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- Dr. Les Tuttle
College of Education Faculty Oral Histories
Dr. Les Tuttle
LT: It did surprise me. But you know we were really a small college. I think that the year I came, 1965 I was the 17th faculty member to join the College of Education. But that year, there was a significant surge in appointments. In subsequent years, USF hired an excess of 200 professors a year for about four or five years until 1968 or 1969. We were growing very fast.
We were really small. We didn’t have departments. Dean Battle organized the College into two divisions. I was appointed to be the director of one of those divisions and Dr. Bob Shannon was appointed to direct the other division. I was responsible for what really constituted the “service courses,” or the foundations areas. Guidance and counseling was thrown in as well as special education. Bob Shannon was the director of the other division of elementary and secondary education.
LB: Were you responsible for the budget and scheduling classes?
LT: The budgets at that time were fairly centralized. However, class scheduling and other duties were performed at the division level.
LB: Some time later, there were the additions of regional campuses in St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Ft. Myers, and Lakeland. Can you describe your experience in the development of the St. Petersburg campus and then later Sarasota and Ft. Myers and how those campuses came about?
LT: We had acquired surplus government property in St. Petersburg, which during World War II had been used as a maritime training base. After the war, it became surplus property. A number of local agencies had access to that property. It was transferred to the University of South Florida’s control in 1965, and it was basically used by USF to develop its marine science program due to its proximity to Bayboro Harbor. And also, we used the facility to offer off-campus continuing education programs for evening classes. Most of those programs were geared toward Pinellas County teachers. The vast majority of the courses were offered by the College of Education.
In 1968, it appeared that Pinellas County was going to make a push for a state university of its own. They had always aspired to have a university in their community. When they lost out to Tampa when USF was formed, they made a gesture toward Florida Presbyterian, now Eckerd College and they were given land. But Florida Presbyterian was a small, classic, residential, liberal arts school. Pinellas County was interested in having the services of a comprehensive university. At that time, Governor Claude Kirk, who was the first Republican governor since Reconstruction, was in office. Pinellas County sent a delegation to the legislature that was entirely Republican in its composition and it looked like there might be a possibility that they could convince the Florida Legislature to establish a university in Pinellas County.
President Allen wanted to have an independent university sitting 30 miles from Tampa, competing with us for state funds that he wanted like “another hole in his head.” He approached the leadership in Pinellas County and said that USF would establish a branch campus in St. Petersburg offering upper level and beginning graduate courses and our programs would build on top of St. Petersburg Community College. We would utilize the site at Bayboro Harbor in the initial phase of building a branch campus and if there was a demand and response from the community, we would seek additional land and expand the operation.
President Allen convinced the leadership of Pinellas County that by supporting a branch campus of USF, they would be able to provide a broader range of services much quicker than if they tried to start from scratch with a brand new university because they would operate under the accreditation sanctions that the University of South Florida enjoyed and they could immediately begin offering upper level and graduate programs. 
President Allen appointed me to be the first dean of the campus. I functioned in that role from 1972 until 1978. In the meantime, in 1972, folks in Ft. Myers began to initiate action for a university facility in that area. At that time, it was the only large population center in Florida that didn’t have physical access to a university. Now, Cecil Mackey was the president of the University and he approached the community down there about the establishment of a branch campus of USF that would again offer upper level programs and selected graduate programs that would build upon the programs of Edison Community College. Folks down there thought it was a good idea. President Mackey asked me if I would administer the operations of the Ft. Myers campus.
In 1975, New College, which was then a private, experimental, liberal arts college located in Sarasota was going bankrupt. The New College Board of Trustees approached the Florida Legislature and asked them if they were interested in assuming ownership of the New College program to bail them out. The Florida Legislature and Board of Regents went along with that. We had a large number of students that attended USF that resided in the Bradenton and Sarasota areas. USF was very interested in providing services in that area.
President Allen requested that the New College campus be assigned to USF. That took place and the president asked me to administer the Sarasota campus as well as Ft. Myers and St. Petersburg and to bring the New College program into the public sector. It was kind of interesting because as part of the deal that was made between the Board of Regents, the Florida Legislature, and the New College Board of Trustees was that we would maintain the New College program as it existed. It was a mentoring tutorial program that had virtually no classes. They had no grades or exams. Everything was done on a one-on-one bases. That is a very expensive way to conduct schooling.