UF's top academic leaders to talk about scholarship

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The leaders of the University of Florida’s three main academic branches will gather Feb. 24 for a public discussion of what scholarship means at UF.

The title of the event is short and direct: “What is Scholarship?”

Provost Joseph Glover, David Guzick, senior vice president for health affairs, and Jack Payne, senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources, will provide an hour’s worth of answers.

It’s an unscripted event on a topic at the core of what the university does. Mike Foley, journalism master lecturer at UF, will serve as facilitator.

The event is one of a series of public talks sponsored by the UF Faculty Senate that aims to expose members of the UF community to how different disciplines and colleges contribute to the university’s excellence.

“These are UF’s diverse academic worlds coming together at one event. The nature of scholarship may turn out to have very different meanings for those who spend their days in the dance studio, clinic and greenhouse,” UF Faculty Senate President Marc Heft said.

The roundtable discussion could include such topics as how to assess scholarship. While typically it involves a review of publications in academic journals, it becomes more challenging in fields such as fine arts. In addition, the discussion could touch on subjects such as how tenure formulas weigh scholarship.

Glover, Guzick and Payne will discuss the topic as well as take questions.

The administrators oversee nearly 2,800 regular full-time faculty. The university’s academic corps also includes librarians, administrative faculty, clinical faculty and extension agents.

The event is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. in the President’s Room at Emerson Alumni Hall. Light refreshments will be available. Parking is available in the northeast corner of the O’Connell Center parking lot.

The event will also be livestreamed at http://www.senate.ufl.edu/ .