USF Collaborative Celebrates 10th Anniversary [10/31/2006]

The USF Collaborative has been touching lives and improving communities for more than a decade.

The theatre was alive with the sights and sounds of a gala celebration—colorful posters, excited attendees and a huge anniversary card. The USF Collaborative for Children, Families and Communities celebrated its 10th Anniversary on October 9 in Theatre II on the USF Tampa Campus.

As attendees entered the theatre, they passed colorful oversize posters of various Collaborative publications from the past 10 years. Then they were invited to sign a four-foot square “anniversary card” with a specially designed Collaborative emblem that graphically portrayed the university/community partnership.

“It was a great way to start the evening,” said Paul D’Agostino, Director of the Child Abuse Council. “The posters and the card reminded everybody right away what wonderful and unique work the Collaborative does and has done for such a long time. Tampa Bay is definitely a better place to live because of it.”

 The Collaborative is a community engagement arm of the University of South Florida, matching up university expertise and research with needs in the community. Its mission is to promote community well being and to enhance the lives of children and their families by building equal partnerships between USF and the community.

 Some of the messages on the card said it best:                                                               “Congratulations on 10 years of sustained impact with many more years to come.”                          “Thanks for 10 years of making a real difference.”                                                                          “Can’t wait for the next 10—here’s to a 100 more.”                                                                        “We feel everything you do.”

 “That last quote is particularly meaningful to me,” says Judi Jetson, Collaborative Director. “The Collaborative works very hard to establish relationships with the community to help build strong children, families, neighborhoods and businesses. We’re all about concrete results.”

Near the anniversary card was another oversize poster that listed more than 300 university/community partners.

“We build these connections one project at a time,” says FMHI interim dean Robert Friedman, one of the Collaborative’s founders and current Chair of the Steering Committee. “It’s gratifying and humbling to see that our one project at a time has become such an impressive and varied group of community partners.”

During the reception part of the celebration, guests ate, mingled, shared Collaborative stories and viewed a slide show loop of photos from the last 10 years. The photos were even more remarkable because they were projected onto the 20-foot wall of Theatre II.

“The slide show was a true trip down memory lane,” says Jean Amuso, retired Director of the USF School of Social Work and former co-chair of the Collaborative Steering Committee. Amuso also served as co-chair with Bob Friedman of the Collaborative’s 10th Anniversary Committee.

“When you work regularly on something over a long period of time, it easy to lose sight of the big picture,” Amuso continues. “The committee worked hard to showcase both the depth and the variety of the Collaborative’s achievements over the past 10 years and its effect on both USF and the community.”

 In addition to Amuso and Friedman, the members of the 10th Anniversary Committee included Robert Anderson, USF College of Business Administration (retired); Jean Calandra, Patel Conservatory; Marti Coulter, USF College of Public Health; Mary Evans, USF College of Nursing; Judy Hall, USF School of Social Work (retired); Judi Jetson, USF Collaborative for Children, Families and Communities; Robin Jones, USF Community Initiative and David Stamps, USF College of Arts and Sciences.

The evening’s program continued with a narrative and slide show moderated by Friedman and Jetson. The narrative touched on Collaborative history and core activities including annual conferences, guest speakers, Research Day, summer research internships, the USF Marketing Initiative and faculty grants.

 One faculty grant awarded in 1999 dealt with a joint project between USF, the Tampa Bay Children’s Chorus and the University Village Assisted Living Care Unit. Students interviewed residents about the role music played in their lives. Songs reminiscent of the elders’ era were compiled, arranged and performed by the Tampa Bay Children’s Chorus.

To commemorate that grant, current members of the Tampa Bay Children’s Chorus entertained the audience with a rendition of Amazing Grace, one of the most mentioned songs in the 1999 grant. The chorus also gave a delightful and charming rendition of “A Menagerie of Songs by Carolyn Jennings: The Bandicoot, The Whale & the Panda.”

Next the narrative spotlighted 10 special projects that best exemplified Collaborative values. The criteria for the spotlights included: · The project must be funded by or associated with the Collaborative.· It should be participatory in all directions, university to community and vice versa.  · The project must be broadly representative (students, faculty, administration, community partners).  · It should represent various colleges, disciplines and various years. · And include locations in both Hillsborough and Pinellas or other areas of the state. · The project must have made a meaningful, measurable impact on the community.

The spotlights were literal as well as figurative. As the project was described, a spotlight was trained on the researchers who received a commemorative certificate presented by USF Ambassadors. The USF Collaborative 10th Anniversary spotlights were:

· Florida Kinship Care                                                                                                         Researchers Judy Hall, Ann Strozier and Aaron Smith

· Parenting Interventions and Incarcerated Men                                                                    Researchers Michael Rank and Justin La Rosa

· Community Faculty Evangeline Best,                                                                                  East Tampa-Neighborhood Organizations Work (ET-NOW)

· Women’s’ Heart Health                                                                                                       Researcher Theresa Beckie

· Architecture Students Design Commercial Vision for 22nd Street                                   Researcher Trent Green

· Displacement of Public Housing Residents                                                                           Researchers Susan Greenbaum and Cheryl Rodriguez

· Pathways to Resilience: A 19 Year Follow-up of Pinellas Youth                           Researchers Ellis Gesten, Linda Rafaelle-Mendez, Karen Perrin, Catherine Batsche, and Octavio Salcedo

· Evolving a Community Project to Protect Children in Cyberspace                                 Researchers Michael and Ilene Berson

· CSE Volunteers: Computers Assistance in Schools                                                            Researchers Ken Christensen and Dewey Rundus

· Foster Care Child Resilience                                                                                                 Researchers Ann Vargo, Mary Armstrong, Frederica Barrow and Roger Boothroyd

Interspersed throughout the spotlight recognitions were remarks by leaders of two community organizations, Chloe Coney, founder of the CDC of Tampa, and Jim Mills, Former Executive Director of the Juvenile Welfare Board. Both praised the Collaborative’s impact on their organizations and communities. USF Vice Provost Ralph Wilcox rounded out the evening by expressing his beliefs about the importance of engaged scholarship and the valuable role played by the Collaborative.

 In a surprise and much-appreciated move, 10th Anniversary Committee Chair Jean Amuso took the stage to acknowledge Collaborative Director Judi Jetson’s contributions and leadership. Jetson received a standing ovation and was presented with a wall hanging of Collaborative memorabilia including the sentiment, “For eight years of creativity and energy, insight and perception, warmth and enthusiasm we thank you.”