Dr. Joan Carroll, MAPE '84, Ph.D. '92, and Benny Vaughn, BSHSE '85, are lifelong supporters of the College of Health & Human Performance. In support of students who have demonstrated active and sustained leadership and service, they created an endowed student scholarship.

In this profile, they share more about the impact the college has had on them, their advice to students and where they go for inspiration.

What is your favorite Health & Human Performance memory? Your most memorable professor/class?

• BV: Meeting my spouse :-D
• JC: My most memorable professor not in HHP was Dr Robert Primack in the College of Education, who drilled us in the importance of critical and factual thinking, something that has been of value my entire life. My most memorable HHP professor was of course my Ph.D. mentor, Dr. Michael Pollock, who was so unselfish in giving his time and experience to all his students.

What’s your best advice to current students/graduating seniors/graduate students?

As if the last six months hasn’t already proven this true, you will see so many changes in your career. Use your time at UF to train well to be able to adapt to the many changes that you will see.

What does UF mean to you?

It feels like coming home whenever we visit.

How is UF/HHP different from when you were a student?

The changes in the last few decades have been enormous! During this time, HHP made the successful leap from the original and traditional physical education/health education/teaching curricula to high powered research disciplines in all departments. The facilities have expanded, the faculty is growing with more diversity, and the outlook is ever forward.

What inspired you to establish the Benny Vaugh & Dr. Joan Carroll Graduate Scholarship?

We attended one of the scholarship luncheons and were so inspired by the quality and caliber of the scholarship recipients that we decided to start a scholarship of our own.

What inspired you to make a planned gift?

It seemed like a natural outgrowth of doing a yearly scholarship. Student needs will get greater each year and we wanted to be part of an ongoing solution.

What have you enjoyed most about supporting HHP students?

Aside from the inspiration that the current generation of scholars provides to us, we value the opportunity to pass on the good fortune we had to obtain our education at UF.

Where do you go for inspiration?

On the road, to see more of our world and its people

Who are your heroes?

Broadly speaking, our heroes are those who stand up to fight for justice and progress in our society, whether that is for women, against racism, for environmental preservation and justice.

Did you ever think you would end up where you are now?

Never! Life has not been a straight line, but there are no regrets. Education is so important to prepare us to adapt to all the changes that will come our way.

 [Profile added in 2020]

Learn how you can make an impact. Contact Lesley Watt (lthurston@ufl.edu / 352.294.1650) to consider establishing a legacy that helps the college, its students and faculty, continue a commitment to solving health problems, advancing human performance and enriching the quality of life for all.