Florida Summit on Accelerating Transfer Success 2023

In its fifth year, The Florida Summit on Accelerating Transfer Success is a forum where transfer professionals can gather and promote the best strategies, techniques, and tools for transfer student success. This year's them is Determined to Thrive and will feature our Keynote Speaker Dr. Heather Adams of the Aspen Institute (see below). This conference is free of charge and is open to any higher education professional in the Sunshine State. The Florida Summit on Accelerating Transfer Success aims to assist transfer success professionals in their ongoing work to support students using various modalities and by creating innovative solutions related to scale and practicality. The conference will showcase the best and brightest in transfer success.

• Transfer Success insights. Sessions will be led by transfer success leaders from across a spectrum of experience. Deep insights can be pulled from numerous sources and perspectives.
• Increase student engagement. Sessions will include ideas and innovations on how to engage students virtually, ensure diversity and inclusion in the online environment, and improve the effectiveness of delivering online content including communication strategies and advising models.
• Build a network of scholars and practitioners. A strong network of thought leaders and administrators committed to helping transfer students navigate their academic journey is needed now more than ever.
• Gain access to curated free resources. This event connects attendees to resources and information to solve the most pressing issues.
• Advocate for policy issues. This event is devoted to supporting practitioners as they build a road map for success.

Featured Keynote Speaker:

Dr. Tonjua Williams was named St. Petersburg College’s seventh president on July 3, 2017. St. Petersburg College employs 3,000 staff who provide activities and learning experiences to support academic excellence and growth of 45,000 students across eleven learning sites throughout Pinellas County, Florida.

A dynamic, transformational leader and inspiring speaker, Dr. Williams has set a new vision for the College to be known as Pinellas County’s engine for economic mobility. Strategically building partnerships and opportunities for shared visioning, Dr. Williams’ leadership has streamlined college operations, consolidated resources, improved organizational fiscal health, expanded short-term/rapid credentials, and strengthened partnerships with Tampa Bay’s workforce leaders.

Under her leadership St. Petersburg College has attained national acclaim. The Chronicle of Higher Education named the College a top producing institution in the Fulbright Scholarship Program, one of only 26 associate and baccalaureate institutions in the country to receive that recognition. In addition, the most recent U.S. News and World Report rankings list St. Petersburg College among the top in Best Online Bachelor’s Programs Overall, Best Online Bachelor’s Program for Business and Best Online Program for Veterans. The College received Best of the Best awards from the Tampa Bay Times for Best Local College and Best Nursing College.

Dr. Williams has received numerous honors and awards throughout her 35 years in community college education. Among the most recent are being named among the Power 100 by the Tampa Bay Business Journal for her work to better the community through education, the Phi Theta Kappa Paragon Award for outstanding presidential leadership, the Women of Distinction Award from the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida, the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Businesswoman of the Year Award and the Pinellas Opportunity Council’s inaugural President’s Award for Community Leadership. She was also named as one of nine as part of Florida Trend Magazine’s Women Leaders – Taking the Reins and Movers & Influencers. She was also named by Diverse Issues in Higher Education as one of the top 25 women in higher education. In 2022, she was inducted into the Tampa Bay Business Hall of Fame by the Florida Council on Economic Education.

She currently serves on many national, state, and local boards – including the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) where she chairs the Commission on Economic and Workforce Development, the Southern Association of Colleges with Associate Degrees, The American Association for Women in Community Colleges (AAWCC), Florida’s Council of 100, the Florida Holocaust Museum, Pinellas County Urban League, Morton Plant Mease Hospital (where she serves as the community health needs committee chair), St. Petersburg’s Downtown Partnership, and The Links, Incorporated (where she serves as corresponding secretary). Selected by the presidents of the Florida College System, Dr. Williams serves as Chair for the 2022-23 academic year and Legislative Session.

She is an alumna of Leadership St. Petersburg (2001), Leadership Tampa Bay (2011), and Leadership Florida (2022) – Class 39. She has a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from Barry University, a master’s degree in Counselor Education from the University of South Florida, and bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration and Humanities from Clearwater Christian College.

Dr. Williams can be contacted at [email protected].

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Marshall Student Center, 4103 USF Cedar Circle, Tampa, United States