Executive Council Retreat
University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee
July 15, 2010
Attendees:
Executive Council: Pam Doerr, Ben Ellinor, Dr. Arthur Guilford, Dr. Bonnie Jones, Rick Lyttle, Greg Mallay, Alexis Upham
Faculty/Deans: Dr. Robert Anderson, Dr. Lora Kosten, Dr. Richard King, Dr. Michael Richard, Dr. Jane Rose, Dr. Jay Schrock
Special Guests:
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Laura Hoffman, Rhonda Moraca, Kelly Robbins, Dina Kathman
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Chris Manring
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Michelle Krueger, Chris Starosta and Pat White
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Mark Bukowski, Mary Beth Wallace, Julie Ragans, Sean Grosso
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SGA Executive Council: Brittany Gleitsman, Joshua Tyrrell, Rommel Borras, Alyssa Anderson, & Justin James
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (Bonnie Jones)
To a certain extent we have already been functioning on our own since June 15, 2009 when the delegation of
authority was given to Dr. Guilford by President Genshaft. We have successfully formed a Faculty Senate, tenured
and promoted faculty, admitted our own students, hired staff and faculty and have responded as a separate
institution would respond. We are well on our way to achieving our separate accreditation and should be very proud
of the accomplishments of the many people who have contributed to this success. Our June site visit by Dr.
Wilkinson went very well and we are looking forward to our site visit by the committee on November 17-19, 2010.
We need to continue to grow our enrollments and to brainstorm on what programs will be successful to
increase both our undergraduate and graduate enrollment. Due to recent proposals in private funding it has been
suggested that we consider new programs in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medicine (STEMM). It
should be noted that USFSM will be conducting a health-related needs assessment beginning in September 2010
and the assessment should be completed no later than August 2011, with periodic reporting from the team that will
be conducting the survey.
What Programs do students complain that we don’t have? (All and Sean Grosso)
A brief discussion was held in which we asked the questions, “What programs are students disappointed that
we do not offer?” Julie Ragans deferred this question to Sean Grosso since he has been here so much longer as a
recruiter than she has. Sean Grosso reported that the majority of students who complain about a lack of programs,
indicate that they would like to have Pre-Medicine, Engineering, and Political Science. There was some discussion
that our few Engineering courses usually do not fill and it was indicated that the reason for this is that prospective
students do not want “partial” degrees and then have to attend Tampa, but that they would prefer complete
degrees.
A brief discussion followed that we could refer this discussion to the Strategic Planning Committee to
investigate the costs of providing some of these programs. We would also need to evaluate whether or not any of
the lab components could be provided through virtual labs or if we would actually need real science labs in order to
provide this experience. There was also some discussion about the expensive nature of pre-medicine and
engineering coursework. This issue will be referred to the Strategic Planning Committee. There would be far less
expense in providing a Political Science degree program and this degree would lead to a pre-law degree with
partnership with other schools that offer the law degree. For some of the more expensive programs, we need to
consider partnering with other institutions (both private and public) to deliver the programs. Furthermore, we need
to have an extensive Higher Education Workforce Needs Assessment completed.
Program Planning in the College or Arts and Sciences (Jane Rose)
Jane Rose did an excellent job reporting on the thinking within the College of Arts and Sciences and
presented several new considerations for degree programs, some of which would be interdisciplinary and others
which would be inter-agency (inter-institutional). Dr. Rose addressed undergraduate and graduate courses and
graduate certificates.
Undergraduate Programs:
 Gerontology – beginning as a cognate option of the B.A. in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences this fall, 2010.
Students pair study of this discipline with another social science, such as psychology or social work.
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Social Work – still available to USFSM students as a cognate option of the B.A. in Interdisciplinary Social
Sciences
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General Education Curriculum to begin in the Fall 2012 – USFSM will meet the needs of enter first-year
students with appropriate courses in mathematics, composition, natural sciences, social sciences, history,
and fine arts. USFSM already offers foreign language courses (Spanish and French), which are a general
requirement of many degrees.
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UG Interdisciplinary Science Degree (Interagency partnership with Mote Marine) – teaming with Mote to
provide research faculty and students with laboratories and meaningful research. By studying biology,
chemistry and ecology as applied to marine science, students will be well-prepared for graduate study or
employment in research and education. MOU and program are being developed, so program will be ready
to implement when funding is available. The faculty could contribute to the Gen Ed curriculum.
