Fall 2009 Commencement is Dec. 12
UWF will hold its fall 2009 commencement ceremonies Dec. 12 at the Pensacola Civic Center, 201 East Gregory Street in downtown Pensacola. The undergraduate ceremony for students earning bachelor’s degrees will be at 9:30 a.m. and should last about two hours. The graduate ceremony for students earning master’s, specialist’s and doctoral degrees will start at 2 p.m. and should last one to one and a half hours. Those scheduled to earn degrees should complete and submit the appropriate electronic R.S.V.P. form by Dec. 4. For more information, contact Karen Summers at Ext. 2198 or e-mail ksummers@uwf.edu. For more information, visit http://uwf.edu/commencement/. Volunteers are still needed to work at the undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies Dec. 12 at the Pensacola Civic Center.

Donate Books for Third Annual Holiday Children’s Book Drive
The English Department Writing Lab is collecting books for its Holiday Children’s Book Drive now through Dec. 4. Collection boxes are located around campus, including the Writing Lab, Building 51, Room 157 and the English Department, Building 50. The collected books will be donated to one Santa Rosa County elementary school and one Escambia County elementary school. Donations of new or lovingly read books for kindergarten through fifth grade readers can be placed in a collection box or delivered to the Writing Lab. Monetary donations are also welcome. The goal this year is to donate 1,000 books. For more information, contact Morgan Stith at Ext. 2229 or e-mail wstith@uwf.edu or call Savanna Richter at Ext. 2129.

Volunteer UWF! Sponsors Annual “2 Drives, 1 Box” Campaign
The annual “2 Drives, 1 Box” campaign, now under way, is sponsored by Volunteer UWF! The campus wide drive collects toiletries and other items for the Waterfront Rescue Mission and Manna Food Pantries as part of the National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Campaign. Collection boxes can be found all over campus and locations include: Biology Department (Building 58), Health, Leisure, and Exercise Science (Building 72), Psychology Department (Building 41), College of Professional Studies (Building. 85), John C. Pace Library, College of Business (Building. 76); College of Arts and Sciences (Building 11), SAIL Computer Lab (Building 79), Upstairs in Building 10; in the Residence Halls; and in Volunteer UWF!/Career Services (Building 19). Extra boxes are available. For more information or if your department or organization would like to participate, e-mail Tiffany Killam Jurey at tiffanyjurey@uwf.edu or call Volunteer UWF! in Career Services at Ext. 2254 or e-mail volunteer@uwf.edu.

UWF Announces New Engineering Scholarship
The University of West Florida has announced the Islamic Center of Northwest Florida has established a scholarship for Electrical and Computer Engineering Department students. A total of $10,000 will be awarded ($2,000 per year) over the next five years to students in the program.
 
"Stemming from its belief in the importance of education and helping people in need, the Islamic Center of Northwest Florida hopes to alleviate some of the financial hardship some students face and to encourage them to pursue a degree in engineering which is vital to the growth of the local economy," said to Mohamed Khabou, member of the Islamic Center of Northwest Florida board of directors and associate professor in the UWF Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. "Given the current economic downturn that affected many of our students and the extra expenses typically associated with engineering education (e.g. expensive textbooks, required personal laptop), this scholarship will help some of our bright and needy engineering students."
 
The awards will be in $500 increments and will begin the spring semester of 2010. The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department faculty will select the recipient based on an application process and award the scholarship and renew awards commensurate with UWF policies. Applicants must demonstrate financial need, as determined by the Financial Aid Office, and awards will be given to students who have declared engineering as a major and who have a minimum GPA of 3.0/4.0.

For more information, visit uwf.edu.