USF expects the housing/student center complex will enhance student success, including boosting student recruitment and retention efforts, and grow on-campus engagement.

“The new housing and student center is crucial to supporting the growth of the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus,” USF President Rhea Law said. “This new project will allow the campus to strengthen the overall student experience as it continues expanding its academic program offerings in high-demand fields.”

The new building will have two parts. The student center, with 32,000 square feet on the ground floor, will feature a new bookstore and spaces for dining, lounges and meeting rooms. Student housing, with 68,000 square feet on the upper floors, will be comprised of 70 double-occupancy bedrooms and 60 single-occupancy bedrooms in one-bedroom, two-bedroom and four-bedroom apartment-style configurations, with shared bathrooms, living spaces and kitchens or kitchenettes.

Karen Holbrook, regional chancellor for the Sarasota-Manatee campus, says the new building will bring an added sense of vibrancy.

"Our students have often told us they would like to live on campus and enjoy a traditional college experience. The new student center and residence hall will transform our beautiful campus and provide our students with new opportunities for success,” Holbrook said.  “This project has been considered for several years, and I’m grateful to President Law for helping bring it to fruition, and to the Board of Governors and the USF Board of Trustees for their support.”

Sarasota-Manatee student government Gov. Evelyn De Oliveira said students are excited about the new complex. She predicts there will be high demand for the chance to live on campus. 
  
“With on-campus housing, students will have a chance to interact with each other more as well as experience student life on-campus instead of having to commute every day,” De Oliveira said. “I believe the demand is there even though we are a small campus. It will give students the opportunity to experience living on their own, including international students who want to come to USF but would like the close-knit environment.”

In a study that was updated last May, a USF consultant reported that for many students, living on campus would be more affordable than many off-campus options in the Sarasota-Manatee area, one of the more expensive rental markets of similar size in the country.  This fall, more students than ever before are living on USF’s campuses in Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Construction of the new building is expected to cost approximately $39 million. USF will contribute $16.5 million, with the remaining funding coming from the sale of up to $30 million in bonds through the USF Financing Corp. The bonds would be repaid with revenue from the USF Housing System, as well as $200,000 a year in activity and service fees collected on the Sarasota-Manatee campus.

The student center/housing complex represents half of the expansion plans that promise to almost triple the size of the Sarasota-Manatee campus and grow its appeal to students, faculty and the larger community.

Earlier this year, the Florida Legislature funded, and Gov. Ron DeSantis approved an initial $3 million appropriation for a 75,000-square-foot Nursing/STEM building.

The new $62 million academic building, currently in the planning and design stages, would double the size of the campus’s nursing program; increase new majors in health disciplines and other programs; and fill the need on campus for teaching and clinical labs and research facilities.

A planned capital campaign will generate part of the funding for the Nursing/STEM project. Also, some of the proceeds from the annual Brunch on the Bay on Nov. 6 will go to support the new building and academic programs.

USF Sarasota-Manatee Campus Board Chair Rick Piccolo says the projects illustrate USF’s commitment to Sarasota-Manatee and growing the local campus’s profile in the area. Piccolo also is president of the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, which sits across U.S. 41 from the campus.

“It has been exciting to watch what is happening at the Sarasota-Manatee campus thanks to the hard work of the USF administration and others and to consider what the future holds for the school,” Piccolo said. “The entire community should be thrilled with the support we have received from the governor, the local legislative delegation, the Board of Governors and other leaders, and with USF’s plans to become an even more essential part of our wonderful community.” 

Earlier this year, she donated an original painting to Sarasota’s Child Protection Center, raising over $40,000 for the prevention, intervention and treatment of child abuse. She also joined the board of directors for CreArte Latino Cultural Center, whose mission is to connect the Latinx, Hispanic and larger community through performance, education and service. This summer, CreArte hosted a performing arts workshop in which children ages 7 to 13 were tasked with staging a play in Spanish.

“Latinx identity is complex. We represent many countries; we have different cultures. And then we have intersectionalities. We have folks whose parents may have immigrated here, but who grew up only speaking English. And just because you don’t speak fluent Spanish doesn’t make you any less Latino. Your identity is your identity,” she said. “It can be confusing for those on the outside who want to be inclusive — who want to do the right thing.”

In addition to her role as director of development — in which she is responsible for aligning donors’ philanthropic goals with USF’s mission to deliver competitive programs, generate knowledge, foster intellectual development and ensure student success in a global environment — she is director of USF’s Latino Scholarship Program, played an integral part in the founding of the Alianza Latino Faculty and Staff Association, serves on the Advancing Latino Access and Success Task Force as well as the Status of Latinos USF Presidential Advisory Committee and is deeply invested in USF’s commitment to increasing Latino undergraduate student enrollment, which has tripled over the past 20 years, from 2,750 in the fall of 2000 to 8,375 in the fall of 2021.

