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Early History of USF Sarasota/Manatee
By Brud Arthur and Terry Cone, USF Magazine, 1985

Sarasota, Florida, July 1, 1975. A typical Florida mid-summer day. Temperature in the low 90s, partly cloudy skies. A Social Security benefits jump of eight percent and Muhammad Ali's decision over heavyweight Joe Bugner were in the headlines. It was also the first day of the history of the University of South Florida at Sarasota.

Quietly, without fanfare, the former New College campus became a part of the University when a team of administrators from the Tampa campus arrived to make the transition as orderly as possible. The transfer was early April.

Many agonizing months had been spent arranging the details that made possible the transition from a private liberal arts college to one of America's most unique campuses, housing both undergraduate degree programs from USF and New College, which was to remain a small autonomous liberal arts institution and become USF's 10th college.

On that day in 1975, most of the problems of the past were forgotten as the new university campus faced the future. Then-USF President Cecil Mackey had urged his administrators to lend every possible effort in making the transition painless. Newly appointed regional campus administrator Dr. Les Tuttle headed the effort.

"It was a challenging and exciting time," recalls Tuttle. "Our job was to maintain the integrity of New College's highly individualized mode of instruction while bringing it into the state's system of standardized formula-based learning."

At the same time, Tuttle's charge was to continue developing an upper level curriculum offering degrees in business, education, social and behavioral sciences, arts and letters, natural sciences and nursing. For several years, coursework had been offered on an outreach basis from temporary quarters in Sarasota.

"We had two different types of students," continues Tuttle. "Those attending the University Program who had associate degrees and were mostly part-time commuter students, and the New College student, first time in college in a classical, residential, liberal arts tutorial program with admission standards."

In addition to dealing with the academic side of two different programs, there was the difficulty of transferring the personnel and procedures of the support staff to the state system.

"The USF Personnel Department really bent over backwards to accommodate the situation," says Tuttle. "Everyone at New College had to apply for their own positions, and learn all the state procedures for purchasing, record keeping, hiring, etc."

Secretary Millie Randolph remembers the situation well. "Not only did I have to apply for my own position, I had to make the interview appointments for everyone else who wanted to apply for it," she laughs.

To everyone's delight the new arrangement proved to be workable. University Program courses, most then held at night, complemented the New College courses, held primarily in the daytime. If there was more paperwork in the new system, everyone took it philosophically.

"I'll never forget my first dealings with the state system," laughs Frank Dolan, purchasing agent for the Sarasota campus. "The first thing I learned was that you need a UCD form (University Charge Document) to get any kind of supplies. So I went to the Tampa campus office stores and asked for a pad of UCD forms. I found out right away that I first needed a UCD form in order to buy UCD forms!"

Dolan was able to borrow the necessary form, thus jumping right into the state system. "I'll always remember how kind and helpful everyone on the main campus was," he says. " All of us at New College were a little fearful at becoming part of the huge state system, but because of the attitude of the people in Tampa, our path was a lot smoother."

A pent-up demand for degree programs in the Sarasota/Manatee area was demonstrated when 676 students registered for the first semester of the University Program at the new campus.

New College's admissions program, which had been operating without any certainty that there would be college in the fall, had managed to convince 439 students that there would be a college and enrollment held close to normal. Dr. George Mayer, a USF professor of history and a former New College faculty member, was persuaded to return to the campus as acting provost of the college as it entered a new era.

A newcomer to the campus was the New College Foundation, created from the Board of Trustees of the private college and some of its fundraising staff. The Foundation, under the agreement with the state, was obligated to raise a negotiated amount every year to permit New College to maintain itself with selective admissions, small classes and its own curriculum. The amount needed each year was close to $750,000, almost as much as the private college had been raising each year to stay alive.

For the next three years, absorbed in the process of organizing or reorganizing itself, the campus operated with relative quiet. University enrollments continued to climb each year while New College's enrollment followed a roller-coaster path, dipping, rising and then falling.

Beginning in the fall of 1978, a series of appointments took place that would change the campus and both of its programs. Dr. James B. Heck was named dean of regional campuses and Dr. Eugene Lewis was selected as the first full-time provost of New College.
Heck remembers his first thoughts were of admiration for those who held USF at Sarasota together during the difficult interim years.

