HARRISBURG — The president of a state university in Florida has been hired as the next chief executive of Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities. John Cavanaugh was selected Monday by the State System of Higher Education's board of governors to become the third chancellor in the system's 25-year history.

Cavanaugh, 54, is president of the University of West Florida in Pensacola, where his annual salary is $295,000. He has held that job since 2002.

Cavanaugh previously was a faculty member and administrator at Bowling Green State University, the Medical College of Ohio, the University of Delaware and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He also was a visiting professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Cavanaugh will replace Chancellor Judy Hample, who will take a new job in July as president of the University of Mary Washington in Virginia. Hample is paid $327,718 annually. The system's board had narrowed its search to three finalists, but University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh chancellor Richard Wells withdrew his name from consideration earlier this month.