About Us

Meet Our Staff

USF Office of Community Engagement & Partnerships, John & Grace allen building (Aln), 1st Floor, Suite 185

Mazi Ferguson, MBA
Interim Director
Office of Community Engagement and Partnerships

As the Assistant Program Director of OCEP, Mazi provides strategic and operational direction and support for the programming efforts for community engagement for the Tampa Campus. Mazi develops internal systems and materials for program delivery and service while acting as a resource person and liaison for program development, implementation, and evaluation. In his role for OCEP, Mazi coordinates the office's alignment with the organizational mission through assessment, reviews development of community partnerships and faculty relationships regarding community engagement. Mazi is also the Program Manager for the Community Sustainability Partnership Program (CSPP). In this role, Mazi oversees partner development, program strategy, marketing and budget. Additionally, Mazi aligns the administrative structures of the university and the city partner to foster the collaboration of university resources, faculty expertise, and student innovation with resources of the partnering city. Through these efforts, Mazi is creating change for Florida through community-identified projects, through the lens of sustainability and livability.

Mazi is a member of the board for the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities-Network (EPIC-N), an international nonprofit association of member programs uniting communities with the untapped potential of universities to exponentially improve conditions for human flourishing. He services on EPIC-N's Assessment committee. Mazi also provides insights to the United Way for the ALICE Report as a Florida Research Advisor. Additionally, Mazi contributes to several committees on the USF campus and interfaces with the Tampa Bay community through these and other roles in his employment.

Mazi comes to OCEP after serving in secondary and community college education as a mathematics instructor and in the insurance industry as a claims adjuster. Mazi is currently a doctoral candidate in measurement and research with a certificate in program evaluation. Mazi can be reached at mferguson1@usf.edu or 813-974-0697.

   

Greg Floyd, M.S. (in progress)

Greg Floyd, M.S. (in progress) is the Office of Community Engagement and Partnerships' Graduate Assistant at the University of South Florida. Greg plays a key role in assisting the Program Director and Interim Director with university-community connections, ensuring partners have capacity with students, meet university goals and assist in recruitment. In addition, with Greg’s creative and digital marketing background, he will be also assisting with the department’s marketing material to increase engagement between OCEP, its partners and the university’s student body.

Greg previously graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Marketing from USF in 2020 and is continuing his studies here in the Masters of Science program with a digital and brand specialization in Marketing. As an undergraduate, Greg was employed at the university as a Fiscal & Business Student Assistant in the SA&SS Resource Management & Development department (SVC 0067). Upon graduating, he acquired a digital marketing internship with Salvo Technologies and since then has actively engaged in freelance digital marketing consulting, content creation, and freelance photography. Greg can be reached at: floyd15@usf.edu

 

USF SARASOTA-MANATEE EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Casey Welch
Regional Vice Chancellor for External Affairs and Government Relations 
Director, Institute fo Public Policy and Leadership

Casey Welch serves as the Regional Vice Chancellor for External Affairs and Government Relations at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus. As a member of the University of South Florida Office of Government Relations he serves as the official liaison between the Sarasota-Manatee campus and government entities. Under External Affairs he oversees Community Engagement and Corporate Partnership activities hosted at the USF Sarasota Manatee campus.

Also, he is the Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Leadership on the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus (IPPL). The Institute engages strong academic resources at USF as well as local, national and global experts to guide a dynamic exchange of ideas about important policy and leadership issues. IPPL hosts lecture series, policy forums, seminars and workshops to stimulate meaningful, civil discussion and promote public discourse in our community. As the leader of IPPL he serves on the Government Issues Council of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, the Career Edge Regional Workforce Council, the Government Affairs Committee of the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance and Chair of the Legislative Committee for the Manatee Chamber of Commerce.

