Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
MONIQUE FIELDSThe campus is granted new authority over the choice of its faculty, students and curriculum.
ST. PETERSBURG - The University of South Florida St. Petersburg was granted new powers over its operations Tuesday, in a move administrators hope will soon lead to separate accreditation from the Tampa campus.
USF president Judy Genshaft told campus leaders the St. Petersburg school can now select its own students and create its own courses and programs. It also can hire, promote and grant tenure to faculty members, she said.
As for students, the most obvious change will be the new diplomas awarded this spring. They will read "University of South Florida St. Petersburg."
Some of the changes already were in effect informally, and many things will stay the same.
Funding and tuition, for example, won't change; USF St. Petersburg will remain a part of the overall university's budget.
Course offerings will stay the same until the accreditation process is complete. That will ensure USF St. Petersburg meets the standards of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, an accrediting agency in Atlanta that holds the key to the college's future.
"I think the actual delegation of authority is really a vote of confidence," said Karen White, whose title changed Tuesday from campus chief executive to regional chancellor.
The campus, which has grown significantly in recent years, has been seeking separate accreditation since 2001. But accreditors have balked, saying the school was not sufficiently autonomous.
USF will notify the accrediting agency this week of the school's new powers. Agency officials are expected to decide in June whether the changes are enough for them to send a review team to the campus in the fall.
"I have followed through on my word," said Genshaft, who first promised to loosen ties with the St. Petersburg campus three years ago.
Faculty members applauded the changes. While they wanted more independence, they also wanted to maintain formal ties to the Tampa campus, which has become a research powerhouse in the Southeast. The continued affiliation, they said, will help them compete for contracts and grants.
The new arrangement is not that unusual. Several colleges in the nation - including branches of the University of Houston, Auburn University and Arizona State University - have their own governing powers while remaining part of a larger system.
Bill Heller, onetime leader of the St. Petersburg campus and chairman of the school's faculty council, kissed Genshaft on the cheek after her announcement.
"Good news," he told Genshaft. "I feel good."
The upbeat sentiment comes after years of talks about accreditation that gained momentum after then-Sen. Don Sullivan tried to push USF St. Petersburg toward independence.
After lengthy negotiations, Genshaft, Sullivan and Sen. Jim Sebesta struck a compromise that funneled state money directly to the campus. It was used last year to hire more than 60 professors and administrators, including White, who arrived in July.
Sullivan said he was very pleased with the announcement.
"It's been a massive job to sort all this out and get approval, and I look forward to the day when the Bayboro campus has its own accreditation."
The campus, once a mishmash of buildings, is now organized into three distinct areas: the College of Business, the College of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences.
Some changes, including the authority to grant tenure and promotion, have been in place for months. But the announcement made it formal and specified what will no longer be administered through the Tampa campus.
College registration and records, for example, will now be handled at the St. Petersburg campus, including dropping and adding classes and granting transcript requests. The campus will bypass Tampa and approve its own new courses and curricular changes, and its faculty will make decisions about sabbatical leaves.
There are at least three areas that will be shared. The campuses will have the same legal representation and lobbyists. And collective bargaining will stay the same.
The deans of the university's three colleges said they are ready to move forward.
The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business has agreed to allow the St. Petersburg campus to seek separate accreditation from the business school in Tampa. Administrators from both business schools will meet later this month. Accreditation could come as early as 2006, said Ronald Hill, dean of the College of Business in St. Petersburg.
The College of Education will remain under Tampa's umbrella at least until 2008. The college plans to submit an application for separate accreditation in 2006 from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. A visit by educators could come as early as 2008, said Vivian Fueyo, dean of the College of Education.
Departments within the College of Arts and Sciences also will seek separate accreditation for programs.
The journalism department, for example, is under scrutiny this week by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. The department could know the outcome of that visit as early as today, said Mark Durand, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.