{"id":43127,"date":"2026-05-20T15:08:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T19:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/?p=43127"},"modified":"2026-05-21T14:20:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:20:01","slug":"one-bulletin-board-launches-a-uf-legend-angela-lindner-to-retire-after-28-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/eli\/one-bulletin-board-launches-a-uf-legend-angela-lindner-to-retire-after-28-years\/","title":{"rendered":"One\u00a0bulletin board\u00a0launches a UF legend:\u00a0Angela Lindner\u00a0to retire\u00a0after 28 years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Angela\u202fLindner,&nbsp;Ph.D., is&nbsp;retiring after&nbsp;almost 30&nbsp;years at UF.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Her journey&nbsp;was defined by resilience amid personal loss and institutional hurdles, culminating in tenure, prolific&nbsp;student\u2011support&nbsp;programs and a reputation for&nbsp;student\u2011centric, visionary leadership.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>As she steps&nbsp;away,&nbsp;colleagues contend she&nbsp;will leave&nbsp;a legacy&nbsp;of dedication,&nbsp;creativity&nbsp;and stewardship for UF\u2019s engineering community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The University of Florida\u2019s&nbsp;Angela Lindner, Ph.D., is retiring after a long &#8212; and well-respected\u2013\u2013&nbsp;career. Her journey&nbsp;wove&nbsp;deeply&nbsp;through engineering and, in fact, started with a small note on a bulletin board.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She retires from UF&nbsp;after 28 years,&nbsp;ending&nbsp;as the interim vice provost for Undergraduate Affairs in the Office of the Provost.&nbsp;She taught&nbsp;Environmental Engineering&nbsp;Sciences&nbsp;&nbsp;(ESSIE)&nbsp;in her&nbsp;early&nbsp;years&nbsp;and&nbsp;remains&nbsp;the interim director of the Engineering Leadership Institute, known as ELI.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Angela is an exceptional leader, outstanding administrator and person of great character. Her contributions to the institute\u2019s governance will leave a lasting mark, strengthening its operations and helping chart a successful course for the future,&#8221; said ELI Director William McElroy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But&nbsp;her&nbsp;journey through academia&nbsp;started in college chemistry classes&nbsp;in South&nbsp;Carolina.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After earning her&nbsp;bachelor\u2019s&nbsp;degree&nbsp;at the College of Charleston,&nbsp;Linder&nbsp;saw&nbsp;a notice about&nbsp;Texas A&amp;M\u2019s&nbsp;chemical engineering&nbsp;master\u2019s&nbsp;program&nbsp;on a bulletin board.&nbsp;Curious,&nbsp;she&nbsp;stuffed the paper into&nbsp;her pocket.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI had no idea what an&nbsp;engineer&nbsp;was or did,\u201d she&nbsp;recalled.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;It was 1983, she said,&nbsp;\u201cwomen were quite a novel concept in engineering.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There were two women in her class.&nbsp;By&nbsp;the time she finished her thesis, she was the&nbsp;only&nbsp;one.&nbsp;It was a challenge, she said, made harder by a male-dominated faculty content with the status quo.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But her love for engineering was not something&nbsp;those&nbsp;men could&nbsp;bully out of&nbsp;her.&nbsp;She continued to carve an impressive path.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Had I known I would have faced these challenges, I would not have pulled that card off the bulletin board,\u201d she said. \u201cHowever, that one act was one of the best things that could have happened to&nbsp;me.&#8221;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On&nbsp;the plus side, she met her future husband,&nbsp;fellow chemical engineer Jim,&nbsp;at Texas A&amp;M.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A&nbsp;new&nbsp;career<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After&nbsp;graduation, she&nbsp;moved&nbsp;to Michigan,&nbsp;where&nbsp;her&nbsp;now-husband, Jim, was studying chemical engineering. She worked as a chemical engineer for the&nbsp;U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. After about three years, she&nbsp;\u201cjumped the regulatory fence\u201d&nbsp;and&nbsp;worked&nbsp;for General Motors as a project engineer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDespite the glory and gold this career afforded me,\u201d she recalled, \u201cI also felt as if my work and life had little&nbsp;meaning&nbsp;beyond the singular pursuit of earning a profit for my employer.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So&nbsp;while sitting at a stoplight&nbsp;after&nbsp;work, she&nbsp;said she&nbsp;heard a voice:&nbsp;\u201cTeach undergraduate students.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She soon found herself&nbsp;in&nbsp;the University of Michigan\u2019s&nbsp;environmental&nbsp;engineering&nbsp;doctoral&nbsp;program.&nbsp;Older than her fellow&nbsp;students, she&nbsp;graduated in 1998&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;\u201cseeking&nbsp;a college or university that truly valued excellence in teaching,\u201d she&nbsp;said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lindner&nbsp;chose&nbsp;UF\u2019s offer&nbsp;over&nbsp;a small liberal arts college&nbsp;and never&nbsp;looked&nbsp;back.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>From&nbsp;faculty to&nbsp;administrator<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2026\/05\/Angela-Lindner-Headshot.webp\" alt=\"Angela Lindner, Ph.D.\" class=\"wp-image-43133\" style=\"width:300px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2026\/05\/Angela-Lindner-Headshot.webp 500w, https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2026\/05\/Angela-Lindner-Headshot-150x150.webp 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Lindner&nbsp;was a faculty member&nbsp;who&nbsp;also wrote&nbsp;grants and&nbsp;papers&nbsp;\u2014 all while&nbsp;caring for her terminally ill father and sister.