Current Features

President Steve Currall ‘USF Represents Future of Higher Education’

“USF is an institution with great momentum, one with a lot of runway ahead of it to ascend to greater heights.”

By Tom Woolf

As a young person, Steve Currall dreamed of being an architect. Then, as now, he says, “I have a great passion for building things.”

With that dream in mind, he started his undergraduate degree as an architecture major.

Although he later shifted his career aspirations, “That early interest, combined with my later organizational behavior education, led to my devotion to building organizations,” Currall says. “My life mission is to continue building institutions of higher education to help our students, faculty, staff and community flourish.”

Currall, who became USF’s seventh president on July 1, agreed to be considered for the position because he viewed USF “as a university with an extraordinary upward trajectory. USF represents the future of higher education. It is a beacon of hope and opportunity for our students. USF reached new heights under the leadership of President Genshaft, the Board of Trustees and the Board of Governors.

“USF is an institution with great momentum, one with a lot of runway ahead of it to reach its potential and to ascend to greater heights,” he says, adding that USF “is a public research university with greater promise than any other in the nation.”

He brings to his new position three decades of experience as a faculty member and administrator at research universities, both public and private, in the United States and abroad.

Before pursuing his passions in college and in his academic career, Currall learned valuable lessons growing up in the Midwest.

Formative years

Currall appreciated the very stable family life that his parents, Jim and Connie, provided, as well as the life experiences they shared with him. His father earned a master’s degree in social work and was employed at a Kansas City, Mo., psychiatric hospital. Currall’s mother stayed home with him, later earning an associate degree from a community college and then her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in educational administration. She worked in higher education administration at a local medical school.

Diversity has been central to Currall’s life since childhood. His parents often socialized with colleagues of his father, which presented Currall with his first meaningful exposure to individuals from other countries such as Germany and Egypt, as well as members of the African-American community. The profile of his public school district also reflected the broad socioeconomic, demographic, religious and political makeup of metropolitan Kansas City.

Currall’s father was heavily involved in the civil rights movement in Kansas City; as a 10-year-old, Currall attended civil rights marches and other activities with his father and mother. Currall lost his mother in 1989. His father, now 89, continues to live independently in the same house in Kansas City.

Those and other experiences help to explain “my enthusiasm about the diversity and inclusion of the USF community. Because of its amazing fabric of cultures, I am excited to be a new member of the USF community.”

During his high school years, Currall was told that he had the intellectual capacity to accomplish whatever he wished.

“In fact, as a 14-year-old, the school librarian wrote in my annual yearbook that she knew that, secretly, I was an intellectual but that I simply did not know it at the time. Other priorities captured my attention at that age, however.”

He enjoyed success as an athlete, playing baseball on a city championship team, playing basketball and starting varsity on the high school football team his junior and senior years. He also ran track; he earned all-state status as a member of the state runner-up mile relay team. In college, he decided to focus on his intellectual and academic pursuits.

College

“I know what it’s like to be at a large public university as an 18-year-old,” Currall says, recalling his time at Kansas State University, where he enrolled in 1977.

“The first two or three years of college are a time of profound transitions for every young person. Students are finding their role, identity and their career path. It is a great deal for any 17- or 18-year-old to navigate.

“Because of my experience, I have empathy for USF students as they begin their university journey. I want our students to experience connectivity by feeling a bond among their colleagues and a support network. I want each of our students to know that our university is committed to building that community for them. Student success is fundamental to our purpose as a university.”

Initially, Currall pursued a degree in architecture. He later found himself gravitating toward psychology, partly from exposure to his father’s career. By his sophomore year, he switched his major to psychology.

“That was a pivotal time for me. It was an intellectual revelation,” he recalls. “I became intrinsically motivated to develop my intellectual life. I was fascinated by the subject matter I was studying!”

That revelation showed up in his grade-point average. The spring of his sophomore year, he achieved nearly straight A’s and continued to perform at that level throughout the remainder of his undergraduate years.

