Harbor Notes News

A collaborative effort implemented at USF St. Petersburg resulted in a 10-percentage point increase in retention rates for first-time in college students. Retention rates measure the percentage of students who attend college their freshman year and return to the same college the following year. In one year, the retention rate at USF St. Petersburg rose from 65.5 to 75.5 percent.

USF St. Petersburg (USFSP) and the Florida YMCA are partnering to create a new Civics Fellows Program set to launch in the summer of 2019. The new program, made possible by the Florida Legislature, will provide scholarships for 75 Florida high school students. Participants will earn up to six college credits in politics and leadership at USFSP, while gaining hands-on experience in government and public service.

Representatives of the Florida Legislature will announce the new program on July 19 at 3 p.m. at USF St. Petersburg, Lynn Pippenger Hall.

Richard Mbatu, Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy, has been selected by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to become one of the lead authors for the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) for Youth. GEO is the UN Environment’s head assessment on environmental, social and economic trends that shape the environment, and issues reports that aid world leaders in making policy decisions that directly address environmental issues and turn plans into action.

As college costs from tuition to course materials rise, novel solutions are needed to make earning a college education accessible while reducing the burden of debt. A textbook affordability initiative launched just last year at USF St. Petersburg is already reaping benefits, as it is on track to save the student body nearly $420,000. Spearheaded by staff at the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library, the initiative is using a combination of textbooks on reserve, e-textbooks and promoting affordable options to provide faculty with course materials that sustains academic rigor while lowering costs to students.

Taste ancient art-inspired brews and party like it’s 100 BCE at the Beer Project celebrations at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, in July. An MFA restoration project involving five ancient mosaics from the city of Antioch has been inspiring activity throughout the community, including the creation of a number of new beers. For this year’s MFA Beer Project, students from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Brewing Arts program have teamed up with some of the area’s top breweries to create beers inspired by the MFA’s ancient mosaics and the centuries-old villas they came from.

Big data and data analytics are trendy topics that have seeped into everyday business, news cycles and culture. All manners of activities from social media marketing to finance to health care are investing heavily to capture and analyze large streams of data to predict and enhance decision-making. Which is why USF St. Petersburg’s Kate Tiedemann College of Business (KTCOB) and the St. Petersburg Area Economic Development Corporation (EDC) have partnered on the Data Analytics Executive Roundtable.

Brandi Murphy always knew she wanted to join the Peace Corps. Part of it was wanderlust — a desire to see another part of the world. The other part was what she describes as the call to serve. In February of 2016, she received the news that changed her life: just over a month after graduating, Murphy would leave for a more than two-year posting in Zambia.

“I wanted to be in Africa, and it was fantastic to have the opportunity to explore as much as I did,” the Environmental Science and Policy major explained. “The Peace Corps put me in there in a way with enough time to sustain the initiatives I had begun.”