Preeminence through people

If you were away from campus for any length of time this summer, you may have returned to a different landscape than the one you left. There are a lot of changes on campus and in our community, and as Chimay Anumba, UF’s newly appointed dean of the College of Design, Planning and Construction, illustrates for us in this month’s Campus Spotlight, the quality of our built environment is a critical factor in the creation of a sustainable community and one that reflects our culture.

The changes to campus and the city of Gainesville being discussed in the creation of our Strategic Development Plan are symbolic of the change we are all experiencing in the culture of the university as well as our growing sense of urgency to take our place among the top public institutions of higher education in the country.

HR is changing too.

Over the summer, as I stepped into my new role as vice president for Human Resource Services, I undertook a series of meetings with administrators throughout UF to learn more about each unit’s unique needs as well as to uncover the common themes that underpin our drive toward fully occupying our role as a preeminent university. Of course, of interest to me as an HR administrator were the people who do the business of the university—and their ability to do their very best work.

One of the ways we can facilitate good work is by encouraging a more inclusive climate for everyone who works here. Throughout the summer and continuing into the fall, along with members of the President’s Council on Diversity, we are hosting faculty and staff forums and providing opportunities for employees to engage with us online to share their ideas of how we can work together to create a more inclusive climate. We hope you will find some way to get involved to help shape a better UF.

This new incarnation of the former InfoGator — UF at Work — aims to reflect our faculty and staff’s efforts and to support us all in our common mission of fulfilling the vision of preeminence through people. We want to hear from you. If you have stories to share about the good work going on in your college or unit, please email hrscommunications@ufl.edu or complete our online Campus Spotlight submission form.

In the years to come, I look forward to our organization working in partnership with the university community on these and other shared efforts to elevate UF’s stature to be recognized for the truly outstanding university it is and for the people who make it so. It’s about preeminence through people and it’s …

For the Gator Good,

Jodi D. Gentry
Vice President for Human Resource Services