Former mayor, diehard Gator returns to campus to spark student leadership

Growing up in Gainesville with a professor father, Pegeen Hanrahan adored going to the University of Florida Engineering Fair each year. It was a beloved family tradition that shaped her love of engineering and, certainly, the Gators.  

She went on to earn two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s in environmental engineering sciences from UF. 

Her engineering skills served her well as a Gainesville city commissioner and, later, the mayor. She had a unique perspective on growth, the environment and the balance therein. 

Earlier this week, Hanrahan returned to the halls of UF engineering as the Fall 2025 Linda Parker Hudson Leader in Residence. Hosted by UF’s Engineering Leadership Institute (ELI), the program selects leaders from industry, government and higher education to connect with UF engineering students about leadership, industry and engineering in the public interest.   

And Hanrahan — ever the Gator — was all about it.  

“This really makes my heart happy to see the future of engineering is in such good hands,” she told student leaders Wednesday during one of three engineering student discussions. 

The day’s theme was leadership, and Hanrahan’s messages were simple and powerful:  

• UF engineering students are the best of the best at one of the nation’s top universities.  
• Armed with problem-solving skills, engineers make great leaders.  
• Apply those skills early. Get involved in community groups and civic boards.  

“Don’t just go to class, look up,” she said. “Engineering provides a great background for being a leader — how you approach problems and solutions.”  

She said she was one of the few female engineering students in the department in the late 1980s and early ‘90s, and she described how engineering often helped her in public office. As a Gainesville elected official, she proposed — and wrote the initial grants for — restoring 30 acres of contaminated land near the old downtown train depot and converting it into the now-thriving Depot Park. 

In a nice full-circle moment, the depot venue was where this week’s Leadership-in-Residence program started. The Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering on Tuesday hosted a dinner and fireside chat at the park with Hanrahan and former UF College of Engineering Dean Cammy Abernathy. 

In that presentation and in Wednesday’s meetings with students, Hanrahan was asked often about how her background in environmental engineering informed her time as a city commissioner and mayor. 

“Engineering taught me ways of thinking about problems. You start with getting all of the accurate information. You learn context for that information. You analyze alternatives, you multiply everything by two,” said Hanrahan, now the associate director of Conservation Finance for the Trust for Public Land for the United States. 

“Politics,” she added, “is very data driven now.” 

On Wednesday, Hanrahan spoke to several groups of student leaders and met with College of Engineering Interim Dean Warren Dixon. She also spoke at a lunch session for selected faculty members, discussing “Engineering Leadership and Protection of Public Health, Safety and Welfare.” 

The namesake and donor of the Linda Parker Hudson Engineering Leader-in-Residence program was one of the first female leaders in the defense industry. A UF systems engineering graduate who served as CEO of BAE Systems and, later, The Cardea Group, Hudson started the leadership-in-residence program in 2015 at UF’s College of Engineering. She wanted to pair industry, government and higher-education leaders with UF engineering students to encourage them to become world-class leaders. 

A Gainesville resident, Hudson also is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering. She was listed as one Fortune magazine’s 50 Most Powerful Women and one of the Washington Business Journal’s Power 100.  

In 2017, Hudson was honored as UF Gator of Year in recognition of her successful career and unflinching service to her alma mater. She also is a member of the College of Engineering Industrial Advisory Board and chair of ELI’s Advisory Board.  

ELI selected Hanrahan and hosted this week’s events. Hanrahan was selected as the leader-in-residence this year because of her longstanding support of her alma mater, engineering background, political savvy, communication skills and success in multiple fields.   

With the Trust for Public Land, Hanrahan works with Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana and Tennessee. She has worked to pass 35 state and local ballot measures with a 94% win rate. 

She was a Gainesville commissioner from 1996 to 2002, entering public office at age 29 and leaving office because of term limits. She served as Gainesville’s mayor from 2004 to 2010. She also served as president of the Florida League of Mayors, on the Board of the Florida League of Cities and Mayors Innovation Project, and as chair of the Alachua County Library District and the Alachua County Metropolitan Planning.  

Hanrahan’s board service includes UF’s Bob Graham Center for Public Service, Florida State University’s LeRoy Collins Institute, the Alachua Conservation Trust and The Wagmore Foundation. She has won Audubon Florida’s Women in Conservation award, the Gateway Girl Scouts’ Women Who Make a Difference award, Sante Fe College’s Women of Distinction honor and Equality Florida’s Voice for Equality award.  

“She is a prime example of what leadership can do for you,” said fourth-year engineering student Sebastian Sobrino-Gonzalez, who attended one of Hanrahan’s sessions as a UF Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers representative.