By Anna Bryson
A nursing program is finally making its way to USF St. Petersburg this year. Thanks to an agreement with the city of St. Petersburg, the program will launch in the fall 2019 semester.
The City Council voted unanimously to allow the university to lease its 10,713-square-foot Port Terminal Building for classes, laboratory space and office space. At 250 Eighth Ave. SE, the building is adjacent to the USF College of Marine Science. The lease is for two years, at $44,820 per year.
Despite the many uncertain factors of the ongoing consolidation process, the new program offers hope that the St. Petersburg campus will reap some benefits. State lawmakers have been reiterating the need for more funding for USF St. Petersburg during the consolidation process.
According to Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock, similar partnerships are in the works as the three USF campuses prepare to consolidate by 2020.
“The vision we have, of course, is to bring additional programming to downtown St. Petersburg because we are St. Petersburg’s university,” Tadlock said in a news release. “That’s who we are.”
But classes in this program will not be offered exclusively at the St. Petersburg campus –– students will still need to travel to the Tampa campus from time to time. The classes will be taught by USF Nursing faculty, who are employed by USF Tampa.
The program will essentially be a duplicate of the second-degree nursing program at USF Tampa. Designed for students who have already obtained a bachelor’s degree, the nursing degree can be completed in four semesters or 16 months.
For more information about the nursing program, visit: health.usf.edu/nursing.
