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UCF Dean and Vice Provost Maggy Tomova Takes New Role in Georgia
Maggy Tomova, UCF’s dean of the College of Sciences and vice provost for strategic initiatives, is joining Augusta University in Georgia as executive vice president for academic affairs and provost. Her last day at UCF is June 30. Tomova came to UCF in 2021 from the University of Iowa where she was an associate dean […]
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Celebrating College of Sciences 2025 Founders’ Day Awardees
UCF’s annual event celebrates outstanding accomplishments and contributions of employees, faculty, and students By: Emily Dougherty | March 31, 2025 Student Awards Order of Pegasus UCF’s highest student honor, which recognizes new inductees into the Order of Pegasus. Additional awards include graduate honors for exceptional master’s theses and dissertations, undergraduate awards for outstanding honors theses, […]
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UCF Arboretum Hosts Community and Alumni at Special Event, Showcasing Innovative Work and Initiatives
Through immersive interactive stations and guided tours, UCF alumni, staff, and community partners explored and learned about the UCF Arboretum’s environmental initiatives and its impact on the community. By: Ana Hidalgo | March 24, 2025 The UCF Arboretum is host to a community garden, natural lands, student initiatives on Leading by Learning™ and on March […]
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College of Sciences Connects with Central Florida Community at Spark STEM Fest
Faculty and Students come together to bring unique STEM demos to children at the Orlando Science Center By: Emily Dougherty | February 28, 2025 The College of Sciences showcased its commitment to community outreach, innovation, and STEM education at the Spark STEM Fest, hosted at the Orlando Science Center in collaboration with UCF’s Office of […]
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Celebrating a Career at UCF: College of Sciences Staff Member Reflects on 35-year career
James McCully’s career maps growth at UCF, a time of dedication and innovation. By: Emily Dougherty | January 10, 2025 Over the course of his 35-year career at the University of Central Florida, broadcast technician James McCully has seen and supported the remarkable innovation that has taken place and how those changes enhance the work […]
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Meet October 2023 College of Sciences Ace Award Winner: Morgan Lemmen
Congratulations to October’s COS Ace Award Winner! Morgan Lemmen is the Marketing Communications Specialist in the Dean’s Office. Get to know Morgan below! About Morgan Morgan became a Knight in November 2022. She is originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies from Grand Valley State University. […]
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Psychology Alumna Gives Back to UCF Transfer Students
Diana Rodriguez ‘18 currently serves as the Academic Support Coordinator at UCF Connect. As a former transfer student from Miami Dade College in 2016, Rodgriguez understands the needs of transfer students. She graduated from UCF with her Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 2018. The College of Sciences Marketing team sat down with Rodriguez to […]
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Meet September 2023 College of Sciences Ace Award Winner: Sheri Pearson
The College of Sciences recognizes our outstanding staff with the Staff Ace Award. Winners of the Ace Award exhibit initiative to support COS while working well with those around them. They are “movers and shakers” in their departments and inspire others with their leadership skills. Congratulations to our September 2023 recipient, Sheri Pearson! About Sheri Pearson […]
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Meet August 2023 College of Sciences Ace Award Winner: Jodi Reinhart
The College of Sciences recognizes our outstanding staff with the Staff Ace Award. Winners of the Ace Award exhibit initiative to support COS while working well with those around them. They are “movers and shakers” in their departments and inspire others with their leadership skills. Congratulations to our August 2023 recipient, Jodi Reinhart! About Jodi […]
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Meet July 2023 College of Sciences Ace Award Winner: Tara Gamble
The College of Sciences recognizes our outstanding staff with the Staff Ace Award. Winners of the Ace Award exhibit initiative to support COS while working well with those around them. They are “movers and shakers” in their departments and inspire others with their leadership skills. Congratulations to our July 2023 recipient, Tara Gamble! About Tara […]
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Meet June 2023 College of Sciences Ace Award Winner: Tonya Walker
The College of Sciences recognizes our outstanding staff with the Staff Ace Award. Winners of the Ace Award exhibit initiative to support COS while working well with those around them. They are “movers and shakers” in their departments and inspire others with their leadership skills. Congratulations to our June 2023 recipient, Tonya Walker! About Tonya […]
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Meet April and May 2023 UCF College of Sciences Ace Award Winners: Maria Williams and Christina Alecse
The College of Sciences recognizes outstanding staff with the Staff Ace Award. Winners of the Ace Award exhibit initiative to support COS while working well with those around them. They are “movers and shakers” in their departments and inspire others with their leadership skills. Congratulations to our April and May 2023 Ace Award recipients! Maria Williams […]
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Meet College of Sciences Ace Award Winners: Doreen Goulding and Jamie Kosnosky
The College of Sciences recognizes our outstanding staff with the Staff Ace Award. Winners of the Ace Award exhibit initiative to support COS while working well with those around them. They are “movers and shakers” in their departments and inspire others with their leadership skills. Congratulations to our February and March 2023 Ace Award recipients! […]
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COS Employees Honored For Years of Service, Performance Excellence in 2022 Knight Star Awards
Every year, UCF Human Resources organizes a ceremony for faculty and staff to gather and recognize USPS and A&P employees who make the university such a great place to work. At the Knight Star Awards, honorees include employees celebrating years of service milestones, retirees and recipients of the USPS Employee of the Year Award and […]
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New Resource Makes It Easier to Find Research Collaborators Across Colleges
