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Posted

June 3, 2024 at 6:35 p.m. EDT

Florida Atlantic University is preparing to search for a new president after the state’s university administration called off a previous search last year.

The FAU Board of Directors is expected to take initial steps toward selecting a search firm to help find a new leader during a meeting on Tuesday. The Board of Directors is also expected to determine the responsibilities of a search committee.

FAU has been led for nearly two years by interim President Stacy Volnick, who was elected in 2022 after then-President John Kelly announced his retirement.

But the search for a more permanent president was halted last summer at the direction of the state university system’s chancellor, Ray Rodrigues, who cited “anomalies” in the search process. Rodrigues ordered in December that the school must start the search over again.

A document posted on FAU’s website boasted that the university had graduated “a record number of students” in May, at 3,600. The university also reported that it had received 47,000 applications from prospective students for the fall 2024 semester, which FAU said represented a 27% increase in applications from the previous year.

“To build on this evolution, Florida Atlantic University’s next president must possess the vision, temperament and experience to seize the opportunities and meet the challenges Florida Atlantic faces in its quest to lead and educate the next generation of thinkers and innovators,” the document states.

The new president is expected to be appointed sometime in early 2025.

The search committee is expected to present an “unranked” list of candidates for the board of trustees when it convenes in January. The trustees and the university council must approve the final selection.

READ MORE: Levine resigns as chairman of the FAU board after issuing a vote of no confidence over the “chaos” in the presidential search