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Alumni Spotlight

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Alumni Profile — James Grippando ’80, JD’82

Author James Grippando ’80, JD’82 won the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction in 2017 for his novel Gone Again.

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Creative License

Creative work created by the faculty and alumni of the college.

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Donor Profile — John Welsh ’75

A restauranteur with a Texas-sized love for Russian gives back to Languages, Literatures, and Cultures.

Kiss-met — The Levins

One big, happy Gator family.

Head shot of Chip Kunde

Alumni Profile — Chip Kunde ’87

A Compelling Advocate Even during his childhood, Chip Kunde ’87 had a love of politics, government, and history. “But little kids don’t think about becoming lobbyists when they grow up,” he says. “Actually, I wanted to be an architect, then I realized it required math.” Chip Kunde urges students to be involved outside of the […]

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Mock Trial Mavens

UF’s LitiGators win major national tournaments. UF’s Mock Trial team, the LitiGators, celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2017 in grand style — by having its winningest year in the team’s history, placing in several regional meets. In only its second trip to nationals, the LitiGators placed 8th out of the 48 top teams at the […]

portrait of Nick Nyiragongo sitting on a bench in front of a pit of fire

Renaissance Man

This geographer does it all. Nick Dowhaniuk PhD’21 has a shaded illustration of the Virunga Mountains, a chain of volcanoes in East Africa, tattooed on his forearm. “Ever since I went to Africa, I fell in love with it,” he says. He once lived at the base of the mountains and got the tattoo to […]

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Playtime with Moonshine

Moonshine the dolphin is a special cetacean. Although a chronic liver problem has confined him to human care for the rest of his life, an interdisciplinary team that includes UF professor of psychology Nicole Dorey and alumna Barbara Perez ’14 has developed an enrichment program that includes several custom-made toys. The study, published on Oct. […]

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The Legend in the Loam

Two UF alumni archaeologists unearth the home and legend of a freed African Muslim slave who became a financier in Georgetown at the turn of the 19th century.

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Civic Champion

Learn more about former Florida Governor and Senator Bob Graham and the UF center that carries on his legacy.

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A Most Excellent Evening

On April 21, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences launched an awards program to recognize the achievements and dedication of alumni, faculty, students, and staff in Emerson Alumni Hall.

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Entrepreneurs and Innovators — Mike Neal

CEO and co-founder of DecisionNext, a San Francisco–based company that builds prescriptive analytics solutions for commodities-driven industries, discusses building a business.

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Alumni Profile — Beka Steorts

A statistician takes stock of the Syrian civil war.

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Kiss-met — The Paynes

How the Paynes met.

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Gator Good — Buffy Cushman-Patz

Alumna establishes a public charter school for sustainability in Hawaii.

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In the Moment

Gators join together for mindfulness. On April 4, 2017, two remarkable UF alumni spoke to a packed room about how the practice of mindfulness can promote personal wellness and stoke one’s career. They spoke from experience: Michael “Mickey” Singer BA ’69, MBA’70 is a multi-industry entrepreneur who transformed his career setbacks into success, with two […]

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Makin’ Waves

Marine biologist and UF Biology alumnus Mike Gil PhD’15 has been named a TED Fellow and is one of 21 international experts who will attend and speak at this year’s TEDGlobal, TED’s annual conference, which will take place in Arusha, Tanzania in August. “I'm truly honored by the distinction,” says Gil.

hands holding small turtle with two crabs tucked into its shell by its hind flippers

Crab Love in the Garbage Patch

Joseph Pfaller and Michael Gil have led several projects that culminated in an intriguing finding: crabs exhibit different mating behavior when living tucked below the carapace of a loggerhead turtle than in a nest of plastic.

Leigh Hall with sun breaking over it

We Have Great Chemistry

UF chemistry graduates go on to start businesses, invent molecules, become doctors, change people’s lives. Meet 10 of them now.

Fred Thurston ’76, DDS’79

Meet Fred Thurston '76, DDS'79.