NEWS
After more than 20 years of male leaders, FAU’s next president is a woman.
Mary Jane Saunders, who was selected by FAU’s top officials on March 3, is the second female president in the university’s 48-year history.
Saunders, 59, has served as the provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at Cleveland State University in Ohio since 2006.
“I think it’s important that people see, no matter what your gender or background, if you work hard, you can succeed,” Saunders told the UP in a phone interview last week. “It’s really a great message, and I am so pleased to help promote it.”
FAU’s first female president, Helen Popovich, was also the first woman to serve as president of any of Florida’s 11 public universities.
Popovich served as FAU’s third president from 1983 to 1989. During her tenure, FAU admitted freshman and sophomore students for the first time. Prior to 1984, the university only offered upper-division and graduate-level courses. Popovich is also credited with increasing diversity among students, faculty and staff.
After FAU, Popovich moved to Big Rapids, Mich., and made more history with her appointment as the president of Ferris State University. Again, she was the first female to serve as president of any of Michigan’s 13 public universities.
For FAU’s Board of Trustees (BOT) — the 13-member committee tasked with making the top university decisions — choosing a female president over the two male finalists was an important change.
“I’m very glad the next president will be a strong woman who supports diversity,” BOT member Lalita Janke told the UP after Saunders was selected. “It was about time the university saw another female president.”
BOT member Bill Bryant, a Palm Beach County dentist, was the first to vote for Saunders and said he would “like to see a female president.”
A board member since 2003, Bryant said during the deliberations that Saunders was a “visionary” and there was “just something about her.”
Other BOT members said Saunders was “energetic,” “engaging” and an “eloquent speaker.” One member, Robert Stilley, said he thought Saunders could “do any job at FAU.”
Student Body President Tiffany Weimar voted for Saunders, and said she “enjoyed Saunders’ interview very much” and felt she would be a wonderful student-oriented president.
Saunders received her Ph.D. in botany from University of Massachusetts and did postdoctoral work in science at University of Georgia. Before working at Cleveland State, Saunders was a professor and administrator at University of South Florida in Tampa.
Saunders said she expects to start this summer, no later than July 1, and is “very eager” and “extremely excited” to begin.
On her first day on the job, Saunders said she plans to do a lot of listening. “The first few weeks are going to be really fun,” she told the UP. “I want to go around and shake a lot of hands, and meet all the students and faculty, and find out what everyone wants from their university.” When, Saunders said, her administration is going to “make it happen.”
