As UF keeps looking for next president, Santa Ono lands a new job

Ono will take the helm of a research and development company tied to Oxford University.

Months after the state Board of Governors snubbed the University of Florida’s sole pick to become its next president, that candidate has landed a new gig.

Santa Ono, the former president of the University of Michigan, accepted a job with the Ellison Institute of Technology, a research and development initiative funded by billionaire Larry Ellison in partnership with Oxford University in England. Ono will become president of EIT Global, which will conduct research in a range of fields, from health and medicine to clean energy and artificial intelligence.

Ono was denied UF’s top job after state board members questioned his record on diversity initiatives and opinions on gender. For the first time in history, they did not approve a university’s pick.

In a statement Monday, John Bell, the president of Ellison Institute of Technology Oxford, said he was “a great admirer of (Ono’s) leadership abilities at major universities.”

UF, meanwhile, continues its search for its next president. At a board meeting Monday, Chairperson Mori Hosseini said the university was still hunting for a longer-term interim after extending the contract of interim president Kent Fuchs until Sept. 1.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2025/08/18/uf-keeps-looking-next-president-santa-ono-lands-new-job/

Good for Ono. He apparently was either too "woke" or not GOP-friendly enough for UF's board members, even after debasing himself and his credentials in an appeal to win their support.