Interview: Robert Bishop, Dean

Robert Bishop Dean University of South Florida College of Engineering

How close is the Tampa Bay area to becoming an innovation hub?

The Tampa Bay area can become an innovation hub, of this I am sure. If we look around the country at areas that have become renowned for technology and innovation, the common denominator is a powerful College of Engineering. We are that for the Tampa Bay region. We are filling the talent pipeline. For example, our Department of Computer Science and Engineering has over 2,000 students and is still growing. There is no way to build a high-tech hub without having these well-trained assets easily accessible to companies.

What role does engineering play in the innovation ecosystem?

I find that many people associate STEM education with science and mathematics, and I have to continually remind them that the E in STEM is engineering. The innovation ecosystem we are building in this region cannot be built around science and mathematics alone. We have to have engineering and we need to continue to push that message through the education system.

What key challenges is the college dealing with?

One of our biggest challenges is our high rate of student growth. If we had the space, resources and faculty, we could literally double the size of the College of Engineering. The demand for engineering is at an all-time high. We have to continue to grow the resources required to provide the students and the faculty with the facilities, the labs and the various student support mechanisms that they need for their education. This is a good problem.

What will change for the college this year?

This year on the academic side we are beginning the process of establishing an undergraduate program in environmental engineering. We already have a nationally recognized graduate program in environmental engineering, and we see an associated undergraduate program as a good future direction for the college. students over careers in the trades. The event attracts around 1,000 high-school students and ends in a Signing Day, where students can sign on with a company, which then puts them through training programs.

K-12 In his budget, K-12 education was one of Gov. DeSantis’ priorities, partly in response to a countrywide shortage of teachers due to low salary. One of the main proposals was his plan to set minimum teacher salaries at $47,500, an idea that would cost $603 million in 2020. But as part of the plan to balance the books, DeSantis also is recommending $480.5 million in budget cuts, with $284.5 million from eliminating the “Best and Brightest” teacher-bonus program. But equally, the governor wants an additional $300 million for a new bonus program for teachers and principals.

Teachers have long complained about the Best and Brightest bonus scheme, arguing the objectives were unattainable – some requirements included SAT scores from when they were students – and that a bonus as such has no impact on financial security. At the end of January, the Florida legislature repealed the Best and Brightest scheme and rejected DeSantis’ new bonus scheme, arguing instead that additional funding should go to teachers’ base salaries.

High schools in Tampa are now establishing programs to source new teachers within their own ranks, namely, high-school students themselves. Educators Rising is a national membership organization that connects young people exploring a teaching career path with peers and experts countrywide. Leto High School in Hillsborough County just signed up to the program in the hope it will help to plug the education gap. According to the Center for American Progress, enrollment in teacherpreparation programs dropped 30% from 2010 to 2018.

Although a great deal of thought goes into issues such as teacher staffing and salaries, more consideration is needed on issues such as school standards. In midJanuary, the Department of Education unveiled the details of the proposal for Florida’s new school standards, running 450-plus pages. But the deadline for consideration was set as Feb. 12, leaving less than three weeks for proposals and revision.

Teacher shortages very much contribute to reduced education quality, an issue Hillsborough County knows well. Foster and Oak Park Elementary have spent the last 18 months under the supervision of Phalen Leadership Academies after the state Department of Education ordered drastic steps to correct poor academic performance – three consecutive D grades. In early 2019, the school district took steps to address

Larry Thompson President – Ringling College of Art and Design

In December 2019, we opened the Sarasota Art Museum, which is a part of Ringling College. It is built on the site of a historic high school from 1926 located right in the middle of Sarasota. We took It over because the school system was trying to find a use for it and we were looking for space for a museum. We were able to turn it into a contemporary art museum and a space for continuing studies and lifelong learning. This project has been a long time in the making, so we are quite pleased to have this as part of our campus.

the issue, attracting more teachers with a bonus plan. The effort to keep the schools under district control was to go before the Department of Education in February.

But there is good news for some elementary students in Pasco County as the School District announced plans to overhaul many campuses. A year after superintendent Kurt Browning’s proposal to close three schools was rejected, in December the board built upon this plan and announced its own idea to establish new magnet programs, build new schools and renovate others at a cost of $250,000. The plan would shut down Hudson Elementary, subject to board approval.

Looking ahead Gov. DeSantis’ education-led budget will go a long way toward creating accessible education for a greater percentage of the population. But as Tampa Bay’s economy takes off, more and more skilled labour is required to sustain this growth, and importing talent is never the best option given the calibre of Tampa’s educational institutes. The gap between high-school graduates who do not go on to study a higher degree must be addressed if Tampa is to meet its labour requirements in 2020 and beyond.

Nonetheless, in 2020, the education sector will continue to face a misalignment in the skills of graduates it is producing and the requirements of the private sector, without meaningful dialogues and partnerships. “Healthcare, corporate offices and business services, tourism and hospitality, retail, and construction are expected to account for 88 percent of the 78,000 new jobs projected over the next five years,” according to the Tampa Bay Works committee. “When factoring in replacement needs that account for workers exiting the workforce or changing occupations, the region is expected to have more than 850,000 total job openings

Tampa Bay is expected to have 850,000 job openings over the next five years

during that period. For the region to be able to meet the demand for workers over the next five years, it must maintain, and even increase, the growth of the regional labor force.”

Learning must be accessible to all to plug the talent gap, and some Tampa Bay institutes are going above and beyond to ensure all have access to the same opportunities. In August 2019, St. Petersburg College partnered with Religious Community Services Pinellas to establish an express center with a food pantry containing nutritious food for the college’s lower-income students. And the Pinellas County Book Bus was set up by the school district to drive through the community through the summer months and encourage children to continue reading outside of school hours.

The more immediate challenge, howver, is covering the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the severity of the crisis widened, many educational institutions began pushing their courses online to ensure students could still attend classes, even if virtually. One outcome of the virus could be that many of these schools keep this solution well after the crisis passes.

Tourism,

Arts & Culture:

Tampa Bay is sometimes described as the new Miami, and so far its tourism industry seems to be going from strength to strength, although the COVID-19 pandemic will likely put the brakes on for the early part of 2020. One of the major challenges the city will undoubtedly face is in maintaining its rate of tourism growth, while also ensuring residents don’t get priced out of the Tampa lifestyle.