The Gus A. Stavros Center for Free Enterprise and Economic Education received a $20,000 gift from State Farm in support of the Center’s ongoing programming for K-12 teachers to help educate students in economics and financial literacy.
For more than four decades, the Stavros Center, located in the College of Education at USF’s Tampa campus, has been recognized for excellence in economic education at the local, state and national levels. The gift provided by State Farm will allow the Stavros Center to continue its work in equipping educators across the Tampa Bay region with the knowledge and tools needed to teach financial literacy concepts in their classrooms effectively.
“Once again, State Farm has demonstrated its support of the USF College of Education with another gift to the Stavros Center to enhance the financial literacy instructional skills of K-12 educators in the USF region,” said Dick J. Puglisi, PhD, professor and director of the Stavros Center. “Over the past 12 years, State Farm has supported the Stavros Center’s professional development programs for K-12 educators and demonstrated that they recognize the importance of educators in preparing students to tackle real-world issues.”
State Farm began its partnership with the Stavros Center in 2010 to promote financial literacy education within K-12 schools. To date, the insurance company has provided more than $230,000 in financial support to the Stavros Center.
“State Farm is proud to continue supporting the USF Stavros Center’s work in creatively educating and empowering K-12 teachers in our community,” said Jose Soto, State Farm Corporate Responsibility Analyst. “The professors at the Center do an amazing job in making the virtual and in-person workshops exciting and fun for the teachers along with providing practical tools and lesson plans the teachers can easily implement in their classrooms.”
The Stavros Center works with educators and school district leaders from Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota County school districts to provide teacher training programs, curricula development efforts and other strategies that infuse free enterprise and consumer economics concepts into the classroom.
“Financial literacy is an important life skill for K-12 students that they need to learn early on so they can continue making healthy financial decisions in the future,” said R. Anthony Rolle, PhD, dean of the USF College of Education. “We are incredibly grateful to State Farm for their continued support of the Gus A. Stavros Center, and we look forward to offering more professional development opportunities for Tampa Bay teachers.”
To learn more about the work of the Gus A. Stavros Center for Free Enterprise and Economic Education, visit www.usf.edu/stavros.
About the USF College of Education:
Home to more than 2,200 students and 130 faculty members, the University of South
Florida (USF) College of Education values high-quality education and excellence in
research, teaching and learning. Through innovative research opportunities, hands-on
field experiences and community partnerships, the College of Education provides the
resources students need to become world-class educators, researchers and leaders.
The USF College of Education is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Educator
Preparation (CAEP) and is fully approved by the Florida Department of Education.
About State Farm®:
For 100 years, the mission of State Farm has and continues to be to help people manage
the risks of everyday life, recover from the unexpected, and realize their dreams.
State Farm and its affiliates are the largest providers of auto and home insurance in the United States. Its 19,300 agents and nearly 55,000 employees serve
approximately 86 million policies and accounts – which includes auto, fire, life,
health, commercial policies and financial services accounts. Commercial auto insurance, along with coverage for renters, business owners, boats and motorcycles is available. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the
State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 39 on the 2021 Fortune 500
list of largest companies. For more information, please visit http://www.statefarm.com.