In a unanimous vote, the Board of Trustees secured an increase in student enrollment to 10,000 students by 2024.
The board met Sept. 4 to approve the plan. Chancellor Sophia Wisniewska presented a summary of goals outlined by USFSP. Over seven months, launched in Spring 2014, 600 participants from various departments within the satellite university contributed to eight forums held on campus. Up to 34 unique strategies were developed to ensure growth of Pinellas county’s only residential university hosting public research.
“We are committed to becoming an anchor to this city and surrounding businesses,” Wisniewska said in a final presentation.
Forums gathered students, faculty, administrators and campus employees to discuss the identity of USFSP and its future goals. The College of Business groundbreaking was approved by the state legislature with early funding of $5 million. An expanded College of Business would attract more students to the St. Petersburg campus and promote student tenure, Wisniewska commented.
The campus mission would include fostering 90 percent of students to start and finish at USF St. Petersburg. With 24 undergraduate degrees and 12 graduate degrees, USFSP hopes to continue to expand options that will retain students from transferring within the USF system. USF president Judy Genshaft pointed out that the system reflects student transfers that cause USFSP to appear to have a low student tenure rate.
“It’s a plus for us because we don’t have to duplicate everything,” Genshaft said, regarding programming such as USF Sarasota-Manatee’s culinary program or USF Tampa’s biomedical sciences.
Ralph Wilcox, USF provost and vice president of the university system, presented on enrollment rates across the university system. USFSP now admits students with a 3.85 GPA or higher, with 474 new freshmen admitted for summer and fall sessions in 2014.
Librarian Jim Schnur presented on the history of the USF system and the growth of USFSP prior to the approval of the strategic plan. After summarizing the growth of the near-50 year old campus, he turned to the trustees.
“This is not a branch campus, but a place of authority in the community,” he said.
The approval of the strategic plan coincides with the Waterfront Master Plan, a discussion that has entailed the expansion of downtown entities, including neighbor All Children’s Hospital and Bayfront Health St. Petersburg. Mayor Rick Kriseman shared his interest in the growth of competing universities in St. Petersburg, including USFSP and Eckerd College.
“This competitive spirit is good as a whole,” Kriseman said. “It serves as an anchor for coming innovation.”
