UF President Ben Sasse announces resignation

, Fla. —

University of Florida president Ben Sasse announced on Thursday that he will be resigning from his post later this month.

His last day as president of UF will be on July 31.

“My wife Melissa’s recent epilepsy diagnosis and a new batch of memory issues have been hard, but we’re facing it together,” Sasse said in a news release. “Our two wonderful daughters are in college, but our youngest is just turning 13. Gator Nation needs a president who can keep charging hard, Melissa deserves a husband who can pull his weight, and my kids need a dad who can be home many more nights. I need to step back and rebuild more stable household systems for a time. I’m going to remain involved in serving our UF students — past, present, and future — but I need to walk arm-in-arm with my dearest friend more hours of every week.”

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Sasse has asked the Board of Trustees to initiate a search for a new president.

Sasse was appointed the 13th president of UF in November 2022.

“The Board will work quickly and thoughtfully to announce an interim president and lay the foundation for the search for a new president,” the university said in a statement. “The Board will engage the UF community every step of the way.”

Sasse’s wife, Melissa, who had an aneurysm and a series of strokes in 2007, was recently diagnosed with epilepsy and has been having “a new batch of memory issues,” he said.

“We’ve battled some nasty seizures the last couple years, but she’s always remained a warrior,” he said.

Sasse, a Republican, left the senate last year after being named the 13th president of the university.

While in the Senate, he was a prominent critic of former President Donald Trump who joined with a handful of other Republicans to vote in favor of conviction in his impeachment trial after the 2021 Capitol riot. That led to criticism from within Sasse’s own party even though he voted with Trump 85% of the time and helped get his three Supreme Court nominees confirmed.

Sasso was a controversial pick to head the University of Florida, and he faced vocal opposition from some faculty and students who objected to his stance against same-sex marriage and positions on other LGBTQ issues.

Some faculty and students also questioned his qualifications to run such a sprawling school with more than 50,000 students. The university’s faculty Senate voted no confidence on an opaque selection process in which Sasse emerged as the sole finalist.

The chair of the university’s board of trustees, Mori Hosseini, thanked Sasse for his leadership.

>> The Associated Press contributed to this report