I was always a very curious kid. ... My mother as a gift gave me a microscope. Kids are out playing and doing whatever, and I'm walking around with a microscope because I just wanted to see what is this? What does that look like, and what makes it together?
I was raised by my grandparents until I was 10. They were immigrants from Italy. They actually met on the boat coming over. ... They would take care of me Monday through Friday, and I would go to school from their location. The reason I think I care about the community so much is because I saw it through their eyes. They were so happy to be in America.
My Dad told me he didn't want me to go to college because no one in our family had ever gone to college, and he didn't think that was something that was necessary. At one point he said, 'Really, it's too hard for a girl.' I didn't accept that part. I thought, 'That's fine. I will just figure out another way to do this.' I promptly figured out that USF would give you six hours free every semester and said, 'Well, this is some way to do that. I need to have a job anyway, so this is a marriage made in heaven.'
I was in the (USF) research office. When a faculty member came to me and said, 'I want to research something in marine science,' he would explain what he wanted to do. I would look for funding sources. ... When the money came back, I literally would administer the funds. What an exciting thing! Because I got to learn a little bit about everything. All around the entire university, every sector. We could be talking about studying the Aborigines one day and cancer research the next. That was just such an exciting opportunity to be exposed to such a broad variety of things. I thought it was the best job in the world.
I thought, 'I'm doing these contracts. ... This is a business initiative. I should go over to the College of Business.' I took some business law courses and I thought, 'You know what? I argue with lawyers every day. They're not so darned smart. I can do that.' So ... on graduation I turned in my retirement which had vested, and that's how I paid for law school.
(Lawyers and university faculty) are a lot alike. Lawyers are extremely bright, very focused ... on their area of expertise for the most part. You don't have 'general practitioners' anymore. ... The same thing is true of universities. Our professors are extremely, extremely bright in their areas. That's something to be celebrated because they bring something to the table that's different than anybody else. But the key to that is bringing them into the overall organization. They come with their silos, but they need to see the larger picture and how together we're better.
When I was the chair of the board of trustees ... I asked the question: What is the pinnacle of academic achievement, academic excellence? And they said, 'It's AAU (the Association of American Universities).' I said, 'That's great, what is that?' They explained it's a private organization, but they really focus on the metrics of success. ... When they called to say we're extending membership to you, that made the difference in the whole academic community. ... It's that pride and that recognition of how good they are that's going to take us to greater heights.
If you think about it, (USF) is a $3-billion business out there. You have to have business chops to run an organization like that. But you have to have really good academics around you because the whole purpose of us being there is to educate our students and to give them opportunities. That's the business that we're in. So while you may run like a business, you need to understand the needs of the academics and how to create an atmosphere that's conducive to learning and to future success.
I like anything fast. My dad let me drive anything I could reach the pedals, and he made it possible for me to reach the pedals sometimes when I couldn't normally. I just love fast things — cars, boats, planes. I've flown in an F16, I've flown in an F18 — the most violent thing I have ever done in my entire life. I've jumped out of perfectly good airplanes.
We have a lot of real estate transactions, many of which you know about and some of which you don't know about. I would love to help with that. Obviously that's my background. But I don't want to get in the way of a new president and I won't do that. As I'm thinking of things I might do (after leaving USF) that's something in the back of my head.
"I think you have to do something absolutely crazy at least once a year, something that is just beyond your imagination. You get an adrenaline rush like nothing else."
I'm talking to a lot of people but ... I've made no promises to anyone. I'm pretty much just listening at the moment, but I definitely think there are things that I'd like to be involved with ... I don't want to limit my thought process.
I'm not going to learn how to knit.