USF Fundraiser Is On The Money ($500M - $1B)

[Bull Matrix]

Dining hall!!! Baseball and Softball fields!!! Basketball facility!!! We need those things first before we talk about an OCS. One step at a time. The USF football team has it made right now with RJS. The time will come for an OCS, but that time is not right now. Patience.

[Knight_Light]

They need to drop all the plans for that other **** and get an OCS already.

Congrats on USF finally "seeing the light" that playing off-campus at the Bucs NFL Stadium doesn't help promote USF as much as an on-campus stadium can/does.

USF leaders realize that the #1 event for bringing alumni BACK TO CAMPUS is on-campus football games...and every school knows that its those alumni that COME BACK TO CAMPUS are much more willing to donate their $$$$$ to their school (academics and athletics).

Smart move! Congrats in advance!

[SeaBull]

They need to drop all the plans for that other **** and get an OCS already.

Congrats on USF finally "seeing the light" that playing off-campus at the Bucs NFL Stadium doesn't help promote USF as much as an on-campus stadium can/does.

USF leaders realize that the #1 event for bringing alumni BACK TO CAMPUS is on-campus football games...and every school knows that its those alumni that COME BACK TO CAMPUS are much more willing to donate their $$$$$ to their school (academics and athletics).

Smart move! Congrats in advance!

UCF Athletics - Smart Move! 2-10 season, Congrats in advance loser

[Belle of the Bull]

ok so i know who this new development guy is - and let me say that i am very very very impressed that we  hired him. looks like someone in admin actually knows what they are doing. (and by admin - i dont mean the alumni association - i think they are doing a really good job - esp Merell)

We need to do the following with money raised:

1. pay teachers more. (i am not biased because i am a professor- but the pay helps keep the retention rate high - USF's professor retention is one of the lowest in the state)

2. hire big fish and promising up and comers

3. put more $$$$$ into the marketing budget: that means get a GOOD commercial, good mailings that will attract quality kids, etc.

4. more money into athletics

5. more money into campus beautification (um flowers anyone - the campus looks like we dont know what a flower is)  

6. better buildings - esp for the arts and sciences. (engineering and business already have nice buildings)

7. campus think tanks - this allows USF to partner with other universities and increase our academic excellence

8. foundation.

9. and lastly  - and maybe the most important - give kathy bentacourt (the usf lobbyist) a bigger and better staff and more  money to do her job. lobbying the state for more funds, hosting more events like usf day at the capitol, etc. that will help us get the money we deserve from the state. the problem is that the state of FL (because of politics of course) keeps building more state universities that it cant afford to fund - or wont fund bc it is too busy financing UF and FSU. our voice needs to be more visible  and let the state know that it needs to stop and invest in the 11 universities we already have.  having 1 or 2 flagship universities and 9 half ass pesudo-colleges isnt going to help anyone. CA has a large and respected state university system. We should strive for the same. That means not spending 100s of millions of dollars on branch campuses (except usfsp which is a little different for a lot of reasons i wont go into) and start developing and investing in our infrastructure.  It might mean a higher education tax - but something i am willing to pay if it helps usf get where it needs to be.

ok thats it yall- sorry for the rant  - but I have a lot to say (i have actually written an editorial about this) and its a subject i am most passionate about. but again - i encourage yall to visit the 10 year plan and give the university administration feedback.

[USFMikeB]

They need to drop all the plans for that other **** and get an OCS already.

Congrats on USF finally "seeing the light" that playing off-campus at the Bucs NFL Stadium doesn't help promote USF as much as an on-campus stadium can/does.

USF leaders realize that the #1 event for bringing alumni BACK TO CAMPUS is on-campus football games...and every school knows that its those alumni that COME BACK TO CAMPUS are much more willing to donate their $$$$$ to their school (academics and athletics).

Smart move! Congrats in advance!

Some guy with 60 posts makes a statement and you automatically think it is indicative of the University's plans and opinions of its fans?  What a tool... :

[Belle of the Bull]

ok so i know who this new development guy is - and let me say that i am very very very impressed that we  hired him. looks like someone in admin actually knows what they are doing. (and by admin - i dont mean the alumni association - i think they are doing a really good job - esp Merell)

We need to do the following with money raised:

1. pay teachers more. (i am not biased because i am a professor- but the pay helps keep the retention rate high - USF's professor retention is one of the lowest in the state)

2. hire big fish and promising up and comers

3. put more $$$$$ into the marketing budget: that means get a GOOD commercial, good mailings that will attract quality kids, etc.

