Manny Diaz Jr. received approval from UWF trustees to become the permanent president Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (Photo courtesy of UWF)
University of West Florida trustees have approved Manny Diaz to serve as its president, the second-to-last step before moving the former education commissioner from interim to permanent leader at the Pensacola institution.
The board’s approval is subject to confirmation by the state Board of Governors, which is expected to take up a vote later this month.
“We cannot have an attitude that we’re just a small, sleepy institution and that we’re just good enough. There’s always room for improvement in every organization and I think we’re poised and have the opportunity to do that. And my vision is we’re aggressively going to pursue that, and we’re aggressively going to brand this university, and there’s going to be substance behind it, it’s not just flashy branding. We know we have the substance on the campus,” Diaz told trustees during a board meeting Thursday in Pensacola.
The former Hialeah state lawmaker is set to take home approximately $950,000 in his first year as president, including a $674,000 base salary, up to 16% performance bonus, or $107,840, $89,000 annually for a supplemental retirement benefit, and another approximately $75,000 for car, housing, and phone stipends.
The contract provides a retention incentive. After completing his third year, he would receive $375,000. After completing his fifth year, he would receive $150,000. Those timelines started when he began his interim role, July 14, so he’s already halfway through his first year for retention bonus calculation purposes.
Makeover
UWF has been subject of a conservative makeover. Last year and at the end of 2024, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the board of governors appointed several new members to the board of trustees. In May, President Martha Saunders resigned before her contract expired. DeSantis’ office, when asked by the Phoenix if the governor played a role in Saunders’ resignation, responded, “Buckle up, you’re going to see a lot of changes [at UWF] for the better.”
The new slate of trustees made headlines last legislative session. Those candidates, many politically connected, faced extensive questions from senators during confirmation hearings. Two of the eight resigned before being confirmed; another, the Senate rejected. He was Adam Kissel of West Virginia and the Heritage Foundation and has since been reappointed — again, subject to Senate confirmation.
One of the trustees, Ashley Ross, worked for Diaz when he was a state senator. She said during the meeting that their work together did not necessitate her recusal.
Last month, UWF trustees approved a statement of institutional neutrality. That declares, in part, “UWF facilitates freedom of academic inquiry and of expression on any subject, which may challenge prevailing social norms, public policies, and institutional practices; however, as an institution devoted to the intellectual pursuit and communication of truth, the university itself takes no official position on public controversies outside its regular activities so as not to undermine the freedom of thought and expression necessary for that Endeavor.”
“I think from Day One, I‘ve declared clearly that we are interested, and this board has declared by passing a statement of neutrality, that we want to spur intellectual debate and conversation in a civil manner, that we want to have perspectives and ideas that are different, but that we have it respectfully,” Diaz said Thursday, adding that he expects “that one voice doesn’t get to be louder than the other.”
Diaz also focused on the importance of the university connecting with military installations in the area, athletics, listening to student input, and investment in academic programs and student life.
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Fundraising
With Diaz’s experience in the Legislature, he emphasized how relationships he built in Tallahassee will be useful for fundraising for the university. He served in the Florida House from 2012-2018 and the Florida Senate 2018-2022 before DeSantis appointed him education commissioner, a role he held from 2022 until 2025.
Diaz said that, following his time in the Legislature, he no longer fears fundraising. “I have no problem asking for money.”
“We haven’t really even scratched the surface with corporate donors,” Diaz said, calling corporations “the next layer” in fundraising.
Opposition
UWF trustees named Diaz the sole finalist. Had they not, Thursday’s meeting would’ve included a rotating interview of the finalists, with the board making a final vote. Thursday’s meeting outcome was to little surprise.
Faculty Senate President and university Trustee Heather Riddell read into the record a prewritten statement and voted no on the measure that made Diaz the president-elect.
“Faculty have expressed concerns to me about the process in detail in the past several weeks, as a part of the committee I have some as well,” Riddell said, going on the say that she is focused on the process and not on Diaz himself.
“The hiring of the president should be public and transparent as a public institution, we are accountable to taxpayers and our community,” Riddell said, citing the BOG regulation that requires at least three finalists to be presented to the board of trustees unless there are “exceptional circumstances.”
“There doesn’t appear to be one,” Riddell said.
During public comment, Amy Cook, vice president of the Faculty Senate, made known her concerns about the search, too.
“Based on standard practices, this appears to be a failed search. I have served on and/or chaired several academic searches. If the committee in any of those searches thought that only one candidate was qualified, the search would’ve been reopened and expanded. If the search truly produced only one worthy candidate to bring on campus, then this should be considered a failed search,” Cook said. “If, however, there were other worthy candidates, then the perception is that this search was predetermined or flawed.”
Cook called on the university to “reconvene the committee to bring additional candidates and to bring this search to a legal, valid, and transparent conclusion.”
“This statement is not about any one candidate’s qualifications, it is about failing to go through the proper process. Not only did this committee deny the final candidate their opportunity to prove his abilities, it also denied other candidates the right to show theirs,” Cook said.
In a news release following the meeting, the university insisted it had followed the laws and regulations governing presidential searches.
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The contract provides 20 weeks of severance pay and it requires two-thirds of the trustees to agree to terminate the agreement.
Diaz’s contract term is five years, starting Feb. 1 and running until Feb. 1, 2031.
“Five years flies by and we hit the ground running but we want to continue that momentum and energy. This is not about sitting back, I would say if the Cabinet members thought it was going fast, they better buckle up now, because we’re going to put it into hyper drive, so none of us may be sleeping,” Diaz said.
Chair of the Board of Governors Alan Levine congratulated Diaz on social media.