South Florida Business Journal - by Brian Bandell

Florida Atlantic University's Board of Trustees selected Mary Jane Saunders as the public university's sixth president on Wednesday.

Saunders comes from Cleveland State University, where she was provost and senior VP for academic affairs. She was the founding dean at CSU's College of Science. She holds a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Massachusetts.

Her background in life science could prove crucial as the 28,000-student university applies to establish its own medical school and build its ties with the Scripps Research Institute and the Max Planck Society on its Jupiter campus.

“I am humbled and thrilled to be selected as the next president of FAU,” Saunders stated in a press release. “It is such an honor to have the opportunity to lead the university to its next level of excellence, accomplishing great things together with the university community.”

Saunders succeeds Frank Brogan, who left last year to become chancellor of Florida’s State University System.