Across the University of Florida, our 16 colleges, numerous institutes, and health care facilities embrace our shared mission of outreach and service to improve and enrich our community, nation, and the world. UF in the Community spotlights the impact of UF in our region.

Although UF has students and employees throughout the state, North Central Florida is home to much of our faculty and staff and to our 50,000+ students. Like all area residents, we want a vibrant, safe, healthy, and equitable place in which to live and thrive. Here are some of the ways in which we are enhancing our shared community.​

The University of Florida this spring will hold in-person commencement ceremonies for the first time in more than a year, marking the return of a cherished UF tradition. . .

Spring 2021 commencement attendees will be required to adhere to health and safety protocols provided by UF Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including physical distancing and wearing of masks. The health and safety protocols will be similar to the approach for UF athletic events currently held in the O’Connell Center.

For more than 10 years, Maria Coady, professor of English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and Bilingual Education, has been serving rural communities and working closely with the Levy County School Board as part of Project STELLAR, a grant-funded initiative that supports English language learners (ELLs) and their families in rural settings across the country.

In spring, school districts began mobilizing to transform the landscape of learning and continue instruction virtually, via emergency remote teaching. But for rural communities, such as Levy County, Florida, where 92 percent of the county lives in rural settings, the transition to virtual was not so seamless.

New UF Warrington College of Business Dean Saby Mitra talks with Andy Lord about analytics and AI, how COVID-19 will affect higher education, road biking in Gainesville and more.

UF IFAS is part of a new USDA multi-region, the multi-institution research team that aims to assess the impact of the pandemic on food and agricultural systems and to develop strategies for coping with future crises.

One of the earliest efforts will capture impacts to food supply chain businesses via surveys. The group is seeking food supply chain respondents, from producers to retail distributors, and everything in between. See below for more information and a survey link (Deadline has been extended):

UF HealthStreet was invited to partner with the Florida Department of Children and Families to fight the opioid epidemic by distributing an expensive life-saving drug, free of charge, to our community members. Opioid addiction has been a leading cause of death in our country, with Florida reporting a high number of deaths: 3,340 deaths and 9,272 non-fatal opioid overdoses in 2019. The administration of  NARCAN®Nasal Spray (also known as naloxone) to an individual who has overdosed can save a life. HealthStreet Community Health Workers are trained on the proper use of NARCAN®Nasal Spray and are distributing NARCAN® at motels, hotels, gas stations, grocery stores, and malls.

Thousands of University of Florida alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends came together virtually this week to contribute $25.4 million to the university in a single day. The 22,198 donations made during UF’s third annual “Stand Up and Holler: Gator Nation Giving Day” are the most ever to UF in a 24-hour period. The Thursday, Feb. 18, event marked the third time in as many years that Gators united for record-breaking, single-day support of programs and projects across campus.