{"id":63226,"date":"2026-03-02T18:22:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T23:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=63226"},"modified":"2026-03-02T18:22:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T23:22:55","slug":"fromer-president-of-polk-state-college-now-interim-president-of-the-university-of-north-florida-unf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/02\/fromer-president-of-polk-state-college-now-interim-president-of-the-university-of-north-florida-unf\/","title":{"rendered":"Fromer President of\u00a0Polk State College now interim President of the University of North Florida (UNF)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In early February 2026, the Florida Board of Governors officially confirmed Dr. \u00a0Angela Falconetti\u00a0interim president of the University of North Florida (UNF).<\/strong> as the interim president of the University of North Florida (UNF).<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Her appointment followed a vote by the UNF Board of Trustees, where she was selected to lead the university through its current leadership transition.<\/sup> Dr. Falconetti, a double alumna of UNF and a Jacksonville native, officially stepped into the role on February 16, 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Details of the Appointment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Previous Role:<\/strong> Since 2017, she has served as the president of\u00a0Polk State College<\/strong>, where she has been<\/span> credited with securing over $100 million in legislative funding and expanding workforce programs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Reason for Interim Need:<\/strong> She replaces outgoing President Moez Limayem<\/strong>, who departed UNF to become the president of the University of South Florida (USF).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Future Intent:<\/strong> Dr. Falconetti has publicly stated that she will not<\/strong> be a candidate for the permanent presidency. Her focus is on maintaining the university’s “upward trajectory” while the Board of Trustees conducts a national search for a long-term successor.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Leadership at Polk State:<\/strong> During her transition, Anne B. Kerr<\/strong> (President Emerita of Florida Southern College) was named the interim leader for Polk State College.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n

    Professional Background<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Dr. Falconetti has a long history with the University of North Florida, having previously worked in the Office of Student Affairs and rising to the rank of Assistant Vice President.<\/sup> Her academic credentials include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • B.A. in Communications and Education<\/strong> from New York University.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • M.Ed. and Ed.D. in Educational Leadership<\/strong> from the University of North Florida.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      She has also held high-level positions in the Florida College System, including serving as the Chair of the Florida College System Council of Presidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      In early February 2026, the Florida Board of Governors officially confirmed Dr. \u00a0Angela Falconetti\u00a0interim president of the University of North Florida (UNF). as the interim president of the University of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDNcL0FuZ2VsYS1GYWxjb25ldHRpLndlYnA_Zml0PTIyNSUyQzIyNSZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkZyb21lciBQcmVzaWRlbnQgb2ZcdTAwYTBQb2xrIFN0YXRlIENvbGxlZ2Ugbm93IGludGVyaW0gUHJlc2lkZW50IG9mIHRoZSBVbml2ZXJzaXR5IG9mIE5vcnRoIEZsb3JpZGEgKFVORikiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.M5_z1emCeHzzQLWgXOBPLIs5uIC-0vvXgxHd9pJkGYEMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[13878],"class_list":["post-63226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-fromer-president-of-polk-state-college-now-interim-president-of-the-university-of-north-florida-unf"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63228,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63226\/revisions\/63228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}