One Particular Harbor
The University of South Florida St. Petersburg is a premier graduate urban institution and a member of the University of South Florida System. The university is recognized for its vibrant community of scholars who engage and improve its community and the world.
USF St. Petersburg offers its students a close-knit community that fosters superior learning and personal growth.
Students say that USF St. Petersburg’s rich core of arts and sciences, business, and education programs, combined with stellar faculty, creates a contagious energy and spirit on campus. Professors in USF St. Petersburg’s community of scholars conduct wide-ranging, collaborative research to meet society’s needs and engage students in service projects and partnerships to enhance the university and community’s social, economic and intellectual life. Diverse co-curricular activities promote individual development and life-long friendships.
Accreditation
The University of South Florida St. Petersburg is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award degrees at the baccalaureate and master’s levels. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.
Our Tradition
USF St. Petersburg has a history rich with academic excellence, entrepreneurial spirit and ingenuity. Its founders opened the doors to students Sept. 5, 1965, and throughout its history this academic cove on Bayboro Harbor has embraced enormous change as Florida’s need for higher education intensified. USF St. Petersburg is the first regional institution established in the state of Florida.
USF St. Petersburg’s early administrators were creative and ambitious, building support from the City Council, St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce, the State Legislature, the Board of Regents and intellectual leaders such as Nelson Poynter, to lead the institution closer to its achievement as a graduate urban institution.
The most recent additions to the campus include the Harborwalk promenade, which opened in 2009, and the Science and Technology Building, which opened in 2010. Harborwalk transformed the Second Street corridor into a tree-lined pedestrian promenade that symbolizes the institution’s partnership with the community. The Science and Technology Building is the first LEED-certified building in the USF System. The university broke ground in April 2011 on the Multipurpose Student Center, an 81,000 square-foot facility that will include dining services, a ballroom, meeting spaces and a six-story residence hall with accommodations for nearly 200 students. The center is expected to open in August 2012.
Student Life
Student activities at USFSP include intramural sports, group fitness, clubs, student government, multicultural programming, lectures and water activities on the harbor. USF St. Petersburg’s beautiful waterfront campus is located just blocks from downtown St. Petersburg and students can enjoy the city’s many parks, shops, restaurants, art galleries, museums and sports venues.
Student Citizen Scholarship
Citizen scholarship sets USF St. Petersburg apart. Faculty members at USF St. Petersburg offer students both classroom and community learning opportunities within their curricula. Many courses engage USF St. Petersburg students with community businesses, agencies and schools in focused academic service.
USF St. Petersburg, identified as a master’s comprehensive institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, also holds the elective Community Engagement Classification from the Carnegie Foundation. The designation honors the university’s alignment among mission, culture, leadership, resources, and practices that support dynamic and noteworthy community engagement.
By pairing courses with corporate and community partners for immersive learning, professors involve students in the world outside the classroom.
A Community Partner
Considered one of the loveliest urban campuses in the nation, USF St. Petersburg is an anchor institution in the St. Petersburg Bayboro District featuring hospitals, research institutions, museums and performing arts centers. A vital partner in progress, the institution and its national and state research partners continue to serve as catalysts for renewal of the Bayboro neighborhoods and as economic spark plugs for energizing downtown St. Petersburg. USF St. Petersburg is an invaluable asset to the City and to Pinellas County, providing educational opportunities, critical research, service and community partnerships that better the quality of life for Floridians.
