USF Sarasota-Manatee board considers strategic plans for next stage of campus success and growth

SARASOTA, FL, (November 29, 2005) – Five years ago, the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus leadership team was dreaming big -- planning a new location for this regional campus, expanding local academic programs and conducting a major fundraising campaign.  

With those previous objectives now coming to fruition, USF Sarasota-Manatee campus leaders are now focusing their strategic plans and goals for the next five years. 

The new USF regional campus center is under construction on North Tamiami Trail and scheduled for opening in Fall 2006. The effort is now becoming a reality thanks in large part to state funds totaling $22 million for the structure, and community donations of $3.5 million – doubled by state matching funds – totaling $7 million for finishing and equipping the interior of the new building.  

Other successes over the past five years include growth of academic program from 19 to 37 full degrees, including the only School of Hotel and Restaurant Management on the west coast of Florida.  

Looking forward, the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus board met on Monday with members of the management team and USF System President Judy Genshaft to set the regional campus sights on several new, equally aggressive strategic goals up to the year 2011. 

Those strategic goals include:

• The commitment to providing a diverse, intellectually challenging and collaborative learning-centered campus environment, enhanced by the opportunities that will result from the new campus center that is currently under construction. 
• A focus on the comprehensive use of new learning technologies, including distance learning and web-enhance instruction methods.
• Development of distinctive new academic programs that continue to serve the community’s main economic drivers and emerging higher education needs.
• Implementation of advanced continuing education programs that further serve the workforce needs of the local community.

This new strategic plan was developed by a faculty and staff group at USF Sarasota-Manatee, with input from more than 300 community members. 

“We took a very systematic and inclusive approach to developing this strategic five-year plan,” said Laurey Stryker, Campus CEO of USF Sarasota-Manatee. “Knowing that our new campus location would soon open up so many new opportunities for us – literally and figuratively -- we purposefully sought out all sorts of feedback in a wide variety of methods, including numerous surveys and focus groups.” 

“That breadth and depth of input enabled us to identify the goals seen as most important to the broad array people we serve in the community,” added Stryker. “We then meshed and prioritized those goals into a workable document that will continue to guide our actions going forward.”

Campus Board Chairman Jan Smith echoed Stryker’s sentiments, and stressed the importance of community input in the establishment of the long-range directions for the campus. 

“Our role as campus board members is to make sure the campus leadership team hears and feels the priorities of the community,” said Smith, who is President of Jan Smith and Company, a Bradenton-based real estate and business investment firm. “If our overall objective is to assure this campus is an indispensable asset to the community, then it is crucial to engage the community in a robust consultative process.” 

“This strategic plan document indeed reflects that our regional USF campus leadership has their hands firmly on the pulse of our local community,” he added. 

Part of USF Sarasota-Manatee’s strategic planning process also includes the development and implementation of a new Master Plan regarding possible further expansion of the regional campus. Toward that goal, campus board members also reviewed and discussed elements of a proposed new Master Plan that explores the possibility of connecting several USF Sarasota-Manatee properties along US 41 (North Tamiami Trail) that are adjacent or near the new campus location. 

Smith indicated during the meeting that the strategic plan and master plan elements will be further vetted through some additional USF administrative groups, with the eventual goal of final acceptance and adoption by the USF Board of Trustees in the spring of 2006.

USF Sarasota-Manatee is an upper-level campus – serving people with an associate’s or bachelor’s degree seeking a baccalaureate or master’s degree, professional certification, or continuing education credit. The regional campus offers the prestige of a national Research I university with the convenience of a hometown campus, including classes in south Sarasota County at the Manatee Community College Venice site.