Whittaker should follow in Hitt’s example.

When the chairman of the University of Central Florida’s Board of Trustees, Marcos Marchena, kicked off a national search for a new president in November, he called for a candidate who could “stand on the shoulders of a giant.” Four months later, the trustees looked right in front of them and chose a new leader who has been walking side-by-side with that “giant,” outgoing President John Hitt.

Dale Whittaker, the trustees’ unanimous pick, won’t need a map to find his way around campus. He has been UCF’s provost since 2014 and executive vice president since 2015. He has “a deep understanding of UCF’s culture and strategic goals, which he has been responsible for advancing during the past 3½ years,” Marchena said.

Given the remarkable trajectory UCF has followed in 26 years under Hitt, growing from a commuter school into one of the nation’s largest research universities while steadily raising its academic standards, it’s hard to find fault with the trustees’ thinking.

As provost, Whittaker has been the academic leader for UCF’s 13 colleges, research centers and multiple campuses. His formidable portfolio has included curriculum, academic planning and support services, faculty appointments and promotion, among other responsibilities. He also has been Hitt’s point-man on UCF’s current top project: its new joint campus with Valencia College in downtown Orlando, scheduled to open fall 2019.

Whittaker, to his credit, has expressed aspirations beyond being a caretaker president. He wants UCF to achieve “pre-eminent” status, a designation that would qualify the university for additional state funding and burnish its reputation as a graduate and research institution. He intends to build a leading academic health-science center at Lake Nona, where UCF’s medical school is located and its new teaching hospital is scheduled to open in 2020.

There is at least one area where Whittaker would do well to follow right in his predecessor’s footsteps. For years, Hitt has been a leader in building support for economic development initiatives across the region. He has put his considerable personal reputation and the power of his institution behind the imperative of growing badly needed high-wage jobs in Central Florida. We urge Whittaker to follow his example.

Whittaker’s selection still needs to be confirmed by the Florida Board of Governors, the body that oversees the state’s 12 public universities. The board is scheduled to meet March 29 in Jacksonville. Following the unanimous choice by UCF’s trustees, and a hearty endorsement afterward from Hitt, it’s almost inconceivable that the board wouldn’t follow suit — barring some major, undisclosed problem with Whittaker’s background or the selection process.

During this Sunshine Week, when newspapers across Florida and around the country are spotlighting the importance of open government, it’s worth pointing out that UCF’s process was an open one, as Florida’s government-in-the-sunshine law requires.

For years, some state legislators have been trying to change the law to make an exception for Florida’s public universities when they choose their leaders. Those misguided legislators have argued that openness discourages good candidates from applying.

Yet that transparent approach also was in place when Hitt was chosen in 1992. Other highly qualified candidates who went on to be successful presidents have been selected through the same, open process at other state universities.

And those leaders stepped into their new posts with the added credibility of having earned them fair and square under public scrutiny.

There’s no need to fix something that isn’t broken.