Welcome to the new school year!

August 31, 2009

We had a busy, productive summer, and all signs point to a fruitful year ahead.

Within the past couple of months we announced a $26 million grant from the National Institutes of Health and a new $13 million initiative to open a second biotechnology incubator. We broke ground on a major new office building on our Eastside Campus. And our astronomers helped inaugurate the world’s largest telescope, located in the Canary Islands.

Workers will complete the Biomedical Sciences Building, the Pathogens Research Facility and the Shands Cancer Hospital at UF within the next few months. Our latest incoming class is the most accomplished ever, with students arriving with an average GPA of 4.24 and 29.6 on the ACT. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation not long ago awarded UF nearly $1 million for a new master’s program, one of several recent indicators we remain highly regarded nationally.

There is no denying the difficulties we have faced as a result of three years of budget cuts. But UF scholars, scientists, staff and students have continued to excel, even amid what was probably the university’s most difficult era in decades. Some economic indicators suggest the economy is stabilizing. If UF can achieve such notable gains in tough times, we will surely make even longer strides in better ones.

Have a terrific fall, and Go Gators!

J. Bernard Machen, President