25 YEARS
OF PROGRESS
Ron Vaughn Leads
The University of Tampa
By Kyle Parks
Photography courtesy of The University of Tampa
Before Ronald Vaughn took over
as president of The University
of Tampa in 1995, the place was,
well, a bit of a mess. Just ask Linda
Devine, who’s worked at UT since 1981.
“The campus felt old and tired,” remembers
Devine, UT’s vice president of operations
and planning. “Disrepair. Boards out of
place on Plant Hall’s verandah. Sad little
residence halls.”
Now, as Vaughn is celebrated for his
25th year as president, how things have
changed. During his tenure, enrollment
has gone from 2,388 to approximately
10,000. The number of classes available
to students has grown from 900 to 5,400.
And where there were once 37 buildings,
UT’s downtown Tampa campus now has
70. But when you measure UT’s progress
under Vaughn, one of the longest-serving
university presidents in the country, you
need to look beyond student enrollment
statistics and new construction projects.
Indeed, the university has made dramatic
strides academically, reflected by its ranking
in U.S. News & World Report’s list of best
U.S. colleges – UT ranks among the top 20
regional southeastern universities – and
the fact that the grades and test scores of
incoming UT students have gotten better
each and every year.
“Buildings are obvious, and the growth
in students is obvious,” said Rebecca White,
who directs UT’s Lowth Entrepreneurship
Center in the Sykes College of Business.
“But what’s important is that the number of
faculty has kept pace with the growth. This
is a huge investment, and the result is that
we’ve kept an intimate learning experience.
That is all because of Dr. Vaughn’s vision.
He is committed to constantly improving
the faculty.”
So how did Vaughn pull off a turnaround
that evolved into the transformation of a
university? The answer lies in his ability
to focus on a mind-numbing array of dayto
day details while never losing sight of
his long-term strategy for UT. It’s a skill
that the world’s best CEOs have – and it’s
exceedingly rare.
“Most executives are either very strategic,
and don’t have a clue about what’s going
on day to day, or they’re tactical and not
strategic at all,” said John West, a highly
successful executive in the recruiting
industry who has served as chair of the
UT Board of Trustees. “Ron Vaughn is that
rare leader who combines the two skill sets.
He’s the most complete executive I’ve ever
met in my life.”
MAY/JUNE 2020 | TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE 45