ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
We'll start our tour at the Administration building, which is located at the end of the main entrance drive. This historic building is named for USF's founding president, Dr. John S. Allen, and his wife Grace. President Allen designed the Tampa campus and the first curriculum. The Administration building houses, among other things, the Cashier's office (where you pay tuition and fees), Student Financial Services, Student Affairs and the Diversity & Equal Opportunity Office. The building also has a courtyard with fountains and tropical plants where you can eat lunch or take a break.
STUDENT SERVICES
The Student Services building is home to some of the most important offices for students, such as Undergraduate Admissions, Financial Aid, the Registrar and the Career Center. The Career Center helps students search for part-time jobs, career-related work experiences (internships) and professional employment upon graduation. The Student Services building is located northeast of the Administration building and south of the student union, known as the Marshall Center. All three are in the center of campus. Next to the Student Services building are the studios for WUSF-TV and WUSF Radio, Tampa Bay's PBS and NPR stations.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. PLAZA
The best-known gathering place on campus is named for famous civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is the geographic center of campus, located west of the Student Services building and south of the Marshall Center (student union). The scenic plaza is a favorite spot for students, faculty and staff alike. It has a trellised colonnade, fountain, reflecting pool, two walkways bordered by palm trees and stone tablets carved with a significant portion of King's "I Have a Dream" speech. The plaza is the locale for functions such as multicultural fairs, concerts, flea markets, job fairs and showcases.
MARSHALL CENTER
The Marshall Center is USF's student union and community center. You can grab lunch from the food court, use the computer lab or just hang out in the social areas. At least once a week, campus organizations will offer free food out front. The Marshall Center also houses the Student Activities Office, Student Government, an art gallery and a ballroom. It is located north of the MLK Plaza and is attached to the USF Bookstore and the Special Events Center, which often holds conferences or guest speakers. The USF Bookstore is recognizable by the diamond-shaped glass structure over its foyer.
KOSOVE APARTMENTS
Formerly known as Alpha Hall, Kosove Apartments is one of USF's residence halls. It is located northeast of the Marshall Center (student union) and just south of Holly Apartments. Kosove combines the comforts of apartment living with the convenience of living on campus. The Tampa campus also has traditional, suite, and studio-style housing. All on-campus residents have access to study lounges, laundry rooms, cable TV, computer connections, outdoor pools and recreation facilities like sand volleyball, basketball, tennis, and racquetball courts.
HOLLY APARTMENTS
Opened in Fall 2000, the Holly Apartments complex consists of seven buildings of fully furnished apartments. Each building houses approximately 100 students. The complex also includes five community buildings, which contain a mailroom, laundry rooms, meeting rooms and a computer lab. Most apartments house four students in single bedrooms and have two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room. Holly Apartments is located northeast of Kosove Apartments and the Marshall Center.
GREEK VILLAGE
Complete with fourteen fraternities and sororities, the highly anticipated Greek Village opened in August 2003. In the Greek Village, two organizations share a building that has been furnished and decorated by its chapters. Each building (whether two or three stories) is home to 20-28 residents, and includes a living room, dining room, kitchen, and several bathrooms. Within the Greek Village, residents enjoy a swimming pool and volleyball court, and Greek Offices and a resident mailroom are located on the property.
INTRAMURAL SPORTS
The Intramural Sports Program at USF has more than 30 different activities -- everything from flag football to ultimate Frisbee -- to participate in over the course of the year. Most of the games are played in the Intramural Sports Area. There are six football/soccer fields plus basketball courts, tennis courts, a softball complex and a soccer stadium, all located south of the Greek Village housing complex and north of the Sun Dome. You can join the fun as an individual or as part of a team (usually formed by student/faculty organizations or a group of friends.
SUN DOME
Located south of the Intramural Sports Area and next to the Recreation Center is the Sun Dome, our sports arena. It is home to the USF basketball team and seats approximately 11,000 people on three levels. In addition to sporting events, the Sun Dome hosts graduation ceremonies, for both USF and many local high schools, and concerts from well known artists.
RECREATION CENTER
Located northwest of the Sun Dome is the Recreation Center. It is a state-of-the-art facility with indoor racquetball courts, basketball courts, volleyball courts, swimming pool, weight machines and aerobic rooms. Certified fitness trainers are on staff to answer any questions about fitness and to develop individual exercise prescriptions. When you enroll at USF, you have access to the Recreation Center free of charge.
The Recreation Center maintains other recreation spots like the Intramural Sports Area and Riverfront Park. Riverfront Park is located two miles east of the campus on the Hillsborough River. The park offers canoe and kayak rentals, a covered picnic pavilion with grill, and special programs such as moonlight canoeing and overnight camping.
