University of Florida. Office of the President.

James M. Farr served as the University of Florida's vice president from 1905 to 1935. After the death of Albert A. Murpree on December 20, 1927, Farr acted as university president until the arrival of James J. Tigert in September, 1928.

E.T. York served as Acting President of the University of Florida in 1973-1974. 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. York served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945 during World War II. In 1956, York was hired as a professor and later served as chair of the Department of Agronomy at North Carolina State University. In 1959, York became head of the Cooperative Extension Service at Auburn University, and in 1961 became head of the Federal Extension Service for the U.S. Department of Agronomy. He joined the University of Florida in 1963 as Vice President for Agricultural Affairs (later, Provost for Agriculture). He was Florida agriculture's Man of the Year in 1978 and a university system chancellor. His many contributions to UF included the creation of the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS).

Robert A. Bryan served as University of Florida Provost under President Marshall M. Criser. In 1989 Criser resigned and Bryan became interim president. He served until the arrival of John Lombardi in 1990.

John S. Allen was Vice President of the University of Florida from 1947 to 1957. He served briefly as acting president before the arrival of J. Hillis Miller and served for a longer period after Miller's death in 1953. In 1957, Allen was selected to be first president of the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Marshall M. Criser, Jr. was President of the University of Florida from 1984 to 1989. Criser was born in New Jersey in 1928, and moved with his family to West Palm Beach, Florida in 1941. He attended UF and earned his Bachelor's degree in 1949 and a law degree in 1951. While a student at UF he was president of the Sigma Nu fraternity chapter, president of Florida Blue Key, business manager of the yearbook, and homecoming chair. After graduating with his law degree, Criser served in the U.S. Army for two years and then began practicing law in West Palm Beach. In 1984, Criser left his legal practice in Palm Beach County to serve as President of UF from 1984 to 1989. Previously, Criser served on the Florida Board of Regents and as President of the Florida Bar Association. He also served as founding chair of UF Board of Trustees. Criser's chief accomplishment as university president was the establishment of the first Capital Campaign. He also oversaw Florida's entrance into the Association of Americam Universities. Scandals in the football program, however, plagued his administration. He resigned in March 1988 and resumed his law practice.

J. Hillis Miller, fourth president of the University of Florida, was born August 29, 1899 in Front Royal, Virginia. He attended the Randolph-Macon Academy before entering the University of Richmond where he received his A.B. in 1924. Miller did his graduate work in psychology at the University of Virginia (A.M. 1928) and Columbia University (Ph.D. 1933). He specialized in counseling and personnel administration. From 1925 to 1928, he was an instructor in Psychology at William and Mary. In 1930, he joined Bucknell University as Dean of Freshmen and Assistant Professor of Psychology. In 1933 he was promoted to Dean of Students. From 1935 to 1941, Miller was President of Keuka College before being appointed Associate Commissioner of Education for the State of New York.

Miller's selection as President of the University of Florida came in 1947. The postwar enrollment boom was in full swing and the University was experiencing its first year as a coeducational institution. His primary efforts were in the area of building construction and staff development. A $15,000,000 building program was undertaken and many existing academic programs were expanded. During his brief administration, ten doctoral degree programs were added. He was also instrumental in the development of the medical colleges.

Miller died unexpectedly on November 14, 1953. Vice President John S. 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.

J. (Julius) Wayne Reitz was born on New Years Eve 1908 in Olathe, Kansas. The Reitz family later moved to Canon City, Colorado, where Reitz 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, he 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 same year he married Frances Huston Millikan. A year before, however, he moved to the University of Florida and assumed an assistant professorship in agricultural economics. As he advanced to the rank of full professor, Reitz continued with 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 under appointment by President J. Hillis Miller to be Provost for Agriculture. 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.

After the sudden death of University of Florida president J. Hillis Miller in November, 1953, there began 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. Reitz's name was announced on March 22, 1955, and he took office shortly afterwards.

Reitz worked closely with state officials to continue the creation and expansion of the new health center. Other building projects included a nuclear training reactor, an educational television station, and new married student housing. 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. 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 had more trouble, however, 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. In January 1967, after a year of relative calm, Reitz announced his resignation citing "presidential fatigue" as the reason. He stayed on until Stephen O'Connell was sworn in as the university's next president.

Reitz continued with his international activity after stepping down as President. 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 fund raiser 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.

Albert Alexander Murphree was born on 29 April 1870 in the village of Walnut Grove, Alabama. He spent his childhood years there and attended the local academy. 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, he assumed the presidency of that institution. The same year, he married Jennie Henderson, daughter of a seminary trustee. Seeing the need for college level education in western Florida, Murphree expanded and upgraded the seminary’s curriculum. In 1901, the seminary became the Florida State College. 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 1905, Murphree was the Board of Education’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 and 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.

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. 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). A Baptist, he led several denominational brotherhoods.

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.

Robert Quarles Marston was born February 12, 1923. He attained his B.S. at the Virginia Military Institute (1943) and his M.D. at the Medical College of Virginia (1947). He married Ann Carter Garnett in 1946. Before settling down to academic life, however, Marston accepted a Rhodes scholarship and so attained a B.Sc. degree 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.

Marston began his Administrative career in 1961 by becoming Dean of the University of Mississippi's School of Medicine. As was immediately evident, Marston did not cringe from controversy. With the Civil Rights struggle at its apex and many university officials digging in against the changes, Marston adopted a pro-integration stance regarding medical school admissions. In 1966, Marston accepted a position as Associate Director of the National Institutes of Health and became its Director in 1968. At NIH, Marston developed skills in governmental relations and broad contacts with private foundations. Marston left NIH in 1973 and accepted a temporary position as scholar-in-residence at the University of Virginia.

Marston's skills and contacts, along with his commitment to affirmative action, made him an attractive candidate for the presidency of the University of Florida. On January 11, 1974, the Board of Regents took little more than forty seconds in unanimously selecting Marston as the seventh University President. His January 1975 inaugural speech set forth a strong commitment to affirmative action, the academic and cultural life of the University, and Marston's personal interest in fundraising. The oil crisis and the recession of the seventies, however, did not make Marston's first years pleasant. Despite rationing of supplies and juggling of accounts, Marston eventually had to authorize the layoff of thirty faculty members. But, Marston's fundraising abilities were exceptional. From 1974 to 1980, Marston enlarged the university's endowment by over $10,000,000 each year. While the university would later be hit with other financial crises (notably the early 1980s), the impact would never be as severe as in 1975.

Committed to strengthening the university's academic programs and cultural life, Marston reorganized the president's office to concentrate his attention on the external relations of the university. As a result Vice-President for Academic Affairs Robert Bryan took up a greater share of the internal administration. During his administration, University College (formerly General College) was terminated and the lower division merged into a new College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; the College of Fine Arts was created; the O'Connell Center was built; and an Eminent Scholars program was begun. In 1980, a failed accreditation jeopardized an expansion of the Shands Teaching Hospital, but Marston pulled no punches with state legislators to save the program. By his efforts, Marston laid the groundwork for the University's 1985 entry into the prestigious Association of American Universities.

On November 30, 1982, Marston announced his retirement, which became effective September 1, 1984. The Board of Regents selected Marshall Criser to replace him. Out of the President's office, Marston returned to full-time academic work in microbiology and conducted research in aquatics. In 1985, he chaired the important Symposium on the Medical Implications of Nuclear War. Robert Marston died on March 14, 1999.

John Vince Lombardi was born in Los Angeles in 1942. He received his Bachelor of Arts at Pomona College in 1963. By 1968, he earned his Master's and doctorate degrees in Latin American History from Columbia University. From 1967 to 1987 Lombardi taught in the Department of History at Indiana University and taught in Venezuela for a year. He became the Dean of International Programs at Indiana University in 1977 and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1985. He became the Provost and the President for Academic Affairs at Johns Hopkins University in 1987. In 1990, Lombardi became the ninth president of the University of Florida where he would spend almost nine years. Throughout his administrative career, Lombardi remained a history professor.

Lombardi obtained the reputation as a students' president. From walking to his office almost every day from the president's house, to answering almost every e-mail, he made himself accessible to all faculty, staff, and students.

Lombardi's presidency was marked by a number of significant events and accomplishments. At the beginning of his administration, he comforted the community after five college students in the Gainesville area were murdered in August 1990. Lombardi fought attacks on affirmative action and successfully implemented Equal Opportunity objectives. Lombardi moved aggressively to clean up a trouble-plagued athletic program. He hired a new athletic director, Jeremy Foley, and together they improved the school's image, expanded the women's programs, hired new coaches such as Steve Spurrier and Billy Donovan, and helped usher in a decade of athletic success including a National Championship in football in 1996.

