there is no limit to what the University of Florida can accomplish,” Hosseini said Wednesday.
Bell said he was ready to begin work and called UF “an extraordinary institution with exceptional talent, remarkable momentum and limitless opportunity.”
Rahul Patel, vice chair of the UF Board of Trustees and chair of the presidential search committee, said the committee conducted a “comprehensive, thoughtful and rigorous search.”
UF said Bell’s inauguration will take place later this year.
