University of Florida President Ben Sasse sent the following announcement shortly after 7 a.m. on Thursday:
Dear UF Faculty and Staff:
Today, University of Florida President Dr. Ben Sasse announced that Dr. J. Scott Angle, currently Senior Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources, will serve as UF’s interim provost when Dr. Joseph Glover steps down next month.
“I’m thrilled that Dr. Angle will bring his leadership, experience, and passion for UF to the provost’s office for this interim role,” said Sasse. “UF has a special role as both the state’s flagship and land-grant university, and few people see that more on a day-to-day basis than Scott. At IFAS, he’s working at the intersection of teaching, research, and extension education. He's a respected member of our community and he’s ready to roll up his sleeves ahead of the fall 2023 semester as our national search for UF’s permanent provost moves forward. I'm also grateful for Dr. Joe Glover's tireless work for UF over the last 15 years as provost. This university has been on a rocket ship trajectory and Joe has been a major part of that work, from faculty hires to UF’s AI initiative. I'm thankful for his service and his continued counsel.”
“I’m grateful for President Sasse’s leadership and the trust he’s placed in me to steward this important role for a time,” said Angle. “As teachers and researchers, we’re in the business of advancing knowledge so that we can tackle big problems and advance human flourishing – we do this work so we can make our world a better place. I’m grateful to be part of this life-changing work and eager to help in this new role.”
"Dr. Angle understands UF’s incredible teaching and research work," Glover added. "I’m very pleased to work with him as he transitions to his new role as interim provost."
As Senior Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources VP of University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), Angle is the chief executive of UF’s agriculture and environmental sciences arm and leads nearly 2,300 employees who work in all 67 Florida counties. UF/IFAS encompasses the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the Florida Cooperative Extension Service, and the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station.
A proven leader with experience in government, non-profit international development, and academia, Angle joined UF in 2020, after serving as the director of the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
From 2005 to 2015, Angle served as dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia. During his tenure, the college’s enrollment grew 30 percent. He consolidated the college’s farms and land holdings to create more cohesive research facilities. He fostered greater diversity and inclusion, creating an assistant dean of diversity position and appointing the first and second female associate deans in the college’s history and the first female academic department head.
Angle worked as professor of soil science at the University of Maryland and later as director of the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station and Maryland Cooperative Extension. He is widely cited for his scholarship on phytoremediation, the use of plants for extraction of heavy metals from soil.
Angle received his B.S. in agronomy and M.S. in soil science at the University of Maryland. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri with an emphasis on soil microbiology. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.