Dr. Frank Juge and his wife Etta Jean have established the Etta Jean and Frank Juge Graduate Fellowship Endowment at UCF’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management to support education-related expenses for full-time doctoral students studying hospitality management. Their gift of $26,000 includes $25,000 for the endowment and an additional $1,000 to begin offering the Fellowship in 2015.
“We are excited that we are able to provide support for UCF students, especially Rosen College graduate students,” said Dr. Juge. “The bottom line for both of us is that we get great satisfaction in supporting UCF students to achieve their goals. This gift is a way of repaying UCF and those who supported us in our early years.”
Dr. and Mrs. Juge have a long history at UCF. He joined the Chemistry Department as a Florida Technological University (now University of Central Florida) charter faculty member in 1968. Etta Jean also joined FTU that year as charter staff, becoming the first secretary in the Chemistry Department, which is how they originally met. She rose to become the administrative assistant to the provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, then moved to Computer Services where she provided UCF faculty and staff training in technical areas like email and word processing. She received a degree in Liberal Studies and left the university to work as a technical writer, but remained strongly connected as a regular contributor to various UCF scholarships. Twelve years ago, she reunited with Dr. Juge and they married. Today, Mrs. Juge is a member of the Women’s Club at UCF and contributes regularly to their undergraduate and graduate scholarships as well as WUCF television.
Dr. Juge holds a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry and has worked in many positions at UCF, including professor, dean of Graduate Studies, associate vice president, vice provost and acting provost. ln 1975, Dr. Juge taught UCF’s first course on the chemistry of wine and winemaking. He transferred to Rosen College in 2003, where he currently teaches Exploring Wines of the World and The History and Culture of Wine. In addition, he has guided UCF students on tours of famous wine regions around the world. He is also a certified advanced level sommelier and has made wine as a hobby. In 2012, Dr. Juge was recognized by Orlando Magazine with a Lifetime Achievement Award and inducted into their Dining Hall of Fame.
In the spirit of the couple’s affinity for wine, Mrs. Juge donated a set of wine-related photos for display in Rosen College’s Anheuser-Busch Beer & Wine Lab when the campus opened in 2004. An additional set hangs in the Partnership II building located in the Central Florida Research Park.
The Juges’ generosity and contributions are evident across the university and their endowment will enable graduate students to positively impact the field of hospitality management for decades to come.
For more information about supporting Rosen College, please visit https://hospitality.ucf.edu/donate/.