TERRELL SESSUMS MALL
This palm tree bordered walkway is located south of the Education building and north of Cooper Hall (Arts & Sciences building). It is named for T. Terrell Sessums, a Tampa attorney known for his outstanding service promoting higher education. The mall is also home to USF's weekly flea market. Every Wednesday, you can browse at booths that offer everything from clothing to CDs, even Indian food. When it is not being used as a marketplace, students often study in the shade of the palms.
FACULTY OFFICE
The Faculty Office building, or FAO, is the administrative hub for Graduate Studies, Graduate Admissions and the Division of Sponsored Research. The Sponsored Research office helps faculty and students apply for and manage their research grants. USF is ranked as an elite research institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
The building, which is located north of the Education building and Sessums Mall, is also home to the Honors Program. Honors at USF offers a four-year track for incoming freshmen and a two-year track for upperclassmen. Honors students have access to scholarships, research opportunities and even housing designated especially for them.
EDUCATION BUILDING
The Education building is the first stop on the academic leg of our tour. This building houses the College of Education, which is Florida's largest. One of its more renowned programs is SCATT, the award-winning SunCoast Area Teaching Training program. The Education building is located north of Cooper Hall and west of the Recreation Center. Attached to it are the Gus A. Stavros Center for Free Enterprise and Economic Education and the David C. Anchin Center.
Inside the Education building are two examples of USF's public art: Amerika and The Frogs: For the Children of Tampa. Children from area public schools designed the murals in workshops, basing them on Franz Kafka's Amerika and Aristophane's The Frogs. The murals were then created by artist Tim Rollins and his own students, Kids of Survival (KOS).
COOPER HALL
Just south of the Education building and Sessums Mall is Cooper Hall, home to the College of Arts & Sciences. Cooper Hall was named after the first Arts & Sciences dean, Russell Cooper, and contains classrooms and meeting rooms. Outside Cooper, students can find both sunny lawns and shaded benches to study or relax on. Inside Cooper, there are study lounges (with computers) for international students and students in the Honors program. There is even a small food court on the first floor for you to grab a bite to eat at between classes.
The International Affairs office-which oversees Study Abroad & Exchanges, International Admissons, International Student & Scholar Services and Latin American & Caribbean Studies—is also located in Cooper Hall.
LIBRARY
West of Cooper Hall (Arts & Sciences building) is the Tampa Campus Library. Our library is the largest, non-medical, academic facility in Florida. It contains 1.6 million volumes of books and subscribes to 15,000 magazines, journals and newspapers, both foreign and domestic. There are also plenty of study areas, both private and group, located throughout the library. Plus, USF has an excellent virtual library that allows students to access databases, digital collections and catalogues over the Internet. Other electronic library resources include more than 50 CD-ROM databases and two computer labs.
SOLAR ROTARY
Located in the plaza south of Cooper Hall and north of the Communication building is Solar Rotary, a 20-foot aluminum sculpture created by artist Nancy Holt. At certain times during the year, the structure casts a circle of sunlight on five different bronze plates representing significant events in Florida history. Once a year, during the summer solstice, a large ring of sun shines on the central circular seat (see photo 1). In the center of this ring is a million-year-old meteorite found in Florida.
CIS BUILDING
Instead of housing one college, the CIS building is home to the School of Mass Communications, School of Library & Information Sciences, the Communication department, and the Information Systems & Decision Sciences department. It is located west of the Business building and south of Cooper Hall. Since it is one of our newer buildings, it contains five computer labs in addition to the classrooms and academic offices.
Known as the College of Business Administration building, Ferguson Hall is named for Chester Ferguson, who helped establish USF's regional campuses and Health Sciences Center (Medicine/Nursing). This building is quite unique since it is mostly underground. The design was chosen because it economizes energy and stabilizes the internal temperature of the structure all year. It also prompts students to ask, "Have you mowed your building today?" Ferguson, which is west of the Communication building, houses USF's School of Accountancy and most of the business departments.
ALUMNI CENTER
The Alumni Center is located south of and across the street from the Business building. It is named for USF's Founder, Sam Gibbons, and his wife Martha. Known as "Father of USF," Sam Gibbons was the driving force behind the creation of both the university and its medical school. USF alumni and friends of the university attend social functions here. There is also a research center, library and clubroom open to alumni.
LIFSEU HOUSE
The Lifsey House, built in 1993, serves as the primary location for official university functions such as receptions, dinners and even poetry readings. Events at the Lifsey House are usually hosted by USF's President and in the past the house has served as the President's residence. Lifsey House also boasts an extensive art collection provided by faculty from the USF Art department and Graphicstudio, USF. The house is located west of the Alumni Center, near the main entrance.
