The Florida Board of Governors voted Wednesday to confirm Dr. Stuart Bell as the University of Florida’s 14th president, effective immediately.  

The confirmation follows Bell’s unanimous approval by the UF Board of Trustees and unanimous recommendation by the UF Presidential Search Advisory Committee. 

Bell, former president of the University of Alabama, succeeds Donald Landry, who was appointed interim UF president last year after the nomination to make Dr. Santa Ono UF’s next president fell short before the Board of Governors. 

“I’m ready to get to work,” Bell said in a statement. “The University of Florida is an extraordinary institution with exceptional talent, remarkable momentum and limitless opportunity. I look forward to working alongside our students, faculty, staff, alumni and supporters as we continue building one of the world’s great public universities.” 

Bell is the fourth president to lead UF over the last two years, with Ben Sasse being the last person to hold the permanent role until his resignation in July 2024. Former president Kent Fuchs returned to on an interim basis for the 2024-25 school year before Landry’s interim tenure in the 2025-26 school year.  

UF said Bell’s inauguration will be held at the university later this year.     

During the meeting, Bell was asked about his stance on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The question was asked by board member Aubrey Edge, the lone dissenting vote in Bell’s confirmation.   

“I’m not coming to Florida to bring back DEI, or woke, in any fashion,” Bell told the Board of Governors at its Tampa meeting.  

According to media reports, Bell opened the Division of DEI at Alabama in 2017. He later closed it in 2024 to comply with state law (Senate Bill 129), which the Alabama Political Reporter said banned both DEI programs and “the teaching of ‘divisive concepts’ at public colleges.”  

Edge also asked Bell if he could address concerns about Alabama’s “declining national academic standards” during his stint as president.   

Bell served as the president of Alabama from 2015 to 2025. According to U.S. News & World Report rankings, the university ranked No. 143 and No. 148 among national public universities in 2021 and 2022, respectively.   

In response to Edge, Bell explained that Alabama is broken into three campuses, making rankings a challenge.  

“The great advantage that we have at Florida is we are one university,” Bell said. “We have agriculture, we have our hospitals, we have the [medical] school, we have the main campus. Everything is together, and therefore we are seen as one success unit.”  

Bell said that under his leadership at Alabama, retention rates and graduation rates reached “an all-time high.” He also said research grew, adding that the university was one of the fastest growing R1 institutions in the country.   

Bell’s permanent contract took affect July 1 and will run through June 30, 2031. Under this agreement, he will be paid an annual base salary of $2 million, with potential annual raises and bonuses tied to performance.  

The permanent contract also outlines several mandated presidential duties, including appointing a permanent provost “who is firmly aligned with and supports the principles guiding Florida’s approach to higher education” and filling interim dean “and/or vacant leadership positions who are firmly aligned with and support the principles guiding Florida’s approach to higher education.” 

UF currently has several active dean searches underway across its colleges and libraries. In May, Kevin Robert Orr was named the new dean of UF’s College of Arts.  

Bell was asked about his plan of attack for filling the numerous interim and vacant positions across UF.  

“What you will see in the first 100 days [of my presidency] is [the] launching of those searches – the ones that are not currently underway – and moving with an expeditious manner to get those filled,” Bell said. 

He said the provost search will also be one of the priority items that gets launched. 

“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,” UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini said in a statement. “Dr. Bell has fully embraced our Board of Trustees’ vision of leading UF to become one of the top three public universities in the nation, and I am absolutely confident he will take us there.” 

Bell was originally scheduled to go before the Board of Governors last week for final confirmation, but the vote was delayed after a letter surfaced from Board of Governors Chairman Alan Levine.  

In the letter, which was addressed to Ray Rodrigues, Chancellor of the State University System of Florida, Levine said he would not approve placing any item on the agenda for a university while that institution’s board is out of compliance with state regulations. He added this would impact the vote on Bell and the reappointment of Florida Gulf Coast University’s (FGCU) president, Dr. Aysegul Timur. 

“To be clear, this action should not be construed by anyone to be a statement about Dr. Bell or his candidacy,” Levine wrote. 

Rather, Levine outlined governance concerns involving the Board of Trustees and its delegation of authority. Levine noted that the contract for Landry had granted Hosseini “sweeping authority to approve the hiring and compensation of university personnel, from the provost down to mid and lower-level unit academic and administrative unit leaders.” 

Levine also asked the Board of Governors inspector to investigate any “credible allegation” related to financial transactions and real estate at UF that could help the board monitor governance.   

UF issued a response to Levine’s letter on June 18, with Rahul Patel, chair of UF’s presidential search committee and vice chair of the Board of Trustees, calling the decision to postpone the confirmation vote “unfair.” Patel said UF could not “afford to remain in limbo” while the issues were addressed. 

The Board of Trustees ended up holding a meeting on June 22, where they voted unanimously to appoint Bell as interim president, effective July 1. Bell’s interim contract, which was attached with the June 22 meeting agenda, stated that both Bell and the Board of Trustees “intend and expect that Dr. Bell will be confirmed by the Board of Governors as the University’s permanent president.” 

Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.