UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO SUMMER 2017
M A G A Z I N E
USF M A G A Z I N E
ELLEN RYDER Vice President Marketing Communications
ED CARPENTER Editor
ANGIE DAVIS ARVIN TEMKAR
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Contributing Editors
NEWS
KRIS MILLER
Standing up for
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ANNIE BREEN EVAN ELLIOT Writers
DALE JOHNSTON Director of University Identity
Standing Rock.
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ANNE HOGLUND
FROM USF WITH LOVE
Senior Designer
BY NICOLE MELDAHL M A ’ 16
CATHERINE BAGG ’ 15 CLAIRE GIFFEN ’ 16 Designers
MAYA CHIN ’ 18 KATRINA PAHATI ’ 17 LAURA SCHMAELER ’ 18
Alumni recount San Francisco’s Summer of Love.
DAVID CARRILLO ’ 12
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LISA ANDERSON
BY M ARY MCINERNE Y
Contributing Designers
Interim Multimedia Production Manager Photographer
MICHAEL ENOS ’ 18 GINO MASCARDO ’ 17 NATHANIEL TIANGCO ’ 16 Contributing Photographers
BRETT ARAKAWA ’ 17 ANGELA MARIA HIPOLITO TING ’ 20 Editorial Interns
CLASS NOTES We want to know what you’re up to! Send your class notes: usfca.edu/alumni-update
or write: USF Magazine University of San Francisco 2130 Fulton Street San Francisco, CA 94117-1080 Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the editors or official university policies. Summer 2017, Vol. 25, No. 2 © 2017 University of San Francisco
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news STANDING UP FOR STANDING ROCK Last winter, Calina Lawrence ’16 joined more than 15,000 protestors at Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota, where a coalition of tribes and environmentalists camped out for months to block the construction of a controversial oil pipeline. Many protestors, sheltered only by teepees and tents, endured snow and sub-freezing temperatures. Police used water cannons and rubber bullets against them as they fought against a pipeline they said would contaminate the community’s only water source and desecrate tribal burial lands. In November, Lawrence delivered boxes of coats, pants, blankets, first-aid kits, gloves, and hats to the camp — all donated by USFers. She stayed for seven days, marching, giving interviews, and singing protest songs she’d been working on as a performing arts and social justice major at USF. Lawrence, a Native American from
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the Port Madison Indian Reservation in Washington, was the voice of USF’s #NoDAPL (No Dakota Access Pipeline) movement, organizing two campus rallies and a donation drive. When President Barack Obama ordered an environmental review of the pipeline’s path in December, delaying construction, Lawrence sensed it was a temporary victory. “A lot of us knew that it wasn’t over,” she says. “Native people have experienced broken treaties.” She was right. President Donald Trump reversed Obama’s order soon after he took office. “It’s heartbreaking,” Lawrence says. The pipeline was completed this spring. But activists haven’t surrendered, and Lawrence remains part of the Standing Rock movement, which has tur ned its focus to f ighting other pipelines. Lawrence transferred to USF from
community college to join the Performing Arts and Social Justice (PASJ) program. She’d heard about the program’s focus on cultural diversity and thought it would give her an opportunity to study and work on indigenous music. She also liked its mission to create social awareness through the arts. Her senior project, a 15-minute performance piece, blended monologue, singing, and live music to tell the stor y of how Native American music was made illegal after European colonization. “I’ve had a lot of people tell me that PASJ was created for marginalized people like me to reach people who might not otherwise be aware of our realities,” she says. SEE CALINA LAWRENCE AT STANDING ROCK usfca.edu/standing-rock
TEDx Brings Big Questions to Campus How do you build a meaningful life? What are the consequences of massive wealth inequality? Those are two of the big questions answered in USF’s very first TEDx event, organized by finance alumnus Grant La Count ’16 and economics alumnus Julian D’ Rozario ’17 and held on campus in February. La Count and D’ Rozario say they’re “obsessed” with TED Talks, the popular online video series where experts lecture on societyshifting ideas. When they learned they could apply to create their own independently organized TEDx event, they thought — why not? USF law professor Thomas Nazario talked about life’s meaning, San Francisco-based wealth expert Stephen Kraus discussed income disparity, Italian neurobehavioral scientist Valter Tucci showed how genes affect happiness, and spiritual counselor Sadhvi Saraswati discussed why she left California to live in an ashram in India. “USF’s mission is to change the world from here. TED is trying to create change with all these interesting talks,” says D’ Rozario. “They naturally mesh.”
WATCH THE TALKS TKLink usfca.edu/tedx-talks
Ghost Ship warehouse. Photo by Jim Heaphy, from Wikimedia Commons.
Ghost Ship Reporter Wins Pulitzer Thomas Peele MFA ’07 was the lead investigative reporter on a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its breaking news coverage of Oakland’s “Ghost Ship” warehouse fire, which killed 36 people during a party in December. The East Bay Times’ articles about the warehouse, where artists lived and had studios, exposed how the city failed to prevent the tragedy. USF Magazine asked Peele how his team did it. What was your role on the team that won the Pulitzer Prize? I was assigned within hours to lead our investigation into how it happened. We dove into records and learned the building was zoned as a warehouse — not a place where people could legally live or charge admission to parties. What set your work apart from other news organizations’? We went hard after government accountability very early. We were able to hold that position and break several investigative stories. How did you feel when you heard the news that your team won? The first moments were purely ecstatic. I mean, we’d just won the highest honor in journalism. But at the same time, 36 people died in the fire. That tempered things somewhat. Certainly not entirely. I was f loating all afternoon, as I heard from friends around the countr y. It was, and is, a pretty incredible feeling. READ THE FULL INTERVIEW usfca.edu/ghost-ship-pulitzer
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Meron Semedar MA ’ 17 unfurls the international refugee flag on the Hilltop.
A VOICE FOR REFUGEES When Meron Semedar MA ’17 was 19, he slipped away from a military training camp run by Eritrea’s dictator. He ran for the border — nearly a day’s journey away — and was lucky to escape the country unharmed. Many of his friends and countrymen weren’t as fortunate. They drowned when their boats capsized while crossing the Mediterranean, or were killed by human traffickers. The U.N. estimates 400,000 Eritreans, 9 percent of the population, have fled
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the regime in recent years. After graduating from college in South Africa, Semedar became an advocate for refugees. In 2011, he co-founded a nonprofit there to help refugees enroll in college. His advocacy brought international attention, and led him to speak at a youth conference in the U.S. He ended up applying for and being granted asylum here. Committed to continuing his work on behalf of refugees, Semedar
enrolled in USF’s Master of International Studies program to learn more about human rights. In December, he was invited to speak at commencement. Semedar, now 31, urged g raduates to take act ion in t he world’s g row ing ref ugee catast rophe. “We are talking about 65 million human beings, each with their own unique identity,” Semedar told graduates. “I ask you to open your hearts and welcome them.”
Cure for Cruelty HOW TEACHING OUR KIDS EMPATHY COULD SAVE THE WORLD At the locations of some of the world’s worst atrocities — from Auschwitz to the killing fields of Cambodia — educational psychologist Michele Borba EdD ’83 learned the stories of heroes who risked their lives to help others. Their reasons for doing so were surprisingly similar: They said it was the way they were raised. That insight is one focus of Borba’s latest book UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World. The book has garnered national media attention and resulted in invitations
to speak around the globe. Empathy, Borba says, is not something that children are born with; it’s a set of skills that must be taught and nurtured. “Empathy is still being seen as a soft, f luffy skill,” she says. “But it is
immensely powerful and transformational. It is also crucial for our children’s success, happiness, and character, and is key in helping them become contributing members of a global world.”
Toler Hall Named for Trailblazing Don USF dedicated Burl A. Toler Hall in May, renaming Phelan Hall in honor of Burl Toler ’52, MA ’66, co-captain of USF’s famous 1951 football team. The move came after students raised concerns about former San Francisco Mayor James D. Phelan (who graduated from USF in 1881, when it was called St. Ignatius College) and his public opposition to immigration, diversity, and inclusion — all aspects of USF’s Jesuit Catholic education, as well as its mission and values. Perhaps the best team of its era, Toler’s 1951 football squad finished the season 9-0. They were invited to play in the Orange Bowl, but only on the condition that they leave behind their two African American players — Burl Toler and Ollie Matson. The team refused and stood on principle against the racism of the time. The story was later broadcast on ESPN. Nine players on the team were drafted by the NFL, Toler by the Chicago Cardinals. A knee injury
ended his playing career, but he went on to become the first African American NFL referee and first African American official for any professional sport in the countr y. In 1968, he became the first African American secondary school principal in San Francisco at Benjamin Franklin Middle School, which was later renamed Burl Toler Campus. Toler was a USF alumnus of the year, a former USF trustee, and a member of the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame. He died in 2009. “This dedication means that future generations of Dons will learn Burl A. Toler Sr.’s name and his life story, and that his legacy will live on in the heart of our campus, indeed in the heart of the city where his many contributions have changed lives and made history,” said USF President Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J. LEARN MORE ABOUT THE INDOMITABLE 1951 DONS usfca.edu/burl-toler
Burl Toler ’52, MA ’66 broke barriers on and off the field.
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/////////news New School of Education Dean Shabnam Koirala-Azad has been named the new School of Education dean following a nationwide search. Koirala-Azad served as interim dean since January. She started teaching at USF 12 years ago and was promoted to associate dean and then interim dean. As a faculty member, she expanded the comparative and global studies dimension of the school, and served as chair of the International and Multicultural Education Department. She co-founded USF’s master’s program and doctoral concentration in Human Rights Education — the first such program in the country. Koirala-Azad’s scholarship centers
on the connections between education and social change. She is inspired to build on the school’s legacy of training social justice scholars and practitioners. “Our work is especially significant in this moment,” Koirala-Azad said. “At a time of division, fragmentation, and attacks on the very communities we seek to serve, the School of Education stands strong in its vision of promoting equity, unity, and cohesion. We choose to align ourselves with the forces of integration. Our work is cut out for us, and our legacy and proven record of enhancing educational justice provides us with a solid footing from which to build further.”
“The School of Education stands strong in its vision of promoting equity, unity, and cohesion.” - Shabnam Koirala-Azad
Born to Deliver ALUMNA CARES FOR EXPECTANT HOMELESS MOTHERS Martha Ryan ’72 always thought she would work in far-f lung countries, caring for communities in crisis. That’s why she joined the Peace Corps after college. In Ethiopia, Ryan taught English to children in a village with no electricity or running water. “I wanted to make the world better. That’s what we’re supposed to do, right?” asks the French major, who says the Peace Cor ps put her on her path. After she returned to San Francisco and earned a nursing degree, she continued to travel to Africa and volunteer as a nurse. She longed to move there per manently. It’s where she thought she could be of the most ser vice. Then, volunteering at a homeless shelter in San Francisco in 1988, Ryan came face-to-face with a dire, unmet need. “There were homeless, expectant moms, women battling addiction and abuse, and they weren’t getting any
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After seeking her calling overseas, Martha Ryan ’72 (right) found it in San Francisco.
prenatal care,” Ryan says. “There were homeless mothers with young kids too. It was crazy.” So, with a modest grant and three part-time workers, Ryan founded the Homeless Prenatal Prog ram (HPP). They served 72 women the first year. More than 25 years later, HPP’s 80 staff
members serve 4,000 families annually. Over 3,500 babies have been born with HPP's support. More than half of Ryan’s staff are former clients, and some have gone on to buy homes and earn college degrees. “Pregnancy is a wonderful window of opportunity for a mother to turn her life around,” Ryan says.
THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF FOOD
WHEN WHAT YOU EAT TASTES LIKE WHERE YOU CAME FROM On Christmas morning, Katharine James ’18 and her family dish up Italian panettone: a blend of bread, fruits, Turkish raisins, and orange zest. It’s a holiday tradition that goes back three generations to her grandfather, who’s from Florence. One of Helen Kao’s favorite foods is a tea egg, an egg boiled in tea and spices. Kao ’20 has seen them in convenience stores on trips to Taiwan, and her mom makes them at home from time to time. These are just two of more than a dozen dishes and accompanying stories that students shared with their classmates in their Anthropology of Food class for an end-of-semester potluck and presentation. “I am very thankful for taking this class because it helped me understand how important memories, family, and culture are in the food we eat on a daily basis,” James says.
That’s the idea, says Assistant Professor Lindsay Gifford. Food can be a lens through which to explore history, culture, globalization, and even personal dynamics — like the significance of who does the cooking in a house. “This may be the first time students are thinking about food and the food system in that way,” Gifford says. The potluck was an extension of an oral history assignment, in which students traced the history of a meaningful childhood food by conducting interviews with family members or friends. Not only did they uncover a fair bit about the past, but they also learned valuable research and interviewing methods along the way. “My students were able to see how their favorite dishes became an institution in their own families — and how they bring people together,” Gifford says.
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Courtesy of Brian Davies/The Register-Guard
Long distance runner Charlotte Taylor MS ’18 won the NCAA track and field title in 10,000 meters in June, shocking even herself and becoming the first woman in USF history to win an individual national championship. Taylor’s win is USF’s first individual national championship in nearly 50 years. “I was very surprised, and I’m super excited,” she said, after the race at the University of Oregon. “I had set my eye on being an AllAmerican at the beginning of the season, which means finishing in the top eight. To come away with a win is just beyond my wildest dreams.” Taylor was in the lead trio for much of the race. With a lap remaining, the Spalding, England native sprinted to the front, defeating Alice Wright of the University of New Mexico Lobos and Sharon Lokedi of the University of Kansas. The win is another jewel in Taylor’s athletic crown. She was first team All-American in cross country in 2016. Before enrolling in USF’s Master’s in International and Development Economics program, she was a triathlon world champion.
