Overall Questions
Q: I hear that Ron Vaughn is retiring as UT’s president. What’s the timeframe?
A: Vaughn’s tenure at the University will end May 31, 2024, the end of the 2023-2024 academic year.
Q: Has this been in the works for a while?
A: Vaughn has consistently discussed long-term plans with the Board of Trustees, and they agreed that this timeframe would give the University time to get a best-in-class leader as the new president.
Q: What will happen between now and then?
A: Vaughn will continue to lead the University until the retirement date, with a number of major projects on tap to be completed in the coming year. On a separate track, the UT Board of Trustees will run a national search to name his successor.
Q: Will Vaughn be involved in the naming of his successor?
A: No, that process is a separate one, run by the Board of Trustees, and Vaughn will not be involved.
Q: How long has Vaughn been president of UT?
A: He began his tenure as the 10th president of UT in January 1995. At his retirement on May 31, 2024, he will have served as president for almost 30 years.
Q: What is his current age?
A: 76
Vaughn’s Legacy
Q: How best can you summarize Vaughn’s legacy?
A: Vaughn’s legacy will be that he led the transformation of UT into a top-level private university, in terms of both academic excellence and financial success.
There are many ways to quantify the success, but here are three: Full-time enrollments have more than quadrupled. The University has become more and more selective, and its student academic profile has steadily increased. And UT’s campus has been transformed by over 70 projects completed or underway, totaling about $950 million in value.
Q: Is there a way to quantify how UT ranks nationally?
A: UT is ranked in The Princeton Review’s annual list of best colleges, and only 15% of four-year colleges in the U.S. share this honor. Also, U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks UT in the top tier of regional universities in the South, and the school is highly scored in rankings by Forbes, the Wall Street Journal and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.
Q: Why was Vaughn so successful?
A: Vaughn would tell you that success takes a talented, collaborative team – both internally and through partners from the community. Vaughn had a vision of what UT could be. He pursued it relentlessly and others helped him to realize UT’s potential. Execution of the UT Master Plan has been well thought out since Vaughn first conceived it 28 years ago, and at the same time. UT has been financially in the black every year of his presidency (including during the COVID-19 pandemic).
Q: How is the University doing financially?
A: The University’s financial success is driven by enrollment and by generating financial support from the community. Enrollment continues to set records, while Vaughn has fostered more community-based financial support than any UT president before him. Among many fundraising achievements, the University raised about $250 million in its first two comprehensive capital campaigns and is now midway through a third.
Q: How has Vaughn’s wife Renée been involved in the success?
A: Renée has been involved with the University since the mid-1990s as a member of the Board of Fellows, which she chaired in 2003. Renée Vaughn has also been a key part of UT’s success for the past 15 years in her role as First Lady of the University, developing and strengthening ties with the community, building individual relationships, mentoring students, celebrating milestones and working through challenges.
Q: What awards has Vaughn been awarded?
A: Over the years, Vaughn has received over 40 awards and has been inducted into the Tampa Bay Business Hall of Fame. A few recent awards include: The Liberty Bell Award by the Hillsborough County Bar Association for outstanding service by a non-lawyer, Patrons of Culture and the Arts Impact Award (for both Renée and Ron Vaughn) and Outstanding Citizen of the Year Award by the Tampa Metro Civitan organization.
Vaughn’s Background
Q: What did Vaughn do at UT before he was named President?
A: Vaughn came to UT in August 1984 as the coordinator of the marketing department and holder of the Max H. Hollingsworth Endowed Chair of American Enterprise. He subsequently served as director of the MBA program, dean of the College of Business and Graduate Studies, and co-chief academic officer.
Q: How about prior to coming to UT?
A: Prior to coming to UT, Vaughn served as a faculty member and chairman of the marketing department at Bradley University. In addition to working in academe, he also owned a multi-office marketing research/consulting company where he worked on several hundred projects for a broad clientele.
Q: What academic degrees does he have?
A: Vaughn has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and an MBA from Indiana State University, and a doctorate in marketing from the University of Georgia.
The Future
Q: What challenges will a new president face?
A: Certainly, any university is facing challenges in how best to thrive in the current inflationary environment, which impacts UT in a variety of ways. Beyond that, the challenge is to keep UT on its upward trajectory. Thankfully, the new leader will be taking over a University that has a very good market position and overall strategy, which enables it to succeed both academically and financially.
Q: Will the trustees name an interim president?
A: There is no need for that, given that Vaughn’s tenure does not end until May 2024, giving plenty of time to have a new president in place.
Q: What will the University be looking for in terms of a new president?
A: The Board of Trustees, working with a highly-regarded search firm, will focus on getting top candidates from around the country. The ideal candidate will have a strong academic background paired with significant leadership experience in the university setting.
Q: Who will be on the search committee? Will it include faculty? Staff? Students?
A: The Board of Trustees intends to include a broad representation of the campus community on the search committee.
Q: Are there any internal candidates?
A: The position opening will be promoted widely and a strong pool of external applicants will be developed. We expect a large number of external candidates and if there are internal candidates, they’ll be welcome to apply as well.
Q: What is the timeframe for having a new president in place?
A: It’s too early in the process to know that exactly, but the University is committed to ensuring a smooth transition.
Q: After retirement, will President Vaughn return to UT as a consultant, or as a faculty member?
A: The University is preparing for an orderly transition to the president’s successor.