CENTER FOR URBAN TRANSPORTATION
The Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) is recognized nationally and has a multidisciplinary research staff of experts in engineering, economics, planning and public policy. Research areas include public transportation, transportation planning and policy, intelligent transportation systems, alternative transportation, and transportation finance and economics.
CUTR is part of the Engineering complex located northwest of the main entrance.
ENGINEER
USF's growing College of Engineering is housed in four engineering buildings (including CUTR) and a 250-seat teaching auditorium. The Engineering complex is located on the west side of the Tampa Campus' main entrance, southwest of the Library.
The college is well known for its leadership role in the High-Technology Corridor initiative, a USF/University of Central Florida joint effort that brings microengineering and medical technology to Florida. The corridor stretches from the Space Coast to the Gulf Coast.
USF also operates FEEDS (Florida Engineering Education Delivery System), a statewide system that offers graduate engineering courses via live television and videotape. FEEDS has more than 80 cooperating university centers and industrial sites in the state.
UNSPECIFIC GRAVITY
Located north of the Engineering buildings is Unspecific Gravity, another sculpture in our public art collection. This "molecule garden" contains a reflecting pool and numerous circular, terrazzo benches. Each bench displays the atomic structure of one of the eleven most common elements (iron, carbon, etc.). The reflecting pool is recognizable by the chromed copper water molecules extending upwards from the center (we call them the Mickey Mouse ears). Artist Doug Hollis constructed Unspecific Gravity to combine elements of chemistry and marine biology. Unspecific Gravity is bordered by our Bio Science and Chemistry buildings.
COMTEMPORATY ART MUSEUM
The Contemporary Art Museum is located north of the Bio Science buildings and west of the MLK Plaza in our visual and performing arts complex (formerly known as the fine arts complex). The museum collects and displays scholarly, contemporary work by artists such as Liechtenstein, Warhol and Mapplethorpe. It also houses traveling exhibitions and student art displays. The museum also oversees USF's extensive public art collection, including the Solar Rotary and Unspecific Gravity.
CSD
Our new Psychology/CSD (Communication Sciences & Disorders) building officially opened May 2001 in the part of campus we call the interdisciplinary district. Located across the street from the Moffitt Cancer Center and west of the visual and performing arts complex, it links the medical, natural science and social science communities on campus. In addition to the academic departments, the Psychology building contains clinics, an on-site preschool and an outdoor playground and circular garden.
MOFFITT CANCER CENTER
The nationally recognized H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute may be a private organization, but it works closely with USF's College of Medicine in its teaching and research. Moffitt is located west of the Psychology/CSD building and east of the Health Sciences Center (Medicine/Nursing). It is home to the largest blood and marrow transplant program in the Southeastern United States and the outpatient programs record more than 110,000 visits a year.
Near the north entrance of Moffitt is Sanctuary, an example of our public art. Artist Elyn Zimmerman constructed it in 1991 as a private, secure gathering place for patients and staff. It uses the sound of water flowing over rock to create a soothing echo contained within the natural rock enclosure.
HEALTH CENTER
The USF Health Sciences Center is made up of the College of Medicine, College of Nursing and College of Public Health. All of its buildings are located in the northwest section of the Tampa campus.
The primary complex that houses the College of Medicine, College of Nursing and Health Sciences Clinics is located directly west of the Moffitt Cancer Center. The complex is also home to the Institute on Aging, which pioneers studies in Alzheimer's disease (USF is nationally recognized for its Alzheimer's research). Our College of Nursing is especially known for its community involvement through programs such as Open Airways, which teaches children how to prevent asthma emergencies.
PUBLIC HEALTH
USF's College of Public Health is the only such college in Florida. The college's aim is to improve the health of Floridians by educating health professionals in the state, conducting public health research and distributing information. The building, which opened in 1991, is home to 14 classrooms, 17 laboratories and two computer labs in addition to the academic offices. Located north of the Health Sciences Center (Medicine/Nursing), Public Health has more than 500 graduate students in programs such as Community & Family Health, Environmental & Occupational Health, Epidemiology & Biostatistics and Health Policy & Management.
MENTAL HEALTH INSTITUTE
The de la Parte Institute is Florida's nationally recognized research and training center for mental health services. It researches HIV/AIDS, child welfare, juvenile justice and homelessness prevention, to list a few. The institute is named for a former Florida Senate President and Tampa attorney who worked to improve Florida's social service, criminal justice and education systems. The de la Parte Institute resides in eight buildings located north of the Health Sciences Center (Medicine/Nursing).
GOLF COURSE
Our 18-hole championship course is located just north of campus, across Fletcher Avenue, and is open to the public for play. USF has both men and women's competitive golf teams. The course is also used for charity games that raise money for USF scholarships. It is a challenging course with narrow fairways and raised greens. There is even one hole known as "The Claw" because of its shape and difficulty.
|