Despite UF’s rising national prestige, over 600 faculty and staff positions at UF remain vacant or temporarily filled with an interim position.
As UF prioritizes its presidential search, the timelines to permanently fill hundreds of other university positions remain in limbo. Many faculty members holding temporary positions hope for a more permanent solution.
Yong Jae Ko is the interim chair of the Department of Sports Management. He has taught at UF since 2006 and served as the department’s interim chair from Summer 2021 to 2022. The university hired a permanent chair, who later resigned. This past July, Jae Ko picked up the torch again.
“I consider this interim position as a service,” Ko said. “When it is necessary, we step up and maintain what we’ve been doing.”
His main responsibility is maintaining stability within the department. While he assists with hiring new faculty and handling budgetary decisions, he said his main focus is creating a positive work environment, climate and culture.
Ko applied to be the department’s permanent chair this semester. He said he plans to make the department more reputable, both nationally and globally.
“I love my people,” he said. “I have a dream to take this department to the next level.”
Ko is waiting to hear back about his application status.
Open positions
The number of jobs available on the career portal is constantly changing. Some faculty positions have more hiring opportunities, such as non-tenure track faculty with 169 jobs open, multitrack faculty with 93 jobs open and tenure track faculty with 82 positions open.
There are 11 open seats for chairs and 19 open seats for directors, which have all been open for months.
The geography department is among those with a chair vacancy. The role is only open for UF faculty and has been open since Nov. 14. It closes Dec. 10.
The chair of the obstetrics and gynecology department is another position that has remained open since Oct. 4 and will close once the position is filled. The listing for the medical director at the Department of Ophthalmology was first published in March 2023 and remains open.
Other chair positions that will close when filled include the chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy, the chair of the pediatrics department based in Jacksonville open since Feb. 26 and the chair of the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research at the College of Pharmacy open since July 17.
Several other administrative positions have applications closing in December and January. Some include the director positions at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the environmental horticulture department and the veterinary hospital.
Turnover rates
Despite the vacancies, UF’s faculty turnover rate has returned to pre-pandemic numbers, according to data from UF spokesperson Cynthia Roldan. The turnover rate is the percentage of faculty members who have left UF.
In 2019, the faculty turnover rate was 8.9%. During 2020 through 2021, the turnover rate stayed under 7.5%.
But in 2023, there was an increase to a turnover rate of 9.3%. The passing of SB 266, which eliminated state-funded DEI programs, led many faculty members to leave the university.
In 2024, the turnover rate is 8.9%. Of those who left, 68% of faculty resigned, 9% retired and 6% were not renewed.
Interim positions
Among UF’s 16 colleges, five have interim deans.
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences interim dean Mary Watt has held her position since July of this year. The college has also had three interim associate deans since August.
The College of Arts, the College of Engineering and the Levin College of Law also have interim deans.
The Honors Program has also had an interim director, Melissa Johnson, since August 2022. She replaced the previous dean who was fired from the position.
The College of Nursing has an interim executive associate dean and an interim associate dean of academic affairs of undergraduate education. The School of Architecture also has an interim director.
The College of Medicine has more than 10 active interim positions including a dean role. The college also has an interim director of communications and an interim director of human resources.
Andrew Dubin is the interim chair for the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
It’s a small specialty, Dubin said, but he is determined to grow the department’s footprint at Shands Hospital during his time as interim chair. The department offers consulting services that offer assistance to neurosurgeons, pediatric burn units and vascular surgeons.
Dubin started the position in September. He began working at UF in 2019 as the program director for physical medicine and rehabilitation, or PM&R, residency training program. By 2020, the division was a department.
“I agreed to be the interim chair because I really felt it was important that our residents had a sense of continuity,” Dubin said.
He wanted them to know that he’d be an advocate for the residents and work hard to expand the department, he added.
The previous chairman stepped down to pursue other opportunities, and Dubin, who was the department’s vice chair of education, assumed the position.
His work as interim chair is all about optimizing teamwork, he said.
“We have to look at the department globally and appreciate that there might be small little areas within the department that bring tremendous value to the university,” Dubin said.
His work has focused on expanding the department’s consulting services. He has made the department more collaborative by working with chairs across the College of Medicine and Shands to tell them what PM&R can provide.
Expanding the department also includes recruitment. According to Dubin, there was “a fair amount of turnover” when PM&R was transitioning to a department. He still hopes to stabilize the department to have faculty that stay for five to 10 years.
“Anytime there’s change in leadership, there tends to be that change of staff,” he said. “I think it gives the opportunity for new ideas and new thoughts.”
He said he believes working in an interim position is based on how the person in the seat thinks about their temporary role.
“I think there is a tendency for ‘Let’s just keep the status quo,’” Dubin said. “I would like to see growth and development. I want to champion that.”
It’s a goal he hopes is considered as the presidential search continues.
Dubin is treating the interim role as his audition for the permanent position, one that he’d be willing to take if offered. He wants to stay involved with the department, help search for the next chair and continue to be involved in teaching residents.
“I have a lot to offer,” he said. “I have no particular intentions of retiring.”
Contact Delia Rose Sauer at drosesauer@alligator.org. Follow her on X @_delia_rose_.
Delia Rose Sauer is a junior journalism student and the Fall 2024 University General Assignment Reporter. This is her second semester on the University Desk. In her free time, she's drawing on Procreate, crocheting or exploring music genres.
