Past Presidents
ALBERT MURPHREE
1909-1927
Enrollment grew from 106 in 1909 to 2,200 by 1927 under the leadership of the University of Florida’s second president, Albert A. Murphree. Murphree was born on April 29, 1870 in Walnut Grove, Alabama, where he spent his childhood years until he enrolled in the University of Nashville, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1894.
Murphree’s professional career before coming to Florida was limited to teaching mathematics, a favorite subject of his, at high schools and small colleges across the South.
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ANDREW SLEDD
1904-1909Andrew Sledd, who actually drove one of the buggies hauling school supplies to UF’s new campus in Gainesville, was the first and youngest president of the University of Florida. Born on November 7, 1870 in Lynchburg, Virginia, Sledd earned his B.A. from Randolph-Macon College in 1894 and his M.A., in Greek, from Harvard in 1896. From 1896 to 1902, Sledd taught Latin at Emory College. Enraged by a lynching that he witnessed, Sledd wrote a critique for The Atlantic Monthly of race relations in the South. Although the article supported the continuation of the “separate but equal” doctrine, Sledd’s condemnation of brutality was immediately assailed by white southerners. Amid a hailstorm of controversy, Sledd resigned his position. He then enrolled in Yale’s graduate school and received a Ph.D. in Latin in 1903.
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J. WAYNE REITZ
1955-1967
Julius Wayne Reitz was born on New Years Eve 1908 in Olathe, Kansas. The Reitz family later moved to Canon City, Colorado, where he graduated from high school in 1926. In 1930, after being editor of the university’s yearbook, freshmen class president, student body president, and winner of the Rocky Mountain Oratory Award, Reitz received his bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University. He then took up work as an extension economist, first at Colorado State, and then with the University of Illinois, where in 1935 he attained his master’s. That year, after accepting an assistant professorship in agricultural economics at the University of Florida, Reitz married Frances Huston Millikan. After advancing to the rank of full professor, Reitz returned to his formal studies at the University of Wisconsin where he earned his doctorate in 1941.
Reitz left academic life in 1944 for a short stint as economic consultant for the United Growers and Shippers Association. Four years later, he became Chief of the Citrus Fruits Section in the USDA. In 1949, Reitz returned to the University of Florida after being appointed Provost for Agriculture by President J. Hillis Miller. During his tenure as Provost he was appointed to the administrative boards of the Escuela Agrícola Panamericana in Tegucigalpa and the Instituto Interamericano de Ciencias Agrícolas de la OEA in Turrialba, Costa Rica.
Miller’s sudden death in November 1953 started a lengthy search for a successor. Philip G. Davidson, President of the University of Louisville, was named the new executive. Davidson, however, withdrew his name when Acting Governor Charley Johns refused to sign his payroll warrant. A new search was initiated and, on March 22, 1955, Reitz became the first UF faculty member to be named president and the University’s fifth president overall.
During Reitz’s term, more than 300 campus buildings were erected at an approximate cost of $50 million. The buildings created and expanded during his term included a new health center, a nuclear training reactor, an educational television station, and a married-student housing facility. Along with the new buildings, Reitz tightened admission standards and placed greater emphasis on academic achievement in matters ranging from the awarding of financial aid to the development of advanced placement procedures. Reitz expanded the graduate school through new programs and centers (especially the Latin American Language and Area Center) and created the Division of Sponsored Research to increase funding opportunities for research. His wife, a gracious hostess to countless dignitaries and students, also took an active role in advancing the university’s music program. All of this expansion came alongside a doubling of the student population, from 9,000 to 18,000.
The Reitz years were not without controversy. Strict behavior guidelines, dress codes, and a Faculty Disciplinary Committee to enforce these rules all received Reitz’s strong endorsement. In the early 1960s, the Florida Legislative Investigating Committee accused twenty-two university employees and a number of students of homosexual conduct. All were summarily discharged or expelled. The denial of tenure to Marshall Jones, a psychiatrist active in radical causes, led to censure by the American Association of University Professors. Relatively speaking, though, the campus did not witness significant turmoil. The first state university to integrate, racial integration was achieved at Florida with less turmoil than most Southern colleges. The first African-American student was enrolled in the College of Law in September 1958. Reitz’s close relationship to the student body was instrumental in curbing attempts to resist the court order to integrate.
Reitz, however, had more trouble with state governors. He opposed LeRoy Collins’ 1957 attempt to create a chancellor system, and he had to fight off attempts by other governors to assume control of the university’s day-to-day operations. A 1965 showdown with Haydon Burns over budgetary matters almost ended in Reitz’s resignation. After a year of relative calm, Reitz announced his resignation in January, 1967 citing “presidential fatigue” as the reason. He stayed on until Stephen O’Connell was sworn in as the university’s next president.
After his presidency, Reitz served as director of graduate programs in the U.S. Office of Education, before returning to his international activities. In addition to his Latin American work, Reitz had been named to the Rockefeller Foundation’s Board of Agricultural Consultants and, in 1964, he accepted an appointment to the Public Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations. These responsibilities carried him to several nations as a teacher and advisor. His most extensive overseas assignment was to Mahidol University in Bangkok where he served as a consultant to the University Rector.
After his retirement, Reitz became an important fundraiser for local charities as well as the University of Florida. He continued to work for the University of Florida Foundation’s development office until his death on Christmas Eve 1993.
J. HILLIS MILLER
1948-1953
J. Hillis Miller, fourth president of the University of Florida, was born August 29, 1899 in Front Royal, Virginia. After attending Randolph-Macon Academy, Miller received his A.B from the University of Richmond in 1924. He completed his graduate work in psychology at the University of Virginia (A.M.) in 1928 and at Columbia University (Ph.D.) in 1933, where he specialized in counseling and personnel administration.
In between degrees, Miller served as an instructor in Psychology at William and Mary from 1925 to 1928. He joined Bucknell University as Dean of Freshmen and Assistant Professor of Psychology in 1930, before being promoted to Dean of Students in 1933. After serving six years as President of Keuka College, Miller was appointed Associate Commissioner of Education for the State of New York in 1941.
Miller was selected President of the University of Florida in 1947 in time to witness the tripling of UF’s enrollment due in part to the new GI Bill. On top of the postwar enrollment boom, the University student body was also augmented by an additional 601 women, who attended UF in its first year as a coeducational institution.
To compensate for the growth, Miller’s primary efforts were in the area of building construction and staff development. A $15,000,000 building program was undertaken to expand existing campus facilities, develop a medical college and expand academic programs to include, among other things, ten new doctoral degree programs. Also during his administration, Century Tower was raised, as part of UF’s Centennial Celebration, to honor the hundreds of UF students and alumni killed in the World Wars.
Miller died unexpectedly on November 14, 1953 at age 54. After his death, Vice President John Allen served as acting president until the appointment of J. Wayne Reitz. In 1959, the J. Hillis Miller Health Center was dedicated in memory of his work to establish Florida’s first medical school.
HAROLD HUME
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1947-1948
Known as one of the South’s outstanding leaders in horticulture, Dr. H. Harold Hume spent more than 20 years serving the University of Florida and its College of Agriculture.
Born in Canada, Hume attended Ontario Agricultural College before receiving his bachelors and Master of Science degrees from Iowa State College.
