Med school official fired over allegations

A UCF medical school administratorwas fired after being accused of using his influence to try to land university jobs for his wife and a friend, accepting free gifts from vendors andbeing hostile to female employees, school documents show.

A week after his firing, his wife called authorities and reported that Gerard Aubert, 54, had punched her after he had been drinking all day, according to anOrange CountySheriff’s Office arrest affidavit. Aubert was arrested on a domestic violence battery charge.

Aubert was terminated fromUCF on Aug. 23 after he faced several allegations of misconduct and refused to resign from his $222,881 a year position as an associate vice president, according to human resource documents released this week by the University of Central Florida. He was responsible for overseeing the medical school’s IT and health information services.

“Mr. Aubert used his position and influence to try to get his wife a job at UCF,” said a July 25 memorandum from UCF’s Compliance, Ethics and Risk Office.

In numerous emails, Aubert asked UCF employees to consider his wife for a position, the memo said.

“One email included a position for which he was on the search committee and later removed,” the report said.

Eventually, his wife, Nanette Liberty Aubert, was hired by theUCFCollege of Engineering, although Aubert “claims that he had nothing to do with the hire,” the report said.

Nanette Aubert, whose salary is $87,000 a year, started July 11 as an academic support services director, according to aUCF spokeswoman.

When reached Thursday, Nanette Aubert declined to comment and said her husband was unavailable.

The university Gerard Aubert improperly solicited and accepted free gifts from UCF vendors from September 2014 to May 2016, according to the July 25 memo.

He played rounds of golf paid for by vendors and accepted free meals and tickets to events, the memo said.

Aubert also circumvented the proper hiring process toemploy a friend, the memo said. The friend, who was already a UCF employee before being hired by Aubert, is not named in the report.

The school said Aubert discriminated against his female employees and retaliated against them, according to a second report from UCF’s Compliance, EthicsandRisk Office prepared by the Title IX coordinator.

Aubert “has a pattern of hostility towards women and that [Aubert’s] behavior have demonstrated he lacks the ability to conduct himself with civility and professionalism in the office,” the office’s investigative report said.

Some of the employees’ complaints against him came a few months after hewas hired by the school in February 2014. Aubert also determined