I only recently became a Florida Gator. Before 2020, I was a proud Oklahoma Sooner who cheered loudly against the Gators back in 2008 as they whooped us 24-14 in the Orange Bowl. However, since joining UF’s neuroscience PhD program as a graduate student, I now rep the orange and blue and sing “Don’t Back Down” in the Swamp every chance I get.
I mention this because I’ve learned a lot about what makes a top five public university during my time at UF, and as I wrap up my dissertation this Spring, I want to reflect on the lessons I’ve learned while also asking those who get to stick around a few things as a soon-to-be alumnus.
So, the following advice is from someone who has seen UF both inside and out.
Being part of Gator Nation has taught me there is no better flagship university for the Sunshine State than UF.
UF’s dedication to innovation and progress is unlike other universities I’ve been a part of. As someone in STEM, I see this most clearly in investments in the HiPerGator supercomputer and the McKnight Brain Institute.
But, UF wasn’t built by and for innovative projects.
During the last five years, however, I have felt a steady shift away from this culture. Starting with the hiring of now former-President Ben Sasse, which felt like a gut punch to students and faculty alike.
Here comes the new figurehead, an outsider from Nebraska, who arrived under the cover of night only to work in shady backrooms his whole time at the helm. That is, unless he was writing op-eds ridiculing students as toddlers for engaging with their community and for standing up for what they believed as right.
This “leadership,” along with disruptive policies dictated out of Tallahassee, led to many leaders — administrators, faculty and students — leaving for what they believed to be clearer skies. More troubling though, were the talented prospective professors and students who chose to stay away from the school entirely.
Thankfully, now is a time of transitions. While I, as well as many of my fellow students, are transitioning to alumni, the university is transitioning to a new president and with transitions, there are many new opportunities for growth.
However, there are also many paths that can reinforce bad habits.
As a soon-to-be alumnus, I won’t be around to have a direct impact on fixing this culture, so instead I want to ask something of administrators, faculty and students who will bear the torch going forward.
Administrators, I ask that you be transparent. The shadiness of the last administration clouded the future of the Sunshine State’s best school and fostered doubt where trust should have been.
No one wants to see politicians stuffing their and their friend’s pockets with cash before disappearing as quickly as they first appeared.
Faculty, I ask that you continue to create environments for students of all backgrounds to learn and discover who they are.
A stable and predictable administration that can be trusted allows faculty to focus on what they are here to do: teach students and advance their fields through research. You are the boots on the ground that give a face to the university; how you implement policies has a direct and lasting effect on every student’s life.
From my own personal experience, I decided to pursue a PhD because of the professors who embodied their passion and excitement for psychology and neuroscience. But, I’ve also thought about leaving academia entirely because of negative experiences with other professors.
I ask that you build a culture of innovation by investing in your students through your teaching.
Finally, to my fellow students, I ask that you actively engage with the community that has been built for you by administrators, faculty and previous students. Regardless of rage-bait headlines, universities are for students.
I invite book worms to ask the questions no one else in class feels comfortable to ask but needs to know. I invite the type-A club presidents to organize and advocate for the people who love what they love. I invite the wallflowers to quietly nod during lectures to reassure nervous grad students they’re making sense in their first big-boy lecture.
What’s even better is that now is the time to try out all those different hats to see which one is right for you. Switch things up. UF is nothing without you, so when you don’t engage, there is nothing left.
My time at UF has taught me what a university has the potential to be, but it has also taught me the fragility and constant care and attention necessary to keep it healthy. In other words, universities are alive and require work to sustain.
At the University of Oklahoma, we celebrate this fact at the end of our alma mater. So as I transition from student to alumnus for the last time, I want to leave UF with those words in the hope that the next generation of Gators will continue to sustain and grow the community I have loved so much: Live on, university!
Andrew Moore is a UF neuroscience graduate student.