Second baccalaureate B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a Concentration in Speech-Language
Pathology—Currently in development for implementation in Fall 2011.
 Political Science—currently an option of the B.A. in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences; however, student
feedback suggests enough interest to warrant a major. To implement, we would need to hire 2 faculty
positions when funding is available, but the faculty could contribute to the Gen Ed curriculum.
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Environmental Studies—Student interest suggests a possible major, but likely will follow development of the
INS degree, could even become part of it.
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Create a track for Psychology with a partnership with Roskamp—In early discussions with the Roskamp
Institute about developing a partnership similar to the one with Mote, which would enable hiring a
psychologist who does neurological/physiological brain research.
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English, Science, Social Science and Math Education (i.e., secondary methods and content), in conjunction
with College of Education. All new positions required for this development could contribute to the Gen Ed
curriculum.
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Study Abroad (Interagency)—Exchange program with the University of Yukatan is in development (4-6
weeks, 5-8 credits). USFSM is developing this opportunity, but has been in collaboration with New College
and Ringling College, and plans to invite State College to join.
Graduate Certificates:
 Human Services Administration (Interdisciplinary)—Currently in development. Should be ready to recruit in
Fall 2011 for implementation by Spring 2012.
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Aging Studies (Interdisciplinary)—Currently in development. Should be ready to recruit in Fall 2011 for
implementation by Spring 2012.
Graduate Programs:
 Masters in Mental Health Counseling (Interdisciplinary)-- Currently in development. Should be ready to
recruit in Fall 2011 for implementation by Spring 2012.
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Entrepreneurism in Media, Film, and the Arts (Interdisciplinary)—Currently being explored as an entry point
into meeting a demand for an arts/media program. Students trained in business would acquire knowledge in
the arts and those in the arts would acquire knowledge in business.
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Graduate Education degrees (M.Ed.) in English and Social Science—I didn’t mention this one, but I suggest
that we think about this, especially if we are developing secondary content at the UG level. We have content
faculty who could contribute and teacher interest in advanced degree opportunities.
Program Planning in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management (Jay Schrock)
Jay Schrock reviewed the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management and some of the areas that he saw for
future development and expansion. He and his team have submitted the Masters proposal in the School of Hotel
and Restaurant Management and he is in the process of encouraging international students to attend. He indicated
that there are several issues that he faces in recruiting international students. One issue is that we are currently
upper division and masters only, so we miss out on students who are freshmen. It was suggested that he might
consider recruiting from community colleges in the northeast or other colder climates and encourage them to
transfer at the junior level to our program at USFSM. SHRM has a strong national reputation and is developing a
strong international reputation.
It was mentioned that housing and lack thereof was currently an issue in recruiting international students.
Until such time that we are able to offer housing, it was suggested that we might consider partnering with a builder
or an apartment complex owner to see if we could establish student housing. We are currently beginning to
prepare a call for proposals from the private sector to determine if there is an interest in re-developing our Viking
complex into retail and student and faculty housing.
SHRM has also considered the development of a tourism Degree or an Event Planning Degree. There was
some discussion that the entire concept of Hotel and Restaurant Management could be expanded such that the
College would change names to the College of Hospitality Management. Individual degree programs within the
college could be: Hotel Management, Restaurant Management, Event Planning, Tourism Development and
Planning, and Culinary Arts.
Program Planning in the College of Business (Bob Anderson)
Bob Anderson reported on the status and the future direction of the College of Business. He indicated that
there is some concern that the MBA program must change in order to accommodate the desires of entering
students. There are some, for example, who cannot or do not desire to give up every weekend of a two year period
of time in order to complete the MBA. The College of Business is considering not having a cohort group within the
MBA program. They are also considering the possibility of waiving certain courses if the student has certain
competencies and that would cut down on the amount of time that it takes to complete the degree. A class
schedule which would also allow students to attend classes on Saturday either in the mornings or afternoons is
another option that is on the table. Additional discussion was had concerning what other graduate programs might
be available to be developed in the College of Business. Dr. Anderson responded that what is needed at the
graduate level is not “silo” degree programs, but rather graduate programs that are interdisciplinary and those that
would draw from other degrees in order to make students more marketable. For example, there may be ways that
marketing could be coupled with social media and with information technologies at the master’s level. We may also
want to consider adding additional graduate business programs. For example, Health Management could be
coupled with the College of Business.
