By Cole Maines
Brews and eats set a jovial tone on the USF St. Petersburg campus as President Moez Limayem addressed students and alumni at the Bulls and Brews by the Bay event on April 17.
This marked Limayem’s fifth trip across the bay, a concerted effort from the university’s new leader to try and understand the tasks that lay ahead.
“I promised to hit the ground listening, so listening on three campuses and just hearing the good things that we do and some of the concerns and challenges, and we’re addressing them,” Limayem said.
Bulls and Brews by the Bay emphasized “One USF,” bringing together and celebrating scholarship recipients, current students and alumni.
“This is not just a fundraiser. This is a celebration,” President Limayem said. “This is something that brings all of us, all of us are here to celebrate, to be together and to send a message to our community, to our state, to the world, that USF is stronger with the three campuses.”
The significant alumni presence included association leaders, co-leaders of the LGBTQ Alumni Society, Ronald Kennedy and Robert Wallace. They seek to attend events like these to organize and establish a community of current and former USF students that can share their experiences.
“We want to try and organize and get alumni more involved in understanding that there’s a sense of community that they should appreciate and try to become involved with. Because we come from different backgrounds, engineering and medicine, we also offer some perspectives on what those schools looked like back then and what they’ve evolved into, and what the school has evolved into,” Kennedy said. “We try to tell everyone, tell the alumni who are interested in belonging, of course, there is value in feeling like you’re part of a USF family.”
Current student and scholarship recipient Victoria Phan appreciated the alumni involvement at the USF St. Petersburg Waterfront and the connections and opportunities it offers students.
“It’s really nice to put name to face, just to see how the local community has come to support specifically the St. Petersburg students,” Phan said. “I’m really appreciative. It’s great seeing how people invest into the future of students and academia. I really love the beautiful community.”
One of the vendors at the event was the brewing bulls of Mastry’s Brewing Co. and the USF Brewing Arts program. At their booth, they poured the new USF Pilsner and “Green and Gold Lager” in support of alumni and to contribute to the St. Petersburg craft beer community, as well as highlight the opportunities they offer.
“It’s community involvement,” Matthew Dahm, brewing arts instructor and founder of Mastry’s Brewing, said. “It’s a way to support and give back to the program and the university.” Professor and Director of the Brewing Arts program, Joe Askren, described how the university came together with the craft brewing industry to create the program and why they wanted to be at Bulls and Brews by the Bay.
“The program was jumpstarted by USF connecting with local breweries here in St. Pete. They wanted to have people coming out of a program that were educated on the brewing industry,” Askren said. “You have your craft brewing companies that are here today that really help to spark other industry. Brewing helps create culture in cities in towns all across the world.”
Program alumni and current Mastry’s brewer Brian Brown sought this opportunity to share his interests with others at the event.
“Beer is a social gathering. Even people that drink lightly, everyone has a few beers and starts talking and hanging out,” Brown said. “Craft beer brings people together to either try new things or to try things you love.”
Other vendors included local breweries like 3 Daughters, Green Bench, Grand Central, Bayboro Brewing, Great Bay Distributors and Mother Kombucha.
“Everything is welcoming. The culture is welcoming, everyone is super nice,” Abraham Barnes of Green Bench Brewing said. “It’s nice; a little hot, but we’re in Florida. Can’t complain. Good food. Good Beer. Everyone’s chilling.”
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Written by: Cole Maines on April 28, 2026.
Last revised by: Julia Ferrara