University of South Florida St. Petersburg Informations

The University of South Florida St. Petersburg (USFSP), commonly known as USF St. Pete, is a separately accredited institution in the University of South Florida System, located in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida by the Tampa Bay waterfront. As part of a multi-institutional system, USF St. Petersburg retains a separate identity and mission while contributing to and benefiting from the associations, cooperation, and shared resources of the USF System. The campus is bounded by the Salt Creek Marine District, Bayfront Medical Center and All Children's Hospital and the Roser Park and Bartlett Park residential neighborhoods. Opened in 1965 as a satellite campus of the University of South Florida, USFSP gained accreditation as a separate entity in 2006. USF St. Petersburg is the only public university in Pinellas County and the only public university offering bachelors and graduate degree programs in the area. USF St. Petersburg enrolled nearly 5,000 students during the fall 2012 semester. Students across the USF System enroll at USF St. Petersburg, creating a typical semester student population of more than 6,000. The other separately accredited institutions in the System are the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida and University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee in Sarasota, Florida.

In 1965, the University of South Florida created a satellite campus in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, the "Bay Campus," the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. The campus opened in the fall of 1965 to 257 freshman. In 1967, USF St. Petersburg organized the USF Marine Science Program. In that same year, the Florida Institute of Oceanography opened facilities on land leased from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. In 1969, USF St. Petersburg opened its library with 2,248 volumes and offered its first degrees to 51 graduates of elementary education program. In that same year, a State Legislature passed bill establishing USF St. Petersburg as a branch of the University of South Florida. By 1981, USF St. Petersburg had completed its first stage of expansion with the addition of Bayboro Hall. In 1984, Coquina Hall opened its doors. In 1990, the Campus Activities Center opened its doors. In 2005, USF St. Petersburg celebrated its 40th Anniversary and the groundbreaking for Residence Hall One. In 2006, USF St. Petersburg was accredited as a separate entity from the University of South Florida. In that same year, the University of South Florida St. Petersburg opened its new student residence hall, Residence Hall One, to house future and returning students.

Having been a satellite campus of the University of South Florida for the first 40 years of its existence, the University of South Florida St. Petersburg gained autonomy and was accredited as a separate entity within the University of South Florida system by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools starting with the 2006-2007 school year. Accreditation allows the University of South Florida St. Petersburg to award bachelor's and master's degrees. The College of Business and the Program of Accountancy are both accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International. Less than one-third of U.S. business school programs, fewer than 15 percent of business school programs worldwide meet the rigorous standards for AACSB accreditation. Only 180 institutions worldwide are separately accredited in accounting.

The Department of Journalism and Media Studies is accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC), and it is the only journalism program in the central and south Florida area that has both undergraduate and graduate degree programs accredited. Only 111 professional programs out of 400 colleges and universities in the U.S. are accredited.

USF St. Petersburg has three colleges that offer both bachelor's and master's degrees. The three colleges are the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business, and the College of Education.

The separate USF College of Marine Science is also located on the campus.

The University of South Florida St. Petersburg has four Programs of Distinction:

USF has athletic teams in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, outdoor track, sailing, soccer, and volleyball.

The USF Sailing Team has male and female teams. The Co-ed Sailing and Varsity Women's Sailing Teams are both ranked in the Top 30 Collegiate Sailing Teams in the nation. USF Sailing is a member of the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (SAISA). The team has two coaches and a waterfront facility on campus. They have travelled widely throughout the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions for competition at other schools including Dartmouth, MIT, Tufts, Brown, St. Mary's, Boston, Stanford, Coast Guard, URI, Bowdoin, Yale, Conn College, and Navy.

The Office of Campus Computing at USF St. Petersburg is responsible for all functions that involve computing, data communication and Voice over IP services. Campus Computing Services (CCS) and the St. Petersburg Regional Data Center (SPRDAC) are an integral part of the Office of Campus Computing. The Office of Campus Computing is also involved in the planning and implementation of the information technology infrastructure necessary to support the evolution of USF St. Petersburg as a major research institution and its academic programs.

The Nelson Poynter Memorial Library opened in 1996 to commemorate Nelson Poynter. The Nelson Poynter Memorial Library, serving the University of South Florida St. Petersburg's community, is an inviting place for students, faculty, and campus visitors to read, relax, research, or study.

The Nelson Poynter Library has over a 200,000 volume collection featuring business, education, liberal arts, and marine science. Literature selections range from classics such as Herman Melville's Moby-Dick to the latest award-winning novels. A children's collection features outstanding juvenile and young adult books.

The Poynter Library's Special Collections department offers outstanding collections of rare books, oral histories, and local history photographs and documents. Notable collections include the John C. Briggs Collection of Ichthyology and Natural History, the David Hubbell Mark Twain Collection, the Miller Family Collection of Presidential Signatures and Documents, and the Papers of Nelson Poynter.

The library subscribes to more than 800 periodicals and newspapers, including Science, The Economist, Foreign Affairs, and local and national newspapers. Over 10,000 electronic journals and newspapers augmenting these print collections are accessible through the library's on the wireless network or on computers in the library's information commons.

In 1950, when the Merchant Marine training base at Bayboro Harbor was deactivated, Nelson Poynter started a campaign to persuade the City of St. Petersburg to donate the land to the state. Poynter committed himself to donate $500,000 to help buy additional land for expansion and was the principal contributor and fundraiser for the first St. Petersburg campus library. On June 15, 1978, Nelson Poynter, his wife Marion, business and civic leaders, educators, and students took turns with eight gold-painted shovels to break ground for the first phase expansion of the campus. A few hours later, Nelson Poynter suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. Poynter died that same evening. That library would become Bayboro Hall, the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library would open in 1996 in his name.

The Crow's Nest is a student-run newspaper circulated in USF St. Petersburg that was first published in 1969. The newspaper is published in the fall and spring semesters, and contains news stories, features and entertainment pieces that are of interest to the students. The newspaper distributes 800 copies of the paper every Monday on campus. Since the spring of 2005, The Crow's Nest has been published on a weekly basis. The Crow's Nest is funded each semester by a portion of revenue generated from Activities and Services fees as well as advertising revenue.

The University of South Florida St. Petersburg has an active campus life. The majority of activities involving students are officially the responsibility of the Division of Student Affairs, but over the years, Student Government Association has become the sole funding source of Student Life, Campus Reservations and New Student Orientation. In April 2006, Student Government opened a new volleyball and basketball courts facility on campus.

The Student Success Center (SSC) was created to help students achieve their educational goals. Through tutoring sessions, workshops, seminars, and academic coaching, the SSC helps students succeed at USF St. Petersburg.

The Department of Student Life and Engagement and the Student Life Center work together to allow for opportunities for students to learn outside of class. The Student Life Center is located on the same street as Residence Hall One and is across the street from the campus. It houses the fitness center which a weight and cardio room, recreation areas, aerobics area, locker rooms, and basketball, and volleyball.

The Harborside Activities Board is the university's campus programming board, that plans and implements educational, cultural, and social co-curricular activities for the USF St. Petersburg campus. Harborside Activities Board is made up of three entertainment divisions: film, stage acts and special events. Film brings blockbuster movies to campus for free screenings months before they are released on DVD, as well as educational films and childhood classics. Stage Acts is most well known for bringing up-and-coming and well known comedians to perform free shows for students twice a semester, as well as music acts, speakers, performers and many others. Special Events is most well known for their make and take programming that allows students to enjoy fun activities such as "Build-A-Bull," where students get the opportunity to make their own stuffed animal bull mascot, as well as tie-dye events, casino nights where students are able to compete for over $1,000 in prizes and many more.

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