Posted: August 21, 2024
Dear Students, Faculty, Administrators, and Staff,
Our new academic year at the University of Florida is dawning on the heels of the 2024 Summer Olympics, in which 41 from among our Gator Nation competed — including…
- UF graduate alumni Maha Amer (diving), Canyon Barry (basketball), and Lloydricia Cameron (track and field).
- UF graduate students Nicole Maier (swimming) and Alberto Mestre (swimming).
- UF graduate certificate enrollee Danielle Collins (tennis).
All in all, members of our UF family won four gold, four silver, and three bronze Olympic medals. Kudos and congratulations!
But that torch-bearing Olympian Gator spirit is not confined to the athletic arena. It’s very much in evidence every day here on campus, in our classrooms, laboratories, and research centers. It’s the dynamic engine that drives UF graduate education to ever greater heights.
Like an Olympic torch, graduate education also begins with a spark — one of curiosity and ambition that ignites a flame of discoveries unearthed and aspirations achieved. And that flame is something that gets passed from one torch to another — from instructor to student, from mentor to mentee, from trainer to apprentice, from peer to peer — in a mutual exchange that, in the end, makes this world a bit brighter. Brighter with new knowledge. Brighter with fresh insight. Brighter with unleashed creativity. Brighter with cutting-edge solutions to nagging problems, all in a bid to uplift the human condition and improve individual lives.
As the ancient philosopher Plutarch said, “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.”
So, fellow Grad Gators — both those who are new to campus and those who are returning once again — kindle your fire throughout this new academic year.
Ignite your passion. Blaze your trail. Light your path.
And pass your own flame on, from your torch to others’ torches, in this shared, mutually uplifting teamwork that we call graduate education at UF.
Go Gators!
Nicole L.P. Stedman, Ph.D.
Associate Provost and Dean
The Graduate School
University of Florida
Graduate School