UF Provost Janie Fouke, who announced her resignation from her post about a month ago, has been selected as one of six public candidates for the chancellor position at Louisiana State University.
UF President Bernie Machen announced that Fouke would resign from her UF position at a March 14 meeting of the Board of Trustees, UF's highest governing body. Her decision to leave came amidst a major financial restructuring of UF's administration.
At the meeting, Machen also announced that budget operations overseen by the Office of the Provost and the University Controller's Office would be moved to the office of Matt Fajack, who became UF's chief financial officer in January. Machen said Fouke would work at UF's International Center for a year after she leaves her post.
In an e-mail obtained by The Gainesville Sun, Fouke described Machen's move as a "power grab" to Mark Workman, provost at the University of North Florida. In a phone interview Sunday, Fouke said she wouldn't elaborate on her comment.
In an e-mail to the Alligator shortly after the announcement in March, Fouke wrote that the new provost position would be "quite different" than the position she held, and Machen should "try to fill the new job with a person with a skill set that matches that new job."
Fouke said that she has yet to speak with anyone from LSU.
"This search is so preliminary it's not worthy of comment," she wrote in an e-mail. "Several search firms have solicited my resume," she added, though she wouldn't reveal names of institutions.
She said LSU's search committee would likely have 50 to 100 candidates before it started seriously considering contenders.
An LSU spokesman couldn't be reached for comment by press time.