Silk Series Brings National Leaders to Campus
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Nobel laureate Robert Merton, and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak brought their insights on politics, the economy, and technology to USF this spring as part of the new Silk Speaker Series. Hundreds attended the talks, which were created by investor and USF business administration alumnus
Jeff Silk ’87 and his wife Naomi to bring prominent figures to campus and highlight USF’s leadership in business and innovation. “We’re shining a spotlight on USF,” Silk said. SEE THEM IN ACTION usfca.edu/silk-series
USF tied for second in ethnic diversity in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings. Read more about diversity at USF in “Campus Embrace” on page 22.
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Courtesy of Shawn Calhoun
Track Champ Makes History
Kevin Starr ’62 Captured the Spirit of California Kevin Starr ’62, California’s foremost historian, chronicled the tumultuous story of a great state — from California’s Native American roots to its status as a global leader of culture and technolog y. Starr, who died in January at age 76, was best known for his eight-volume book series Americans and the California Dream. He “captured the spirit of our state and brought to life the characters and personalities that made the ‘California Story,’” said Gov. Jerry Brown in a statement after Starr’s death. “His vision, like California itself, was bigger than life.” The fourth-generation San Franciscan served as state librarian from 1994–2004 and was a communication studies professor at USF from 1981–89. As a student, he majored in English and was editor-in-chief of the San Francisco Foghorn. Starr received the National Humanities Medal in 2006. He received an honorary degree from USF in 2008. HEAR KEVIN STARR TALK ABOUT THE ARTS usfca.edu/kevin-starr
ANTI-VIOLENCE ACTIVIST WINS CALIFORNIA PRIZE JOSEPH MARSHALL JR. ’68 IS FIRST USF ALUMNUS TO RECEIVE SERVICE AWARD
Joseph Marshall Jr. ’68 and his nonprofit Alive & Free won this year’s USF California Prize for Service and the Common Good, for their work stemming violence in San Francisco Bay Area communities and preparing thousands of at-risk youth for work and college. Marshall, a former USF trustee, is co-founder and executive director of Alive & Free, which treats violence as a social disease and provides a “prescription” that teaches young people how to make positive lifestyle choices to counter risk factors like drugs, guns, and destructive language. Alive & Free provides an array of violence prevention and educational programs that include a leadership academy, three-day seminars for adults, and school-based teacher intervention trainings. Its leadership academy provides rigorous college-prep classes in mathematics, academic research, and writing. Since it started in 2000, the nonprofit has benefitted more than 15,000 students, and sent more than 200 to college through its scholarship fund. “We are proud of Dr. Marshall and the work his team at Alive & Free is doing for the youth of our city and the world,” said USF President Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J. “We honor Alive & Free for sharing the USF mission to create new opportunities for bright and ambitious students who will go on to create a more just, sustainable, and humane world.” Marshall credits USF with introducing him to activism, via the Black Student Union. “Everything for me started at USF,” he said. “Everything emanated from there.” Marshall earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology in 1968, and an education credential in 1970. He went on to receive a master’s in education from San Francisco State University and a doctorate in psychology from the Wright Institute in Berkeley. He was a teacher and administrator at the San Francisco Unified School District for 25 years before becoming a full-time anti-violence activist in 1994. He has won the MacArthur “genius” award, the Children’s Defense Fund Leadership Award, and the Use Your Life Award from Oprah Winfrey. Each year, USF awards the California Prize to an individual or organization that provides significant service to the poor and marginalized, and makes groundbreaking achievements in the pursuit of the common good. Prizewinners receive a handcrafted silver medal and $10,000 at an award gala and dinner that draws leading philanthropists, civic dignitaries, and business leaders. Past California Prize winners include Salesforce.org and the San Francisco Giants. This year’s gala benefits USF’s African American Scholars Project, and the exclusive media sponsor is the San Francisco Chronicle. WATCH JOE MARSHALL DELIVER ALIVE AND FREE’S “PRESCRIPTION” usfca.edu/cal-prize-2017
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/////////news Nonprofit Leader Sees USF as Activist Incubator As a student, Barry Stenger ’73 protested the Vietnam War, traveled to Salinas, California to support exploited farmworkers, and picketed San Francisco grocery stores during a United Farm Workers-led grape strike. USF is the place he learned to wield his Catholic values and commitment to social justice to press for change, says the philosophy major. And he hasn’t stopped. Stenger is now the executive director of San Francisco’s St. Anthony Foundation, a nonprofit that feeds, clothes, and provides medical and rehabilitative services to thousands of the city’s most vulnerable residents. “USF isn’t something that’s in a yearbook on a shelf somewhere for me,” he says. “What I learned there is still very much alive.” The Oakland native found a mentor in professor of philosophy Fr. Geoffrey Bridges, a Franciscan friar who practiced
what he preached: extolling social justice principles while participating
in the anti-war movement, the farmworker movement, and other political
causes of the 1970s. Stenger remembers marching with Bridges down Geary Boulevard in a Vietnam War protest. After graduating, Stenger joined the Franciscans. He served a poor neighborhood in west Las Vegas, then taught ethics and liberation theology at universities before leaving the priesthood in 1992 to start a family. USF remains a major part of Stenger’s life. Today, he follows in Bridges’ footsteps, recruiting and mentoring USFers as St. Anthony’s volunteers, and exposing them to the many barriers faced by the city’s marginalized. “Where do the people of this city learn such generosity and compassion?” Stenger asks. “At places like USF. There’s a sense of goodness on the Hilltop that overf lows into the life of the city. To be part of that is very satisfying to me.”
THE ART OF SCIENCE When Seth Foreman’s students examine sketches by artist M.C. Escher or contemplate the overtones of a Debussy prelude for piano, it’s not part of an art appreciation course — they’re learning physics. In Masterpiece Physics, Assistant Professor Foreman uses art to teach students about sound, light, color, and how the brain perceives them. Students dive into the science behind Escher’s mind-bending art, discover how cameras work, and learn how guitar strings produce sound. The class is just one example of how USF faculty teach students to embrace both art and science, blending subjects like physics and photography, chemistry and cooking,
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and neuroscience and opera. “Science is intimately entwined with all of the beauty we can produce, from the colors of a stained glass window to the sounds of a Rachmaninoff piano concerto,” says Foreman, who plays classical piano. In chemistry Professor Tami Spector’s Molecular Gastronomy class, students whip up a dish almost every session: ice cream, bread, kimchi. Amid the noshing, students learn important lessons about chemistry, biology, and physics, like how microwaves work or the physiology of the plants they eat. “For chemistry majors, my course brings them back to why they chose to be scientists in the first place,” says
The Nation’s No. 1 ROTC Nurse Second Lt. Connor Marston ’16 was the No. 1 Army ROTC nursing graduate in the nation at commencement. Marston, who g raduated in December, had the highest combined grades, physical fitness exam scores, and A r my and nursing sk ills training scores of any of the 152 commissioned ROTC nursing students who graduated in 2016, according to the U.S. Ar my. He’s now a reg istered nurse at Tr ipler Ar my Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. A 2011 motorcycle accident landed Marston, then an architecture student at California College of the Arts, in the emergency room. During his monthslong recover y he was so inspired by the care he received that he decided to g ive up architecture and join USF’s nursing program. “It’s been a long path back to near-100 percent physical and mental fitness for me, but I’m so glad I stuck w ith it when things were tough,” Marston says. “And I’m so happy I found USF and the Army ROTC. I can honestly say the faculty and the friends I made helped mold me into who I am today.”
Spector, an amateur cook who is on the board of Leonardo: International Society for Art, Sciences and Technology — a nonprofit promoting interdisciplinary work between the arts and sciences. “It gives them a chance to get back to the sense of childlike play and curiosity they might have had prior to diving into abstract things like organic chemistry and quantum mechanics.” Meanwhile, students in Adjunct Professor Indre Viskontas’ psychology classes get a taste of a different kind of art: opera. Viskontas, in addition to being a neuroscientist, is a professional opera singer, performing as a soprano in productions like Susannah and La Bohème. Viskontas often invites students to the opera and
USF Poet Named NPR Must-Read Craig Santos Perez MFA ’06 is one of National Public Radio’s need-to-read poets for 2017. The poet’s newest collection, from unincorporated territory [lukao], examines the people, politics, and past of his native Guam, a small island in the Pacific. The collection pushes the envelope of poetry: intertwining maps, visual art, and experimental typography. It’s the fourth installment in the University of Hawaii at Manoa professor’s “from unincorporated territory” series, which examines Pacific Islander culture, as well as Guam’s history of occupations and its struggle for self-identity as a non-self-governing territory of the U.S. His prior book in the series, from unincorporated territory [guma’], won the 2015 American Book Award, making him — an ethnic Chamoru — the first native Pacific Islander to receive the award. The work examines the author’s personal travels and the tensions between Guamanian and American cultures. Perez won the 2011 PEN Center USA Literary prize for poetry, was a finalist for the 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for poetry, and has been honored by Guam’s lawmakers. HEAR CRAIG SANTOS PEREZ READ “FROM THE LEGENDS OF JUAN MALO” usfca.edu/npr-poet
other musical performances at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to demonstrate concepts like how music can affect time and memory. Research shows that if you’re emotionally moved by a piece of live music, for example, your memories will be more vivid and you’ll feel like the experience lasted longer than it actually did. “Scientists and artists really have the same goal: to understand what makes us human,” Viskontas says. DISCOVER HOW THE WORLD IS MADE OF WAVES usfca.edu/art-of-science
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ifty years ago, San Francisco took center stage in the national spotlight, as the city became a locus of anti-war protests, civil rights battles, and the sexual revolution. The city drew a young generation full of big ideas and hope for a better future. Nearly 100,000 people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood for what came to be called the Summer of Love. They traveled from Seattle, Sag Harbor, and Kissimmee. These “hippies” — a term coined by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen after he visited a “hip” new shop in Haight-Ashbury — embraced counterculture ideas and became a mainstay of the national media as America grappled with the changing times. “Yet California was a state divided,” says USF history Professor James Zarsadiaz. “While the San Francisco Bay Area was a hotbed of revolutionary thought and action, the state consistently voted Republican in national elections.” USF embodied that dichotomy. Located just blocks from Haight-Ashbury, it was a relatively conservative campus in the 1960s thanks to its Jesuit Catholic roots and its role since the 1930s as an Army ROTC host, which required male students to take part for two years. Many students chose USF to avoid the disruptive and sometimes violent protests happening at UC
Berkeley and San Francisco State. And some came to USF on the G.I. Bill, returning from Vietnam. But beginning with the introduction of female undergraduates in the College of Arts and Sciences in 1964, the times started to change at USF. Some students peacefully protested with campus sit-ins and mingled in the Haight-Ashbury wearing bellbottoms. A few started a folk rock band that released a hit song, “You Were On My Mind.” By 1968, ROTC was voluntary, the number of required theology/philosophy units was cut, and the Black Student Union was founded. In 1978, USF bought Lone Mountain College and the two colleges merged, dramatically expanding the university’s size and boosting female enrollment. Today, USF champions social and economic justice, civil rights and liberties, inclusion, and respect for all forms of identities and experiences — fairly radical ideas in the 1960s — as part of the university’s values. “We can see a lot of parallels between what happened starting around the Summer of Love 50 years ago and today,” Zarsadiaz says. So how did students from USF — then situated on today’s lower campus — and its sister school, the San Francisco College for Women (later called Lone Mountain College), experience the era? Here, in their own words, Dons recount their college years and the Summer of Love.
BARING NECESSITIES Vida Holguin, sociology ’71
I had quite an introduction when I started at USF that Summer of Love. After my parents dropped me off at Gillson Hall, a bunch of fellow freshmen and I walked to Haight-Ashbury. The sun was shining, the smell of incense was in the air, there was tiedye and smiles. Then I realized my new friends were gone, and I was alone. I looked around and spotted them across the street. They were calling my name and waving me over. They pointed in front of me. I looked ahead and saw two longhaired men walking toward me wearing flowers in their hair. Then I realized the only thing they were wearing were those f lowers. I had never seen a naked man in my life. They smiled at me, so I smiled back. As they passed, I thought, “I think I’m going to love it here.”
SPARE CHANGE?
Dennis DeMattia, chemistry ’66, MS ’69 When I started in 1962, my parents would send me $10 a month. I would go to the Bank of America on Haight Street to cash the check. A year later, I started seeing “funny” people hanging around. One day, a young lady asked for spare change. I immediately started using the Bank of America on Geary Street and never went back. It wasn’t until the ’70s when PBS ran a retrospective on the ’60s that I found out what was going on. I still tell people today that I went to school just a few blocks from the corner of Haight-Ashbury but never knew what was happening there.
BANK LINES AND TRAFFIC JAMS Denis Binder, economics ’67, JD ’70
Haight Street was jammed with cars barely crawling along in the worst traffic jams. The sidewalks were just as crowded. The bank lines were a block long on Mondays and Fridays, as the children of love cashed their checks from home. USF, five blocks from the famous corner of Haight-Ashbury, was an oasis of calm.
POSTER CHILD
Larry Blum, business ’67 USF had a really good basketball team in the early ’60s. In 1964–65 we were ranked third in the country. I played point guard, and we lost to UCLA by nine in the West Region. I broke Bill Russell’s freshman scoring record by one point. Professor Jerry Gantz introduced me to Jerry Berman, who’d started a poster company with his friend Jack Kaus. They asked me to sell and distribute their posters. The first poster designed by Jerry, who was a great graphic designer, was the Haight-Ashbury street sign surrounded by daisies. I think we sold close to 150,000 copies. I sold them on Haight Street, then around San Francisco, and eventually around the country. Later, I bought the company and turned it into my own apparel and merchandising firm, working with brands like Star Wars and the NBA.