Diversity and inclusion make up one of five primary goals in USF’s five-year strategic plan, which was unveiled in January of this year. The plan emphasizes the recruitment of diverse faculty, staff and students and the inclusion of diverse perspectives in the classroom among other objectives.

With a campus diversity index of 0.65, USF is considered a majority minority institution, wherein white students make up less than half of all students in the Fall 2022 cohort, and recently received the 2022 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award, which recognizes U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion, for the third time.   

Today, USF is well on its way to reaching 25% Hispanic student enrollment and being federally designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution.

“We’ve surpassed 22%,” Reynardus de Villanueva said, referring to the percentage of Hispanic-identifying undergraduates currently enrolled at USF. “That’s still hundreds and hundreds of students, she added, “But we’re on the verge.”

With Hillsborough County Public Schools projected to reach 50% Hispanic enrollment within the next five years, she’d like to see increased representation at every level.

“I know our faculty and staff don’t necessarily come from the Tampa Bay area, but right now only 5% of the faculty and 12% of the staff identify as Latinx. It’s not a complaint,” Reynardus de Villanueva said. “It’s just an acknowledgement that there’s an opportunity.

“University leadership has expressed a genuine interest in prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion. My goal is to continue inviting diverse communities into that conversation as genuine partners in the future we’re building — a future that’s reflective of the community at large so that when students come here, no matter what their background is, they see themselves in the faces of faculty and staff and are walking into a culturally competent environment,” said Reynardus de Villanueva. 

This fall, Reynardus de Villanueva enrolled in the Professional Weekend MBA program on the Sarasota-Manatee campus — a move she anticipates will provide her with the credentials and the skills necessary to furthering her mission.

“I don’t think there’s any better way to support the community than through education,” she said. 

“I’m just really grateful,” she said. “That’s the word I use to describe how I feel about my move. I’m grateful for all the opportunities I've had on campus and for the people I’ve met and made connections with.” 

Since arriving on the Sarasota-Manatee campus, Rivera Marrero has embraced her new home with open arms. In addition to her coursework, she works three campus jobs — community leader and peer coach in the Department of Student Support Services, coordinator for the Campus Activities Board and lead work-study in the Office of Veteran Success. She is also the president of the Student Veterans Association and the Latin American Student Association (LASA), the latter of which promotes Hispanic and Latino culture through community engagement. In the spring, she received a Multicultural Excellence award from the Office of Multicultural Affairs. And, this summer, she studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain, where she came to better understand her Puerto Rican “roots.” 

How does she do it? A well-organized calendar — or four — and a passion for community building. 

“I live by my planner,” she said. “I have, like, four different calendars, one of which I share with my family. And I like being on campus. I like working on campus. I like anything and everything to do with student life.” 

Her top priority this semester is rebuilding LASA, which once boasted 40 active members on the Sarasota-Manatee campus, but has struggled to maintain that level of engagement since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020. 

“We try to do fun events that will also bring awareness to the culture and to show people on our campus that they have a community,” said Rivera Marrero, who runs the club with friend and classmate Evelyn De Oliveira. “We’re already planning an event for Día de Muertos and a trip to EPCOT.” 

Reestablishing LASA’s campus presence is important to Rivera Marrero, who knows how it feels to be the new kid on campus. 

“My first language is Spanish,” Rivera Marrero explained. “I transferred from a university in Puerto Rico, where I would always talk in Spanish. And then, when I moved here, I needed to talk in English all the time. So, I was like, ‘Where can I find a community and someone I can talk to in Spanish?’” 

It wasn’t long before Rivera Marrero found LASA. 

“Knowing that I had someone who looked like me was really nice,” Rivera Marrero said. “That’s something, with the club, we really want to let students know they have a community that speaks Spanish — or Portuguese like Evelyn does. They have someone that they can talk to.” 

Rivera Marrero is poised to graduate in December with a bachelor’s degree in general studies, a concentration in educational foundations and a minor in Spanish. But, if she has her way, this is only the beginning. 

“I would like to keep working in higher education,” she said. “I want to help others the same way that, when I got to USF, I was helped.” 

To learn more about the Latin American Student Association and participate in upcoming events on the Sarasota-Manatee campus, visit BullsConnect. 

Having his 190 officers be a positive presence in Sarasota, and collaborating with other agencies and community members is essential to Troche, especially in a time of complex criminal justice challenges, limited resources and heightened attention on potential racial tensions. As an example, Troche touted his department’s Community Response Teams, made of up of respected community members who serve as a two-way conduit for tips and other information between police and residents when there is a shooting or other incident that might be exacerbated by misinformation about what happened.

