{"id":232496,"date":"2026-04-15T10:11:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T10:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/232496\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T10:11:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T10:11:07","slug":"heres-a-sneak-peek-into-usfs-presidential-mansion-lifsey-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/232496\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s a sneak peek into USF\u2019s presidential mansion, Lifsey House"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>USF\u2019s presidential mansion, called the Lifsey House, is located on USF Sago Drive and was built in 1993 for presidential living and university events. ORACLE PHOTO\/AYRON ESPINO-NARDI<\/p>\n

USF\u2019s Lifsey House \u2014 a mansion used for presidential housing and events \u2014 is a deep-set house at the corner of Fowler Avenue and Leroy Collins Boulevard.<\/p>\n

The house, more than three decades old, is surrounded by oak trees with winding branches and lush foliage, and has long been a subject of students\u2019 curiosity because of its secluded location.<\/p>\n

And while the living space has been mostly vacant since USF President Emeritus Steven Currall resigned in 2021, USF President Moez Limayem has chosen to live there during his transition from Jacksonville to the Tampa Bay region.<\/p>\n

USF spokesperson Althea Johnson said student body interactions with the home are strictly limited to students invited there for official business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, Limayem hosted about 80 students from the USF Ambassadors<\/a> at the house in March for the third and final interview to join the 2026\u201327 team.<\/p>\n

The USF Ambassadors is a professional organization sponsored by the USF Alumni Association<\/a> that connects the current student body to USF alumni and the surrounding community, according to its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lauren Rufolo, a freshman healthcare administration major, said she was one of the students who interviewed for USF Ambassadors at the Lifsey House.<\/p>\n

Rufolo said she felt honored to be in Lifsey House and said both the interior and exterior were beautiful.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really gorgeous,\u201d Rufolo said. \u201cWe walked past these beautiful bushes and flowers. The inside was beautiful as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: USF\u2019s new president wants to position USF as a \u201cmodel university\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The Lifsey House was built in 1993 and was named<\/a> after Julian and Mary Ann Lifsey, who donated<\/a> about $600,000 to the $1.2 million project.<\/p>\n

The 9,000-square-foot yellow-brick home was originally designed as a private residence for the university president, but has mostly been used as a venue for events and social gatherings, according to USF Digital Commons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The first USF president to live in Lifsey House was Betty Castor, USF\u2019s fifth president. Castor lived<\/a> there for her entire five-year tenure, from 1994 to 1999.<\/p>\n

Castor\u2019s successor, Judy Genshaft, also chose to live in the house for six weeks<\/a> while transitioning from her position as provost<\/a> of the University of Albany in New York to Tampa to take over her role as USF\u2019s sixth president in 2000.<\/p>\n

Still, Genshaft ultimately chose to move off campus<\/a> after settling into the area due to her young sons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The living quarters were then unused until Currall moved into the mansion with his wife, Cheyenne, in 2019.<\/p>\n

After the couple moved into the home, a $376,000 security fence was installed around the property to maintain a \u201csafe living environment<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: \u2018I have no hidden agenda\u2019: USF president addresses pay, HR issues at town halls<\/a><\/p>\n

While the Lifsey House remained unoccupied as a home from 2000 to 2019, USF spokesperson Althea Johnson said the property was and still is a \u201chighly utilized facility.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The house serves as a primary hub for hosting donors, faculty and award recipients, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few examples include employee appreciation lunches, an annual faculty and staff holiday celebration and lunches with award recipients from USF commencement ceremonies,\u201d Johnson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to USF Ambassadors in March, Limayem also spoke to deans of various Colleges of Arts and Sciences from across the Association of American Universities at the Lifsey House on Feb. 19.<\/p>\n

Johnson said there are no plans to remodel or replace Lifsey House, adding that it will continue to serve as a residency option for presidents and a space for building university relationships.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Lifsey House\u2019s living room in 1993, which features red sofas, a coffee table, bookshelves and a grand piano. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE\/USF DIGITAL COMMONS<\/p>\n

Rufolo said she and other student guests walked from the Sam and Martha Gibbons Alumni Center through a tree-covered pathway to the Lifsey House as part of their USF Ambassadors interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cA really essential part of the final ambassador interview is being quizzed on a bunch of facts [about USF],\u201d Rufolo said. \u201cThe president himself, as an honor for us making it to the third round, asks us those questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The guests toured Lifsey House\u2019s living room, decorated with wood-stained French doors, a grand piano and tall windows for natural light.<\/p>\n

Rufolo said her experience was unique, adding that she felt honored to walk through the home and proud to make it to \u2014 and through \u2014 the USF Ambassadors interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was private, and it was honorable,\u201d Rufolo said. \u201cI called my mom right after, and I was like, \u2018You won\u2019t believe what I just did.\u2019 It was really an incredible experience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"USF\u2019s presidential mansion, called the Lifsey House, is located on USF Sago Drive and was built in 1993…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-232496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}