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
Philip Carter, political science ’71, JD ’75 The dorms had some silly rules that weren’t working for me. So I moved off campus to Page and Cole streets and thought, “This is great. Now I’m living in the Haight and going to USF — it’s the best of both worlds.” USF had an experimental college at the time. Students, faculty, and others could teach a class on any topic. I signed up to teach a class in my apartment on macrobiotic cooking. It was standing room only. How do you make brown rice? Nobody knew this stuff, but as a latchkey kid, I did. It was great fun.
HEARD ABOUT THE HIPPIES
Michael Borelli, political science ’67 I heard about the hippies and had to check them out. I saw a side of life that I and most of my USF friends never knew existed. I had some great times, smoking my first joint, listening to music, and talking to new and “different” people.
FROM RUNNY NOSES TO OVERDOSES Elizabeth Principi, nursing ’70
I was an 18-year-old nursing student that summer, kind of restrained. The Haight was a calm, gentle place early on, markedly different from the psychedelic place it became. I volunteered in the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic. We provided care mainly for sick little ones: vaccinations, coughs, and colds. Occasionally, we treated injuries from living on the street and then, eventually, the dreaded overdoses. I saw Haight-Ashbury blossom and die in the four years I was at USF. By late 1968, the clinic was too crazy and dangerous.
NO TIE-DYE, BUT LOVE FOR JANIS Kevin Leong, finance ’70, MSOD ’93
I was a button-down shirt and jeans guy. No tie-dye shirts. I kinda stood out. My family had traditional values. For me, the San Francisco music scene was at the heart of the Summer of Love. I saw Santana, Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane at places like The Fillmore and Winterland Ballroom. My absolute favorite was Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company. She had such a unique voice and style. I got to see them all when they were still opening for bigger acts.
MILLION-SELLING FOLKSTER
Jerry Burgan, organizational behavior ’87 I was a folk-singing freshman and guitar player at USF in 1963, along with fellow freshmen Bob Jones and Mike Stewart — whose brother, John Stewart, played banjo for the popular folk band The Kingston Trio. We left USF for Los Angeles to take a shot at making it in music in 1964. Our band, We Five, released its first single “You Were On My Mind” in 1965 and it became a million-selling hit and a precursor to the Summer of Love. I returned to USF around 1985 to finish my degree, while working in the pharmaceutical industry.
JIMI WHO?
Paul Farley, sociology ’71 I had a part-time job in the Haight delivering televisions. Jimi Hendrix lived across the street, Janis Joplin lived down the street, and the Grateful Dead lived around the corner. I would have paid closer attention had I known that period was going to be historic.
TẠM BIỆT (GOODBYE), VIETNAM
John Tastor, history ’68
I was an ROTC guy. After graduation, I went into the Army for two years as an officer. I spent a year in Vietnam as an adviser to the Vietnamese. When I left, I always wondered what happened to them when the country fell. About 25 years ago, I got involved in the affordable housing movement, helping to buy, develop, and manage quality housing for lower-income people. In 2015, San Francisco’s Habitat for Humanity contacted me and invited me to go with a group to Vietnam. I never expected to go back. I was able to connect with South Vietnamese veterans. They came around to talk whenever they found out I was an American veteran. Every time we would part, they would salute. It was such a great experience.
MARCHING ORDERS
ME AND MY FBI FILE
During my time at USF, it was mandatory for male students to enroll in ROTC for two years. We dressed in old WWII uniforms and learned how to march on the baseball field carrying M-1 carbines. I never wanted to go into the military, but I liked the social fraternity of the ROTC called the Pershing Rifles. If a fellow in the fraternity saw new pledges on campus he could give them directions to do a lot of things like carry his books, go down for five push-ups, etc. They took all us new pledges to the beach at night once and buried us to our necks. We always had great parties at the Presidio Officers Club where, if you wore your uniform, they didn’t check IDs.
I was a conscientious objector. My sophomore year, I was called to see the dean. I remember telling him that I was not going to take ROTC anymore because it shouldn’t be compulsory. The dean asked if another person could come into the meeting, an FBI guy. Many years later I got my FBI file through a FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request, and sure enough all this was there — including one of my best friends who turned out to be an informant. Those were very odd and heady times. At graduation, a bunch of us got up and turned our backs during “The Star Spangled Banner.”
Michael Ahrens, political science ’67
Paul Vangelisti, English ’67
V
RALLY FOR REAGAN
Gary Anderegg, political science ’69 I was a Barry Goldwater Republican when I came to USF. I volunteered and worked for the Reagan-Finch for California governor campaign in 1966, with my buddy Rich Gosse ’70. We walked precincts to get out the vote and attended the victory party. My rebellion was to cast my first vote for Richard Nixon in 1968, although I’m a Democrat today. I was USF junior class vice president and a member of the Philhistorian Debate Society, led by Fr. James Dempsey. As vice president, I was put in charge of designing the USF homecoming f loat, which we built on a rent-a-truck at one of the Embarcadero piers. We used chicken wire and covered it with paper flowers and named it “Flower Power.”
I used to go to Haight Street on Fridays to purchase the Berkeley Barb newspaper and read the news and personal ads. I put a personal ad in the paper once and got a call from someone who said she was Janis Joplin. She asked if I knew who she was. “You are the singer with Jefferson Airplane?” I asked, not entirely sure. “I don’t believe you,” I said, and hung up. To this day, I wonder if that was really Janis, as it sounds like something she would have done. Take a little piece of my heart now, baby!
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BRING A HIPPIE TO CLASS DAY
“ASK THE FIRST GIRL YOU SEE”
I was a member of the first all-coed class. USF was pretty isolated from what was happening in the Haight, even though we were just a few blocks away. I remember one of my theology teachers inviting a hippie to class so that we could interview him. He talked about being “free” and “liberated.” Other than the one who came to class, I mostly saw hippies in Golden Gate Park when I went there to study. I thought they dressed oddly, listened to weird music, and didn’t know how to dance. I learned a lot from speakers who came to campus. Catholic theologian Michael Novak, co-author of the seminal anti-war book Vietnam: Crisis of Conscience, spoke on the quad.
In spring 1967, I was the teaching assistant in a psychology lab for Professor Larry Murphy. I was enamored with a lovely coed and pursued her for more than a year. For her birthday, I bought her an expensive and very beautiful yellow dress from I. Magnin & Co. in Union Square. I wrapped it in a large white box with a wide red bow and left it for her, expecting to hear back. A few days passed and no word. I was hurt. I received a phone call from Professor Murphy. He asked me to come to his office. When I opened his office door, there was the big white box with the red ribbon. She didn’t want to hear from me again. Professor Murphy and I talked for 45 minutes. He was kind, gentle, and very understanding. His advice was simple: “When you leave this building, I want you to ask the first girl you see out on a date.” Blindly obedient, I staggered out of Campion Hall (Kalmanovitz Hall today) and headed for my dorm. I saw Betty Blackburn walking toward me. She was a freshman psychology major enrolled in the other psychology lab. I immediately asked her out on a date. Two years later we were married. A few weeks ago, my wife and I and my daughter and her husband visited USF. I showed my daughter the spot where 50 years ago I asked her mother out on our first date. For me, 1967 truly was the summer of love.
Judy Terracina, sociology ’68
INSPIRED BY A KENNEDY Caitie O’Shea, history, Lone Mountain alumna ’67
Women were in a different place then. There were a lot of ideas about what women were supposed to be doing, but things were starting to move in different directions. It was the ’60s! There were more options, and we were part of a growing conversation. The women at Lone Mountain were changing, and in many ways we were more radical than the men of USF because it was a time of awakening. By 1967, my senior year, I was elected student body president of Lone Mountain College. As a freshman, I lived through the tragedy of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. That experience strengthened my determination to join the Peace Corps after graduation, and I ended up going to Malaysia. When Bobby Kennedy came to USF for an election rally in May 1967, I walked down the hill to USF to meet him and touch that part of history. I looked up to him — many of us did.
Jerold Di Regolo, psychology ’67
CULTURAL BUBBLE
Professor Allan Cruse, mathematics 1966–2009 My office was on the second f loor of Harney Science Center, where the men’s bathroom had a shower so that students could hose off in case of a chemistry lab accident. Young people in the Haight found out the building was unlocked at night and started taking advantage of the free showers. I viewed the campus culture in those days as a kind of cultural bubble, conformist in dress and manners. Non-conformist counterculture views were regarded with suspicion, considered somehow subversive, and advisable to keep away from. If any faculty spent time in the Haight or participated in any happenings or protests, they seldom talked about it on campus. A notable exception was English Professor Patrick Smith, who began to wear multi-colored clothing on campus and express unorthodox ideas — proposing to invite “wandering scholars” to give seminars on art, poetry, and philosophies on how to reorganize society.
SEE MORE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS usfca.edu/summer-of-love WANT TO SHARE YOUR STORY? KNOW SOMEONE IN AN OLD PHOTO? Let us know on Facebook.
About the Author: Nicole Meldahl MA ’16 is a writer, historian, and museum professional in San Francisco. She’s contributed numerous articles to the California Historical Society’s website about the Summer of Love.
FAITH FU T U RE IN THE
McGraths give $10 million to transform Catholic education
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J
oan and Bob McGrath have donated $10 million to dramatically expand scholarships for USF’s Catholic school teaching programs, create a new multidisciplinar y student leadership institute, and expand international student immersion opportunities. More than half the gift, $6 million, will endow scholarships for graduate education students in a new McGrath Center for Catholic Education, which re-envisions USF’s Institute for Catholic Educational Leadership. The center will recruit teachers, counselors, and administrators committed to working at under-resourced Catholic schools and provide them with scholarships while they pursue an advanced degree. Coursework will focus on contemporary Catholic school issues, including school consolidation, management styles, finance, and multicultural education. “We’re passionate about our faith,” said Joan MA ’69, a USF trustee. “It’s what drives us to support Jesuit Catholic education and students at USF.“ Both Joan and Bob attended Catholic school from an early age and went on to earn degrees from Catholic universities. They’re committed to seeing Catholic schools succeed. The McGrath Center will support scholarly research and allow students to present at academic conferences and Catholic educational gatherings, as well as in local school communities through professional development workshops, said M ichael Duff y, who w ill head t he new center.
CULTIVATING LEADERS ACROSS DISCIPLINES The McGrath’s gift includes $3 million to create the Change the World From Here Institute and fund scholarships for students who show leadership potential, regardless of their discipline. Another $1 million will endow scholarships for undergraduate students who want to enroll in University Ministry’s international immersion courses. “We are so grateful for the generosity of Joan and Bob McGrath,” said Julie Dowd, director of University Ministry. “By establishing this endowment for the Arrupe Immersion Program, we will be able to send more students on these transformative experiences. The big dream is to eventually provide funding so that any USF student with need who wants to go on an immersion trip will have the chance to do so.” “When you find programs like University Ministry and the Arrupe Immersions, where they’re always scratching for money, and you realize your support could let them loose and they could really do something important, that’s the kind of program we like to support,” Bob said.
ONCE A NUN, ALWAYS A CATHOLIC Joan grew up in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. At 17, she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange as a nun. She left 13 years later, partly because she felt she could accomplish more outside the order. “I imagined I had so much to do and to give to people,” said Joan. “I just didn’t know how to do it.” With a theology degree from Marymount College, she enrolled at USF in the graduate theology program, inspired by the progressive thinking of Vatican II. She was particularly inspired by one of her USF teachers, Rev. Albert Zabala, S.J., who regularly brought leading theologians to the university. “It was one of the finest places to study theology at the time,” said Joan, who credits her education with inspiring her to give to USF. “I have come to highly value Jesuit education. Their whole philosophy is so good and so balanced to me.” She went on to Fordham University to pursue a doctorate before returning to the Bay Area to teach high school in the 1970s.
“WE, TOO, ARE CALLED TO CHANGE THE WORLD. NOW WE HAVE THE CHANCE TO NOURISH THAT DESIRE TO SERVE IN OTHERS.” A LIFELONG PARTNERSHIP In 1982, Joan, who by then was principal of Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton, California, married Bob McGrath. He had an electrical engineering degree from the University of Notre Dame, an institution they also support generously, and started McGrath RentCorp, renting modular buildings, industrial liquid storage tanks, and electronic measurement equipment. Joan joined him at the company as executive vice president, developing the sales team and helping to lead McGrath RentCorp to become a successful publicly traded company. Now retired, the couple is intent on sharing the faith and values that served them so well, by giving back. “We, too, are called to change the world,” Joan said. “Now, we have the chance to nourish that desire to serve in others.” /////
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WHERE DO WE STAND ON DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION? by Samantha Bronson
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When Elizabeth Spears ’18 arrived on campus as a sophomore transfer student, she was looking to make a change. Back home in Olmsted Falls, Ohio, Spears fit right in as a white woman in the small suburb of Cleveland that’s 97 percent white. But she longed to experience the energy of an international metropolis. At USF, the sociology major met students of different ethnicities, religions, and geographies. She sampled Indian, Korean, and Thai foods, and attended San Francisco festivals like the city’s Chinese New Year celebration. A whole new world opened up, one that delighted her but also one that made her question some long-held habits. In sociology class, she learned about implicit bias — how people make subconscious connections, for instance associating wine with cheese or, more problematically, black men with violence. And she studied microaggressions — subtle ways that people in particular groups can be insulted in everyday life, such as when Asians are asked for help with math homework because they’re typecast as being good with numbers. The terms “implicit bias” and “microaggression” seemed to describe things Spears herself sometimes said and did that could offend others. When she started an internship working on women’s issues at USF’s Cultural Centers — which provide spaces for students to examine social issues and explore what it means to be part of a diverse community — Spears began to see how stereotypes she’d grown up with were holding her back. “Honestly, working as a Cultural Centers intern
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has helped me learn a lot about myself,” said Spears, now a senior. “I’ve uncovered subconscious thinking in myself that was racist and sexist that I didn’t even realize. I grew up believing that I had to get married to a man to be successful, and that I could never be a scientist or mathematician. I didn’t really realize I had these ingrained sexist leanings about my own sex until I came to USF.” Spears is hardly alone in her prejudices. But she’s found strength in talking about them with others and trying to overcome them.
