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FAU announces finalists for next university president amid second search effort

After two days of candidate interviews from Jan. 16 to 17, Florida Atlantic University’s Board of Trustees Chair Piero Bussani announced the three finalists in the search for the university’s next president on Jan. 19. The ongoing search for a new permanent president began on July 27, 2024, marking FAU’s Presidential Search Committee’s second attempt...

After two days of candidate interviews from Jan. 16 to 17, Florida Atlantic University’s Board of Trustees Chair Piero Bussani announced the three finalists in the search for the university’s next president on Jan. 19.

The ongoing search for a new permanent president began on July 27, 2024, marking FAU’s Presidential Search Committee’s second attempt to select the university’s eighth president, after the first attempt failed due to a violation of Florida law on Oct. 30, 2023. The first search initially took place after former President John Kelly stepped down; Interim President Stacy Volnick has held her temporary position since Jan. 1, 2023.

In a University Press interview on Sept. 23, 2024, with Volnick, she said her contract wouldn’t prevent her from running for the permanent position but did not provide a clear answer on whether she would.

About five months after the second search started, which included extensive listening sessions led by the search firm Buffkin/Baker, the three finalists for the position are Michael Hartline, Adam Hasner and John Volin.

Hartline, who was a finalist in the first search that failed, is the dean and Charles A. Bruning Professor of Business Administration at Florida State University. Hasner is executive vice president of public policy for the GEO Group, a private prison company headquartered in Boca Raton, that has a history of a failed partnership with the university over the naming rights of what is now Flagler Credit Union Stadium. Volin is the executive vice president for Academic Affairs & Provost and a professor in the School of Forest Resources at the University of Maine.

Bussani wrote in a statement yesterday that these finalists will conduct public forums on campus, which are planned to be scheduled for the first week of February, before interviewing with the Board of Trustees. The next FAU Presidential Search Committee meeting will be on Jan. 27.

Michael Cook is the Managing Editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email michael17cook@gmail.com.   

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