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Dr. Karen White joins USF Poly as Senior Advisor

The winter holidays are traditionally a slow time on university campuses, but this week the University of South Florida Polytechnic took a big step forward with the announcement that CEO Marshall Goodman has appointed Dr. Karen A. White, former regional chancellor of USF St. Petersburg, to the newly created position of senior advisor to the CEO.

In the new role, White will assume leadership responsibility for the numerous faculty and staff searches required as the state's first and only polytechnic transitions toward separate accreditation and a more robust implementation of the polytechnic model.

She will assume her new duties immediately and is expected to serve in this capacity during USF Poly's transition, and then return to USF St. Petersburg, where she is a tenured professor.

While leading USF St. Petersburg through its own dramatic expansion, White welcomed over 50 faculty members in a single year, expanding the size of the faculty by a third. This experience provides her with a unique perspective on the dynamics at USF Poly.

According to Goodman, "Her leadership and experience represent a tremendous resource for our campus at this critical juncture in our history. I am very pleased that we will have the benefit of her involvement as we literally transform USF Poly - and the history of higher education in our region - over the next several years."

White expressed clear optimism: "I have enjoyed my prior experiences at USF Polytechnic and am delighted to be back. It's my sense that the best is yet to come. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the USF Poly community, and I feel very fortunate to advise the process."

White received her master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Arizona and baccalaureate degree from the University of Arkansas. Prior to her chancellorship, she served in leadership positions at the University of Nebraska, University of Maryland, Wright State University and the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. She is widely recognized as a prominent advocate of the metropolitan university concept and was one of the founders of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities in 1988.

According to Goodman, "Dr. White's national reputation and professional network will be invaluable as we seek to attract the nation's 'best and brightest' here to our campus. She will help us make our campus and our state better."

White noted that the recruitment process would itself be "informative" - not only for the hundreds of candidates but also for the campus: "We will learn as much from the candidates as they will learn from us, and USF Poly will be a much stronger institution for having gone through this process."

USF Polytechnic is currently engaged in numerous tenure-track faculty searches in preparation for three inter-related transitions: separate accreditation, the introduction of freshman and sophomore programming, and a move to a new state-of-the-art campus, designed by Santiago Calatrava.