University of South Florida

From Freepedia

Motto	"Truth and Wisdom"
Established	1956
School type	Public
President	Judy Genshaft
Location	Tampa, Florida, USA
Enrollment	32,428 undergraduate, 7,833 graduate
Faculty	2,503
Endowment	US$244+ million
Campus	1,913 acres (7.74 km²)
Nickname	Bulls
Mascot	Rocky the Bull
Colors	green and gold
Website	www.usf.edu

State University System of Florida
FAMU FAU FGCU FIU FSU NCF
UCF UF UNF USF UWF

The University of South Florida, or USF, is a public university located in Tampa, Florida, USA, with branch campuses in St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Lakeland. The main campus is located in the extreme northern part of Tampa, near the city of Temple Terrace. Bordered on the south by Fowler Avenue and on the north by Fletcher Avenue, the university is in close proximity to the Museum of Science and Industry as well as Busch Gardens and the University Mall shopping center.

The university is the third largest in the state of Florida (after the University of Florida and University of Central Florida), with a fall 2004 enrollment of 42,950. [1] USF is also one of three public universities in the state (after the University of Florida and Florida State University) to have received first-tier research university status by the Carnegie Foundation, a mission first started by former university president Betty Castor in the 1990s. As such, USF takes great pride to advertise its position as a research university in promotional advertisements and brochures.

USF's mascot is the Bull and its colors are green and gold. The university's sports teams participate at the NCAA Division I-A level. In 2005, USF joined the Big East Conference. USF previously belonged to Conference USA and the Sun Belt Conference.

USF is currently the national headquarters for Phi Alpha Theta, a history honor society. The university's current president is Judy Genshaft.

1 History
2 Housing
3 Points of interest
4 Famous students
- 4.1 Graduates
- 4.2 Former students
5 External links

History

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USF was founded in 1956, though it was not even named until the next year and classes didn't commence until 1960. Former US Representative Sam Gibbons was instrumental in the school's creation when he was a state representative and is considered by many to essentially be the school's founder. It was built on the site of Henderson Air Field, a World War II airstrip.

The university first grew under the leadership of John Allen, who was the president from 1960 until 1970. During this time, the university expanded rapidly, due in part to the first graduate degree programs commencing in 1964. However, growing student unrest pressured Allen to resign from his post; he had traditionally been very firm in punishing protesters in a time of general unrest throughout the nation. Today, the main administration complex is called The John and Grace Allen Center, named after him and his wife.

USF emerged as a major research institution during the 1990s, under the presidency of Betty Castor. It is currently considered one of the top universities in Florida, being named a first-tier research university in 2005. In addition to a heightened emphasis on research and academia, the university played its first football game in 1997, with its marching band forming in 1999. There has been unprecedented growth in the school's football program. USF began football play as a 1-AA independent in 1997, moved to 1-A in 2001, then to Conference USA in 2003, and now the Big East conference in 2005 with its Bowl Championship Series tie-ins. Coach Jim Leavitt has enjoyed success in the first nine seasons, and the program is seen as a program on the rise, and a model for establishing a football program at other colleges. On September 24, 2005, USF defeated ninth-ranked University of Louisville, for its first victory over a Big East rival as well as a Top Ten opponent. As a result, USF received its first-ever votes in the AP college football poll.

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USF received national attention during the tenure of Castor's successor, Judy Genshaft, amid the controversy surrounding Professor Sami Al-Arian. Al-Arian's alleged connections to Palestinian terrorist groups brought national media attention to USF following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The school's newspaper is named The Oracle, which was first published on September 6, 1966 as a weekly. Today The Oracle is published five times a week and has a circulation of 12,000. The student radio station, WBUL, is located in the Phyllis P. Marshall student center, and the school also operates WUSF, an FM station which offers classical and jazz music and NPR programming.

USF's Contemporary Art Museum features regular exhibitions of faculty and student art and professional artists like William Wegman and Ed Ruscha. USF also operates Graphicstudio, an art studio and printshop which has hosted artists like Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, and James Rosenquist. Regular exhibitions of student work are featured in the William and Nancy Oliver Gallery and the student-run Centre Gallery in the Marshall Center.

Housing

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Unlike many Florida universities, USF is primarily a "commuter" school, in which students live off-campus or at home and drive to class. Despite demand for on-campus housing rising for the last five years, less than ten percent of USF's student body lives in a university residence hall.

In recent years, Residence Services acquired the houses of various fraternities and sororities on campus, and let the lease expire on Fontana Hall, located outside campus boundaries. Older residence halls, such as Beta Hall (which houses freshmen only), Betty Castor Hall (formerly Gamma Hall, women-only), and Kosove Apartments (formerly Alpha Hall, upperclassmen) received extensive remodeling in the early 2000s.

Most housing on-campus was built rapidly from 1960 to 1965, and each hall was named after a Greek letter. Betty Castor's contributions to the University, and A. Harrison and Ruth Kosove's donations have caused two of the "Greek letter" halls to be renamed. Newer housing subdivisions, such as the Cypress Suites and Apartments, Maple Hall, Holly Apartments, and the Magnolia Apartments, were built starting in the late 1990s, with the Cypress complex last to be completed, in the summer of 2004.