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When Teresa Abi-Nader Dahlberg was inaugurated as the 11th president of the University of Tampa in March, it was a big change for the University, and that is especially true for alumni. For many, it was the first time they saw anyone other than Ronald Vaughn, who became president in 1995, at the helm.

In her inaugural address, Dahlberg talked about a range of both opportunities and challenges facing UTampa as it approaches its 100th birthday in 2031, including new programs that support incoming students, especially those from the Tampa Bay area, a campus-wide AI initiative, and how a university that was founded during the Great Depression will continue to sail through sometimes choppy waters.

She also addressed how the University has changed, becoming both larger and more selective, and how continuing to encourage those trends and bolstering the University’s reputation outside of Florida will make the degrees already earned more valuable around the world.

Soon after her address, I spoke to Dahlberg about her start at UTampa and about details from her speech. Like many alumni, I’ve seen the campus grow and change since graduating, and I wanted to know how she plans to steer the ship, and how that might impact the recognition and value of our degrees.��

Before you were inaugurated, I saw that you did a lot of interesting things around campus, including a morning ROTC workout. What was the hardest part of that workout?

It was keeping up with the pace of running. They said they normally do a 9-minute mile, and I run more like a 12- to 13-minute mile. We ended up doing about 11. But overall, it was a very nice morning. I can only imagine being a college student and getting up at 6 a.m., three days a week, to work out, even when it’s too hot or raining. That’s a tough ask. They are dedicated students. It’s impressive.

It was nice to see that ROTC post on LinkedIn, which is a way a lot of far-flung alumni keep up with what’s going on at the University — which is a lot! I graduated in 2002, and like many alumni, I have watched the campus grow and the size of the school just about double. How do you plan to manage growth in the future?

In the future, I’ll manage it the same way it was managed in the past. Mike Hendricks is a really great vice president of enrollment management. He and his team manage recruitment so that the University gets enough students to apply who meet the academic criteria and high standards we’re looking for. Through that work, we end up yielding at or about the student body size we want to have.

During that same time period, UTampa has become much more competitive to get into. Why do you think that is, and how do you expect it to continue?

Over the last three decades, the University has continued to attract an increasing number of qualified students, enabling us to accept those with higher academic credentials. So word has gotten out that we’re a selective university. We’ve also built this destination campus and honed a personalized learning environment, which also attracts students. Now, top that off with the fact that the city of Tampa has continued to evolve as a beautiful and vibrant city. Altogether, interest from people wanting to come here grows, and that increases competition for seats in our next incoming class. For the last few years, we’ve had over 35,000 applications for about 3,000 spots. That’s significant, and that makes us more competitive.

In your inaugural speech, you talked about wanting to raise graduation rates. Why choose this specifically as a focus?

Our mission, obviously, is to educate students. That includes seeing them through to graduation because a college degree is the credential that conveys to future employers and business partners and customers what you’ve learned.

But not enough of our students make it to graduation. The primary reasons they leave UTampa are lack of academic preparedness and the need for more financial aid. That’s why we’re really doubling down on endowed scholarships for financial aid. In the inaugural speech, I talked about a new program called UTampa Cares, which focuses on a student’s sense of belonging and helps them get involved by helping them find their group right away when they come onto campus. The program also includes how students can build resilience.

UTampa also has a lot of good cohort programs for students, which really supports on-time graduation because students bond over at least one common affinity. Our newest one is the Spartan Alliance, which focuses on enrolling students from Tampa Bay-area high schools. In that program, we give students full financial aid support, extra academic support, and also social support through programs and events the cohort does together.

Not all the cohorts are about financial aid — we have them for academic disciplines and service interests, for example. But they all are about finding your people at UTampa.����

You announced a couple of new initiatives in your inaugural address. Can you expand on what you mean by "AI across the University" and how it will be implemented?

The first part in our AI Across the University strategy is AI across the curriculum. This will enable UTampa graduates to be adept at using basic generative AI tools and know how AI influences productivity in their field of study. We’re doing this by integrating AI literacy into Spartan Studies, which is UTampa’s general education curriculum. I was really pleased to learn that our general education already has a digital literacy component. We’re going to add AI to that existing requirement for students.

We will complement that with supporting faculty to integrate AI tools into classes where it’s relevant. It’s not necessarily so students can use AI throughout the semester. It’s so students can understand, if they’re going into accounting, where accounting is using AI, or, if they’re going into nursing, where nursing is using AI. We will also be bringing in guest speakers to show how they’re using it.

But we know that whatever we teach students now will be outdated by the time they graduate because the technology evolves that quickly. We want them understanding and using AI so that they can evolve as it changes.

What will alumni or others outside the immediate campus community notice because of this initiative?

There’s a quote in one of the manuals that has already been created that says, “AI won't take your job. A person using AI will take your job.” Outside of the UTampa community, people will notice that UTampa graduates are those people getting the jobs.

How will AI Across the University impact day-to-day life on campus?

As we start to implement AI across the whole University, AI tools will be leveraged to increase the efficiency and the efficacy of how we do our work.

You also mentioned in your speech a priority on paid internships for all students, and you announced a new endowed fund to support students who intern with nonprofits. Tell me more.

I feel strongly that every student who graduates with a bachelor’s degree should be prepared to secure full-time employment, even if that is not necessarily their next step. Participating in paid internships really enables students to get workplace experience and is a learning opportunity in the same way that study abroad is or research experience is. Paid internships are also a way to broaden students’ understanding of potential paths they can take beyond college, so we want to bring in the opportunity to work for a nonprofit. I took a page from other universities that have a fund that will pay students to work at approved nonprofits. The key is that we focus on nonprofits in the Tampa Bay area because we’re so aligned with the region, and the region is so aligned with us. This fund is also a way that donors can help students at the University and the community in general.

What do you wish the UTampa community understood about the challenges universities face today? How are you addressing these challenges?

I encourage everyone to look at the big picture. Universities have been facing challenges since they came into existence 400 years ago. As societies continue to evolve and tackle challenges, universities are challenged to do the same — and they have. Universities are different today than they were 20, 40 or 400 years ago!

UTampa was founded in the Great Depression. We started as an underdog, and we’ve persisted and are thriving. We’re addressing the need to change by staying true to our mission while making the modifications needed and continuing to evolve, step by step.

As someone who came to UTampa from New Jersey and went back after graduation, I have noticed that more people know about UTampa now than when I chose to go there. Will other regions of the country continue to be a focus of recruitment?

For a long time now, we’ve been recruiting globally, so we have students from all over the world. It’s not that we haven’t been recruiting nationally. It’s that we’re not as well known nationally outside of our feeder areas, such as the Northeast.

What we’re really doing now is focusing on having a national reputation as defined by U.S. News & World Report. The reason for that is not just to get students from all over — because we already do that. It’s to make our degree more valuable for our alumni who don’t want to stay in Florida or the Northeast. We want them to get a job anywhere in the country or the world. What I’ve been saying is that I want to have a reputation that opens doors for alumni. So that when a recruiter, anywhere in the country, looks at a résumé and sees UTampa, they think quality, and they get excited about that applicant.

And now for the most important question: Where would I most likely run into you on campus, that isn't your office?

It could be that I’m walking across campus because I try to go to different places for meetings so I can chat people up on the way. I could be popping into the cafeteria. I go to different events, like athletic events or student performances or research symposiums. Honestly, the most interesting place I’ve been is on the roof of Plant Hall for a photo shoot. I hope the pictures came out, so I don’t need to go up there again!