Joseph Glover, who stepped down as University of Florida provost last year, is now coming back to the position in an interim capacity amid an ongoing leadership shakeup at UF in the wake of President Ben Sasse’s resignation. 

Glover is leaving the University of Arizona, where he had been appointed to the position of provost, effective July 1. 

“The University of Arizona thanks Provost Joseph Glover for his time at the university,” Mieczyslaw J. “Mitch” Zak, a University of Arizona spokesperson, said in a statement provided to Mainstreet. “We wish him well as he returns to the University of Florida, where he has spent the past 15 years. An interim provost will be appointed in the coming weeks.” 

In an email to faculty and students on Tuesday evening, Glover said he would be returning to UF because interim president Kent Fuchs had “asked me to lend my expertise in support of the university, where I spent over 15 years, and which is undergoing a major transition.” 

“This is a difficult decision and one that I did not make lightly,” Glover wrote.  

UF has entered a sudden transition period after Sasse resigned unexpectedly after 17 months in office, citing his wife’s recent epilepsy diagnosis. Kent Fuchs, who served as UF’s president for eight years before Sasse, is serving as interim president while the university conducts a search. 

After Glover stepped down, Dr. J. Scott Angle, the head of UF/IFAS, stepped in as interim provost and then assumed the position permanently in January. 

In a statement to UF faculty, Angle said he will be returning to his former position as Senior Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources for UF/IFAS, effective Sept. 6. He said Glover offered his support when Angle took his place as provost, and now Angle is “pleased to return the favor.” 

“Serving as your Provost for the past months has been an honor,” Angle wrote. “It was not a position I sought, but I accepted the job with an open heart, and I greatly enjoyed working with my faculty colleagues to support their work and to strengthen UF on all fronts.” 

Rumors about the reasons for Sasse’s departure and who else may be on the way out continue to swirl around campus. 

Sarah D. Lynne, Faculty Senate Chair and member of the UF Board of Trustees, said she has heard rumors surrounding Sasse’s resignation, but has not given them much thought. 

“I’m not interested in looking in the rearview mirror, we’ve got a presidential search ahead of us,” Lynne said in a phone interview. 

She said she is focusing now on revising the resolution of character and qualifications for the next president and ensuring that faculty voices are heard in the search. 

On Monday, The Independent Florida Alligator reported that Sasse spent more in 17 months than Fuchs did in eight years. The Alligator reported that the president’s office spent $17.3 million in Sasse’s first year, up from $5.6 million in Fuchs’ last year, largely to pay for consulting firms and “high-salaried, remote positions” for Republican officials and former members of Sasse’s U.S. Senate staff. 

In response to a request about the reported spending, UF spokesperson Steve Orlando declined to offer any details.  

“The president’s budget went through the appropriate approval process,” Orlando wrote in a Wednesday afternoon email.  

Mainstreet confirmed that James Wegmann, a subject of the Alligator report, is still employed at UF. However, Orlando declined to respond to an inquiry about whether other key officials—including Raymond Sass, Penny Schwinn, Kari Ridder, Raven Shirley, Taylor Sliva and Kelicia Rice—were still UF employees.  

“Consistent with longstanding UF policy, we will decline to comment on personnel matters,” Orlando wrote.  

— With reporting from J.C. Derrick