Pictured above: Susan Churuti’s term comes to an end this month. Over her four years on board, Churuti fought consolidation efforts that had potential to compromise the St. Petersburg campus.
Courtesy of USF
By Molly Ryan
This month, St. Petersburg Campus Board member Susan Churuti’s eventful four-year term comes to an end.
“It has been a joy to be of service to USFSP and to get to know the leadership, staff, professors and students here,” Churuti said to The Crow’s Nest.
Churuti joined the Campus Board in 2018 as a longtime Pinellas County attorney and active community partner, replacing her husband, Bob Churuti, who served two terms from 2010 to 2018.
In 2019, both Susan and Bob were honored by USF St. Petersburg for their efforts — including the establishment of the Scott Deering Hamilton Scholarship Fund in honor of Susan’s brother, a USF St. Petersburg alumnus, who passed away three years prior.
At her last Campus Board meeting on Feb. 3, St. Petersburg Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock was moved to tears thanking Churuti for her “service” and the “energy” she provided to the board.
“You know [Churuti’s] history… Her work with the county has been phenomenal over all these years, which continues to give her that opportunity to be the advocate that she has been for this campus and USF in Pinellas County,” Tadlock said. “I’m really honored to call you my friend.”
Chair of the St. Petersburg Campus Board, Melissa Seixas, remarked that Tadlock’s speech came from a genuine place and agreed that “the contributions that Bob and Susan have made to this board truly are extraordinary.”
“[Churuti] and her family have been a part of this community for many decades, she could have selected many things to give her time to over the last few years, and the fact that one of them was this campus board, we are forever in debt to you,” Seixas said.
At the end of her speech, Seixas added that the board could “always depend on” Churuti to be an advocate for the university while also holding it accountable — as she did over the course of her four years on the St. Petersburg Campus Board.
Churuti began her term in March of 2018, the same month former governor Rick Scott signed the Florida Excellence in Higher Education Act of 2018 (House Bill 423), requiring all three USF campuses to consolidate accreditations under one system and be implemented by law — a bill that sparked a petition and uproar across the St. Petersburg campus from prior to its signing to present.
That September, 200 people across the community attended a town hall meeting at the St. Petersburg campus to weigh in on the concerns associated with imminent consolidation.
Churuti spoke before the consolidation task force, emphasizing to them how “historically, Pinellas County has been underserved by the university system” and asked for “kind and flexible” treatment of those “caught up personally in the consolidation.”
At the start of 2019, fears arose over the potential of St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee being classified as “instructional sites” rather than “branch campuses.” Churuti emphasized the importance of calling St. Petersburg a branch campus.
In October of 2020, the St. Petersburg Campus Board addressed pressure from legislators to boost the campus’s low enrollment and introduce 650 first-time-in-college freshmen during the summer and fall semesters of 2021— both Churuti and fellow board member, Lawrence Hamilton, felt skeptical.
In an interview with The Crow’s Nest, Churuti expressed she had “heard a lot of disappointment [in the community about] the [enrollment] numbers dropping, and particularly the number of minorities dropping.”
During the 2020 meeting, Churuti also questioned the transparency of former USF president Steve Currall’s administration when she expressed that she was “very disappointed” that she didn’t receive a copy of the university’s consolidation self-study report — adding that the board members “should at least be able to see what it [said].”
At that point, it was already a public record.
Churuti highlighted another lapse in judgment by the Currall administration when $250,000 from St. Petersburg’s annual budget were transferred to USF Health for the pediatric residency program at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in 2021 — despite concerns from the board prior to the transfer’s finalization.
At a March 2021 meeting, Churuti pointed out that while the board agreed the funds would be useful to USF Health, “it’s not necessarily a priority for the USF St. Pete Campus Board” and that there was an understanding that this sentiment would be relayed to USF’s Board of Trustees (BOT).
Churuti also underscored the way the transfer was handled, as Nick Setteducato, St. Petersburg’s interim vice president and chief operating officer, admitted it was done “kind of undercover.”
Concerns surrounding the issue would again surface at a Campus Board meeting on Aug. 5, 2021, when the board recommended to reverse Currall’s transfer — just two weeks following Currall’s sudden retirement after a two-year tenure.
At the meeting, Churuti called the transfer and its execution “kind of demoralizing.”
“When we see another entity come in and take some of the money that is available to us, it’s hard to feel like we can fulfill our obligations because there is no money left,” she said in the meeting.
Five days later, USF Interim President Rhea Law indicated at a BOT meeting that USF would be looking into alternative funds to support the residency program.
In terms of the future of the St. Petersburg campus, Churuti told The Crow’s Nest that her “biggest hopes” center on “attracting and retaining good people to serve in the various current vacancies, from regional chancellor on down” and that the “Center of Excellence in Environmental and Oceanographic Sciences is a wonderful opportunity for the university and the community.”
She also assured the board that while she wouldn’t be holding the position, “I will still be your friend,” during the Feb. 3 Campus Board meeting.
“Anything that I can do to support anyone in your efforts, I will do,” Churuti said.
So very lucky for the contributions made by Sue & Bob Churuti and the Hamilton family to this community.
Sue’s intellect, experience, connections, passion, and attention to the smallest of details in everything she does is truly remarkable. Thank you!