{"id":41499,"date":"2025-10-03T11:11:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T15:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/?p=41499"},"modified":"2025-10-03T11:13:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T15:13:21","slug":"former-mayor-diehard-gator-returns-to-campus-to-spark-student-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/alumni-spotlight\/former-mayor-diehard-gator-returns-to-campus-to-spark-student-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Former mayor, diehard Gator returns to campus to spark student leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Growing up in Gainesville with a professor father, Pegeen Hanrahan adored going to the University of Florida Engineering Fair each year. It was a beloved family tradition that shaped her love of engineering and, certainly, the Gators.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She went on to earn two bachelor\u2019s degrees and a master\u2019s in environmental engineering sciences from UF. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her engineering skills served her well as a Gainesville city commissioner and, later, the mayor. She had a unique perspective on growth, the environment, and the balance therein. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this week, Hanrahan returned to the halls of UF engineering as the Fall 2025 Linda Parker Hudson Leader in Residence. Hosted by UF\u2019s Engineering Leadership Institute (ELI), the program selects leaders from industry, government and higher education to connect with UF engineering students about leadership, industry and engineering in the public interest.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Hanrahan \u2014 ever the Gator \u2014 was all about it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis really makes my heart happy to see the future of engineering is in such good hands,\u201d she told student leaders on Wednesday during one of three engineering student discussions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Don\u2019t just go to class, look up.<\/p>\n<\/span>– Pegeen Hanrahan, Former Mayor of the City of Gainesville<\/span><\/span><\/blockquote><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The day\u2019s theme was leadership, and Hanrahan\u2019s messages were simple and powerful:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • UF engineering students are the best of the best at one of the nation\u2019s top universities.  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Armed with problem-solving skills, engineers make great leaders.  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Apply those skills early. Get involved in community groups and civic boards.  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        \u201cDon\u2019t just go to class, look up,\u201d she said. \u201cEngineering provides a great background for being a leader \u2014 how you approach problems and solutions.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        She said she was one of the few female engineering students in the department in the late 1980s and early \u201890s, and she described how engineering often helped her in public office. As a Gainesville elected official, she proposed \u2014 and wrote the initial grants for \u2014 restoring 30 acres of contaminated land near the old downtown train depot and converting it into the now-thriving Depot Park. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        In a nice full-circle moment, the depot venue was where this week\u2019s Leadership-in-Residence program started. The Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering on Tuesday hosted a dinner and fireside chat at the park with Hanrahan and former UF College of Engineering Dean Cammy Abernathy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        In that presentation and in Wednesday\u2019s meetings with students, Hanrahan was asked often about how her background in environmental engineering informed her time as a city commissioner and mayor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \u201cEngineering taught me ways of thinking about problems. You start by getting all of the accurate information. You learn context for that information. You analyze alternatives, you multiply everything by two,\u201d said Hanrahan, now the associate director of Conservation Finance for the Trust for Public Land for the Southeastern United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \u201cPolitics,\u201d she added, \u201cis very data-driven now.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        On Wednesday, Hanrahan spoke to several groups of student leaders and met with College of Engineering Interim Dean Warren Dixon. She also spoke at a lunch session for selected faculty members, discussing \u201cEngineering Leadership and Protection of Public Health, Safety and Welfare.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The namesake and donor of the Linda Parker Hudson Engineering Leader-in-Residence program was one of the first female leaders in the defense industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        A UF systems engineering graduate who served as CEO of BAE Systems and, later, The Cardea Group, Hudson started the leadership-in-residence program in 2015 at UF\u2019s College of Engineering. She wanted to pair industry, government and higher-education leaders with UF engineering students to encourage them to become world-class leaders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        A Gainesville resident, Hudson is also an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering. She was listed as one of Fortune magazine\u2019s 50 Most Powerful Women and one of the Washington Business Journal\u2019s Power 100.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        In 2017, Hudson was honored as UF Gator of the Year in recognition of her successful career and unflinching service to her alma mater. She is also a member of the College of Engineering Industrial Advisory Board and chair of ELI\u2019s Advisory Board.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        ELI selected Hanrahan and hosted this week\u2019s events. Hanrahan was selected as the leader-in-residence this year because of her longstanding support of her alma mater, engineering background, political savvy, communication skills and success in multiple fields.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        With the Trust for Public Land, Hanrahan works with Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana and Tennessee. She has worked to pass 35 state and local ballot measures with a 94% win rate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        She was a Gainesville commissioner from 1996 to 2002, entering public office at age 29. She served as Gainesville\u2019s mayor from 2004 to 2010. She also served as president of the Florida League of Mayors, on the Board of the Florida League of Cities and Mayors Innovation Project, and as chair of the Alachua County Library District and the Alachua County Metropolitan Planning.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Hanrahan\u2019s board service includes UF\u2019s Bob Graham Center for Public Service, Florida State University\u2019s LeRoy Collins Institute, the Alachua Conservation Trust and The Wagmore Foundation. She has won Audubon Florida\u2019s Women in Conservation award, the Gateway Girl Scouts\u2019 Women Who Make a Difference award, Sante Fe College\u2019s Women of Distinction honor and Equality Florida\u2019s Voice for Equality award.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \u201cShe is a prime example of what leadership can do for you,\u201d said fourth-year engineering student Sebastian Sobrino-Gonzalez, who attended one of Hanrahan\u2019s sessions as a UF Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers representative. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Growing up in Gainesville with a professor father, Pegeen Hanrahan adored going to the University of Florida Engineering Fair each year. It was a beloved family tradition that shaped her love of engineering and, certainly, the Gators.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":41501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-templates\/single-sidebar-none.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"featured_post":"off","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-spotlight","category-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFormer mayor, diehard Gator returns to campus to spark student leadership - News from Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/alumni-spotlight\/former-mayor-diehard-gator-returns-to-campus-to-spark-student-leadership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former mayor, diehard Gator returns to campus to spark student leadership - News from Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Growing up in Gainesville with a professor father, Pegeen Hanrahan adored going to the University of Florida Engineering Fair each year. 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