A NATIONAL ISSUE What she’s learned about inclusive language (like avoiding alienating phrases such as “that’s retarded”) and about how to be an ally with people who are different from herself are skills that diversity experts see as essential to ensuring all members of campus communities feel welcomed. Frustration and anger at longstanding and systemic racial discrimination, after all, is what ignited protests at the University of Missouri, Yale, and many more campuses nationwide in the last two years. In Missouri, several reports of racist incidents — such as a group of people in a pickup truck yelling slurs at a black student — sparked outrage that eventually led to the resignation of the university’s chancellor. At Yale, a debate about potentially offensive Halloween costumes spotlighted deep-rooted tensions about the way the university deals with race. And at USF the issue came to the fore in December 2015 when the Black Student Union (BSU) presented a list of demands to the administration intent on improving African American and other underrepresented students’ experiences on campus. The list included reversing the defunding of support systems for diverse students, in particular the Office of Multicultural Recruitment and Retention; developing targeted efforts to reach at least 10 percent African American enrollment; and instituting microaggressions trainings for students, faculty, and staff; among others. In the wake of demonstrations and demands, USF and other institutions are responding in a variety
of ways, but the question they're trying to address is essentially the same: How do we create a university that is not just diverse, but also equitable and inclusive? That three-pronged question is at the heart of what advocates like USF’s Mary Wardell-Ghirarduzzi do every day. At USF the importance of embracing diversity goes beyond current events — it’s a pillar of the university’s mission. “We are called, as an institution, to not only reflect the community and the world in which we live, but to bring people together,” said Wardell-Ghirarduzzi, USF vice provost and chief diversity officer. “We have a social obligation and, more importantly, a moral obligation, to be sensitive to human conditions and support and challenge students to a higher standard for the common good. This involves thoughtfully engaging with the intention to learn with and from others.” Wardell-Ghirarduzzi, who’s been named a Top 100 Under 50 Executive
Leader by Diversity MBA Magazine and recognized as one of the Bay Area’s Most Influential Women in Business by the San Francisco Business Times, has served as the university’s chief diversity officer (CDO) since 2011. It’s a new executive-level role in U.S. higher education, with two-thirds of CDO positions created in the past five years.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION When it comes to diversity — as measured by the racial and ethnic composition of students on campus — USF is doing comparatively well. The university recently tied for second in the nation for campus diversity, according to rankings by U.S. News and
“WE ARE CALLED, AS AN INSTITUTION, TO NOT ONLY REFLECT THE COMMUNITY AND THE WORLD IN WHICH WE LIVE, BUT TO BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER.” Mary Wardell-Ghirarduzzi, USF vice provost and chief diversity officer
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“I’VE UNCOVERED SUBCONSCIOUS THINKING IN MYSELF THAT WAS RACIST AND SEXIST THAT I DIDN’T EVEN REALIZE.” Elizabeth Spears ’18
World Report — with a student population that’s 29 percent Caucasian, 20 percent Asian, 19 percent Latino, 16 percent international, and 5 percent African American. Still, USF is working to improve recruitment efforts among some populations, including African Americans, Latinos, native peoples, and students from low-income families. This year, the university’s recruitment officers will travel to about 75 new high schools across the country that historically serve students of color; they’ll attend college fairs like 100 Black Men and National Hispanic College Fairs; and they’ll connect with community-based education organizations such as First Graduate, I Have a Dream Foundation, Making Waves, and College Horizons. Improved student recruitment also means re-
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moving barriers to participation and making all people feel welcome. One of those barriers can be USF’s $60,000 a year sticker price, which is why the university awards $25,600 on average to undergraduate students in the form of scholarships and financial aid. It’s also why almost 70 percent of undergraduates receive financial aid — 25 percent being low-income Pell Grant recipients. On top of assisting students, the university supports underrepresented faculty, staff, and administrators who’ve historically faced tougher roads to promotion and tenure. For example, the Gerardo Marín Diversity Fellowships program is a faculty diversity initiative that recruits top scholars from diverse communities to teach courses and conduct research at USF. Since 2001, full-time Asian faculty have increased 250 percent to a total of 70, Latino faculty have increased by 126 percent to 52, and African American faculty by 77 percent to 23. Full-time female faculty increased 110 percent to 263. The initiative not only advances the careers of historically marginalized faculty — critically important in itself — but it also helps students.
“Research shows that underrepresented students are more likely to graduate when they have professors who have similar histories and narratives to them,” Wardell-Ghirarduzzi said. Cultivating a campus climate of attitudes, experiences, and behaviors that respect and humanize others is another way that Wardell– Ghirarduzzi’s Office of Diversity Engagement and Community Outreach team works to expand equity and inclusion. Each year, the office brings nationally recognized diversity leaders to campus to lecture or teach through the Diversity Scholar and Visiting Professor program. It also organizes campus-wide dialogues about diversity and inclusion, racial justice in the Catholic Church, and the privileges of being white in America — conversations designed to build community and intergroup understanding. In addition, Wardell-Ghirarduzzi’s team puts on events such as the annual Latinas in Leadership forum, the DiversityTalks Film Series, and seminars focused on how to be an ally with and support justice for those from different backgrounds.
A PLATFORM FOR STUDENTS But promoting equity and inclusion on campus isn’t a one-department job. It’s a shared responsibility. USF’s Cultural Centers, for example, enable students to explore their identities and social justice and diversity issues through community dialogues and artistic expression, according to co-directors Alejandro Covarrubias and Erin Echols. The centers put on more than 100 programs annually on topics related to diversity, and also provide physical spaces where students can come together to build solidarity and unity. Junior Carlos Calles ’19 was first drawn to the Cultural Centers because of the Lyricist Lounge, a monthly open mic night and storytelling event that is one of the centers’ bestattended programs. Calles, a musician who raps and sings, shares his experiences about growing up Chicano in low-income neighborhoods with gang activity and drug abuse. At Lyricist Lounge, he sees students of color, LGBTQ students, and women performing, sharing, and learning about experiences very different from their own.
“THERE ARE A LOT OF MARGINALIZED STUDENTS ON CAMPUS WHO DON’T ALWAYS HAVE THE PLATFORM TO SPEAK ABOUT THEIR IDENTITIES.” Carlos Calles ’19
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“There are a lot of marginalized students on campus who don’t always have the platform to speak about their identities, and there are a lot of students on campus who don’t understand what it’s like to be marginalized or disenfranchised,” Calles said. “This is a great place to share and learn about those experiences.” He’s also a fan of the Cultural Centers’ popular Exploring series — in which students delve into the dynamics of power and privilege, discussing such implicit bias topics as whiteness, masculinity, socioeconomic class, and Christian dominance. “Students get to think about their identity as it
“I REALLY THINK THERE SHOULD BE SOME TYPE OF MANDATORY CLASS OR SEMINAR WHERE WE TALK ABOUT NAVIGATING RACE.” Tinia Montford ’20
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relates to religion, for example,” Calles said. “Christianity tends to be male-dominated, so if you’re a male Christian, you may not understand that you’re coming off as someone who is patriarchal.”
MICROAGGRESSIONS MATTER USF hasn’t figured everything out, to be sure. BSU President Tyler Jones ’18 said that while there’s been regular discussions with administrators and faculty, he feels progress has been too slow. “We like being at USF and love the faculty and staff that we connect with and have built great relationships with,” Jones said. “But we feel we need to push the envelope to get people to listen to us on another level. Our demands are nothing more and nothing less than a call for USF to act
on what it preaches and live up to its claim of being a diverse community.” Sophomore English major Tinia Montford’s experience illustrates what some students cope with. Montford ’20, who is African American, came to USF in part because of its diversity — she, like Spears, the sociology major from Ohio, wanted to be surrounded by people of different backgrounds and to learn in a city that itself is diverse. Yet there are instances that catch her off guard, including when she gets comments about her hair and students randomly touch it. “That’s very demeaning and makes you feel almost like you’re not human in a way,” she said. “I know my hair texture isn’t similar to someone who’s Caucasian, and I think people are curious. If someone genuinely asked me about my hair and what’s different about taking care of it, I don’t mind explaining. But touching my hair? I’m not a pet.” Then there was the time a study mate blurted out a stereotype as they listened to singer Mariah Carey while preparing for an exam. “The gist was, ‘Why do all black people sing with soul?’” Montford explained. “I had to tell her, ‘You know you’re talking to someone who is black, right? We aren’t all born with the gift of song. We aren’t all like Mariah Carey and Beyoncé.’” Rather than malice, Montford chalks up her experiences to ignorance about different ethnicities and cultures. But microaggressions like these are still frustrating and demeaning. “I really think there should be some type of mandatory class or seminar where we talk about navigating race,” Montford said. “A lot of students come from areas where they never had to think about that. But this is a diverse world and you need to know how to communicate and not cross cultural lines that are offensive.”
COMMITTED TO INCLUSION Montford has a point. The university has responded to such suggestions by stepping up microaggressions training in student orientation and by establishing the Bias Education Resource Team to educate the campus community and support those who experience bias and harassment, said Julie Orio, vice provost of Student Life. And Student Life has partnered with faculty members like Ja’Nina Garrett Walker, assistant psychology professor, to develop a Black Student Orientation to welcome African Americans to USF, and also with Candice Harrison, associate professor of history, Pamela Balls-Organista, associate dean for social sciences, and Stephanie Sears, chair and associate professor of sociology, to create an African American residential learning community. “Some people argue that diversity and inclusion efforts are tokenizing, or that they cater to students’ sense of entitlement, in some cases even creating division instead of unity,” said Wardell-Ghirarduzzi. “I disagree. I think that understanding students’ identities, and how these identities are welcomed or not welcomed on our campus, is a critical aspect of equity and social justice work.” To that end, USF President Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J., has initiated the African American Scholars Project to increase cultural engagement, support academic success and student leadership development, and create scholarships for USF’s African American students. Spears is an example of how students can learn to navigate race and culture — whether that’s through trainings and workshops or by
working alongside and supporting those from different backgrounds. “I understand now how to appropriately ask people questions about their culture when I’m curious, and I’m more inclined to challenge myself to read articles or watch movies that would have been outside my old cultural comfort zone,” Spears said. One big advantage of living among and learning alongside such a diverse student body is that students can take what they learn into the wider world. Take Brian Tippens ’97. Tippens, an information systems management graduate, saw diversity in gender, in ethnicities, and in thoughts and ideas in his classes at USF. Now Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s chief diversity officer, Tippens said he finds USF’s commitment to inclusion refreshing. Not only is it the right thing to do, he said, but such efforts, whether at universities or at companies, have real impacts. “For us, it’s a business driver,” Tippens said. “We are a company driven by innovation, and innovation is driven by embracing different ideas from people of different backgrounds. It’s not just the diversity — it’s also the idea that all teams and ideas matter. Inclusion and diversity don’t happen organically. I am a big advocate of inclusion, but one thing I always talk about is that it takes work.” It’s a sentiment that Wardell-Ghirarduzzi shares. Campuses around the country are trying to figure out how to build that kind of inclusive environment. There’s been progress, but change won’t come overnight. “At USF, we are fulfilling our Jesuit mission by paying close attention to the gaps that we know exist in our students’ experiences, even while building equity and inclusion into all facets of the institution’s DNA,” she said. /////
For more on USF’s diversity & inclusion efforts visit: Office of Diversity Engagement and Community Outreach usfca.edu/diversity Cultural Centers usfca.edu/cultural-centers Bias Education Resource Team myusf.usfca.edu/bias
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The Job Whisperers By Arvin Temkar
FROM INTERVIEW T I P S TO CO M PA N Y FIELD TRIPS, USF OFFERS STUDENTS A N D A LU M N I C A R E E R G U I DA N C E FO R L I F E . It was senior year, and Amanda Lim ’16 was closing in on an accounting degree. She’d recently completed an internship with one of the nation’s Big 6 finance firms — an opportunity she'd worked long and hard for and one she thought would be the perfect springboard to a career. But she was troubled when the experience left her second-guessing her choice of profession. “A lot of accounting and financial firms have the standard corporate vibe: cubicles and people heads down in their work,” said Lim, who thrives on teamwork and loves building relationships. Accounting had seemed a practical choice, particularly since she'd thought about starting a business in the future. But it was dawning on her that the field didn’t quite suit her, and she worried the environment was more competitive than collaborative. She wondered if she should consider something different. But what? She’d already invested so much time into accounting. Almost on a whim, Lim signed up for a marketing and communications “trek” with USF's Career Services Center. She and 19 other students headed downtown for a day of behind-the-scenes tours at four Bay Area marketing and PR firms, where they met managers and top-level recruiters, and got a feel for life in the marketing industry. One of the companies was DWA, an international marketing firm that builds campaigns for tech companies like Toshiba and Lenovo. As Lim walked through the airy, bullpen-style office across from San Francisco’s Pier 19, she heard upbeat music playing and saw employees bonding over a game of pool.
USFCA.EDU/MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017 31
In a small group meeting, Lim heard USF alumni who’d been hired by DWA talk about their experiences in the company’s entry-level job training program. Trainees — recruited from USF as part of an ongoing partnership — rotated through different marketing positions, worked on several teams, and received mentorship from a director. “I knew r ight then, this is where I wanted to be,” she said. Looking online after the trek, Lim learned that if she loaded up on marketing classes in her final semester, she could graduate with a marketing degree. It was an easy decision.
