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- Dr. Colleen Kennedy
College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
Dr. Colleen Kennedy
LB: The figures were impressive. Not just the amount, but the number of grants that the individual faculty members have achieved. I think in 2004-2005 that we were ranked second among the colleges in the University.
CK: Well, that’s right. And, yes, that’s an excellent point. Last year I think our numbers were over $28.8 million, and usually we are ranked third, excluding the medical school. That is an excellent tribute to the faculty. And still, there are other things that we intend to accomplish. We want to have a diversified kind of portfolio and to increase the number of federal grants that we receive in addition to our state grants. I am sure we’ll see continuing growth in that area.
LB: The word “diversity” makes me realize that as a professor emeritus, as I walk through the College of Education seeing all the newer faculty members, we have an increased amount of diversity.
CK: Yes, we do.
LB: I know you were involved in helping that happen.
CK: Yes, that’s very true, and I’m very glad to have supported the faculty’s efforts to diversify not only our faculty but our student body as well. The emphasis on diversity was one of the things that drew me to Tampa. I can remember, when I interviewed, having conversations with search committee members about their desire to have a more diversified faculty. I was so pleased that in my first year as the dean here, out of the twelve faculty members that we hired that year, five of the twelve were from underrepresented groups. We were so very pleased in the last couple of years to receive awards on behalf of the college both from the Black Faculty Staff Association and also the USF Hispanic Organization based on the efforts our College has made and our accomplishments with respect to diversifying the faculty. It is a strongly held value in the College of Education that we should be a warm and welcoming place to all. There are so many wonderful scholars out there whom we would like to attract and encourage to work with us. In the same vain we’ve had faculty over the years that have been tremendously successful in recruiting underrepresented students. For example, Brenda Townsend has been very successful in recruiting African-American doctoral students in the special education doctoral program. We are one of the leading doctoral programs in special education in the country, particularly in regard to our urban emphasis and also in preparing African-American doctoral students for leadership positions. Consequently, people expect us to provide leadership in that area, and we are committed to doing just that. We take our role as educators seriously and strive to integrate information that will help teachers better teach all students. You know from your extensive work in physical education and also from your wife’s experience in the schools just how diverse our student population is and how critical it is that we prepare all teachers to be able to teach all students effectively.
LB: As a member of the College of Education Development Council I’m aware, of course, of your work with Dick Dearolf and the development area. Could you highlight some of the achievements of that area since you’ve arrived? CK: Sure. Our College is doing extraordinarily well in the area of development, and you and I would be the first people to credit Dick Dearolf. He’s a wonderful development officer. And certainly your work on our Development Advisory Board, as well as all of our other members, is deeply appreciated. For the last few years the College has consistently met or exceeded its annual giving goals and its endowment goals. This year we started some new initiatives. For example, the Wishnatski first time tennis Pro-Am Tournament helped raise funds for migrant education scholarships. Just last week, we had our annual strawberry sale again from Wishnatski Farms that has raised well over $100,000 for migrant education scholarships. In the next few weeks we’ll have the SunRipe Family of Companies Golf Classic. This tournament is in its seventh year, and I was so privileged last year to receive a check from them for over $100,000. I think that endowment is now well within the range of $600,000. We are indebted to the work of dedicated faculty in helping to procure these scholarships. Ann Cranston-Gingras provided leadership over the years when the College didn’t have the infrastructure. She took it upon herself to write unsolicited letters to people asking them to help us provide an education for the children of migrant workers. And some very prominent people in our community found it in their hearts to do so. We have a lot going on in the area of development where people want to give to help the College succeed.
My best story is the one about a person who won the lottery several years ago and gave a million dollars to the College. Well, the beauty of that gift is that it was to be used for our highest needs and for discretionary purposes. When I arrived at USF, I talked to the department chairs of our College about what our needs are. They helped me to understand that one of our priorities is to recruit outstanding doctoral students. In the past we have usually been able to provide some financial support to students, but not enough to make the difference between their choosing USF versus Michigan State or another university. With the additional scholarship funds from the lottery winner, we have been able to offer competitive financial support to attract doctoral students of high caliber to our campus. That’s a wonderful gift and many students have profited from it.
LB: From the very beginning, the College of Education was closely related to the Hillsborough County School District in particular and in more recent years Pinellas and Pasco counties. But as the school systems have grown and we’ve grown, I think it has been challenging to continue that close relationship. How is that going these days? I know they depend on us for all those teachers we graduate each semester. But is that still a good working relationship with the surrounding counties?