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USF St. Petersburg official resigns for mysterious reasons

 
Han Reichgelt has resigned as USF St. Petersburg’s regional vice chancellor of academic affairs.
Han Reichgelt has resigned as USF St. Petersburg’s regional vice chancellor of academic affairs.
Published Feb. 28, 2015

ST. PETERSBURG — Just last summer, the University of South Florida St. Petersburg brought in Dr. Han Reichgelt to be part of its leadership team.

Now he's suddenly out, for unexplained reasons.

Reichgelt was hired in June as the school's new regional vice chancellor of academic affairs, essentially making him USFSP's chief academic officer. He moved here from a university in Georgia.

However, in a letter to faculty and staff on Friday, USFSP Chancellor Sophia Wisniewska said she was accepting Reichgelt's resignation, "effective immediately."

In a resignation letter addressed to the chancellor, Reichgelt wrote, "I am no longer confident that I can serve you and this wonderful institution with the level of quality that you and the institution deserve."

And in letter accepting that resignation, Wisniewska wrote, "I believe that your resignation is in the best interest of this institution."

No one at the school would elaborate Friday, and Reichgelt didn't return phone calls.

"It's the university's policy not to discuss personnel issues," said USFSP communications director Jessica Blais.

In her letter accepting Reichgelt's resignation, the chancellor informed him that he'd be shifted to a nine-month faculty appointment in USFSP's college of business. She directed him to "complete appropriate training as identified by the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Equal Opportunity."

"This assignment is to be completed off campus," she added.

Reichgelt, who was one of three vice chancellors at USFSP, joined the university's leadership team last July. Before that, he had been dean of the school of computing and software engineering at Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Ga., since 2007.

Wisniewska told faculty members Friday that USFSP psychology professor Mark Durand would serve as interim vice chancellor of academic affairs.