Council members on Oct. 2 heard a presentation from University of South Florida St. Petersburg officials on a new freshman nursing pathway designed to increase the local supply of registered nurses.

USF St. Petersburg Vice Provost Thomas Smith told the council the campus will recruit an inaugural freshman cohort now for fall 2026 and move those students into the nursing curriculum in 2028. “We will be accepting into, the there's a new freshman cohort who will be... next August,” Smith said. Council member Gina Driscoll introduced the item and said she brought it forward because “we all know that there is, a critical need for more nurses in the field.”

The program expands USF’s existing second-degree (accelerated) pathway on the St. Petersburg campus by adding a first-time-in-college (FTIC) freshman track. Allison Duffy, associate professor and the St. Pete pathway director, said the inaugural freshman class will be a minimum of 60 students and that accelerated second-degree admissions will continue alongside the new pathway. “We will be admitting that inaugural cohort next fall,” Duffy said.

USF plans to headquarter the program in the campus Band Aid Building, which the presenters said is under restoration. The city-side campus is adjacent to a hospital district the university intends to use for clinical placements. Duffy and Smith cited existing clinical partnerships with Orlando Health, Johns Hopkins (All Children’s), BayCare and other hospitals; Smith said the university already sends students to those partners for practicums and preceptorships. Duffy said Orlando Health receives “about 30 to 40 students” for final practicum experiences and that students are assigned to home clinical sites for most rotations.

The university will run skills and scenario-based training in simulation space, including future high-fidelity mannequins, and will track outcomes such as graduation and NCLEX licensure pass rates. USF staff described student supports including academic advising, peer tutoring, mentorship and a student success office; marketing and recruitment events were planned, including a high-school outreach day on Oct. 9.

Council members asked about local pipelines and partnerships with other nursing programs (Galen College, Pinellas Technical College, St. Petersburg College) and about outreach to diverse and younger students. Duffy said USF advisers currently help students who do not match admission criteria find alternative local programs and that the campus will expand outreach to high schools and community programs.

Council members expressed support and offered to receive a follow-up update after program launch. The presentation contained no formal council action.