Jason Delgado
Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran is among the nine candidates Florida State University will interview this weekend to serve as university President.
Florida State University’s Presidential Search Advisory Committee will conduct the first-round interviews at 9 a.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday. The meeting and interviews will be livestreamed online.
Other candidates include:
— Robert Blouin, University of North Carolina Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost.
— David Coburn, vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics at FSU.
— Randall Hanna, dean and CEO of Florida State University, Panama City campus; dean, College of Applied Sciences.
— Richard McCullough, vice provost for research, Harvard University.
— Giovanni Piedimonte, M.D., vice president for research at Tulane University, and professor of pediatrics, biochemistry & molecular biology, Tulane School of Medicine.
— Sean Pittman, CEO of Pittman Law Group.
— Mary Ann Rankin, Ph.D., senior vice president and provost, University of Maryland, College Park.
— Michael Young, president emeritus and professor of law and professor of public policy, The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University.
In all, 35 individuals applied for the position during the presidential search.
The new president will replace outgoing President John Thrasher. An FSU graduate and former state lawmaker, Thrasher served as the university’s 15th President.
When Thrasher announced his retirement in September 2020, he announced plans to stay on through the search and appointment of a successor. Thrasher has been President of FSU since 2014.
Corcoran’s application, meanwhile, ended months-long speculation that he was interested in the gig.
“My main focus will be to secure new funding from the state for existing needs, most importantly faculty salaries, with the goal of moving Florida State University into the top 50 in faculty salaries for publicly funded universities in the next two years” Corcoran said in the application.
“I believe with the relationships I have established with the Legislature, the Executive Branch, and as a member of the Board of Governors, I am well suited to take on this task.”
More information about the presidential search process can be found online.
