{"id":307830,"date":"2026-06-15T12:17:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T12:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/307830\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T12:17:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T12:17:05","slug":"stuart-bell-selected-as-university-of-florida-president-after-decade-leading-ua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/307830\/","title":{"rendered":"Stuart Bell selected as University of Florida president after decade leading UA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former University of Alabama President Stuart Bell<\/a> has been unanimously selected as the next president of the University of Florida.<\/p>\n

The University of Florida Board of Trustees voted Wednesday to choose Bell as the institution\u2019s 14th president. The selection now awaits ratification by Florida\u2019s Board of Governors, which is expected to consider the appointment during its June 25 meeting.<\/p>\n

Bell served as president of the University of Alabama from July 2015 until stepping down in the summer of 2025 after a decade in the role. During that time, UA reached record enrollment levels, surpassed 40,800 students, expanded research funding and added dozens of new and renovated buildings across campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Board of Trustees\u2019 unanimous vote today is a resounding and undeniable show of support for Dr. Stuart Bell, who is exactly the right leader at the right time for the University of Florida,\u201d UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini said. \u201cDr. Bell\u2019s vast experience, solid character, and strong leadership ability will be critical in taking UF to the very highest ranks of U.S. higher education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before becoming Alabama\u2019s president, Bell served in leadership positions at Louisiana State University and the University of Kansas. He also spent 16 years on the UA faculty, where he chaired the mechanical engineering department and founded the Center for Advanced Vehicle Technologies.<\/p>\n

Bell was inducted into the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am extremely honored and humbled by the Board of Trustees\u2019 vote today, and I\u2019m eager to join the Gator Nation and get to work,\u201d Bell said. \u201cThe University of Florida is exceptional in every respect, and I know there\u2019s no limit to what we can all accomplish together.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to university officials, Bell emerged from a nationwide search that considered hundreds of potential candidates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am grateful to the members of UF\u2019s Presidential Search Advisory Committee for selecting Dr. Bell, who is eminently qualified to be UF\u2019s 14th president,\u201d said Rahul Patel, vice chair of the UF Board of Trustees and chair of the presidential search committee. \u201cI look forward to working with Dr. Bell as he guides the University of Florida to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell was announced as the sole finalist<\/a> for the position on May 18. If approved by the Florida Board of Governors later this month, he is expected to succeed Interim President Donald Landry and become the 14th president in the university\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Sherri Blevins is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You may contact her at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former University of Alabama President Stuart Bell has been unanimously selected as the next president of the University…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,25812,30,29,7290,117741,128554,128555,117742],"class_list":["post-307830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-board-of-governors","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-higher-education","tag-stuart-bell","tag-stuart-bell-university-of-florida-president","tag-uf-president","tag-university-of-alabama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307830","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=307830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}