University of Florida picks an interim president after last choice was rejected

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The University of Florida has selected an interim president after their last choice was rejected by the state Board of Governors that oversees the university system.

The school announced Monday that Dr. Donald W. Landry, a physician and chair emeritus of the Columbia University Department of Medicine, will take over the University of Florida helm on Sept. 1.

His appointment also must be approved by the state Board of Governors, which is meeting Sept. 10-11.

Landry's selection comes after Santa Ono was first approved by the Florida trustees but turned down in June by the governors amid criticism from political conservatives about his past support for diversity, equity and inclusion programs and other initiatives they view as unacceptable liberal ideology.

Ono had been president of the University of Michigan before that.

Of the Landry choice, University of Florida trustees chair Mori Hosseini called him “a highly accomplished scientist whose work is recognized around the world.”

Landry said in a news release that the appointment is “an extraordinary honor” and called the university “one of the top universities in the country.” Landry is president of the American Academy of Sciences and Letters and received the Presidential Citizens Medal in 2008 from then-President George W. Bush for “diverse and pioneering research” aimed at improving the human condition.