‘They almost made me cry’: NSU president presides over his final commencement ceremonies

Wednesday began the end of an era at Nova Southeastern University.

George L. Hanbury II, the president and CEO of NSU, is presiding over this final graduation spring season, which began Wednesday morning. It drew a surprise reaction.

When he announced it was his last commencement, the crowd let out a collective “aww.”

“They almost made me cry,” he acknowledged hours after the ceremony, where 450 students graduated.

Another 550 students were scheduled for Wednesday afternoon commencement ceremonies. Four more undergraduate and graduate ceremonies are scheduled to go through the next week.

Before Hanbury became president in 2010 and CEO in 2011, he served as the university’s executive vice president and chief operating officer for 12 years.

Now he’s off to new challenges. He’s writing a book on leadership and there will be sections “based on my memoirs,” he said in his Virginia drawl.

And it’s only a slight transition into retirement: Hanbury, 80, will stay in South Florida since he will continue to serve the university after stepping down, as chancellor and creator of a new education program called “Institute for Leadership and the American Dream.”

Among the takeaways: “You don’t have to be a jerk to be a leader.”

That new role will take an estimated 20 hours a week.

“I don’t want to retire from life,” Hanbury said. Still, “I promised my wife I wouldn’t work Mondays or Fridays.”

Under his leadership, NSU opened a new campus in Puerto Rico in 2014 with master and doctoral programs; in 2019, NSU opened a Tampa Bay regional campus; and in 2021 NSU worked with Hospital Corporation of America to establish HCA University Hospital, a teaching and research hospital adjacent to the Fort Lauderdale campus.

Harry Moon, executive vice president and chief operating officer, will take over on Jan. 1.

Prior to NSU, Hanbury served as the city manager in Fort Lauderdale from 1990 through 1998. He had worked 30 years as the top administrator in three Virginian cities and Florida.

“I felt then and I still do: Public service is a very noble profession but what I’ve been doing here (at NSU) is the last most noble thing I’ve ever been done in my entire 60 years of being an executive and person of leadership,” he said.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash