International Center Services for Faculty
The mission of the University of Florida International Center (UFIC) is to enhance the educational
experience and environment of UF’s students, faculty, and staff by promoting a global perspective. We recognize that only with faculty support and active involvement can great things be achieved. To advance in the rankings, or even maintain our standing among our peer institutions, UF must have a greater global
reach and impact. For that reason, internationalization is among UF’s highest priorities in its strategic plan. Making UF even more international is critical to our future, and every faculty member has an important role to play in that effort.
UFIC helps faculty participate in internationalization by assisting them in the following ways:
Recognition
Each year, UFIC recognizes faculty who have made outstanding contributions to international research and education. The announcement in November is a key component of International Education Week.
Nominations are accepted from each college for two awards, untenured or newly tenured faculty, and senior faculty.
UFIC serves as the campus representative for the Fulbright Scholar Program sponsored through the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. A list of UF Fulbright scholars is maintained on the UFIC website. Any faculty member who has had a Fulbright should ensure his/her name is on the list. All international Fulbright faculty should check in at the University of Florida International Center through the Faculty & Scholar Services office, 190 Hub.
This competition is open to faculty and staff, students, and alumni, and provides an opportunity to showcase photographs taken around the world. Click here for more information.
Connections
This database is designed to enable UF faculty and staff to share their interest and expertise in a country by providing a list of UF professionals who have such knowledge. The database is searchable by country. Faculty should add their own contact information to the lists for the countries they are interested in.
UF has numerous centers that focus on specific regions of the world or on countries. See these UF website for more details:
Center for Latin American Studies
Center for African Studies
Center for European Studies
Center for Business Education Research
France Florida Research Institute
Asian Studies Center
This group meets monthly during the fall and spring semesters to discuss international issues, programs, speakers, and events that impact the entire university. Composed primarily of directors and representatives of the various international centers and area studies centers at UF, the meeting is also open to all interested faculty.
International Education Week is a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of State and educational institutions in the U.S. to promote and celebrate multiculturalism and international education. Throughout International Education Week – the second week of November every year – the International Center encourages and supports the UF community to hold activities to celebrate international education and diversity.
Teaching
Developing a study abroad program requires a collaborative effort between faculty, the department, the college and the International Center. All sponsored programs must be connected to an academic discipline. The department and college are completely in charge of the academic management of the program. The department and the college must approve the content and construction of the study abroad program prior to its establishment through the International Center. The department and college approve and select the teaching faculty for the programs. UFIC will work with faculty and the department throughout the
entire process of establishing a UF sponsored program. UFIC will develop the program budget. For more information please contact Study Abroad Services, 273-1500.
UFIC grants awards of $3,000 to UF faculty for proposals that add international components to an existing course or create new courses with substantial international content. The Transnational and Global Studies Center (TGSC) and Research and Graduate Programs (RGP) also
provide grants in the same competition. The awards are granted
annually.
The objective of the UFIC Speakers Series is to encourage discussion and debate at UF on major international and global issues. The Speakers’ Series provides matching funds to faculty to bring speakers who will discuss topics of broad international interest. The speaker must be willing to make a presentation in a public forum and be available for classroom talks, if requested. Please click here for more information.
Other Support Services
FSS within UFIC delivers administrative and support services to international faculty, postdoctoral associates, research scholars, and other professionals. Cooperatively with the academic departments
of the University, FSS serves a population of approximately 1,000 international faculty and research scholars and their families, assisting them with immigration compliance, pre-arrival information, and orientation to the campus and community. FSS provides workshops on foreign-national hiring as well as weekly Q&A sessions on immigration compliance and foreign-national hiring. For more information please contact Faculty and Scholar Services, 273-1532.
UF is committed to ensuring the safety of every student, researcher, faculty, and staff member while abroad on university business. To fulfill this commitment, UFIC provides 24-hour emergency contact, monitors international events, informs program participants of potential health and safety issues, provides emergency medical evacuation and repatriation insurance to all study abroad students and the availability of these services to faculty and staff.
UFIC works with international students and all UF departments and offices on issues relating to immigration compliance. This includes foreign-national hiring and questions relating to movement toward permanent residency.
Resources and Information
UF extends itself globally through international agreements that are initiated by faculty and facilitated through UFIC. International agreements
provide the opportunity for UF and a cooperating institution abroad to collaborate on reciprocal exchange of students, faculty visits, and other academic projects of mutual interest.
The Paris Research Center offers UF scholars an office in Paris for communications and consultation, administrative and networking services, event and program organization, assistance with study abroad program development, as well as reading rooms, classrooms, meeting
rooms, and limited office space for program directors and/or scholars in residence.
The UF Center in Beijing provides services in China to the UF community in four major areas: (1) summer and semester study abroad programs including, for students studying Chinese, language courses that integrate seamlessly with the classes taken on campus; (2) assistance in recruiting
students from China to UF; (3) marketing UF distance education programs; and (4) providing opportunities and support for UF faculty and students to conduct research.
The Program Development unit within the International Center supports faculty interests and initiatives in developing programs and activities that further the internationalization efforts of the university.
Through the International Student Speakers Bureau (ISSB), international students are available for classroom presentations about their countries and cultures as it relates to faculty courses.