According to the 2020 census, about a third of Sarasota’s roughly 55,000 residents are Hispanic or Black. 
  
“At the end of the day, everyone wants a seat at the table, and everyone wants someone who looks like them at the table,” Troche said. “I believe that it’s very important when I go out and I meet people and go to certain functions, that they understand where I come from, what I have done and some day they can do it. And maybe someday, one of these kids I am shaking hands with will be the next police chief.”

Where Troche comes from is Chicago, where his father was a police officer for 26 years. Growing up, Troche saw first-hand the positive impact the police could have on a community.

“My father was in community policing so I got to go with him to all these community policing events,” Troche said. “I was able to feed the elderly hot dogs, hamburgers on weekends and sometimes that was the only meal they would ever have. … We took kids to movie theaters and those kids became my friends.”

When Troche was 11 years old, his eldest brother Ronnie was murdered in Rockford, Ill., outside of Chicago.

“That changed my life,” Troche said. “I spent a summer in a courthouse reading law books because 11-year-old me thought I could crack the case ... and help put my brother’s killers behind bars.”

Despite the example set by his father and another older brother, Randy, who also was a police officer, and the death of Ronnie, Chief Troche wasn’t initially sure he wanted a career in police work. A ride-along with his brother had showed him maybe the job wasn’t for him.

But after the family moved to Florida, Troche earned a degree in criminal justice from USF in 1994 and in 1997 he joined the police department in Largo. Five years later, he and his wife Kelly moved their family to Sarasota, where he steadily rose through the ranks of the Sarasota Police Department, before being named interim chief in 2021.

Police chief is a high-profile, high-stress job. And while being Sarasota’s first Hispanic chief is an honor — “It’s an honor to be the first of anything.” — Troche said it also comes with “the pressure of setting a bar because you don’t want to be the first Hispanic chief and then something happens where they now look at Hispanic officers as though they are not able to handle the challenge required to be a police chief.”

Troche, who also holds a master’s degree from St. Leo University, credits his time at USF with helping prepare him to meet the intellectual rigors of police work and leading a department.

“I can tell you that if wasn’t for my education at the University of South Florida, the foundation that I came into this profession 25 years ago would not have been there for me,” he said. “By having that education, by subsequently getting my master’s at St. Leo, that really tightened me up to solving problems and writing in-depth papers, which helped me at the executive level here. When I was looking at a problem, I didn’t just scratch the surface, I was able to look at other problems we didn’t foresee. A college education definitely helps you in that regard.”

Troche’s three daughters are following his example by pursing a USF education to help shape their futures serving others: Angelina, a member of the Air Force ROTC program at USF, is working on her master’s in cyberintelligence and plans to join the Air Force after graduation; Adrianna plans to attend medical school after graduation; and Alexandra is an undergraduate majoring in cybersecurity and also is a member of the Air Force ROTC program.

Troche said his success would not have been possible without the support of his wife Kelly, who he described as the “rock” of their family.

“Early on in our relationship, when she knew I would be going into police work, we made a decision that we were going to sacrifice for our children, and she decided she was going to stay home. We wanted to make sure our kids were raised at home, they had Mom at home cooking meals, going over the alphabet,” Troche said. “We sacrificed for a long time.”

“It was important for us to be an example for our children, and that was one of the reasons I did obtain my master’s degree because we wanted to make sure our kids understood the importance of education in order to further yourself in the world,” Troche said. “My wife, again staying home, made sure they had whatever they needed.”

Legacy is important to Troche, whether it’s following the example of his father, honoring the memory of his late brother or showing his daughters the value of hard work, sacrifice and improving yourself through education.

“We have a saying in our house: We didn’t come this far just to come this far,” Troche said.

That’s an attitude that drives his work as Sarasota’s police chief.

“I want people to know that I am not just the chief of police for minorities or for Hispanics, I am the chief of police for this entire city,” Troche said. “This is about legacy for me. This is about making great changes within the agency. This isn’t about me being on the cover of a magazine or going to be a police chief at a bigger agency someday. This is about me making changes here that are going to last in perpetuity.”  

Also participating was Joshua J. Jackson, an expert curriculum developer and motivational speaker whose impact as an equity architect elevates and engages transformative leadership. His research interests include black educational epistemology, equity-based and social justice pedagogies, and multicultural education. Jackson’s leadership experience spans from serving as the assistant principal at the Cesar Chavez Public Charter School in Baltimore, an instructional coach (Equity/Social Studies) and a 10-year social studies classroom teacher. His research interests include Black curricular frameworks, teacher efficacy, instructional Leadership, neurocognition and educational history and policy. 

