UF’s Soltis named SEC Professor of the Year

UF's Dr. Pam Soltis was named the 2023 SEC Professor of the Year.
UF's Dr. Pam Soltis was named the 2023 SEC Professor of the Year.
Courtesy of UF

UF’s Dr. Pamela Soltis has been named the 2023 Southeastern Conference (SEC) Professor of the Year.

In a UF press release sent Wednesday, Soltis became UF’s first SEC Professor of the Year honoree.

Soltis, a curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History and a distinguished professor, has been a UF faculty member since 2000. During that time, she has received over $37 million in research support and published over 400 scientific publications.

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“Dr. Soltis exemplifies innovative scholarship, excellence in teaching, and dedicated service, all of which have become synonymous with the SEC Professor of the Year designation,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey in a press release. “Our Conference is fortunate to have faculty like Dr. Soltis.”

Soltis studies biodiversity and is an internationally recognized botanist. She is well known for her recognition of the importance of polyploidy evolution — having more than two sets of chromosomes — in flowering and seed plants.

“Dr. Soltis’s game-changing research has been lauded at the very highest levels in the scientific world and represents Gator Nation in the very best way,” said UF President Ben Sasse in a press release. “Her contributions in the laboratory, the field and the classroom have moved scholarship forward significantly, and her collaborative approach has won her the respect and admiration of colleagues worldwide.

“I congratulate Dr. Soltis on her recognition as SEC Professor of the Year, and I wish her the very best as she continues to advance our understanding of plant evolution and biodiversity.”

Soltis is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. During her career, she has served as a panelist for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the European Research Council and also as an associate editor for seven scientific journals.

She has been named a U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Distinguished Professor and the UF Teacher-Scholar of the Year and, along with being a nominee for the National Medal of Science. In 2018, she won the Southeastern Universities Research Association’s Distinguished Scientist Award.

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