View email in browser.

Week of March 21, 2023

I am delighted to welcome our students and faculty back to our campuses after spring break. I hope you had an opportunity to rest and recharge for the home stretch of this semester!

As we continue to observe Women’s History Month, I’ve been reflecting on the many women across the university who are making significant contributions to USF, our communities and the nation. Some of them have been in the news lately, such as Giti Javidi who is part of the team that secured a multimillion-dollar grant to prepare students for cybersecurity careers, or criminology professor Shelly Wagers and her team’s efforts to help victims of human trafficking, or Bianca Tolve and Sarah Tanner from USF Health, the two recipients of USF’s most recent Outstanding Staff Awards. 

These examples and countless others are reminders of the major impact women have made throughout USF history and a big reason why I’m proud to serve as president.

Updates

• Congratulations to USF’s six new Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, who we celebrated at a luncheon this month. The recognition is one of the world’s most prestigious honors for academic research. Our new Fellows span multiple colleges and disciplines, and they bring the total number of AAAS Fellows at USF to 96.

• Last week I had a unique conversation with associate professor Joe Dituri, who is attempting to set a world record by living underwater for 100 days. Joe is taking remote work to another level as he teaches a biomedical engineering class online from below the surface and conducts research on how the human body responds to long-term exposure to extreme pressure! I wanted to encourage him on his journey, which has attracted national media attention. You can read more about it here.

• I was pleased to give opening remarks at the 7th Great Power Competition Conference, part of a three-day USF Global and National Security Institute Summit focused on the threats and challenges that China poses to the U.S. By bringing together distinguished scholars, active military personnel and federal policymakers, the event helps position USF as a leader in the national security field.

• We’ve reached an important milestone in our planning for a new on-campus stadium. The USF Board of Trustees voted to move ahead to the design phase for the project.  Over the next year, there will be opportunities for faculty, staff, students, alumni and other USF supporters to provide input on what they’d like to see in a new stadium. More information on the board’s vote is available here.

• Our university community was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Sam Bell, the husband of former president Betty Castor and longtime USF supporter. From his strong advocacy that led to the creation of our College of Public Health to his generous philanthropy that benefits many of our students and programs, Sam’s impact continues to be felt every day at USF. You can read more about his legacy here.

• I had a wonderful time at a dinner prior to spring break welcoming 33 outstanding students as new USF Ambassadors and thanking our current class for their unwavering commitment to representing our university. The USF Alumni Association sponsors the organization, which was founded in 1979 and includes students from all three campuses who are involved, excel academically and love to be a USF Bull. They assist with a wide variety of events on and off campus and serve as terrific representatives of the university.

Striving for restorative justice at a global level

Nazek Jawad, a professor in the Judy Genshaft Honors College and School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, observes the world through a wide lens. Raised in Syria and educated in Lebanon and the U.S., she has developed a keen sense of communities around her and how they have been impacted by colonialism, imperialism, war and conflict between local groups.



Boundless Bulls is a collection of stories about what truly makes USF great – the people. It is a focus on our community footprint, our impact and the trajectory of where we can go together.

Frank McKenzie, executive director of the USF Global and National Security Institute, was quoted in a Reuters story about U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s visit to the Middle East.

An NBC News story about the possible impacts on Florida from a massive sargassum bloom in the Atlantic Ocean quoted Brian Barnes, an assistant research professor in the USF College of Marine Science.

The New York Times reported on a study conducted by researchers in USF’s Department of Integrative Biology that shows brown widow spiders are seeking out and killing their black widow relatives.

Six USF graduates age 35 and younger have been named 2023 USF Outstanding Young Alumni by the USF Alumni Association in recognition of their professional and community accomplishments. The group will be honored on April 20 during a free event on the Tampa campus that includes a reception, panel discussion and networking opportunity. More information is available here.

Inside USF: The Newsletter is published every other week.

This email address is used for distribution only and is not monitored for responses.

For reasonable disability accommodations requests pertaining to this announcement, please contact one of our offices.