b'F R O M T H E D E A N SLeonardo A. Villaln, Ph.D. Marta L. Wayne, Ph.D.Dean of the International Center andDean of the International Center and Associate Provost Associate ProvostJanuary 2014 - July 2022 August 2022Much has happened in our globalized world since II am honored to have been selected to lead the UF first assumed the position of UFIC dean in January ofInternational Center, and to follow Dean Villaln! The 2014. Reflecting back as I prepare to step aside afterCenter has thrived under his leadership, and I am eight and a half years, I am struck by the extraordinarylooking forward to building on his and the Center challengesranging from politics to pandemicsthatstaffs achievements.American universities have faced in our duty to engage the world in our teaching and research missions. Yet IIt is hard to imagine a more urgent time for am equally struck by the central role that universitiesinternational engagement. We face global challenges play in helping us to understand those challenges, andfrom pandemics to climate change to food shortages, in training the diverse generations of young peoplechallenges which no individual nation can solve on who will lead us in confronting them.By definition, alltheir own. We are poised at the edge of the fourth great universities must be global universities, and I amindustrial revolution. AI and associated technologies pleased to note that UFs rise in the rankings has beencould help the world solve global problems, or worsen accompanied by an expansion of our global reach. them by exacerbating inequality. Its an important and exciting period for all of us to be involved in creating It has been a privilege and a pleasure for me to workthe future we want to see.alongside the many dedicated individuals who, day in and day out, contribute to making UF a great globalAs your new dean, I am committed to increasing university. I must first and foremost pay tribute to myour international engagement, to keeping the UF dedicated colleagues in the UF International Center,community looking, learning, and researching beyond but I also thank the countless people across UFsour borders. Its what we owe our students and the colleges, centers, institutes and museums, as wellpeople of the state of Floridaand the world.as in administrative and support offices, all of whom contribute in some way to sustaining our international engagements.As I return to my own research and teaching in and about Africa, I am grateful to be part of an institution and a community that recognizes and supports such efforts.2U F INTERNATIONAL CENTER'