Feb. 7 (UPI) — In a Friday morning online vote, the Florida International University Board of Trustees hired Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez as its interim president in a hasty vote pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and board Chair Rogelio Tovar.
Nunez, a former state representative and state healthcare lobbyist, has no education experience but she earned two degrees from Florida International and is from the Miami-Dade County area where the school is located.
The Faculty Senate had called the board to retain current interim President Kenneth Jessell and called the rushed effort to elect Nunez without a search “dismaying,” according to the Miami Herald.
“I am honored to be selected as interim president of Florida International University by the FIU board of trustees,” Nunez said in a post on X after the vote. “As a two-time alumna and a proud Panther mom, I am deeply committed to the success of FIU. I look forward to working with the board of trustees in the coming days.”
Nunez, who will start serving on Feb. 17, will become the first female president of FIU, as well as the first graduate of the university to serve as its academic leader.
“She is a true product of what our FIU is all about,” Tovar said at the meeting, called just two days before the vote. “I have always been impressed by her engagement and tireless efforts as a champion of FIU.”
Jessell had been leading FIU for the past three years and had won over the Faculty Senate. Faculty Senate President Noel Barengo, who serves on the trustee board, was the only “no” vote in the 11-1 decision on Friday.
Barengo said the change came without warning and without reason for it being made.
In a separate news conference, DeSantis said Nunez would not resign immediately as lieutenant governor and he did not know when he would name a replacement.