A LETTER FROM THE DEAN

WELCOME TO MOSAIC 2023, a review of life in the Judy Genshaft Honors College in 2022! The 2022-23 academic year marks two very important milestones for the college: the fortieth anniversary of the establishment of an honors program at USF, and the twentieth anniversary of President Genshaft’s visionary decision to turn the program into a free-standing honors college under the direction of our founding dean, Dr. Stuart Silverman. The college has grown and changed tremendously over the years, from its initial class of twenty students in Tampa to a dynamic college of 2,700 with a presence on all three of our USF campuses. And what better way to celebrate our growth than to welcome the entering class of 2023 to our spectacular new five-story 85,000 sq. ft. home in the center of the Tampa campus, surely the finest honors facility in the nation?! The stories in this year’s Mosaic remind us of the abiding values that have shaped the college through all the changes. You’ll find here inspiring stories of cutting-edge research by students and faculty, innovative courses and programming, selfless public service, and transformative international experiences. And year after year our alumni impress me deeply by their commitment to carrying our values forward into their lives and careers.

Woven through these stories are two convictions shared across our Honors community on the Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota campuses. One is that knowledge and action are inextricable – that the classroom and the community must be connected for both to realize their full potential, and that each informs and enhances the other. You will find here remarkable stories of students, faculty, and advisors seeking ways to translate the knowledge and insights gained around the seminar table into projects that benefit communities in Tampa Bay and across the world. Those projects in turn yield invaluable experience to bring back to the classroom to spark new knowledge and insights. This virtuous cycle is education at its best and most meaningful.

The power of this “knowledge in action” cycle depends on the second conviction threaded through this Mosaic: that complex challenges in the classroom or in the community are best addressed through dialogue and collaboration among students and mentors representing diverse perspectives and skill sets. The Judy Genshaft Honors College enrolls students from every major offered at USF, and one of our most important contributions to their education is the understanding that no single field of expertise is able to grapple fully with the interconnected nature of twenty-first century problems. In our classrooms and in communities near and far, our students learn the power of teamwork and cooperation among individuals from varying backgrounds and with different disciplinary knowledge, all focused on a common challenge.

Our new home in Tampa will greatly enhance our ability to cooperate across disciplinary boundaries. This stunning testament to academic excellence at USF will be a beehive of intellectual exchange and collaborative learning/doing. Our core values have shaped the building throughout the design and construction process, and we cannot wait to see our students to fill it with ideas and projects that give form and life to those values. The possibilities are limited only by the creativity of our students and their mentors –which is to say, they are limitless!

Charles Adams

Judy Genshaft Endowed Dean

Judy Genshaft Honors College, University of South Florida