TAMPA, Fla. (Nov. 6, 2013) — Cynthia A. DeLuca, who had served as associate vice provost of enrollment management and services at North Carolina State University, has been appointed the founding director of the University of South Florida’s new Summer Institute as the university implements a plan to enhance the university’s summer education offerings and experiences.
USF’s new Summer Institute, a plan which begins implementation in summer 2014, is aimed at providing students with greater access to high-demand classes, as well as creating a new range of self-supporting academic programs.
Cynthia DeLuca
USF served 25,484 students in Summer 2013, including 2,185 new degree seeking students, delivering more than 150,000 student credit hours of coursework. The university’s new summer institute is envisioned to make even better use of campus facilities by offering programming for USF students, as well as courses for students from abroad and other universities.
DeLuca received her Ed.D. in educational leadership from East Carolina University and is the immediate past president of the North American Association of Summer Sessions (NAASS), with more than 15 years of experience in summer sessions administration, student services, recruitment, retention, student ethics, advising, and assessment.
She developed and implemented NC State’s first student-centered, college-led summer sessions program, effecting stronger partnerships with the university’s business and budget offices while adopting a performance-based funding model and a revenue sharing plan for the participating colleges.
The revised program also introduced new Summer and Transfer START initiatives giving first time in college (FTIC) and transfer students the opportunity to begin their careers at NC State during a dedicated summer term focused on academics, research, and professional development, as well as an innovative summer course development grant program that led to the design and delivery of more than 20 new in-demand summer courses.
At USF, DeLuca will work in close collaboration with academic leadership, the Offices of Student Success, Student Affairs, Housing and Residence Life, Community Engagement and Partnerships, Undergraduate Research, and other constituencies on campus to explore schedules, modes of course delivery, and funding models for USF’s Summer Institute, which eventually will not depend on state subsidies.
“The director of the summer institute is responsible for providing strong leadership to meet student demand, enhance student progression and retention, and improve graduation rates as well as internships and residency opportunities,” said DeLuca.
“I believe that my wide range of experiences and accomplishments demonstrates the versatility to take on important issues faced by summer sessions, and I look forward to being involved in setting the future path of summer at USF.”
“The success of the Summer Institute is a high priority for USF,” said Provost Ralph Wilcox. “Key to our efforts is identifying and responding to student demand by delivering a summer schedule of classes that contributes to enhanced student progression, retention, and improved graduation rates.
“I have the utmost confidence in Dr. DeLuca’s ability to provide the transformational,
forward-thinking, and results-driven leadership to place USF at the forefront
of this kind of innovative summer school model.”
DeLuca also hold a master's degree in liberal studies and a bachelor's degree (magna cum laude) in sociology, both from North Carolina State, where in addition to her administrative duties she has taught leadership classes for first-year undergraduates in the university's Pack Promise program as well as engineering students having particular difficulty adapting to the rigors of the discipline.