Events and Initiatives
Community Events
Each semester, the campus comes alive with exciting events, many of which are community facing. Below are annual signature community events.
Exact dates of major events are updated each semester and are available on the Signature Events page and Events Calendar.
Bulls and Brews
This annual October event along the waterfront that raises funds for campus student scholarships. The community is invited to come together and celebrate the spirit of the USF’s St. Petersburg campus while making an extraordinary impact on the future of education.
Halloween Fest
An annual family focused event in partnership with the City of St. Petersburg and Bayfront Health. Hundreds of families come to campus for educationally themed spooky activities, a Not-So-Haunted Library, costume contests, trunk or treating and ghoulish revelry.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Scholar Citizens Award Banquet
Every year students throughout Pinellas County are honored for their commitment and dedication to community service, volunteerism, social justice and civil rights, as well as perseverance in overcoming challenges.
Poetry Out Loud Florida
A national poetry recitation competition that provides high school students an opportunity to read and recite great poems while enhancing their public speaking skills. Approximately 50 Florida high schools and around 6,000 students take part each year. Each school’s winner is invited to compete at the state competition held at USF St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg Science Festival
An annual February celebration where families and the public can explore the wonders of hands-on science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM). The event is held in conjunction with MarineQuest, the annual open house of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.
St. Petersburg Conference on World Affairs
SPCWA brings together diplomats, military, media, scientists and experts in many fields to work collaboratively at better understanding and operating in the world to campus annually in February. It was founded in 2013, by former U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Douglas McElhaney and Professor Thomas Smith.
Previous initiatives
Mayor's Team Accelerate STEM Day
Kicking off Grand Prix of St. Petersburg weekend, USF St. Peterburg was a partner in bringing 85 students to campus from John Hopkins Middle School, Bay Point Middle School, Thurgood Marshall Middle School and St. Petersburg Parks & Recreation therapeutic recreation for Mayor Ken Welch’s Team Accelerate Grand Prix STEM Day. The day began on campus with an activity organized by the Pinellas Access to Higher Education (PATHe) team, which focused on future careers, followed by a welcome from Mayor Ken Welch.
Then, students rotated between three activities: in the STEM Lab of the College of Education teams competed in a design competition using 3D modeling software; in the dining hall, students got to taste a bit of college life, including a dorm room tour; and in the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library Student Technology Center, students toured the makerspace, watched a demo 3D scanning of a race car, put together snap circuits in order to make an engine rev and built a catapult. The visit was a precursor for an afternoon tour of the Grand Prix, making the day an inspiring one filled with hands-on activities and valuable insights into STEM education and careers.
Employer Focus Group
As a unique way to engage community in dialogue, in Summer 2023, the Office of Community Relations invited regional-area employers in sectors or fields correlated to USF St. Petersburg campus’ most popular majors to participate in a series of focus groups.
Utilizing the Customer Experience Lab at USF’s Muma College of Business, the focus groups convened industry employers with the aim to:
- confirm skills and competencies needed to enter the local workforce within particular sectors;
- assess experiences of local employers who hire university/USF students in terms of their level of preparedness to meet the needs for said skills and competencies
- determine gaps and what would be needed to address them
Sessions included industry leaders and hiring agents in Journalism, Media and Communication; Criminal Justice; Business and Financial Services; Marine Biology and Environmental Sciences; Creative Arts/ Design; and Health Sciences.
Risk to Resiliance Lab
The Trafficking in Persons Risk to Resilience Lab launched in the Fall of 2021 on the St. Petersburg campus, as part of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. In 2023, the TIP Lab received authorization by the Florida legislature to create the Statewide Repository for Anonymous Human Trafficking Data and mandates that state agencies share human trafficking incidence data with the USF TIP Lab, an important step toward transforming Tampa Bay and the state of Florida into a region that’s resilient to human trafficking.