Pitt–Greensburg President Robert Gregerson was one of three finalists for the presidency of his former school, Florida Gulf Coast University, before he and the other two candidates all withdrew from the search in November, according to information on the school’s website.

Gregerson served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of biology from 2014 to ’19 at Florida Gulf Coast — a public college formed in 1991 just south of Fort Myers and part of the State University System of Florida. He has been at Pitt–Greensburg since 2019.

FGCU announced the three presidential finalists in last September. They also included Tod Laursen, acting president, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, and Susana Rivera-Mills, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, Ball State University. All three visited the campus in late October and early November.

On Nov. 8, Rivera-Mills withdrew her candidacy, followed by Laursen on Nov. 14. At a meeting of the school’s Board of Trustees on Nov. 17, when the group was set to vote on a new president, it instead unanimously decided “to table any further discussion on search candidates while we reopen the recruitment and screening phase of the search for FGCU’s fifth president.” Subsequently, Gregerson withdrew his candidacy.

Several Florida public colleges have had leadership openings this year, including the University of Florida, the University of South Florida, Florida International University, and the University of North Florida.