UF is honoring its graduate students this week.
The first Graduate Student Appreciation Week will run through Friday to honor the students and the research they do, said Tyisha Hathorn, the director for the Office of Graduate Minority Programs. The week includes a research day, professional development day, undergraduate day and graduate life day.
The Office of Graduate Minority Programs has planned the week since Summer 2015, she said.
“FIU (Florida International University) and FSU (Florida State University) have done it in previous years,” she said. “We have awesome graduate students and we want to appreciate them.”
Erin Rice, the coordinator for the office, said in addition to appreciating the students, the graduate school wanted to highlight the research they’ve done.
UF President Kent Fuchs will speak at today’s research event to share his appreciation for graduate and professional students at UF. Research Day will begin in the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom at 9 a.m.
Britney Sheffield, a UF biomedical engineering graduate student, said graduate students work several years for their degrees.
“We don’t really reap the benefits of it until we get a degree,” the 25-year-old said. “I hope that we can understand that we are appreciated by the university for all of the work that we actually do.”
