University of South Florida plans faculty growth as others freeze

Business Journals

23-04-2025

While billions of dollars in cuts in federal funding have led many universities across the country to freeze hiring, the University of South Florida sees an opportunity to grow.
On Wednesday, Provost Prasant Mohapatra told the Board of Trustees' Academics and Campus Environment Committee that the current climate has created a 'window of opportunity' for USF. He said they may need to be 'more aggressive' in recruiting faculty.
'I see a jump in quality in the market of the faculty available out there, as not many cities are going through the recruitment process right now,' Mohapatra told the BOT.
Mohapatra was not immediately available to comment on whether new hires will be targeted for current vacancies or for specific areas of research.
The 2025 Accountability Plan & Strategic Plan update highlights the need to grow USF's endowment and emphasizes the goal of enriching faculty development for teaching and research. It was unanimously approved by the BOT.
In this challenging environment where federal research dollars are restricted, Mohapatra said it is crucial that all new hires are 'trained aggressively' in writing grant proposals. The APSP also calls for a focus on growing research awards, especially large multidisciplinary ones. USF hopes to achieve $1 billion in research funding by 2030.
President Rhea Law, who announced her plans to retire in February, said many of the strategies the university hopes to pursue will be fleshed out once a new president is secured.
USF enrollment
Despite the hurdles many in higher education face — funding cuts, a rapidly approaching enrollment cliff and a national trend of turning away from academia — USF is still meeting and exceeding its performance from the prior year. Retaining preeminence will be crucial to not only recruiting but also retaining talent already employed at USF.
According to the 2025 APSP, USF met all 13 benchmarks required for preeminence. It met and exceeded performance from the prior year in 11 of the 13 metrics.
Unlike many universities struggling to keep enrollment up, USF has had years of sustained growth. Close to 37,000 undergraduate and 10,600 graduate students are enrolled on all three USF campuses. Mohapatra said the strategy moving forward is not to grow too aggressively. They want to work toward increasing the number of doctoral students, which will help raise USF's research profile.
He also wants to increase the number of master's students and have 'gradual growth' at the undergraduate level. In fall 2020, USF had 11,428 graduate students. Enrollment decreased for a few years, and by fall 2024, there were 10,915 enrolled graduate students.
Law recently created an Advancing Efficiency and Strategic Impact Task Force to look at operations internally. Mohapatra said the task force will search for ways to improve efficiency, which will 'create avenues for investments' with saved funds.
Universities across the U.S. are facing obstacles, and Mohapatra said part of what will help set USF up for success is making bold investments, like the new Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing. USF is banking on the new college securing a substantial return on investment.
The university is also working on increasing online degree programs, which Mohapatra said will be necessary in the changing landscape. Smart planning requires the university to be agile enough to take risks, Mohapatra said.
'If we do not adapt, if we are not agile enough to meet the changing landscape, we'll be falling behind in the competitive market of higher education,' Mohapatra said.