Wesley Kent Fuchs (; born 1954) is an American university professor and academic administrator. He is the current president of the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in Gainesville, Florida. Upon taking office on January 1, 2015, he became the university's twelfth president. He previously served as the provost of

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

from 2009 through 2014. In January 2022, Fuchs announced his intention to step down as President so that he may remain at UF and return to faculty.

Education

Fuchs holds a B.S.E. from Duke University; a M.Div. from

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) is an academic divinity school founded in 1897 and located in the northern Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Illinois. It is part of and located on the main campus of Trinity International University. It� ...

; and a

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in electrical engineering from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

Career

Fuchs was a professor in the electrical and computer engineering department and the coordinated science laboratory at the

, from 1985 to 1996. He was head of the school of electrical and computer engineering and Michael J. and Katherine R. Birck distinguished professor at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

from 1996 to 2002; While at Purdue University he was appointed a distinguished professor. He was the Joseph Silbert dean of the

Cornell University College of Engineering The College of Engineering is a division of Cornell University that was founded in 1870 as the Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanic Arts. It is one of four private undergraduate colleges at Cornell that are not statutory college ...

, from 2002 to 2008. He was the fifteenth provost of Cornell University in October 2008. In 2011, he led in the team and strategy that resulted in the winning proposal, in partnership with the Technion and New York City, to create a new graduate applied sciences campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City. The Cornell Tech campus reported to him as provost. In 2009 Fuchs launched Cornell's re-imagining initiative that resulted in enhanced efficiency in administrative services. As provost, Fuchs was also responsible for transforming Cornell's budget model. In 2010 he led the development of Cornell's Strategic Plan and the establishment of metrics for assessing Cornell's academic stature.

National Science Board

On September 16, 2016

President Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

announced his intent to nominate Fuchs as a member of the

National Science Board The National Science Board (NSB) of the United States establishes the policies of the National Science Foundation (NSF) within the framework of applicable national policies set forth by the President and the Congress. The NSB also serves as an ind ...

and

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

. He is a member of the board’s class of 2016 – 2022.

University of Florida

As President of the University of Florida, Fuchs barred three professors from testifying in a voting rights lawsuit against Florida governor

Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 46th governor of Florida since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, DeSantis represented Florida's 6th district in the U.S. House of Repres ...

over Senate Bill 90. After the university blocked its professors from providing testimony in court, the University of Florida's accreditor started an investigation into the university.

Personal

Fuchs is married to Linda Moskeland Fuchs, who previously taught at The King's Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida. They have four children, two daughters-in-law, a son-in-law and three grandchildren.

References

External links

Faculty web siteProvost Kent Fuchs reflects on Cornell's future and his own
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuchs, Kent 1954 births Living people Cornell University faculty Duke University Pratt School of Engineering alumni Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery Fellow Members of the IEEE Presidents of the University of Florida University of Illinois alumni