By JEFF JONASEN (BSBA '85, JD '88), President, UF Alumni Association
Photo by STEVEN JOHNSON (3JM)

We have a lot to cheer about in The Gator Nation. In addition to tremendous on-the-field accomplishments, our university is making great strides in its missions: teaching, research and service.

We cheered recently for the opening of the state-of-the-art Shands at UF Cancer Hospital, for those who made commitments to build it, and for the lives it will serve and save. We applauded plans for the Florida Innovation Hub, which will further enhance UF's award-winning efforts to bring research from its labs to the world by combining the efforts of entrepreneurs, investors, faculty and students to create new technology-based companies.

In Orlando, we celebrated the announcement of the UF Academic and Research Center at Lake Nona, which will team biomedical researchers with those at the adjacent Burnham Institute for Medical Research and provide a new teaching facility for the College of Pharmacy. In addition, Citylab-Orlando opened in downtown Orlando, providing the College of Design, Construction and Planning a place where UF students and faculty can collaborate on community design projects.

This fall also brought news of a new orange variety, eight new Fulbright scholars, advances in research, construction of the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art's Asian Art Wing and William R. Hough Hall, plans to hire more faculty, another class of Florida Opportunity Scholars and countless other accomplishments. And, your UF Alumni Association welcomed its 10,000th life member and expanded programs to provide career development for alumni, to engage alumni in supporting UF's legislative priorities, and to strengthen the connection between The Gator Nation and UF.

In so many ways, this has been a season of great successes. So let's give a cheer for all of UF's accomplishments, on and off the field. Membership in the UF Alumni Association is a great way to show your support for the team. Go Gators!