A Message from our President

Welcome to the University of Florida’s Association for Academic Women!

Since 1974, the Association for Academic Women (AAW) has enjoyed a rich history with extraordinary women in faculty, administrative and professional roles across campus for the purposes of networking and sharing meaningful information and experiences that are beneficial to women of the University of Florida. The founders of the University of Florida’s AAW were instrumental in offering women further opportunities in tenure, promotion and advancement to leadership roles. Although we’ve made great progress, we still have barriers to overcome the underrepresentation of women in the senior leadership positions in the academia.

Women face unique challenges along the arc of their academic careers: battling gender-specific stereotypes and, more gravely, the realities of sexual harassment. Today, AAW continues to strive to address this issues and to empower UF women for the utmost success in each stage of their careers here at the university. AAW endeavors to serve professional women with events including a variety of topics from negotiating salary increases and promotion to retirement talks across the age spectrum and career stages. In addition to programming, we believe networking is vital for growth and exposure to strong female role models can offer encouragement in women’s professional ambitions. We therefore facilitate opportunities for women, both staff and faculty, across campus to network while providing mentorship and collaboration with other professional groups across the diverse UF ecosystem.

Additionally, we understand the importance in supporting young women to succeed in a system where the odds are still stacked against female academics. Each year, our membership fees support the Madelyn Lockhart Dissertation Fellowship in concert with the AAW Emerging Scholar Program honoring eligible graduate students who are completing their dissertations in their chosen fields of study.

It is our vision that with all of events we host and support that we can provide professional women on campus an environment of comradery, mentorship and advocacy.

I hope you’ll join our journey in 2022 to champion equal opportunities, economic security, and career advancements. Reach out to any of our board members for more information. We hope to see you in our next networking events!

Kendall Kroger

2023-2024 President, Association for Academic Women

Academic Assistant II of UF Quest

Department of Undergraduate Affairs

University of Florida | Provost Office |