“That was a watershed moment,” he says of his transition to psychology. He also decided that he was more intrigued by industrial and organizational psychology – the psychology of the workplace – than clinical psychology.

By his junior year, Currall had transferred to Baylor University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree cum laude in psychology in 1982. He then spent what turned out to be a “fortuitous” year as a fundraiser for Baylor – experience that has come in handy over the years in his role as a dean, provost and now as a president. Throughout his career, Currall has held key leadership roles in obtaining philanthropic gifts totaling $56.5 million.

After a year in the university fundraising position, Currall earned a Rotary Foundation scholarship to study for a year in England. The organization initially wanted to send him to a remote university in England.

“One of my early negotiating successes in life was convincing Rotary to assign me to the London School of Economics,” he says with a laugh.

Thus began another watershed moment, as this was the first time Currall had traveled outside of the United States. The London School of Economics is one of the most international universities in the world; in fact, he was the only American in his master’s degree program. His diverse classmates came from Finland, Jamaica, Norway and Hungary, among other countries, “so that further opened my eyes to people from different geographical backgrounds.”

As great as the academic experience turned out to be, his living conditions were anything but.

“I lived in a dorm room that was so narrow I could reach out and touch both walls with my hands,” he says. “During the winter, the wind would come in through gaps in the windows. And, it was the worst food I had ever eaten. But I had the time of my life in London, studying and learning and expanding my world view.”

After earning his master’s in social psychology in 1985, Currall was admitted to Cornell University to pursue his doctorate in organizational behavior. Cornell’s location, in Ithaca, N.Y., was “geographically isolated,” Currall says. Winters were brutal.

“But Cornell was a great academic experience, it’s an amazing intellectual environment,” he says. “I was a deeply committed academic by that time. I was so energized by the magic of academic inquiry and discovery.”

At Cornell, he met his future wife, Cheyenne, who was in the same doctoral program.

“We met at the coffee machine one day and struck up a conversation,” Currall says. “I’d go and visit her in the library. I was trying to find the courage to ask her out but I didn’t think she was interested.”

She was, however, and eventually decided to take the initiative.

“He came and talked to me in the library every day for two weeks, so yes, I was pretty sure he was interested,” she says, laughing at the memory. “I finally had to ask him to lunch.”

Steve and Cheyenne married in Philadelphia in June 1991. Currall had earned his doctorate in 1990, but she was still completing her program. As he wanted to stay close to upstate New York, Currall took his first faculty job at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Career

Currall’s professional journey has taken him to three Association of American Universities institutions – a key aspiration for USF: Rice University, the University of California, Davis, and the University of Chicago as a visiting scholar. In addition, Currall has served as vice chair of the board of directors and executive committee for the 10-campus University of California Global Health Institute; as a department chair and vice dean at University College London; as a dean at the University of California, Davis, and most recently as provost and vice president for academic affairs since January 2016 at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Like USF, SMU and UC Davis are multi-campus systems.

Throughout his career, Currall has had moments that shaped his perspective and direction.

One of those occurred during his 12 years at Rice University in Houston. In 1997, he read a magazine article on the role of Stanford University in the development of Silicon Valley.

“What I found so fascinating was not so much the story of the entrepreneurs, but the role of a university in serving as a catalyst for regional economic development and new job creation,” he says. “I became fascinated with the idea that a university could create high-quality, high-paying jobs. So, not only does a university do research, deliver education and supply the workforce. The university also has an economic development role through job creation.”

That realization led him to create the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship in 2000, which Currall directed for five years. The Alliance helped start 160 technology companies that raised $300 million in equity capital.

“My hope is that USF would be to Tampa Bay what Stanford has been to Silicon Valley,” he says, noting USF’s “amazing performance” in terms of patent generation and spin-out companies.

His success with the Alliance led to his appointment, while still an associate professor, as the William and Stephanie Sick Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Brown School of Engineering at Rice, a $2.5 million endowed chair that he held from 2001 to 2005.

