UNF President Moez Limayem visits WJCT News in August 2022. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on October 21, 2025 at 12:11 pm
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More than three years after he left the University of South Florida to become president of the University of North Florida, Moez Limayem is heading back to USF as its new leader.
The USF board of trustees on Tuesday approved appointing Limayem, a former business school dean at the Tampa-based university, to succeed outgoing President Rhea Law.
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“To me, this is a story of a favorite son of USF who’s coming home,” USF board of trustees Chairman Will Weatherford said.
Limayem, whose appointment remains subject to confirmation by the state university system’s Board of Governors, said in a prepared statement that serving as USF president “would be the greatest honor of my professional life.” Limayem, who took part in campus forums last week, was the sole finalist who emerged from a search.
“My family and I love USF and the Tampa Bay region, and I am thrilled by the prospect of returning home,” Limayem said in the statement. “As I was reminded during my visit to each USF campus last week, it is truly a special community.”
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Law announced in February that she would step down as president. An attorney who had longstanding ties to USF, Law became interim president in 2021 before being named president in March 2022.
Limayem at UNF
Limayem became president of the University of North Florida in 2022 after serving a decade as dean of the Muma College of Business at USF. The university system’s Board of Governors is expected to take up confirmation of his appointment Nov. 6, according to a USF news release Tuesday.
USF’s selection of Limayem will force the University of North Florida to look for a new president and continues major turnover in leadership of the state’s universities and colleges.
This year, former Jeanette Nunez has been named president of Florida International University; Marva Johnson has been named president of Florida A&M University; Adam Hasner has been named president of Florida Atlantic University; Donald Landry has been named interim president of the University of Florida; and Manny Diaz Jr. has been named interim president of the University of West Florida.
What’s more, Florida State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, New College of Florida and Florida Polytechnic University have named new presidents since 2021 — as did USF and the University of North Florida when they hired Law and Limayem, respectively.
University of Central Florida President Alexander Cartwright is the longest-tenured president in the system. He was named UCF president in 2020.
Limayem earned a doctorate from the University of Minnesota and served a stint as associate dean for research and graduate programs at the University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton College of Business, according to USF.
