The UF CDO search committee has been looking at possible CDO candidates since February when the university’s first and former CDO Antonio Farias resigned.
With over two decades of experience in enrollment services and higher education, Mary Parker said she is ready to start at UF in her new position by building relationships with the university’s community.
In the past two years, UF’s faculty has been called upon to share their expertise on a variety of current events and topics on respected media outlets such as NPR and the Washington Post. Major topics faculty members have contributed to include COVID-19’s impact on life expectancy, the virus’ Delta variant, the humanitarian crisis and protests in Cuba and this year’s hurricane season.
UF’s melt rate, the rate of students who rescind their commitment to the college, is 2-3%, according to Tammy Aagard, associate vice president for enrollment management — a number significantly lower than the national average of 10-20%. Aagard also said UF’s melt rate has been similarly low in previous years.
Erica Studer-Byrnes, the soon-to-be assistant dean and director of the Heavener School of Business is the first woman ever appointed to the position.
Although Fried’s road to the governor’s mansion will prove a formidable task, the prospect of her potential election has prompted UF Law to consider the future of her appointment to the Board of Trustees.
The university announced May 13 it will lift the hiring pause, along with all other COVID-related restrictions on travel and visitors put in place at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The update is effective immediately as UF’s campus prepares to return to full capacity for Summer B and Fall.
The university will no longer require masks for students, faculty, staff and guests on UF property effective immediately. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and UF still recommend anyone who is not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 should wear a mask.
After months of controversy, a bill proposing changes to Bright Futures funding was finally terminated when it stalled in the Florida House of Representatives. While students’ majors will not impact their scholarships for now, Bright Futures funding may still change
Summer A and C classes will maintain many of the same COVID-19 policies seen during Spring and will serve as a transition period to in-person classes starting May 10. This time will allow staff and faculty to make necessary preparations for their classrooms and allow the UF community time to get vaccinated.
Nicole Stedman, soon-to-be associate provost and dean of UF’s Graduate School, will be responsible for understanding the current issues the Graduate School faces and administer communication between the university and graduate students. She was chosen for the role over two other finalists.
The Alligator found three cases of current and former UF employees with medical issues facing alleged resistance from their supervisors since 2019. These employees, who were not tenured, faced two propositions: medical leave or unemployment.
UF will return to a nearly normal Summer B and Fall 2021 course offering, but mandatory COVID-19 testing and masking are still up in the air.
The resignation of Antonio Farias triggered a search for a new Chief Diversity Officer that will most likely take months, according to UF’s vice president for human resources Jodi Gentry. It is unknown how long the search will take.
The United Faculty of Florida, UF’s faculty union, published a statement on its website Thursday expressing disappointment in the governor’s decision to ignore higher education faculty in his vaccination plans. The order takes effect Tuesday and includes people who are deemed at high risk of COVID-19 complications by doctors.
As soon as Fall 2021, UF students can learn how to use artificial intelligence to improve agriculture, remove bias from algorithms and advance social justice.
UFF held the meeting to lay out five demands aimed at university administration. The requests mainly center around in-person teaching and how it endangers faculty at a time when COVID-19 cases are still high, a more contagious variant of the disease is in town and students are still flocking to bars and clubs on the weekend.
![Photo of Charles Kibert [Courtesy of Patricia Kibert]](https://snworksceo.imgix.net/ufa/93f6cf13-435c-4c1c-a41c-e61664b80c4b.sized-1000x1000.jpeg?w=1500&ar=4%3A3&fit=crop&crop=faces&facepad=3&auto=format)
Kibert was a Holland professor in the M.E. Rinker Sr. School of Construction Management and the director of the Powell Center for Construction and Environment.
UF administration added a feature to its GatorSAFE app where students can report teachers for conducting in-person classes online. UFF-UF, the university's faculty union, believes this violates their collective bargaining agreement.
UF President Kent Fuchs received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday morning along with UF professor Mike Foley and UF Health chief epidemiologist Nicole Iovine.
Solutions by The State News