EXPLORE C AREERS FROM HERE Alex Hochman, senior director of USF’s Priscilla A. Scotlan Career Services Center, knows that like Lim, many students struggle to figure out where they want to land after graduation. And he knows how valuable it can be for them to explore different companies and careers — to go beyond brochures and websites and actually meet and talk to people in the field. That’s why the career center dreamed up the idea for treks two years ago. Luckily for USFers, the Bay Area has hundreds of companies willing to open their doors. “Whoever decided to plop this university here 160 years ago couldn’t have known at the time how much fun they’d be making it for a career services director in 2017,” said Hochman, whose team of counselors guides thousands of students into the workforce. “We’re in the middle of everything that most college students want.” The career center offers students tours of some of the area’s most sought-after employers, from video game maker PlayStation to public radio and television broadcaster KQED to biotech firm Gilead. With several treks a year to choose from, students can register for tours in the fields of finance, nonprofits, media, and more. The tours give USFers a chance to meet employers, explore industries, and, in cases like Lim’s, find new pursuits. Treks aren’t the only opportunities the career center offers. The center brings big-name em-
Amanda Lim ’16 changed majors from accounting to marketing her senior year.
ployers like Apple and the FBI to campus to connect with select groups of students pursuing degrees related to each firm’s field. And job-seeking students and alumni can pop into the center for interviewing tips, LinkedIn profile hints, resume reviews, and cover letter advice. The center also manages a LinkedIn networking group for Dons in all stages of their careers.
C R O S S P L AY S TAT I O N OFF THE BUCKET LIST Slots for treks can be competitive. More than 60 students applied for a recent one focused on the video game industry. After reviewing students’ essays and resumes, Hochman's team accepted 30. On a cool San Francisco afternoon in February, 15 of those students ventured 45 minutes south to the headquarters of a company many had obsessed over since they were old enough to play “Crash Bandicoot”: PlayStation. The other 15 hopped on a bus to downtown San Francisco to check out Ubisoft, the video game developer behind the hit adventure franchise Assassin’s Creed. At PlayStation, a recruiter led the group through the company’s gleaming 450,000-square-foot office complex, where engineers were hard at work on products and services that entertain millions of people worldwide. “The first console I ever owned was a PlayStation,” said freshman computer science major Dhiveshan Chetty ’20. “Visiting PlayStation is definitely something I can cross off the bucket list.” After the tour, students chatted with young employees who got their starts working in programming, video production, market research, and human resources as part of PlayStation University — the company's summer internship program. Hiring managers shared tips on what they look for in interns. “We’re looking at resumes in the thousands,” the recruiter told students. “We want to see that thing that makes you bubble up to the top.” It was a crash course for Chetty and the others on how to apply for internships and jobs: target your application materials to the position you want, research the company and show that you’re familiar with it, and differentiate yourself by participating in projects outside your regular classwork. “You make yourself stand out by the things you do when nobody is watching,” the recruiter said. “The things you do on the weekends and evenings.” Chetty, who had his eye on a programming internship, paid close attention. “I learned a lot about how I should apply for internships at PlayStation and Trekkers tour PlayStation. other companies in the future,” he said.
MEETING AND GREETING USF ST YLE USF's biggest career event is the center’s annual job fair, which draws 75 employers and hundreds of students. It’s a tried-and-true method for students and employers to exchange information and scope out the market. Even better is the career center’s “Meet The ... ” series, which includes titles like Meet the Venture Capitalists and Meet the Companies Who Care. Unlike a large-scale job fair, a “Meet the ... ” recruiting event is tailored to a handful of employers and students, allowing job seekers to shine. “This is our secret weapon for getting Pixar, Salesforce, Apple, and Twitter to campus,” Hochman said. “We tell employers there will only be nine other companies in the room, not 80. And we promise them less than 100 students — which, believe it or not, they like because it means less work and better results for them.” The students are chosen based on the employer’s ideal candidate: computer science students recommended by faculty, for example, or politics majors with at least two internships. “St udent s love it . They sit w it h employer s at round t ables get t i ng to k now t hem,” Hochman say s. The career center also brings employers and professionals to campus for what Associate Director of Employer Relations Julia Hing calls “indirect recruiting events.”
USFCA.EDU/MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017 33
“T his is our secret weapon for getting Pixar, Salesforce, Apple, and Twitter to campus.” - Alex Hochman (pictured)
At a February panel called Meet the Founders, the founders of an exercise app, a food truck chain, and a company that picks up and stores your possessions with help from its app shared their entrepreneurial success stories with students — and then students got to chat with the founders one-on-one and ask questions.
FO R A LU M N I TO O The career center’s services aren’t limited to current students, either. For a year after graduation, alumni get free face-to-face or video streaming appointments to discuss their careers. And all alumni are welcome to a complimentary appointment once a year. When Tam Nguyen ’12 returned to the Bay Area from Spain after spending a few months
34 SUMMER 2017 USF MAGAZINE
abroad, she stopped by the center for tips and a mock interview with Hochman to prepare for a real one at cloud-based software giant Salesforce. She landed the paralegal job, and later, when friends asked her to refer them to the company, she sent them to the career center’s website for tips on preparing their resumes and cover letters. A few years later, when applying for a similar position at Google, Nguyen reached out to the center for advice on how to perform an online video interview. “Alex did a Google Hangout with me. He gave me tips on how to set up my backdrop so that it looked professional,” she said. She followed his advice to avoid conducting the interview in her bedroom — an awkward spot for a professional conversation and a common mistake. And she livened up the white wall behind where she planned to sit for the interview by hanging a painting. Another resource for alumni, students, faculty, and staff is Dons Helping Dons, a LinkedIn networking group managed by the career center that has about 4,000 members. Members can post job listings and reach out to Dons who work in their industries or live nearby. For alumni interested in mentoring students, there’s the Office of Alumni Engagement’s Alumni Mentor Program. Regional alumni
groups and reunions are also good for reconnecting. “We want Dons to take advantage of all the services the university has to offer,” Hochman said. “We’re 100,000 alumni strong. That’s 100,000 opportunities for new connections and new possibilities.”
P E R S I S T E N C E PAY S O F F The vast Dons network came in handy for Lim, the accounting major who changed her focus to marketing. After her trek to DWA, she reached out to some of the alumni she’d met. She also got in touch with managers and employees she’d met at the other three marketing firms. “I kept my connections with them and had coffee and lunch with five of them,” she said. “With another three, I maintained an email chain.”
That spring Lim joined the student marketing club and applied for a marketing internship. As graduation neared and the time came to hunt for jobs, she returned to the career center to polish her resume and bulletproof her cover letters. She also did a series of videotaped interviews with Hochman’s staff to prepare for the real thing. “I was stuttering so much I couldn’t even answer the questions,” she recalled. “It was embarrassing.” But the stuttering subsided and the practice paid off. She ended up with three job offers — including one at DWA, where she’d developed a relationship with a media director. Now she’s a social media advertising analyst for the agency, building Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn campaigns for clients like Cisco. “I’m so grateful to the career center for setting up the trek. Being able to actually go to these companies and have the platform to chat with people is what helped me find who I am,” she said. “The trek was the turning point for me and the reason I’m at DWA today.” ///// TREK WITH STUDENTS TO PLAYSTATION usfca.edu/job-whisperers
USFCA.EDU/MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017 35
////////classnotes
classnotes
HUMAN PINWHEEL. Mark Foote, Leah Zebre, Terry Ellis, and Mary Cook of the College Players (counter clockwise, 1967 yearbook photo)
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UNDERGRADUATE
’51
CONCETTO I. CONSOLAZIONE
has been mar r ied for 62 year s, w it h t wo daug hter s and four g randch i ldren.
’52
ROBERT GEORGE GHIR ARDELLI’S
granddaughter Emelia Rose Smith received her undergraduate degree summa cum laude with a major in English from the University of South Florida (USF) last May. Sixtyfour years earlier he received his degree, a major in chemistry, from the University of San Francisco (also USF) — also summa cum laude. Her grade point average, however, was 4.0, superior to his.
’54
ROBERT (BOB) F. HANSON
’56
CHARLES W. S. JEZYCKI
is comfortably retired, with five children, eight grandch i ldren, and one g reatg randdaug hter.
has a new address after 51 years in the beautiful Napa Valley. With his wife Barbara, he moved to a 55-andolder gated community in Elk Grove, California — a perfect spot for a new beg inning. They have two sons and five grandkids in Napa and will be visiting often.
’58
MICHAEL D. JOHNSON
celebrated his 80th birthday on Dec. 25.
JOHN POPOVICH enrolled at USF
three years after joining the
36 SUMMER 2017 USF MAGAZINE
Army in 1952. After graduation, he was employed by General Steamship, Ltd. From 1959 to 1993, he was a diplomat with the U.S. government, serving in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Yemen, Egypt, and Panama. He retired in 1993 and lives a simple life of fishing and golf in Florida.
’60
ELAINE ROHLFES was excited to be part of the Women's March in Santa Cruz County. She did not expect the numbers that showed up, with the newspapers reporting approximately 8,000 participants. She gives thanks to USF for the great start to her world education and human understanding.
’62
KATHLEEN MCDONNELL FARRELL continues
to enjoy life with her husband, children, and grandchildren. She’s becoming more bionic as time goes on, receiving a new hip in December 2016. She will once again be able to enjoy activities like playing golf, swimming, and walking her dog. She’s sorry to lose Kevin Starr and Warren Hinckle, but still has fond memor ies of working on the Foghorn staff.
BILL DE FUNIAK was elected to a second term as clerk-treasurer in the town of Long Beach, Indiana.
’63
JOHN FREEMAN decided to revisit his USF major in histor y after retiring from teaching math in San Francisco public schools in 2001 after 35 years. He has become a San Francisco historian, researching and writing articles. He has also done presentations on topics of local interest. He has been back on campus, teaching courses at the Fromm Institute of Lifelong Learning for three years now — a dream fulfilled. JOHN U. FRY was appointed to one
year of service (2016–17) on the Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury by the Superior Court of Santa Cruz. He is chair of the Cities and Counties Committee, a member of the Special Districts Committee, and a member of the Grand Jury Panel.
’64
JACK HOWELL oversees
a project that is responsible for the dissemination of solar cookers in refugee camps in and around Kabul, Afghanistan. The project has been going for the last eight years. He is also involved in water pasteurization devices. More than 8,000 solar ovens and water pasteurization devices have been shipped to date.
LARRY RATTO is the chairman of the Alameda County Planning Commission.
’65
TOM MCBREARTY and
his wife Adele have returned to California.
’66
MIKE RUEF has retired after 25 years of research and teaching at the Universit y of Kansas and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
’68
NANCY BR AUN MCGAR AGHAN
is enjoying time with her kids and 10 grandchildren, traveling when she can. She and her spouse Pat have just returned from eight days of hiking in Patagonia. She is grateful to be alive and well.
JOHN TASTOR ser ves on the
board of the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo, advocating for affordable housing in the county. He volunteers with Habitat for Humanity and returned to Vietnam in 2017 to help build houses. He also worked with Habitat for Humanity and former President Jimmy Carter in Memphis last year.
’69
JOHN TORPEY is
’70
CATHY KOERTING
celebrating his 40th year in the financial services industry, and is looking forward to many more.
DOHERTY retired from full-time nursing at a rural clinic on a small island off the coast of Washington. She has four children and five grandchildren.
’71
STEVE GUSS and his wife,
BETH DRISCOLL GUSS '71 , have enjoyed living and working on Whidbey Island, Washington, over the last 12 years.
’72
MARY HELENE DAVIDSON
’73
STEPHEN BOREMAN
MELE retired in the Pacific Northwest to do peace and justice work, such as taking dow n t he deat h p ena lt y, opposing prisons for profit, and the sundry, constant issues to wh ich read ing t he G ospel alerts us.
was interviewed by CNN and Medscape for articles published on health care issues in 2016. A founding partner in the San Francisco law firm of Slote, Links & Boreman, LLP, Steve also serves as pro bono legal adviser to Ocean Defenders Alliance, a nonprofit organization of divers engaged in marine life protection. He recently established the Hawaii chapter of Ocean Defenders. DONALD WILLIAMS has closed shop and retired, after 19 years of teaching math at Napa Valley College and 30 years of running his wood f loor company in Calistoga. Now he plays a lot of racquetball, tennis, and piano, reads a lot, and works for the preservation of the North Bay's semi-rural character.
’74
KATHLEEN MCDONNELL FARRELL ’62 CONTINUES TO ENJOY LIFE WITH HER HUSBAND, CHILDREN, AND GRANDCHILDREN. SHE’S BECOMING MORE BIONIC AS TIME GOES ON, RECEIVING A NEW HIP IN DECEMBER 2016. SHE WILL ONCE AGAIN BE ABLE TO ENJOY ACTIVITIES LIKE PLAYING GOLF, SWIMMING, AND WALKING HER DOG. SHE’S SORRY TO LOSE KEVIN STARR AND WARREN HINCKLE, BUT STILL HAS FOND MEMORIES OF WORKING ON THE FOGHORN STAFF.
JACK GR ANDSAERT
was honored by the San Mateo County Trial Lawyers Association with the Judge of the Year Award in 2016. He was honored in November by the San Mateo County Veterans Commission with a Veteran of the Year Award. MARY P. KWAN was the chief merchant at Zales and owned and operated an organic frozen yogurt cafe in Dallas. She’s since traveled to China as the president and CEO of Robbinz Department Stores in Tianjin, China.
USFCA.EDU/MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017 37
////////classnotes
’75
ROBERT L. ESCOBAR MA ’78
has retired as deputy director of human resources after more than 20 years with Santa Clara Valley Transportation Author ity. He focused on labor relations. He is now starting his own company in the human resources realm. He specializes in organized labor, assisting organizations that have collective bargaining ag reements.
’76
R AE GAMBONI- CHAROS
celebrated 40 years as a registered nurse and 15 years as a chief nurse executive.
JERRY ORNELAS is happily retired after 20 years as a police officer and 20 years as a criminal defense investigator. He and his spouse now travel extensively alone or with friends within the U.S. and Europe. They also visit their g randchildren in eastern Washington.
