{"id":42785,"date":"2026-04-21T16:19:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T20:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/?p=42785"},"modified":"2026-04-21T16:21:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T20:21:27","slug":"new-study-abroad-program-earns-engineering-advisor-top-college-honor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/honors-awards\/new-study-abroad-program-earns-engineering-advisor-top-college-honor\/","title":{"rendered":"New study-abroad program earns engineering advisor top college honor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Michael
Michael Todd, an academic advisor in the Center for Student Excellence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Michael Todd, an academic advisor in the Center for Student Excellence, has won the International Educator of the Year award from the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Todd is being honored for developing an innovative new short-term study-abroad program for University of Florida engineering students called UF in England \u2014 Disasters & Triumphs in British Engineering. The program brought five students to Europe during Spring Break 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom the earliest stages of brainstorming to full program implementation, Michael has been a true collaborator and leader,\u201d noted Pingchien Neo, director of International Engineering Programs, in her nomination letter. \u201cHe approaches every idea with a clear sense of purpose to ensure that his program is not only logistically sound but also academically rigorous and culturally enriching.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Todd said the award is the culmination of many firsts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot only was\u202fthis\u202fthe first year for this\u202fprogram, but it was\u202fthe first program I had developed,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom designing the curriculum to coordinating with our partners\u202fin another country, all of it was\u202funknown territory for me and\u202fsomething I had to learn how to do along the way.\u201d 
 
It also was his first time visiting Europe. \u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLearning how to navigate a new place while also managing the\u202fstudents\u2019 experiences\u202fand overcoming logistical challenges\u202fwas\u202fsomething I had never had to do before,\u201d he said, noting he had substantial support from Neo. \u201cThe world is\u202fa wonderfully diverse place, and all\u202fstudents should have the opportunity to learn about it. International education provides\u202fan immersive way that really broadens\u202fan individual\u2019s\u202funderstanding of other cultures and people.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neo said Todd carefully designed the program to integrate cultural immersion with relevant \u2014 and global \u2014 professional development.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe students who went on the program,\u201d she said, \u201coverwhelmingly said that Michael was the key aspect to the success of the program.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emily Gunger, a Ph.D. candidate in nuclear engineering, also wrote a letter of support for Todd, noting: \u201cHis leadership transformed the way students engage with the world, offering not just an academic experience, but a truly life-changing journey.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Todd, an academic advisor in the Center for Student Excellence, has won the International Educator of the Year award from the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":42789,"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":[43,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-honors-awards","category-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42785"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42793,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42785\/revisions\/42793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}