1994. She served as USF president for six years until 1999. During this time, USF grew to be one of the largest universities in the nation in terms of enrollment. In 1997, the university began its inaugural season of NCAA football. The Florida Board of Regents named USF a "Research 1" University in 1998.
=== 2000s ===
Judy Genshaft was selected as the new president in 2000. Under Genshaft's leadership, the university emerged as a top research university (achieving "preeminence" per the Florida Board of Governors in June 2018) and major economic engine with an annual economic impact of $3.7 billion in the 2018–2019 fiscal year, her last year as president. In 2006, Castor returned to USF to lead the Dr. Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions; she stepped down in 2009. The university expanded its global reach, opening the first Confucius Institute in Florida in 2008 and creating the Genshaft/Greenbaum Passport Scholarship Fund in 2011, which provides financial support to USF students who want to study abroad. …