’77
LOY HOLDER published
’78
CLAR A MCINERNEY is
a novel titled Dancing Up the Ladder in November 2016.
carrying on the USF Jesuit tradition: Her daughter SHANNON is currently a senior on campus. KAREN MCCARTHY XAVIER serves as
a licensed clinical social worker at the VA Medical Center in San Francisco. She met her lifetime best friends at USF and remains in close contact with them — MARY DAVIDSON ’78 and FR. JOE HARTZLER ’78 .
’79
PETER CULLEN was recently appointed the CFO for Squeezolog y Life, a leading food products and technolog y company based in Southern California. ALLISO N (WO N DE R ) GAN NO N
completed her career as a manager in regulatory affairs at Roche Molecular Systems in July 2016. She has retired to pursue
38 SUMMER 2017 USF MAGAZINE
her passion of teaching yoga and is currently teaching Iyengarbased yoga in the East Bay. AL SCHUBERT has enjoyed a
29-year career with VSP Vision Care. For the last three years, he managed all health plan business channels for the organization. He was just named SVP/GM to head all direct-to-consumer business channels for VSP.
’80
CHARLES BARRAGAN
retired from his HR consultant position with the University of California Office of the President in August of 2015. In August of 2016, Charles elected to rejoin the workforce on a part-time basis and is currently the director of human resources at Carlmont Gardens, a skilled nursing facility in Belmont, California. AL GALINDO ser ves on the executive board of directors for Jefferson Chamber of Commerce in Metairie, Louisiana.
’81
ANITA (NITZI) GILDEA-PHILLIPS and SAM PHILLIPS ’82,
JD ’85 saw their son SEAN PHILLIPS ’16 graduate from USF cum
laude with a degree in history last December. Sean is now attending law school at Santa Clara University. Their son PATRICK PHILLIPS ’07 is engaged to be married to Corey DeShazo.
’82
ART M. ARRIAGA , owner
of Art’s Pro Sports in Vallejo, California, is celebrating 24 years in business. DAN COURTNEY temporar ily
retired from commercial real estate brokering to concentrate on caregiving for his mother, Jacqueline. He also manages one Yosemite and two La Jolla properties as vacation rentals and occasionally invests in commercial real estate.
DAVID KEEPNEWS is dean and professor at the Har r iet Rothkopf Heilbr unn School of Nursing at Long Island University. In addition, he recently completed the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellows prog ram. KIMBERLY KOVASALA is present ly teach ing phy sical educat ion in West Palm Beach, Flor ida.
’83
MARY FEELEY is glad to announce that Conard House recovery program in San Francisco now allows clients to attend Dons sporting events. This project is possible with the support of Athletic Director Scott Sidwell and Associate Director Brittney Holmquist.
MICHAEL KELLOUGH received his MBA from University of Houston-Victor ia.
BETH KUPER works exclusively
with transformational life coaches, helping them build their support teams through re c r u it i ng out st a nd i ng employees. She would love to connect with recruiters in a similar niche.
’88
STEVE M. ABREU
recently moved back to California from New York City and launched a f in-tech mortgage bank in Emeryville. The company is t wo years old and has just raised its third round of financing from Warburg Pincus.
NANCY SAENGJAENG is a two-time
White House invitation winner. She is a member of the Santa Barbara County Workforce Resource Center team that was invited to present its work to help those released from California prisons get back on their feet.
HAYATO MATSUKURA contends USF
is not just another school, it is another world. He can’t stop falling in love with the school and San Francisco, which gave him countless precious and sweet memor ies.
’84
ANNA M. ALEXANDER MSN ’91 completed
30 years of service with Kaiser Permanente this year.
’85
HOR ACIO ACOSTA is getting his doctorate in strategic science for development in Venezuela.
BAK E R RIN G was elected to the county commission of Sumner County, Tennessee in 2010. He previously served on the city council of Gallatin, Tennessee. Ring was recently re-elected to his third term as Region 5 vice chair of American Mensa.
’87
JOHN E . HUNT is a
successful chiropractor in Southern California with two beautiful boys.
CERENA SWEETLAND-GIL is proud to have a pivotal role in providing access to higher education with her work at Notre Dame de Namur University.
’89
MATTIA J. GILMARTIN
’90
SHARON GRANDFIELD
MSN ’93 was appointed executive director of the Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders program at the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing.
has retired and is teaching beg inners br idge, while playing much br idge herself. She took a bucket-list cr uise last November, which ended at Pompeii.
’92
MIKE GUERRA MHROD ’95,
EDD ’01 received the 2017 USF International Institute of Criminal Justice Leadership's Barbara Hammer man Law Enforcement Leadership Award on Jan. 5, 2017.
FRED BLANKENSHIP ’97
THE POWER OF POSITIVITY Hotlanta news anchor Fred Blankenship ’97 got his start in foggy San Francisco “Let’s get it!!!” That’s the enthusiastic greeting (give or take an exclamation point) that Fred Blankenship’s 30,000 social media followers wake up to on Facebook and Twitter each morning, as they get a preview of the day ahead. For more, they can tune to his morning news show on WSB-TV Atlanta. The infectiously upbeat anchor, who broadcasts in one of the largest television markets in the nation, got his start in journalism covering Dons athletics for the San Francisco Foghorn. Blankenship ’97 credits USF journalism Professor Michael Robertson for setting him on the path to
MATTHEW SULLIVAN'S literary mystery novel, Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, will be published in June in the U.S. and U.K., and translated for publication in Israel, Germany, Italy, and Brazil. DUNCAN C. WHEELER works for
a local developer and real estate company. He sells real estate and builds homes in the San Francisco area.
’93
DEBRA BLUM-TONG is
building the infrastructure for her orchard/ vineyard on the Abiqua. Currently, the plot produces haskap, honeyberries, and hazelnuts with truffles.
’95
LINDSAY MARTELL
is a wr iter who
a career in journalism. “He is the reason why I thought I could do the job; he just gave me so much confidence,” Blankenship says. In San Francisco, Blankenship was part of a KRON-TV team that won a prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for the 1998 documentary series About Race. The series challenged racial stereotypes and myths with science and personal interviews. Today, he continues to highlight stories about race, interviewing Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) for “Return to Selma” — a 50th anniversary television special about the 1965 Bloody Sunday march. Lewis, a
routinely covers cutting-edge car tech for AutoTrader. She lives just outside of Boston with her husband and 4-year-old daughter.
’97
VALERIE GOROSTIAGUE
MONTALVO went back to school at Bauman College in Berkeley and received a certificate in holistic nutrition after 12 years in the finance industry and seven years at home raising four girls. She and her sister have started their own nutrition consulting business. MIKE ROBERTS is an investment adviser representative at PGR Solutions. PGR uses an academic approach to global investing that helps to manage risk and emphasize growth.
recently featured speaker at USF, is the last surviving leader of the march to Selma, Alabama that was led by Martin Luther King Jr. Blankenship also uses his ATL celeb status to help his community. This year, he worked on a “Stuff the Bus” campaign, where community members filled school buses with school supplies for underprivileged children. “There are many kids in group homes and shelters throughout the metroAtlanta area that don’t have basic school supplies,” he says. “We are here to change all that.”
’99
DAVID GUDELUNAS has been named dean of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Tampa, where he is a professor of communication. He previously served as director of the School of Communication, Arts and Media at Fairfield University.
ADDAE AMA KRABA , an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, completed her master of divinity in 2000. Over the past 15 years, she’s served congregations in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. She now serves a congregation in Amarillo, Texas.
’00
DONNALUCI WILLIAMS
is proud to be a representative for Bay Sotheby’s International Realty, assisting clients throughout California
with a target audience of Alameda and San Francisco counties.
’01
RAY LANTZ and his
wife Sarah have three delightful daughters — Lucy, 7; Annalise, 5; and Evelyn, 3 months — who keep Ray busy when he is not running his third-generation family business, The Diamond Center, in Claremont, California.
JUDE LEO WATTERS is enjoying life with his special needs students and looking forward to the 2018 midterm elections.
’02
JOHN ROHRBACHER was
appointed chief of police for the Sausalito Police Department. He previously served as the chief of police for San Rafael Police. John just
USFCA.EDU/MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017 39
////////classnotes completed his 38th year in law enforcement. JOAN TORNE EDD ’13 has been in higher education human resources for almost 15 years. She is the current presidentelect of the CUPA-HR Northern and Central Chapter and was appointed as a member of the Personnel Commission Committee in Gilroy, California. She is also a current USF alumni mentor and advocate of Jesuit higher education.
’04
MAXIMILLIAN DIEZ is
director of real estate operations and U.S. managing broker at Movoto, the only online real estate brokerage licensed to operate in all 50 states. He manages real estate operations throughout the U.S. and is responsible for more than $1.25 billion in real estate transactions annually.
LORRIE DOUGLAS ROBERTSON and her
CHRISTIAN J. DILLON ’05 JOINED THE GROWING RECREATION THERAPY SECTOR FOLLOWING HIS GRADUATION FROM USF. HE CURRENTLY WORKS AT THE SAN FRANCISCO VETERAN AFFAIRS MEDICAL CENTER, WHERE HE SERVES THE VETERAN POPULATION AND PROVIDES THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTIONS FOR VETS RETURNING FROM IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.
family have moved to Granite Bay, California after 20 years in the Bay Area. They are enjoying the slower pace of life and the proximity to the mountains, though they miss the ocean. DAVID ZIMMERLE married TERESA MILLER ’04 in 2012 and welcomed
their son Zachary Martin Zimmerle on April 6, 2016. David recently completed an MFA in fiction at the University of California, Riverside. He has a selection of poetry in the 99 Poems for the 99 Percent Anthology and an essay in The Surfer’s Journal (Volume 26, Issue 1). He currently works in Vista, California as content manager for Sound United, the parent company to Polk Audio and Definitive Technology.
’05
CHRISTOPHER CALDERÓN
will complete his master in divinity program in May 2017 and will be ordained a Jesuit Catholic priest in June.
40 SUMMER 2017 USF MAGAZINE
CHRISTIAN J. DILLON joined the
growing recreation therapy sector following his graduation from USF. He currently works at the San Francisco Veteran Affairs Medical Center, where he serves the veteran population and provides therapeutic interventions for vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
’06
CHRIS COULTER and JIMMY PINEDA ’06
acquired their 20th Jimmy John’s location in Atlanta. The two worked in banking for a year after graduation before starting to build and acquire Jimmy John’s franchises, as well as develop commercial real estate.
LAUREN T. WILSON owns a successful ice cream business in Seattle, and recently raised $17,000 via GoFundMe to help with the cost of a commercial pasteurizer. With this equipment, she’ll be able to sell wholesale ice cream to various grocery outlets and restaurants in and around Seattle.
’07
’08
JULIE HENDERSON , is pursuing her MFA with an emphasis in poetry at USF. Under the mentorship of Professor D.A. Powell, Julie participated in several organic “happenings” that involved organized political action in the streets of San Francisco. Poetry has never been more important than it is now, and she looks forward to working with fellow MFA writers to inf luence positive social change.
’10
MEREDITH “MERRY” HALL
and LEE WESTRICK ’12 completed the Rock ’n’ Roll 10K in Vancouver, Canada this past October. Merry and Lee donned their USF apparel and represented the school in style, while setting personal records in the race. They are thrilled to have completed the race and are proud to be known as “international runners.” STEPHANIE HAUGHEY recently moved from San Francisco to Boston and is practicing real estate law at Prince Lobel Tye, LLP.
JOHNNY AVOTS-SMITH
MNA ’15 recently became the director of development at Letterform Archive in San Francisco. Letterform Archive is a startup-style museum and library dedicated to inspiring designers, students, and all those who love letters by telling the 4,000-year story of graphic design from Sumerian cuneiform to calligraphy and the printing press to modern digital typography.
MICHAEL W. JOHNSON is putting his degree in environmental science to use. He is excited to share that he has found his way into a career where his degree from USF was pivotal in making his candidacy stand out. JAKE LEVERNIER completed his PhD in psychology at the University of Oregon in December 2016. He is now working in a postdoctoral position in the libraries of the University of Pennsylvania.
NICHOLAS BLAIR took a full-time
position at Facebook. He has so much gratitude for Andrew Goodwin and the media department at USF for preparing him for the digital and social media landscape of the Bay Area. JENNY O'CONNELL married Nathan
Moshman on July 31, 2016 in Hood River, Oregon.
CALE QUASHA is director of sales
at Newton Software, which is looking to hire fellow Dons in San Francisco. SAM VINAL is in Honduras working on a documentary on Berta Cáceres, an indigenous Lenca woman who was assassinated in March 2016. Berta Cáceres was a co-founder of the organization COPINH, which organizes
indigenous people across Honduras against hydroelectric dams as well as imperialism, patriarchy, and government impunity.
’11
CHARLIE MOSTOW won the Al Baker Award in sculpture in Januar y 2017. GILLIAN ROSE married Lt. Paul
Hassell on March 13, 2016 in her hometown of Houston. The couple currently resides in Corpus Christi, Texas where Paul is a flight instructor for the U.S. Navy and Gillian works in fundraising.
’12
CAROLINE CALDERON is
currently working with the Filipino community to establish SoMa Pilipinas, San Francisco’s Filipino Cultural Heritage District.
ALEXANDER M. ETTLIN is getting married this year and has a baby on the way. ANGELA GRIFFIN is very grateful to USF for the grounding that she has. After graduating from USF, she went back to working as a case manager in San Francisco, working with marginalized populations in the city. In 2016, she enrolled at Golden Gate University to pursue her master’s in HR management. She is currently working as an HR operations trainee at San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. DEIRDRE LONG returned to Jesuit
ministry with Loyola Press after finishing graduate school and working in parish ministry for a year.
