CLAS Professor to lead UF Quest

A UF professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will serve as the new leader of the University of Florida’s signature core undergraduate education program.

Dr. Rick Stepp, a UF professor of Anthropology and Latin American Studies, is the new interim director of UF Quest, the Office of the Provost announced in January.

“Rick has been a key contributor to the development of UF Quest and a strong advocate for the program,“ said Dr. Angela Linder, interim vice provost for undergraduate affairs. “I can’t wait to see how he joins his colleagues in making the program even more meaningful to students and their UF experience.”

UF Quest is the university wide effort to enhance education through the four-year undergraduate experience. First-year students focus on essential questions in the humanities, moving in ensuing years to pressing issues in the social sciences, experiential learning and, in senior year, to a capstone project. 

With an emphasis on small classes and personal interactions with faculty, UF Quest was conceived in 2015 and launched in 2019. Next fall’s debut of Quest 3 will be followed by Quest 4, expected to be piloted next year.

Dr. Stepp led the development of the Quest 3 experiential learning academic requirement, which is scheduled to launch in the Warrington College of Business and selected departments of other colleges in Fall 2025. He is a core faculty member of the Tropical Conservation and Development Program and the Land Use and Environmental Change Institute, an affiliate faculty member of the School of Natural Resources and Environment and has served as president of the Society for Ethnobotany and the International Society of Ethnobiology. 

“Our long-term goal is for all UF students to grapple with the intellectual, social and real-life questions that they will face as adults — not just by learning but also by doing,” Dr. Stepp said. “We’ve received a lot of national attention for our progress so far, and I greatly look forward to joining my colleagues at UF Quest and across UF in continuing to grow and develop this hallmark program.”

Dr. Stepp will serve a one-year, renewable term. He is the second director of UF Quest, succeeding Dr. Andrew Wolpert, UF Associate Professor of Classics, who served from 2019 to 2023.