MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez is officially taking on a new role: interim president of Florida International University.
Nuñez, 52, a South Florida native and an FIU alumna, succeeds current President Ken Jessell following Friday’s 10-1 vote by the FIU Board of Trustees. Jessell will stay on in a lesser role.
“I am honored to be selected as Interim President of Florida International University by the FIU Board of Trustees,” Nuñez said in a post to social media platform X. “As a two-time alumna and a proud Panther mom, I am deeply committed to the success of FIU. I look forward to working with the Board of Trustees in the coming days.”
The leadership shakeup was first proposed by board chair Rogelio Tovar during Friday’s special meeting, which was held virtually and called specifically to discuss the presidential search.
Tovar disclosed that the governor’s office had previously reached out to him about possibly naming Nuñez to this position.
“The governor’s office has contacted me and suggested that we consider Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez as the next leader for FIU,” he said. “Subsequent to that, I have had several conversations with Lieutenant Governor Nuñez who confirmed her interest in leading this great university.”
The move was not welcomed by all trustees. In the lone dissenting vote, Noel Barengo, the head of the FIU faculty, said he views this as more higher education influence by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis reacted to the announcement Friday.
“The lieutenant governor has done a great job for Florida. She has been involved in all the successes that we’ve had over the last six years. She’s been especially involved in things like the space program,” he said. “She’s been very supportive of our efforts to bring some sanity to higher education and so I think in that sense, she’s going to do a really good job there.”
Florida Democrats slammed the move Friday, with party chair Nikki Fried calling it reflective of Republican “hypocrisy.”
“Just a few weeks after she backflipped on protecting in-state tuition for Dreamers — Jeanette Nuñez will now lead one of the most diverse colleges in the state,” Fried said in a statement. “With her record, how can she be trusted to lead the college with the largest population of Hispanic students in the country?”
She added, “Her appointment is just the latest move in Ron’s hostile takeover of Florida’s colleges and universities, as he continues to install political hacks and loyalists to push his partisan agenda. It has nothing to do with improving Florida’s cratering educational outcomes and everything to do with rewarding loyalty.”
Nuñez is set to become interim president on Feb. 17.