By CRA News Service
John Kelly, a vice president at Clemson University, has been selected to lead Florida Atlantic University as its seventh president.
The Board of Trustees selected Kelly, 59, over two other finalists, Christopher Earley, dean of the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University in Indiana and former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux who also was former chief of staff to Gov. Charlie Crist.
Kelly succeeds Mary Jane Saunders, who stepped down as the university’s president in May 2013.
“I am privileged to have been selected as the next president of FAU,” said Kelly, who holds a doctorate degree and was in charge of economic development at the South Carolina school. “It was a long and open process, and I am honored that the Board of Trustees unanimously chose me to lead FAU.”
The trustees eliminated Earley prior to the ultimate selection. While the final vote was unanimous, an informal poll taken showed Kelly with a slight edge over LeMieux by a margin of 8-5.
“Today marks a great day in the history of FAU,” said Anthony Barbar, chair of FAU’s Board of Trustees. “We are proud of our selection of Dr. Kelly as our leader, and we are confident that his vision will guide FAU to its next level of greatness.”
Kelly said he was impressed by what he saw during his visit to FAU’s campuses especially the Jupiter campus, which houses biotech researchers Scripps Florida and the Max Planck Florida Institute.
“No one else in the country has that,” he said. “These are incredible assets that are somewhat hidden from a national audience. I am ready to roll up my sleeves and go to work.”
He also met with students and faculty.
The South Carolina native, who has been at Clemson since 1985, was responsible for developing and implementing university policy, strategic planning, hiring strategies, communication and budgeting. He manages a $90 million budget with more than 900 employees, according to his Clemson biography.
He said he’s helped the university raise $750 million as part of its current $1 billion capital campaign. Clemson has the fourth-highest rate of alumni giving in the country; FAU has the lowest in Florida, at 1 percent.
He has a similar plan for FAU: learn about the university’s culture and reach out to alumni to get them re-engaged in the university community.
“I want to get to know your people. I want to immerse myself in FAU,” he said. “I want to heal those broken relationships that the institution has. We need to be [making] friends constantly, not losing them.”
Since January 2007, Kelly has served as executive director of the Clemson University Restoration Institute, where university officials said he built a team to educate students and direct research in energy systems.
He also had overall responsibility for the public service mission of the university and served as the state of South Carolina agency head of “Clemson University Public Service Activities,” including the S.C. Experiment Station, Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service, Regulatory Services and Livestock Poultry Health, with programs in 46 counties.
Kelly impressed trustees after he said he would push aggressively to improve FAU’s academic standing. He said the university needs to think bigger and he wants to take advantage of communications, compete globally and recruit out-of-state students.
“If we complete globally, we automatically compete locally,” he told the trustees. “When you have a national reputation, more financial resources are going to come. Students from other states will all want to come to Boca.”
Kelly said he helped Clemson boost its academic standing, where it’s now ranked the 21st best public university in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report.
He also said the university this year received 19,000 applications for 3,200 spots.
The board expressed concerns that Kelly did not have strong ties to Tallahassee, but ultimately seemed confident he could get the university back to where it needs to be.
One board member said Kelly’s next trip needs to be in Tallahassee.
“He needs to shake hands, kiss babies and get us money,” the board member continued.
But several board members said they are confident he can steer the university in the right direction as he has a “vibe that made you like him right away.”
LeMieux, who is chairman of the board of the Gunster law firm, turned out to be the second candidate with strong political ties to lose out on his bid for the post.
A week earlier a search committee eliminated Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater from consideration. Atwater, a Republican, was cruising to an easy re-election when he decided to become a candidate for the job in early January. But after the surprising vote he was forced to quickly announce he would seek a second term after all. If Atwater had gotten the FAU job it would have triggered jockeying among both political parties.
Many trustees cited LeMieux’s political connections and his long-standing ties to South Florida as an asset that could help FAU compete against some of the state’s more high-profile universities.
During his final interview LeMieux was forced to answer questions about his relationship with former Gov. Charlie Crist. LeMieux was chief of staff for Crist, but did not back the governor when he switched parties and ran for the U.S. Senate as an independent in 2010. LeMieux is backing Gov. Rick Scott for re-election over Crist.
LeMieux insisted, however, that he still had a “good personal relationship” with Crist despite their political falling out.
FAU has been without a permanent president since Saunders resigned after a problematic year where she was accused of hitting a student protester with her car.
The university also became well known when a communications professor, James Tracy, called the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a hoax and when another, Deandre Poole, instructed students to “stomp on Jesus” as part of a classroom exercise.
FAU has had four presidents in 12 years, and some faculty have complained that the frequent turnover has been unsettling.