Explore updates from USF's President, university news and upcoming events.
From the President
We are proud to co-host this week’s inaugural CyberBay 2025 conference, which has attracted more than 1,000 people from around the world to join forces with industry, government, innovators and the education sector. Our Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing, Cyber Florida, the USF Institute of Applied Engineering and the Global and National Security Institute are at the center of positioning our region as a national leader. During my remarks at the conference, I was delighted to announce a personal gift of $1 million to support the Bellini College, along with a $1 million gift from longtime USF supporters Kate Tiedemann and Ellen Cotton. In addition, Arnie and Lauren Bellini, whose record-setting $40 million gift in March named the college, generously agreed to match our contributions. The Bellinis are also providing a new $300,000 gift to support the college’s research benefiting the Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater governments. Thanks to these partners, and many other supporters, we are rising to the challenges presented by these rapidly evolving technologies and investing in the next generation of AI and cybersecurity leaders.
Updates
• As a USF alumna, Homecoming means so much to me as one of our university’s longest-standing traditions. This week is about coming together as a community – faculty, staff, students, alumni, friends and the greater Tampa Bay community – to honor our traditions, celebrate our achievements and look ahead to an exciting future. I enjoyed being with a number of you at Monday's kickoff party and I look forward to seeing many more at this week’s great events, including the Running of the Bulls parade on Friday and of course cheering on our Bulls football team against FAU Saturday night.
• Speaking of our football team, congratulations to Coach Alex Golesh and our Bulls for their nationally televised victory Friday night over previously unbeaten North Texas. The spotlight continues to shine on our 5-1 Bulls, who now are ranked No. 19 nationally. Let’s fill Raymond James Stadium Saturday night when the Bulls take on FAU in the Homecoming game. As a token of our appreciation for your hard work and dedication, discounted tickets to the game are available for faculty and staff.
• I was thrilled to see more than 1,000 people at the annual USF Women in Leadership & Philanthropy’s Fall Symposium, and it was inspirational to hear from the keynote speaker, Oscar winner Geena Davis, and several other community leaders. This was a special celebration, as WLP marked 20 years of providing life-changing scholarships and mentoring to talented students and grants to outstanding faculty members – altogether totaling more than $4 million. I’m proud to be a member of WLP, and it has been rewarding to watch the organization grow and touch so many lives. We started WLP with a group of 30 dedicated founding members and we now have nearly 300 supporters.
• Campus safety is our highest priority and I’m proud to say USF was well represented at last week’s State University System Safety Summit, which brought the 12 public universities together to share best practices. Topics included campus security and infrastructure, threat assessment and crisis communications. My thanks to Provost Prasant Mohapatra, Vice President for Student Success Cindy DeLuca, USF Police Chief Chris Daniel and Grant Gundle, director of Emergency Management, for attending and their ongoing leadership.
CNN interviewed criminology Professor Bryanna Fox about political violence.
Reuters published a story about USF research showing how the high-speed tongues of chameleons and salamanders could lead to innovations in engineering.
The health newsletter interviewed Dr. Charles Lockwood, executive vice president of USF Health, dean of the Morsani College of Medicine and professor in its Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, for a story on false miscarriages.
For the second year in a row, USF’s Herd of Thunder marching band performed during halftime of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' game at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday. This is one of the university’s many ties to the NFL team, which hosts a number of fellowship and mentoring opportunities for USF students.
