
The University of Florida will hold its first in-person commencement ceremonies since 2019.

Hans van Oostrom, Ph.D., serves as chief marshal at UF’s commencement ceremonies. In the coming week, he will be front and center, carrying the university’s ceremonial mace and among dozens of UF faculty and staff members who are helping organize the first in-person ceremonies since the pandemic struck.

UF students from any major can now pursue a certificate that teaches them the basics of artificial intelligence, a field likely to uniquely position students for the future workforce.

Nicole Stedman, professor and associate chair of the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences will succeed Henry “Hank” Frierson as dean of The Graduate School.

Successful 30-year lobbyist Yolanda Cash Jackson (BSJ ’80, JD ’90) recently inspired UF law alumni to launch a scholarship drive. She hopes the effort will add more diversity to the legal profession.

Dr. Ruth Alexander, who spearheaded efforts to create women's athletics at UF, passed away on Tuesday in Gainesville. She received a Nike Lifetime Achievement Award in September 2020.

The annual Michael Gannon Lecture commemorates the achievements and scholarship of Dr. Gannon, distinguished service professor, remembered at UF as an outstanding teacher and scholar, an advocate for fairness and academic integrity, and a nationally known writer on Florida history and World War II history.

Interest in receiving an education online from the University of Florida has grown in recent years. The key to UF’s success with its online programs, officials say, is that they are no different in terms of quality and rigor as in-person classes.

An audacious push to vaccinate 20,000 people in Alachua County a week for six weeks got off to a roaring start Monday when more than 5,200 University of Florida students and Alachua County residents received a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

The Disability Resource Center at the University of Florida is recruiting full-time American Sign Language interpreters. The new hires will interpret classes for students who are deaf and hard of hearing in addition to supporting campus events.

The University of Florida will attempt to vaccinate more than 1,000 students as part of a landmark national study to determine whether young people who have received a COVID-19 vaccine can still spread the coronavirus.

A highly competitive award, the Goldwater Scholarship is for students working toward a research-focused career in mathematics, natural sciences and engineering. Muhammad Abdulla is one of just 475 students nationwide awarded scholarships for the 2021 competition.

José Fortes, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, has been named winner of the 2021 SEC Faculty Achievement Award for the University of Florida, the SEC announced on Thursday.