When the Tampa Campus saw an unexpected influx in student enrollment in the mid-60\u2019s, leaders opened the St. Petersburg campus to accommodate the overflow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first students and professors of USF St. Petersburg experienced a different campus than what exists today.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Though much has changed, the campus\u2019s ambiance remains the same. It is described by members of the USF St. Petersburg community as one of the most unique public university experiences in the U.S.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joan \u201cSudsy\u201d Tschiderer attended her first lecture at USF St. Petersburg in the fall 1969. Her initial plan to attend the University of Florida\u2019s journalism school fell through when she missed the application deadline \u2014 a mistake that turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as Sudsy has remained an integral part of the St. Petersburg community at large even after finishing her graduate studies at USF St. Petersburg in the 1970\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI see this place, I get my class schedule and I think to myself that I\u2019ll take a semester here, and there were probably 400 students at the time,\u201d Tschiderer told The Crow\u2019s Nest. \u201cI wound up having these professors that were remarkable, student-centered and we were all able to interact with each other.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Tschiderer described the uniqueness of the historic Snell and Williams houses \u2014 more than two hundred-year-old historic buildings on the USF St. Petersburg campus.\u00a0
Photo by Matthew McGovern | The Crow\u2019s Nest<\/p>\n
When Tschiderer was a student, buildings at the end of the Bayboro peninsula were classrooms for students of almost all disciplines. Today, they serve as laboratories and classrooms for students in the marine biology program at USF St. Petersburg.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were Navy ships, British, Dutch and research vessels docked in the waterfront from February to May. We got to be friends with a lot of the people coming through and we had such a blast,\u201d said Tschiderer. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the next three decades, USF St. Petersburg expanded its footprint. The Nelson Poynter Memorial Library<\/a>, Davis and Bayboro Halls, Peter Rudy Wallace Center for Florida Teachers and the repurposed former Dal\u00ed museum<\/a> into Harbor Hall changed the physical landscape of the campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n A growing campus meant new accreditation and administrative processes in the mid-2000\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hired as the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at USF St. Petersburg in 2007 (and subsequently re-hired in late 2025), Professor Frank Biafora describes the separate accreditation for the St. Petersburg campus as a catalyst for the experience students are able to enjoy today.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a legislator in Tallahassee, J.D. Alexander, who basically wanted a separately accredited university apart from USF [Tampa], and when I arrived, the university was sort of flushed with money. We built more residence halls, hired more faculty, gave more financial resources and set in place some new policies, procedures, and guidelines,\u201d Biafora told The Crow\u2019s Nest.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Though USF St. Petersburg has always embraced its quirks seldom found at other public universities, Biafora said that through constructing dorms for students, the university experienced a metamorphosis into a lively learning environment that leaned into those special features.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis really was an evening campus,\u201d Biafora said, in reference to the amount of junior, senior, and graduate-level classes on campus. \u201cThen, it really became an undergraduate campus with the construction of the first residence hall \u2014 it was so 24\/7.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The arrival of more students meant that more young minds would bear witness to the professors at USF St. Petersburg \u2014 some of which had stuck around since Tschiderer\u2019s time as a graduate student.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gary <\/a>Mormino, professor emeritus at USF, has served the university and Tampa Bay community at large for nearly 50 years, contributing to literature and projects that sought to preserve the history of the region, its people, culture and natural resources.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Though he is now retired, Mormino still teaches one class a semester, usually to students in the Judy Genshaft Honors College, in order to stay connected to the campus that he has fallen in love with for its unique location, quietness and rich history.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI came over [from USF Tampa] in 2003 to teach in a program professor Raymond Arsenault<\/a> had just created \u2014 the Florida studies program<\/a>,\u201d Mormino said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The creation of the Florida studies program aligned with a shift away from Mormino\u2019s studies in immigration history in the Tampa Bay region and a focus on the history of Florida at large, he told The Crow\u2019s Nest.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis was just an ideal place. We brought in Chris Meindl, Julie Armstrong, Tom Hallock \u2014I\u2019m definitely leaving out a few colleagues. But I look around and think, \u2018What an exciting place.\u2019 Coming here was the best move I ever made in my life aside from marrying my wife,\u201d Mormino said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Though the names of these beloved educators may not be recognizable to all, they are known by many in the USF St. Petersburg community.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mormino, Tschiderer and Biafora expressed that their connection to this campus does not necessarily stem from the dolphins in the harbor, the sounds of propellers landing at nearby Alfred Whitted Airport, or the work-life balance that comes from working on a beautiful college campus. It comes from being a part of a place that has not wavered in its commitment to community and providing a world-class learning and experience for 61 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou really feel like you are a part of something here,\u201d Biafora said, while watching students chalk below the windows of the dean\u2019s suite in Davis Hall. \u201cAnd Tampa, it\u2019s a behemoth campus. How cool is it that you can walk around this campus, and someone says, \u2018Hey Matthew!\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Former students, like Alexandra Vargas Minor, who now serves as the curator of campus archives at the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library, echo this sentiment of connection to the community. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI actually didn\u2019t know that USF St. Pete existed when I was in undergrad,\u201d Vargas Minor said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n She completed her graduate studies in the library information science program during the COVID-19 pandemic, which disconnected her from campus life at the university.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Once joining the Poynter Library staff in 2023, she began to understand more about USF St. Petersburg\u2019s comforting environment and how it differed greatly from the Tampa campus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I\u2019ve gone over to the Marshall [Student] Center, I feel like it\u2019s like walking into the mall, and that\u2019s not the case on our campus at all,\u201d Vargas Minor said. \u201cWorking here more and more and interacting with people who have been here and digging into the campus archives, I\u2019ve gotten to know the landscape of things a lot more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As the university transitions and seeks to re-consolidate its three campuses through the\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n OneUSF initiative, Vargas Minor\u2019s grasp of the nuances that differentiate Tampa and St. Petersburg allows her and the team at the Poynter library to safeguard and showcase the local community.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a really unique campus within the larger USF infrastructure. I really strive to be able to protect that uniqueness and make sure that the legacy is passed on,\u201d Vargas Minor said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As a whole, USF has grown to be a top research University with over 40,000 students, gaining national recognition<\/a> along the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n USF St. Petersburg aims to produce high-quality and career-ready young professionals, whether they venture off to bigger opportunities or make a home for themselves in St. Petersburg post-graduation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Gary Mormino says this is why he does it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNothing is better than seeing your students get into graduate school,\u201d Mormino said. \u201cWin a prize and really, be successful in life, in having a family and a career.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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USF St. Petersburg\u2019s residence hall one is now one of two on campus, with the opening of Osprey Hall in 2020. There are now nearly 1,000 students who live on campus at USFSP.\u00a0\u00a0
Photo by Kendall Bulkiewicz | The Crow\u2019s Nest<\/p>\n
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