Lauren Mackie doesn't think of herself as a hero.
But she has helped save a life.
Nineteen-year-old Mackie was recognized with fellow UF student David Wasserman, 20, at a Friday meeting of the Ad Hoc UPD Campus Advisory Committee.
On Aug. 31, Mackie and Wasserman used CPR to help save the life of an engineering professor who collapsed in the Reitz Union food court due to a heart attack.
The students, both lifeguards with CPR training, immediately gave CPR to UF professor Stephen Pearton when they saw he had collapsed.
Mackie said any other lifeguard would have done the same thing in that situation.
"I don't consider myself a hero," she said. "I think we were in the right place at the right time."
UPD officers Daymon Kizzar, Ken Motes and Tim Peck arrived within minutes to help.
They used CPR and an Automated External Defibrillator to help Pearton, who later received care at Shands Hospital.
UPD Chief Linda Stump, chair of the eight-member advisory committee, presented the students and officers with Police Challenge Coins, which are medallions that are awarded for "meritorious service," according to a UPD press release.
After they were recognized, the committee discussed the recent firing of a former UPD officer, Keith Smith.
He was was fired on Sept. 1 for his overall conduct - an evaluation that was prompted by a July 23 incident when Smith threatened to shoot a 20-year-old man he had pulled over for reckless driving.
Stump recused herself from her chair position for the discussion.
The board approved a resolution expressing a vote of confidence in Stump's balancing of duty and due process concerns in the evaluation of and eventual termination of Smith's employment.
"This is a difficult issue, and the vote of confidence was that Chief Stump had successfully balanced ... due process on the one hand and appropriate action on the other hand," Scott Nygren, a committee member and chair of the UF Faculty Senate, said in an interview after the meeting.
Stump said in a post-meeting interview that the committee's resolution was humbling.
Later on in the meeting, UPD Capt. Bart Knowles gave a presentation about the Student Community Oriented Police Effort program, also known as S.C.O.P.E.
Officers are assigned to cover specific on-campus residence areas through the program, which aims to foster relationships between UPD officers and UF students.
Deputy Chief Darren J. Baxley of UPD also presented information on the department's alcohol education and tailgate enforcement efforts for UF football game days.
There were 218 warnings and three civil citations issued for open container violations during the first three home football games, according to Baxley's presentation.
There were also three instances of underage drinking violations.
Stump said that those numbers were low considering the thousands of fans that tailgate at each game.
Lauren Mackie and David Wasserman are recognized at the UPD Advisory Council meeting Friday for helping save the life of an engineering professor.
