Last month, UF President Kent Fuchs announced the formation of a task force to guide a campus-wide goal-setting effort designed to develop the university’s shared priorities for the next five to ten years. The task force—composed of faculty, students and administrators from throughout the university—will “gather information through meetings and forums, help to develop a set of documented goals and metrics, and contribute to a final report to the campus community and the UF Board of Trustees.”

Pruitt Family Professor and Department Chair, Dr. Christine Schmidt, has been named to the task force along with 15 others noted below.

In a letter to employees in April, Dr. Fuchs announced the task force would begin gathering information from the campus community through a series of town hall meetings, stakeholder interviews and forums as early as May. An initial draft of the goals and associated metrics is expected to be available for review and comment by July. In August and September, the task force will revise the draft as needed and a second draft of the plan will be made available for review. Upon final review by President Fuchs and Provost Joe Glover and upon endorsement by campus stakeholders, the plan will be presented to the UF Board of Trustees before being shared with the campus community as a whole.

In addition to Winfred Phillips, executive chief of staff, who will serve as chair, members of the task force are:

• Carole Beal, Professor, College of Education
• Paul Davenport, Professor, Faculty Senate Chair/College of Veterinary Medicine
• Robert Gilbert, Professor and Chair, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
• Julie Johnson, Dean, College of Pharmacy
• Harry Klee, Professor, IFAS
• Lucinda Lavelli, Dean, College of the Arts
• Michele Manuel, Associate Professor, College of Engineering
• Gary McGill, Associate Dean, Warrington College of Business
• David Nelson, Associate Dean, College of Medicine
• Paul Ortiz, Associate Professor, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Joselin Padron-Rasines, Graduate Student/Student Body President Elect
• Scott Powers, Professor, College of Health and Human Performance
• David Richardson, Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Christine Schmidt, Professor and Chair, College of Engineering
• Pamela Soltis, Professor and Curator, Florida Museum of Natural History
• Cory Yeffet, Graduate Student/Student Body President