Outside the university, Lombardi was often embroiled in conflicts with the Board of Regents (BOR) and its Chancellor. In 1995, he locked horns with the BOR after turning in possible legislation to the state legislature before handing it to the BOR for revision and confirmation. In 1998, Lombardi's problems with the BOR continued after a derogatory remark about the Chancellor became public. Lombardi resigned as president in 1999.

Lombardi became Chancellor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst after leaving UF. He is also the author of many articles and books. He is married to Cathryn Lombardi. They have two children, John Lee Lombardi and Mary Ann Lombardi.

Andrew Sledd, first president of the University of Florida, was born November 7, 1870 in Lynchburg, Virginia. He earned his B.A. and M. A. from Randolph-Macon College in 1894 and did graduate work at Harvard in 1896. From 1897 to 1902, Sledd taught Latin at Emory College. While at Emory, Sledd wrote a critique of race relations in the South that appeared in the Atlantic Monthly. Although the article supported the continuation of the "separate but equal" doctrine, Sledd's condemnation of lynching was immediately assailed by many 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.

After graduating from Yale, Sledd served briefly as Professor of Greek at Southern College in Alabama before being selected as president of the University of Florida at Lake City in 1904. Soon after his arrival in Florida, Sledd urged the state government to consolidate its institutions of higher learning. He quickly won the support of Governor Napoleon B. Broward, and legislation was passed in 1905 that endowed two universities, one for white males and one for white females. Shortly afterwards, Gainesville was chosen as the site for the men's university and Sledd was selected as the first president of the new University of Florida.

Sledd oversaw the transfer to Gainesville in 1906 and selected the initial faculty, most of whom had been instructors at Lake City. His tenure, though, was brief. Under pressure from the state legislature and the State Superintendent of Public Education, Sledd resigned in 1909 and was replaced by Albert A. Murphree.

Sledd went on to serve as President of Southern College and later had a distinguished career as Professor of Greek and New Testament Literature at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Sledd was also a recognized Bible scholar and a force in ecclesiastical circles in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He died March 6, 1939.

John James Tigert was born February 11, 1882, the third child of John James Tigert III (1857?-1906) and Amelia McTyeire Tigert. Amelia Tigert was the daughter of Bishop Holland Nimmons McTyeire, first president of the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt University. Her mother, Amelia Townsend McTyeire, was a cousin of Cornelius Vanderbilt. John James Tigert III was a member of Vanderbilt's faculty and a bishop in the Methodist Church.

John J. Tigert received his secondary education at the Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. He enrolled at Vanderbilt in 1899 and received his B.A. in 1904. He excelled in academics and athletics, and was the first Rhodes Scholar selected from Tennessee. He attended Oxford from 1904 to 1906. The degree M.A. Oxon. was conferred upon Tigert in 1915.

Upon his return from Oxford, Tigert taught philosophy at Central Methodist College in Saint Louis, Missouri. There he met and married Edith J. Bristol. In 1909, he was selected president of Kentucky Wesleyan College. In 1913, Tigert moved to the University of Kentucky 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. He taught at Kentucky for ten years with an absence during World War I when he served as a YMCA volunteer in the American Expeditionary Force. In 1921, Warren S. Harding selected Tigert for the post of Commissioner of Education. He served in 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. The only major addition to the catalog was 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. An Associate of Arts diploma was conferred on graduates of the General College. For many financially strapped students, the A.A. degree was often a terminal one. The creation of the General College also allowed the other colleges to expand the number of upper-level courses. The first non-agricultural research centers were created in 1930 with the founding of the Institute of Inter-American Affairs (now Center for Latin American Studies) and the Bureau of Economic and Business Research. The Research Council was organized in 1939 to develop policies on patents and copyrights and to stimulate research. It is the forerunner of today's research development offices. During Tigert's presidency, the quantity and quality of faculty publication increased as did the level of graduate research. The first Ph.D.s were awarded in 1934 in the areas of chemistry and pharmacy.

Student enrollment had risen to 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 was also embodied in the University's first constitution. The Senate included the Council, faculty representatives, and key administrators from non-academic units.

