Florida Polytechnic trustees narrowly pick state college leader as next president

As the Florida Polytechnic University board of trustees debated the choice of its next president, it came down to this question: Is a technical background crucial for the leader of a school that aspires to be the “the MIT of the South”?

The trustees ultimately decided that the answer is no.

In a 7-6 vote following sometimes testy debate, the board of trustees selected G. Devin Stephenson, the president of Northwest Florida State College in Niceville. Stephenson was the only one of the five finalists without a background in STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

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