After only a monthlong stint as the University of Arizona’s provost, Joseph Glover is returning to his previous role at the University of Florida.
Glover, who served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at UF for 15 years, announced Tuesday in an email to UA faculty and students that he would be leaving the university. According to the letter, W. Kent Fuchs, Florida’s interim president and Glover’s old boss, asked him to return as the university undergoes a “major transition.”
“This is a difficult decision and one that I did not make lightly,” Glover wrote in his letter. “When I took on this important role as Provost, I intended to stay and was committed to become an integral part of this community, advancing the university’s success in the years to come.”
A UA spokesperson said Glover was not available for an interview.
Glover’s resignation is just the latest sign of leadership turmoil at the Tucson campus. Robert C. Robbins resigned as president in early April after months of backlash and political pressure over the university’s flagging finances. Glover’s resignation comes less than a week after the university named a new president.
The announcement also marks the first major administrative change in Gainesville since Ben Sasse, who served as president for less than two years, abruptly stepped down in July, citing his wife’s epilepsy diagnosis. Sasse has come under scrutiny this week after UF’s student newspaper reported that he tripled his office’s spending — from $5.6 million in Fuchs’s final year to $17.3 million under Sasse.
Fuchs, who had previously led UF for eight years before Sasse’s appointment, started as interim president August 1 after being quickly appointed by the UF Board of Trustees.
Glover announced his departure from UF in late January 2023, right before Sasse took office, and officially stepped down in July 2023.
In November 2023, Robbins revealed the university was facing a massive and unexpected budget shortfall because of overspending and poor financial modeling.
Three weeks after Robbins had said he was resigning, Glover was named provost, which sparked another controversy. More than 100 faculty members sent a letter to the university leadership and the board protesting Glover’s appointment, according to news accounts, because of concerns that he would not work cooperatively with faculty and uphold shared governance.
On August 9, the Arizona Board of Regents announced that Suresh Garimella would be the university’s new president. It’s not unusual for new presidents to replace senior staff, and some faculty assumed Glover would be ushered out.
Elizabeth Oglesby, an associate professor of Latin American studies and geography, said the provost opening presents an opportunity for the board to appoint someone internally and with a process that includes faculty voices.
“We have many talented leaders who know the university and are committed to it,” Oglesby wrote in an email. “I also hope the process will be transparent, with ample input from all parts of our university community.”
Roderick J. McDavis, managing principal and chief executive officer of AGB Search, is a former UF faculty member and dean who knows Glover. Though such ultra-short tenures are uncommon, this move seems to make sense, McDavis said.
“I think the desire to come back to a place that he had served well and that highly respected him was just too much to pass up,” he said, adding that he doesn’t think Glover is eyeing the UF presidency.
“This gives President Fuchs an opportunity to come back to a job that he loved,” McDavis said, “and it gives Joe an opportunity to come back to a job that he loved, and for them to put their heads back together and see if they can get University of Florida moving up again in a direction that is going to be positive for all concerned.”
Sarah D. Lynne, chair of the UF Faculty Senate, said she has no hesitations about Glover coming back to Florida, and that faculty viewed him as committed to the principles of shared governance.
“I think a lot of us are hoping to kind of hold on to a little bit of stability,” she said, referencing the ongoing churn, like Sasse’s sudden departure, that faculty members have had to adapt to since the pandemic. “There’s been a lot of changes we’ve all had to weather lately.”
J. Scott Angle, who was appointed UF’s provost by Sasse in January, will return to his previous position as head of UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, effective September 6, according to a Wednesday email obtained by The Chronicle.
“In this time of transition and opportunity, my fellow academic leaders and I remain deeply committed to UF’s excellence, transparency, and service to humankind,” Angle wrote to UF faculty and staff.
