The USF Delegation dining at the iconic St. Johns College, Cambridge University.More than 4,400 miles and 750 years separate the University of South Florida and Cambridge University, but this summer a group of global security students from USF blended in seamlessly with the learning community at this iconic institution. Our two institutions share common goals in the exchange of ideas and in preparing future leaders to address the complex challenges facing the world. Cambridge and USF are different in so many ways but aligned in that mission.
USF students Unique Alston, Jilena Autero and Zachary Kuntz were selected by the Global and National Security Institute (GNSI) to attend the prestigious International Security and Intelligence (ISI) Programme at the University of Cambridge in July. This marks the second consecutive year that GNSI provided students with the opportunity to attend the Cambridge Security Initiative and engage with leading experts in the fields of international security and intelligence. USF Muma College of Business DBA student, Jake Simpson, attended independently.
The students were joined at the conference by Dr. Dave Oakley, Academic Director of GNSI, and Dr. Kiki Caruson, Vice President of USF World. During their visit, the USF delegation was warmly welcomed by USF global alumnus Richard Everitt, Head of Global Development at Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. The group enjoyed reflecting on highlights from the program over dinner at historic St John's College. Richard attended USF as an exchange student from the University of Leeds in the early 1990s, but USF made such an indelible impression on him that he’s become an engaged member of our global alumni community.
From left to right: David Oakley, Kiki Caruson, Zachary Kuntz, Milena Autero, Unique Alston
From left to right: Kiki Caruson, Muma DBA student Jacob Simpson, and David Oakley
Go Bulls from Magdalene College, Cambridge University. From left to right: David Oakley, Zachary Kuntz, Unique Alston, Milena Autero, Richard Everitt, and Kiki Caruson
The conference at Cambridge inspired great appreciation for how much alumni contribute to the lifeblood of an institution long after they’ve left. Among the slate of distinguished speakers were a number of Cambridge alumni whose work helped shape the global order of recent decades and whose insights remain as guiding lights in today’s troubled times, including Sir David Omand, the former UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator, and Lt. Gen. (ret) Doug Chalmers, the former UK Deputy Chief of Defense Staff. The handing down of knowledge and insights to future generations is a practice that Cambridge built over centuries and that USF now adds to on a global scale. A young university can rapidly emerge as a deeply engaged institution with international impact, while also benefiting greatly from all those who have come before it.
USF history PhD student Zachary Kuntz’s blog on his time in the month-long Cambridge program. In his first week there, Zachary wrote of the early morning lectures and seminars on intelligence successes and failures, exploring issues in the geopolitics of technology, and a trip to the UK’s National Archives where he discovered a “treasure trove” of 400 documents related to his research. “Between historic halls, new friendships, unexpected travel chaos, and diving headfirst into the National Archives, the experience has already reshaped how I see my work, my research, and myself,” Kuntz wrote.