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CELEBRATING 30 YEARS, USF SARASOTA-MANATEE LOOKS FORWARD TO CONTINUED GROWTH, THE NEW CROSLEY CAMPUS CENTER

(Sarasota, FL, December 7, 2004) -- The University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, and the regional campus takes pride in its status as a hometown university with national prestige.
 

Created in 1974-75, the regional campus began holding classes in six locations in Manatee and Sarasota counties.
 

Today, the campus serves more than 3,200 students annually and offers over 633 courses. Some 10,000 alumni live and work in Sarasota and Manatee counties, including area leaders and legislators.
 

USF Sarasota-Manatee broke ground Sept. 20, for the Crosley Campus Center on property straddling the Sarasota and Manatee border across from the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. This new Campus Center will support local economic development with expanded programs.
 

“Our enrollment growth has surpassed our expectations,” said USF Sarasota-Manatee Campus CEO, Dr. Laurey T. Stryker. “Shared facilities with New College, such as the library, will keep costs down, while our new Campus Center will allow us the classroom space for more daytime and evening courses.”
 

South Sarasota County development resulted in USF expanding service for the influx of new and returning college students as far south as North Port. Class enrollment is up 112 percent from when classes began spring of 2004 in south Sarasota County.
 

“We want to expand the course offerings, increase enrollment, and get the word out in south Sarasota County,” said Susan Freeman, director of USF Sarasota-Manatee’s South Program. “We are pleased to work with our partners at Manatee Community College and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice. This is important for our community’s continued economic growth and development.”
 

When it opens in 2006, the Crosley Campus Center will mark a new beginning for USF Sarasota-Manatee. The facility’s design compliments the area’s rich historic and artistic features and is in harmony with the classic 1929 Italian Mediterranean Crosley Mansion that sits adjacent to the 33-parcel property. Extreme measures were taken to blend in with nature as well, with the preservation of more than 6 acres of coastal scrub and a natural landscape setting.
 

While the Governor and Legislature provided the money for the new building, state funding doesn’t include state-of-the-art equipment, technology, lecture halls and public spaces a specialized curriculum requires. These will call for additional private funds. Retiring president of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, C. John Clarke, was named chairman of the USF Crosley Campus Center Fundraising Enhancement Initiative. The initiative will seek $3 million in private gifts and grants for funding these enhancements.
 

“When students make a choice where they want to go school, these enhancements play a major role,” Stryker noted. “What will emerge over the next few years will be a regional campus of unequalled excellence.”
 

For information about giving to USF Sarasota-Manatee, call (941) 359-4558. For South County Program information, call (941) 408-1577. Visit www.sarasota.usf.edu for general information about giving, degree programs, and admissions