Currall then moved to University College London, where he held faculty and administrative positions, including serving as professor and the founding chair of the Department of Management Science and Innovation in the Faculty of Engineering Sciences from 2005 to 2009. The creation of the department proved to be an opportunity to use his skills of persuasion.

“To found the department, I had to secure the support of the eight other department chairs in the Faculty (college) of Engineering Sciences,” Currall explains. “Despite the fact that I am not an engineer, and I am not British – in fact, I was the only ‘non-Brit’ – I had to convince them to support the formation of the new department. To make things even more difficult, I had to convince them to pool some of their departments’ financial resources to found my new department.”

He accomplished that mission. He then had to secure the approval of the 600-member Academic Council (professors and readers) for the entire university. In two years, the department was launched.

In 2009, Currall joined the University of California, Davis, which, like USF, is a young university (it became an independent university in 1959). He served as professor of management and dean of the Graduate School of Management. He also served as vice chair of a blue ribbon committee charged with creating a plan to grow research from $780 million to $1 billion annually. The UC Davis research enterprise has grown to $850 million today.

In 2014, he was promoted as the chancellor’s senior advisor for strategic projects and Initiatives. In that role, Currall used his organizational expertise to lead multiple strategic planning initiatives, including the development of a new campus in Sacramento, 12 miles away from the Davis campus.

Currall also chaired a task force on how to establish UC Davis as a university of the 21st century. He similarly aims to position USF as a university of the 21st century.

“A university of the 21st century has a core of academic excellence in research, creative activities and teaching,” Currall says. “And it also has a deep engagement with its community, and has as part of its mission, a responsibility to address significant societal challenges. USF is incredibly well-positioned. It is already doing that; we can do even more. That’s another reason why I’m excited about joining USF.”

In his role at SMU, Currall oversaw the admission of student-athletes, eligibility and support services. Athletics is “a vital component of the fabric of the university community” and a key to alumni engagement. The former all-state athlete enjoys watching and supporting university teams, adding that at USF he is committed to “victory with integrity.”

Currall is confident that his experience at both public and private institutions will be of benefit to USF. So too will his overseas experiences.

“My London experiences, both during my recent years as an administrative leader and professor in London, and my master’s degree 35 years ago, sensitized me to the value of being a university with a global footprint,” he says. “Those experiences will inform how we will work together to bolster USF’s global brand.”

Currall views the presidency of USF as “an extraordinary stewardship opportunity.”

“A university president must fulfill many roles,” he says. “One of those is to facilitate the university community’s dialogue about how best to envision the future of the university. That will be our vision; not solely my vision. Another role is to inspire my colleagues to flourish in their jobs. We’re a team and everyone must perform effectively for USF to reach its aspirations. And a third component of the role is to advocate. I will be a tireless and deeply committed advocate on behalf of the university to all of our stakeholders.”

Cheyenne Currall Hopes Her Life Story Inspires Others

Cheyenne Currall, a seasoned global business executive, corporate psychologist and the wife of new USF President Steve Currall, says she feels privileged to be a member of the USF community.

“There is so much growth and innovation under way at USF and throughout Tampa Bay, and I am excited to join this vibrant community,” she says.

With a successful career that spans a variety of industries in the U.S. and abroad, her personal journey is a story of resilience through life’s ups and downs, similar to that of many other immigrants in the United States.

Formative years

Currall’s family in China was highly visible. Both her father and mother were early leaders of the People’s Republic of China. Later, each of them became chairman and CEO of large state-owned companies.

China’s Cultural Revolution, from 1966 to 1976, upended all of that.

During the Cultural Revolution, the government ostracized three groups of people: CEOs of big companies who were accused of being capitalists; intellectuals for their western ideologies; and “old money” from previous Chinese generations.

With her parents as CEOs, the family was affected dramatically; her parents were imprisoned and her four brothers and sisters were sent to the countryside to work on farms. As the youngest – just 8 years old – she was required to remain at home. Alone.

“I had to figure out quickly how to survive,” Currall says.

