Above photo: Martin Tadlock (center), USF St. Petersburg interim regional chancellor, at a panel at the St. Petersburg Conference on World Affairs on Thursday. The panel discussed whether students are getting schooling that is relevant to their futures. Tim Fanning | The Crow’s Nest
By Tim Fanning
USF St. Petersburg may be getting engineering, hospitality and insurance risk management majors in the coming years.
Interim Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock made that announcement Thursday during a panel discussion at the St. Petersburg Conference on World Affairs.
Although light on specifics, Tadlock said talks have already begun with the Tampa and Sarasota-Manatee campuses to bring those majors to St. Petersburg.
His comments came during a discussion titled “How do we make our education systems more relevant?”
Although they are still in the discussion stage, the three potential majors are gaining the interest of businesses in the Pinellas County community, Tadlock said.
TradeWinds Island Resorts on St. Pete Beach was part of a conversation last week with the Sarasota-Manatee campus and St. Petersburg administrators, he said.
“We got what the big picture would look like for students,” Tadlock said. “We talked about what (the resort’s) needs are, and what they’re looking for. We talked about internships and other opportunities they (would) have for our students so we can eventually build that relationship.”
Tadlock said he and Robert H. Bishop, the dean of the College of Engineering in Tampa, have begun discussions on a feasibility study that would identify the needs of Pinellas County and the specific engineering fields the college could offer in St. Petersburg.
Engineering is one of the three programs that leaders of the USF system have promised to invest in here if a proposal to abolish the St. Petersburg campus’ separate accreditation is enacted by the Legislature. The others are health care and marine science.
The controversial consolidation bill, which would put St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee under the control of Tampa, is still pending in Tallahassee.
Insurance risk management, a program tied to the Tampa finance major, would be on the table for St. Petersburg, Tadlock said. The Sarasota-Manatee campus began offering a risk management and insurance major last fall.
The potential majors in hospitality, engineering and insurance risk management, like many of the majors at USF St. Petersburg, would be geared to meet future career needs in Pinellas County, Tadlock said.
Tadlock also discussed an increase in campus jobs for students. Since the school has established more relationships within the community, he said, the number of students involved in internships off campus has “dramatically increased” in the last five years.
