About Us

Covid-19

August 9, 2021

Dear Students,

On behalf of the Dean of Students offices on all three of our campuses, I am excited to welcome you to USF for in-person classes, activities and experiences in just a few short weeks! With COVID-19 still very much present, I must reiterate the university message you recently received and ask you to take the following steps to help ensure a great fall semester not only for yourself but every other Bull that has looked forward to being on campus.

Step 1: Get Vaccinated

If you have not gotten vaccinated, I strongly encourage you to do it now. USF is offering the vaccine for free for all students. Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is important to not only protect your health, but that of your USF roommates, friends, classmates, faculty and staff. If you come to campus unvaccinated, you will assume significant risk as you start or resume your college studies. If you are required to quarantine for seven days due to potential exposure or isolate for 10 days if you do contract COVID-19, you will likely miss a significant number of classes since an online component will not be offered for every class. Missing these classes could derail your academic success for the semester – go get vaccinated!

Vaccines are readily available wherever you live and I encourage you to go now. If you live close to a USF campus, our wellness centers can administer the vaccine at no cost to you. Check out the vaccination clinic schedule for all campuses through fall semester. If you choose Pfizer for your first dose now, our clinics can administer the second dose when you arrive on campus.

Step 2: Bring Face Coverings

We expect all members of our community to wear face masks until we emerge from the latest surge in COVID-19 cases. Face coverings are required when visiting clinical settings, such as our wellness centers and other health related offices.  Student organizations may also require face coverings at their meetings, programs, and events.

Step 3: Make a Plan Now

If you are required to quarantine, you will have to do so off campus and at your own expense. If you are a residential student and you are required to isolate due to a positive virus test, USF has limited isolation rooms and may be able to accommodate you. In both cases, consider developing a plan now with your family in the event COVID-19 impacts you.

Step 4: Stay Informed

I invite you to join USF professionals on Microsoft Teams on August 10 at 7:00 p.m. EST for information and answers to questions you may have for the fall semester. Additionally, visit the university’s Return to Campus webpages regularly for the latest information, guidance, and resources.

Step 5: Participate Responsibly

Many campus life activities are being planned in person so you have opportunities to have fun and meet other people. To make sure we can continue to offer these experiences, take steps to protect yourself and your friends attending by getting vaccinated and wearing a mask until we emerge from the latest virus surge.

Even if you are fully vaccinated, if you don’t feel well, including even mild cold or allergy-like symptoms, please do not participate in activities, head to classes, or use campus facilities. Enact your quarantine plan, notify your instructor, get tested, and seek medical advice from your doctor or from our campus wellness centers. Follow this link for more information.

USF remains committed to the health and safety of our community as we make every effort to offer in-person classes and experiences that you and all our students want from college. I believe we can deliver that experience if you will do your part for your own well-being and for those in our Bulls community. I speak for all of us when I say that we are looking forward to the opportunity to welcome you in-person soon!

Respectfully,

Danielle McDonald, Ph.D.
Tampa Campus

Jacob Diaz, Ph.D.
St. Petersburg Campus

Teeranai Ovathanasin, Ph. D
Sarasota-Manatee Campus


January 11, 2021 - Student Organization Leaders

Dear Student Organization leaders, 

I want to thank you for your outstanding levels of compliance with our activity restrictions this past Fall.  It is due to these restrictions and your leadership in complying with them, that our community experienced much less COVID spread than other universities. 

As you return for the spring semester at USF, I am reaching out to you again as student organization leaders, members, and advisors to ensure clarity on the requirement in terms of events and meetings. 

For spring 2021, all student organization events, programs, and meetings must be managed virtually. There are to be NO in-person events, tabling, practices, programs, or meetings hosted by USF student organizations. An event would be any activity that is publicized or promoted or advertised to members or others. Violating this restriction will be seen as jeopardizing the health and safety of our community and there will be serious repercussions both for organizations and individuals in the organizations.  While, this restriction may be difficult, we want to support you in continuing to engage students in your organizations.

I know this is difficult to hear, however, the reality is that the positivity rates in the area are spiking and are projected to continue to increase throughout January and February.  We need to do all we can to reduce transmission of the virus on our campuses and in our community. I encourage you to read the research from one of our faculty.

