Changes to the State of Florida University Governance System

Florida Gulf Coast University is a public institution of higher education, one of eleven in the State University System (SUS) of Florida. It was created when a Board of Regents had oversight responsibility for the State University System. One of the responsibilities of the Board of Regents was to select, upon the advice of the respective University communities, University Presidents. Roy McTarnaghan, the founding President who served from 1993 through 1999; and William Merwin, his successor and current President, were both selected under this governance system. It is noted that one of the senior faculty from the College of Business was selected by the Board of Regents to chair the University President Search Advisory Committee in 1998.

In July 2001, the State University Governance System changed as a result of the "Florida Education Governance Reorganization Act of 2000". This act authorized a Commissioner of Education and a seven-member Florida Board of Education appointed by the Governor, to oversee Florida's education from kindergarten through graduate school levels, and repealed all existing education entities, including the Florida Board of Regents. The Commissioner of Education will appoint four Chancellor/Deputy Commissioners including the Chancellor of State Universities. Each State University will have a 13-member University Board of Trustees. Twelve of the trustees will be appointed by the Governor, with the President of the Student Government serving as the thirteenth Trustee. Of particular note, the inaugural Trustees serving terms commencing July 1, 2001, include a founding member of the Dean's College of Business Advisory Council, and the first student Trustee is a business major. The new governance system creates more independence for the State Universities of Florida as strategic planning and policy direction, selection and evaluation of University Presidents, approval of new bachelors and masters degree programs, setting tuitions within a specified range, and collective bargaining responsibilities shift form the centralized Board of Regents model to the individual University Board of Trustees.

As under the Board of Regents governance system, University presidents exercise budgetary and administrative responsibilities for their units. At FGCU, the President, acting through the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, delegates substantial administrative authority to the Academic Deans in the performance of their duties, including internal budget decisions; faculty recruitment, deployment, development, and evaluation; and development of curriculum. The University administration has, and continues to supports the college mission.