User:BC1278/sandbox/Judith Genshaft

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Judy Lynn Genshaft (born January 7, 1948) was the President of University of South Florida from 2000 to 2019. She stepped down from the position in July 2019 after a 19-year tenure.

Early life
Genshaft was born and raised in Canton, Ohio. Her father was a Russian immigrant who migrated to the United States after fleeing conscription. Her mother is a Canton native with family roots in Russia. She started doing secretarial tasks at her father's meat packing plant by the time she was 13.

She graduated from University of Wisconsin at Madison with a Bachelor of Arts in social work and psychology in 1969. She completed her masters in 1973 and doctorate in 1975 at Kent State University in school counseling and counseling psychology, respectively.

Career
After joining the faculty of Ohio State University in 1976 as an assistant professor in school psychology, she eventually received tenure and became the department chair. She was chairman of the University Senate and led the Department of Educational Services and Research.

In 1992, she became dean of the school of Education at University at Albany, State University of New York. She later served as the Vice President of Academic Affairs. She became the provost at the University of Albany in 1997.

University of South Florida
Genshaft became the president of USF in July 2000. She said that one of her long-term goals was for USF to match the same academic and research standards as Florida’s flagship schools.

Genshaft named NFL Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon as USF's director of athletics in May 2001.

In 2001, Genshaft and the USF Board of Trustees voted 12-1 to put Sami Al-Arian, a former USF professor later convicted of supporting terrorism and sentenced to 57-months in prison, on paid leave and barred him from teaching at USF. The Faculty Senate and American Association of University Professors condemned Al-Arian’s suspension from teaching as infringing on academic freedom. In 2003, Genshaft and the board fired Al-Arian after he was arrested by the F.B.I. and accused of being as the North American leader of U.S.-designated terrorism group Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In 2002, Genshaft created an honors college for USF, which had previously only had an honors program.

Genshaft fired medical school dean Robert Daughert in October 2003 after he requested that his staff contribute to the U.S. Senate campaign of state House Speaker Johnnie Byrd.

During her tenure, she advocated for supporting business growth with academic research and to his end, she served as chairwoman of the Tampa Bay Partnership, the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. She also served as a director of American Momentum Bank. To help raise the university's national profile, Genshaft served as chairwoman of the Division I NCAA Board of Directors and of the American Council on Education Board.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that from 2000 to 2007, under Genshaft, USF grew federally-funded research 213 percent, at a faster rate than any university in the country

In 2009, she announced a $600 million fundraising campaign called "Unstoppable."

After 2015, her contract was renewed year-to-year rather than spanning five years. She received $879,506 for the 2015-2016 academic year, ranking her as the 11th highest paid university president in the United States. In March 2017, USF's Board of Trustees voted to provide her with a total compensation package $924,547, including a base salary of $505,837 with 37% of the total package tied to performance. Under Florida law, state funding for the president's salary is capped at $200,000. USF used private funding to make up the difference.

In 2016, a student campaign organized by Students for a Democratic Society failed to persuade Genshaft to change the name of a building named after former U.S. Congressman Bill Young. The students said Young's actions in the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee in the 1960s were homophobic and he supported anti-LGBT policies until his death.

In 2017, adjunct faculty at USF protested Genshaft and the university for opposing efforts to unionize adjunct faculty.

Genshaft asked for the resignation of USF St. Petersburg chancellor Sophia Wisniewska because of her management during Hurricane Irma in 2017. Wisniewska implied in an email to Genshaft that that she was still in St. Petersburg, when she had actually left for Atlanta. Wisniewska resigned.

In June 2019, Genshaft and her husband Steve Greenbaum donated $20 million to USF for the construction of a new honors college. The honors college will be named after her. She announced an additional gift of $3 million that saw month to endow a deanship for the honors college.

Genshaft retired as president of USF in July 2019.

Recognition
She received leadership awards from Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand. She received an honorary degree from Yeungnam University. In 2012, the USF marching band dedicated its first half time show of the 2012-13 season to her.

Personal life
Genshaft married Steven Greenbaum in 1989 and has two sons, Joel and Bryan. She decided not to live in the on-campus president's residence at USF, the 9,000-square-foot Lifsey House. Instead, she lived in the Tampa Palms neighborhood near campus.