In order to assist you in recruiting members and publicizing virtual programming, we are looking into some options for student organizations to do some tabling and grab-n-go opportunities sponsored by the Marshall Student Center.  We will send more information as it becomes available in the next few weeks.

I would also like to address questions I have received:

Why are athletics and academics and some departments being allowed to have activities?  All face to face activities have to be approved by the COVID task force.  Any activities that have been permitted to occur, have been allowed for one or more of the following reasons: the activity is an academic or scholarship requirement; extraordinary measures are being taken to mitigate transmission associated with the activity, the activity or event cannot happen virtually, etc.  For example, athletes are tested twice a week, staff and/or security are at all events and monitoring compliance.  We just cannot provide that same level of oversight for our over 600 student organizations.

Involvement is very important, don’t you understand this?  I completely agree.  This is why I urge you to continue to engage with your members and the USF community virtually.  Our students need to find community and you have an important role in that.  However, the safety of our students and community, comes first.  I believe we can achieve both through virtual engagement.

Does this restriction include off campus activities? Yes, it does. 

Will this restriction be in place all semester?  The COVID task force meets twice a week to review data and determine if we can/should make any changes to our protocols or policies.  Should conditions change, we will communicate any changes to our protocols.  We would all like to get back to normal. 

But there is a vaccine, so we should be able to get back to normal, shouldn’t we? USF has to follow state guidance in prioritization of vaccines.  Currently only healthcare workers and those over the age of 65 are eligible.  You may also see in the news that there are supply issues.  As supply increases, we hope the state will be able to allow more staff and students to be vaccinated.  That may not be until mid-semester or mid-year.

I believe my event or organization needs to have an exception to the policy, how do I ask for that?  You may send your plan to the CLCE to review and forward for task force decision.  This plan needs to include all risk mitigation plans, an explanation of why this exception is needed, why the activity has to occur, and why it has to occur face to face. 

The following resources will help you maximize your student organization virtual experiences:

USF Engage
All three USF campuses utilize Engage to support student organizations. Engage has been evolving the platform to better support your virtual experiences, event marketing, attendance tracking, and more. Additional information can be found on the Engage Help Center.

Microsoft Teams
All USF students now have access to Office 365, which includes Microsoft Teams - USF’s preferred virtual platform. Teams combines persistent chat rooms, video/voice, file sharing, meetings, and many other features into one application. Additional information about USF’s support of Microsoft Teams can be found on the USF IT Office 365 website.

The Center for Leadership & Civic Engagement (CLCE) has the following experiences available for you and will continue to identify additional resources:

New Organization Meeting
Date/ Time: Wednesday, January 13 1:00PM-2:00PM

Student Organization Advisor Training
Date/Time: Tuesday, January 26th 12:00PM-1:00PM

New Officer Training
Date/ Time: Wednesday, January 27 1:00PM-2:00PM

New Organization Meeting
Date/ Time: Wednesday, February 3 1:00PM-2:00PM

Marketing & Branding for Your Student Organization
Date/Time: Wednesday, February 10 1:00PM-2:00PM 

New Officer Training
Date/ Time: Thursday, February 11 1:00PM-2:00PM

Virtual Student Organization Fair
Date/Time: Thursday, February 17 11:00AM-2:00PM

Student Organization Advisor Training
Date/Time: Thursday, February 18th 4:00PM-5:00PM

Virtual Event Planning 101
Date/Time: Wednesday, February 24 12:00PM-1:00PM

The CLCE can help you find alternatives to your events.  Many organizations have developed creative ways to do community service, fundraise, recruit members, and conduct programming virtually.

The Center for Student Involvement on the Tampa campus will provide additional resources for Fraternities and Sororities.

Sports Club should work with USF Recreation and Wellness for additional support.

We will continue to encourage students to connect with student organizations virtually.  We know that involvement is so critical to their success in normal times and especially important in these times.  Thank you for being flexible and working to create an environment that continues to engage students in the things that give them purpose, new skills, relaxation and connection to the university.

USF’s mission is to provide all students with an excellent college experience in an environment and with the services that will best support your academic, residential, social, and wellness needs.  If we all come together and follow the guidelines in place to keep our community healthy, we will be able to resume more normal activities soon.

