Education commissioner to leave post, become interim president at University of West Florida

Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. will lead the University of West Florida as interim president, the school’s trustees voted Tuesday.

The change at the top is the latest fruit of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ attention to the Pensacola university, which the governor has warned to “buckle up” ahead of  changes he compared to his conservative overhaul at New College of Florida.

“This school has a special place in this community. It has an identity of this community, not only as an economic engine, but also as a guardian of the historic trust, which includes a lot of assets that are not only important to this community, but to this state,” Diaz said during a special Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday.

Earlier this month, President Martha Saunders announced her plan to resign before her contract expired. She will return to her role as a professor after Diaz becomes interim president on July 14. The Board of Governors, to which Diaz belongs, will need to confirm the interim appointment.

The process in part mirrors the resignation of former Florida International University President Kenneth Jessell, also before his contract expired. Former Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez was named interim president and later as sole finalist for the permanent job. DeSantis’ office reached out to FIU before Nuñez took the job, according to FIU’s board chair. 

Nuñez is an alumna and adjunct professor at FIU. Diaz is from Hialeah and did not attend or work at the Pensacola school. 

DeSantis named Diaz education commissioner in June 2022 after he’d represented the Hialeah area in the Florida House from 2012 through 2018 and the Florida Senate from 2018 through 2022.

While serving in the Legislature, Diaz served as chief operating officer of Doral College from 2013 until 2022. That’s a private college focused on charter schools. Before that, he was a teacher and administrator in Miami-Dade public schools. 

Diaz focused on education as a lawmaker, serving as chair of the PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee and chair of the Choice & Innovation Subcommittee in the House and chair of the Education Committee in the Senate.

Diaz makes nearly $324,000 per year as education commissioner. Saunders’ base salary is $536,273 with up to 20% performance-based bonuses.

New trustees

UWF made headlines this legislative session after DeSantis and the Board of Governors appointed a slate of candidates to the school’s Board of Trustees last winter. Those candidates, many politically connected, faced extensive questions from senators during confirmation hearings. Two of the eight resigned before being confirmed; another the Senate rejected.. 

Sen. Gayle Harrell told appointees that the Senate would be “closely watching” the UWF board. She and other senators voiced concerns about the trustees’ lack of local ties. One of the appointees lives in Idaho, another in West Virginia. 

“I understand that this institution has a very unique place in this community, that this community has an identity, and that needs to be part of this institution,” Diaz said.

“And I also understand that there are programs here that have great potential for national prominence, and that we have a large military population that should be served, has been served, will be served by this institution, and we need to continue to maximize that.”

Senators asked the UWF trustees during April confirmation hearings whether they thought major changes were needed in regards to administrative or political problems at the university. Most said they weren’t aware of any major changes that needed to be made, the Phoenix reported.

DeSantis, by contrast, said last month “big changes” are in store for UWF, while bragging about the political overhaul of New College of Florida.

DeSantis said UWF has some of the “most liberal programs in the state” and that Florida will not tolerate “indoctrination camps” during an April 15 news conference about Hope Florida in Pensacola.

UWF stakeholders and some senators have questioned how liberal the university could be, considering the significantly higher number of registered Republicans than Democrats in the counties the school primarily serves.