The preeminence designation was created in 2013 to encourage state universities to strive for excellence and national recognition, after five years USF has finally met the 12 benchmarks to qualify as a preeminent university. Courtesy of University of South Florida
For years, people liked to joke that USF stood for “U Stay Forever” – a fitting label for a commuter school with easy admissions standards and a low graduation rate.
How times have changed.
USF Tampa has now joined the University of Florida and Florida State University as a “preeminent state university,” a designation that provides a jolt of prestige and millions of extra dollars from the state each year.
The designation, which came this summer, capped a years-long campaign by the administration of USF system President Judy Genshaft, who has orchestrated a dramatic increase in the Tampa campus’ academic profile since she took office in 2000.
“This validates our efforts over more than a decade to transform USF into a premier institution of higher education, rivaling peers twice our age,” Genshaft said in a university news release.
“This critical designation will have an exponential impact on our continued efforts to grow our research enterprise, provide the highest quality education to our students, strengthen our partnerships and help us make an even bigger difference in our community.”
The preeminence designation was created by the Florida Legislature in 2013 to encourage the state’s 12 public universities to strive for excellence and national recognition.
Legislators established 12 metrics, or benchmarks, that include average GPA for first-time-in-college students, research spending, student retention and graduation rates, and size of endowment.
They stipulated that a school needed to meet or exceed 11 of the 12 benchmarks to qualify for preeminence.
UF and FSU, which can trace their origins to the 1850s, qualified right away.
USF Tampa, which was founded in 1956, qualified as an “emerging preeminent state university” in 2016 by meeting nine of the 12 metrics. When it met two more metrics this year, it earned full preeminence.
The new status means USF Tampa will get additional funding each year from the state. This year that means $6.15 million more.
It also poses challenges for USF’s St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee campuses.
Last spring, the Legislature abolished the separate accreditation of those two campuses – a move that rankled many in St. Petersburg.
They recalled an unhappy era when Tampa administrators ran roughshod over the St. Petersburg campus and warned that it might happen again.
But the legislators who successfully pushed for consolidation of the three campuses said that the change – which takes effect in 2020 – will enable St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee to get a share of the preeminence funds.
The change also will put pressure on the two satellite campuses to improve their performance on several metrics.
Some critics fear the change may also jeopardize USF St. Petersburg’s longtime role as a school that welcomes older, non-traditional students and minorities.
In an editorial congratulating USF Tampa for achieving preeminent status, the Tampa Bay Times called on the university to “grow in stature without abandoning its historic mission to serve a diverse student body.”
The challenge, the Times said, “requires the home campus in Tampa to be sensitive to local-area needs as USF consolidates its three separately accredited institutions … into one.”
“As it raises its admission standards, USF needs to remain committed to being accessible and affordable,” the editorial said. “Many students have long been first in their families to attend college, or barely able to pay for it, and USF will need to ensure these students have the support they need to navigate and succeed in their difficult environment.”
