The table has been set.
Tickets and sponsorships are now available for the 28th annual Brunch on the Bay, the marquee benefit event for the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus, scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 6, 2022.
Since 1994, the event has drawn community supporters to the beautiful grounds of the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus on Sarasota Bay to dine on fine cuisine from the area’s leading restaurants and catering companies while investing in student scholarships. Brunch on the Bay has raised over $6.5 million, including a record setting $450,000 in 2021, and aided more than 2,000 students.
That foundation of success has fueled extraordinary growth in enrollment and programs on the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus, allowing it to rise to exceptional heights along with the rest of the region -- and to run out of room in its current facilities.
The campus needs to expand, and plans are underway! The Sarasota-Manatee campus, nestled behind trees along U.S. 41 near the Manatee-Sarasota county line, has outgrown the 130,000-square-foot Crosley Academic Center, its home since 2006.
In addition to scholarships, this year’s Brunch on the Bay will support a next level of exciting initiatives – including construction of a planned Nursing/STEM building – that will create new academic and research opportunities for students and faculty and grow the invaluable partnership between the Sarasota-Manatee campus and the larger community.
Karen Holbrook, chancellor of the Sarasota-Manatee campus, said Brunch on the Bay celebrates the powerful, mutually beneficial connection between the campus and the Sarasota-Manatee region, and assures the campus can fulfill its commitment to providing affordable access to the region’s preeminent state research university.
“With the support of our friends and supporters, we will build a new and more vigorous campus experience and invest in a new generation of thought leaders for Sarasota-Manatee and beyond,” Holbrook said.
The $61.7 million, 75,000-square-foot Nursing/STEM building, currently in the planning and design stages, will double the size of the campus’s nursing program; increase new majors in the health disciplines and other programs; and fill the need on campus for teaching and clinical labs and research facilities.
Surveys show that STEM buildings are what prospective students want to see during campus tours and can drive a student’s decision on which university to attend. Similarly, STEM buildings help attract and retain faculty.
“The building will signal students, parents, funding agencies, friends and donors that the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus is committed to providing a contemporary, high-quality educational experience supporting the community’s demand for more nurses and science and technology graduates with the knowledge and skills needed to enter the talent pipeline,” Holbrook said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature this year approved $3 million for planning and design of the new building. Holbrook said community support is needed as USF seeks projected state funding for construction.
The USF Federal Credit Union is the title sponsor of the 2022 Brunch on the Bay, and alumnae Dr. Mona Jain and her daughter Dr. Anila Jain are the event’s co-chairs.
“We are honored to return as the Brunch on the Bay title sponsor and to support student success and the expansion of USF’s Sarasota-Manatee campus as it grows along with the community,” said Richard J. Skaggs, president of USF Federal Credit Union.
Drs. Jain are USF alumnae and longtime supporters of the Sarasota-Manatee campus. Anila Jain, a member of the Campus Board, was among the first organizers of Brunch on the Bay.
Supporters of the 2022 Brunch on Bay will help the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus, and the region, ascend to a new level of achievements.
“USF is growing here in Sarasota-Manatee,” Holbrook said. “Behind every great community like ours is a great institution like the Sarasota-Manatee campus. We are expanding for the success and sustainability of our community.”
Visit sarasotamanatee.usf.edu/brunch for sponsorship and ticket information for the 2022 Brunch on the Bay.