The University of West Florida Board of Trustees today approved the hiring of Dr. Clifford Humphrey to a newly created executive position combining strategic initiatives leadership with chief of staff responsibilities. Interim President Manny Diaz presented the proposal, citing his need for cross-departmental coordination and strategic planning.
- “This position will be building and expanding research relationships, working hand in hand with the provost and other folks on campus to try to connect those research opportunities across silo,” Diaz explained to the board members.
The role encompasses managing interdisciplinary projects, overseeing presidential initiatives, and maintaining compliance with federal and state regulations. Diaz highlighted what has become a core theme of his “interim” presidency plans: To “continue and expand leveraging our relationships with our military partners, both on the service, active service member side, and also with our presence of a great veteran community here in the greater Pensacola area.”
Pensacola Ties
Dr. Humphrey has deeper ties to the Pensacola community than his boss and several of the new trustees. “I did live there for three years. I married a girl from Pensacola, and my mother-in-law, I will say, lives across the street, basically, from UWF.”
- His community involvement extended beyond personal relationships. “I got to work at the Apple Market,” Humphrey said, also mentioning his participation in local running events, including “the Double Bridge Run; I did the Pensacola Marathon, my one and only marathon, and also of course the McGuire’s 5K.”
Classical Learning
When questioned by Trustee Alonzie Scott about classical education, Dr. Humphrey provided this definition: “Classical education to me is a commitment to focusing on fundamentals with regard to education and also an acknowledgement that that whole endeavor of education is a civic education.”
- Humphrey emphasized the broader purpose of education beyond job training: “We’re trying to create not just worker bees but good citizens, free of any kind of ideologies that have gotten in the mix of that and sort of corrupted that process.”
He connected this philosophy to democratic values, describing it as “focusing on the virtues that are required for a democratic republic such as ours.”
Trustee Scott’s questioning also explored Humphrey’s concept of “compelling human excellence,” which the candidate described as his understanding of effective leadership in practice.
- Drawing from military leadership principles and citing James Stockdale, Humphrey explained: “In the midst of a storm, the sailors on the ship they look to the one who has the ability to be able to get them out of the storm regardless of rank.”
Work Experience
Early Career and Blue-Collar Experience
After graduating from Palm Beach Atlantic University with a psychology degree, Humphrey moved to New York City and “got a job in a cabinet shop in the Bronx.” During this time, he was simultaneously “taking language classes in Latin and Greek at Columbia University.”
- He emphasized that this experience gave him “a great appreciation for blue-collar work, people who are learning real skills” – something he says “I’ve always carried that with me wherever I’ve gone in higher ed.”
Trinitas Christian School (Pensacola)
Humphrey spent “a couple years” teaching at Trinitas Christian School in Pensacola, where he taught “classical languages, philosophy, rhetoric.” He noted that the school had a unique arrangement where “one quarter of a semester they go to UWF and do research in the library there,” which gave him significant time on the UWF campus.
International Teaching Experience
Between his Pensacola teaching role and graduate school, Humphrey “went off to China for a year and taught English and traveled around there.” He said this “expanded my understanding of education in a completely different environment and different kind of space.”
Founding Thales College (2020-2021)
After earning his PhD from Hillsdale College in 2020, Humphrey helped found a new institution: “the job that I was able to get in 2020 was helping to found a new college in Raleigh, North Carolina called Thales College.” He worked there for “a year and a half,” and his primary responsibility was to “recruit the very first class.”
- From this experience, he said he “learned the importance and the difficulties that have to be overcome regarding enrollment and admissions and marketing even.”
Troy University – Center for Leadership Development
Humphrey then moved to Alabama, where he worked at Troy University, directing their Center for Leadership Development and teaching there at Troy. He noted that during this role, he “really came to appreciate the importance, both of the concept and the practice of leadership and also its inherent connection to education.”
Florida Department of Education
For the past two years, Humphrey worked “in the division of Florida Colleges” at the Department of Education under then-Commissioner Diaz.
- “I was very impressed with a lot of the reforms that Governor DeSantis has been making and wanted to help be a part of that.”
- “The governor and the commissioner have talked a lot about trying to bring a focus back to higher education.” Humphrey specifically mentioned that “Florida was the first state to bring in the classic learning test as a assessment that students can use to be able to prove college readiness.”
His responsibilities included:
Accreditation liaison: He “was the connection for all the Florida colleges with regard to accreditation.”
General education reforms: He was “spearheading a lot of the gen ed reforms that we were implementing both in the university system and the college system.”
Board of Governors collaboration: He “worked very closely with members of the BOG staff to be able to figure out the best way to implement those changes that the legislature and the governor brought to bear on general education.”
Administrative expertise: He gained “an immense education myself and the laws and the administrative rules and regulations of Florida.”
Why UWF?
When explaining his motivation for seeking the UWF position, Humphrey said: “So when I learned that he was coming to UWF, I asked if he wanted some help and I knew that this would be an opportunity for me be able to use my gifts, my experience in a place that I love and have a strong connection to.”
Two More Things
UWF Chief of Staff Humphrey was a 2024 Lincoln Fellow, award by the Claremont Institute, along with former UWF trustee Gates Garcia, who resigned to avoid a Senatet confirmation hearing.
- Former UWF Trust Chair Scott Yenor was a Washington Fellow at The Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life. In February 2023, Claremont hired Yenor as Florida’s first senior director of state coalitions. Idaho media reported the job was based in Tallahassee to stop “woke policies” at the state level
Humphrey has another connection to the controversial Scott Yenor. They both spoke at the National Conservatism Conference in Miami in October 2022 – the year after his “meddlesome” women talk that got him in trouble at Boise State. Gov. DeSantis was the keynote speaker.
Yenor wasn’t any less controversial in 2022.
“You see, family decline is evident all over the Western world, and we all know the song. But lemme just give you a couple many things, Yenor said. “We used to take for granted we can no longer take for granted. We thought most people would want lifetime companionship and marriage. No more. Each generation fewer desire, marriage and fewer marriage. Each generation. We used to think that women would want to be mothers. No more.”
He continued, “Within a generation, near a majority of women will be childless. If current trends continue, we thought men would be manly and responsible, much less so. Now many men are not rising to the level of self-respect or responsibility. And since a country is a collection of men and women, united in memory and committed to a common regime, if women do not have children, if men do not rise to responsibility, if they do not marry the country has no future, we’re hosed.”
