VP for Government and Community Relations

The University of Florida

The University of Florida (UF) is the flagship university for the state of Florida, the nation’s third most populous state. Located in Gainesville, UF has 16 colleges, a major academic health center, championship-winning athletics, and, in keeping with its land-grant mission, one of the nation’s most comprehensive agriculture and natural resources programs. The university’s 2,000-acre campus joins a historic core with advanced research and classroom facilities and preserved natural areas, all connecting to adjacent innovation, commercial, and residential districts. UF is ranked 7th among the nation’s top public universities in the 2025 U.S. News Best Colleges rankings.

UF has over 60,000 students, 32,000 employees, a $10 billion annual budget, and more than 140 mission-focused units across Florida, including statewide healthcare and agricultural enterprises. It is one of only two public universities in Florida belonging to the Association of American Universities (comprising 71 leading public and private research universities in the U.S. and Canada). UF has more than 6,600 faculty members with distinguished records in teaching, research, and service, including 22 Eminent Scholar Chairs, 38 elected members of the National Academies, 20 elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and 91 elected members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2024, UF research expenditures topped $1.26 billion.

As an example of a continuing focus on campuswide innovation, UF was the nation’s first university to implement artificial intelligence across the curriculum, with 350 faculty teaching more than 12,000 students enrolled in more than 200 AI classes. In 2023 UF opened the multidisciplinary Malachowsky Hall for Data Science & Information Technology, which leverages HiPerGator, a more-than 70,000 core massive computer cluster, ranked as the most powerful university-owned supercomputer in the U.S.

Several additional qualities distinguish UF among today’s leading public research universities. The first is its comprehensive breadth on a single campus, facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration. The second is its traditionally strong support from the state of Florida, which has consistently funded UF’s drive to become one of the nation’s best public research universities. UF’s third exceptional quality is its dynamism. UF is undergoing rapid transformation as it pursues its overarching aspiration “to be a premier university that the state, nation, and world look to for leadership.”

Role of Vice President for Government and Community Relations

The Vice President for Government and Community Relations at the University of Florida requires a seasoned professional with in-depth expertise and experience at the state, national and local levels.  This position works to cultivate and enhance the university’s relationships at all levels of government, with a particular focus on state of Florida government entities and works with the university’s senior leadership in the development of proposals and strategies to advocate for university priorities. 

The successful execution of this role requires excellent communication and relationship building skills, a strong working knowledge of government and the role of higher education in research and economic development, and an appreciation for higher education’s complex relationship with federal and state government.  This role requires an ability to collaborate and build successful internal and external partnerships.

Leadership and strategy

• Establishes and implements short- and long-range strategy for the government relations function at the University of Florida, focusing on institutional priorities as well as emerging public policy issues
• Plans, develops, implements, administers, and evaluates programs, activities, and daily operations related to the governmental affairs function
• Directs the activities of offices in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C.
• Communicates with members of the Board of Trustees on government relations strategies
• Coordinates legislative requests as well as contract lobbying efforts
• Develops and manages annual budgets for the government relations function

State of Florida advocacy

• In collaboration with senior leadership, develops annual University of Florida legislative advocacy priorities and strategies
• Develops legislative advocacy materials in support of the university’s legislative agenda
• Monitors state legislative and policy issues impacting UF, develops position statements as needed and helps to develop execution strategies in consultation with relevant campus entities and leadership
• Represents the University of Florida on state association boards as appropriate and advocates fo