TAMPA, FL – The 2022 University of South Florida Alumni Award recipients include three renowned graduates who became groundbreaking standard-bearers in their respective fields, as well as one former student and one non-alum who transformed USF and the Tampa Bay area through their visionary initiatives and generosity.
Presented by the USF Alumni Association since 1976, the Distinguished Alumni awards are the highest honors bestowed upon former students for professional achievement. Two service awards confer USF’s highest honors for former students and non-alumni who’ve demonstrated outstanding dedication and service to USF and the Tampa Bay area.
Here are the 2022 USF Alumni Award recipients; only USF degrees are listed:
Ernest P. Boger II, Psychology ’65 – Distinguished Alumni Award
Recognizing USF alumni who have achieved the pinnacle of success in their careers
Ernest Boger, who retired in 2020 as a professor and distinguished chair at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, was USF’s first Black student and first Black graduate. He was also the first Black person to earn an MBA in finance at the University of North Texas; the first to receive the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s certified hotel administrator designation; and the first Black professor in the University of South Carolina’s College of Hospitality, among other distinctions. Boger, who holds a doctorate in management, is a national and international leader in hospitality industry education, a prolific published author, and recognized both for excellence and innovation in hospitality education as well as for his role in integrating educational and professional institutions across the country.
Ken Eriksen, Political Science ’84 – Distinguished Alumni Award
Recognizing USF alumni who have achieved the pinnacle of success in their careers
As head coach for the U.S. women’s national softball team since 2011 and for USF softball since 1997, Ken Eriksen has repeatedly led his teams to elite titles and medals. At the international level, those include a silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics; two World Championship gold medals; and eight other gold medals in the Pan American Games, Japan Cup and in the U.S. World Cup of Softball. At the collegiate level, Eriksen’s Bulls have won five conference titles; participated in 17 NCAA Post-Season Regionals, with four “Sweet 16” appearances; made two Super Regional appearances; and secured a College World Series berth in 2012. A star USF baseball player, Eriksen also played men’s fast-pitch from 1986-1997 with the Clearwater Bombers, Larry Miller Toyota, and, in his last year, helped the Tampa Smokers to a national championship.
Michael Rao, Chemistry ’87 – Distinguished Alumni Award
Recognizing USF alumni who have achieved the pinnacle of success in their careers
Michael Rao is president of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and the VCU Health System in Richmond, Virginia. He leads one of the nation’s premier urban, public research universities and an academic hospital system ranked in the nation’s top 100. He is also chair of the nonprofit American Council on Education, a policy-focused higher education association. Rao came to VCU in 2009 after presidencies at Mission College in California and at Central Michigan University. Under Rao’s leadership, VCU has reduced the graduation gap for underrepresented populations, educating and graduating more Pell-eligible and first-generation students than its counterparts in Virginia while achieving national prominence for exemplary academics, creativity, research and innovation.
Pamela Muma, Education, Education, 1964-67 – Donald A. Gifford Service Award
Recognizing USF alumni who have provided countless hours of service to USF
For decades, Pam Muma has elevated opportunities available to Tampa Bay residents – from those just hours old, to high school students, to women frustrated by health care access. Additionally, she and her husband, Les, also an alum, are among the largest individual donors to USF, where the business college and basketball center bear their name. Pam Muma spearheads much of the couple’s philanthropy, and in 2009, worked to create the Jennifer Leigh Muma Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, a state-of-the-art facility at Tampa General Hospital. Her gift and vision were also behind the 2019 opening of USF Health’s Pamela Muma Women’s Health Center. For more than 30 years, Muma and her husband have provided four full USF scholarships annually to business students from their Winter Haven High School alma mater.
Gerard “Jerry” Bell – Class of ’56 Award
Recognizing a non-USF graduate who has provided outstanding service to USF and the Tampa Bay community
Jerry Bell’s groundbreaking leadership and philanthropy have been pivotal for Black student success at USF, which has ranked No. 1 in Florida and No. 6 nationally for closing the graduation gap between white and Black students. A Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end from 1982-86, Bell and his wife, Ruth, a USF alumna, established USF’s first Black endowment – the Ruth and Jerry Bell Endowed Scholarship – in 1991. More than 30 years later, Bell co-founded USF’s Black Leadership Network (BLN), a thriving organization that engages the community while providing leadership development and mentoring for students, and raising scholarship money – more than $2 million to date. The Bells now have a second endowed scholarship, the BLN Bell Family Endowed Scholarship. Bell is president and CEO of Bell and Associates Business Consultants.
The awards will be presented Oct. 13 at the USF Alumni Awards Dinner in the Marshall Student
Center Ballroom, USF Tampa campus.
About the USF Alumni Association
The USF Alumni Association is a nonprofit organization composed of former students and friends of the University of South Florida. Our mission is to provide meaningful ways for USF Bulls to support, protect and promote their university. There are more than 377,000 USF graduates worldwide. For more information, log on to www.usfalumni.org, like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/USFalumni; follow us on Twitter @USFAlumniAssn; and on Instagram @usf__alumni