Dear Bulls Advocates,
The 2020 Legislative Session has reached its midpoint. It is now more important than ever to contact your state legislators in Tallahassee to urge them to financially support the aspirations of the University of South Florida.
This year, USF’s top legislative priority is securing additional recurring funds to invest in key areas to help continue our meteoric rise in the national rankings and propel us to even greater heights. USF is proud to be the fastest-rising university in the country in the annual U.S. News and World Report’s (USN&WR) “Best Colleges” rankings.
We are striving to continue USF’s extraordinary trajectory. Receiving and allocating additional state funds across the consolidated USF is pivotal to achieve our goal of becoming a top 25 ranked public university in the nation.
USF has made record-breaking gains in student success and many other metrics, which has helped us rise in the national rankings. Regarding metrics that are directly related to financial resources available to support faculty and students – which factor heavily in USN&WR’s rankings formula – we fall behind our national competitors and in-state Preeminent peers. For example, many of the institutions with which we are currently tied at #44 (e.g. University of Tennessee, Auburn University, University of Oregon, etc.) have the financial resources to spend nearly twice as much per student as USF. To achieve our aspirations, therefore, additional recurring funding from the state is required to enable us to invest in hiring new faculty, which will further improve USF’s performance in metrics that directly contribute to our upward ascent toward the top 25. Continuing our improvement on important indicators of academic quality, such as a lower student to faculty ratio and smaller average class sizes, are critical to our national competitiveness and to continuing to improve the experience of all USF students.
You may find your state legislators’ contact information
here
. Please contact them to convey how important it is for them to significantly grow our state’s financial investment in USF during the 2020 Legislative Session. As we continue to pursue our academic aspirations, we will build the University’s national profile and brand, attract the best and brightest students and recruit and retain world-class faculty members. Our efforts will continue to improve the value of a USF degree for our current students, future students, and alumni.
As always, thank you for your help as we grow our network of Bulls Advocates and demonstrate to our elected officials that their constituents are committed to see the University of South Florida continue to rise.
Steven C. Currall
USF President and Professor