Hume began his career at UF in 1904 as a botanist at the old Florida Agricultural College at Lake City. Joining the UF staff in 1930, he became dean of the College of Agriculture in 1938, and in 1943, became provost for agriculture.
Appointed interim president in 1947, Hume was known for spending at least 10 hours each day in the president’s office, always finding time to tend to the affairs of the College of Agriculture, in addition to his many duties as president. Hume always spent his lunch hour in his office speaking with department heads, students, or anyone who wished to see him.
In addition to his work at UF, Hume was named chairman of the administrative committee of the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences and was later recognized with an honorary doctor of science degree from Clemson University.
Hume remained provost for the School of Agriculture until he retired on June 30, 1949, after which he continued his work in the field as author of several articles and books.
Affectionately known as the “Grand Old Man of Agriculture,” Hume died four months after his 90th birthday on Oct. 10, 1965.
JOHN J. TIGERT
1928-1947
John James Tigert was born February 11, 1882, the third child of John James Tigert III and Amelia McTyeire Tigert. Excelling in both academics and athletics, Tigert received his secondary education in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, followed by his BA from Vanderbilt in 1904. That same year, he received a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford, as the first person ever selected from Tennessee.
In 1906, upon his return from Oxford, Tigert taught philosophy at Central Methodist College in Saint Louis, Missouri. There he met and married Edith J. Bristol. After serving for four years as president of Kentucky Wesleyan College, Tigert moved to the University of Kentucky in 1913, where he accepted the Chair of Philosophy. He was appointed Chair of the Psychology Department in 1919 and served briefly as head of the Athletic Department and coach of the football team. His ten-year stint at Kentucky was interrupted by an absence during World War I, when he served as a YMCA volunteer in the American Expeditionary Force. In 1921, Warren G. Harding selected Tigert for the post of Commissioner of Education, which he served as during both the Harding and Coolidge administrations.
In 1928, Tigert accepted the presidency of the University of Florida and arrived on campus in September of that year. His administration began in the midst of an economic crisis that had brought a serious decline in state revenues. The state’s economic woes continued throughout the Great Depression. Consequently, money for expansion of the physical plant and curriculum was largely unavailable during his twenty-year tenure. Although he did oversee the creation of a School of Forestry, his major accomplishments occurred in the areas of curricular reform, administrative organization, and research support.
Under his guidance, the undergraduate program was reorganized. Entrance requirements were strengthened and all applicants were required to pass a comprehensive placement exam before they could be accepted. To curb excessive failure rates in the lower classes, the General College was created in 1935 and standardized testing for freshmen and sophomores was instituted. The creation of the General College allowed the other colleges to expand the number of upper-level courses.
The first non-agricultural research centers were created in 1930 with the foundation of the Institute of Inter-American Affairs (now Center for Latin American Studies) and the Bureau of Economic and Business Research. The Research Council, the forerunner of today’s research development offices, was organized in 1939 to develop policies on patents and copyrights as well as to stimulate research.
Student enrollment was over 2000 by the time Tigert arrived in 1928. To meet the needs of these students, Tigert created a Dean of Students and appointed B. A. Tolbert to the position. Tigert also organized an executive body, the University Council, to serve as the president’s cabinet and budget committee. The Council was composed of all deans, the president, the registrar, and the University’s secretary. A University Senate, which included the Council, faculty representatives, and key administrators, was created in the University’s first constitution.
All though his main focus was academics, Tigert never lost his love for athletics. As a member of the National Rules Committee for college sports, he helped rewrite the rules for college football. was responsible for establishing football scholarships for collegiate players, and helped create the Southeastern Conference. Today, Tigert is enshrined in the college football Hall of Fame.
Tigert oversaw the first years of postwar expansion and then announced his retirement in 1947. He later accepted a teaching position in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Miami. Before he started, though, he was asked to join the Indian Higher Education Commission to survey conditions in India’s universities and to plan a program for the country’s education system. He returned to Miami in 1950 and served on the faculty until 1959. In 1960, the University of Florida’s new administration building was named in his honor. He died January 21, 1965 at the age of 82.
JAMES FARR
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1927-1928
After President Murphree died in office in 1927, James Farr served as UF’s interim president.
Farr was appointed the head of English instruction at the Florida Agricultural College at Lake City in 1901 and later served as head of the Department of English at the University of Florida. He became the university’s first vice president in 1905.
Farr resigned from the faculty in 1934 and was placed on special status. As part of his duties, he was requested to write several pieces, including a history of the Florida Agricultural College and the University of Florida from 1901-1918.
ALBERT MURPHREE
1909-1927
Enrollment grew from 106 in 1909 to 2,200 by 1927 under the leadership of the University of Florida’s second president, Albert A. Murphree. Murphree was born on April 29, 1870 in Walnut Grove, Alabama, where he spent his childhood years until he enrolled in the University of Nashville, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1894.
Murphree’s professional career before coming to Florida was limited to teaching mathematics, a favorite subject of his, at high schools and small colleges across the South. In 1895, he received an appointment as instructor of mathematics at the West Florida Seminary in Tallahassee. Two years later, after assuming the presidency of the institution, Murphree married the daughter of a seminary trustee, Jennie Henderson. Murphree, after realizing the need for college-level education in western Florida, then proceeded to expand and upgrade the seminary’s curriculum until it became Florida State College in 1901. Murphree gave his duties as president a personal touch by participating as coach in such activities as drama, football, and basketball.
When the Florida legislature created a new state university in Gainesville in 1905, Murphree was the legislature’s favorite for the post of president. The Board of Control and Governor Broward, however, preferred Andrew Sledd, president of the University of Florida at Lake City, who received the appointment as the University of Florida’s first president. Murphree stayed in Tallahassee and served as the first president of the Florida State College for Women. When political pressure forced Sledd’s resignation in 1909, Murphree was chosen to be his successor.
Upon his arrival in Gainesville, Murphree immediately reorganized the University into four academic colleges: the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Law, the College of Agriculture, and the College of Engineering. The Graduate School was also created in that year. A Teachers’ College and Normal School were established in 1912, a School of Pharmacy in 1924, a School of Architecture in 1925, and the College of Commerce and Journalism in 1927. During his term some forty-six buildings were erected, including ten major structures. One of these was a library building, the first unit of which was completed in 1925.
Murphree encouraged faculty participation in the running of the University by forming a number of standing committees to oversee curriculum, student affairs, and public relations. Despite the increasing number of students, historical accounts say he took the time to listen to students and their problems, and that he knew each by name. In addition, he stressed the importance of faculty involvement in professional and civic organizations and set an example by serving on the Florida State Teacher’s Association, the National Education Association, the National Association of State Universities (vice-president, 1921), and the Florida State Educational Association (president, 1906).
Apart from the University, Murphree was well known nationally as both educator and church layman. In 1912, Murphree declined a national political role after William Jennings Bryan announced that he would nominate him to run for President of the United States. Preferring to remain more active in church than in politics, Murphree led several denominational brotherhoods as a devout Baptist.
Murphree died in his sleep on December 20, 1927. Vice President James Farr served as acting president until the arrival of John J. Tigert in September 1928.
BEN SASSE
2023 - 2024
Ben Sasse joined the University of Florida as a professor and 13th president of the 170-year-old institution in February 2023.
A husband, father, historian, Uber driver, and football addict, Ben guided Gator Nation during an era of rapid change in the nature of work, technology, and higher education.
