Dear USF Community,
As I complete my first three months as president of the University of South Florida, I want to thank you for the warm welcome, thoughtful conversations and unwavering commitment to our students and to USF.
My focus has been listening and learning. I have participated in town halls on every campus, met with the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate and Administrative Advisory Council, as well as Student Government and student groups. I visited nearly every college, with the last one scheduled later this month.
Some common themes have emerged from these conversations, particularly the need to strengthen communication, reduce barriers, modernize systems and foster a more connected culture across USF. The purpose of this communication is to update you on these topics and our approach for addressing them.
While progress is underway, much work remains ahead.
- Oracle: USF’s version of Oracle was heavily customized, resulting in implementation challenges that created university-wide issues. We are working with a third-party provider to improve the system, while also addressing immediate concerns related to payroll reliability, communication and transparency. This optimization will take time but will be completed by summer 2027. We will provide updates regularly.
- HR Business Processes: We have also heard concerns regarding inconsistent HR processes, manual workarounds and communication gaps. This is a separate issue from Oracle. A cross-functional process improvement team is identifying operational changes to improve efficiency, consistency and employee experience. The colleges of Arts and Sciences, Behavioral and Community Sciences and Nursing, as well as USF Libraries, are the pilot teams.
- Facilities and SSC: We are working with SSC on key performance indicators to track the quality of the service. We are also improving how facilities tracks, communicates and resolves requests. Two new systems being implemented this summer will provide greater transparency, clearer timelines and stronger project tracking. Both will be live early in the fall semester and include status dashboards and time-to-completion data.
- Compensation: Compensation concerns for faculty, staff and GAs have been raised in nearly every conversation I have had. Staff had an increase in the fall. For faculty, we successfully reached an agreement with UFF for salary raises for this year and next year (pending ratification). We also reached an agreement with Graduate Assistants United. I know that these raises are not enough and we are committed to making adjustments every time we have a chance to obtain recurring funds. We are reviewing compensation structures and market competitiveness while working to better align processes, transparency and long-term planning. We have selected a third party to benchmark USF compensation against peer and aspirant institutions. The study is scheduled for completion in October and will help identify critical compensation gaps and inform next steps.
- Culture: I’ve heard concerns about the changing culture and morale concerns at USF. Consequently, I have charged a team of experts to assess our current faculty and staff culture, articulate our cultural aspirations, and identify specific recommendations to improve our culture. This team began reviewing faculty and staff input from prior data collection efforts in April. It will soon stand up a culture website to track our progress. The team will also gather input and feedback from colleagues across campuses to ensure that we seek to improve the things that matter the most to you. This work will continue through next fall.
These conversations and experiences have reinforced the importance of strengthening how we support our employees and how we operate.
Additional Updates
- New hires: We have launched national searches for a chief people officer (CPO) and a chief experience officer (CXO). These leaders will strengthen employee support, service delivery and the overall experience of students, faculty and staff across the university and the overall experience of students, faculty, staff and other key stakeholders. The CPO search is expected to conclude before the fall semester begins and the CXO search is expected to be completed by October.
- Mapping the USF Future: We are launching USF’s strategic planning process. USF’s next chapter will not be shaped by one office or one person. It will be led by a team comprised of faculty, staff, students and community leaders who will help define our priorities and aspirations for the years ahead. It will be co-chaired by David Simmons, representing our faculty, and Kimberly Ross, a much-respected business leader, USF Foundation board member and USF alumna. The future will be shaped by all of us. I will have the full strategic planning team identified in the next few weeks. The work will continue through the summer and there will be many opportunities for all stakeholders to contribute. It will be presented to the Board of Trustees by the end of the fall semester and presented to the Board of Governors in early 2027.
Over these first months, what has stood out most to me is how deeply people across this university care. I have seen the resilience, compassion and strength of this community during difficult moments as we grieve the tragic losses of Nahida Bristy and Zamil Limon. In the wake of that tragedy, we launched a coordinated effort focused on off-campus housing safety and awareness. We are working to strengthen outreach, improve safety expectations of off-campus communities and identify additional ways to support student well-being, regardless of where they live.
We also faced a devastating fire at the College of Marine Science laboratory building. The impact has been significant. We are identifying temporary research, teaching and office spaces for those impacted. We are beginning conversations about our next steps there. The community support has been remarkable.
Across the university, I see people who care deeply, think boldly and are ready to help shape what comes next. I value your candor, resilience, compassion and unwavering commitment to our students and to each other.
We have important work ahead, and I know there are areas where we must improve. But I also see extraordinary opportunity before us. In an age defined by rapid change, talent, innovation and partnership will matter more than ever.
Together, we will continue building a university that not only responds to change, but also helps define it, a model research university known for excellence and impact. I am excited for what lies ahead and grateful to be on this journey with you.
Thank you for all you do.
Moez Limayem, PhD
President