University of South Florida
The University of South Florida is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is home to 14 colleges, offering more than 240 undergraduate, graduate, specialist, and doctoral-level degree programs. USF is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. USF is a member of the Association of American Universities and is designated by the Florida Board of Governors as one of three Preeminent State Research Universities.
Founded in 1956, USF is the fourth largest university in Florida by enrollment, with 49,766 students from over 145 countries, all 50 states, all five U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia as of the 2022–2023 academic year.
In 2022, the university reported an annual budget of $2.31 billion and an annual economic impact of over $6 billion. According to the National Science Foundation, USF spent $568 million on research and development in 2019, ranking it 43rd in the nation and 25th among public universities. USF's $889 million endowment is the third-largest among Florida public universities and the largest of any American public university founded post-World War II.
In its 2018 ranking, the Intellectual Property Owners Association placed USF 1st in Florida, 7th in the United States, and 16th worldwide in the number of US patents granted. USF faculty, staff, students, and alumni collectively hold over 2,400 patents. USF is home to the National Academy of Inventors and the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame, both located in the USF Research Park in the southwest side of campus.
USF's sports teams are known as the South Florida Bulls and primarily compete in the American Conference of NCAA Division I. USF's 21 varsity teams have won a combined 6 national championships and 171 conference championships. Athletes representing the Bulls have won an additional 24 individual and relay national championships and 256 individual and relay conference championships.
History
1950s
USF was the first state university in Florida built during the 20th century. Former U.S. representative Samuel Gibbons was instrumental in the school's creation when he was a state representative. He is considered by many to be the "Father of USF".Although founded in 1956, the university was not officially named until the following year, and classes did not begin until 1960. The university was built off Fowler Avenue on the former site of Henderson Air Field, a World War II airstrip. Before Henderson Field, the area was part of a 5,000-acre temple orange grove, the largest citrus grove in the world at the time, which gave the nearby city of Temple Terrace its name.
In 1957, the Florida Cabinet approved the name "University of South Florida". At the time, USF was the southernmost university in the state university system.
1960s
The first five buildings on campus when the student opened were the old library, the science building, the teaching auditorium, the university center, and the administration building.The university was founded as a school for whites only. It integrated and admitted its first African-American student, Ernest Boger, in 1961, the school's second year after opening. Boger graduated in 1964 with a B.A. in psychology.
In 1962, students voted to make the "Golden Brahman" the university's mascot, named after the state's cattle raising industry. In the early 1980s, the mascot evolved into the "Bulls".
In 1963, USF held its first graduation ceremony. 325 degrees were conferred.
The university grew rapidly under the leadership of John S. Allen, who served as its first president from 1956 until his retirement in 1971. During this time, the university expanded rapidly, due in part to the first master's degree programs commencing in 1964. Allen was infamously known for his opposition to college sports in favor of placing an "Accent on Learning", USF's original motto. He received national attention after declaring in 1959 that the school would have no sports teams, though he later had a change of heart and USF's first varsity teams would begin in 1965. Allen's ultimate legacy was to be the first person to build a modern state university from scratch, famously stating: "As a completely new and separate institution, the University of South Florida became the first new institution of its kind to be conceived, planned and built in the United States in the 20th century". Today the John and Grace Allen Administration Building, named after the university's founding president and his wife, houses vital Tampa campus departments including Student Affairs, the Admissions Welcome Center, and the Controller's Office.
USF's St. Petersburg campus opened in 1965 as a satellite campus. The site was known as the "Bay Campus" at the time and sat on the former site of the U.S. Navy Maritime Training Center.
USF's campus was damaged by an F4 tornado during the tornado outbreak of April 4–5, 1966, with the cooling towers at the university's power plant partially collapsing and the roof being ripped off of one of the dormitories.
1970s
In 1970, M. Cecil Mackey became the university's second president. During his time at USF, Mackey opened the university's medical school, School of Nursing, and first-ever Ph.D. program. Additionally, Mackey worked to strengthen the St. Petersburg campus, while opening new satellite campuses in Sarasota and Fort Myers. While serving as university president, Mackey continued to teach economics courses in a conference room across from his office. Mackey first coined a new descriptor for USF: a "metropolitan university". The term is still used to describe USF and other colleges in large cities today.USF Sarasota–Manatee was founded in 1975 and shared a campus with New College of Florida, which later became part of the USF system as well before becoming an independent university again.
1980s
USF emerged as a major research institution during the 1980s under the leadership of the university's third president John Lott Brown. During his tenure, the USF Graduate School was established in 1980. In 1986, Brown oversaw the opening of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute on the USF Tampa campus. USF became the first university in the nation to offer a Ph.D. in applied anthropology and the first in the State University System of Florida to offer a degree program in women's studies. In January 1988, USF Lakeland opened.On February 15, 1988, Francis T. Borkowski was inaugurated as the university's fourth president. He served as president for five years, laying the groundwork for the university's football program, establishing on-campus housing for the USF president at the Lifsey House, and merging several colleges into the College of Arts and Sciences.
1990s
became the university's fifth president and first female president when she was inaugurated in January 1994. She served as USF president for six years until 1999. During this time, USF grew to be one of the largest universities in the nation in terms of enrollment. In 1997, the university began its inaugural season of NCAA football. The Florida Board of Regents named USF a "Research 1" University in 1998.2000s
was selected as the new president in 2000. Under Genshaft's leadership, the university emerged as a top research university and major economic engine with an annual economic impact of $3.7 billion in the 2018–2019 fiscal year, her last year as president. In 2006, Castor returned to USF to lead the Dr. Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions; she stepped down in 2009. The university expanded its global reach, opening the first Confucius Institute in Florida in 2008 and creating the Genshaft/Greenbaum Passport Scholarship Fund in 2011, which provides financial support to USF students who want to study abroad. Under Genshaft, USF has continuously been ranked among the top veteran-friendly universities in the country. In 2009, USF became the first university in the nation to partner with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to offer specialized services for veterans taking advantage of the new G.I. Bill. USF continues to improve academically, being ranked among the best colleges in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.2010s
In 2012, USF was recognized as one of the nation's largest producers of Fulbright Program scholars. The university closed its Confucius Institute in 2018, citing falling enrollment, misalignment with the university's research focus, and possible consequences on US-government funding to USF. In 2018, Genshaft announced her retirement from position as president of USF.The university's seventh president, Steven C. Currall, took office on July 1, 2019. During his tenure, the university broke into the top 50 best public colleges in the nation according to rankings by U.S. News & World Report, achieving a 44th-place ranking in 2019
2020s
Currall led the university through the COVID-19 pandemic, which included budgetary hardships brought by a loss in state funding. On July 19, 2021, Currall announced his retirement as president, citing "health and family reasons." He remained on the faculty of the Muma College of Business.After Currall's resignation, Rhea Law, a USF alumna and former USF Board of Trustees chair, was appointed as interim president. The Board of Trustees selected Law for the permanent job as president on March 22, 2022, and she is the first USF graduate to serve in the role. Law stated her top priorities were for USF to reach a top-25 public university ranking, to gain admission into the Association of American Universities, and to build an on-campus football stadium. USF was accepted into the AAU in 2023.
In 2025, the university established the Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, and Computing following a $40 million donation from Arnie and Lauren Bellini, the largest donation in USF's history. The Bellini College offers eight undergraduate and advanced degree programs, including master's and doctoral degrees.