Another instructor was Kuniko Yamamoto, a native of Japan and owner of Origami Air Art Studio in Sarasota, who engaged the attendees in how to reach students in math and STEAM concepts through origami arts, mime, and magic. Yamamoto highlighted the importance of helping students understand the importance of teamwork, problem solving, developing math skills, and reasoning from ransforming a flat piece of paper into a three-dimensional figure. 

Local professionals from Kuumba Dancers and Drummers in Tampa, Circus Arts Conservatory, and Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe from Sarasota led a session on how to engage, inspire, and celebrate folklife in curriculum development. 

Sarasota-Manatee campus Regional Chancellor Karen Holbrook said it was important for USF to remember what happened on 9/11 and to thank those who responded to the tragedy and sacrificed so much that day and afterwards.

“Twenty-one years later, we observe this day with the solemnity it still deserves as our university pays its respects to those who were lost on September 11, and we extend our gratitude to those who, today, protect and serve our nation and to the many veterans who honor us by joining us as our students, faculty and staff,” Holbrook said.

The hour-long event also included remarks from Peter Abbott, a former inspector with the New York Police Department who was among the first responders to the attack on the World Trade Center. A local children’s choir sang patriotic songs, and several first responders, military veterans and community members were among the audience. Danielle McCourt, director of communications and marketing at the Sarasota-Manatee campus, was the emcee.

Serving as a backdrop for the ceremony was a display of 2,977 tiny U.S. flags, each one representing a person killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in western Pennsylvania on 9/11. Students, faculty, staff and other volunteers planted the flags on the campus courtyard earlier in the week.

Abbott, who after his retirement from the NYPD was Sarasota’s police chief for eight years, described how after the North Tower was hit by a hijacked airliner he ran to the World Trade Center from nearby police headquarters, where he worked as executive officer for the first deputy police commissioner — “the No. 2 to the No. 2 in the department,” he said.

Soon after he arrived on the scene, hijackers flew a second plane into the South Tower. “When that second plane hit, I knew it was no accident. We were under attack,” Abbott said.

Abbott described in vivid detail the initial rescue effort and what he witnessed in the following days, hours and weeks at Ground Zero. After the towers collapsed, “the city really looked like a moonscape.”

Abbott interspersed through his remarks the names of fellow police officers and firefighters who were also at Ground Zero, many of whom perished on 9/11 or later succumbed to cancer and other illnesses because of what they were exposed to while trying to rescue victims of the attacks.

“It’s a tough memory, but I also remember how the country came together,” Abbott said.

Law said USF was proud to honor Abbott and other first responders.

“In spite of the painful memories, we can draw strength and hope from those brave individuals who rushed in to help save lives, even if it meant losing their own,” Law said.

Holbrook described her memories of Sept. 11, 2001, and the aftermath of the attacks.

“On college campuses life continued in the traditional manner of the fall semester, but most significantly, we turned to one another to begin healing from the unprecedented and shared trauma in our homeland. I stopped taking for granted what the words of the pledge of allegiance and the patriotic songs we have sung by rote memory since childhood really mean,” Holbrook said.

“I believe we gained a deeper understanding about how much of the world lives every day — and how dramatically different and privileged our lives are in the United States,” she said.

The ceremony started with a flag-raising event in front of the Crosley Campus Center featuring a U.S. Marine Corps honor guard, then shifted to the campus courtyard.

In addition to the speakers, the lineup included the singing of the National Anthem by Sarasota native Laura E. McKenna, the first-grade choir from St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Bradenton, which sang “God Bless America” and a medley of military anthems; and bagpiper Ross Allen, a USF alum who played “Amazing Grace. An honor detail from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office fired a 15-gun salute, followed by a bugler playing “Taps.”

Also in attendance were military, first responders and community leaders. Manatee County Veteran Services Officer Lee Washington read an essay, “Old Glory.” A reception was held afterward in the FCCI Rotunda.

The event was organized by USF’s Office of Veteran Success, which provides specialized programs and services to more than 8,300 veterans, eligible dependents, active-duty service members, reservists and other students at the university.

Carlos Moreira, director of campus engagement for veteran success and alumni affairs at the Sarasota-Manatee campus, asked those in the audience to remember 9/12, because that “was the day we came together as one,” in response to the attacks.

Law and Holbrook said the 9/11 anniversary offers a valuable opportunity for members of the USF community to focus on ways they can serve others.

“I wish for all us to recommit to a sense of community, to all of humanity and to a willingness to help one another — the ingredients that fuel the resiliency of the American spirit,” Holbrook said. “Let us all work for and look toward peace, strength and continued goodwill to one another — and let us never forget.”