See how UCF academics and leaders intersect and collaborate with the community and others in making the world a better place.
Wed Feb 17
The Gordon Family Giving Foundation (GF2), founded in 2018 by Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon and his family, has partnered with the University of Central Florida’s College of Community Innovation and Education to deliver the STEM-focused {CodeOrlando} program on the UCF Downtown campus each summer through 2025. The foundation’s generous philanthropic commitment will support the…
Thu Feb 11
During segregation, when most white doctors wouldn’t treat African Americans, residents of Orlando’s historically black neighborhood relied on care from Dr. William Monroe Wells, a black physician who become a healthcare and economic icon for the Parramore community in the early 1900’s. Dr. Wells’ impact as a healer and community leader was the subject…
Wed Feb 10
Terry Mohajir, the University of Central Florida’s new vice president and director of athletics, has excelled at hiring coaches who win championships, raising the money for first-class athletics facilities and support resources necessary to be nationally competitive, and fulfilling a promise to guarantee a job or graduate school admission for every student-athlete who graduates. Mohajir,…
Wed Feb 10
“I don’t know how to be a parent in the real world!” I exclaimed to my husband. I was exasperated, but finally realized the root of recent frustration. The pandemic wasn’t letting me be a parent in public. At the start of shutdowns and social distancing last spring, my son was 19 months old and…
Wed Feb 10
Once again in 2021, a time of new beginnings is upon us as the Lunar New Year looms Feb. 12, kicking off the Year of the Ox. A solar year — the time it takes Earth to orbit the sun — lasts around 365 days, while a lunar year, or 12 full cycles of the…
Tue Feb 9
With schools offering virtual learning and limiting visitors in classrooms due to the pandemic, the UCF Listening Center had to reinvent how to deliver listening and spoken language services to preschoolers in a deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) class at Lake Como Elementary located in the Orange County School District. In normal times, a clinical educator and graduate students would visit the class once a week to provide listening and spoken language services and support the special education teachers who lead these classes. The program enhances the skills of children who…
Tue Feb 9
UCF’s seventh annual Healing Art Exhibition, curated by Counseling and Psychological Services in partnership with the School of Visual Arts and Design, will be held virtually on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. via Zoom. The exhibition will feature a virtual art gallery and awards ceremony celebrating the 2D artwork created by students, alumni, faculty and…
Mon Feb 8
Four teams of seniors in the College of Engineering and Computer Science will help drive innovation by working with UCF Go Baby Go! to enhance the technology used in its adaptive ride-on toy cars. The students included representatives from all disciplines in the college; mechanical, computer and electrical engineering and computer science. Each year, seniors choose a final project; a “real-world” challenge that needs their ingenuity to solve. Under the guidance of engineering faculty and…
Fri Feb 5
Committing to anti-racism requires that we not only examine individual-level interactions that reproduce inequalities, but that we make actual changes to ensure our procedures are equitable and inclusive. In the Department of Sociology, we have pledged to become a better and more welcoming place for students and scholars from minoritized groups. To do this, we…
Fri Feb 5
Looking for a date night idea for Valentine’s Day on Feb. 14 that’s COVID-friendly? Allow UCF’s relationship experts to help you with that. UCF’s Marriage and Family Research Institute was founded in 2003 on UCF’s campus and is open to anyone over the age of 18 in the Orlando community. Run by trained professionals, the institute’s services…
Thu Feb 4
The one-day, live and interactive online course will be led by UCF’s healthcare simulation experts and will prepare healthcare professionals to become a Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator (CHSE). The CHSE Blueprint Review Course will be held on Friday, March 5, 2021. Attendees will be awarded 7 CEUs and discounts are available for UCF faculty, staff and students.…
Thu Feb 4
Nader Tabsh credits Lady Gaga with helping him accept his homosexuality as a Muslim teenager growing up in the United Arab Emirates. Her song, Born This Way, brought comfort to a young man who had often prayed to Allah to “take this thing away from me.” Tabsh, a first-year medical student, shared his story Jan. 26…
Wed Feb 3
I remember my first week in Central Florida’s Police Academy like it was yesterday, even though it feels like a lifetime ago. It was the summer of 2007 and I was in my early 20s, 160ish pounds and over 6 feet tall. The physical training for police academies are structured like the U.S. Military Academy’s…
Mon Feb 1
Adecade ago when Joey Nelson ’15 applied to UCF, he submitted a personal essay about the leadership style of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris. He once wrote poetry for a class assignment inspired by a play-by-play call from a Bucs game day radio broadcast. He spent his Sundays in college traveling to Tampa to…
Mon Feb 1
The Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office selected two UCF legal studies students to help develop an educational video for a new underage drinking diversion course, which launched in December 2020. Last semester, Marc Consalo, associate lecturer of legal studies, offered students extra credit in his Professionalism & Civility in the Law course if they pitched ideas for the video. Students…
Mon Feb 1
“Think globally. Act locally.” These are the words infectious disease expert Dr. Lilian Abbo said guided her pandemic response efforts at Miami’s Jackson Health System – the largest county health system in Florida. “The reality in Florida will be very different than the reality in Colombia, or in Africa or in Europe,” Dr. Abbo said.…
Thu Jan 28
WUCF TV, Central Florida’s PBS station, was presented the COVID-19 Content award Tuesday for its Meet the Helpers Coronavirus Interstitial Series by the National Educational Telecommunications Association. The award was presented virtually at the association’s annual Public Media Awards ceremonies. The series in the COVID-19 Content category came from the TV station’s response to the pandemic. The…
Thu Jan 28
A new two-year Master of Science program in themed experience at the University of Central Florida will prepare students to lead the innovative industry into the future. Beginning this fall, students will work closely with notable academic scholars and renowned industry professionals to learn to design and lead teams in creating world-class themed experiences, ranging from educational…
Wed Jan 20
Sarun Sumriddetchkajorn ’00, Ph.D., has built an impressive career in optics and photonics following his doctorate graduation in 2000. In an interview with CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics, Sumriddetchkajorn shares his career path and advice for current students. (Answers edited for clarity and length.) CREOL: What started your path toward optics and photonics?…
Fri Jan 15
Istarted learning about the ministry and civil rights work of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in elementary school in my hometown of Philadelphia. I recall asking my parents how he managed to do so many things, and I remember them telling me that he led them but depended on people coming together and supporting…