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KENT FUCHS
2015 - 2023
Kent Fuchs led the University of Florida into the ranks of the nation’s best public universities. With his kindness and sense of humor, he was immensely popular with students and inspired good will for UF statewide and nationally.
Dr. Fuchs served as UF’s 12th president from January 2015 to February 2023. He may be best remembered for guiding UF to reach a decades-old goal of joining the nation’s top-10 public research universities as measured by U.S. News and World Report’s Best College Rankings. The university then ascended into the top 5, a feat that few believed possible when he defined that goal in his inauguration address.
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BERNIE MACHEN
2004-2014
In 11 years as president of the University of Florida, Bernie Machen grew and enhanced every aspect of the university while putting it on a path to rise among the best public universities in the nation.
Dr. Machen was UF’s 11th president, serving from January 2004 through December 2014. During that time, he expanded UF’s research operation, elevated its educational programs and increased access for students from a diversity of economic backgrounds. He bolstered the university’s commitment to innovation, grew its endowment, and led a noted university wide sustainability initiative.
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CHARLES E. YOUNG
1999-2003
On November 1, 1999 internationally recognized leader of higher education, Dr. Charles Young formally accepted the exciting opportunity to take the University of Florida into the 21st century. Chancellor emeritus of the University of California at Los Angeles, Dr. Young changed a regional college with an operating budget of $170 million into a world-class institution with expenses of $2 billion.*
Chuck Young was born and raised in the rural town of Highland, California and worked part-time in the citrus packing houses and orange groves. His senior year was divided between academics, football and the lead in the school plays.
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JOHN LOMBARDI
1990-1999
Historian, teacher, administrator, and author, Dr. John Lombardi became the ninth president of the University of Florida in March of 1990.
Born in Los Angeles in 1942, Lombardi comes from a family with a passion for education. His mother worked as a college librarian and his father, a pioneer in the California community college movement, was president of Los Angeles City College.
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ROBERT BRYAN
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1989-1990
Dr. Robert A. Bryan was appointed interim president of the University of Florida following the resignation of Marshall Criser. Bryan’s appointment followed an impressive teaching and administrative career, primarily at the University of Florida.
A native of Lebanon, Pa., Bryan earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Miami, followed by a master’s and a Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in English.
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MARSHALL CRISER
1984-1989
In 1984, a man who worked his way through school as a cafeteria cashier and construction laborer became the University of Florida’s eighth president at a time when UF was thriving, active and expanding.
Although remembered for leading UF through the “great football scandal” with the NCAA, Marshall Criser, was more concerned with scholastic achievements, having once said that UF’s “greatest progress has been the continued increase in academic excellence.” It was during his administration that Florida was inducted into the Association of American Universities.
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ROBERT Q. MARSTON
1974-1984
With the state of Florida mired in a recession and the school facing budget cuts, the University of Florida’s seventh president, Robert Q. Marston, opened a new era of private fund-raising while working to improve the university’s academic standing.
Born in Virginia on February 12, 1923, Robert Quarles Marston received his bachelor’s degree from Virginia Military Institute in 1943 and his M.D. from the Medical College of Virginia in 1947. In 1946, he married Ann Carter Garnett before accepting a Rhodes scholarship to attain his B.Sc. in 1949. After his internship and postdoctoral work, he accepted an appointment to the Medical College of Virginia. In 1958, he joined the University of Minnesota faculty in the Dept. of Bacteriology and Immunology.
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E.T. YORK
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1973-1974
A former university system chancellor, E.T. York held down the presidency from when Stephen O’Connell left office, until Robert Marston took office in 1974.
York earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Auburn University in 1942 and 1946, respectively; and his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1949. Between degrees, York spent time as an officer in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945, where he served in field artillery during World War II.
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STEPHEN C. O’CONNELL
1967-1973The $15.6 million, 12,000-seat activity center may look imposing and indestructible, but it’s not as noteworthy as the man for whom it’s named, University of Florida’s sixth president, Stephen C. O’Connell. The first Florida alumnus to lead the University, O’Connell was born in West Palm Beach on January 22, 1916, and attended public school there and at Titusville. He enrolled at Florida in 1934, served as sophomore class president in 1935-36, and as president of the student body in 1938-39. He was a member of Florida Blue Key (President, 1939), Alpha Tau Omega (President, 1938), and the Newman Club (President, 1937). As a middleweight on the boxing team (Captain, 1938) he went undefeated. He was enrolled in an interdisciplinary Business Administration and Law program and received his B.S.B.A. and LL.B. degrees in 1940.
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J. WAYNE REITZ
1955-1967Julius Wayne Reitz was born on New Years Eve 1908 in Olathe, Kansas. The Reitz family later moved to Canon City, Colorado, where he graduated from high school in 1926. In 1930, after being editor of the university’s yearbook, freshmen class president, student body president, and winner of the Rocky Mountain Oratory Award, Reitz received his bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University. He then took up work as an extension economist, first at Colorado State, and then with the University of Illinois, where in 1935 he attained his master’s. That year, after accepting an assistant professorship in agricultural economics at the University of Florida, Reitz married Frances Huston Millikan. After advancing to the rank of full professor, Reitz returned to his formal studies at the University of Wisconsin where he earned his doctorate in 1941.
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JOHN ALLEN
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1953-1955
John Allen, a UF vice president, took over as interim president after President J. Hillis Miller died in office.
Allen obtained his bachelor of arts from Earlham College in 1928, his master’s in astronomy from the University of Minnesota in 1929, and his Ph.D. from New York University in 1936.
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J. HILLIS MILLER
1948-1953J. Hillis Miller, fourth president of the University of Florida, was born August 29, 1899 in Front Royal, Virginia. After attending Randolph-Macon Academy, Miller received his A.B from the University of Richmond in 1924. He completed his graduate work in psychology at the University of Virginia (A.M.) in 1928 and at Columbia University (Ph.D.) in 1933, where he specialized in counseling and personnel administration.
In between degrees, Miller served as an instructor in Psychology at William and Mary from 1925 to 1928. He joined Bucknell University as Dean of Freshmen and Assistant Professor of Psychology in 1930, before being promoted to Dean of Students in 1933. After serving six years as President of Keuka College, Miller was appointed Associate Commissioner of Education for the State of New York in 1941.
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HAROLD HUME
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1947-1948
Known as one of the South’s outstanding leaders in horticulture, Dr. H. Harold Hume spent more than 20 years serving the University of Florida and its College of Agriculture.
Born in Canada, Hume attended Ontario Agricultural College before receiving his bachelors and Master of Science degrees from Iowa State College.
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JOHN J. TIGERT
1928-1947John James Tigert was born February 11, 1882, the third child of John James Tigert III and Amelia McTyeire Tigert. Excelling in both academics and athletics, Tigert received his secondary education in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, followed by his BA from Vanderbilt in 1904. That same year, he received a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford, as the first person ever selected from Tennessee.
In 1906, upon his return from Oxford, Tigert taught philosophy at Central Methodist College in Saint Louis, Missouri. There he met and married Edith J. Bristol. After serving for four years as president of Kentucky Wesleyan College, Tigert moved to the University of Kentucky in 1913, where he accepted the Chair of Philosophy.
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JAMES FARR
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1927-1928
After President Murphree died in office in 1927, James Farr served as UF’s interim president.
