The University of Florida Board of Trustees voted unanimously Monday to appoint Dr. Donald Landry, a professor at Columbia University, as the university’s next interim president, beginning Sept. 1.
The board’s decision comes one week after Chair Mori Hosseini told trustees in a virtual meeting that he was continuing the work of finding a candidate for the interim president position.
Kent Fuchs has been serving as UF’s current interim president since August 2024, following the resignation of former President Ben Sasse. This was after an eight-year stint as the university’s 12th president.
Fuchs’ original contract was set to expire on July 31, but he agreed to extend it by a month while the board continued to work toward a temporary solution following the Florida Board of Governors’ rejection of Dr. Santa Ono – the Board of Trustees’ sole finalist for the university’s 14th president – in June.
Landry is the current Hamilton Southworth Professor at the New York Presbyterian/Columbia Medical Center and director of the Center for Human Longevity at Columbia. He previously served as the physician-in-chief of New York Presbyterian/Columbia Medical Center, founded and directed the Division of Experimental Therapeutics and is the past chief of the Division of Nephrology.
Landry said the decision to come to UF was “very simple.”
“This is the opportunity of a lifetime,” he said. “A preeminent university in what one could argue is the preeminent state in this nation.”
During Monday’s meeting inside the President’s Room at Emerson Alumni Hall, Landry was asked a series of questions from trustees and faculty board members ranging from his personal background and athletics to how he would go about overseeing $3 billion in transformational projects on the university’s Gainesville and Jacksonville campuses.
“I would very much like to be involved in some detail at the beginning stages of all the major projects, just to see how they look to my eye,” he said. “Not that I will have expert vision, but that I’ll also be able to ask questions and test assumptions.”
Landry was also asked to share his perspective on antisemitism.
Hosseini referenced the pro-Palestine student encampments that spread rapidly on college campuses during the spring of 2024.
“We did not allow encampments. Period,” Hosseini said. “We have over 6,000 Jewish students at UF, and when Jewish students at the other schools were being harassed and intimidated, we directed our administration to open the doors and invite them to transfer here with no barriers, where they would be safe.”
Landry agreed with the actions UF leadership took during that time, calling it “very practical.” He also emphasized the need for “neutral” universities.
“A neutral university, paradoxically, in this nation at this moment, would be a conservative university,” he said. “Not espousing conservative values, certainly not indoctrinating conservatism. We’d [UF] be neutral. We wouldn’t choose sides.”
Landry’s appointment by the Board of Trustees is pending confirmation from the Board of Governors. The state board is scheduled to meet again Sept. 10-11, according to a UF press release.
Meanwhile, the search for a permanent president isn’t expected to start until 2026.
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.