HONORS COLLEGE NEW HOME UNDER CONSTRUCTION
2021
brought great progress for the Judy Genshaft Honors College, both academically and physically. While our students were learning and growing even during the COVID-19 pandemic, construction on the Tampa campus brought to life our long anticipated new building. Work began immediately after the December 1, 2020 groundbreaking. The new facility will feature interwoven spaces for classrooms, study areas, faculty and advisor offices, event areas, a computer lab, performance and creative spaces, and numerous areas for student collaboration – expanding the range of academic opportunities for students and giving them a true “home” on campus. Fittingly, it is being built along the renamed USF Genshaft Drive (formerly USF Maple Drive).
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The project began thanks to a historic College-naming gift of $20 million from USF President Emerita and Professor Judy Genshaft and her husband Steve Greenbaum.
This stellar new home for our already excellent college will help attract top talent to USF, making an indelible impact on our community for years to come. We are delighted to see this dream become a reality.” – President Emerita Judy Genshaft
“Having one of the premier honors colleges in the nation is just one way USF will distinguish itself as one of the most elite and forward-thinking institutions in the world,” says President Emerita Genshaft. “This stellar new home for our already excellent college will help attract top talent to USF, making an indelible impact on our community for years to come. We are delighted to see this dream become a reality.” The impressive atrium, open to the top of the building, is enclosed with a clerestory bringing in natural light and complementing the beautiful glass and wood combinations found throughout the building. One of the unique design features of the 85,000 square foot facility is the 39 cantilevered learning lofts that appear suspended in air around the second through fifth floors of the atrium. These semi-private spaces will be used by students to meet, study, relax, and collaborate.
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Additional design highlights of the building include an amphitheater stairway leading to the second level terrace and serving as an outdoor classroom, and a beautiful event space also topped with a clerestory. The event space will have moveable walls to open into the atrium and accommodate large events and gathering, including Honors Convocation and Commencement. Adjacent to the atrium will be a café featuring a local restaurant and offering fresh and nutritious selections. On the fifth floor there will be special studios dedicated to food and culture, art, music, technology, and audio/video production. The Leona Genshaft Food and Culture studio will even feature a professional kitchen which can be used by both Honors faculty members teaching global engagement courses and celebrity guest chefs highlighting unique approaches to culinary art. While the official open date for the building is Spring 2023, Honors students are already benefiting from it. Professor Atsuko Sakai’s class is studying the design and construction of the project and includes hard-hat tours and guest speakers from the USF Facilities Department, Fleischman Garcia (the Tampa architecture firm for the project) and The Beck Group (the principal contractor). There is also a new viewing stand located at the northwest corner of the building site where students, faculty, and members of the community can watch the construction progress. Those not able to travel to the site can still stay up to date thanks to a live webcam which can be accessed through the Honors website, usf.edu/honors. “I check the building camera almost every day,” says Honors Dean Charles Adams. “It is great to watch the progress of this remarkable building, and we are so grateful to President Emerita Genshaft and Mr. Greenbaum for making it possible.” For information on naming opportunities in the new building, please contact Judy Kane at jkane@usf.edu or (813) 598-3261. - Amy Harroun