4. more money into athletics

5. more money into campus beautification (um flowers anyone - the campus looks like we dont know what a flower is)  

6. better buildings - esp for the arts and sciences. (engineering and business already have nice buildings)

7. campus think tanks - this allows USF to partner with other universities and increase our academic excellence

8. foundation.

9. and lastly  - and maybe the most important - give kathy bentacourt (the usf lobbyist) a bigger and better staff and more  money to do her job. lobbying the state for more funds, hosting more events like usf day at the capitol, etc. that will help us get the money we deserve from the state. the problem is that the state of FL (because of politics of course) keeps building more state universities that it cant afford to fund - or wont fund bc it is too busy financing UF and FSU. our voice needs to be more visible  and let the state know that it needs to stop and invest in the 11 universities we already have.  having 1 or 2 flagship universities and 9 half ass pesudo-colleges isnt going to help anyone. CA has a large and respected state university system. We should strive for the same. That means not spending 100s of millions of dollars on branch campuses (except usfsp which is a little different for a lot of reasons i wont go into) and start developing and investing in our infrastructure.  It might mean a higher education tax - but something i am willing to pay if it helps usf get where it needs to be.

ok thats it yall- sorry for the rant  - but I have a lot to say (i have actually written an editorial about this) and its a subject i am most passionate about. but again - i encourage yall to visit the 10 year plan and give the university administration feedback.

ok yall - this is the link to the 2007 - 2012 strategic plan - as well as other pertinent information - enjoy!

http://www.ods.usf.edu/plans/strategic/

[ZeroBullChip]

They need to drop all the plans for that other **** and get an OCS already.

Congrats on USF finally "seeing the light" that playing off-campus at the Bucs NFL Stadium doesn't help promote USF as much as an on-campus stadium can/does.

USF leaders realize that the #1 event for bringing alumni BACK TO CAMPUS is on-campus football games...and every school knows that its those alumni that COME BACK TO CAMPUS are much more willing to donate their $$$$$ to their school (academics and athletics).

Smart move! Congrats in advance!

Then how do you explain why USF in fundraising does laps around UCF?

[Drewski]

3. put more $$$$$ into the marketing budget: that means get a GOOD commercial, good mailings that will attract quality kids, etc.  

Boy oh Boy would I love to see a new commercial. I feel like yacking everytime I see our current one on TV. I really wish we would upgrade our USF website too. Even though it looks like it's been re-designed recently, I really think it lacks class. Testimonials of current students is nice, but too infomercial-ish for the homepage, IMO.

One of the things that I find pretty funny on the homepage is when I come across those pictures of people in lab coats staring into computer screens. It's clear that the pictures serves to create the perception of cutting edge research, yet they're staring into an old school big fat monitor that you can find in the Cooper hall computer labs. I know...a little nitpicky, but the irony cracks me up every time...

[Belle of the Bull]

3. put more $$$$$ into the marketing budget: that means get a GOOD commercial, good mailings that will attract quality kids, etc.  

Boy oh Boy would I love to see a new commercial. I feel like yacking everytime I see our current one on TV. I really wish we would upgrade our USF website too. Even though it looks like it's been re-designed recently, I really think it lacks class. Testimonials of current students is nice, but too infomercial-ish for the homepage, IMO.

One of the things that I find pretty funny on the homepage is when I come across that one picture of three people in lab coats staring into a computer screen. It's clear that the picture serves to create the perception of cutting edge research, yet they're staring into an old school big fat monitor that you can find in the Cooper hall computer labs. I know...a little nitpicky, but the irony cracks me up every time...

OMG I've written 3 letters to USF administration about the website. totally classless. My boyfriend does freelance web designs for academic programs and he says the same thing. Administration responded to my e mail(s) by

1.  thanking me for my inquiry and

2. telling me that they "just hired a new web designer" and are working on the problem."  Ummm that was over 9 months ago.

They need to stop paying these people what I think is **** good money compared to what faculty make - until they can do their job better -- OR clean house and higher competent people with a background in marketing, higher ed and PR. its not hard. Apathy kills me.

[Belle of the Bull]

and by the way - the student activities, MC pages look pretty bad as well. those were also mentioned in my letters and I cced the dean of student services. The second time I e mailed to remind them that nothing had been done to fix the sites - I was met with the same response. Students and FL tax payers are paying a lot of money for apathy.