A UF anthropology professor for over two decades, Micheal Heckenberger has authored several books on Amazonian Indigenous peoples as a result of living with the Kuikuro tribe in Brazil for two years.
Over the past year, UF has found itself in a period of transition, including a new president appointed in February, the search for a new provost beginning in the Spring, a new UF Honors Program director to be announced within the next month and searches for a new dean of the Levin College of Law and Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.
UF’s first resident wasn’t a person, but a tree. Sprouting before the university was founded, a longleaf pine near Keene-Flint Hall has watched UF grow into what it is today. In April, the tree was declared dead.
Since UF President Ben Sasse took office in early February, he’s been selective about his public appearances. But behind the scenes in Tigert Hall, his first semester in Florida has featured a complicated state legislative session, a potential graduate campus in Jacksonville and meetings with faculty leaders.
Faculty senators gathered Thursday in the Reitz Senate Chambers to hear UF President Ben Sasse, Senate Chair Amanda Phalin and UF Provost Joe Glover deliver reports on rebuilding UF’s foundation, senior position searches and multi-year contracts for non-tenured professors.
Santa Fe College announced it narrowed its search for a new provost to three finalists Wednesday afternoon, after a search to replace Provost Edward Bonahue.
Student Government Senate leadership elections Tuesday evening marked the end to a monthlong political standoff, sparked by the Change Caucus gaining a Senate majority in the Spring SG elections.
With forests on fire, hurricanes gaining strength and regularity and other natural disasters becoming more frequent, members of Generation Z wonder: What does our future look like? What will be lost? What’s possible for the future?
In June 2021, the UF Board of Trustees approved the $235 million Central Energy Plant Project to build a combined heat and power energy facility on campus. Set to begin construction this year, it will be the university’s largest energy provider, relieving UF of purchasing 750,000 pounds of steam from Duke Energy every year.
IFAS has dispersed its climate change research to center on greenhouse gas emissions, ocean acidification and sea-level rise. Extensions take a local approach to educating Florida residents about climate change, whether it’s regarding forestry, farming or waterways.
The UF Office of Sustainability is in the final stages of developing its Climate Action Plan 2.0, a revival of CAP 1.0, the 2009 original, meant to curb the university’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Samuel Proctor Oral History Program screened the premiere of “Oscar Mack vs the Ku Klux Klan” — a 58-minute film that deep dives into the life of Oscar Mack, a World War I veteran and Kissimmee resident who was attacked by the KKK in 1922.
Chris Cowen, UF senior vice president and chief financial officer, will resign from the university July 1. He will trade his current job for a similar one at Cornell University, according to a UF press release.
UF is just one of at least 16 colleges and universities that received a hoax call of an active shooter in April, according to an analysis by The Alligator. Many of these instances have been referred to by authorities as “swatting” — when a fake call is made to authorities to cause chaos and send a large amount of police to a certain location.
In a press release Thursday, UF announced it will close Inner Road to all traffic starting Wednesday. The closure is due to improvements to underground utilities that serve nearby buildings like Broward and Newell Halls.
Kathy Cooke, a professor of history and founding dean of the University of South Alabama Honors College is the final of three candidates to present their Honors plan to the Honors community and participate in a Q&A. The search committee will make their selection for the next UF Honors Director in the next week.
The UF Student Government Supreme Court ruled Monday to disregard the April 4 election of Sen. Oscar Santiago Perez (Change-District D) as Senate president and prohibit the Senate from meeting until leadership from the Gator and Change Caucus sign an agreement on how the Senate plans to move past its turbulence.
UF’s LGBTQ+ community and allies swarmed the UF Student Health Care Center April 7 for an inject-in to protest the DeSantis administration’s gender-affirming care audit and legislation like House Bill 1421 and Senate Bill 254. During the protest, a group of demonstrators participated in an “inject-in,” where they injected themselves with hormone replacement therapy treatment.
Graduate Assistants United is continuing to negotiate for stipend increases and better living conditions with UF's bargaining team. There are three bargaining sessions scheduled for April.
As of April 5, UF students have been unable to use TikTok and WeChat on campus Wi-Fi, among other applications deemed a cybersecurity risk after UF complied with a Florida Board of Governors directive.
Solutions by The State News
