EVENTS: Celebrating UCF President John Hitt

During the next two weeks, the University of Central Florida will honor the achievements of its leader, President John C. Hitt, as the campus community celebrates his 20th anniversary in office.

On Wednesday, Feb. 22, Hitt will appear on WUCF TV’s Metro Center Outlook, hosted by Diane Trees, director of the Metropolitan Center for Regional Studies at UCF.

He will reflect on his accomplishments during the past 20 years, as well as his goals and influences. The program begins at 6 p.m.

The second part of the interview with President Hitt will be broadcast at 6 p.m. Feb. 29. That episode will focus on regional partnerships and the changes and challenges that UCF and other public universities have faced the past two decades.

Information about where to watch WUCF TV can be found at http://wucftv.org.

Highlights of Hitt’s two-decade tenure also can be viewed at the UCF Library, which is running an exhibit dedicated to Hitt and his wife, Martha, through Feb. 29.

“John C. Hitt: Twenty Years of Leadership” offers pictures, awards and other memorabilia that chronicle Hitt’s milestones at UCF. The display is on the first floor of the Library near the information desk.

Events will culminate with a 20th-anniversary celebration from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Thursday, March 1, in the Pegasus Ballroom of the Student Union. Doors open at 1:30 p.m., and refreshments will be served during the reception that follows the program.

Students, faculty and staff members, and campus friends will have the opportunity to create handwritten notes for the president and record short congratulatory videos.

John and Martha Hitt joined the UCF family March 1, 1992.

“It is a special privilege to serve as president of a university. Society invests in universities not just its money, but something far more precious, the potential of enterprising men and women who seek to enrich their lives through higher education,” Hitt said during his inaugural address.

Since then, UCF has become one of America’s great success stories in higher education.

Typically, UCF sets new school records each year for the quality of its students and the number of degrees awarded. Enrollment has nearly tripled–making UCF the second-largest university in the nation. UCF has emerged as a major metropolitan research university with a global reach.