The end of World War II created a demand for college education nationwide. The University of Florida's enrollment soared to 7000 in 1946. Wooden classroom buildings and dormitories sprang up to accommodate returning veterans. Many of these "temporary" buildings were still being used in the 1970s. 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 created to survey conditions in India's universities and to plan a program for India's system of higher education. 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.

Stephen C. O'Connell was the sixth president of the University of Florida and 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.

O'Connell began his law career in Fort Lauderdale in 1940 but soon left to accept a civilian appointment as director of physical training for the Third Air Force at Tampa, Florida. He was called to active duty when the United States entered World War II. He finished the war with the rank of major and was executive officer of a bomber group in Okinawa.

O'Connell returned to Fort Lauderdale and his law practice in 1946. O'Connell was active in the Democratic Party in Broward County and served on several senatorial and gubernatorial campaigns. In 1955, he was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by Governor Leroy Collins and was elected to that post in 1956. He was elected chief justice of the court in July, 1967.

O'Connell's selection as President of the University was announced on September 1, 1967, and he took office in October. His inauguration was held October 7, 1968.

1968 was the year of student rebellion around the nation and the world. In an effort to control disruption and maintain a sense of community at UF, O'Connell initiated an Action Conference in May 1968, composed of students, faculty, and administrators, to discuss student concerns. An Advisory Council, similar in composition to the Conference, was later created to sustain the dialogue. Some progress was made, particularly in relation to the university's policy on controversial speakers, housing, and student counseling. However, neither O'Connell nor the University of Florida could escape the upheaval of the times.

As elsewhere, the Vietnam War ignited most of the disturbances at UF. Numerous demonstrations, both peaceful and militant, were held. Faculty-administration relations were also tested during this period. The youth counterculture brought more controversy. The most damaging conflicts at UF, however, were racial. The University of Florida integrated in 1958 without violence and with little protest. By fall of 1970, though, there were still only 343 black students enrolled. African Americans experienced a sense of alienation in a campus culture shaped by generations of white students and faculty. A general feeling that too little was being done to encourage black enrollment, despite protests to the contrary from university officials, further heightened tensions. A sit-in at the president's office by the Black Student Union in April, 1971 culminated in the arrest of sixty-six students. When O'Connell refused to grant amnesty to the demonstrators, approximately a third of the black student population and several black faculty members left the university. This dramatic exodus undermined the university's image as a progressive academic institution.

Although largely overshadowed by other events, improvements and enhancements to the university's academic program and physical plant were made. Total enrollment rose from 19,004 in 1967 to 23,570 in 1973. A 1970 evaluation of graduate programs by the American Council on Education gave national ranking to twenty-two departments compared to eleven in 1965. Perhaps O'Connell's greatest achievement was the reorganization of the Alumni Association and the creation of an Office of Development staffed by professional fund raisers. As a well-respected alumnus, he was infinitely qualified to oversee the association's transformation.

Several buildings were constructed during his tenure: a new law center, additions to the medical center, and a new museum. O'Connell's building campaign focused on the need for additional student activities facilities. On February 4, 1970, the student body voted down an increase in student activity fees to support construction of a sports and activities center. Eventually, the Board of Regents decided that the student activities reserve fund could be used to build student-related facilities. In 1975, O'Connell's successor, Robert Q. Marston, submitted plans for a sports arena and activities center. Construction was completed in 1980, and the Stephen C. O'Connell Student Activities Center was dedicated in 1981 in recognition of O'Connell's service to his alma mater. The "O'Dome" is the site of Gator basketball games as well as other sporting events and a venue for entertainment programs.

President O'Connell announced his retirement on June 28, 1973. Executive Vice President E. Travis York, Jr. served as interim president until August, 1974. O'Connell died on April 14, 2001.

Marshall M. Criser became the University of Florida's eighth president on September 1, 1984. He was the second Florida alumnus to serve as president. As a UF student, Criser served as president of Florida Blue Key, business manager of the yearbook, president of Sigma Nu, and homecoming chair. He was elected to the student Hall of Fame.

Criser graduated from the College of Law in 1950. He became a successful lawyer and was appointed to the Florida Board of Regents in 1971. He chaired the Board from 1974 to 1977. Criser's chief accomplishment as university president was the establishment of the first Capital Campaign. He also oversaw Florida's entrance into the Association of American Universities. Scandals in the football program, however, plagued his administration. He resigned in March 1988 and resumed his law practice.