Outgoing president will be lead speaker at Florida Poly commencement ceremony on May 5

Florida Polytechnic University’s departing president, will be the main speaker at the school’s commencement ceremony on May 5.

Avent was appointed as president in June 2014, two months before the campus opened for its first fall semester. He has announced plans to retire after the spring semester.

“I feel very privileged to be part of establishing this wonderful University and working alongside an outstanding team of professionals to shape and grow Florida Poly into a well-respected provider of engineering education,” Avent said in a news release. “We’ve come a long way since those early days, but the promise Florida Poly holds is stronger today than it has ever been.”

Avent has been appointed to a Fulbright-funded research endeavor at the University of Barcelona in Spain. He plans to return to Florida Poly as a professor following the sabbatical.

The school’s board of trustees last week voted to choose G. Devin Stephenson, president of Northwest Florida State College, as Avent’s successor.

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Before joining Florida Poly, Avent was associate vice chancellor of research and a professor of computer science at North Carolina State University, the release said. He also was chief scientist in the Defense Department’s Office of Basic Research, where he oversaw science programs, developed strategic plans for basic research investments, and led a national “Data-to-Decisions” program on large-scale analytics for massive data sets.

The commencement will take place May 5 at 2 p.m. at the RP Funding Center’s George Jenkins Arena, 701 W. Lime St. in Lakeland.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Randy Avent will be lead speaker at Florida Poly commencement on May 5