Meet the Staff
Senior Administration
Dean, Office of Graduate Studies
Dr. Ruth Huntley Bahr (Tampa campus)
Email | Phone: (813) 974-7359
Executive Administrative Specialist: Karissa Valine-Plaza
Dr. Bahr is a Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders in the College of Behavioral & Community Sciences. She received her B.S. from the University of Virginia, her M.A. from Auburn University and her Ph.D. from the University of Florida. Her areas of research include speech/voice production and spelling development. She edited the Routledge Handbook of Communication Disorders (published May 2015). In addition, she is the author of numerous research articles and book chapters covering the identification of vocal biomarkers, between and within speaker variability in forensic situations, the nature of phonological representations in dialect speakers and second language learners, and patterns of misspelling in typically developing children and those with various learning disabilities. She has served in the Office of Graduate Studies since 2015 as the Assistant and Associate Dean before being named Dean in 2022. You can learn more about Dr. Bahr from her website.
Download the Curriculum Vitae of Dr. Bahr.
Campus Assistant Dean, St. Petersburg Campus
Dr. Donna Knudsen
Email |Phone: (727) 873-4567
A strong advocate of adult and lifelong learning, Dr. Donna Knudsen received her B.A.
in American Studies with a focus on American History from Eckerd College in 2010;
her M.L.A. in Liberal Studies from USF St. Petersburg in 2012; and her Ed.D. in Educational
Program Development, with a concentration in Innovative Education from USF in 2019.
Her research interests focus on graduate student mentoring and ways in which these
key relationships between graduate students and their mentors can be maintained and
improved upon in today’s digital learning environments. Dr. Knudsen joined USF in
1990 and became the founding director of the Office of Graduate Studies at USF St.
Petersburg in 2005. She is passionate about providing a one-stop, personal touch approach
to graduate education for each graduate student pursuing their academic goals at the
USF St. Petersburg campus and is dedicated to enhancing graduate education at the
University of South Florida for all graduate students and the graduate program faculty
committed to their support.
Campus Assistant Dean, Sarasota-Manatee Campus
Dr. Sandra Stone
Email | Phone: (941) 359-4507
Dr. Sandra Stone is a professor in the Criminology program and has experience in the
fields of health, social services and education as a teacher, researcher, administrator
and consultant with a variety of agencies and higher education institutions. Dr. Stone
joined the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus in 2014. She received a B.A. in sociology and
psychology and an M.A. in psychology from the University of West Georgia, a Ph.D.
in sociology from Emory University, and a post-doctoral certificate in organizational
behavior from Tulane University. She has specialized training in gangs, mediation,
and critical incident stress debriefing and has received awards for teaching, research,
service and leadership. Her research interests are family violence, juvenile delinquency/juvenile
justice, women in the criminal justice system, public policy, and program evaluation,
with a number of publications and presentations in those areas. Her current research
includes work with Selah Freedom, a national anti-human trafficking organization headquartered
in Sarasota.