John Hitt

John C. Hitt (December 7, 1940 – February 20, 2023) was an American professor and academic administrator, who served as the fourth president of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida from 1992 to 2018. He was named the Orlando Sentinel's Central Floridian of the Year in 2005, and twice Orlando's most powerful person by Orlando Magazine. He was the dean of Florida's university presidents, as the longest tenured president in the state. His reputation was materially tarnished by auditor findings that tens of millions of dollars were improperly spent on construction during his tenure as president. He acknowledged the spending and resigned from his compensated fundraising role. His successor Dale Whittaker and the university's chief financial officer Bill Merck also resigned because of the scandal. Four other financial officers were fired.