After FAU relaunched the search, Hasner, a former Republican majority leader in the Florida House, emerged as a finalist. Now a vice president at Florida-based private prison company GEO Group, Hasner beat out two academics for the role: a dean at Florida State University and the provost of the University of Maine.

Hasner is the latest in a string of former lawmakers who’ve become a Florida college or university president in recent years.

Another former Republican lawmaker has been picked to lead one of Florida’s public universities. The board of trustees of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton on Monday picked Adam Hasner to be the school’s next president.