New College, UF Leadership changes advance

Final steps in leadership changes at two universities are slated for the first weeks in November, while another school’s president is in line for a potential reappointment.

University of Florida President Ben Sasse is set to be inaugurated as the school’s thirteenth leader on Thursday during a ceremony on campus.

Sasse, a Republican former U.S. Senator from Nebraska, was selected a year ago by the UF Board of Trustees to succeed former president Kent Fuchs. Sasse’s selection was confirmed by the state university system’s Board of Governors, as required by state law.

Meanwhile, the Board of Governors is scheduled to meet on Nov. 9 for a meeting that will include consideration of the confirmation of Richard Corcoran as the president of New College of Florida.

Corcoran is a Republican former speaker of the Florida House and state education commissioner who has been interim president of the small liberal-arts college in Sarasota since February.

The New College trustees earlier this month tapped Corcoran to lead the school on a permanent basis, and the panel last week signed off on a contract that would see Corcoran make up to $1.3 million per year in salary and other benefits.

The Board of Governors during its Nov. 9 meeting also is expected to weigh approval of reappointing Martha Saunders as president of the University of West Florida through the end of 2024. Saunders has led the Pensacola school since 2017. chronic conditions into medical records to increase amounts of money that the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, paid to the health plan.

“As a result of the scheme, Valle and her co-conspirators allegedly caused HealthSun to submit to CMS tens of thousands of false and fraudulent diagnosis codes, which resulted in CMS overpaying HealthSun millions of dollars,” a Justice Department news release said.

The health plan was not charged, in part because it agreed to repay $53 million.