The Office of the Provost and the Office of Research have partnered to provide those conducting research and creative works at UCF a new resource — the Scholar Expertise Portal. The portal allows faculty and students to see what kind of research and creative works their fellow colleagues are working on. You can search by […]
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UCF Chooses Sociology Admin for Employee of the Month
A woman described as the “glue that holds the Sociology Department together” recently earned UCF’s Employee of the Month award for July. Shannon Cajigas has spent five years in Sociology as an administrative assistant, primarily splitting her time between human resources duties and facilitating travel for staff and faculty. It’s the former that she likes […]
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COS Dean Named Interim Provost
By INTERIM PRESIDENT THAD SEYMOUR JR. I am extremely grateful for Jana Jasinski stepping in as acting provost during the past week and a half, while also continuing as vice provost for Faculty Excellence. I appreciate her leadership and the stability she provided the Academic Affairs team. Jana was named acting provost after I asked Provost Elizabeth […]
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UCF alumna leads Arboretum’s environmental initiatives, controlled burns
BY SHEA DAWSON As Jennifer Elliott sat in the UCF Arboretum office, a small trailer behind the Harris Corporation Engineering Center, an Arboretum staff member entered with bad news: the Cuban tree frogs were back. Cuban tree frogs are an invasive species in Florida that often eat native tree frogs and lizards. Elliott sighed. Though she […]
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Pluto a Planet? New Research from UCF Suggests Yes
By Robert H. Wells The reason Pluto lost its planet status is not valid, according to new research from the University of Central Florida. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union, a global group of astronomy experts, established a definition of a planet that required it to “clear” its orbit, or in other words, be the […]
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Paving the Path for a Future Diplomat
By Meredith Harris Ever since taking a UCF honors diplomacy course at The Burnett Honors College, Amanda Fleming ’15 dreamed of working as a diplomat. Armed with a 4.0 GPA and international work experience, the political science major (and psychology minor) took steps to make herself competitive for a position in the U.S. Foreign Service, […]
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Physics Staff Recognized For Outstanding Service
On February 14, 2018, two UCF Department of Physics staff were honored for their outstanding work serving fellow staff, faculty and students. This year’s winners of the Dean’s Recognition Award are Esperanza Soto-Arcino (farthest to the right), graduate program assistant, and Jessica Brooks (third from left), senior accountant. Soto-Arcino began her role with the department […]
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Kids ‘Drone’ Up Interest in Citizen Science GIS
by Rachel Williams More than 350 4th-12th grade students, their teachers and parents Wednesday saw firsthand at UCF how apps, maps and drones are used in geographic information systems, an interdisciplinary field that captures, analyzes and presents geographic data in meaningful ways. Students flew mini drones over a model town to simulate how GIS professionals fly […]
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Anthropologist Wins Prestigious Book Award
Associate professor of anthropology, Joanna Mishtal, Ph.D., has won an award for her book, The Politics of Morality: The Church, the State and Reproductive Rights in Postsocialist Poland. Mishtal’s book was selected as the winner of the Adele E. Clarke Book Award. The award honors Mishtal’s extensive research into the politics of gender, reproductive rights, […]
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Knight Life: The UCF Turtle Team
It’s 9:30 p.m., the sun is down, and your shift is about to start. You put on your long pants, long-sleeved shirt, bug jacket and fanny pack with your nightly turtle kit. Out on the beach in Brevard County, in the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, you’re starting your search for nesting female sea turtles. […]
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Founders’ Day Honors Top Faculty, Staff, Students
University of Central Florida’s Founders’ Day Honors Convocation recognizes faculty, staff members and students for outstanding teaching, research, professional service and years of dedication to the university. Awards included the Pegasus Professor Award presented to College of Sciences Associate Dean Jana Jasinski, Ph.D., the UCF Reach for the Stars Award presented to UCF Biology Assistant […]
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An Idea to Spark More Ideas: Marchioli’s ‘Collective Impact’
Story by Kristy McAllister, Academic Affairs In 1972 Nelson Marchioli received his diploma from UCF in communications, never anticipating he’d return to the university. In fact, he didn’t set foot on campus for another 41 years, when he was invited back to discover what his alma mater had become. The people and what he saw here […]
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Employee of the Month
Alumnus turned staff member Nick Schenk was selected as the USPS Employee of the Month for September, 2016. Schenk is a senior admissions specialist for the Department of Political Science at the University of Central Florida. He graduated with his undergraduate degree in English in 2009 and started working in the Department of Political Science […]
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College of Sciences Celebrates Scholarships
By Julia Anderson On Friday, September 23, the UCF College of Sciences held its fourth annual scholarship luncheon to honor its student recipients and the donors that make their scholarships possible. The Cape Florida ballroom in the University of Central Florida’s student union housed the 55 attendees – composed of students, donors, faculty and staff […]
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COS Staff Recognized at Annual Awards Program
The UCF College of Sciences was well represented at the 44th Annual Awards Program on Friday, September 2, 2016. The UCF Human Resources Department held the event in the Pegasus Ballroom where over 500 attendees gathered to celebrate the university’s outstanding USPS and A&P employees. View photos from the event here. Several College of Sciences […]
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Physics Professor Sheds Light on New Planet
The discovery of the new exoplanet Proxima Centauri b seems like a story out of a science fiction novel – maybe because it actually is. The plot of science fiction author Stephen Baxter’s 2015 book Proxima is about an expedition to the actual red dwarf star Proxima Centauri and the colonization of an Earth-sized planet […]