Farr was appointed the head of English instruction at the Florida Agricultural College at Lake City in 1901 and later served as head of the Department of English at the University of Florida. He became the university’s first vice president in 1905.
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ALBERT MURPHREE
1909-1927
Enrollment grew from 106 in 1909 to 2,200 by 1927 under the leadership of the University of Florida’s second president, Albert A. Murphree. Murphree was born on April 29, 1870 in Walnut Grove, Alabama, where he spent his childhood years until he enrolled in the University of Nashville, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1894.
Murphree’s professional career before coming to Florida was limited to teaching mathematics, a favorite subject of his, at high schools and small colleges across the South.
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ANDREW SLEDD
1904-1909Andrew Sledd, who actually drove one of the buggies hauling school supplies to UF’s new campus in Gainesville, was the first and youngest president of the University of Florida. Born on November 7, 1870 in Lynchburg, Virginia, Sledd earned his B.A. from Randolph-Macon College in 1894 and his M.A., in Greek, from Harvard in 1896. From 1896 to 1902, Sledd taught Latin at Emory College. Enraged by a lynching that he witnessed, Sledd wrote a critique for The Atlantic Monthly of race relations in the South. Although the article supported the continuation of the “separate but equal” doctrine, Sledd’s condemnation of brutality was immediately assailed by white southerners. Amid a hailstorm of controversy, Sledd resigned his position. He then enrolled in Yale’s graduate school and received a Ph.D. in Latin in 1903.
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J. WAYNE REITZ
1955-1967
Julius Wayne Reitz was born on New Years Eve 1908 in Olathe, Kansas. The Reitz family later moved to Canon City, Colorado, where he graduated from high school in 1926. In 1930, after being editor of the university’s yearbook, freshmen class president, student body president, and winner of the Rocky Mountain Oratory Award, Reitz received his bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University. He then took up work as an extension economist, first at Colorado State, and then with the University of Illinois, where in 1935 he attained his master’s. That year, after accepting an assistant professorship in agricultural economics at the University of Florida, Reitz married Frances Huston Millikan. After advancing to the rank of full professor, Reitz returned to his formal studies at the University of Wisconsin where he earned his doctorate in 1941.
Reitz left academic life in 1944 for a short stint as economic consultant for the United Growers and Shippers Association. Four years later, he became Chief of the Citrus Fruits Section in the USDA. In 1949, Reitz returned to the University of Florida after being appointed Provost for Agriculture by President J. Hillis Miller. During his tenure as Provost he was appointed to the administrative boards of the Escuela Agrícola Panamericana in Tegucigalpa and the Instituto Interamericano de Ciencias Agrícolas de la OEA in Turrialba, Costa Rica.
Miller’s sudden death in November 1953 started a lengthy search for a successor. Philip G. Davidson, President of the University of Louisville, was named the new executive. Davidson, however, withdrew his name when Acting Governor Charley Johns refused to sign his payroll warrant. A new search was initiated and, on March 22, 1955, Reitz became the first UF faculty member to be named president and the University’s fifth president overall.
During Reitz’s term, more than 300 campus buildings were erected at an approximate cost of $50 million. The buildings created and expanded during his term included a new health center, a nuclear training reactor, an educational television station, and a married-student housing facility. Along with the new buildings, Reitz tightened admission standards and placed greater emphasis on academic achievement in matters ranging from the awarding of financial aid to the development of advanced placement procedures. Reitz expanded the graduate school through new programs and centers (especially the Latin American Language and Area Center) and created the Division of Sponsored Research to increase funding opportunities for research. His wife, a gracious hostess to countless dignitaries and students, also took an active role in advancing the university’s music program. All of this expansion came alongside a doubling of the student population, from 9,000 to 18,000.
The Reitz years were not without controversy. Strict behavior guidelines, dress codes, and a Faculty Disciplinary Committee to enforce these rules all received Reitz’s strong endorsement. In the early 1960s, the Florida Legislative Investigating Committee accused twenty-two university employees and a number of students of homosexual conduct. All were summarily discharged or expelled. The denial of tenure to Marshall Jones, a psychiatrist active in radical causes, led to censure by the American Association of University Professors. Relatively speaking, though, the campus did not witness significant turmoil. The first state university to integrate, racial integration was achieved at Florida with less turmoil than most Southern colleges. The first African-American student was enrolled in the College of Law in September 1958. Reitz’s close relationship to the student body was instrumental in curbing attempts to resist the court order to integrate.
Reitz, however, had more trouble with state governors. He opposed LeRoy Collins’ 1957 attempt to create a chancellor system, and he had to fight off attempts by other governors to assume control of the university’s day-to-day operations. A 1965 showdown with Haydon Burns over budgetary matters almost ended in Reitz’s resignation. After a year of relative calm, Reitz announced his resignation in January, 1967 citing “presidential fatigue” as the reason. He stayed on until Stephen O’Connell was sworn in as the university’s next president.
After his presidency, Reitz served as director of graduate programs in the U.S. Office of Education, before returning to his international activities. In addition to his Latin American work, Reitz had been named to the Rockefeller Foundation’s Board of Agricultural Consultants and, in 1964, he accepted an appointment to the Public Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations. These responsibilities carried him to several nations as a teacher and advisor. His most extensive overseas assignment was to Mahidol University in Bangkok where he served as a consultant to the University Rector.
After his retirement, Reitz became an important fundraiser for local charities as well as the University of Florida. He continued to work for the University of Florida Foundation’s development office until his death on Christmas Eve 1993.
J. HILLIS MILLER
1948-1953
J. Hillis Miller, fourth president of the University of Florida, was born August 29, 1899 in Front Royal, Virginia. After attending Randolph-Macon Academy, Miller received his A.B from the University of Richmond in 1924. He completed his graduate work in psychology at the University of Virginia (A.M.) in 1928 and at Columbia University (Ph.D.) in 1933, where he specialized in counseling and personnel administration.
In between degrees, Miller served as an instructor in Psychology at William and Mary from 1925 to 1928. He joined Bucknell University as Dean of Freshmen and Assistant Professor of Psychology in 1930, before being promoted to Dean of Students in 1933. After serving six years as President of Keuka College, Miller was appointed Associate Commissioner of Education for the State of New York in 1941.
Miller was selected President of the University of Florida in 1947 in time to witness the tripling of UF’s enrollment due in part to the new GI Bill. On top of the postwar enrollment boom, the University student body was also augmented by an additional 601 women, who attended UF in its first year as a coeducational institution.
To compensate for the growth, Miller’s primary efforts were in the area of building construction and staff development. A $15,000,000 building program was undertaken to expand existing campus facilities, develop a medical college and expand academic programs to include, among other things, ten new doctoral degree programs. Also during his administration, Century Tower was raised, as part of UF’s Centennial Celebration, to honor the hundreds of UF students and alumni killed in the World Wars.
Miller died unexpectedly on November 14, 1953 at age 54. After his death, Vice President John Allen served as acting president until the appointment of J. Wayne Reitz. In 1959, the J. Hillis Miller Health Center was dedicated in memory of his work to establish Florida’s first medical school.
HAROLD HUME
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1947-1948
Known as one of the South’s outstanding leaders in horticulture, Dr. H. Harold Hume spent more than 20 years serving the University of Florida and its College of Agriculture.
Born in Canada, Hume attended Ontario Agricultural College before receiving his bachelors and Master of Science degrees from Iowa State College.
