A fresh pair of shoes.

Adam Hasner said he “hit the ground running” on his first day as Florida Atlantic University’s eighth president on March 10, lacing up his shoes to start his term.

After a two-year search that originally failed, the FAU Board of Trustees unanimously voted for Hasner as the president in a second attempt on Feb. 10. Then the Florida State University System Board of Governors sealed the deal the following week. His resume includes being a former Republican legislator with a background in law and a private prison executive. Despite not having experience in academia, Hasner said he is still no stranger to the institution. 

This is his “hometown university,” as he made it clear that while he is breaking in the soles of the president’s shoes, he is not new to the institution’s 60-year history and has lived in Boca Raton for decades. Some of his first steps into the university were helping establish FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and securing funding for the current College of Engineering building. 

As Hasner works on his strategic plan, he explains that his objective is to incorporate academic success and research into it. He said not all would be accomplished in this five-year plan, but he is thinking about the long-term vision for the university to set the stage for the next 60 years hypothetically. 

He agreed to speak exclusively with the University Press on his third day in office to talk about his plans to meet the university’s needs and secure funding to do so.

This conversation has been edited for clarity. 

Q: To anyone not aware of the role of the president, can you touch on that and share what priorities you have on your to-do list?

A: I look at it from being the “face of the university” and the voice of the university throughout the State University System and throughout the community to the region. Being the top advocate for the university, and that means in Tallahassee, being the top lobbyist for the university. Because being a state-funded university, we rely very heavily on state appropriation. I was actually in Tallahassee as a volunteer for the university […] to meet with legislators, the governor and the governor’s office to talk about what our legislative funding priorities are for the 2025 legislative session, which is happening right now. So I think being the top lobbyist for the university is very important. Having served in the legislature gives me a unique perspective on understanding and having those relationships. 

[…] The state of Florida has a very unique system of accountability when it comes to student success and student achievement; my priority and one of these recurring initiative priorities is to help increase that. But, we are graded, for lack of a better term, by the State University System Board of Governors on student success metrics. […] There are ten different metrics that each university is graded on because there’s also a Performance-Based Funding component to those grades. It isn’t just keeping score for keeping score. There are actual performance-based funding metrics, and we want to be able to rise up in those metrics. 

[…] One of the biggest challenges we have, and one of my highest priorities, is faculty retention and faculty recruitment because that results in better quality instruction and more research for the university. We have to be able to afford to pay competitive salaries for high-quality faculty. We live in a very expensive part of the state and so in terms of being able to offer competitive salaries, that’s a huge issue. The focus is on student success. The focus is on student achievement. But in order to achieve that, you have to have high-quality faculty and be able to recruit and retain staff.

Q: What is your opinion on federal-level politics interfering with education?

A: What’s really important to understand is that as a publicly funded institution, we rely on state funding and federal funding. I wouldn’t call it “interference.” There will always be engagement. And so I think it’s important for our institution, as for any others, to be active and to be vocal in telling our story and expressing what’s in our best interests. I think that’s really where relationships are very important. I wouldn’t want students to be scared. I wouldn’t want them to be fearful about some of the conversations that are taking place right now, because I think what will ultimately be seen is that a lot of the concerns that they have will be addressed such as financial aid or grant funding, or whether it’s Title Nine issues at the federal level. Whether it’s their ability to take the classes that they want or have affordable education.

When you let some of the fireworks kind of die down, you’ll realize that, and that’s some of the experience that I bring to the table is understanding how to remain calm during a lot of the louder or what may seem like more chaotic situations. I hope that students know that I’ll always have their best interests in mind and that is one of my highest priorities. And everything that I do as president of this university is going to be done through the lens of what’s in the best interest of students. This is going to be a very student-centric and student-focused administration.

Q: In the case of the New College of Florida and now Florida International University, where former politicians are leading the universities, do you feel that there is a need for that in the administration of public universities in this day and age?

A: Yeah, I think there’s a need for somebody who can be a champion for the university, and I don’t think that there’s any “one size fits all” for a university. But I think universities are now more open-minded to the idea that the role of the president can be filled by somebody who perhaps doesn’t have a traditional career in academia or a Ph.D. I have a terminal degree as a law degree. But I have community experience and also experience in the legislative process because I think the “new role” of a president is about being the top advocate for the university. Especially in a public state-funded research university, so you want to have someone who can be that top advocate in Tallahassee. You want to have someone who can be the top fundraiser for the university. […] And so I don’t have a long learning curve in order to go out to start knocking on doors about raising money and helping us be successful.

Then the other part, which is very important, is to be the brand ambassador for the university.

[…] That means doing that constantly throughout my tenure as president, which is going out and talking to business leaders and other community organizations, telling the “Florida Atlantic University story” and getting more people involved in being a part of the Florida Atlantic community. We have a great story to tell, but there are so many people who haven’t heard it. And so, having what some would call a “non-traditional” background, I think, in many ways, can be a huge advantage in serving as president.

A president also relies very heavily on his or her executive leadership team, so having a strong provost and having a strong executive team. Doctor Stacy Volnick, who has worked at the university for 34 years and who served as interim president, is staying on as the chief operating officer. So, to have her experience as part of the leadership team, and so many of the others, I benefit from being able to harness their experience and their knowledge. At the same time, I am able to deploy the skills and the experiences that I have in the community, fundraising and in Tallahassee. It makes a great partnership with myself and with the executive leadership team. 

Q: During your public forums, there was a protest and with that, some students might still have concerns with your candidacy to this day. How do you plan to address this and amend that burnt bridge with those students?

A: I talked about it then, and I would talk about it every day, which is that I’m proud of the fact that our university has the diversity that it has. We’re a Hispanic-serving institution. We have a majority-minority student population. And I was very clear then and very clear now, which is that this campus needs to be a welcoming campus for all students. […] I intend to engage with all student groups. I would hope that they know that they can come up to me anytime, and have a conversation. And that’s really the type of engagement that I want to have with the student population, which is being very open and being very approachable.

Q: What advice would you give to the 31,000 students?

A: We have so many services on campus, that they should be able to avail themselves with. If they’re looking for help from an academic perspective, or otherwise, another thing I would say is to get involved in a student organization. We know this from data, but I can just tell you anecdotally that the students who get more involved in student organizations and make those relationships through that are going to be the students who have a much more robust college experience. They’re going to also be the ones that are going to want to come back after they graduate from college.

[…] No matter how much they put in, they’re always going to get more out of it. And so I just think we have so much to offer on campus and we have so much to offer throughout the community for our students. And I really hope to make the community more a part of the university, and the university more a part of the community. That’s going to open up doors for students, whether it’s for internships or other experiential opportunities, and then ultimately, for pathways to careers. And so, as president, I hope to really be the one to help bridge that gap that provides students with those opportunities throughout the region, not just for when they’re in college, but for after they graduate as well.

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