Blake’s position involved outreach to struggling students and development of individual plans for future success. Courtesy of Althea Blake
By Dylan Hart
After less than a year in her position, USF St. Petersburg Academic Success Coordinator Althea Blake resigned Sept. 28. She was hired by the university in November 2017.
Blake announced her resignation through a video on Instagram, where many students followed her. She was on vacation in Trinidad at the time of the video’s release.
“This is my last morning here, and I’m a little sad to be leaving, and I’m also a little sad to announce that this will be my last week at University of South Florida St. Petersburg,” Blake said in the video. “It was a pleasure working with all of you, and it’s unfortunate that I wasn’t able to meet some of you.”
Blake had pushed to become the “most popular administrator on campus” and used Instagram to achieve her goal. She connected with students through the platform and at the time of her resignation had 255 followers.
“My passion is education equity and social justice,” Blake said. “Although I thoroughly loved working at USF St. Pete with our students, I’m looking for a position that will more closely align with that passion.”
Blake, who has a master’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Central Florida, is finishing a doctorate in education online through Northeastern University in Boston.
Blake plans on graduating in May 2019 and is collecting research for her dissertation. The research is related to college access and success for marginalized youth.
Her duties as academic success coordinator included one-on-one talks with students to help them develop a plan to graduate in four years. Blake’s position is important to keep retention rates high at USF St. Petersburg.
Blake reminisced on memories of working with students in several events, including Windward Success Camp and “un-BULL-ievable Spring Break.” She keeps a picture of several students who she worked with at USB in her office.
“Just walking around campus, when students tell me hello –– it makes me feel so at home,” Blake said. “One of my students left me a letter, and I was in my office crying because the students have been so sweet to me. I love all of the students here.”
In an Instagram direct message to a Crow’s Nest reporter, Blake said she gave a three-week notice of her departure to Human Resources.
Her personnel file contained two reprimands for repeated tardiness during the summer, but it did not contain documentation of her departure.
The position of academic success coordinator has been replaced with a “Student Retention Coordinator” position under Compass, a campus-wide initiative originally created to help first year college students acclimate to university life.
With the new position, Compass has expanded its mission to include “first, second and transfer year experience” as well as “persistence initiatives,” said Carrie O’Brion, director of communications and marketing for USF St. Petersburg.
No replacement has been announced for the position.
