Pictured Above: Patricia Helton was described by Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock as “an outstanding leader and educator.”
Courtesy of USF St. Petersburg
Patricia Helton, USF St. Petersburg’s regional vice chancellor of student success, has taken on the overseeing of the Student Success health and wellness departments on all three campuses, as of Jan. 1.
Helton took over the responsibilities of Tom Miller, who had served in an interim leadership role for more than a year.
According to an email sent to faculty and staff on Dec. 2, “with more than 30 years of experience overseeing health and wellness at institutions of higher education, Dr. Helton will provide vision and strategic direction to this vital area, which has taken on heightened importance in light of the global pandemic.”
Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock shared his predictions in the announcement.
“(Helton) is an outstanding leader and educator who always puts the needs of students first,” Tadlock said. “Health and wellness is critical to our students’ success and I know the unit will thrive under her thoughtful guidance.”
According to Helton, she will remain on the St. Petersburg campus while in her position.
“I have a team in St. Pete and we have a student affairs leadership team,” Helton said in an interview with The Crow’s Nest. “And those individuals report directly to me. And I’ll have a team in Tampa, where it’s mostly just health and wellness leadership people. So the health and wellness folks in Tampa won’t be involved really with my team here, although they work closely with the health and wellness folks here in St. Pete. But there’ll be two separate teams that I oversee.”
Helton looked forward to the combination of the two positions.
“It will be interesting to see what kind of synergies arise from doing … these two jobs. And if it makes sense to streamline some things, or if they will stay separated, because of the different campuses? You know, I’ve found that we do approach things a little bit differently in St. Pete than they do in Tampa. And it makes sense because of the culture and the vibe of the campus and what the expectations are,” Helton said.
