Just one month after starting at the University of Arizona, new Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Joseph Glover announced he is leaving.
Glover, who previously served as the head of academic affairs at the University of Florida, will return to serve as its interim provost.
“This is a difficult decision and one that I did not make lightly,” Glover wrote Tuesday in an email to UA students and employees. “When I took on this important role as Provost, I intended to stay and was committed to becoming an integral part of this community, advancing the university’s success in the years to come.”
Glover’s hire as the UA’s top academic officer was announced in April and he began the role on July 1, with a salary of $550,000. His hiring came shortly after UA President Robert C. Robbins announced he would step down by the end of his current contract or sooner if his replacement was found.
Suresh Garimella, president of the University of Vermont, was named just a few days ago, on Friday, to be the next UA president by the Arizona Board of Regents. He will now need to find an interim provost and potentially launch a second nationwide provost search. That is, while also searching for a vice president of research and getting to know the UA community.
“An interim provost will be appointed in the coming weeks,” said a UA spokesperson, Mitch Zak.
“The University of Arizona thanks Provost Joseph Glover for his time at the university. We wish him well as he returns to the University of Florida, where he has spent the past 15 years,” Zak said.
In an email sent to employees at the University of Florida, the school’s current provost, Scott Angle, who has served in the role since January, wrote that he would be stepping down.
“Interim President Kent Fuchs has asked former UF Provost Joe Glover to return and to serve as Interim Provost upon my departure,” Angle wrote in his email. He will step down on Sept. 6, which is when Glover is set to begin.
Glover said in his email to UA employees, “When I arrived in Tucson in early summer, I bought a home and truly enjoyed getting to know this community. In this short time, I learned about the incredible work of our dedicated faculty and staff and grew to love this university. The U of A is a wonderful place and truly one of the gems of the state.”
He wrote that he is leaving at the behest of the interim president of the University of Florida, who requested he return while the university is “undergoing a major transition.”
University of Florida President Ben Sasse, a former Nebraska senator, recently stepped down to support his wife through medical difficulties. Glover’s announcement he’s returning to the university came the day after the Independent Alligator, the university’s student newspaper, reported that Sasse channeled millions of the university’s dollars into Republican causes.
“I also would like to express my admiration for President Robbins and my appreciation for his efforts in bringing me to the University of Arizona,” Glover wrote. “I regret that I will not get to work alongside President Garimella and see his vision for the U of A unfold. He is a superb choice to lead this university, and I wish him nothing but the best.”
Glover stated that he will “work with university leadership to support my successor and ensure a smooth transition in the coming weeks.”
Glover was one of three finalists for the provostship this spring. After finalist Fouad Abd-El-Khalick took a job at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Glover and Marie Hardin of Pennsylvania State University were the two finalists for the position. Large swaths of students and faculty endorsed Hardin, but Robbins chose Glover.