In terms of the undergraduate program, we need to begin to re-think how we are offering the courses as
well as the content of many of the undergraduate courses. Generally speaking we need to broaden the
undergraduate content to be more encompassing of how people now do business. There will be additional areas
that will be forthcoming, but we also discussed replacing many of the liberal arts requirements with specific courses
in communication, ethics, and critical thinking.
Student Recruitment (Sean Grosso and Julie Ragans)
It was pointed out that recruitment is a campus-wide effort and is not restricted to those employees who are
hired to be recruiters. There is a need in recruitment to constantly evaluate what is working and what is not
working effectively. We also need to be creative and to expand and diversify our student base. Hobson’s software
program of tracking all aspects of student activity is already a valuable asset to USFSM. We have recently seen a 71%
increase in traffic to our home page and we are increasing our efforts at recruitment in the high schools. This last
point is of critical importance once we have moved to a four year institution.
We need to continue to work with State College of Florida, but we also need to expand our recruitment
efforts to other community colleges and in other regions of the state and the nation. We need to have new
information on our programs which pertains to our students. We need to interact more with other colleges and
universities. Perhaps it would also be helpful for us to increase our communication with alumni and even with our
current student base. Continuing education needs to be emphasized more on our campus in order to maintain
enrollments after students have graduates.
In terms of enrollment growth, we need to increase our collaborative efforts with other agencies
(institutions). We need to promote “niche” programs such as School of Hotel and Restaurant Management. Should
we be purchasing names of students who have completed particular assessments? Once the names are purchased,
we would attempt to recruit them. We also need to be able to get the entire list of names of student who have
applied to USF and see if they are interested in attending our programs. Perhaps we can look to partnerships with
Hillsborough Community College or St Petersburg College, especially as they may have “niche” programs. We should
also consider attending graduate fairs on other campuses, for example University of Central Florida or Stetson.
We may be able to increase our enrollment through the creation of additional complete on-line programs as
this would attract students who do not live in this immediate area. We could also market our on-line course to the
armed forces. This is the model that has been developed at St. Leo College and is a model that we may wish to
investigate. The biggest marketer of on-line courses to the military is American Public University. Dr. Judy
Sedgeman knows several people involved in theat. She will contact them to see if they are interested in working
with us.
Budget Concerns (Ben Ellinor)
We need to search for new sources of revenue and for increases in student enrollment. If we have lower
tuition due to decreased enrollment, it will definitely negatively impact our budget. Even within endowments, our
interest has declined so they are producing fewer sources of revenue. There are new General Revenue cuts that are
being considered by the State. If these come to pass, our level of funding will be decreased to the same level as we
had in 2002.
Student Fees and Student Governance (SGA Officers)
SGA officers did a fine job reporting on the survey that they completed with approximately 158 students.
This survey is available and should be reviewed. There was a discussion on how the additional A& S fees should be
used. They would like to see an expansion of the writing and math labs. In addition, they would like to see that
students could obtain free printing. They would like the remaining fees to be banked and saved for a Student Union
so that they can create a legacy for USFSM.
General Areas of Concern (All)
The following were general areas of concern that were mentioned by several people.
 How do we sustain and maintain our technology on the campus?
o The costs will certainly increase for technology
o Are there other opportunities to get help from Advancement to offset these costs?
 What are we going to do about the need for additional faculty office and lab space?
Strategic Plan (All)
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Dr. Jane Rose and Dr. Bob Anderson will Co-chair the Strategic Planning Committee
Drs. Guilford and Jones will serve as leaders to the Strategic Planning Committee and with work with Drs.
Rose and Anderson.
We should include the fact that we wish to become a four-year institution in our plan.
The Editorial Opinion written in the Bradenton Herald (July 7, 2010) should be used as a starting point for the
Strategic Plan.
We need to tell our students’ stories. We deal with traditional aged students, but we are also transforming
the lives of both traditional-aged and non-traditional aged students.
Kelly Robbins and Laura Hoffman will serve as resource personnel to the Strategic Planning committee
Others who will serve on the committee will be determined during a planning meeting of the Strategic
Planning Committee and should include the office representation from the following offices:
o Finance and accounting
o Faculty Senate representative
o Former Dean of the College of Education
o Media (Chris Manring)
o Facilities Planning
o Student Services
o Hotel and Restaurant Management
o Alumni (recent graduate)
o Recruitment (Sean Grosso)
o Student Representative
o Community Leadership Council Representative
o North Port Teaching Center Representative