CFGS 2026: Conference of Florida Graduate Schools — built around the theme Future Focused Leadership — has an exciting agenda of interactive, thought-provoking, and network-building events lined up to help you...
- Identify strategies to enhance student success and engagement within academic and co-curricular settings.
- Explore innovative practices in research, teaching, and service that promote excellence.
- Strengthen professional networks across Florida institutions and roles to foster collaboration and shared learning.
- Reflect on personal and institutional goals to align with broader trends in higher education.
- Apply new tools and frameworks to support staff development, student empowerment, and scholarly innovation.
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
4:15 to 7 p.m. · Walking Tour and Opening Reception
Reception sponsored by Graduate Career Success
Meet at the University of Florida Arch campus gateway on the corner of SW 13th Street and W University Avenue. We’ll make stops at Grinter Hall (where you’ll pick up registration materials) and Malachowsky Hall. Graduate student attendees will proceed to the Reitz Union Game Room for the CFGS Graduate Student Reception after the tour.
Thursday, April 23, 2026
7:30 to 8:30 a.m. · Registration · Emerson Hall
8:30 to 10 a.m. · Welcome and Breakfast · Emerson Hall
Breakfast sponsored by Academic Analytics
10:15 to 11 a.m. · Morning Sessions · Emerson Hall
- Administrator Track: Burnout Isn’t Inevitable, How Leaders Shape the Experience of Work
Speaker/Facilitator: Becky Younglove (UF Leadership Development Specialist)
Location: Classroom
In graduate education, leaders are navigating constant change, constraints, and increasing complexity. While these pressures are real, burnout is shaped not only by workload, but by how leaders influence the experience of work. This session invites leaders to reframe burnout as a leadership challenge rooted in meaning, expectations, and connection, and to consider how everyday leadership choices can reduce strain and support more sustainable, humane work.
- Staff Track: Cultivating a Caring Environment: Faculty and Staff Outreach and Support by Grad CARE and the Counseling and Wellness Center
Speaker/Facilitator: Chris Walker (UF Graduate School) and Dr. Shinlay Rivera (UF Counseling and Wellness Center)
Location: President’s Ballroom
The University of Florida identified a critical gap in how faculty and staff understand and respond to students in distress, as shared from the Graduate School and the CARE team. In response, the Dean of Students Office, the Graduate School, and the Counseling and Wellness Center collaboratively developed a multi-layered training designed to strengthen campus-wide support. The training equips staff with information about essential resources, a structured decision-making model for assessing student safety, and experiential practice through “real-life” scenarios. In addition to building individual confidence and competence, the training supports administrators in identifying broader needs, including mentorship structures, student engagement strategies, departmental protocols, and identification of additional training needs. This initiative highlights a coordinated effort that fosters a more informed, prepared, and supportive university community.
- Student Track: Innovate, Translate, Launch: A Panel Discussion Focused on Turning Graduate Research into Opportunity
Speaker/Facilitator: Dr. Jim Gillespie (UF Graduate School)
Location: Warrington Classroom
Designed specifically for graduate researchers, this session highlights how today’s graduate students can position their work at the forefront of advancement, whether through interdisciplinary collaboration, entrepreneurial thinking, or leveraging campus innovation resources. UF experts will share diverse perspectives on navigating the innovation pipeline, from conceptualization to application, and the unexpected ways research can spark breakthroughs across industries and communities. Attendees will leave with expanded awareness of how their research can contribute to future focused solutions; and with new connections to peers who share a commitment to innovation, discovery, and advancement.
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. · Lunch and Keynote Address · Emerson Hall
The Quiet Advantage: How Humility Strengthens Leaders
and Why It Matters More Than Ever for the Future
Dr. Matthew Sowcik
Leadership educator, consultant, and author of
The H-Factor: The Intersection Between Humility and Great Leadership
Click here to learn more about keynote speaker Dr. Matthew Sowcik.
1:15 to 2 p.m. · Early Afternoon Sessions · Emerson Hall
- Administrator Track: Strategic Planning
Speaker/Facilitator: Dr. Nicole Stedman (Associate Provost and Dean, UF Graduate School)
Location: Warrington Classroom
In today’s higher education landscape, knowing where you are headed as an organization is increasingly important, but also complex. Having a solid foundation for the staff that serve graduate education at your institution is key to not only their success, but students, staff, and faculty. In this session, participants will learn about new strategies and perspectives that guide the strategic planning process. Five-to-ten-year plans no longer have the same effectiveness, nor efficiency; road maps and other tools can often be too vague. Advances in AI and more short to medium-term plans can help guide your organization during times of transition and renewal.
