The University of Tampa

Tampa Junior College In 1931, Frederic Henry Spaulding, the principal of Tampa's Hillsborough High School , established the private "Tampa Junior College" to serve as one of the first institutions of higher education in the Tampa Bay area . The college offered a limited selection of degree programs, with most classes held in the evening on the campus of Hillsborough High School. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ]

Two years later, the school moved to its current location on the grounds of the recently closed Tampa Bay Hotel , which Henry B. Plant had built in 1891 directly across the Hillsborough River from downtown Tampa . [ 12 ] The sprawling resort initially featured a quarter-mile long main building with over 500 guest rooms along with several adjoining buildings and amenities ranging from an indoor pool to a casino to a race track, all spread across six acres of land. After some initial success, however, it struggled to consistently attract enough patrons to make a profit, The city of Tampa purchased the hotel after Plant's death and kept it open by contracting out daily operations to private companies, but it finally shut down in 1931 due to a significant downturn in tourism with the coming of the Great Depression . In 1933, the city agreed to allow Tampa Junior College to move its operations to the former hotel grounds. [ 10 ] With the move to a much larger facility, Tampa Junior College became the University of Tampa (UT) and expanded its course offerings, and Spaulding resigned his position at Hillsborough High School to run the university full time. [ 10 ] In 1905, the City of Tampa purchased the Tampa Bay Hotel and 150 acres of land for $125,000. In 1933, the University leased the former Tampa Bay Hotel from the City of Tampa. As part of the agreement between the City and the University, the south wing of the first floor became the Tampa Municipal Museum. The Museum was renamed the Henry B. Plant Museum in 1974. [ 13 ]

The university grew slowly over the next few decades, becoming a well-respected institution of learning that predominantly served students from the greater Tampa Bay area. In 1951, the university received full accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). [ 14 ] While The University of Tampa succeeded academically, it faced intermittent financial difficulties for several decades. These problems first surfaced soon after its establishment, as the deepening Great Depression decreased enrollment and strained the new school's ability to educate students while continuing to convert much of Plant Hall from hotel rooms into educational spaces. [ 15 ] Another crisis several decades later forced a 1974 decision to fold the successful University of Tampa Spartans football program because the school could no longer afford the cost of competing in NCAA Division I-A football . [ 16 ] [ 15 ] In 1986, local businessman Bruce Samson dropped out of Tampa's mayoral campaign to become UT's president, a position he was offered due in part to his background in banking and finance. [ 17 ] Samson successfully eliminated the school's $1.4 million annual budget deficit through "hardnosed" decisions, including withdrawing from all NCAA Division I sports. However, after he left in 1991 to return to private business, the school again fell into financial difficulties. Declining enrollment led to the return of serious budget deficits, leading to serious cuts to faculty positions and academic programs. UT faced an uncertain future, and some local leaders suggested that the cross-town public University of South Florida should take over operations of the long-time private school. [ 15 ]

In 1995, the Board of Trustees elected Ronald L. Vaughn , then dean of UT's College of Business, as the school's new president. His initial efforts were aimed at bringing the campus up-to-date with new dorms and a major renovation to the business school. Vaughn also launched the "Take UT to the Top" campaign with the goal of raising $70 million in 10 years and restoring the University's endowment. The campaign raised $83 million, and later observers credit this successful fund drive with saving and modernizing the university. [ 15 ] Two important contributions came from the John H. Sykes family of Tampa - a gift of $10 million in 1997 and another donation of $28 million in 2000, which was thought to be the largest such gift to a Florida university at the time. [ 18 ] [ 15 ] Since becoming financially secure, the school has purchased adjacent land, added new facilities, and extensively modernized older ones; over $575 million in construction has been completed on campus since 1998. [ 19 ] The university has also hired additional faculty, permitting the school to expand its student population while maintaining a 17:1 student-faculty ratio. [ 20 ]