There were times, as she walked the streets, that other children threw stones at her because she was the daughter of well-known business leaders. Fortunately, a couple of restaurant owners were willing to take the risk of secretly cooking for her. A sympathetic teacher snuck into the house during the evenings to teach Currall how to wash her hair and wash her clothes. Previously, those tasks had always been handled by nannies.

“An experience like the Cultural Revolution makes one very humble,” she says. “I also learned, at a very young age, that your true friends are those who help you when you are at your lowest point. The best friends during difficult times are often just everyday people. Whether it was the restaurant owners who fed me or the teacher who taught me how to wash my hair, it was very touching.”

With most of China’s schools closed, Currall relied on her older siblings’ books to educate herself. Later, her mother returned home. Her brothers and sisters also gradually returned.

“My father, a man of integrity, refused to accept false accusations against him as a capitalist,” Currall says. “He was kept locked away in prison until the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, when the new government declared the Cultural Revolution itself was ‘wrong and a serious disaster’ brought onto its people and the country.”

Another historical event that would also shape Currall’s life occurred in 1972 when President Richard Nixon visited China.

“I watched on TV how our premier, Chou En-lai, skillfully engaged in dialogues with the U.S. president,” Currall says. “That event absolutely fascinated me. I was inspired to be a diplomat, to bring people from different countries together.”

College

During the Cultural Revolution, most Chinese universities were also closed. In 1977, the government reinstated the higher education system. A number of universities were reopened, and hundreds of thousands of prospective students applied. Currall competed successfully and was admitted to Liaoning University in northeast China in 1978. Pursuing her dream of becoming a diplomat, she majored in English and foreign literature. She graduated at the top in her class in 1982 and planned to pursue a career in foreign affairs.

With plans to open additional universities, however, China desperately needed more university professors. So, instead of being allowed to pursue a diplomatic career, she was selected to become a professor of English at Shenyang University of Technology.

Her path changed again in 1984. After presenting a paper at an international comparative literature conference in Shanghai, she was admitted by Brown University, an Ivy League university in Rhode Island, for the doctoral program in comparative literature. At that time, there were no doctoral degree programs offered in China. Therefore, to pursue a doctorate, she had to go abroad.

“I had to go through a Chinese government selection process, and I was part of the first group sent to the U.S. as humanities students,” Currall recalls.

While in the U.S., Currall began to reflect on her experience during the Cultural Revolution. She became more and more interested in studying the power of leadership – how one person’s ideology can turn a country into a revolution. Under the guidance of her international study adviser at Brown, she decided to shift her focus to organizational psychology – with an emphasis on leadership and business strategy.

Currall transferred to Cornell University, where she earned her master’s degree in educational psychology and a doctoral degree in global business strategy and organizational behavior, specializing in global leadership effectiveness. At Cornell she met her future husband, Steve, who was in the same doctoral program. They have been married for 28 years.

Career

Currall describes her career as pursuing two parallel paths.

“I was brought up by two CEO parents, so naturally I was very in tune with the business world. That experience, coupled with my business strategy training, has made global business development an exciting career path for me for many years.”

Her other career path is corporate psychology.

“This is more rooted in my personal experience and the understanding of the power of leadership, how leadership dynamics can change a country, an organization, a business or a person,” she explains.

Currall has conducted psychological profiles of hundreds of executives around the world and helped them achieve breakthroughs in their leadership that not only changed themselves but also the organizations they were leading. “Changing one person at a time so they can have a big impact – this has been very gratifying for me,” she says.

During the past 10 years, Currall has had opportunities to leverage her two parallel experiences together, using her business development skills and people skills in global fundraising for several organizations, including the University of California, Davis, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Additionally, Currall co-founded the global merger and acquisition integration practice at Arthur Anderson Business Consulting. She was a corporate psychologist at YSC in London, a global business psychology and executive coaching consulting firm.

Currall turned her interest to health care in 2001 after the loss of her father to a medical complication and her desire thereafter to create greater access to world-class medicine to benefit people around the world.

