Posted: February 1, 2024
February is Black History Month (BHM) — which brings to mind these points of pride, promise, and progress where graduate education and Black heritage intersect at the University of Florida.
Our Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society is named for Dr. Edward Alexander Bouchet (1852-1918, pictured left), the first Black American to earn a Ph.D. degree in the United States (Physics, Yale University, 1876). It yearly inducts UF doctoral students, postdoctoral scholars, faculty, and alumni who embody the values of scholarship, leadership, character, service, and advocacy that shaped Bouchet’s work as a scholar, educator, and physicist.
Our McNair Doctoral Program honors the late Dr. Ronald McNair (1950-1986, pictured left), the MIT alumnus (Doctor of Philosophy in Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1976) who became a United States NASA astronaut (1978) and perished aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger during its tragic mission (1986). This fellowship program pays homage to this stellar hero by launching others to new heights through graduate education.
Our FAMU Feeder Fellowship places UF among 40-plus other peer institutions that attract fresh intellect and talent by providing select alumni of Florida A&M University (FAMU) — ranked Number One among private and public Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) for 2024 — the opportunity to pursue, as Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) or Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) students, graduate majors not offered at FAMU.
UF’s Black Graduate Student Organization (BGSO) — founded in 1975 — fosters academic prowess, professional development, community service, networks of support, and social activities among Grad Gators with African, African American, and African Caribbean roots. Learn more about BGSO and get in touch with it through its GatorConnect webpage and Facebook account.
The UF Institute of Black Culture at 1510 West University Avenue (pictured left, click here for map and directions), founded in 1971 and rebuilt in 2019 with brand-new, multi-million-dollar facilities at the same address, has long been a “home away from home” for countless students during their sojourn at UF. Together with the Black Enrichment Center (BEC) on the second level of Reitz Union on the UF campus (map and directions), it is part of the UF Office of Black Student Engagement, which is tasked with nurturing Black scholarship, culture, history, community, and leadership at UF.
To learn more online through videos and podcasts about the Black experience at UF, and see what BHM events are coming up on campus, click here: Celebrating Black History Month at the University of Florida.
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