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[This general blurb is for researchers to use in grant proposals. Please feel free to Download MS Word Version and revise as needed. If you don't see what you need here, contact Rebecca Puig, Research Resources, phone (813) 974-5892 or rpuig@research.usf.edu]
The University of South Florida (USF), established in 1956 as a public university, is a comprehensive multi-campus research university serving more than 45,000 students. The USF System is an evolving multi-campus system of higher education with fiscally autonomous, yet complementary, campuses in Tampa (including USF Health), St. Petersburg, Sarasota/Manatee, and Lakeland. USF is home to medical clinics and hospitals, a major mental health research institute, and two public broadcasting stations. The University employs more than 1660 full-time instructional faculty and over 6100 full-time staff.
The largest metropolitan research university and the third largest in total enrollment in the State University System of Florida, USF offers a wide variety of degree programs with both basic and applied orientations, including 89 baccalaureate, 91 master's, 2 Ed Specialist, and 37 doctoral degrees including the M.D. These degree programs are in the University's Division of Academic Affairs and are administered by eleven schools and colleges: Architecture and Community Design, Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Education, Engineering, Honors, Marine Science, Medicine, Nursing, Public Health, and Visual and Performing Arts. Specialized credit and non-credit programs are administered by Educational Outreach.
The University is dedicated to the discovery of new knowledge, insights, and forms of expression through significant innovative research and other creative activity and to the preservation, organization, analysis, and synthesis of existing knowledge. As a leading publicly supported university, USF accomplishes its research mission by building on existing program strengths, by fostering effective, cross-disciplinary approaches, and by contributing to the resolutions of social, cultural, economical, medical and technological challenges facing the metropolitan population of our community.
USF faculty, students, and staff are proactive in the search for new knowledge and consistently demonstrate their concern about the world in which we live. With the support of private and public agencies, they contribute to our knowledge about the world and apply their findings and skills to solving many of the problems facing contemporary society. Many contributions evolve from basic research; others, from practical applications of new knowledge. Other projects make specialized training available to public officials, to organizations working for social betterment, to religious and educational institutions, and to business and manufacturing organizations. Through sponsored and non-sponsored activities, USF faculty, students, and staff make significant contributions to instructional programs.
The dedication of USF researchers, students, and staff has contributed to the phenomenal growth in research that USF experienced over the past 20 years. In 1985/86, the University received $22.3 million in external funding for research projects. By the end of 1994/95, research awards hit an all time high of over $100 million in research funding. In FY06/07, there were 2,861 active sponsored projects and USF generated over $308 million in sponsored research.
According to the latest (2006) annual National Science Foundation benchmarks survey that looks at R&D expenditures in the field of science and engineering, USF ranked 42nd in public universities and 33rd in the medical sciences. In its annual report, The Center, from the Lombardi Program for Measuring University Performance, USF ranks 40th in total research expenditures and 41st in federal research expenditures in top public research universities. USF is designated as a Research University with Very High Research Activity, which is the highest classification by the Carnegie Foundation. The Carnegie Foundation also designates USF as a Community-Engaged University.
USF has numerous research and health care partnerships through affiliation agreements with hospitals and not-for-profit organizations in the metropolitan Tampa Bay area. USF Affiliates include the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Bay Pines Veterans' Hospital, Tampa General Hospital, All Children's Hospital and Bayfront Medical Center, Shriner's Children's Hospital, University Community Hospital, the Johnnie B. Byrd, Sr. Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute, the US Geological Survey and Mote Marine Laboratory. Located on the Tampa Campus, the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute has achieved National Cancer Institute designation and has developed a strong national reputation for excellence. The James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, in walking distance from the USF College of Medicine, provides research and training experiences for faculty, staff, and students. The College of Medicine is also closely affiliated with Tampa General Hospital, which provides training for residents and medical students. In fact, USF faculty-physicians perform 80% of the indigent care, have delivered over 7,000 babies, and represent half of the overall income at the Tampa General Hospital. The Shriner's Children's Hospital, also located on the Tampa Campus and University Community Hospital, also in walking distance from the USF College of Medicine, as well as All Children's Hospital and Bayfront Medical Center, and the Bay Pines Veterans' Hospital, located in St. Petersburg provide additional research and training grounds for USF faculty and students. The newest affiliate, Johnnie B. Byrd, Sr. Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute is a not-for-profit organization located on the Tampa Campus. The Byrd Center collaborates with USF faculty and staff to provide research and clinical opportunities in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of this disease. The affiliation agreements with these organizations normally provide for collaboration through shared facilities, faculty, and equipment, as well as support for graduate students and internship programs. These types of agreements enable the institutions to pool resources, such as laboratory space, and enable compliance committees to stimulate an exchange of ideas.
Throughout the University's development, the faculty at USF has seen and met needs on local, national and global levels. A variety of activities in such areas as health care, transportation, biodefense, education, and engineering are conducted by specialized research and development centers and institutes. The University currently has over 100 such centers and institutes. Many of these centers and institutes function in an interdisciplinary fashion, enabling coordination of projects across colleges.
