History
USF was founded in 1956. However, the university was not officially named until the following year, and courses did not begin until 1960. Some of the original proposed names included "Citrus State University," "Sunshine State University," "The University of the Western Hemisphere," and "The University of Florida at Temple Terrace". Former US Representative Sam Gibbons was instrumental in the school's creation when he was a state representative and is considered by many to be the school's founder. It was built on the site of Henderson Air Field, a World War II airstrip. Although located in west-central Florida, at the time of its establishment USF was the southernmost public university in the State of Florida, a geographic situation that lent USF its sometimes confusing name.
The university grew under the leadership of John Allen, who served as its first president from 1957 until his retirement in 1970. During this time, the university expanded rapidly, due in part to the first graduate degree programs commencing in 1964. Under Allen's leadership, USF touted itself as the "Harvard of the South". Allen was known for his opposition to college sports in favor of an environment more academically centered. Allen's ultimate legacy was to be the first person to build a modern state university from scratch: "As a completely new and separate institution, the University of South Florida became the first new institution of its kind to be conceived, planned and built in the United States in the 20th century." Today, the main administration complex is called The John and Grace Allen Center, named after him and his wife.
USF emerged as a major research institution during the 1980s under the presidency of John Lott Brown President Brown appointed scholarly administrators such as James F. Strange, Dean of Arts and Letters, and Andor Szentivanyi {"The Beta Adrenergic Theory of Asthma"} Dean of Medicine. He also recruited basketball coach Lee Rose, one of the most popular coaches in Bulls history.
Two university hospitals, The H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and USF Psychiatry Center, as well as the college of public health, were built during Brown's presidency. The Brown administration planned for an on campus children's hospital that never materialized and eye institute that opened after Brown's retirement.
Brown's final accomplishment was giving Andor Szentivanyi authority to create a second Department of Pediatrics at All Children's Hospital under the leadership of Time coverman Robert A. Good while simultaneously obtaining a Certificate of Need for a Tampa Children's Hospital.
USF played its first football game in 1997. Its marching band, the Herd of Thunder formed in 1999.
Prince Turki Al-Faisal visited USF and was given a ceremonial entrance on October 28, 2010.
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