Serovich Scholars Program established with gift from Bob Clark
Moved by her natural ability to uplift and connect people, Bob Clark recently surprised CBCS Dean Julie Serovich with a $250,000 gift to create the Serovich Scholars Program — a scholarship for students in CBCS who demonstrate leadership and community involvement. The first cohort of recipients includes an impressive group of volunteers, researchers, and leaders who are driven to uplift underserved communities. Read more.
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CBCS faculty awarded tenure and promotion
During the CBCS Fall 2025 Assembly held on Oct. 24, several faculty members were recognized for receiving tenure and promotion. Read the full list of these outstanding faculty members here and watch a recording of the assembly here.
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USF center for autism, Delta Gamma sorority team up to create sensory-friendly experience for Halloween event
For over a decade, the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities at the University of South Florida has partnered with the Delta Gamma sorority for USF's Trick or Treat with the Greeks — a Halloween-themed event open to the USF community and surrounding areas. Read more.
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Leury Peña awarded national honor for dissertation advancing culturally responsive therapy
Leury Peña, PhD, LMFT, assistant professor of instruction in the Marriage and Family Therapy program and member of the Florida Center for Behavioral Health Workforce team, has been named the 2025 Dissertation Award recipient by the Foundation for the Advancement of Human Systems. Read more.
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School of Social Work connects with over 100 students on BSW and MSW degree pathways
Valentina Arcilia, academic program specialist, and Lucy (Lu) Norstrand, PhD, academic advisor, from the School of Social Work, connected with nearly 100 students interested in pursuing social work degrees at the 13th Annual USF Psychology Expo. Read more.
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Everette Coffman presents research on substance use training, spiritual competencies at counseling conference
Everette Coffman, PhD, LMFT, LMHC, assistant professor of instruction in the Marriage and Family Therapy program, presented two research-based poster sessions at the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Conference held Oct. 8–12 in Philadelphia. Read more.
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School of Aging Studies participates in 2025 Walk to End Alzheimer's
Students, faculty, and staff from the Student Association for Aging Studies at USF participated in the 2025 Walk to End Alzheimer's, hosted by the Alzheimer's Association. Read more.
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Graduate Research Assistant Carla Zayas-Santiago presents on language growth measures for English learners
Carla Zayas-Santiago, a graduate research assistant in the Rightpath Research and Innovation Center within the Department of Child and Family Studies and a doctoral student in the Technology in Education and Second Language Acquisition program in the USF College of Education, presented at the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness conference, held Oct. 8–11. Read more.
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USF launches dashboard showing mental health worker shortage
WUSF
"' It’s our responsibility to put this information out and in the best way that we possibly can,' said Julie Serovich, dean of the USF College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, which was selected to lead the initiative. 'And we will continue to get better at it, and we will continue to add to it.'"
AWS outage: Are we relying too much on US big tech?
BBC
"Cybersecurity expert Thomas Hyslip, who currently teaches at the University of South Florida, said that there was another benefit to the dominance of US firms. 'Of all the places for it to be, I think it's best it's in the US because you don't have a lot of government interference,' he said."
AWS reliance exposed by major outage
News Nation
"'The domain name system, DNS, maps the domain name, Amazon.com, to the IP address, and when that system broke, people couldn't get to the actual servers because the internet address wasn't talking to the IP addresses, and that was all internal to Amazon,' Thomas Hyslip said."
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Nursing home quality, transparency often fall with private equity acquisition, AARP report finds
McKnights Senior Living
"'Florida’s nursing home ownership data reveals a growing trend of private investor involvement and a lack of transparency in ownership structures, making it difficult to assess accountability for care quality,' said Lindsay Peterson, PhD, an associate professor of research at the University of South Florida and co-author of the report."
Training the Next Generation of Long Term Care Administrators
Provider Magazine
"Lindsay Peterson, PhD, research assistant professor and director of the Health Care Administration and Aging Sciences internship program at the University of South Florida, explained, 'We have a bachelor’s degree designed from beginning to end to provide training for someone who intends to work in a nursing home, and we’ve been working on expanding it to be relevant to students who want to go into another realm of management or administration of senior care or senior living beyond nursing homes.'"
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Leng, L. N., Hua, C. L., Dosa, D. M., Dobbs, D., & Peterson, L. J. (2025) Vaccination Rates Among Long-Term Care Staff During the SARS-COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2025.105913.
Yousefvand, S., Ngo, F. T., & Kabiri, S. (2025). Dark Tetrad Traits, Self-Control, and Traditional Bullying: Testing Competing Pathways Among Iranian Youth. Journal of School Violence. https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2025.2572586
| | Upcoming Events & Deadlines | | |
Bridge Clinic - Social Work Society October Donation Drive
Oct. 1–30
The USF BRIDGE Clinic is a student-run free clinic serving
uninsured adults in Tampa. Social work students provide
assessments, counseling, and resource referrals to address psychosocial needs and connect patients with community support. Donation boxes can be found in the School of Social Work suite MHC 1400.
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The Food Trucks are Back!
Every Tuesday, starting Oct. 28
Tampa Bay Food Trucks are returning to our side of campus. Each week will feature a different food truck, so be sure to stop by and try something new!
Location: Service road on the east side of the MHB building (visible from USF Holly Drive).
View the menus here.
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Colloquium: Bryan G. Victor, PhD, MSW
School of Social Work Assistant/Associate Professor Candidate
Tuesday, Oct. 28 | 3-4 p.m. | MHC 1442 or Teams
"Co-Designing Technology for Social Impact: A Participatory Approach to AI Integration in Human Services"
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Department of Criminology Research Talks | Open to All | SOC 321
Oct. 31 – George Burruss, PhD
Organized by Thomas Loughran, PhD, Research Talks brings together faculty to share their research and foster scholarly discussion.
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Colloquium: Amanda Cruce, MSW, LCSW
School of Social Work Assistant/Associate Professor Candidate
Monday, Nov. 3 | 3-4 p.m. | MHC 1442 or Teams
"Beyond Safety and Permanency: Assessing
Flourishing Among Systems-Involved Children & Families"
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Attention Florida Behavioral Health Clinicians – We Want to Hear from You!
This confidential survey, conducted by a USF research team led by Amy Vargo, PhD, assistant research professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies, invites behavioral health clinicians across Florida to share their experiences.
The INSPIRE Project (Innovative Supervisory Practices for Improving Retention & Engagement), supported by the Florida Center for Behavioral Health Workforce, is focused on understanding how supervision, mentoring, and other supports influence clinicians’ decisions to stay or leave the field. Your insights will help shape a web-based training module to strengthen supervisory practices and improve workforce retention. Take the confidential survey today—or share it with your colleagues! Survey ends Nov. 30.
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Adding News, Events, and Publications to the CBCS Website and Newsletter
If you have news/events or recent/upcoming publications you would like posted on the CBCS website and/or in the Communique newsletter, send the details and any attachments to CBCS Marketing (CBCSMarketing@usf.edu). Please send all newsletter submissions no later than Thursday for inclusion in the following week's newsletter.
Be sure to include all pertinent information (title, date, times, location, event description, and contact information) in editable digital text format. Articles included in the CBCS Communiqué may be disseminated to USF Media outlets and/or beyond.
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