State Sen. Don Gaetz sent out this message after learning of University of West Florida President Dr. Martha Saunders’ resignation:
Dr Saunders is an exceptional academic leader and a superb president of the University of West Florida. Under her leadership, UWF has met or exceeded every performance standard set by the state. UWF graduates have the best chance to obtain employment over any other higher education institution in the state. All of that is because of Martha Saunders’ commitment and capability. She leaves the University of West Florida in Triumph.
History Lesson
In August 2016, the UWF presidential search committee has recommended eight candidates to advance in the selection process for the university’s next president.
Former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz and current UWF Provost Martha Saunders are among those selected from an initial pool of 16 candidates interviewed over three days at the Pensacola campus. Other advancing candidates included James Applegate (Illinois Board of Higher Education), Frank Ashley (The College Board), Ron Elsenbaumer (University of Texas at Arlington), Bahman Ghorashi (Tennessee Tech University), William “Mike” Sherman (University of Akron), and Alan Utter (Appalachian State University).
The selected candidate would succeed UWF President Judy Bense, who had announced her retirement the end of the year.
The following month, the UWF Board of Trustees voted to appoint Dr. Martha Saunders as the institution’s next president by a 9-4 margin. Dr. Saunders, who has been serving as UWF’s Executive Vice President and Provost, was described by Trustee Dave Cleveland as the “ideal candidate” for the position. Gaetz received four votes.
A few days after the voted, I interviewed Dr. Saunders.
“Well, I think if you like what we’re doing now you’re going to see a lot more of the same,” she said. “I’m excited about some of the initiatives we’ve got going. I think one of the things that really encouraged me to apply was just I didn’t want anything to slow down. We’ve got a lot of momentum.”
She added, “I’m excited about preeminent programs, building some programs that we’ll be known for. We really have a lot of talent on campus and so I want to package those so we can really have something that everybody will have heard about.”
Dr. Saunders said the university will continue to grow. “We will link arms with the community and the region and really partner up with economic growth.”
No one can deny the progress that UWF has made under the leadership of Judy Bense and Martha Saunders. UWF is notably a friend of the military and she will be missed.