President John C. Hitt sent the following note to the UCF campus community this evening:

Please join me in congratulating Provost and Executive Vice President Tony Waldrop on his selection as president of the University of South Alabama.

Provost Waldrop is an outstanding leader and has served with distinction since joining UCF in 2010. He has helped us make remarkable strides in many areas, including student success, externally funded research, economic development, and community service.

Provost Waldrop’s work contributed to national recognition for UCF in many ways, including our being named multiple times as an “up-and-coming” national university by U.S. News and World Report, receiving accolades from The Princeton Review and Kiplinger’s for providing exceptional value to our students, and being ranked as “military friendly” by G.I. Jobs magazine.

Under his leadership, our student graduation rates and retention rates have increased, which means that our students are moving into the workforce or to another degree faster than ever.

He partnered with Dr. Deborah German, vice president for medical affairs and founding dean of the College of Medicine, in ensuring that our College of Medicine achieved full accreditation.

In his role in overseeing the budget, Provost Waldrop helped lead UCF to success in meeting strict new performance measures established by the Florida Board of Governors. In 2013, UCF tied for the most funding awarded to universities for meeting these performance goals.

Provost Waldrop was also involved in the UCF and Central Florida communities, notably as an enthusiastic co-chair of UCF’s partnership with the American Heart Association. He also serves on the board of directors for the YMCA of Central Florida and Junior Achievement of Central Florida, two of the many ways he contributes to our community.

On behalf of all of UCF, I wish Tony and his wife, Julee, much success and happiness at the University of South Alabama. We are grateful for all they contributed to UCF, and they will always have friends in Central Florida.

The search for a new provost will begin immediately. We will provide more information soon about Provost Waldrop’s departure date, the search for our next provost, and our plans for the interim period.