FloridaFuture
February 20th, 2007, 01:36 AM
USF Honors College May Get Building As Program Grows
By ADAM EMERSON The Tampa Tribune
Published: Feb 19, 2007
TAMPA - Demand for seats at the University of South Florida Honors College is prompting the university to raise the standards for entry.
With that, the college - the university's academic crown jewel - may get a new home.
The state's public university oversight panel encouraged USF officials to place a new building for their honors college on their wish list. The Tampa campus can plan $1 million toward the project, with approval from Florida lawmakers.
The university established the Honors College in 2002 as a way to recruit high-achieving students. For years, though, the college headquarters has shared cramped office space within USF's student services building, and its students take classes everywhere at the Tampa campus.
University leaders say that space needs to grow as demand for the program increases, and they want to keep the students in one spot. There are about 1,700 students enrolled in the college, and the university has admitted nearly that many students for the fall semester, Honors College Dean Stuart Silverman said.
USF wants to showcase better accommodations for the best-performing high school seniors, who these days apply to as many as six or seven colleges and bring stature to a school's enrollment.
Of the more than dozen major colleges and schools at USF, only the Honors College is without its own building, Silverman said.
"It says something about the state of the college when it's given a home," he said. "It will allow us to provide an even higher level of service."
For students, it's a matter of convenience. The honors student lounge, with its computers and small library of classics, is a second home for many.
"I practically live here," said Ashley Dale, 19, a junior in the Honors College. "I would love to have all my classes in one location."
Honors classes are small, about 20 to 25 students - not like the hundreds that pack a lecture hall - and they're taught by senior faculty.
The minimum SAT score for admission is 1270 out of 1600, and freshmen must have earned a 3.7 high school grade-point average weighted with advanced coursework.
Those requirements are likely to increase, Silverman said. The most recent applicant pool - hundreds larger than in previous years - is filled with prospective students who have marks that far surpass the minimum standards.
All the more reason to spruce up the college's surroundings, USF Vice Provost Ralph Wilcox said.
Wilcox said prospects for the new building looked up when the state pot of school construction money grew larger than expected.
Even so, when Florida's Board of Governors met in Boca Raton last month, a proposed list of high-priority construction projects did not include USF's Honors College. The board, which oversees the state's 11 public universities, later relented after intensive lobbying from USF's leaders.
The $1 million in planning money is on year three of a three-year wish list the Board of Governors is sending to the Legislature to consider this spring.
The project, if approved, would cost about $100 million after that. Besides the Honors College, the building also would house lecture halls and other classrooms, as well as school offices. Its location would be near the current administration building.
Other USF construction projects include a visual and performing arts teaching center, as well as science labs to replace the university's aging facilities.
USF HONORS COLLEGE
1,700
Students currently enrolled
1,500
Prospective students admitted for fall 2007
900
Largest number of admitted students before this year
1270
Minimum SAT score required, out of total 1600
3.7
Minimum high school grade-point average weighted with advanced coursework
$100.3 million
Total cost of proposed Honors College building over five years
Source: University of South Florida
Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBEGMPACYE.html
By ADAM EMERSON The Tampa Tribune
Published: Feb 19, 2007
TAMPA - Demand for seats at the University of South Florida Honors College is prompting the university to raise the standards for entry.
With that, the college - the university's academic crown jewel - may get a new home.
The state's public university oversight panel encouraged USF officials to place a new building for their honors college on their wish list. The Tampa campus can plan $1 million toward the project, with approval from Florida lawmakers.
The university established the Honors College in 2002 as a way to recruit high-achieving students. For years, though, the college headquarters has shared cramped office space within USF's student services building, and its students take classes everywhere at the Tampa campus.
University leaders say that space needs to grow as demand for the program increases, and they want to keep the students in one spot. There are about 1,700 students enrolled in the college, and the university has admitted nearly that many students for the fall semester, Honors College Dean Stuart Silverman said.
USF wants to showcase better accommodations for the best-performing high school seniors, who these days apply to as many as six or seven colleges and bring stature to a school's enrollment.
Of the more than dozen major colleges and schools at USF, only the Honors College is without its own building, Silverman said.
"It says something about the state of the college when it's given a home," he said. "It will allow us to provide an even higher level of service."
For students, it's a matter of convenience. The honors student lounge, with its computers and small library of classics, is a second home for many.
"I practically live here," said Ashley Dale, 19, a junior in the Honors College. "I would love to have all my classes in one location."
Honors classes are small, about 20 to 25 students - not like the hundreds that pack a lecture hall - and they're taught by senior faculty.
The minimum SAT score for admission is 1270 out of 1600, and freshmen must have earned a 3.7 high school grade-point average weighted with advanced coursework.
Those requirements are likely to increase, Silverman said. The most recent applicant pool - hundreds larger than in previous years - is filled with prospective students who have marks that far surpass the minimum standards.
All the more reason to spruce up the college's surroundings, USF Vice Provost Ralph Wilcox said.
Wilcox said prospects for the new building looked up when the state pot of school construction money grew larger than expected.
Even so, when Florida's Board of Governors met in Boca Raton last month, a proposed list of high-priority construction projects did not include USF's Honors College. The board, which oversees the state's 11 public universities, later relented after intensive lobbying from USF's leaders.
The $1 million in planning money is on year three of a three-year wish list the Board of Governors is sending to the Legislature to consider this spring.
The project, if approved, would cost about $100 million after that. Besides the Honors College, the building also would house lecture halls and other classrooms, as well as school offices. Its location would be near the current administration building.
Other USF construction projects include a visual and performing arts teaching center, as well as science labs to replace the university's aging facilities.
USF HONORS COLLEGE
1,700
Students currently enrolled
1,500
Prospective students admitted for fall 2007
900
Largest number of admitted students before this year
1270
Minimum SAT score required, out of total 1600
3.7
Minimum high school grade-point average weighted with advanced coursework
$100.3 million
Total cost of proposed Honors College building over five years
Source: University of South Florida
Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBEGMPACYE.html