Highest Priorities
Supporting any of the areas at the USF St. Petersburg campus is giving support campus-wide. Whether you choose to invest in scholarships for our students, academic programs, faculty research, or physical space your support makes possible the stellar educational and university experience provided to our students. Below you can read more to learn about our different priorities.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
While many universities take an interest in service learning and engagement, the USF St. Petersburg campus has a special commitment to do so. In fact, it is one of only 170 institutions in the country to receive the Carnegie Foundation’s designation for community engagement.
By providing hands-on experiences and opportunities for students to learn both inside and outside of the classroom, USF's St. Petersburg campus makes their time more impactful by bringing them closer to knowing what they want to do in the world and preparing them to do it well.
SPOTLIGHT: EMMA ROBERSON
Emma Roberson, a USF St. Petersburg alumna who majored in Interdisciplinary Social Science took a study abroad opportunity to Vietnam. “USF in Vietnam: Society, Energy & Humanity is about forming a relationship with the country and the people. They really want to open up and get to know Americans as much as we want to know them.” The USF in Vietnam class provides a deep cultural immersion that helps students better understand the country and its people. Students spent their time attending classes in the morning and afternoons learning about Vietnamese culture and customs while going on excursions to rural villages, religious temples, educational centers and a children’s orphanage.
SCHOLARSHIPS
It’s not only coursework that can be challenging for students. Determining how to cover the cost of tuition is an added worry many of our students face. We believe financial circumstance should not be a barrier to attending college. Scholarships provide crucial financial support that makes higher education possible.
Recipients of scholarships are able to focus more on coursework and participate in extracurricular activities that offer valuable volunteer, internship, and leadership experiences.
Scholarships enhance access, academic quality, diversity, and outcomes among our students. There is no more personally rewarding experience a donor can have than to support the gift of an education, and a future, to a deserving and appreciative student.
SPOTLIGHT: LEN DEADMAN
Len Deadman’s lifelong passion for journalism spurred his desire to support emerging young journalists who were equally passionate about investigating and reporting the truth. That's why he established the Len & Nancy Deadman Investigative Journalism Scholarship which supports students pursuing a degree in Journalism and Digital Communications.
PROGRAM SUPPORT
Our students look to academic programs, student activities, and opportunities that cover a wide range of interests to keep them engaged and provide a well-rounded educational experience. To remain a university of choice, the USF St. Petersburg campus offers programs that ensure students succeed. These programs start at the top with campus-wide initiatives and work their way through the colleges and departments across the University.
Gifts to support academic programs provide the University’s leadership with the resources to fund innovative programs, bring prominent lecturers to campus, invest in faculty and staff, and furnish more resources to maintain a high caliber institution.
SPOTLIGHT: THE HAJEKS
USF St. Petersburg campus alumni Mike and Karen Hajek give their support to the Entrepreneurship Program at the Kate Tiedemann School of Business and Finance to ensure similar opportunities they had during their studies.
FACULTY FOCUS
Innovative teaching is at the heart of a great university. In nearly every field, the body of knowledge is constantly evolving. Professors must consistently keep up with current trends in their fields and respond with new approaches to education, providing their students with the kind of personal attention that awakens great achievement. Keeping abreast with the latest developments to ensure courses reflect the most relevant research can be time-consuming and expensive.
Supporting endowed chairs and professorships enables us to retain our most distinguished faculty and to attract and develop more like them. To remain current, we support our faculty in attending conferences, communicating with their peers, and devoting time to their own research. This work helps to push their fields forward, furthering the academic experience for their students.
SPOTLIGHT: DR. MICHAEL FRANCIS
Dr. Michael Francis was awarded the Hough Family Endowed Chair of Florida Studies and was able to embark on a groundbreaking journey into Florida’s Spanish Colonial past. Read more about his work .