’13
SHIRLEY HASSON is
happy to announce that she has recently accepted a position with Kaiser Permanente on an oncolog y f loor.
GABRIELA KIRKLAND will graduate
with her juris doctorate from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in May 2017. At UC Hastings, she served as executive supervising editor of Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly Law Journal (CLQ). Her legal note will be published in volume 44, issue 4 of CLQ. She will remain in San Francisco after graduation to join an insurance defense civil litigation firm. CINDY NGO was an orthopedic
trauma RN at UC Davis for 1.5 years, and then returned to San Francisco to work at California Pacific Medical Center as an orthopedic RN. During her time as a nurse she worked part-time at startup Tr usted. Tr usted launched in September 2015, and has expanded to the East Bay, Peninsula, and Marin County. The company is disr upting the childcare industry and Cindy has taken a full-time role as a program manager. DEIRDRE O'CONNOR MA ’14 is loving her second year of teaching the third grade. After graduation, she took seven months off to travel Europe. KILLIAN W. PAGE is headed to Bali, Indonesia to train new employees and oversee production for Indosole.
’14
SABRINA AVALIN (GUNN)
began working for Cengage Learning in Clifton Park, New York in October 2016. As the national account coordinator for the Channel Partners team, she manages bookstore relationships with smaller resellers all the way up to substantial accounts such as Amazon and Chegg. She enjoys being in the publishing world and seeing the other side of textbook creation and implementation.
ANNE KRONENBERG ’02
GOT HARVEY MILK? Anne Kronenberg ’02 continues activist’s legacy A framed campaign sign supporting gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk hangs above Anne Kronenberg’s desk. Below it is a poster from the Academy Award-winning film Milk, the Harvey Milk biopic Kronenberg consulted on and was depicted in. Kronenberg MPA ’02 was Milk’s campaign manager in 1978, helping him become the first openly gay politician elected to office in California. Milk, who passed San Francisco’s gay rights ordinance, was assassinated just 11 months into his term. The Master of Public Administration (MPA) alumna has carried forward Milk’s legacy of public service: She co-founded the Milk Foundation, a gay rights advocacy group, and today heads San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management. Kronenberg enrolled at USF shortly after Milk’s death, but just before she completed the program was tapped to head a congressional campaign. Two decades later, she returned to USF to finish her degree. The program taught her professional skills she uses every day, Kronenberg says. “Prior to USF, I didn’t understand the basics of budgeting and finance, project management, or human resources,” she says. “USF gave me the opportunity to become familiar with all these areas.” Kronenberg has had a varied and successful career, including leading the Nuclear Freeze Foundation in Washington D.C. As head of San Francisco’s emergency management department, she works to prepare the city for a large earthquake that’s expected to hit in the next three decades. She maintains her connection to USF as chair of the MPA’s advisory board and through her alumna daughter Maggie ’09, MPA ’15.
USFCA.EDU/MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017 41
////////classnotes UMAR ISSA is currently working in talent acquisition at Yahoo. He also co-founded a photography agency named Tailored Heritage with two USF classmates. Their main focus is telling stories of culture from the perspective of style and fashion. RAYADI SURYA , along with his
younger brother and a friend, began House of Boxing Jakarta in Pluit, North Jakarta a few months after graduation. GERARDO TAPIA VERA continues to study and practice exercise and sports science, and encourages fellow Dons to reach out to learn more about exercise and sports science.
’15
FRANK ALIZAGA JR. is a financial services professional, specializing in global e-commerce at BlueSnap. AARON SHAW shortened his PhD at UNR to a master’s degree in order to apply for law school. He has already been accepted into several law schools, and hopes to use his master’s and undergraduate degrees to enter a career in intellectual property.
’16
ASHLYN DOYLE
transitioned from student nurse to RN in a new grad program through Rady Children’s Hospital. ZACHARY LAU has started work at
and is about to go through his first busy tax season.
GRADUATE
’68
OSCAR P. LAGMAN JR.
retired in 1999 as director and head of health care consulting at SGV & Co. (at the time the Philippine affiliate of Arthur Andersen). He’s since gone into business consulting on his own, mostly in the field of marketing.
’74
HON. DANIEL R. FOLEY
retired as an associate judge of the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals after 16 years. He will continue to serve as a part-time associate justice on the Palau Supreme Court.
Deloitte Tax in San Francisco
GIVING
TWO IDEALISTS NURTURE LEADERS AND HOPE Alan Davis and Mary Lou Dauray have given $1.5 million to the School of Management to endow the Harari Conscious Leadership and Social Innovation Initiative and the Litvak Social Innovation Scholarship. The Harari initiative funds USF’s Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Conference, as well as curriculum and projects that teach socially responsible leadership and investing to business and management students. It is named for Davis’ friend and former USF business professor Oren Harari, who died in 2010. Davis met Harari on a tennis court in Hollywood, Florida when they were both 12 years old. Their friendship continued over the years, and they both ended up in San Francisco. Davis, president of The Leonard and Sophie Davis Fund, which practices socially conscious investing, gave $1 million of the gift to honor Harari’s commitment to social innovation and socially responsible leadership. “Oren was really happy at USF and seemed to relish his relationship with
42 SUMMER 2017 USF MAGAZINE
his students,” said Davis, who knows USF well because his daughter earned her law degree here. Davis and Dauray also gave $500,000 to endow the Litvak scholarship to support African American and Latino graduate students who study business, nonprofit management, and entrepreneurship, and have an interest in social innovation. The scholarship is named for Larry Litvak, a Stanford University professor who’s worked alongside Davis for three decades, managing, financing, and governing The Leonard and Sophie Davis Fund. “Mary Lou and I talk a lot about hope. We want to help create a new era of hope and leadership,” Davis said. “We still have a shortage of leaders with the kinds of values we need. The goal is to establish these kinds of leaders.” LEARN HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT USF usfca.edu/giving/how-to-give
’75
KENNETH A. FEINGOLD
has relocated his law practice to Nicasio, Marin County, California. He continues to serve his real estate clients and acts as a mediator in Southern and Northern California.
JEANNE POWELL is the founder of Meridien PressWorks, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. She is the author of the article “Rise of Uyghur Ethnic Tensions in China,” published in textbooks from Peter Lang Publishers.
’80
GREGORY J. DANNIS
continues to serve as president of Dannis Woliver Kelley, now in its 40th year of providing legal services to school districts and commu-
nity colleges throughout California. He was recently re-elected to his third term as a school board trustee in the Hillsborough City School District in San Mateo County. SYLVIA KARP has retired as
director of adult education for the San Jose Unified School District.
’81
’89
ELINOR SUE COATES
presented “Not Done Yet” at TEDxABQ-Women last October, describing assumptions and biases about the “silent generation.” Her dissertation examines how students over 60 years old are perceived by younger people on campus and how they adapt to a youthoriented organizational culture.
was elected as chair of the board of directors for Littler. Littler is the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management.
KARYN K. ELLIS’ professional career with the county of Los Angeles is soon coming to an end, after 28 years of public service. She will stay active in her community by performing volunteer services.
’84
’91
LINDBERGH PORTER
MATTHEW R. BEAUCHAMP
was appointed as the district attorney by the Colusa County Board of Supervisors last November. In July 2016, Beauchamp was named the California Wildlife Prosecutor of the Year by the California Fish and Game Commission.
’86
JAN EDL STEIN has a
private practice in San Francisco and Marin, is director of Holos Institute, a holistic counseling and ecopsychology education nonprofit, and is a faculty member at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She offers retreats and workshops that connect psyche with nature. She is contributing to the field of ecopsychology, which considers co-participation in broader systems of environment and social constructs.
’88
LOU A. BORDISSO is
retired from fulltime ministry but continues to minister weekly for the Gubbio Project at St. Boniface parish in San Francisco. His book Pray for Justice: Thirty Days of Morning and Evening Prayer for Catholics and Other Peaceful People was published in December 2016. The book was inspired by his chaplaincy among homeless men, women, and children at the Gubbio Project at St. Boniface Church in San Francisco’s Tenderloin.
JENNIFER HOLDER MONAGHAN, EDD ’99
started the Keep Your Brain Active Challenge to encourage adults to stay active mentally as well as physically. The challenge stemmed from her on-going experience as a caregiver for her parent with dementia.
’92
KEITH ARCHULETA has completed his term as chair of the East Bay Leadership Council. Recently, his firm Emerald HPC International, LLC, which he founded in 1992 with his wife Iris, used their High Performing Communities Framework to help launch eQuip Richmond, an economic revitalization initiative. He continues to serve as chair of the Antioch Economic Development Commission. LEONARD ENNISS is now retired and is busier and happier than ever. He is writing a one-volume “beginners guide” to the Bible. He will be graduating with his ThD in late October and has received permission from his diocesan to begin putting together a monastic community and seminary in Arizona’s Central Valley region.
’93
DIANE LOVEGROVE BADER
finished writing the biography of her great-grandfather, Daniel Mac Sweeney,
entitled Setting Donegal on Fire. Diane had the trip of a lifetime when she traveled to Ireland in August. Her book was launched by Joe McHugh, minister of state for the diaspora, in Falcarragh, where the action in the story took place. FANNY BREWSTER was named a
2016 Northern California Super Lawyer by Super Lawyers Magazine. He is a partner at the San Francisco office of Sedgwick, working in business litigation. PASCAL P. FANTAUZZI is grateful
to USF for a great education in chemistry with Dr. Spector. He worked at pharmaceutical companies in the Bay Area until 2006 and then moved back to Switzerland. Some of his professional projects have taken him back to San Francisco. EDEL ROMAY is a poet, painter,
sculptor, narrator, and photographer, and his art aims to take the viewer to a quantum world and an oneiric memory. As a student of mythology and cosmology, his work incorporates absurd realism — the coexistence of the absurd and reality.
’94
KAREN BENKE had her
third book, WRITE BACK SOON! Adventures in Letter Writing, approved for publication by Common Core.
JEFFREY LEIKEN published a new book, Adolescence Is Not A Disease! Beyond Drinking, Drugs & Dangerous Friends: The Journey to Adulthood, in 2016. PAMELA ESTEE WATKINS has
been a Peace Corps response volunteer for one year in Musanze, Rwanda. Previously, she served 27 months as a TEFL volunteer in Ijevan, Armenia.
’95
TOM ALIBRANDI EDD ’99
has served as a professor, director of program, and dean at various colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad. His book Hate Is
My Neighbor was published in 2001, along with numerous professional papers.
’96
CATHERINE ATKINS
GREENSPAN co-founded two companies with her sister Elizabeth Ann Atkins of Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan: Two Sisters Writing and Publishing, to publish the books and anthologies they write, and Atkins & Greenspan Writing, for ghostwriting.
’98
JANET GIDDINGS is able to work with some of the brightest young people in religious studies at Santa Clara University. She teaches Christian Tradition; Religions of the Book; Religious Ethics in Business; and Global Christianities. She highly recommends doing what you love.
ALMA LICANO MARTINEZ started a nonprofit organization, Amigos Sin Barreras/Friends Without Barriers, 23 years ago. The agency provides two programs: Circle of Friends Holistic Treatment Program and the Circle of Life AIDS Food Pantry. In addition to life necessities, the pantry provides store certificates for clients to purchase perishable items. STEPHANIE A. STONE served as chair of the Mayor’s Military Veteran Advisory Council for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2016.
’99
SHANNON D. SWEENEY
joined Sullivan Hill as a shareholder in its San Diego office.
’00
JOHN BALDWIN has been retired for three years and is enjoying the chance to travel and to participate in his first love of acting and directing. He performed in a world premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2016. He’s still actively fundraising as a board member of HMB Shakes.
USFCA.EDU/MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017 43
////////classnotes MARY ANNE R. BRADY presented
research, “Elevate Your Brand: Engineers Take Ethical Action,” at the National Business and Economic Society conference in March 2017. RASEM KAMAL started a boutique
law firm in Ramallah, Palestine in 2007. Today, Kamal & Associates is a leading Palestinian law firm. BRAD LAWRENCE became chief of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center’s (FLETC) legal division in Glynco, Georgia. The FLETC trains more than 70,000 law enforcement officers each year from more than 90 federal agencies, as well as state, local, and tribal law enforcement officers. The legal division provides basic and advanced legal training to new and veteran officers/agents from across the U.S. and abroad. STEPHANIE WOODHEAD and her
business partner have signed with a publisher to write Company Conf idential: How Effective Fact Finding Can Reduce Corporate Risk. The book is expected to be released in late summer 2017.
’02
the firm was founded to help individuals and companies reach their financial goals.
’04
BRENT SILER is starting
a remote patient monitoring company with three colleagues. The company focuses on transplant and ventricular assist devices for patients. By actively monitoring patients, the system helps them adhere to discharge instructions, and gives transplant teams better visibility of each patient’s current health status, increasing the likelihood of a rapid and successful recovery.
CHRISTOPHER VALLEY assumed
the role of building official of San Carlos three years after graduating from USF. In his spare time, he enjoys f lying his hang glider at Fort Funston and playing guitar.
’05
JENNIFER CAMOTA LUEBKE EDD ’13 just started a
consulting firm that creates high-performing, emotionally intelligent, inclusive work-place cultures by leverag ing the strengths of people of all abilities.
ANGELA CARMEN MCFALL was JANINE DARWIN is
celebrating 10 years in providing counseling and mental health services to the Bay Area. LOIS MERRIWEATHER MOORE
attended Harvard University JFK School of Government’s Women and Power Leadership Summit at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. Leadership sessions included seminars on diversity, inclusive leadership, and unconscious bias. The summit, highlighted by an assembly at the New South Wales Parliament House in Sydney, attracts women from around the world. SETH SWENSON is president of
Orchid Wealth Management, a registered investment advisory located in Palo Alto and San Francisco. Established in 2016,
44 SUMMER 2017 USF MAGAZINE
recognized by Lockheed Martin’s African American Council for Excellence in the company’s September– October 2016 newsletter.