&nbsp;She spent much of her first three years&nbsp;on&nbsp;her laptop&nbsp;at&nbsp;the hospital.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her father and sister&nbsp;died&nbsp;in&nbsp;the early 2000s. \u201cThe bathroom stall in the New Engineering Building where my office was located became the place for grieving,\u201d she&nbsp;recalled.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She&nbsp;assembled&nbsp;a&nbsp;tenure and promotion&nbsp;packet,&nbsp;but&nbsp;it&nbsp;was denied by&nbsp;Dean Pramod Khargonekar, Ph.D.,&nbsp;because she and her students had only published 12 papers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Years of pent-up stress from caregiving and work all \u201cunleashed in the form of sobs in Dr. Khargonekar\u2019s office.\u201d&nbsp;She walked out certain&nbsp;she needed a new job.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Khargonekar consulted&nbsp;then-provost&nbsp;David Colburn, Ph.D., who suggested,&nbsp;\u201cGive her six months to see what she can publish.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Challenge accepted. And&nbsp;the next time she visited Khargonekar\u2019s office, she&nbsp;left&nbsp;with&nbsp;tenure&nbsp;and a promotion.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis experience showed me the influence that an administrator can have on the quality of life for faculty,&nbsp;staff&nbsp;and students. I became&nbsp;\u2018administration-curious\u2019&nbsp;as a result,\u201d&nbsp;she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;2008, Khargonekar&nbsp;hired&nbsp;Lindner&nbsp;as an&nbsp;associate&nbsp;dean for Engineering Student&nbsp;Affairs.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She&nbsp;remains&nbsp;ELI\u2019s interim director&nbsp;and served as&nbsp;associate provost of Undergraduate Affairs. She also&nbsp;developed&nbsp;Engineers Without Borders-UF, Attributes of a Gator Engineer, the Gator Engineering @ Santa Fe Program, the UF QUEST&nbsp;program and UF Student Success (now Undergraduate Education and Student Success).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cToday, teaching is cleaner and more streamlined,\u201d she said. &#8220;The many different resources to support instructors make it easier to focus on what matters most: students and&nbsp;their learning.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Now what?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After&nbsp;a brief&nbsp;break, she will&nbsp;serve&nbsp;as&nbsp;executive&nbsp;director for the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/learningwell.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LearningWell&nbsp;Coalition<\/a>,&nbsp;an organization dedicated to advancing higher education.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She and&nbsp;her husband&nbsp;will&nbsp;stay in Gainesville,&nbsp;where she&nbsp;plans&nbsp;to&nbsp;start&nbsp;playing piano again,&nbsp;years after changing her&nbsp;college&nbsp;major from&nbsp;piano to&nbsp;chemistry. And she plans to \u201cavidly\u201d practice mosaic art in her home studio,&nbsp;as well&nbsp;as&nbsp;volunteering&nbsp;and&nbsp;enjoying&nbsp;their two adopted,&nbsp;former racing greyhounds.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEnding my career as interim&nbsp;director of the Engineering Leadership Institute&nbsp;has been a privilege and blessing for me,\u201d she said. \u201cI leave UF having nothing but the utmost respect for the ELI team.&nbsp;The student-centered work of this&nbsp;institute&nbsp;is more important than ever given the constant shifting of the workplace catalyzed by artificial intelligence.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Forrest Masters, Ph.D., former interim&nbsp;college dean, said Lindner was an obvious choice to lead ELI.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAngela&nbsp;is one of those rare individuals who perfectly balances execution with poise and is someone who people naturally trust,&#8221; said Masters, now the&nbsp;Kearney Dean of Engineering at&nbsp;Oregon State University.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Make no&nbsp;mistake,&nbsp;her impact will be missed in many corners of UF.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAngela was incredibly dedicated to her work of enriching the undergraduate academic experience and supporting students\u2019 success,\u201d said UF&nbsp;Interim Provost Joe Glover.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHer commitment, creativity and vision for what undergraduate education can be will continue to benefit our students and guide our university for years to come.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Idalis Villanueva, chair of the&nbsp;Department of&nbsp;Engineering Education,&nbsp;agrees.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Dr. Lindner&nbsp;has&nbsp;been&nbsp;the heart and soul of the University of Florida,&nbsp;the Herbert&nbsp;Wertheim College of Engineering, the Engineering Leadership Institute and the Department of Engineering Education,\u201d she said. \u201cHer driven and&nbsp;humane&nbsp;leadership brings together people of all&nbsp;walks of life&nbsp;to serve our students. She will be missed.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Angela\u202fLindner, Ph.D., is retiring after almost 30 years at UF.\u00a0\u00a0Her journey was defined by resilience amid personal loss and institutional hurdles, culminating in tenure, prolific student\u2011support programs and a reputation for student\u2011centric, visionary leadership.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2592,"featured_media":43131,"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":[17,29,31,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eed","category-eli","category-essie","category-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43127","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\/2592"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43127"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43149,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43127\/revisions\/43149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}