- Staff Track: Empowering Students: Meeting Students Where They Are
Speaker/Facilitator: Dr. Christine Krebs (UF Graduate SchooL)
Location: Classroom
Graduate student engagement is often approached through increased programming and outreach, yet many students remain disconnected. How can we empower graduate students to meaningfully engage with the opportunities designed to support their success? This session highlights a scalable, student-centered outreach presentation designed to connect current graduate students with the programs and resources that support their success. Through a journey-mapping activity, students are prompted to reflect on their own experience while being introduced to graduate school services aligned with each stage of their experience. We will share the session structure and lessons learned, offering participants a transferable framework for meeting students where they are and strengthening outreach across institutional contexts.
- Student Track: Honing Your Humility
Speaker/Facilitator: Dr. Matt Sowcik (Associate Professor, UF Department of Agricultural Education and Communication)
Location: President’s Ballroom
This interactive session incorporates brief reflective activities and small group conversations to help students recognize humility as a driver of strong, authentic leadership. Participants will explore how humble communication builds trust and fosters effective teamwork, as well as identify personal leadership strengths and opportunities for growth. They will walk away with practical strategies for leading confidently, without overshadowing others or shrinking themselves. Graduate students will leave equipped with approachable tools to cultivate humility while maintaining visibility, agency, and impact as emerging scholars.
2:15 to 3 p.m. · Graduate Student Poster Session A and Break · Emerson Hall
Location: Board Rooms 207 and 208
3:15 to 4 p.m. · Late Afternoon Sessions · Emerson Hall
- Administrator Track: Leading Graduate Programs in Florida: A Roundtable Discussion
Speaker/Facilitator: Dr. Tom Kelleher (Associate Dean, UF Graduate School)
Location: President’s Ballroom
As Florida’s graduate schools navigate expanding student needs, evolving workforce expectations, shifting policies, and increasing demands for innovation and accountability, leaders face both shared challenges and emerging opportunities. This roundtable offers a dedicated space for deans, associate deans, and graduate education administrators to exchange insights on recruitment and enrollment trends, student success and wellbeing, program quality and assessment, funding strategies, and the complexities of leading diverse graduate programs, while also exploring opportunities to advance innovation and strengthen statewide alignment. All deans and associate deans are welcome to participate and discuss our issues and opportunities.
- Staff Track: Lightning Rounds: Best of Florida Graduate Education · Click here to sign up
Speaker/Facilitator: Kimone Simmons (UF Graduate School)
Location: Warrington Classroom
Join us for a dynamic, lightning-style session highlighting best practices for launching, enhancing, and sustaining impactful programs across institutions. Through a series of brief, focused presentations, participating schools will showcase how they put their best foot forward—sharing practical strategies, innovative approaches, and lessons learned from implementation. Each spotlight is designed to deliver high-impact insights in a short amount of time, followed by a guided discussion that invites reflection, cross-institutional dialogue, and idea-sharing. Attendees will leave with concrete strategies, adaptable examples, and renewed inspiration to strengthen existing initiatives or introduce new programs within their own campus contexts. This fast-paced, collaborative session is ideal for practitioners seeking actionable takeaways and proven practices they can apply immediately.
- Student Track: Leading Through Mentorship: Up, Across, and Beyond
Speaker/Facilitator: Dr. Jonathan Orsini (Director of Operations, UF Strategic Initiatives)
Location: Classroom
By learning how to “mentor up” to advisors and supervisors, build supportive peer networks, and prepare to mentor others in their next professional stage, students will develop a practical and adaptable toolkit for leading through strong relationships, clear communication, and intentional support. This session positions mentorship as a powerful leadership practice and one that accelerates academic progress, strengthens research communities, and cultivates inclusive and innovative learning environments. Through guided reflection and interactive discussion, participants will gain actionable strategies they can use immediately to advocate for themselves, navigate mentoring dynamics confidently, and support colleagues with purpose. Students will leave feeling empowered to build meaningful connections, contribute to thriving academic communities, and grow into future-ready leaders who support others while advancing their own success.
4 to 6 p.m. · Leisure Time: Relax and Unwind
6 to 8 p.m. · CFGS Dinner on Campus
Dinner sponsored by Liaison
Friday, April 24, 2026
9 to 10 a.m. · Breakfast and 3MT Judge Check-In · Emerson Hall
Breakfast sponsored by ETS
10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. · Graduate Student 3MT Competition · Emerson Hall
10:45 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. · Graduate Student Poster Session B and Break · Emerson Hall
11:30 a.m. to 12 noon · Awards Presentation and Conference Closing · Emerson Hall
Graduate School