Growing with our Community

Guest Correspondence

Looking around our region, I see growth everywhere. The population of Manatee and Sarasota Counties is rapidly expanding, as are new neighborhoods, recreational areas and industry. Our two counties are thriving, and it is exciting to be part of it.

State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota is always focused on how it can best support our growing community. For our college to be successful in meeting the needs of our service area, we need to expand our reach to all population groups, expand our collaborations with industry partners, donors and higher education partners, and expand our programs and scheduling to meet employment and student needs.

Effective growth is foresight. It is taking calculated risks to predict the needs of our community. We must be prepared to capture the opportunities that our community creates and invest in the programs and services that allow our graduates to thrive. We must also never forget what makes us who we are. At SCF, we will always do what we say, deliver on our promises and provide a strong return on investment to our students, donors and taxpayers.

SCF is well positioned to support new residents as our population expands in new development areas like West Villages in south Sarasota County and Parrish in northwest Manatee County. Our Venice campus is adjacent to the new West Villages and Atlanta Braves developments and we own property on Erie Road where a future campus will be built in Parrish.

SCF must be flexible and responsive to the needs of our growing population and ready to develop programming to fill new employment opportunities, emerging industries or active seniors’ lifelong learning pursuits. What are their educational, employment and recreational needs? We must be able to provide impactful educational opportunities at the time and in the location that best meets students’ needs.

We are also focused on expanding our college’s presence and reach into areas that may currently be underserved or underrepresented in our student body. We are creating an Expanding our Boundaries Task Force to ensure that our student population reflects all aspects of our community. The task force will identify existing barriers to enrollment, develop relationships in our underserved populations and establish solutions to ensure that anyone willing to do the hard work has access to higher education. We must ensure that everyone knows of the quality higher education opportunities available to them in their own back yard.

We work every day to expand our collaborations with our region’s philanthropic community, business and industry partners and higher education peers. These relationships are very significant for our future, creating opportunities for students through funding for scholarships and capital projects, programming and academic progression.    

As the community’s college, we strive to be a nimble, innovative organization that adapts to the changes we see in Manatee and Sarasota Counties. Our core mission of providing engaging and accessible learning environments that result in student success and community prosperity will guide us through our region’s expansion.

SCF is poised to grow with our region and meet the challenges of our collective future because higher education will always change lives and create opportunities.

Dr. Carol Probstfeld is president of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.

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