Top stories of USF's summer semester

The ceremonies included recipients of 1,842 bachelor’s, 692 master’s, 153 doctoral and nine specialist degrees. The group featured 22 undergraduate students earning a perfect 4.0 grade point average, 82 student veterans and graduates from 64 countries, 39 states and one U.S. territory. Among students who earned undergraduate degrees, 850, or approximately 31 percent, are recipients of Pell Grants, a federal financial aid program for students from modest socioeconomic backgrounds. 

This year’s philanthropic support has made a transformative impact across every corner of the university, from funding groundbreaking research initiatives and state-of-the-art facilities to creating scholarships that open doors for students. The $184.2 million raised over the past year includes gifts from nearly 15,000 new donors, also a record. This was the fourth consecutive year that philanthropy exceeded $150 million, totaling more than $660 million in gifts to USF over the last four years.

Transplant surgeons at USF Health and Tampa General Hospital successfully performed the world’s first recorded bloodless heart-liver transplant. The groundbreaking procedure was led by Dr. Kiran Dhanireddy, vice president and chief of the TGH Transplant Institute and associate professor of surgery with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, and Dr. Gundars Katlaps, surgical director of the lung transplant program and an associate professor of surgery in the Morsani College of Medicine.

A first-of-its-kind report commissioned by the state of Florida shines a light on the high risk and occurrences of human trafficking in the state as well as the growing, coordinated response to combat the crime and aid victims. The 2024 State Report on Human Trafficking estimates that more than 500,000 people were exploited in labor trafficking and 200,000 in sex trafficking within the state in the last year. Minors are estimated to make up half the population being sex trafficked and one-fourth of those involved in labor trafficking.

The University of South Florida is taking a bold step to bridge academic innovation with real-world startup application through a new partnership with Embarc Collective. USF is the first university to join the startup hub’s new University Partnership Program, helping redefine how higher education institutions can power workforce development and regional economic growth. The partnership is designed to accelerate the commercialization of university-developed technologies, expand student access to hands-on experience in high-growth startups and support university-affiliated founders with the tools and networks they need to scale.

The Senator Darryl E. Rouson Center for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Research at USF will conduct rigorous research to advance the scientific understanding of the relationship between substance abuse and mental health issues, including improving treatment outcomes and reducing the societal impacts of substance abuse and mental health conditions.

The University of South Florida Board of Trustees will continue to be led by Will Weatherford and Mike Griffin after their reelection as chair and vice chair. Weatherford and Griffin, who have served as chair and vice chair since 2021, were each selected for an additional two-year term. The continuity in board leadership is especially important as USF’s presidential search is set to ramp up in the coming months. Griffin has been tapped to chair the Presidential Search Committee, the same position he held during USF’s previous search in 2021-22. 

USF’s record-breaking lineup of 56 week-long educational summer camps provided hands-on experiences in robotics, culinary arts, archaeology, LEGO engineering, Esports, filmmaking, hospitality and emergency response.