Hume began his career at UF in 1904 as a botanist at the old Florida Agricultural College at Lake City. Joining the UF staff in 1930, he became dean of the College of Agriculture in 1938, and in 1943, became provost for agriculture.
Appointed interim president in 1947, Hume was known for spending at least 10 hours each day in the president’s office, always finding time to tend to the affairs of the College of Agriculture, in addition to his many duties as president. Hume always spent his lunch hour in his office speaking with department heads, students, or anyone who wished to see him.
In addition to his work at UF, Hume was named chairman of the administrative committee of the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences and was later recognized with an honorary doctor of science degree from Clemson University.
Hume remained provost for the School of Agriculture until he retired on June 30, 1949, after which he continued his work in the field as author of several articles and books.
Affectionately known as the “Grand Old Man of Agriculture,” Hume died four months after his 90th birthday on Oct. 10, 1965.
JOHN J. TIGERT
1928-1947
John James Tigert was born February 11, 1882, the third child of John James Tigert III and Amelia McTyeire Tigert. Excelling in both academics and athletics, Tigert received his secondary education in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, followed by his BA from Vanderbilt in 1904. That same year, he received a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford, as the first person ever selected from Tennessee.
In 1906, upon his return from Oxford, Tigert taught philosophy at Central Methodist College in Saint Louis, Missouri. There he met and married Edith J. Bristol. After serving for four years as president of Kentucky Wesleyan College, Tigert moved to the University of Kentucky in 1913, where he accepted the Chair of Philosophy. He was appointed Chair of the Psychology Department in 1919 and served briefly as head of the Athletic Department and coach of the football team. His ten-year stint at Kentucky was interrupted by an absence during World War I, when he served as a YMCA volunteer in the American Expeditionary Force. In 1921, Warren G. Harding selected Tigert for the post of Commissioner of Education, which he served as during both the Harding and Coolidge administrations.
In 1928, Tigert accepted the presidency of the University of Florida and arrived on campus in September of that year. His administration began in the midst of an economic crisis that had brought a serious decline in state revenues. The state’s economic woes continued throughout the Great Depression. Consequently, money for expansion of the physical plant and curriculum was largely unavailable during his twenty-year tenure. Although he did oversee the creation of a School of Forestry, his major accomplishments occurred in the areas of curricular reform, administrative organization, and research support.
Under his guidance, the undergraduate program was reorganized. Entrance requirements were strengthened and all applicants were required to pass a comprehensive placement exam before they could be accepted. To curb excessive failure rates in the lower classes, the General College was created in 1935 and standardized testing for freshmen and sophomores was instituted. The creation of the General College allowed the other colleges to expand the number of upper-level courses.
The first non-agricultural research centers were created in 1930 with the foundation of the Institute of Inter-American Affairs (now Center for Latin American Studies) and the Bureau of Economic and Business Research. The Research Council, the forerunner of today’s research development offices, was organized in 1939 to develop policies on patents and copyrights as well as to stimulate research.
Student enrollment was over 2000 by the time Tigert arrived in 1928. To meet the needs of these students, Tigert created a Dean of Students and appointed B. A. Tolbert to the position. Tigert also organized an executive body, the University Council, to serve as the president’s cabinet and budget committee. The Council was composed of all deans, the president, the registrar, and the University’s secretary. A University Senate, which included the Council, faculty representatives, and key administrators, was created in the University’s first constitution.
All though his main focus was academics, Tigert never lost his love for athletics. As a member of the National Rules Committee for college sports, he helped rewrite the rules for college football. was responsible for establishing football scholarships for collegiate players, and helped create the Southeastern Conference. Today, Tigert is enshrined in the college football Hall of Fame.
Tigert oversaw the first years of postwar expansion and then announced his retirement in 1947. He later accepted a teaching position in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Miami. Before he started, though, he was asked to join the Indian Higher Education Commission to survey conditions in India’s universities and to plan a program for the country’s education system. He returned to Miami in 1950 and served on the faculty until 1959. In 1960, the University of Florida’s new administration building was named in his honor. He died January 21, 1965 at the age of 82.
JAMES FARR
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1927-1928
After President Murphree died in office in 1927, James Farr served as UF’s interim president.
Farr was appointed the head of English instruction at the Florida Agricultural College at Lake City in 1901 and later served as head of the Department of English at the University of Florida. He became the university’s first vice president in 1905.
Farr resigned from the faculty in 1934 and was placed on special status. As part of his duties, he was requested to write several pieces, including a history of the Florida Agricultural College and the University of Florida from 1901-1918.
ALBERT MURPHREE
1909-1927
Enrollment grew from 106 in 1909 to 2,200 by 1927 under the leadership of the University of Florida’s second president, Albert A. Murphree. Murphree was born on April 29, 1870 in Walnut Grove, Alabama, where he spent his childhood years until he enrolled in the University of Nashville, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1894.
Murphree’s professional career before coming to Florida was limited to teaching mathematics, a favorite subject of his, at high schools and small colleges across the South. In 1895, he received an appointment as instructor of mathematics at the West Florida Seminary in Tallahassee. Two years later, after assuming the presidency of the institution, Murphree married the daughter of a seminary trustee, Jennie Henderson. Murphree, after realizing the need for college-level education in western Florida, then proceeded to expand and upgrade the seminary’s curriculum until it became Florida State College in 1901. Murphree gave his duties as president a personal touch by participating as coach in such activities as drama, football, and basketball.
When the Florida legislature created a new state university in Gainesville in 1905, Murphree was the legislature’s favorite for the post of president. The Board of Control and Governor Broward, however, preferred Andrew Sledd, president of the University of Florida at Lake City, who received the appointment as the University of Florida’s first president. Murphree stayed in Tallahassee and served as the first president of the Florida State College for Women. When political pressure forced Sledd’s resignation in 1909, Murphree was chosen to be his successor.
Upon his arrival in Gainesville, Murphree immediately reorganized the University into four academic colleges: the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Law, the College of Agriculture, and the College of Engineering. The Graduate School was also created in that year. A Teachers’ College and Normal School were established in 1912, a School of Pharmacy in 1924, a School of Architecture in 1925, and the College of Commerce and Journalism in 1927. During his term some forty-six buildings were erected, including ten major structures. One of these was a library building, the first unit of which was completed in 1925.
Murphree encouraged faculty participation in the running of the University by forming a number of standing committees to oversee curriculum, student affairs, and public relations. Despite the increasing number of students, historical accounts say he took the time to listen to students and their problems, and that he knew each by name. In addition, he stressed the importance of faculty involvement in professional and civic organizations and set an example by serving on the Florida State Teacher’s Association, the National Education Association, the National Association of State Universities (vice-president, 1921), and the Florida State Educational Association (president, 1906).
Apart from the University, Murphree was well known nationally as both educator and church layman. In 1912, Murphree declined a national political role after William Jennings Bryan announced that he would nominate him to run for President of the United States. Preferring to remain more active in church than in politics, Murphree led several denominational brotherhoods as a devout Baptist.
Murphree died in his sleep on December 20, 1927. Vice President James Farr served as acting president until the arrival of John J. Tigert in September 1928.
BEN SASSE
2023 - 2024
Ben Sasse joined the University of Florida as a professor and 13th president of the 170-year-old institution in February 2023.
