UF announces Presidential search listening sessions and stakeholder survey
Press release from the University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Today, Rahul Patel, Chair of the UF Presidential Search Advisory Committee, released the following announcement:
On December 16, 2025, the University of Florida Board of Trustees announced the launch of the search for UF’s next president and established a Presidential Search Advisory Committee to help guide this important process of identifying and recruiting outstanding candidates who reflect UF’s vision, values, and aspirations.
At the heart of this search is a commitment to listening to and learning from our community. We believe the success of this effort depends on understanding the hopes, priorities, and perspectives of the many stakeholders who care deeply about the University of Florida. To that end, we are taking several meaningful steps to ensure broad engagement and participation:
- Listening Sessions:
The Search Advisory Committee has posted proposed presidential qualifications and criteria to the Presidential Search Website here. This document was approved by the UF Board of Trustees less than a year ago after receiving extensive input from faculty, staff, students, alumni and donors, administrators, and community members gathered through 10 listening sessions and an online survey.Â
Given how recently this document was created and the level of feedback and thought that went into it, the Committee invites the UF community to review it and share any suggested additions, refinements, or modifications during our upcoming listening sessions. The listening sessions are scheduled for January 26 at 10:00 a.m., January 27 at 4:00 p.m., and February 3 at 2:00 p.m. These sessions are virtual via Zoom. For details on how to join these sessions, please visit the Presidential Search Website.- Online Stakeholder Survey:
For those unable to attend a session or who wish to provide additional input, we have launched an online stakeholder survey. This survey provides another opportunity to share your insights and priorities, ensuring every voice is heard. The survey is open now through January 30, 2026, and can be accessed here.
- Additional Feedback:
In addition to the listening sessions and survey, we welcome all feedback at any time through the Presidential Search Website at presidentsearch.ufl.edu.Your input is vital to this process. Together, we have an opportunity to lay a strong foundation for UF’s continued rise as one of the premier universities in the country. We look forward to collaborating with you as we embark on this exciting and important journey for our university.
Sure. The next president has already been selected.
It should be someone very attuned to Florida education. Pick someone with leadership experience in Florida, and interested in education, already. Not necessarily an academic (far from it), but someone who can think outside the box, open to new ideas, and see the big picture of our culture in general.
One biggie is keeping youth interested in education, so Florida stays number one.
Uh, nice – if vague – thought – but UF has been and still is a top tier research university competing internationally for research funds and the best students. Any applicants should be familiar with this world and know how to thrive in it. This impacts the state and national economy as well as the students and technical/scientific breakthroughs developed here.
Unfortunately – and this is not Trump’s fault though he is making it much worse – is that in the last few years the US has gone from dominating the ranked top 10 research universities in the world to having only 1 left in those 10 – Harvard. The rest are in China, which has heavily and steadily pumped money into research and also is leading in published scientific research. This has been key to our staying power in international technology and economic power. We need to wake up to China eating our lunch here in this important area with local repercussions and elect leaders who quit f..ing around with stupid cultural wars while tolerating the crippling of our best and brightest schools with funding cuts based on those cukture wars. Like everything, Trump uses his power to go to war with other Americans and use whatever leverage he has to do damage to them to get his way. He’s one of China’s best assets.
Both links below do not require payment.
“Until recently, Harvard was the most productive research university in the world, according to a global ranking that looks at academic publication….
Harvard recently dropped to No. 3 on the ranking. The schools racing up the list are not Harvard’s American peers, but Chinese universities that have been steadily climbing in rankings that emphasize the volume and quality of research they produce….”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/us/harvard-global-ranking-chinese-universities-trump-cuts.html
“By most metrics, 2025 has been the worst year for the American scientific enterprise in modern history.
Since January, the Trump administration has made deep cuts to the nation’s science funding, including more than $1 billion in grants to the National Science Foundation, which sponsors much of the basic research at universities and federal laboratories, and $4.5 billion to the National Institutes of Health. Thousands of jobs for scientists and staff members have been terminated or frozen at these and other federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Park Service…”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/climate/lost-science-newsletter.html?unlocked_article_code=1.GFA.xAxX.YQb3vlAIaobe&smid=url-share
Oh, you thumbs down freaks don’t like facts and want the US and Florida to become back water swamps where it’s 1950 again, but minus the economic and military strength (we won’t be able to afford it). America First is America Last because the world will pass us by and is already making those plans. Listen to the leaders in Davos and look at the agreements they and other previous faithful allies are making with China, a more stable and promising partner than Crazy Donald’s Discount City – “He’s giving it away!”
Idiots!
Why bring Trump into this when you admit it’s not his fault? Why bring Harvard into it? Why bring the NY Times liberal article into it? This is a local column about the University of Florida and a presidential search. Oh, I guess the word president triggered your TSD again.