Rose Lugano, a lecturer of Swahili language and literature at UF who was laid off last year as a result of budget cuts, was reinstated last week.
Lugano was scheduled to lose her job this summer. She challenged her layoff by filing a grievance with UF last July.
Paul D'Anieri, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said UF reinstated Lugano because it decided she would help the university's chances of securing a $2 million federal grant.
"We thought we'd be more competitive if we maintained the strength of that (African studies) program," D'Anieri said. "Enrollment in the classes also is sufficient to justify continuing to teach them," he said.
The four-year grant would net UF about $500,000 a year, said Leonardo Villalon, director of UF's Center for African Studies.
UF currently receives the grant and will reapply for it this fall, Villalon said. The grant is used to fund conferences and speakers, buy library materials, develop new courses, hold festivals and film viewings, fund the center's performing arts program and pay teaching assistants, among other things, he said.
D'Anieri said Lugano's reinstatement means something else will have to be cut from the CLAS budget. It's likely, he said, that the college will not be able to follow through on hiring a new faculty member.
Lugano was one of eight faculty and 66 staff who were laid off during the last round of cuts.
She is also the third professor to be reinstated this academic year, following the reinstatement of assistant professors Andrea Pham and Hana Filip in March. All three professors challenged their layoffs by filing grievances with UF. Pham's layoff was overturned after an independent arbitrator determined UF violated its layoff policy. Filip was reinstated less than a week later because UF determined she was laid off for similar reasons.
Like Lugano, Pham and Filip taught language classes.
D'Anieri said Lugano's reinstatement had nothing to do with the arbitrator's decision in Pham's case.
Lugano could not be reached for comment.