A husband, father, historian, Uber driver, and football addict, Ben guided Gator Nation during an era of rapid change in the nature of work, technology, and higher education.
KENT FUCHS
2015 - 2023
Kent Fuchs led the University of Florida into the ranks of the nation’s best public universities. With his kindness and sense of humor, he was immensely popular with students and inspired good will for UF statewide and nationally.
Dr. Fuchs served as UF’s 12th president from January 2015 to February 2023. He may be best remembered for guiding UF to reach a decades-old goal of joining the nation’s top-10 public research universities as measured by U.S. News and World Report’s Best College Rankings. The university then ascended into the top 5, a feat that few believed possible when he defined that goal in his inauguration address.
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BERNIE MACHEN
2004-2014
In 11 years as president of the University of Florida, Bernie Machen grew and enhanced every aspect of the university while putting it on a path to rise among the best public universities in the nation.
Dr. Machen was UF’s 11th president, serving from January 2004 through December 2014. During that time, he expanded UF’s research operation, elevated its educational programs and increased access for students from a diversity of economic backgrounds. He bolstered the university’s commitment to innovation, grew its endowment, and led a noted university wide sustainability initiative.
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CHARLES E. YOUNG
1999-2003
On November 1, 1999 internationally recognized leader of higher education, Dr. Charles Young formally accepted the exciting opportunity to take the University of Florida into the 21st century. Chancellor emeritus of the University of California at Los Angeles, Dr. Young changed a regional college with an operating budget of $170 million into a world-class institution with expenses of $2 billion.*
Chuck Young was born and raised in the rural town of Highland, California and worked part-time in the citrus packing houses and orange groves. His senior year was divided between academics, football and the lead in the school plays.
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JOHN LOMBARDI
1990-1999
Historian, teacher, administrator, and author, Dr. John Lombardi became the ninth president of the University of Florida in March of 1990.
Born in Los Angeles in 1942, Lombardi comes from a family with a passion for education. His mother worked as a college librarian and his father, a pioneer in the California community college movement, was president of Los Angeles City College.
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ROBERT BRYAN
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1989-1990
Dr. Robert A. Bryan was appointed interim president of the University of Florida following the resignation of Marshall Criser. Bryan’s appointment followed an impressive teaching and administrative career, primarily at the University of Florida.
A native of Lebanon, Pa., Bryan earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Miami, followed by a master’s and a Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in English.
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MARSHALL CRISER
1984-1989
In 1984, a man who worked his way through school as a cafeteria cashier and construction laborer became the University of Florida’s eighth president at a time when UF was thriving, active and expanding.
Although remembered for leading UF through the “great football scandal” with the NCAA, Marshall Criser, was more concerned with scholastic achievements, having once said that UF’s “greatest progress has been the continued increase in academic excellence.” It was during his administration that Florida was inducted into the Association of American Universities.
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ROBERT Q. MARSTON
1974-1984
With the state of Florida mired in a recession and the school facing budget cuts, the University of Florida’s seventh president, Robert Q. Marston, opened a new era of private fund-raising while working to improve the university’s academic standing.
Born in Virginia on February 12, 1923, Robert Quarles Marston received his bachelor’s degree from Virginia Military Institute in 1943 and his M.D. from the Medical College of Virginia in 1947. In 1946, he married Ann Carter Garnett before accepting a Rhodes scholarship to attain his B.Sc. in 1949. After his internship and postdoctoral work, he accepted an appointment to the Medical College of Virginia. In 1958, he joined the University of Minnesota faculty in the Dept. of Bacteriology and Immunology.
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E.T. YORK
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1973-1974
A former university system chancellor, E.T. York held down the presidency from when Stephen O’Connell left office, until Robert Marston took office in 1974.
York earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Auburn University in 1942 and 1946, respectively; and his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1949. Between degrees, York spent time as an officer in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945, where he served in field artillery during World War II.
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STEPHEN C. O’CONNELL
1967-1973The $15.6 million, 12,000-seat activity center may look imposing and indestructible, but it’s not as noteworthy as the man for whom it’s named, University of Florida’s sixth president, Stephen C. O’Connell. The first Florida alumnus to lead the University, O’Connell was born in West Palm Beach on January 22, 1916, and attended public school there and at Titusville. He enrolled at Florida in 1934, served as sophomore class president in 1935-36, and as president of the student body in 1938-39. He was a member of Florida Blue Key (President, 1939), Alpha Tau Omega (President, 1938), and the Newman Club (President, 1937). As a middleweight on the boxing team (Captain, 1938) he went undefeated. He was enrolled in an interdisciplinary Business Administration and Law program and received his B.S.B.A. and LL.B. degrees in 1940.
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J. WAYNE REITZ
1955-1967Julius Wayne Reitz was born on New Years Eve 1908 in Olathe, Kansas. The Reitz family later moved to Canon City, Colorado, where he graduated from high school in 1926. In 1930, after being editor of the university’s yearbook, freshmen class president, student body president, and winner of the Rocky Mountain Oratory Award, Reitz received his bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University. He then took up work as an extension economist, first at Colorado State, and then with the University of Illinois, where in 1935 he attained his master’s. That year, after accepting an assistant professorship in agricultural economics at the University of Florida, Reitz married Frances Huston Millikan. After advancing to the rank of full professor, Reitz returned to his formal studies at the University of Wisconsin where he earned his doctorate in 1941.
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JOHN ALLEN
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1953-1955
John Allen, a UF vice president, took over as interim president after President J. Hillis Miller died in office.
Allen obtained his bachelor of arts from Earlham College in 1928, his master’s in astronomy from the University of Minnesota in 1929, and his Ph.D. from New York University in 1936.
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J. HILLIS MILLER
1948-1953J. Hillis Miller, fourth president of the University of Florida, was born August 29, 1899 in Front Royal, Virginia. After attending Randolph-Macon Academy, Miller received his A.B from the University of Richmond in 1924. He completed his graduate work in psychology at the University of Virginia (A.M.) in 1928 and at Columbia University (Ph.D.) in 1933, where he specialized in counseling and personnel administration.
In between degrees, Miller served as an instructor in Psychology at William and Mary from 1925 to 1928. He joined Bucknell University as Dean of Freshmen and Assistant Professor of Psychology in 1930, before being promoted to Dean of Students in 1933. After serving six years as President of Keuka College, Miller was appointed Associate Commissioner of Education for the State of New York in 1941.
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HAROLD HUME
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1947-1948
Known as one of the South’s outstanding leaders in horticulture, Dr. H. Harold Hume spent more than 20 years serving the University of Florida and its College of Agriculture.
Born in Canada, Hume attended Ontario Agricultural College before receiving his bachelors and Master of Science degrees from Iowa State College.
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JOHN J. TIGERT
1928-1947John James Tigert was born February 11, 1882, the third child of John James Tigert III and Amelia McTyeire Tigert. Excelling in both academics and athletics, Tigert received his secondary education in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, followed by his BA from Vanderbilt in 1904. That same year, he received a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford, as the first person ever selected from Tennessee.
In 1906, upon his return from Oxford, Tigert taught philosophy at Central Methodist College in Saint Louis, Missouri. There he met and married Edith J. Bristol. After serving for four years as president of Kentucky Wesleyan College, Tigert moved to the University of Kentucky in 1913, where he accepted the Chair of Philosophy.
