Hired
Santa Ono – University of Florida
Update: The Florida Board of Governors voted against Santa Ono’s candidacy for president of the University of Florida, the state’s flagship research institution. Read more.
The University of Florida Board of Trustees have appointed former University of Michigan President Santa Ono as its next president. He succeeds Ben Sasse, who stepped down following a one-year stint at the Florida flagship university.
Ono has faced some pushback from some Republican state policymakers and education leaders over his previous commitments to DEI. Over the past year and half, however, he halted all central DEI offices at the University of Michigan. He also wrote an op-ed in which he described how the initiative, “became something else—more about ideology, division and bureaucracy, not student success.”
Once considered a top five public university by U.S. News & World Report, the University of Florida lost that ranking in 2023. Ono, president of Michigan since 2022, will be paid $15 million over five years to return Florida to the top.
“Dr. Ono will ensure that merit and scholarship, not ideology, are the gold standards for success, and he will see to it that the University of Florida continues its ascent toward becoming America’s premier public university, bar none,” board chair Mori Hosseini said.
Ono awaits approval from the state’s Board of Governors.
Shaunda Richardson-Snell – Mott Community College (Mich.)
Shaunda Richardson-Snell is set to become the permanent president of Mott Community College following a contract extension from its board of trustees.
However, the board’s offer faces two challenges: a lawsuit from Mott’s faculty union, and the college’s former attorney refused to draft an employment contract before resigning Community members have complained about the lack of transparency surrounding the board selection process and Richardson-Snell’s professional relationship with a trustee member’s daughter, ABC 12 reports.
As it stands, Richardson-Snell will be president of Mott for the next three years. She has served as interim president since July 2024.
Tonya Smith-Jackson – Rutgers University – Newark (N.J.)
Tonya Smith-Jackson is set to become the next chancellor of Rutgers University’s Newark campus on Aug. 1.
Smith-Jackson served as provost and executive vice chancellor of academic affairs at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where she helped create New Jersey’s first bachelor’s degree in artificial intelligence and three new doctoral programs. She was previously a professor at Virginia Tech.
As an engineer, Smith-Jackson made contributions to human factors research. She brings a systems-oriented, people-centered approach well suited to leading an urban university,” said William F. Tate IV, the next president of the Rutgers system.
William F. Tate IV – Rutgers University (N.J.)
William F. Tate IV has been appointed the 22nd president of Rutger’s University and its campus system.
Tate is familiar with running state flagship university systems as the president of Louisiana State University since 2021, which boasts more than 55,000 students. Not only did he lead the university system, but he also served as its chief executive and academic officer and earned faculty appointments in sociology, psychiatry and other health fields.
More from UB: Here is why immigrant and international students are so important
Rutgers has endured considerable scrutiny from the campus community and federal lawmakers over the last several years following faculty strikes and a heap of criticism over how leadership handled pro-Palestine protests.
“If you took a presidency in 2020 and you ended in 2025, I would submit to you those were the five hardest years to ever be a university president,” Tate said in his remarks about current Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway, according to New Jersey Monitor.
Tate begins July 1.
Retiring
David Bergh – Vermont State University
Vermont State University President David Bergh is set to retire following the end of the 2025-26 academic year.
Bergh presided over the state’s consolidation of five colleges into one beginning in November 2023. He was the university’s second interim president following the resignation of its former president. The board extended his contract through 2026, VT Digger reports.
The retiring president contributed to a 14% year-over-year increase in enrollment in the 2024-25 academic year.
Stepping down
Dennis Assanis – University of Delaware
Dennis Assanis, president of the University of Delaware, is stepping down as president on June 30, concluding a nine-year run.
“At this point, I believe I have made the meaningful contributions that I set out to accomplish with all of you in translating our shared vision into a reality and advancing our institutional mission and strategic goals,” he wrote in a letter to the community.
The university credits Assanis with a breadth of accomplishments, from his expansion of facilities, commitment to financial accessibility and raising its ranking across major publications. One philanthropic campaign garnered more than $1 billion to support scholarships, faculty research and campus infrastructure and programming.
