President J. Bernard Machen
The University of Florida Board of Trustees unanimously elected Dr. James Bernard Machen as the university's 11th president on Oct. 8, 2003. Dr. Machen, who previously served as president of the University of Utah, assumed his new position on Jan. 5, 2004.
Prior to his tenure at Utah, Dr. Machen was the provost and vice president for academic affairs and dean of the School of Dentistry at the University of Michigan. He served as an assistant and an associate dean in the School of Dentistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He held faculty appointments as associate professor and professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. He attended Vanderbilt University and received his doctor of dental surgery degree from St. Louis University. He also has a master's in pediatric dentistry and a doctorate in educational psychology, both from the University of Iowa. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry and was president of the American Association of Dental Schools. He also served on the Board of Trustees of the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Committee. He has academic interests in national health policy. Dr. Machen and his wife, Chris, are the parents of three children.