KAREN BRAY
photos provided by KAREN BRAY
In this job she works with undergraduate and graduate
students who are majoring in Environmental Science
and in Interdisciplinary Ecology. It’s an interesting fit for
her, being that her undergraduate degree was in forest
biology from an environmental college in the north east.
Here is a few more fun facts from Karen, in her own
words.
When asked about what she remembers most about
her days as a Residence Director (RD), Jim Grimm, the
Director of Housing at the time is the first person who
comes to mind. “Another person I worked with and to
this day is a close colleague, Dug Jones” Bray said. Both
of us were the RDs in the two largest residence halls so
we had to keep on top of things. I was especially proud of
the Broward Area Council. We were the most improved
area by the end of spring term.
to not allow strangers in the halls, and to not
allow people to “piggy back” into the halls. It was
a scary time, but residence hall staff worked long
hours to ensure students living in their residential
areas were safe. We had some of the highest grade
point averages that semester and had close knit
residential communities because of this situation.
So when I reflect on what has changed in higher
education and from my perspective, the university
has become more selective in admissions over the
past number of years. We have more and more
students entering UF that are high achievers. This
type of undergraduate population brings with it
many positive things, such as very motivated and
goal-focused students. Students text and don’t
seem to telephone anymore or that often. It’s
Summer was particularly interesting with Preview being
housed in Broward. The staff would develop a top ten
list of questions that new students and their parents
had aske