GIVE STUDENTS THE WORLD: USF Study Abroad Scholarship Campaign

David Mearns OAM is one of the World’s most experienced and successful deep-sea shipwreck hunters. Over his 25-year career, he has led the research and discovery of 21 major shipwrecks achieving an overall success rate of 88% (partial listing below). In both shallow and deep water David and BWR have set new standards for the location of lost ships, proving that anything lost at sea – no matter how old or how deep – can be found.

In October 2010 David was awarded a prestigious Maritime Fellowship Award by the UK-based Maritime Foundation for an outstanding lifetime contribution in a particular maritime field. In November of the same year, David was awarded an honorary Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to Australia by locating and filming the wrecks of HMAS Sydney II and AHS Centaur.

David was inducted into the Weehawken High School Academic of Fame in 2003. In October 2011 he received the University of South Florida’s Distinguished Alumni Award in recognition of his career achievements and service to the University. This award is chosen annually from over 250,000 past graduates of USF.

David is a Chartered Marine Scientist and a fellow of the Marine Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology, the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club. He has carried the prestigious Explorers Club Flag on 8 separate at-sea expeditions, authored two books and dozens of articles and is regularly featured in documentaries made for television.
AHS Centaur – a Hospital Ship illegally sunk by a Japanese submarine
HMAS Sydney – the greatest maritime mystery in Australian history
Kormoran – a German raider scuttled after defeating HMAS Sydney
HMS Hood - the flagship of the Royal Navy sunk by the Bismarck
Esmeralda – a Portuguese Nau from the 1503 fleet of Vasco da Gama
Rio Grande – the deepest shipwreck ever found at 5,762 meters
Derbyshire – the largest shipping loss in British maritime history
Lucona – a cargo ship sunk by a time bomb that murdered its crew.

Kiki Caruson, PhD, leads USF’s global engagement across the Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee campuses, including study abroad programming, international student and scholars services, USF INTO pathway programs, the management of international partnerships, the Global Discovery Hub, initiatives that support research and scholarly mobility, Peace Corps programming, international alumni outreach, as well as global development activities.

Caruson is an expert regarding the best practices for promoting strong relationships between university research and international offices and the data and metrics associated with successful global engagement across faculty, students, alumni and global partners. She led an AIEA-sponsored Thematic Forum: Developing Institutional Strategies for Growing Global Research held at the University of South Florida in 2014, which launched subsequent conferences hosted by Rutgers University (2016) and the University of California, Davis (2018).

Caruson is the author of numerous publications, including “International Research Partnerships" in NAFSA’s Guide to International Partnerships: Developing Sustainable Academic Collaborations edited by Jane Gatewood, 2019; “Building International Research Capacity: The SIO Perspective” in NAFSA’s Senior International Officer Guide edited by David Di Maria, 2019; and "Globalizing University Research: Innovation, Collaboration, and Competition" published in 2017 by the Institute of International Education (IIE). In 2016, Caruson received the inaugural Big Ideas Award from the Society for Research Administrators International (SRA-I) for the creation of a peer-resourced, web-based Global Research Toolkit.

Caruson is an alumna of the USIEF India Fulbright Program for senior international education administrators (2013) and is an active scholar, teacher and mentor. She has led student groups to Panama, India and Peru, and has twice received USF's Outstanding Teaching Award. A faculty member in the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies within the College of Arts and Sciences, Caruson maintains an active, interdisciplinary research portfolio, is an advisor and mentor to graduate and undergraduate students and has served in leadership roles in a number of professional organizations affiliated with her academic discipline, international education and research administration.

Ashley Gairing started volunteering at age 8, accompanying her grandmother to help at the Red Cross Blood Bank. Later, when her three children were small, she served on the boards of the Suncoast Dream Fund, Center Against Spouse Abuse (CASA), Brookwood and Community Preschool, and chaired fundraising events for a variety of local nonprofits.

Gairing served at Shorecrest Preparatory School as assistant director of advancement, assistant director of admissions and director of communications, marketing and alumni affairs. Simultaneously, she earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from National Louis University, where she was chosen to be the student commencement speaker.

She moved to Independent Day School as a doctoral intern while she attended Nova Southeastern University’s doctoral program in educational leadership. After finishing with an Outstanding Dissertation Award, Gairing worked at Canterbury School of Florida as director of advancement and admissions.

Her volunteer activities included two terms as Junior League Sustainer President and Centre College Parent Committee chair plus several years on the Centre College Career Services Advisory Board. Most recently, she was executive vice president of Suncoasters. Today, she is retired and focusing on her second year as president of USF St. Petersburg’s Town and Gown. Gairing also serves on a drug task force in Boyle County, Kentucky, and helps develop workshops with Greenwood Associates that focus on people age 50+ who are planning their next chapter.