{"id":233211,"date":"2026-04-15T20:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T20:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/233211\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T20:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T20:20:08","slug":"sarasota-manatee-campus-showcases-its-bold-programs-for-leadership-usf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/233211\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarasota-Manatee campus showcases its bold programs for Leadership USF"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Leaders from throughout the Tampa Bay region spent a day at University of South Florida<br \/>\n                  Sarasota-Manatee as part of the second Leadership USF cohort. Participants in this<br \/>\n                  program met monthly for six months to gain a deeper understanding of USF\u2019s various<br \/>\n                  departments, including academic, research and administrative units on all three campuses<br \/>\n                  and the Morsani College of Medicine.<\/p>\n<p>The 2025\u201326 Leadership USF cohort included Lauren Bell, chief operating officer of<br \/>\n                  the St. Pete Innovation District; Dr. Jennifer Bencie, chief health officer for the<br \/>\n                  Florida Department of Health; Mark Gordon, managing editor of the Business Observer;<br \/>\n                  Ram Kancharla, vice president of planning and development at Port Tampa Bay; Keidrian<br \/>\n                  Kunkel, CEO of CareerSource Hillsborough Pinellas; Derek Mateos, president and CEO<br \/>\n                  of Matcon Construction; Tina Pepin, executive director of the Pepin Family Foundation;<br \/>\n                  Tara Poulton, chief of staff for the U.S. House of Representatives; Melissa Ramos,<br \/>\n                  chief strategy officer at Northwestern Mutual; Steven Sinclair, utilities security<br \/>\n                  director at Convergin; and Owen Young, chief officer of family and community engagement<br \/>\n                  for Hillsborough County Public Schools.<\/p>\n<p>Attendees were greeted on April 10, 2026 with a morning keynote address delivered<br \/>\n                  by Dr. Anila Jain \u2014 a USF alumna, physician, medical consultant and member of the<br \/>\n                  Sarasota-Manatee campus board. A short video was presented that captured former USF<br \/>\n                  presidents and others congratulating Dr. Jain on receiving the 2025 USF Women in Leadership<br \/>\n                  Gold and Green award. The cohort also learned about the USF Office of Veteran Success<br \/>\n                  from interim director Renee Amboy. She described the comprehensive services offered<br \/>\n                  to military-connected students on all three campuses, including about 10% of the student<br \/>\n                  population on our campus. The group was then provided a tour of the campus, including<br \/>\n                  stops at the student center, ballroom, Atala Residence Hall and Bloomberg Lab. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At the conclusion of the campus tour, USF\u2019s Security Training Collaborative (STC)<br \/>\n                  presented \u201cThink Like a Spy\u201d to introduce attendees to this unique program. Located<br \/>\n                  on the Sarasota-Manatee campus, STC is a 16-week internship program led by USF Corporate<br \/>\n                  Training and Professional Education that provides students with high-quality, hands-on<br \/>\n                  training including exercises with the Secret Service and weekly risk assessments for<br \/>\n                  Fortune 500 companies. USF student interns augmented the program by describing the<br \/>\n                  CARVER methodology\u2014Criticality, Accessibility, Recoverability, Vulnerability, Effect,<br \/>\n                  and Recognizability.<\/p>\n<p>Following the STC presentation, attendees were transported to The Circus Arts Conservatory<br \/>\n                  (CAC) where Interim Regional Chancellor Brett Kemker shared highlights from the current<br \/>\n                  academic year \u2014 including an 88.2% retention rate and a 4.35 average GPA for first-time<br \/>\n                  in college students.<\/p>\n<p>Jennifer Mitchell, CEO and president of The CAC and the host for the program, then<br \/>\n                  described the collaboration between USF&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sarasotamanatee.usf.edu\/academics\/center-for-paint\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Florida Center for Partnerships in Arts-Integrated Teaching (PAInT)<\/a> and CAC as well as background about the circus. PAInT is a state-wide resource in<br \/>\n                  arts-integrated pedagogy that empowers teachers to explore and implement arts integration<br \/>\n                  in Florida classrooms to increase student engagement and improve student learning<br \/>\n                  outcomes. This was followed by a performance by PAInT Director Denise Davis-Cotton<br \/>\n                  who then co-presented a program with CAC Education Outreach Manager Karen Bell about<br \/>\n                  the partnership between CAC and USF.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This Leadership USF visit showcased the Sarasota-Manatee campus\u2019s unique programs<br \/>\n                  to the community that inspires this continued innovation. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/leadershipusf-denise-2col.png\" alt=\"Denise Davis-Cotton with Karen Bell\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Denise Davis-Cotton with Karen Bell of The Circus Arts Conservatory<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/leadershipusf-performance-2col.png\" alt=\"The Circus Arts Conservatory\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Circus Arts Conservatory gave a performance<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/leadershipusf-bloomberg-2col.png\" alt=\"Bloomberg Lab\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Bloomberg Lab Director Vikas Soni greets attendees<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/leadershipusf-atala-2col.png\" alt=\"Atala Hall\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Attendees visit the campus including the Campus Student Center and Atala Residence<br \/>\n                           Hall<\/p>\n<p>Photography by Kim McDonald<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leaders from throughout the Tampa Bay region spent a day at University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee as part&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-233211","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\/233211","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=233211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}