This community remains united and I know we will persevere. 

In Bull Pride,

Dean McDonald

August 21, 2020 - Fall Semester

Dear Students,

Welcome to our new Bulls and welcome Back to our returning Bulls!

I cannot believe we are only a few days away from the start of the academic year. As you are no doubt aware, this fall will be very different.  I am writing to assure you that whether you are attending USF virtually, face-to –face, or in a hybrid mode, the university remains committed to your success.

USF faculty and staff have spent many hours in the past five months making plans, revising those plans, and creating an environment for health and safety to offer highly demanded on-campus academic and service options.  However, these plans will not work without you! 

We have provided you with numerous resources offering guidance in terms of what is expected of you at USF.  I would like to add to that guidance.

If or when you come to campus, you will be required to complete the Return to Campus Module located in Canvas, perform daily symptom checks, wear face coverings, abide by physical distancing, and be patient and compliant with new protocols, as well as revised services hours and operations.

These same health and safety expectations should be extended beyond our campuses.  Unfortunately, we are seeing many news stories across the country of students disregarding all health guidance and participating in large gatherings.  Not only does this create fear in our community and jeopardize its health and safety, but it also jeopardizes USF’s ability to move to Phase III which would reduce the restrictions currently in place. Disregard for the health and safety of our community will be addressed swiftly and severely. This is our time to demonstrate that USF students care about the health and safety of themselves and others.

Involvement is important to your success and satisfaction with your college experience. Even though all events and meetings need to take place virtually this semester, student organizations and departments are going to continue to offer events and programs for you to enjoy and get involved.   I encourage you to check out Note-a-Bull News and events each week and follow departmental Facebook and Instagram pages for notifications about exciting events. I hope I see you online at all the Week of Welcome events and other traditions this semester!

COVID-19, college demands, and remoteness can combine to be pretty stressful.  Please make sure to tap the resources USF has available to you – tutoring, advising, counseling, and more.  The Current Student Toolkit and Student Guidance provide important and up-to-date information regarding the academic and personal success services offered  Remember, successful bulls utilize success resources!

USF’s mission is to provide all students with an excellent college experience and the services that will best support their academic, residential, social, and wellness needs.  If we all come together and follow the guidelines in place to keep our community healthy, you will have that experience and we will be one step closer to resuming more normal activities soon.

This community remains united and I know we will persevere.

In Bull Pride,

Dean McDonald 

August 17, 2020 - Student Organizations - Fall Semester

Tampa Campus Student Orgs & Advisors

Dear Student Organization leaders, 

After a long summer it is exciting to know we are days away from the start of the 2020-21 academic year at the University of South Florida!  As you return for the fall semester at USF, I wanted to reach out to you as student organization leaders, members, and advisors to ensure clarity on the requirement in terms of events and meetings.

For fall 2020, all student organization events, programs, and meetings must be managed virtually. There are to be NO in-person events, tabling, practices, programs, or meetings hosted by USF student organizations or departments. An event would be any activity that is publicized or promoted or advertised to members or others. Violating this restriction will be seen as jeopardizing the health and safety of our community and there will be serious repercussions both for organizations and individuals in the organizations.  While, this restriction may be difficult, we want to support you in continuing to engage students in your organizations.

The following resources will help you maximize your student organization virtual experiences:

USF Engage 
All three USF campuses utilize Engage to support student organizations. Engage has been evolving the platform to better support your virtual experiences, event marketing, attendance tracking, and more. Additional information can be found on the Engage Help Center.

Microsoft Teams
All USF students now have access to Office 365, which includes Microsoft Teams - USF’s preferred virtual platform. Teams combines persistent chat rooms, video/voice, file sharing, meetings, and many other features into one application. Additional information about USF’s support of Microsoft Teams can be found on the USF IT Office 365 website.

The Center for Leadership & Civic Engagement (CLCE) has the following experiences available for you and will continue to identify additional resources:

New Organization Meeting
Date/ Time: Tuesday, August 18, 2020, noon – 1 p.m.

New Organization Meeting
Date/ Time: Thursday, August 20, 2020, 4 – 5 p.m.