Before joining the USF Sarasota Manatee campus in 2011, he served as Deputy Legislative Director for the office of Congressman Adam Putnam who represented the 12th District; which included portions of the Tampa Bay area and central Florida in the United States House of Representatives. Prior to his position in Washington, D.C., he worked in the Florida House of Representatives and the office of Florida Governor Jeb Bush. He also represented two of Florida’s largest agricultural trade associations at the U.S. Congress and various federal agencies. He is a graduate of the Florida State University with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and History. He is a Sarasota native who is a past president of the Florida 4-H Foundation and a member of the Mote Marine Laboratory Advisory Council. Casey can be reached at caseywelch@sar.usf.edu or 941-359-4572.

 Jay Riley
Director, Institute fo Public Policy Director of Business Outreach and Engagement

Jay Riley is the Director of Business Outreach and Engagement as part of External Affairs at USF Sarasota-Manatee; works with current and potential partners across all USF campuses to strategically identify and access the institution’s vast resources. He works closely with students, faculty and staff to effectively manage mutually beneficial partnerships between the university and stakeholders. He also oversees three student programs hosted at the USF Sarasota Manatee campus: the Student Ambassadors, the Rowing Club, and the Rocky the Bull mascot program. Prior to his current role, he served as the Director of Alumni Affairs at the USF Sarasota Manatee campus for 10 years.

He is a graduate of Mansfield University with a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications and Public Relations. His professional background includes media relations, community relations, promotions, business development, and marketing in the hospitality and tourism, Florida Citrus and sports industries. He has lived and worked in Sarasota for more than 20 years and serves on many non-profit and professional boards in the community. Jay can be reached at jayriley@sar.usf.edu or 941-359-4694.

USF st. Petersburg center for civic engagement

Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Civic Engagement

Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan is Associate Professor of Political Science and Founding Director of the Center for Civic Engagement on the USF St. Petersburg Campus where she teaches courses in American Government and Public Law. McLauchlan was awarded the American Political Science Association and Pi Sigma Alpha's Certificate for Outstanding Teaching in Political Science, the USF St. Petersburg Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, the USF St. Petersburg Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Civic Engagement, the USF St. Petersburg College of Arts and Sciences Teacher of the Year, the USF Outstanding Faculty Award, and the Lawson R. McElroy Award for Excellence in Engaged Learning. As Founding Director of the CCE (since Fall 2006), McLauchlan worked to develop the Citizen Scholar Program and to expand civic engagement across the curriculum.

USF St. Petersburg received the Carnegie Foundation’s Community Engagement Classification in 2010. McLauchlan led the team that prepared the 2010 application as well as the successful re-classification application for the 2020 cycle. McLauchlan's civic leadership was recognized when she was appointed by Governor Crist to serve on the Florida Commission on Community Service (Volunteer Florida). While a Commissioner, McLauchlan worked to promote volunteerism and civic engagement across the state of Florida. McLauchlan is a Fellow of the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship and has conducted teacher trainings for civics teachers across the state of Florida. Recently McLauchlan was awarded the Graham Frey Civic Educator Award by Florida Campus Compact. McLauchlan is the Lead Instructor for the USFSP YMCA Civic Fellows Program, a statewide civics education initiative that is a partnership between USF St. Petersburg and the YMCA Youth in Government Program.

McLauchlan is an active contributor to the scholarship of teaching and learning. She has published numerous articles and book chapters about the effects of integrating civic engagement into the curriculum and has presented those findings at regional, national, and international conferences. Her current public law research focuses on rule of law and civil society. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Moldova ("Constitutional Law, Politics, and the Judicial Process," 2010 and "The Impact of Decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on Justice Sector Reform in Moldova," 2012) and in North Macedonia ("Rule of Law and Civil Society," 2017). In addition to her scholarly activities, Professor McLauchlan has extensive experience in American government and politics. McLauchlan worked at the US Supreme Court, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, the US Department of Justice, and the White House. A veteran of several presidential campaigns, she has managed statewide operations across the US, from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon. In 2014, she was a candidate for Florida Senate.