By Arielle Stevenson, University Communications and Marketing
For many graduate students gathered at the Judy Genshaft Honors College building , it was the first time they had seen each other outside of a computer screen. They came from campuses across the University of South Florida and from countries around the world. Some were balancing graduate school with careers and family. Others were navigating life as first generation or international students, finding their footing in new academic environments.
Over breakfast and conversation, students who had spent weeks meeting virtually, embraced in person on April 27 at the Relate-A-Bull mentor reunion, exchanging stories, ideas, advice and encouragement. Relate-A-Bull is a graduate student support group that now spans all USF campuses.
At the center was Dr. Donna Knudsen, campus assistant dean for the USF St. Petersburg Office of Graduate Studies and Relate-A-Bull's co creator.
After 36 years, Knudsen is retiring, leaving behind a program that answered a simple but urgent call: many graduate students don’t know where to turn for support.
“It’s key to student success to have good mentoring," said Knudsen. “But what makes that relationship successful? It has to evolve over time. It’s benefits are reciprocal, not hierarchical.”
Knudsen began her career at USF as a receptionist and worked her way up through a variety of roles as the university evolved around her. Along the way, she pursued an education of her own, earning three degrees while working full time and raising a family.
“It was a wonderful experience because I got to watch the campus grow up while I was growing up alongside it,” said Knudsen of her time at USF. “I don’t think I would have been given such opportunities anywhere else.”
It was while pursuing a doctorate that the idea for Relate-A-Bull began taking shape. In her second semester, students were asked to begin identifying their research topics and putting together their dissertation committees. Knudsen remembers looking around the room and seeing panic.
“I’m looking around and I’m seeing that everybody’s freaking out,” Knudsen said. “I work here and even I didn’t know where to begin.”
The experience revealed something larger: even highly capable students often lack mentorship and support systems to help them succeed in graduate education. That challenge is especially difficult for students from nontraditional backgrounds such as first-generation, international and other students unfamiliar with the culture and expectations of higher education. As Knudsen began researching mentorship and doctoral success, one statistic stayed with her: roughly half of doctoral students never completed their programs, a statistic that has been the case for decades.
Relate-A-Bull's participants gathered for the first time since the program began in 2024.
“The number one reason for the dropout was lack of mentoring or dissatisfaction with their mentor,” she said. “I was like ‘Oh my God, nobody’s paying attention to the fact that half the students drop out.’”
Her doctoral research eventually evolved into Relate-A-Bull, which she developed alongside Dr. Sandra Stone, campus assistant dean of the Office of Graduate Studies at USF Sarasota-Manatee. Together, they found that mentoring across graduate programs often varied widely, with some departments offering strong support systems and others offering limited connections.
Rather than focusing solely on traditional faculty-to-student mentorship, Relate-A-Bull was designed to help students build broader support networks with peers and mentors who understand their distinct experiences and challenges. The program launched virtually in the aftermath of the pandemic and has since welcomed cohorts of graduate students. Through workshops, mentoring activities, and small-group connections, students learn how to navigate graduate school while supporting one another.
“When you're going through a long doctoral program, it’s easy to get frustrated and feel like there’s no end in sight,” Stone said. “It’s about finding a way for students to support each other in a way they aren’t getting from family or faculty... to help be each other's cheerleaders and build that community.”
For international and doctoral student Boudour Abdalhak, the program arrived at the right moment.
“I was so lost,” said Abdalhak, who is pursuing a degree in educational administration. “I didn’t know anything. I was new here and I was searching for an internship.”
“Seeing everyone together in one place, let me know that what we’ve done here is something very consequential and something."
—Donna Knudsen, Ed.D.
She said the program matched her with a mentor who helped find valuable information and build relationships that helped her overcome the isolation she initially felt during graduate school.
“I was isolated. I was doing my work, but I said to my husband, ‘I’m going to quit. I don’t feel like I can continue," she said. “He encouraged me to keep going. And with a lot of support, and a lot of good people around me, I was able to continue.”
Symon Williams, senior academic program specialist in the Office of Graduate Studies, has helped Knudsen with the program. When he sees a successful mentor match, like the one he facilitated for Abdalhak, it makes the impact of the program come to life.
“It’s just great seeing these students coming together out of the kindness of their hearts,” Williams said. “It’s really cool when I hear a mentor and mentee worked out.”
Now, Abdalhak hopes to provide that same encouragement to others.
“When they asked me to help, I said, ‘OK, I will get involved and help other people who need help, like I once did,’” Abdalhak said.
That spirit of reciprocity is exactly what Knudsen hoped the program would create.
“This program is one where you get immediate affirmation that what you’re doing really is making a difference,” Knudsen said.
As Knudsen retires, Relate-A-Bull will continue under the leadership of Sandra Stone, in partnership with Dr. Tracy Costello, assistant dean of Postdoctoral Affairs and Graduate Student Success in Tampa. Together, they plan to continue expanding the program’s reach and support for graduate students across USF.
As students lingered after the reunion, taking photos, sharing contact information and talking about the future, Knudsen watched the kind of community she once imagined in her doctoral research become something tangible.
“Seeing everybody together in one place, there was an energy that let me know that what we’ve done here is something very consequential and something impactful,” she said.
Though Knudsen is retiring, Relate-A-Bull will continue, connecting USF graduate students who, like her, may simply need someone to show them where to start.