Bernie Machen

A selection of speeches from UF's 11th president Bernie 
Machen, offering insights on public higher education and its challenges 
and changes 

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"Write your own story. Find the 
strength, whatever your hardships, to tell the powerful story within 
each of you. Write the best stories you can for your families, your 
communities, and your country. Live the biographies everyone will 
read."—Remarks to Palm Beach County’s most accomplished graduating 
seniors at the Scholastic Achievement Foundation of Palm Beach County

"We
 injure our humanity in discriminating against others, and we deny 
ourselves the richness of experience on this earth. We cannot be the 
nation we want to be, or the university we want to be, without everyone 
participating in equal measure."—Remarks at a reception for Federal 
Judge Stephan P. Mickle, the first black student to earn an 
undergraduate degree from UF

"Science is far from perfect, but 
it’s all we have. When you shine a light on scientists and their work, 
revealing both the strengths and the flaws, you beat back the darkness 
and denial that offer no future."—Remarks to the National Association of
 Science Writers

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The modern university is a beacon for 
students, a home for scholars, a hub of culture in the community, an 
engine of discovery, an economic force—a place of many purposes, all 
facing change or reinvention. This selection of speeches from University
 of Florida's 11th president Bernie Machen, with executive speechwriter 
Aaron Hoover, offers insights on public higher education and its 
challenges from the helm of one of the largest land-grant universities 
in the country.

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The Purposes of the University
 sheds light on many upheavals within academia. Machen defended against 
legislative pressures and criticism of the liberal arts and sciences, 
cemented the university's bonds with donors as public funding crumbled, 
worked to maintain student diversity post-affirmative action, sought to 
define innovation as a central mission, led a major turn toward 
sustainability, and forged new educational models online and on campus. 

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The
 speeches in this volume also highlight milestones and key moments at 
UF, from the expansion of the campus to mediation of town-gown relations
 to the launch of research projects all over the world. They offer 
candid portraits of the life and people of the university and its 
hometown of Gainesville, celebrating iconic figures like Gatorade 
inventor Robert Cade and campus personalities such as UF's 
longest-serving employee, Betty Jones. And they include reflections on 
university life: tributes to the first black students, the history of 
the marching band, the trees of the historic campus, and the legacy of 
student veterans who enrolled after returning from the nation's wars.

Perhaps
 the most traditional public role for university presidents is to 
encourage and help students. In his speeches—at commencements, 
convocations, and other events across the state—Machen aimed to inspire 
and to celebrate young people and their passion. On topics both weighty 
and whimsical, his perspective combines openness to change with full 
faith in the university and its many purposes.

University Press of Florida

The Purposes of the University: Selected Speeches

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