Pictured Above: Sen. Jeff Brandes (left) welcomed the plan from President Steve Currall but said he would also like to see the College of Education relocate to St. Petersburg.
Courtesy of The Florida Senate and USF
By Nancy McCann
Amid growing pressure from legislators, USF administrators have devised a plan that would boost St. Petersburg’s enrollment and bolster the campus’ vitality.
The five-year plan would create five “academic clusters that will provide a distinctive identity and destination programs” and help attract more students and meet unmet needs in Pinellas County, administrators said in a draft sent to Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg.
Brandes, who helped craft the 2018 law that put USF’s three campuses under a single accreditation, has become the Legislature’s most outspoken critic of the way administrators are implementing consolidation.
In an interview with The Crow’s Nest on Wednesday, Brandes welcomed the administration’s tentative plans for St. Petersburg, which he said would play to the “strengths of both the (Pinellas) community and USF St. Petersburg.”
But he went a step further, saying he “would like to see” USF abandon its plan to dismantle the Tampa-based College of Education in favor of a reimagined graduate school of education and instead “move the entire College of Education” to St. Petersburg.
He also doubled down on legislators’ plans to implement more legislation on consolidation during the session that begins March 2. And he said again that legislators intend to closely examine the Board of Trustees, the 13-member body that oversees the university.
Legislators and the governor “express our influence (over USF) via the nominations and removal of individuals from the board (of trustees) level,” Brandes said. Dissatisfaction with the university’s leadership “calls for a deep dive into the board.”
The five-year plan that administrators shared with Brandes lays out proposed academic initiatives for the St. Petersburg campus, some of which have been under discussion for at least three years:
** Environmental and Oceanographic Sciences, Technology and Sustainability (which would come in years one and two)
Some of the proposed programs for development or expansion are environmental chemistry, coastal and/or ocean engineering and science journalism.
** STEM Education (years one and two)
The proposal includes teacher preparation in science, technology, education and mathematics that is related to environmental and oceanographic topics.
** Visual and performing arts (years three and four)
“Potential programs include Architecture, Dance, and Theatre in support of independent, small businesses in the arts.”
** Business – Blue/Green Economy (years three and four)
It’s proposed that finance be developed as a “nationally ranked program” with a “blue (marine)/green (sustainability) business” theme in the Kate Tiedemann School of Business and Finance.
** Health Sciences (years four and five)
The proposal includes advanced and accelerated nursing programs and partnerships with Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Bayfront Health St. Petersburg and BayCare Health System.
The proposals for St. Petersburg come at a fraught juncture for President Steve Currall and Provost Ralph Wilcox, who are under fire from political leaders, faculty and even some trustees for some of their decisions on consolidation and pandemic-related budget cuts.
In a blistering memo dated Oct. 30, 20 faculty leaders in the College of Arts and Sciences criticized the administration for moving too hastily and unilaterally to address a $36.7 million shortfall in the university’s 2020-2021 budget.
They denounced administrators for skirting the guidelines of transparency in the university’s Principles of Community and questioned the university’s emphasis on national rankings and state preeminence.
The USF Faculty Senate and its faculty union may soon address some of the same issues amid fears that faculty layoffs may be forthcoming.
The USF St. Petersburg Campus Advisory Board, seven Pinellas residents who help oversee the campus, and the USF Board of Trustees have, at least in recent years, tended to rubberstamp the policies of the administration.
But things have grown chilly in recent days.
At the Campus Advisory Board meeting on Oct. 22, two members expressed frustration that the administration had few specifics on how it plans to address sagging enrollment numbers in St. Petersburg.
One of them, attorney Susan Churuti, also complained about the administration’s pattern of communication with the board.
Churuti said she was “very disappointed” that she didn’t receive a copy of the university’s consolidation self-study, which is due to the regional accrediting agency on Dec. 14.
“I asked for that to be distributed before the campus board meeting to the campus board members,” she said. “We should at least be able to see what it says. It’s already a public record.”
During committee meetings of the Board of Trustees on Tuesday, two members complained that they had been left in the dark about plans for the College of Education.
“How we went about this is absolutely inconsistent with the history of my board involvement and I’m not pleased about it,” trustee Byron Shinn said, according to the Catalyst website. “And to be blindsided as a trustee in our community is inappropriate and unsatisfactory.”
Perhaps none of the criticism of Currall and Wilcox is as consequential as the flak coming from Brandes and the Legislature.
Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, the principal architect of consolidation, is the incoming speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. That makes him one of the most powerful figures in state government, with a huge role in state budget appropriations for higher education and USF.
It was Sprowls who on Oct. 8 tweeted the news that Currall and trustees Chair Jordan Zimmerman had embraced the goal of 650 first-time-in-college students in St. Petersburg in the summer and fall of 2021.
Since St. Petersburg began rapidly raising admission requirements in 2018, combined summer and fall freshman enrollment has plunged from 549 to 386 – an alarming development that impacts campus revenue and programs.
Brandes said his intention is for new or expanded academic programs at the St. Petersburg campus to be “closely tied” to the community.
“You have some of the most financially struggling kids in Pinellas County 20 blocks south of the campus; financially well-to-do children 20 blocks north of the campus,” Brandes said.
He said he sees this as “an incredible opportunity” for establishing a “lab school” (a school that trains teachers) to spread “best practices . . . to a county that desperately needs great quality educators and wants to be on the cutting edge of learning.”
Brandes also said, “It seems reasonable that if you have three major hospitals within a nine-iron shot of the university itself, you would want to establish some advanced medical (best) practices, especially when your next-door neighbor is Johns Hopkins University.”
The same is true for “the arts,” he said, which are included in “those things desperately needed by our local business communities.”
Brandes said he plans to have more questions for Currall later this week.
Those questions will come “in the form of: Thank you for these (proposals). I need dollar amounts and students tied to them,” he said. “And then … you’ll see myself and other legislators finalize our conversations for this round of discussions.”
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