Nice to see the University of Tampa on the receiving end of that $10 million gift from Howard and Patricia Jenkins. As in Jenkins of Publix Super Markets fame. As in two Jenkins kids going to UT. The donation, one of the largest in UT history, will go toward construction of another residence hall.
More to the point, it’s also another vote of confidence in an 83-year-old university that continues to grow in student enrollment and academic stature. It now enrolls 7,700 students and offers 200 degree programs. The student body represents all 50 states and more than 100 countries.
Moments such as this prompt reflection to another time. When I was at USF as media relations manager in the early 1990s, speculation was ratcheting that UT might just become the downtown Tampa presence that USF had long coveted. After all, UT’s location was prime, its minarets iconic, its enrollment dropping and its budgets in deficit.
Enrollment was actually well under 2,000 and bankruptcy rumors were in the mix.
But as we know, President Ronald Vaughn, who took over in 1995, and the John H. Sykes family were key catalysts in re-energizing UT. And despite more than tripling enrollment, UT maintains a 15-to-1 student-professor ratio. Four years ago, Barack Obama became the first sitting president to visit UT.
What’s also worth noting–and it also applies to recent gift-giving at USF–is that we’re not just seeing fortuitous, eight-figure thank you cards to a couple of institutions of higher learning. What we’re also witnessing is philanthropists making an investment.
Regardless of ties, millionaires don’t abandon their bottom-line natures when becoming benefactors. They’re also making an investment in something they believe in. These days, UT has been earning it.