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Students: Conference Focuses on Success

By Ann Carney | USF News

"Thoughts become your words. Words become your actions. Actions become your habits. Habits become your character. Character becomes your destiny."

It was a message Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and just-named recipient of the Carnegie Corporation's 2011 Centennial Academic Leadership Award, repeated during his keynote address at the 2011 Student Success Conference at USF.

The conference, attended by some 260 USF students, faculty, alumni and administrators, focused on ways to make the USF community a better place for students to live, work and study.

The goal of the conference, according to Vice Provost Paul Dosal, was to "move the student success movement to a new phase." Jennifer Meningall, vice president for Student Affairs, called the commitment to student success "one of the most important priorities at USF."

Hrabowski, whose speech drew a standing ovation, has been recognized nationally for developing a culture of excellence and success in preparing students of all backgrounds to become Ph.D. scientists and engineers.

"Student success has everything to do with helping students to dream about the possibilities," he said.

Following Hrabowski's speech, conference participants broke into small groups, discussing ways to foster student success. Their recommendations will be the basis for a series of best practice documents to be developed in the coming year.

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