Marketing Assistant and Graphic Designer Christina Cozart

Christina Cozart

Christina Cozart is the Marketing Assistant and Graphic Designer at the University of Florida International Center. She uses her experience in art and digital marketing training to ensure that UFIC marketing materials attract and engage the target audience.

Christina’s birthplace is Ithaca, New York, but she spent her childhood in Bolivia, where her parents met. Her grandfather had a sabbatical in the Swamp during his tenure as a Cornell professor, and her grandparents relocated to Gainesville, Florida. Since then, she has been traveling between Gainesville and Bolivia but considers Gainesville her home. Even with her international upbringing, Christina’s schooling and young life made her feel like a Floridian. 
After high school, Christina started at Santa Fe College but soon followed her sister’s lead to Brigham (BYU) Young University in Provo, Utah. Christina decided to study fine arts. She focused on lithography, a method of printing from a flat surface (such as a smooth stone or metal plate) that has been prepared so that only the areas meant to print will take ink. “I had great teachers who shared their passion for printmaking and encouraged me in my artistic endeavors,” said Christina about her decision to pursue art.

Christina returned to Santa Fe College, where her experience got her accepted into their Graphic Design Technology AS program, an exclusive program that only admits about fifteen students per semester. At Santa Fe, Christina used her art background more practically, learning how to maneuver many of the most popular graphic design programs and learning the basics of advertising and marketing that she would continue to utilize throughout her career.

Christina started a job with UF as an intern with the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, helping publish their campus-wide magazine and helping with the layout and artistic design of their various marketing materials. In 2008, she worked as an adjunct instructor with the College of Journalism and Communications in copy and visualization, “I got to expose the students to what is needed to become and work in marketing.” She later became the Lead Graphic Designer at the Levy County Journal and then Production Manager with the Independent Florida Alligator, where she continued working with students.

All her experiences led her back to working at UF, this time in 2019 with the International Center. Her primary job responsibilities are graphic design for all marketing materials from the center, from our annual reports to pamphlets, stickers, and all types of graphics on promo items. Christina is happy to be using her artistic background in a meaningful way. She thinks about her job as a challenge to take the big ideas and complicated work of the International Center and distill it down to the essence of what will compel people to interact with our materials, “It’s like putting together puzzle pieces,” she said of helping get the essential information on the page but using her art and advertising background to engage people. “My objective as a graphic designer is to attract the audience to pick up the materials and look at it.”

Christina lives in Micanopy with her husband of 17 years, Lance, and their two boys. The family loves watching movies, cooking, and taking advantage of any free time to rest and relax at home. Christina loves working at the International Center and fondly remembers her own experience of studying abroad. When asked about her advice to students considering a study abroad program, Christina says, “Go!” She went on a 6-week program, touring Europe with the BYU Art Department, and recalls the beauty and history of all the spots they visited from London to Rome to Paris. She got out in the world and saw the historic, artistic spots in Europe with her own eyes. She took time to draw and watercolor the natural beauty she witnessed on her trip. She said it was a life-changing experience that she would recommend to anyone.

Thank you, Christina, for making a world of difference at UF!

Story by: Terrence Funke 
Photos: Will Collante