Regional Campuses

Amenities at the early St. Petersburg Campus were Spartan at best.

Shoes were optional at New College.

An early glimpse of the old Lakeland Campus.

 

Professors commuted between the Tampa and Fort Myers campuses by van and plane.

USF adopted the St. Petersburg campus in 1965, but it wasn’t officially recognized by the Florida Legislature as USF-St. Petersburg until 1969. The property was originally the United States Maritime Service Training Station and USF’s original plan was to house and teach freshmen there. The plans quickly changed after the campus grew in popularity as students, especially non-traditional students, found the St. Petersburg campus more congruent with their current lifestyle. The St. Petersburg campus continued to grow, and in 2006, it was accredited as a separate entity within the USF System by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. It is also the site of USF College of Marine Science, which served as a major resource to examine the devastating oil spill that happened in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. USF Marine science students and faculty also studied how this spill would affect the surrounding environments. Today, USF St. Petersburg functions almost entirely on its own and even has its own Student Government and residence hall. USF St. Petersburg offers classes through the Colleges of Business, Arts and Sciences, and Education.