Bernie Machen

James Bernard Machen (born March 26, 1944) is an American university professor and administrator.

Machen is a native of Mississippi, and earned several academic degrees before becoming a university administrator and president.

Machen had been the president of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah and the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

He also sits on the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute's Board of Trustees.

Machen was born in Greenwood, Mississippi in 1944, and grew up in Saint Louis, Missouri.

He graduated from Vanderbilt University with his bachelor's degree in 1966, and was a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity (Alpha Psi Chapter).

He also graduated from Saint Louis University with his doctor of dental surgery degree in 1968, from the University of Iowa with a Master of Science degree in pediatric dentistry in 1972 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in educational psychology in 1974.

Before Utah and Florida, Machen was employed in various capacities as professor and administrator by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Michigan.

Additionally, he served in various ways with the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Association of Dental Schools.

While serving as the president of the University of Utah, Machen served on the board of trustees of the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

He is a retired U.S. Army major.

When Machen was hired by the University of Florida in 2003, his contract stated he would be eligible, after five years, to receive either a one-year sabbatical (paid leave) or receive the $450,000 bonus in addition to his annual salary.

During Florida's 2004 search that resulted in the hiring of new head football coach Urban Meyer, it was speculated that Machen's relationship with Meyer might play a role in the selection.

Machen was the president at Utah when Meyer was hired as head coach there.

During Machen's term, in 2006, the University of Florida came to agreement with Graduate Assistants United (GAU) to begin providing fully subsidized health care to graduate assistants.

GAU is a labor union that represents graduate workers, teaching or research assistants, at UF.

GAU negotiated with the administration to include the new program, in their collective bargaining agreement - the culmination of a long GAU campaign.

The University of Florida's Graduate Student Council (GSC), an advocacy/student government group, had also worked to bring the issue to the administration's attention and with GAU had representatives on an advisory committee that reviewed bids from insurance companies.

Machen received a base salary of $432,808 and $285,000 in annual performance bonuses, with his total annual compensation equalling $751,000, the fourth largest salary in the country for a public university president in 2007.

He has been criticized for reducing funding to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences by both faculty and other administrators.

However, in December 2008, Machen announced that he would give his yearly bonus of $285,000 back to the University of Florida with the stipulation that the money had to be used to help fund the Florida Opportunity Scholars Program.

In January 2009 Machen announced his initiative to increase diversity in the University of Florida's faculty.

His leadership was instrumental in creating a Council on Diversity that will be in charge of collecting and analyzing data from different colleges and departments, as well as proposing policies to increase diversity around the university.

In February 2009, Machen and the board of trustees stipulated that they are going to have the University of Florida go through a major transition.

The board of trustees supported the reduction of the number of undergraduates and shifting resources to graduate education and research in the future.

In January 2009, Machen chose to take $400,000 in four annual installments, but after receiving the first $100,000 installment in 2009, it was realized that the four-year payment plan would require Machen to pay federal income taxes on all four installments at the time of the first installment payment.

In Fall 2010, Machen and Provost Joseph Glover were at the head of an effort to institute block tuition at the University of Florida.

In replacement of having students pay by credit hour, students would have been charged a flat-rate fee analogous to 15 credits for full-time undergraduate students regardless of whether they take 12, 15 or 18 credits.

The measure to submit proposals for this switch was approved by the Florida Board of Governors in November and would result in an 8 percent increase to state tuition, and an average 7 percent increase imposed by UF, which brings the total increase to 15 percent.

The switch was estimated at bringing in $4 million of extra recurring revenue annually for the university.

UF is the only university in the state that has expressed a desire to pursue block tuition.

In March 2010, the board of trustees voted to pay the remaining three installments in a single lump sum so that Machen might avoid further negative tax consequences.

With the addition of the $300,000 lump-sum payment to his base salary and annual performance bonus, Machen's total compensation was approximately $1,050,000 in 2010.

On June 8, 2012, Machen announced he would be stepping down as president in 2013.

However, Machen was asked by state and university leaders to stay on, as the school had not yet found a suitable replacement.

In an email to University of Florida staff dated June 8, 2012, Machen announced that he informed UF's board of trustees of his intention to step down as president of the University of Florida next year.

Machen stated his commitment to continuing leadership during the transition to a new university president.

However, on January 8, by the request of Florida Governor Rick Scott, Machen decided to stay on as president of the university.

He was finally succeeded by W. Kent Fuchs on January 1, 2015.

He was succeeded by W. Kent Fuchs on January 1, 2015.