General Information Blurb
An Overview of the University and its Resources
The University of South Florida (USF) is a high-impact, global research university dedicated to student success. USF was established in 1956 as a public university and is a comprehensive research university serving more than 48,000 students. The USF System is an evolving multi-campus system of higher education with fiscally autonomous, yet complementary, independently accredited institutions located in Tampa (including USF Health), St. Petersburg, and Sarasota-Manatee. USF is home to medical clinics and hospitals, a major mental health research institute, and two public broadcasting stations. The university employs more than 1,800 full-time instructional faculty and over 7,000 full-time staff. USF is a member of the American Athletic Conference. It has a $1.7 billion annual budget, and an annual economic impact of $4.4 billion.
One of 12 universities within the State University System of Florida, USF is one of the nation’s top 73 public research universities and a leading metropolitan research university. USF has 14 colleges: Arts and Sciences, The Arts, Behavioral & Community Sciences, Business, Education, Engineering, Global Sustainability, Honors, Marine Science, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Graduate Studies. The university offers 182 degree programs, including the doctor of medicine: 90 bachelor programs, 48 master programs, two education specialist degree programs, 38 research doctoral programs, and four MD programs. The Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs is the center for all academic operations and functions at the university. USF ranks as a national leader in online education, according to the Guide to Online Schools, ranking 24th on its “best overall” list of top nonprofit and for-profit schools (2013).
The university is dedicated to the discovery of new knowledge, insights, and forms of expression through significant innovative research and other creative activity, and to the preservation, organization, analysis, and synthesis of existing knowledge. USF is one of only four Florida public universities classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in Doctoral Universities: Highest Research Activity, a distinction attained by only 2.5 percent of all universities. As a leading publicly supported university, USF accomplishes its research mission by building on existing program strengths, fostering effective, transdisciplinary approaches, and contributing to the resolution of social, cultural, economic, medical and technological challenges facing the metropolitan population of our community, state, nation and the world.
USF faculty, students and staff are proactive in the search for new knowledge and consistently demonstrate their concern about the world in which we live. With the support of private and public agencies, they contribute to our knowledge about the world and apply their findings and skills to solving many of the problems facing contemporary society. Many contributions evolve from basic research; others, from practical applications of new knowledge. Other projects make specialized training available to public officials, organizations working for social betterment, religious and educational institutions, and business and manufacturing organizations. Through sponsored and non-sponsored activities, USF faculty, students and staff make significant contributions to instructional programs.
The dedication of USF researchers, students and staff has contributed to the phenomenal growth in research that USF experienced over the past 30 years. In FY1986, the university received only $22.3 million in external funding for research projects. By the end of FY1995, research awards had reached over $100 million. In FY2014, USF generated over $428 million in sponsored research. The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Almanac of Higher Education ranked USF as the nation’s fifth growing research university from 2000-2010.
The University of South Florida is one of only 40 public research universities nationwide with very high research activity (RU/VH) that is designated as “community engaged” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. According to the National Science Foundation, USF ranks 45th in the nation for total research expenditures among all U.S. universities, public or private, and 28th in total research expenditures for public universities (2015).
USF ranks 9th in the nation among public universities and 21st world-wide for granted U.S. patents, ranking among the Top 10 public universities for U.S. patents granted over the past 6 years (2010-2015) according to the Intellectual Property Owners Association and the National Academy of Inventors. The university supports economic development and the translation of USF research and technologies to the marketplace, through an active Technology Transfer Office and USF CONNECT, the economic development arm of USF. USF’s Tampa Bay Technology Incubator is currently home to more than 60 resident and affiliate companies and growing. Its current companies have created 168 jobs, received more than $73.2 million in total funding, with $37.1 million in annual sales revenue. It is the only tech business incubator in the region to support bio and life science companies with state-of-the-art wet labs. Over 55% of TBTI companies focus on bio & life sciences and nearly 50% are commercializing technologies developed by USF researchers.
USF has numerous research and health care partnerships through affiliation agreements with hospitals and not-for-profit organizations in the metropolitan Tampa Bay area. USF affiliates include the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, C.W. Bill Young Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (formerly Bay Pines VA Hospital), Tampa General Hospital, All Children's Hospital, Bayfront Medical Center, Shriner's Children's Hospital, Florida Hospital Tampa, and the U.S. Geological Survey.
As a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Moffitt Cancer Center, located on the USF Tampa campus, is part of an elite group of cancer centers nationwide that focus on the quick translation of research advances to improvements in patient care and has developed a strong national reputation for excellence. The James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, located within walking distance of USF Health’s Morsani College of Medicine, provides research and training experiences for faculty, staff, and students. The USF Health System is also closely affiliated with Tampa General Hospital and the Lakeland Regional Medical Center, which provide training for residents and medical students. The Shriner's Children's Hospital (at USF Tampa), Florida Hospital Tampa (within walking distance), All Children's Hospital, Bayfront Medical Center and the C.W. Bill Young Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (in St. Petersburg), as well as the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer's Institute (at USF Tampa), provide additional research and training grounds for USF faculty and students.
Affiliate partnerships established with Mote Marine Laboratory and the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory have expanded the research and development capacities, student educational opportunities, and economic development impact of USF. Affiliation agreements with organizations normally provide for collaboration through shared facilities, faculty, and equipment, as well as support for graduate students and internship programs. These types of agreements enable the institutions to pool resources, such as laboratory space, and enable compliance committees to stimulate an exchange of ideas.
Throughout the university's development, the faculty at USF have identified and satisfied needs on a local, national and global scale. A variety of activities in such areas as health care, neuroscience, transportation, informatics, cybersecurity, education and engineering are conducted by specialized research and development centers and institutes. The university currently has over 100 such centers and institutes, many of which function in an interdisciplinary fashion, enabling coordination of projects across colleges.
From developing sources of clean energy, to enhancing the quality of life for people with disabilities and leading the way on veterans’ research and reintegration, USF research, innovation and economic development is focused on creating local, national and global solutions to society’s most difficult problems.
Last updated: 6/21/17