The president of Florida State University is the executive officer of the Florida State University Board of Trustees, and essentially, the leader of the university. Florida State's campus is in Tallahassee, Florida, the state capitol. Although the institution was officially founded on January 24, 1851, it became the state's first Liberal Arts College in 1897.[1]
The school's name did not reach the present form until 1945, going through a number of different names between 1851 and 1945. From 1857 to 1887, the school's leader was given the title of "Principal".[2]
| Term | President | Background and accomplishments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First 1887–92 | George Edgar[3] | ||
| Second 1892–97 | Alvin Lewis | ||
| Third 1897–09 | Albert A. Murphree | ||
| Fourth 1909–41 | Edward Conradi | ||
| Fifth 1941–57 | Doak S. Campbell | ||
| Interim 1957 | Albert B. Martin | ||
| Sixth 1957–60 | Robert M. Strozier | ||
| Interim 1960 | Milton W. Carothers | ||
| Seventh 1960–65 | Gordon W. Blackwell | ||
| Eighth 1965–69 | John E. Champion | ||
| Ninth 1969–76 | J. Stanley Marshall | ||
| Tenth 1976–91 | Bernard F. Slige | ||
| Eleventh 1991–94 | Dale W. Lick | ||
| Twelfth 1994–03 | Talbot D'Alemberte | ||
| Thirteenth 2003–10 | T. K. Wetherell | ||
| Fourteenth 2010–14 | Eric J. Barron He resigned from FSU on April 2, 2014 to accept the position of President at Pennsylvania State University. | ||
| Interim 2014 | When Eric Barron resigned as president on April 2, 2014, Provost Garnett S. Stokes served as acting president until November 10, 2014, when John Thrasher became president. | ||
| Fifteenth 2014–2021 | |||
| Sixteenth 2021–Present | Richard D. McCullough, a graduate of the University of Texas and Johns Hopkins University, is the university's 16th president. He assumed office Aug. 16, 2021, succeeding President ·John E. Thrasher. |