The University of South Florida has set an ambitious course for expansion of baccalaureate and graduate access to top-quality programs conducted by an outstanding faculty in the Manatee/Sarasota region in response to our community's desire and demand. Our 2006-2011 Strategic Plan calls for nearly doubling our faculty from 52 to 90. This fall we open with 66 faculty positions. In 2000, USF offered 19 academic programs; now there are over 40 programs with plans for more. Student enrollment has more than doubled to 4,500 in AY 2008 from 2,000 in AY 2000.
The 2006 opening of the new multi-use academic center on the Manatee-Sarasota county line was a demonstration of the university and community commitment and demand for higher education at the university level. We are excited about our growth and are in the planning stages of additional facilities on campus and in south Sarasota County to accommodate enrollment growth in excess of 5,000 and space requirements.
Critical to our past, current and long-term strategy to enhance local access to higher education has been our partnership with Manatee Community College. We continue to support the 2 + 2 Articulation Agreement, which provides for a seamless transition of the community college student to the university. USF Sarasota-Manatee with MCC holds that it is clearly in the best interest of all area residents that we not duplicate our efforts and that we as two educational institutions continue to serve the students through cooperative efforts.
The University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee envisions a future where both institutions offer programs that complement each other without redundancy. In the future USF may offer limited lower division courses which meet prerequisite course work needs of our USF students without duplication of the fine education options that students are currently offered at MCC. In turn, Dr. Lars Hafner and I have agreed that MCC will offer four-year degree programs in some areas that the university does not currently or plan to offer.
Currently 73 percent of our incoming juniors have had some experience with MCC. We have full-time advisors placed on both the MCC Bradenton and Venice campuses to assist students in making the transition from a two-year school to a four year University. We plan to keep these advisors in place in anticipation that the majority of our incoming students will continue to come from MCC.
USF Sarasota-Manatee shares space on the MCC-Venice campus, providing baccalaureate and masters degree programs to south Sarasota County and surrounding area residents. This program delivery started in the spring of 2004 with 66 student enrollments and 21 classes and has grown to over 500 student enrollments each semester, due to student demand, community advocacy and state recurring funds. USF maintains our legislative initiative to have a joint-use facility built to support our educational efforts in south Sarasota County and its surrounding areas.
The University of South Florida and Manatee Community College have enjoyed a long-term excellent relationship and will continue to partner in providing access to quality higher education for our communities.
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