USF St. Petersburg welcomes largest incoming first-year class to the Judy Genshaft Honors College for the 2021-2022 academic year. The college is located in the historic Snell House on campus.
Annalise Anderson | The Crow’s Nest
By Annalise Anderson
USF St. Petersburg enrolled 67 new students into the Judy Genshaft Honors College this fall, the largest incoming first-year class in campus history.
Enrollment in St. Petersburg’s honors college more than doubled for the 2021-2022 academic year. Now with 144 students, the college welcomed first-time-in-college students from 17 different states, in addition to the college’s first ever international students.
The Honors College across all three USF campuses saw an 8% growth in enrollment and increases in average GPA and test scores overall.
“The biggest reason for the substantial jump was the larger pool of students coming in with higher scores,” said Thomas Smith, associate dean of the Honors College and professor of Political Science on USF’s St. Petersburg campus.
Students with a 4.0 or higher GPA and SAT scores of 1370 or higher are admitted into the esteemed college. Enrollment includes discussion-based learning in various academic disciplines and opportunities for intensive research, internships, community service and study abroad scholarships.
Forty percent of the college’s new students are out-of-state, including three international students from Japan, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Sho Ishizuka, a USF St. Petersburg freshman from Japan, said he enrolled in St. Petersburg’s honors college to study with students from different majors and perspectives.
“Learning about different perspectives is really important. It can help you solve problems in new ways, and it will help me be able to adapt to challenges in the future,” Ishizuka said.
The waterfront campus and small class sizes were a plus, too.
“St. Pete is just a beautiful place and I love the environment around the campus,” Ishizuka said. “The Honors College provides even smaller classes, which I learn best from by getting to know teachers better and having more discussion-based classes where I can learn from others in the classroom.”
St. Petersburg Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock said the increase in honors college enrollment proves that USF St. Petersburg is a destination campus.
“We are very pleased that so many high-performing students elected to make St. Petersburg their campus home,” Tadlock said. “I think this reflects what we have known for a very long time and the rest of the country is finally realizing. Our campus offers distinctive, personalized experiences grounded in academically challenging immersive programs connected to undergraduate research and community service. All of that in a geographical setting that, to me, makes us the destination campus in the state of Florida.”
Despite increased enrollment, Smith said the college’s priority is on maintaining an intimate educational setting.
Smith also plans to continue developing destination programming specific to St. Petersburg and its community. The programming aims to attract students studying majors like pre-law and marine biology.
