Kurt Dudas is no household name in Jacksonville, but for months he has been one of the University of Florida’s most important — and highest paid — field operators, building support among Northeast Florida powerbrokers for a $300 million graduate campus that is a linchpin of former president Ben Sasse’s vision for the school’s future. Some of the work Sasse undertook in his 17 months on the job remains a secret, but the Jacksonville campus was both a highly visible and expensive initiative that he and Mori Hosseini, an influential member of the UF board of trustees, announced last year on just his second day on the job.
Sasse’s legacy took a significant hit this month when the Independent Florida Alligator detailed profligate spending out of the president’s office during his tenure, including awarding high-paying remote-work jobs to his former Capitol Hill staffers and other Republican officials. But Sasse’s most ambitious project — the Jacksonville campus — remains “moving forward at full steam,” a university spokesman said.