Founded in 1956, the University of South Florida was established as the first public university to specifically address the needs of Florida’s rapidly emerging urban regions. Beginning with 2,000 students and five buildings, today the USF system is composed of two separately accredited institutions, USF and USF St. Petersburg. USF consists of the main campus in Tampa, which includes USF Health, and two regional campuses – USF Sarasota-Manatee and USF Polytechnic in Lakeland.

The USF system has a $1.8 billion annual budget, an annual economic impact of $3.2 billion, serves more than 46,000 students, and was awarded more than $360 million in research contracts and grants in FY2007/2008. Its mission is to provide a broad range of educational opportunities for residents of the Tampa Bay region and the State of Florida.

Robust Research Drives Innovation

More than 39,000 undergraduate and graduate students attend classes on USF’s vibrant 1,700 acre Tampa campus. USF’s 11 colleges offer 219 degree programs at the undergraduate, graduate, specialists and doctoral levels, including the doctor of medicine. It is the largest and most comprehensive institution in the USF system and the only one to offer doctoral degrees.

USF has risen rapidly into the ranks of American top research universities. It is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of 25 four-year public universities with very high research activity that is designated as community engaged by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. It is the only four-year public university in Florida designated as “most engaged.”

USF offers students rich research opportunities that are grounded in addressing reallife problems and advancing the human condition on local, national and global levels. The university is a hub for major projects to treat malaria and ranks as one of the nation’s top centers for researching new treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases. USF’s Pediatric Epidemiology Center has become the epicenter for juvenile diabetes research around the world, and the Clean Energy Center is a leader in photovoltaic.

Engaging Communities

A university can and should help make the world a better place. USF is committed to using its resources and expertise to reach out globally to drive progress and change lives. The university’s Patel Center for Global Solutions provides students with an opportunity to help create sustainable solutions to real-world problems of developing nations. The Confucius Center at USF, the only one in Florida, assists educational and business communities in developing closer ties with China. USF’s ever-expanding global reach prepares students to contribute to a world that knows no borders.

Bulls Sports Excitement

As proud members of the Big East Conference, USF fields teams in football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, volleyball, track and field, tennis, golf and more. Home football games are played at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Raymond James Stadium. USF's 10,000-seat Sun Dome hosts men's and women's basketball. University sports and recreational facilities include an 18-hole golf course commonly referred to as The Claw.

Academic Facilities

State-of-the-art facilities assist USF’s community of scholars in achieving the highest academic and professional goals. The USF library system’s principal research library is located on the Tampa campus, along with two specialized libraries, the Shimberg Health Sciences Library and the Florida Mental Health Institute Research Library.

Open use, reserved and departmental computing labs make in excess of 1,300 computers available for student use on USF’s Tampa campus alone. Students stay connected via high-speed network connections in buildings across campus, with wireless coverage in residence halls, classrooms and the majority of academic areas.

In addition to its many classroom buildings, the Tampa campus features extensive health and medical education facilities, residence halls, research labs, an art museum, public television and radio stations, botanical gardens, a recreation center, and more. The 233,000 square foot Marshall Student Center features a 1,100 seat ballroom, 700-seat theater, meeting rooms and spacious eating areas.

USF's Bold Future

For a university that began as a vision in the minds of its founders not that long ago, USF has achieved incredible distinction on a myriad of fronts – academic, research, community engagement, sports and economic. The university's priorities over the coming years will continue to expand USF's role as a top-tier, metropolitan research institution that advocates cutting edge scholarship with global relevance.