Dr. Debbie Ford, Vice President of Student Affairs

Greetings from the University of West Florida and welcome from the Division of  Student Affairs! 

The vision of the University of West Florida is to become the best regional comprehensive university in America.   The Division of Student Affairs is committed to helping UWF achieve this vision by being a premier learning and living community for students.  

The mission of the Division of Student Affairs is to Engage the University community in purposeful programs, quality services, and community enhancing facilities in order to enrich the lives of students.   We have developed programs and services to meet the unique needs of our students in Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach, Marianna, and on-line.  

The Student Affairs staff is here to help students achieve their dreams and goals.   We know that the more students put into their experiences the more they will gain in return.  We believe, as E. Grady Bogue stated in Creating Campus Community, A university is a place where all of us, students, faculty, parents, staff, and alumni are called to ask what brings meaning to our life and makes us glad to be alive. It is, above all, a community in which we celebrate the humanizing force of our curiosity and wonder, a place for dreamers of the day. (McDonald, 2002)   The professionals in Student Affairs want our students to dream and we want this to be a place where personal and academic dreams begin to come true! 

Here are a few facts to demonstrate the quality of programs and services for students at UWF.   The GPA for student athletes is higher than the GPA for UWF students for 12 straight years.

• Over 20,930 students participate annually in UCSA events including the Argo College Bowl, Fall Frenzy, Festival on the Green, Gamesters Series, Homecoming, Welcome Week, Greek Week, Open Mic nights, Exam Jam, and a series of Cinemagic movie viewings. 
• Over 1500 students call UWF home and participate in over 200 educational and social programs in the residence halls.
• Student Affairs hosted over 1000 new students (largest group in UWF history)  in summer 2006 for  new student orientation.
• The Student Disability Resource Center provides accommodations for 200 students each semester.
• Student Organizations contributed over 10,000 hours of community service and 14 student organizations received Presidential Honors for their service.
• The division launched a new, comprehensive, leadership development program called Voyages in fall 2005.
• The Leadership Team in Student Affairs collaborates with colleagues in the College of Professional Studies to teach the core courses for the Masters in College Student Personnel Administration Program and teaches other courses in Health, Leisure and Exercise Science, Psychology, and University Studies.
• Fourteen students graduated in the inaugural class (May 2004) of the Masters in College Student Personnel Administration.  All graduates are gainfully employed across the country.
• Student Affairs employs over 99 employees and hires over 345 students annually.  Student payroll for FY2006 was $1,373,402.00.
• The Health Leisure and Sports facility averages over 730 visits a day by students, faculty, and staff.  The maximum daily visit count has reached up to 1,675.
• The student health center sees over 7,583 students per year.
• The University has invited Alpha Chi Omega sorority and Kappa Sigma fraternity to join our campus community as part of an expansion of the Greek system.

To learn more about our services and programs, I invite you to visit the departmental webpages listed in the Student Life, Student Services, and Student Development sections. 

We are proud of our Assessment Program and invite you to learn more about the Student Learning Outcomes associated with our programs and services. As noted in Learning Reconsidered, "Such a transformative approach to teaching and learning must include the full scope of a student's life.  It cannot be accomplished in the classroom alone or out of the classroom alone"  (p. 11).

For additional information contact me at dford@uwf.edu or studentaffairs@uwf.edu.