How to Run Virtual Meetings and Events: Microsoft Teams
Date/Time: Tuesday, August 25, 2020, noon – 1 p.m.

How to Run Virtual Meetings and Events: Utilizing BullSync
Date/Time: Thursday, August 27, 2020, 1 - 2 p.m.

Virtual Organization Fairs: Registration opens
Date: Monday, September 7, 2020 – watch your email and BullSync for information!

How to Maximize Your Virtual Fair Experience
Date/ Time: Thursday, September 17, 2020, 4 – 5 p.m.

How to Run Virtual Meetings and Events: Microsoft Teams
Date/Time: Tuesday, September 22, 2020, noon – 1 p.m.

How to Run Virtual Meetings and Events: Utilizing BullSync
Date/Time: Thursday, September 24, 2020, 5 – 6 p.m.

Virtual Organization Fairs: Kick off program with CLCE staff
Date/ Time: Monday, September 28th, 2020 3 – 4 p.m.

Virtual Organization Fairs
Dates/ Times: Tuesday, September 29 through Thursday, October 8, 2020, 1 – 2:30 p.m.
Each day will accommodate different organizations based on your BullSync category. Organizations will have the opportunity to highlight their organization and share opportunities for further engagement.

The Center for Student Involvement on the Tampa campus will provide additional resources for Fraternities and Sororities.

Sports Club should work with USF Recreation and Wellness for additional support.

We will continue to encourage students to connect with student organizations virtually.  We know that involvement is so critical to their success in normal times and especially important in these times.  Thank you for being flexible and working to create an environment that continues to engage students in the things that give them purpose, new skills, relaxation and connection to the university.

USF’s mission to provide all students with an excellent college experience in an environment and with the services that will best support your academic, residential, social, and wellness needs.  If we all come together and follow the guidelines in place to keep our community healthy, we will be able to resume more normal activities soon.

This community remains united and I know we will persevere.

 

In Bull Pride,
Dean McDonald

Spring Semester 2020

Dear Students,

As you return from Spring Break and to a new reality of remote learning with USF, I wanted to reach out to you.

I know this is not the way you thought this semester would end. I imagine you are feeling frustrated, confused, scared, sad, lonely, and stressed.  I also know the graduating seniors are particularly feeling sad. As a PhD student scheduled to graduate this semester, I share your disappointment that our commencement will be different or postponed. 

I want to reassure you that, in the many meetings I have been in, you, your academic goals, and your well-being have been the top priority. Please know that while we do not have all the answers yet, we are working on them. The philosophy driving us is, “What is the right and caring thing to do?” No one has ever experienced what we all are experiencing, but I know that we have the resilience and community to not only get through it, but to be stronger because of it.

USF is still here for you. We are monitoring and responding to your questions with the answers we have. All the services you used before are still available—check out the essential ones included in the Student Toolkit for academic success. We are prepared to meet with you virtually and support your needs to be successful—just ask!   

We know this is a difficult time and can feel lonely. Staff and students are planning interesting ways to continue to engage you in community, wellness, professional development, tradition, celebration, and the Bulls way of life – so stay tuned. This engagement is incredibly important to your well-being so take time from your studies to continue to engage with your peers. Who knows, you might find a whole new community!

As classes begin, I know you still have many questions and concerns.  I ask that you have patience with your faculty and instructors and staff.  We are also adjusting to this new academic structure, while juggling professional and personal demands.  We are committed to delivering that same patience and compassion for you as well.

Students, please continue social distancing, washing hands and all other safety precautions. Many of you have traveled over break, so please do your part in keeping our community safe by following recommended practices. If you become ill, reach out to a doctor—if you are returning to the area, our doctors in Student Health Services are ready to speak with you if you need them. These actions are the only way the to stop the spread of this virus so we can get back to normal life. 

I encourage you to continue to monitor the university’s Coronavirus Updates website and USF official social media channels.  If you have questions, email them to covidquestions@usf.edu and we will do our best to answer them in a timely manner.

This community remains united and I know we will persevere. This video reminds us of what it means to be part of this community, especially in difficult times. I look forward to celebrating your success with you in the near future.

In Bull Pride,

Dean McDonald

#OneUSF