The USF St. Petersburg campus is an urban university that aims to integrate seamlessly into the fabric of the city and region, thereby increasing prosperity for students, businesses and the public. This community roundup series intends to shed light on the ways that our campus hosts community and ways USF faculty, staff, students and administration are active in the community every day. If you’d like to engage the USF St. Petersburg campus, or are a campus staff, faculty or student interested in ways to engage in the community, please contact Caryn Nesmith, Community Relations Director, and follow the new campus community relations Facebook page.
Three mayors discuss the State of the Bay in 2023
Suncoast Tiger Bay Club, a non-partisan political club that aims to foster a better understanding of public issues, kicked off its 45th season on the USF St. Petersburg campus on January 3 with its annual "State of the Bay" event featuring St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard. Over 200 people attended the event, which was moderated by publisher of the St. Pete Catalyst Joe Hamilton. The leaders touched on topics relevant across the Tampa Bay region like the future home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team, the redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District, the proposal for a new Moffit Cancer Center in downtown St. Petersburg, renovations for the St. Petersburg Municipal Marina and regional transportation. Read more about the event here.
Civic Engagement Fair brings community to campus
More than a dozen community partners came out to share intern and volunteer opportunities with our USF St. Petersburg campus students as part of the Spring 2023 semester’s Civic Engagement Fair and Get On Board Day, which saw student clubs and organizations tabling as well. Lots of energy and synergy was seen. Community partners in attendance included CASA, Tampa Bay Watch, Creative Clay, AARP Tampa Bay, Ronald McDonald House, People Empowering & Restoring Communities, Keep Pinellas Beautiful, The Edible Peace Patch, the Supervisor of Elections, Hope Villages of America, Big Brother’s Big Sisters, Friends of Strays and Creative Clay.
Annual State of Science highlights Innovation District successes, research
On January 11, the St. Petersburg Innovation District’s 5th annual State of Science event updated the public on District successes over the past year, including the opening of the Maritime and Defense Technology Hub adjacent to campus in February 2022. The Hub is now home to 21 organizations in a collaborative environment intended to capitalize on proximity to catalyze innovation. The event also showcased five innovators who had only six minutes each to present their research or interesting applications of technology in life sciences, education and marine science. Speakers included: Mary Losacco, who described Bayfront Health’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) to decrease intervention times for stroke patients; USF’s College of Education Dean David Rosengrant, who describedhow students can learn challenging physics concepts through augmented reality; Natalie Sawaya, USF College of Marine Science doctoral student, who described her research on viruses that are critical to the marine environment; Ben Minichino, Pole Star Global president, who described how Polestar serves the U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security and other clients by managing 75 million ship position reports daily; and Saildrone’s Richard Goosen described the company’s overseas ocean mapping efforts. The USF St. Petersburg campus is a founding member of the Innovation District, whose mission is to foster job growth, economic development, learning and inspiration by bringing innovative people together.
Recognizing area students who keep MLK’s dream alive
During an inspirational ceremony at the USF St. Petersburg campus on January 12, more than 15 youth from throughout Pinellas County were recognized for advancing the ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle, high school and college students were celebrated for overcoming adversity, fighting for social justice and lifting up their communities. The fourth annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Awards Banquet drew nearly 100 people to the USF St. Petersburg campus for an evening filled with powerful talks, messages about the meaning of Dr. King’s life and an award presentation to students following in his footsteps. Music from Gibbs High School Jazz Band added to the festivities. Read more here.
St. Petersburg celebrates USF President’s Investiture
On January 17, USF St. Petersburg campus and the community came together to celebrate the investiture of USF president Rhea Law. The event was part of several in a weeklong celebration that culminated with a ceremony in Tampa on January 19. St Pete community leaders attending displayed their Bull pride and included U.S. Representative Kathy Castor, Mayor Ken Welch, St Petersburg City Council members Gina Driscoll and Ed Montanari, St. Petersburg Innovation District members, St Petersburg Chamber-Commerce members, St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership members and representatives from local organizations and businesses like Duke Energy, Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services Inc, Community Foundation Tampa Bay and so many more. Read more here.
Mayor’s presents vision at State of the City event
USF President Rhea Law and USF St. Petersburg campus Regional Chancellor attended St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch's State of the City on January 28, where he announced the selection of the Hines/Tampa Bay Rays proposal for redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District. We’re excited for collaboration opportunities with the redevelopment. We especially loved seeing campus student leader Nathan Poinsette in the We Are St. Pete Vision Video.
USF’s Customer Experience Lab analyzes nonprofit landscapes, captures perceptions on flood risks
Pinellas Community Foundation has joined with the St. Petersburg Foundation and experts at the University of South Florida Muma College of Business’ Customer Experience Lab to create a robust survey that allows us to better understand the status, pandemic experiences, needs and challenges of nonprofit organizations by size, sector and mission focus. The initiative follows up and expands upon the 2018 Pinellas County Nonprofit Scan and Survey, commissioned by the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg. The 2022 survey is designed to be completed once per organization by the executive director, CEO, chairperson, or the person with the deepest knowledge of current organizational dynamics. It is open to Pinellas County-based nonprofits as well as those providing significant services to county residents. Survey results will be released in Spring 2023, with deeper dives on specific topics released throughout the year. USF’s Customer Experience Lab also partners annually with Neptune Flood, a St. Petersburg-based firm that is the largest private flood insurance company in the nation, on an survey that aims to gather consumer perceptions and attitudes, gives insight into how people think about flood insurance. This year’s survey continued to highlight the continued need for education about flood risk and flood insurance. Read more about the nonprofit survey here and the flood risk survey here.
Campus hosts Pinellas County Schools’ first ever elementary, middle and high school leadership summits
Hundreds of elementary and middle schoolers from Pinellas County Schools each spent two days on the USF St. Petersburg campus for the first-ever PCS student leadership summit. Over 300 4th and 5th graders from 78 schools participated, along with parent chaperones and teachers. Part of getting to college is being able to picture yourself on a campus. For one activity, these students did a scavenger hunt around campus taking pictures with iPads, literally “picturing themselves” here. Kudos to our amazing Pinellas Access to Higher Education (PATHe) team for bringing this to campus. In March, hundreds of high school students will visit the campus through this program. Read more about the summits here.