Following the plagiarism controversy that surrounded him last spring, English professor James Twitchell retired last month, ending a 35-year career at UF.
Twitchell admitted to plagiarizing in April, which resulted in a five-year suspension without pay.
Twitchell refused to comment for the story.
Freelance writer and former Los Angeles Times employee Roy Rivenburg was one of the authors from whom Twitchell stole.
"I was unhappy when I discovered Twitchell was getting credit and book royalties for material written by me and several other writers," Rivenburg wrote in an e-mail.
Rivenburg said he e-mailed both Twitchell and Simon & Schuster, Twitchell's book publisher, when he realized what happened.
Although Twitchell called to apologize, Rivenburg was skeptical of his explanation.
"As an English professor, Twitchell knew the rules and had no excuse for plagiarizing," he wrote.
Rivenburg wrote that he thought the severity of Twitchell's actions warranted a public apology or exposure.
UF spokesman Steve Orlando said that he does not expect the controversy surrounding Twitchell to tarnish UF's reputation.
"The fact that there was a consequence is important," he said. "We expect integrity from our students therefore we expect the same from our faculty members."
Paul D'Anieri, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, agreed with Orlando.
He said UF handled the situation well by taking definite actions rather than trying to hide the situation.
D'Anieri said he was sad to see what came of Twitchell's career.
"He's a good guy that made some big mistakes," he said. "He had a good career while he was here, and it's a shame it had to come to this."