"They did an outstanding job," he recalls. "Our first task was to install permanent stable leadership, make everyone feel comfortable with the dual system and move ahead."

By early winter, Dr. Robert V. Barylski, a Harvard-trained scholar-administrator, had been named the first dean of the Sarasota campus. One of Barylski's first tasks was to establish a new triple mission for the University of South Florida at Sarasota:

• To strengthen New College's position as one of the nation's outstanding small liberal arts colleges;
• To develop the University Program into the Manasota region's paramount center for education beyond the associate's degree;
• To join with the Ringling Museum, the Asolo State Theatre and the airport to enhance one of Florida's most impressive, educational, cultural and historic districts.

"All three aspects of the mission were and still are very important," says Baryliski. "We're proud of our role in helping a unique district to emerge and develop."

In June, 1979, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Rolland V. Heiser became the new president of the New College Foundation and found the organization admittedly in financial straits.

Raising funds for the mandated grant each year had sapped the strength of trustees and staff, and there was no endowment to produce an income. However, the 1979 Florida Legislature passed two bills that aided fundraising efforts. The first bill was a challenge plan whereby the State would give $2.5 million to endowment if the Foundation raised $3.5 million.

Also, a line item in that year's budget provided $284,282 to New College, reducing the year's grant commitment so the Foundation had some "breathing space to begin work on the endowment challenge," Heiser says.

The challenge was met in two years, and in 1982 the Legislature passed another similar plan which the Foundation succeeded in matching in 1985.

Under Heiser's leadership, Foundation assets grew from $1.9 million in 1979 to $11.8 million June, 1985.

"Our level of support both within the community and elsewhere has been excellent," says Heiser, who is quick to credit current USF president John Lott Brown for his efforts in continuing the environment which enabled the New College Foundation to work toward its goals.

"It's great being a member of USF at Sarasota," continues Heiser. "We believe in our product and we believe in the future."
In addition to the success of the New College Foundation efforts, several other events have led to a new era for the entire campus.

• An arrangement was worked out to acquire from the Ringling Museums a five-acre tract of state-owned land located between the east and west segments of the Sarasota campus as a site for a new library. On this tract, it was proposed to build a new campus library and a pedestrian bridge over US Highway 41. These proposals will become reality on October 25 and 26, 1985, when the library will be dedicated and formally opened.
• The Chicago based John D. and Catherine MacArthur Foundation made a $300,000 grant to New College, calling it "one of 16 distinguished, liberal arts colleges in the nation.
• A joint committee of the Sarasota and Manatee Chambers of Commerce determined than an engineering program was needed at the Sarasota campus. The Florida Legislature funded the start-up of graduate and undergraduate engineering and computer science programs.
• Sarasota philanthropist Harry Sudakoff announced that he would give approximately $875,000 to build a campus lecture and conference center. The 600-seat multi-purpose facility opened in January, 1985, with former U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig as principal speaker.
• University Program enrollment continued to grow to record levels and New College's enrollment began to move toward pre-1975 levels.

As the campus quietly observed its 10th anniversary on July 1, 1985, Dr. Robert R. Benedetti, a New College faculty member who became provost in 1984, reflected, "There was a great deal of skepticism 10 years ago when New College entered the state system. Everyone wondered if it would work."

According to Benedetti there has been a mutual building up of trust over the years between the University and New College. "each has learned from the other and everyone - both institutions, students, the community, the State of Florida - has benefited."
Benedetti and others on campus only paused briefly on July 1, 1985 to reflect over the past 10 years. Everyone was too busy looking ahead to new projects in the planning stages.

• Ideas are being drawn together for a campaign to combine private and existing public funding to build a new fine arts complex on the Caples campus, a 12-acre tract of land which had been preserved for a special purpose.
• Theatre, Inc., a new concept in public-private funded theater, is scheduled to be built near the new campus library and certain to affect both campus academic programs. Actor Burt Reynolds gave $1 million to the project and the Legislature funded another $4 million.
• Plans are being made to improve natural sciences instruction facilities and to renovate and beautify historic Bayfront as an area that all may enjoy.

Ten years, after all, is not such a long time, but it has meant everything to the University of South Florida at Sarasota and New College of the University of South Florida. Neither institution is content to rest on its laurels.