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JAMES FARR
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1927-1928
After President Murphree died in office in 1927, James Farr served as UF’s interim president.
Farr was appointed the head of English instruction at the Florida Agricultural College at Lake City in 1901 and later served as head of the Department of English at the University of Florida. He became the university’s first vice president in 1905.
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ALBERT MURPHREE
1909-1927
Enrollment grew from 106 in 1909 to 2,200 by 1927 under the leadership of the University of Florida’s second president, Albert A. Murphree. Murphree was born on April 29, 1870 in Walnut Grove, Alabama, where he spent his childhood years until he enrolled in the University of Nashville, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1894.
Murphree’s professional career before coming to Florida was limited to teaching mathematics, a favorite subject of his, at high schools and small colleges across the South.
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ANDREW SLEDD
1904-1909Andrew Sledd, who actually drove one of the buggies hauling school supplies to UF’s new campus in Gainesville, was the first and youngest president of the University of Florida. Born on November 7, 1870 in Lynchburg, Virginia, Sledd earned his B.A. from Randolph-Macon College in 1894 and his M.A., in Greek, from Harvard in 1896. From 1896 to 1902, Sledd taught Latin at Emory College. Enraged by a lynching that he witnessed, Sledd wrote a critique for The Atlantic Monthly of race relations in the South. Although the article supported the continuation of the “separate but equal” doctrine, Sledd’s condemnation of brutality was immediately assailed by white southerners. Amid a hailstorm of controversy, Sledd resigned his position. He then enrolled in Yale’s graduate school and received a Ph.D. in Latin in 1903.
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J. WAYNE REITZ
1955-1967
Julius Wayne Reitz was born on New Years Eve 1908 in Olathe, Kansas. The Reitz family later moved to Canon City, Colorado, where he graduated from high school in 1926. In 1930, after being editor of the university’s yearbook, freshmen class president, student body president, and winner of the Rocky Mountain Oratory Award, Reitz received his bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University. He then took up work as an extension economist, first at Colorado State, and then with the University of Illinois, where in 1935 he attained his master’s. That year, after accepting an assistant professorship in agricultural economics at the University of Florida, Reitz married Frances Huston Millikan. After advancing to the rank of full professor, Reitz returned to his formal studies at the University of Wisconsin where he earned his doctorate in 1941.
Reitz left academic life in 1944 for a short stint as economic consultant for the United Growers and Shippers Association. Four years later, he became Chief of the Citrus Fruits Section in the USDA. In 1949, Reitz returned to the University of Florida after being appointed Provost for Agriculture by President J. Hillis Miller. During his tenure as Provost he was appointed to the administrative boards of the Escuela Agrícola Panamericana in Tegucigalpa and the Instituto Interamericano de Ciencias Agrícolas de la OEA in Turrialba, Costa Rica.
Miller’s sudden death in November 1953 started a lengthy search for a successor. Philip G. Davidson, President of the University of Louisville, was named the new executive. Davidson, however, withdrew his name when Acting Governor Charley Johns refused to sign his payroll warrant. A new search was initiated and, on March 22, 1955, Reitz became the first UF faculty member to be named president and the University’s fifth president overall.
During Reitz’s term, more than 300 campus buildings were erected at an approximate cost of $50 million. The buildings created and expanded during his term included a new health center, a nuclear training reactor, an educational television station, and a married-student housing facility. Along with the new buildings, Reitz tightened admission standards and placed greater emphasis on academic achievement in matters ranging from the awarding of financial aid to the development of advanced placement procedures. Reitz expanded the graduate school through new programs and centers (especially the Latin American Language and Area Center) and created the Division of Sponsored Research to increase funding opportunities for research. His wife, a gracious hostess to countless dignitaries and students, also took an active role in advancing the university’s music program. All of this expansion came alongside a doubling of the student population, from 9,000 to 18,000.
The Reitz years were not without controversy. Strict behavior guidelines, dress codes, and a Faculty Disciplinary Committee to enforce these rules all received Reitz’s strong endorsement. In the early 1960s, the Florida Legislative Investigating Committee accused twenty-two university employees and a number of students of homosexual conduct. All were summarily discharged or expelled. The denial of tenure to Marshall Jones, a psychiatrist active in radical causes, led to censure by the American Association of University Professors. Relatively speaking, though, the campus did not witness significant turmoil. The first state university to integrate, racial integration was achieved at Florida with less turmoil than most Southern colleges. The first African-American student was enrolled in the College of Law in September 1958. Reitz’s close relationship to the student body was instrumental in curbing attempts to resist the court order to integrate.
Reitz, however, had more trouble with state governors. He opposed LeRoy Collins’ 1957 attempt to create a chancellor system, and he had to fight off attempts by other governors to assume control of the university’s day-to-day operations. A 1965 showdown with Haydon Burns over budgetary matters almost ended in Reitz’s resignation. After a year of relative calm, Reitz announced his resignation in January, 1967 citing “presidential fatigue” as the reason. He stayed on until Stephen O’Connell was sworn in as the university’s next president.
After his presidency, Reitz served as director of graduate programs in the U.S. Office of Education, before returning to his international activities. In addition to his Latin American work, Reitz had been named to the Rockefeller Foundation’s Board of Agricultural Consultants and, in 1964, he accepted an appointment to the Public Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations. These responsibilities carried him to several nations as a teacher and advisor. His most extensive overseas assignment was to Mahidol University in Bangkok where he served as a consultant to the University Rector.
After his retirement, Reitz became an important fundraiser for local charities as well as the University of Florida. He continued to work for the University of Florida Foundation’s development office until his death on Christmas Eve 1993.
J. HILLIS MILLER
1948-1953
J. Hillis Miller, fourth president of the University of Florida, was born August 29, 1899 in Front Royal, Virginia. After attending Randolph-Macon Academy, Miller received his A.B from the University of Richmond in 1924. He completed his graduate work in psychology at the University of Virginia (A.M.) in 1928 and at Columbia University (Ph.D.) in 1933, where he specialized in counseling and personnel administration.
In between degrees, Miller served as an instructor in Psychology at William and Mary from 1925 to 1928. He joined Bucknell University as Dean of Freshmen and Assistant Professor of Psychology in 1930, before being promoted to Dean of Students in 1933. After serving six years as President of Keuka College, Miller was appointed Associate Commissioner of Education for the State of New York in 1941.
Miller was selected President of the University of Florida in 1947 in time to witness the tripling of UF’s enrollment due in part to the new GI Bill. On top of the postwar enrollment boom, the University student body was also augmented by an additional 601 women, who attended UF in its first year as a coeducational institution.
To compensate for the growth, Miller’s primary efforts were in the area of building construction and staff development. A $15,000,000 building program was undertaken to expand existing campus facilities, develop a medical college and expand academic programs to include, among other things, ten new doctoral degree programs. Also during his administration, Century Tower was raised, as part of UF’s Centennial Celebration, to honor the hundreds of UF students and alumni killed in the World Wars.
Miller died unexpectedly on November 14, 1953 at age 54. After his death, Vice President John Allen served as acting president until the appointment of J. Wayne Reitz. In 1959, the J. Hillis Miller Health Center was dedicated in memory of his work to establish Florida’s first medical school.
HAROLD HUME
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1947-1948
Known as one of the South’s outstanding leaders in horticulture, Dr. H. Harold Hume spent more than 20 years serving the University of Florida and its College of Agriculture.
