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. 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 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 an email to University of Florida staff dated June 8, 2012, Machen announced that he informed the UF 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 succeeded by W. Kent Fuchs on January 1, 2015. Salary 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