UF might lose one more staff member this year, but this time, budget cuts are not to blame.
Jimmy Cheek, senior vice president for the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, or IFAS, is one of five candidates being considered for the position of chancellor at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
Cheek, who has been at UF for 33 years, previously held the positions of assistant dean and dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
Cheek said he has accomplished a lot during his tenure at IFAS, but the opportunity to become chancellor at Tennessee was something he needed to explore.
"I'm at the point in my career that if I wanted to do something different, I need to do it now," he said.
A 21-member chancellor-search committee at Tennessee, along with a professional search firm, considered 37 candidates for the position, said Harry McSween, chairman of the committee.
Twelve were then selected for preliminary interviews, and five finalists were chosen from those, he said.
"We are looking for someone who will inspire us to be the best we can be," McSween said.
Leadership experience is also a big factor in making the decision, he said.
"(Cheek) has a great deal of experience that would be very appropriate for this position," McSween said.
"He has a sterling record at UF."
Cheek will travel to Knoxville for two days of interviews, meetings and forums with the university's president, chancellor and vice chancellors, faculty and students on Sept. 24 and 25.
McSween said the decision resides with the UT president and will hopefully be made within six weeks after the end of the final interviews.
Kirby Barrick, dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, said the Tennessee chancellor position would be a wonderful opportunity for Cheek, whom he has known for 25 years, but he doesn't want to lose an esteemed colleague.
Barrick said while Cheek was dean, the quality of students improved, and a program of matching assistantships in the graduate program was established.
"I inherited a college that was in a good position," Barrick said.
If offered the position, Cheek said he would want to ensure he had the support of Tennessee faculty, staff and students, as well as share the same visions as the university, before accepting.
"I'd be leaving behind a fantastic university," Cheek said.
