After a period of illness, UF English and film studies professor Scott Nygren died Monday. He was 67.
Nygren came to UF in 1990 and was the director of the Center for Film and Media Studies. During the 2011-2012 school year, Nygren was chair of the Faculty Senate, which meant he temporarily sat on the university’s Board of Trustees. He also played an important role in the presidential search.
UF President Bernie Machen said in a statement that Nygren was not only an exemplary faculty leader but also a well-loved professor.
“Scott’s dedication to the university was remarkable,” Machen said. “His students adored him, and they always knew they were his first priority. He was gentle, kind and had a keen intellect and a wonderful dry wit.”
Nygren’s classes included documentary film, avant-garde film, video production and film history and theory, according to his UF bio. He led seminars about subjects like Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben, and he created an experimental course named Post-History and Visual Culture, according to his bio.
If Nygren’s Rate My Professors reviews are any indication, UF students will miss him. Users called him “extremely intelligent,” “very kind toward the students,” “intriguing,” “friendly” and “articulate.”
“He’s abstract, but in the way you would imagine a truly creative and original thinker to be,” read one rating.
Nygren’s wife, Maureen Turim, is a UF professor.
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 3/26/2014 under the headline "Beloved UF English and film studies professor dies at 67"]