Born in Canada, Hume attended Ontario Agricultural College before receiving his bachelors and Master of Science degrees from Iowa State College.
Hume began his career at UF in 1904 as a botanist at the old Florida Agricultural College at Lake City. Joining the UF staff in 1930, he became dean of the College of Agriculture in 1938, and in 1943, became provost for agriculture.
Appointed interim president in 1947, Hume was known for spending at least 10 hours each day in the president’s office, always finding time to tend to the affairs of the College of Agriculture, in addition to his many duties as president. Hume always spent his lunch hour in his office speaking with department heads, students, or anyone who wished to see him.
In addition to his work at UF, Hume was named chairman of the administrative committee of the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences and was later recognized with an honorary doctor of science degree from Clemson University.
Hume remained provost for the School of Agriculture until he retired on June 30, 1949, after which he continued his work in the field as author of several articles and books.
Affectionately known as the “Grand Old Man of Agriculture,” Hume died four months after his 90th birthday on Oct. 10, 1965.
JOHN J. TIGERT
1928-1947
John James Tigert was born February 11, 1882, the third child of John James Tigert III and Amelia McTyeire Tigert. Excelling in both academics and athletics, Tigert received his secondary education in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, followed by his BA from Vanderbilt in 1904. That same year, he received a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford, as the first person ever selected from Tennessee.
In 1906, upon his return from Oxford, Tigert taught philosophy at Central Methodist College in Saint Louis, Missouri. There he met and married Edith J. Bristol. After serving for four years as president of Kentucky Wesleyan College, Tigert moved to the University of Kentucky in 1913, where he accepted the Chair of Philosophy. He was appointed Chair of the Psychology Department in 1919 and served briefly as head of the Athletic Department and coach of the football team. His ten-year stint at Kentucky was interrupted by an absence during World War I, when he served as a YMCA volunteer in the American Expeditionary Force. In 1921, Warren G. Harding selected Tigert for the post of Commissioner of Education, which he served as during both the Harding and Coolidge administrations.
In 1928, Tigert accepted the presidency of the University of Florida and arrived on campus in September of that year. His administration began in the midst of an economic crisis that had brought a serious decline in state revenues. The state’s economic woes continued throughout the Great Depression. Consequently, money for expansion of the physical plant and curriculum was largely unavailable during his twenty-year tenure. Although he did oversee the creation of a School of Forestry, his major accomplishments occurred in the areas of curricular reform, administrative organization, and research support.
Under his guidance, the undergraduate program was reorganized. Entrance requirements were strengthened and all applicants were required to pass a comprehensive placement exam before they could be accepted. To curb excessive failure rates in the lower classes, the General College was created in 1935 and standardized testing for freshmen and sophomores was instituted. The creation of the General College allowed the other colleges to expand the number of upper-level courses.
The first non-agricultural research centers were created in 1930 with the foundation of the Institute of Inter-American Affairs (now Center for Latin American Studies) and the Bureau of Economic and Business Research. The Research Council, the forerunner of today’s research development offices, was organized in 1939 to develop policies on patents and copyrights as well as to stimulate research.
Student enrollment was over 2000 by the time Tigert arrived in 1928. To meet the needs of these students, Tigert created a Dean of Students and appointed B. A. Tolbert to the position. Tigert also organized an executive body, the University Council, to serve as the president’s cabinet and budget committee. The Council was composed of all deans, the president, the registrar, and the University’s secretary. A University Senate, which included the Council, faculty representatives, and key administrators, was created in the University’s first constitution.
All though his main focus was academics, Tigert never lost his love for athletics. As a member of the National Rules Committee for college sports, he helped rewrite the rules for college football. was responsible for establishing football scholarships for collegiate players, and helped create the Southeastern Conference. Today, Tigert is enshrined in the college football Hall of Fame.
Tigert oversaw the first years of postwar expansion and then announced his retirement in 1947. He later accepted a teaching position in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Miami. Before he started, though, he was asked to join the Indian Higher Education Commission to survey conditions in India’s universities and to plan a program for the country’s education system. He returned to Miami in 1950 and served on the faculty until 1959. In 1960, the University of Florida’s new administration building was named in his honor. He died January 21, 1965 at the age of 82.
JAMES FARR
INTERIM PRESIDENT, 1927-1928
After President Murphree died in office in 1927, James Farr served as UF’s interim president.
Farr was appointed the head of English instruction at the Florida Agricultural College at Lake City in 1901 and later served as head of the Department of English at the University of Florida. He became the university’s first vice president in 1905.
Farr resigned from the faculty in 1934 and was placed on special status. As part of his duties, he was requested to write several pieces, including a history of the Florida Agricultural College and the University of Florida from 1901-1918.
ALBERT MURPHREE
1909-1927
Enrollment grew from 106 in 1909 to 2,200 by 1927 under the leadership of the University of Florida’s second president, Albert A. Murphree. Murphree was born on April 29, 1870 in Walnut Grove, Alabama, where he spent his childhood years until he enrolled in the University of Nashville, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1894.
Murphree’s professional career before coming to Florida was limited to teaching mathematics, a favorite subject of his, at high schools and small colleges across the South. In 1895, he received an appointment as instructor of mathematics at the West Florida Seminary in Tallahassee. Two years later, after assuming the presidency of the institution, Murphree married the daughter of a seminary trustee, Jennie Henderson. Murphree, after realizing the need for college-level education in western Florida, then proceeded to expand and upgrade the seminary’s curriculum until it became Florida State College in 1901. Murphree gave his duties as president a personal touch by participating as coach in such activities as drama, football, and basketball.
When the Florida legislature created a new state university in Gainesville in 1905, Murphree was the legislature’s favorite for the post of president. The Board of Control and Governor Broward, however, preferred Andrew Sledd, president of the University of Florida at Lake City, who received the appointment as the University of Florida’s first president. Murphree stayed in Tallahassee and served as the first president of the Florida State College for Women. When political pressure forced Sledd’s resignation in 1909, Murphree was chosen to be his successor.
Upon his arrival in Gainesville, Murphree immediately reorganized the University into four academic colleges: the College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Law, the College of Agriculture, and the College of Engineering. The Graduate School was also created in that year. A Teachers’ College and Normal School were established in 1912, a School of Pharmacy in 1924, a School of Architecture in 1925, and the College of Commerce and Journalism in 1927. During his term some forty-six buildings were erected, including ten major structures. One of these was a library building, the first unit of which was completed in 1925.
Murphree encouraged faculty participation in the running of the University by forming a number of standing committees to oversee curriculum, student affairs, and public relations. Despite the increasing number of students, historical accounts say he took the time to listen to students and their problems, and that he knew each by name. In addition, he stressed the importance of faculty involvement in professional and civic organizations and set an example by serving on the Florida State Teacher’s Association, the National Education Association, the National Association of State Universities (vice-president, 1921), and the Florida State Educational Association (president, 1906).
Apart from the University, Murphree was well known nationally as both educator and church layman. In 1912, Murphree declined a national political role after William Jennings Bryan announced that he would nominate him to run for President of the United States. Preferring to remain more active in church than in politics, Murphree led several denominational brotherhoods as a devout Baptist.
Murphree died in his sleep on December 20, 1927. Vice President James Farr served as acting president until the arrival of John J. Tigert in September 1928.