{"id":176446,"date":"2026-03-03T16:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/176446\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T16:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:02:07","slug":"bog-officially-approves-unf-interim-president-h1-b-visa-pause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/176446\/","title":{"rendered":"BOG officially approves UNF interim president, H1-B visa pause"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Monday, March 2, the Florida Board of Governors (BOG) unanimously approved the appointment of Interim President Angela Falconetti<\/a> of the University of North Florida.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, the BOG also discussed the pause on H-1B visas in Florida, per Governor Ron DeSantis\u2019 request for BOG consideration.<\/p>\n

Falconetti Appointment<\/p>\n

While Falconetti has been operating as UNF\u2019s interim president<\/a> for the past few weeks, she was not officially appointed by the BOG until the Monday meeting.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, Governor Kimberly Dunn referenced her own collaboration with UNF Board of Trustees member James Beasley and asked Falconetti if she planned to prioritize staff input during her time at UNF.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrustee Beasley and I do not always agree, and we often approach issues from different angles, but I can say with certainty that my decisions are stronger when I take the time to listen to Beasley, understand his concerns, and consider his perspective,\u201d Dunn said. \u201cAs you begin your tenure at UNF, I respectfully ask you to take the time to know your faculty and seek their counsel before making major institutional decisions, and listen carefully to their advice and their concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m committed to the success of the entire university, but I look forward to the opportunity to work collaboratively with faculty,\u201d Falconetti said.<\/p>\n

Following the unanimous approval of Falconetti as interim president, Chairman Alan Levine provided insight into the UNF presidential search, revealing that a presidential search committee has not yet been established.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spoken with Chair Moore; he\u2019s working on developing a list of search committee members that he\u2019s assembling to consult beyond,\u201d Levine said. \u201cI\u2019ve asked Aubrey Edge to be the BOG representative to the search committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

BOT Chair Steve Moore is set to speak to the progress of the presidential search during the upcoming UNF BOT meeting, according to the meeting\u2019s agenda<\/a>.<\/p>\n

H1-B Visa Pause\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following Governor DeSantis\u2019 urging<\/a>, the BOG approved a \u201ctemporary pause\u201d on new H1-B visas through the calendar year, according to Chancellor Rodrigues.<\/p>\n

According to Chancellor Rodrigues, this policy will not result in the termination of current H-1B contracts or affect contract renewals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will only prevent new H1-B visas and new contracts,\u201d explained Chancellor Rodrigues. \u201cThis [pause] allows time for research on the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

This policy comes after an October press conference at the University of South Florida on October 29, 2025, in which DeSantis urged the Board of Governors to stop the use of H-1B visas.<\/p>\n

The H-1B visa pause was approved by all governors except Governors Kimberly Dunn and Carson Dale, who expressed concerns about its effects and ramifications.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

For more information or news tips, or if you see an error in this story or have any compliments or concerns, contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Monday, March 2, the Florida Board of Governors (BOG) unanimously approved the appointment of Interim President Angela…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-176446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}