John C. Hitt is an American former professor and academic administrator, who served as the fourth president of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida from 1992 to 2018. Hitt was named the Orlando Sentinel's Central Floridian of the Year in 2005, and has twice been ranked as Orlando's most powerful person by Orlando Magazine. Hitt was also the dean of Florida's university presidents, serving as the longest tenured president in the state. His reputation was materially tarnished by auditor findings that tens of millions of dollars were improperly spent on construction during his tenure as president. Former president Hitt acknowledged the spending and resigned from his compensated fund raising role. His successor Dale Whittaker and the university's chief financial officer Bill Merck also resigned because of the scandal. Four other financial officers were fired.
Early life and career
Raised in Houston, Texas, Hitt graduated from Austin College in Sherman, Texas in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology. He continued his education at Tulane University, where he completed both his Master of Science and his Ph.D. by 1966. He would stay at Tulane, where his career as an assistant professor began. In 1969, Hitt moved to Texas Christian University, working as an associate professor of psychology. Three years later, he became associate dean of the university, and in 1974, he became vice president of the school's research foundation and soon after dean of the graduate school. After serving as provost and vice president for academic affairs and professor of psychology at Bradley University in Illinois for ten years, he moved to the University of Maine in 1987 as vice president for academic affairs and professor of psychology. Four years later he was named interim president of the school before accepting the presidency at the University of Central Florida.
University of Central Florida presidency
Hitt was selected by the Florida Board of Regents to succeed Robert A. Bryan as UCF's president. Bryan had been serving in an interim capacity since June 1991 when Steven Altman stepped down as the university's third president. Upon taking office in Spring 1992, UCF's enrollment was 20,302, and as of Fall 2013 enrollment consists of 59,770 students representing over 140 countries, all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Under the direction of Hitt, UCF raised admissions standards, increased research funding, built new facilities, and established notable partnerships with major research institutions. Hitt's efforts have resulted in not only an increase in the university's academic profile, but also more than $1 billion in new construction, including Spectrum Stadium, the CFE Arena, and new on-campus housing. Hitt was instrumental in the development of the UCF College of Medicine at Lake Nona, and the formation of the Burnett Honors College, and the College of Graduate Studies. Under his leadership UCF became a "very high research activity" university as ranked by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and the university's football program ascended to Division I-A in 1996 and joined the American Athletic Conference. In October 2011, Hitt accepted a five-year contract extension. In 2012, the main campus library was renamed in honor of Hitt, who at the time was celebrating his twentieth anniversary as university president. Hitt's tenure was not without controversy. In 2012, Hitt accepted a 6 percent raise, while offering faculty a raise of a half percent in 2013. On Tuesday, October 24, 2017, Hitt announced that he will retire on June 30, 2018.
