Public invited to weigh in on UCF’s president search

The public is invited to weigh in about the qualities they’d like to see in the University of Central Florida’s next president.

Students, employees and others can discuss the search for the university’s next president during a series of forums scheduled for next month.

The current president, John Hitt, 77, plans to retire June 30 after 26 years at the university.

Here are the scheduled forums:

10 a.m. Jan. 10, at the Fairwinds Alumni Center at UCF. This also will serve as the next meeting of the search committee charged with recommending finalists to the Board of Trustees.

2 p.m. Jan. 10, at the Cape Florida ballroom in the student union on UCF’s main campus.

10 a.m. Jan. 11, at the UCF Center for Emerging Media in downtown Orlando, 500 W. Livingston Street.

4 p.m. Jan. 11, at the UCF College of Medicine at Lake Nona, 6850 Lake Nona Boulevard.

UCF also has an online survey where people can give feedback: www.ucf.edu/presidentialsearch. Survey submissions are anonymous, but all comments will be open to the public for review.

Conversations at the forum will focus on the UCF will face in the next several years, the type of leader who can meet those challenges and why candidates should want to be the university’s next president.

The winning candidate will be appointed by the UCF Board of Trustees and confirmed by the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees Florida’s 12 public universities.

Trustees say they want to complete this process by the end of June.

Under Hitt’s leadership, UCF has grown to 66,000 students. The university has started a medical school, built a football stadium and solidified plans to open a new campus in downtown Orlando in 2019.