She served as CEO for University College London International Medical Services; executive director of international services and development at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston’s Texas Medical Center; and principal director for international business development at the University of California, Davis Health System.

Since 2017, she has led global advancement at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Among her responsibilities are global visibility building and fundraising, commercializing innovations on a global scale, forming strategic alliances and establishing international patient services.

“Now that I will be in Tampa, I will be integrating myself into the USF community and adding value to USF wherever I can be of assistance,” she says. “I will also look for professional opportunities outside of USF and hope I can also bring value to the Tampa community broadly.”

Currall looks forward to getting to know USF’s students, noting, “Steve and I don’t have children, so I’m looking forward to ‘adopting’ 50,000 students at the university.”

She also hopes to be a mentor.

“I’m a woman and an immigrant who, fortunately, was able to advance in my career,” she says. “I hope to inspire women to realize that the sky is the limit regardless of their background. USF is an amazing place to grow and expand your talent.”

Currall also emphasized that she and her husband will be living in the Lifsey House on campus.

“I hope that’s an indication of how much we look forward to being members of the university community,” she says.

SMU Colleagues Give New President High Marks

Many in the Southern Methodist University community in Dallas were paying close attention when USF’s presidential search committee interviewed four finalists on the Tampa campus in March.

Dayna Oscherwitz, assistant provost for general education, said the “academic grapevine” at SMU was especially busy that week.

“People were reading your media websites in dread,” she says.

USF’s new president, Steve Currall, joined SMU as provost and vice president for academic affairs in 2016. Colleagues there give him high marks for his thoughtful approach to leadership.

Oscherwitz, who served as president of SMU’s Faculty Senate last year, has been a faculty member and department chair during her 17 years with the university. She describes Currall as a consensus-builder.

“One of the things that everyone here knows about him and will miss is that when making big decisions or coming up with projects, he actively solicited input from all relevant stakeholders,” she says.

Although hesitant to make generalizations about SMU’s faculty, Oscherwitz says that “by and large, he had a very positive relationship with the faculty.”

“He’s done a lot of town hall forums here and was always well prepared,” she says. “He was willing to take any question and he gave thorough answers. He’s not afraid to say what he genuinely thinks.”

Oscherwitz also says Currall is particularly interested in urban universities and their relationship with the cities they serve.

“He’s quite brilliant and visionary in terms of having an understanding of how universities work and where they ought to be going,” she says.

Sheri Kunovich, who has been a faculty member and department chair during her 14 years at SMU, has served as associate provost for student academic engagement and success for the past year. Currall created her position as part of a reorganization of the provost’s office.

“He wanted someone focused on undergraduate student success and retention,” Kunovich says. “One of the nice things about him is he has a mission to see students excel beyond getting their degree. He wants them to have research experiences, to be involved in start-ups, to apply what they’re learning in the classroom.”

Currall also made it a priority to have colleges work together more collaboratively. Historically, Kunovich says, SMU’s colleges have operated “very autonomously from one another.”

“Getting different colleges to share their classrooms is fraught with complications,” she notes. “Faculty like to teach when and where they’ve always done it. When you tell one college to share with another college, it may not be good for the faculty member but it is good for the colleges. We’re using resources more efficiently and more equitably.”

Kunovich says she is “incredibly thankful” for the direction Currall provided for SMU’s future. In particular, she cites an initiative Currall led that resulted in the report, Continuing the Ascent: Recommendations for Enhancing the Academic Quality and Stature of Southern Methodist University. Released a year ago, the report was the culmination of an 18-month process that gathered input from various constituencies across the SMU campus.

“Even though his time here was relatively short, he’s had a significant impact,” she says. “He brought the faculty together around the importance of improving academic quality in the classroom. When you are a campus that’s pretty successful, you can become content. In Continuing the Ascent, he asked us to think about how to get to that next level. I find it exciting to think about that kind of change. I appreciate that he brought that to our community.”