’06
HERBERT C. AHSAM-
KREITER was married to Vincent AhSam on June 25, 2016 at the International House at UC Berkeley with the witness of 80 people. They are coming back from three years in the Washington, D.C. area working with the Executive Office of the President. They have now settled in Seaside, California where Herbert is working for the U.S. Department of Defense, Monterey Bay as a senior systems administrator.
RAFAEL D. ROMO just started a tenure-track position in the School of Nursing at the University of Virginia.
’07
ERLINDA ARRIOLA began
her MBA at Yale School of Management. She is exploring possible strategic finance roles in Bay Area startups and tech companies.
ELIZABETH CLARY was named
executive director of Alchemia. A nonprofit organization serving Sonoma and Marin counties, Alchemia connects artists with disabilities to their communities and the world through the visual, performing, and creative arts. JOHN S. HONG , an attorney in the
San Francisco office of Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, was elevated from associate to shareholder, effective Jan. 1, 2017. Hong counsels and defends employers in a broad range of labor and employment matters under state and federal law and before state and federal agencies.
’08
CHRISTINA GAGNIER
has joined the adjunct faculty at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, teaching privacy law. She also serves as clinical faculty for the Intellectual Property, Arts, and Technology Clinic, providing legal counsel for emerging businesses and providing resources for victims of cyber exploitation.
’09
MICHAEL W. M. MANOUKIAN
recently completed his first year as an attorney at Littler Mendelson in San Jose. Littler concentrates exclusively on management-side employment law matters for clients in every industry. He looks forward to combining his educational training from his USF master’s degree in sport management with his experience in the legal industry.
HYGI F. WAETERMANS took his
first-ever cruise to Alaska last September. He is contemplating his next travel destination, with Iceland and Germany ranking near the top. His tribe is growing, with 34 grandkids and five great-grandkids.
’10
CALI GILBER is an international best-selling author, and is excited to share the launch of her eighth book, Timing the Tides, published on April 15, 2017.
’11
LAURA SCHNIEDWIND left in-house practice and opened her own law office, Schnied Weed Legal Services, which focuses on licensing, regulatory compliance, entity formation, and outside counseling services for the cannabis industry. ROBERT P. STEINBERG was appointed
program director of the business administration program at Cogswell College in June 2016. RICHARD L. TRIMBLE is a clinical
nurse leader working at Dignity Health Sequoia Hospital as a lead/charge nurse clinician in neurosurgery. Sequoia Hospital, in partnership with Palo Alto Medical Foundation, has begun a new program in neurosurgery, specializing in both cranial procedures/VP shunts/tumors and spinal deformity surgeries.
’12
EVAN BROWN served as deputy campaign manager on the Norm Needleman for State Senate campaign, in Connecticut’s 33rd Senate District. SHUANG FENG is a doctoral candidate in economics at Florida State University, and joined the FSU Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis (CEFA) as a graduate researcher in 2017. At FSU CEFA, she also serves as a tutorial assistant to FSU’s Center for Academic Retention and Enhancement.
MICHAEL FONG is engaged to his
longtime girlfriend Cecilia Ladao. JENNIFER SCHMID is founder and CEO of Oasis Wellness. She has been featured in Forbes and Redbook for her work on patient advocacy and integ rative medicine.
’14
NADER KHALIL has worked for two years at Africa’s football club of the century, Al Ahly Sporting Club, as their marketing and investments manager.
’15
ROBERT W. COLLINS III
is working in Knoxville, Tennessee as a professional swim coach.
JONATHAN FEIN PROANO has worked
for the IRC in Los Angeles for the last nine months. He coordinates the Citizenship and Financial Capability program, which reaches all of Los Angeles County and is designed to help lawful permanent residents prepare and study for the U.S. citizenship process. He also assists in providing financial counseling and referral to services in the LA area for refugees and immig rants. KATIE SCALLY is celebrating two
years in San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo’s office. RUOYANG WU published a book called A Little Life in A Great City (Chinese edition), which is about her two-year study and living experience at USF. She was able to achieve this with the support from USF during her two-year stay. She is very grateful.
’16
MEA BOYKINS has moved
to New Orleans. She manages her clients’ event planning, marketing, consulting, and fundraising. On MLK day, she hosted an event that she planned for STEM NOLA, an educational nonprofit, along with Congressman Cedric Richmond. She raised over $20,000 for the
Marcie Chartz Smith LMA '47 ( front, center) in science lab with classmates in Lone Mountain.
GIVING
ROCKETING THROUGH THE GLASS CEILING NASA pioneer Marcelline Chartz Smith LMA ’47 said her education shaped her In an era and a field dominated by men, Marcelline (Marcie) Chartz Smith LMA ’47 credited her math degree and strong female role models for her climb to become the highest-ranking woman at NASA Ames Research Center. “I had experienced talented women with advanced degrees not only being excellent teachers, but advising women in critical situations and working effectively over a wide range of issues,” Smith told USF in a 2013 interview, before she died. “Why could I not do the same?” And so she did. Starting as a systems engineer, Smith rose to division chief at NASA Ames — the only woman among her peers — and helped establish the Mountain View facility as NASA’s central computer facility. Twice she won NASA’s highest honor, the Exceptional Service
Medal, for her leadership during her 44-year career. A graduate of the San Francisco College for Women (which became Lone Mountain College, then merged with USF), Smith felt a strong commitment to education, given the profound effect it had in shaping her. To show her gratitude, Smith left an estate gift of $363,784 that will support the School of Education Lone Mountain Legacy Scholarship Fund and help future students attend USF. “Her amazing story as a pioneering woman in technology and as the former highest-ranking woman at NASA Ames Research Center reminds me of the brilliant women mathematicians in the book and movie Hidden Figures,” said USF President Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J. MAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH AN ESTATE GIFT: usfca.plannedg iving.org
USFCA.EDU/MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017 45
////////classnotes
save thefor AlumnidatesWeekend Hilltop Campus, Friday, Oct. 20 – Sunday, Oct. 22 • Class of 1967 Golden Reunion
• Cultural Receptions
• Alumni and Family BBQ
(African American, Latino,
• Alumni Awards Gala
Asian Pacific Islander)
organization in 1.5 months, and is planning her NGO’s third international event. She is also training to be a pilot. JASON GANT researches mental skills and athletics due to his coaching experience and the knowledge obtained completing the Master of Science in Behavioral Health program. He was recognized and asked to present alongside SF Giants owner Larry Baer at Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco. The fundraising night was dedicated to the importance of athletics in their lives. Jason focuses on the benefits of mindfulness for athletes to manage intense moments. HEATHER KOOIKER was hired to be the clinical nurse leader for surg ical ser vices. Her microsystem includes surgery prep, OR, and PACU. She is the only CNL for surgical services in West Michigan. She thanks her outstanding professors and the high standards USF placed upon her.
We want to hear from you! Tell your fellow Dons what’s new in your life — career, family, travel, and other activities. It's easy. Just drop us a line. ONLINE FORM: usfca.edu/alumni-update EMAIL:
[email protected]
Connect with old friends and make new memories. For details and tickets, call or click today. (800) 449-4USF |
[email protected] | usfca.edu/alumni
46 SUMMER 2017 USF MAGAZINE
MAIL: USF Magazine 2130 Fulton Street, LMR 217 San Francisco, CA 94117-1080 Please include your name, class year, degree, and phone number (in case we need to contact you).
inmemoriam 1940s
Daniel Bledsoe ’55
Carlos Carl ’69
C. Daniel Witmer ’83
John Blachley ’41
Francis Dietz ’55
Helen Catubig ’69, MA ’79
Marie Martin ’84
Fr. Gustavo Fernandez ’55
Francis McGee ’69
David Mattingly ’84
Joanne Lee LMA ’55
John Mueller ’69
Emerita Alisago ’85
Sharon Suhr LMA ’55
Joseph Waters ’69
Mimi Buckstead ’85
Daniel Mattrocce ’42 Al Mc Auliff ’42 Paul Devlin ’43 Angelo Gori ’43 Howard Herning ’44 George Vogel ’44 Robert Meagher ’47 Thomas Mitchell ’47 Raymond Del Portillo ’48, EDD ’81 William Larkins ’48 Evelyn Sullivan LMA ’48 William Allen ’49 Daniel Casey ’49 Lawrence Driscoll ’49 Edward Garzero ’49 William Shea ’49
1950s John Cullen ’50 James Maxwell ’50 Carl Shapiro ’50 John Tyler ’50 Robert Depolo ’51 James Graham ’51 Frederick Hirth ’51 Marilyn McCarthy LMA ’51 Donal McEnhill ’51 Trent Moseley ’51 Maurice Schimetschek ’51, MA ’58 Robert Slattery ’51 Catherine Archbold ’52 Lillian Chiapellone LMA ’52 Richard Furlong ’52 Bernard Hagan ’52 Virginia Keller LMA ’52 Alyce Quiros ’52 Theodore Demos ’53 Sue Meader LMA ’53 Louis Muschi ’53 Stephen Schulte ’53 Paul Lucey ’54, MA ’59 Richard Towey ’54
Fernando Silva ’56, MA ’62 George Badella ’57 Carla Beedle LMA ’57 George Fegan ’57 Lawrence Perry ’57 Alexander Pesqueira ’57 Robert Campos ’58
1970s Warren Goedert ’70 Marcus Gracia ’70 Richard Graham ’70 John Mc Inerney ’70 Virginia Wick ’70
John Reece ’86 Vivienne Rowe ’87 William Hangen ’88 William Shearer ’88 Jeanette Smith ’88 William Tranter ’88
Deborah Caughman ’71
1990s
Jose Aguilar ’73, JD ’78
Ann Hildula ’90
Joseph Choy ’73
Dorothy Ramsdell ’90
John Oliverio ’73
Evelyn Dixon ’91
Gregory Rockwell ’73, JD ’75
Dave Rudie ’91
Ernest Gonzalez ’74
Clinton Sevener ’91
Jacqueline Myron ’74
Catherine Topham ’92
1960s
Michael Cilia ’75
Richard Brown ’93
Jeffrey Crook ’77
Lynne Clumeck ’94
Harold Neville ’60
Elizabeth Mc Daniel ’77
Frances Delagi ’96
Robert Biglieri ’61
Sr. Esther Palfy ’77
Eric Squire ’96
James Corbett ’61
Jerry Watson ’77, MPA ’83
Martin Murphy Sr. ’61
Howard Wells ’77
John O’Neil ’61
Frances Monet Carter ’78
Thomas Lupori ’62
Rosemary Eadie ’78
Bertha Sanchez ’62
William Frost ’78
Kevin Starr ’62
Caroline Gilbert ’78
John Stone ’63
Anton Jorgensen ’78
Robert Arata ’64, MA ’66
William Martin ’78
David Batcho ’64
Dennis Cashman ’79, JD ’83
Kornelijs Dale ’64, MBA ’70
James Lyon ’79
Jerry Fox ’64
Frank Mostero ’79
Harold Grant ’64
Joanne Ryan ’79
Russell Kelley ’64
Janet Simmons ’79
Herbert Ross ’64
Mary Toomey ’79
Donald Duchow ’58 Edmond Le Ber Jr. ’58 George McKray ’58 John Rattunde ’58 Freeman Blake ’59 Col. John Bohach ’59 Gerald O’Brien ’59
Joan Windell ’64 David Johnson ’65 Glen Smith ’65 Rosa James ’67 John Meenaghan ’67 Rory Riley ’67 Mark Steidlmayer ’67 Richard Bennett ’69
2000s Roy Cornett ’01 Br. Joel Lechner ’01 Tim Russert ’01 Daniel Alvarez ’05 Matthew Griffith ’07 Edward Hoyt ’07 Frank Dziobek ’08
2010s John Barker ’17
1980s Tony Diavatis ’81 Wayne Littleton ’81 Betty Lubey ’82 Cynthia Belle ’83 Christopher Mack ’83 Ann Winship ’83
USFCA.EDU/MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017 47
take5
////////classnotes
FIVE QUESTIONS ABOUT IMMIGRATION AND THE MUSLIM TRAVEL BAN
USF President Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J., was interviewed on CNN recently, defending the rights of undocumented and Muslim students. USF Magazine sat down with him to find out what the university is doing to support these groups in the wake of a nationwide immigration crackdown and a proposed travel ban on citizens of several majority-Muslim countries.
1
All 28 Jesuit colleges and universities have called for solidarity with immigrants regardless of citizenship status or religious allegiances. Why?
We are inspired by the grounding American notions of equal human dignity and the universal human pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. We believe these to be an expression of the ancient Catholic teachings about the dignity of every person and the vocation of all to work for the common good.
2
What would happen if the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program ended?
USF could lose our DACA students — of which there are several dozen — if they or their families are deported. This would be a tremendous blow to our entire university community. It would also deprive our nation of hundreds of thousands of college graduates who are eager to contribute to the economy and promote the values of this nation.
3
Why did you think it was important, as USF's president, to oppose the Muslim travel ban?
Religious prejudice needs to be publicly opposed, and education is the key to cultivating an enlightened citizenry that lives up to our ideals.
48 48 SUMMER SUMMER 2017 2017 USF USF MAGAZINE MAGAZINE
The first amendment to the Constitution sets an ideal standard toward which we as a nation have slowly approached when it comes to religious freedom and equal treatment under the law. But violence against Muslim Americans and recent threats and desecrations of synagogues and Jewish cemeteries are reminders that we haven't reached that ideal.
4
On CNN, you said USF would protect its students. What did you mean?
We will protect the privacy of our student records, in accordance with federal law. Our immigration law clinic is offering pro bono legal counsel to those who need it. And faculty and staff members are educating students about their rights.
5
How do Jesuit values speak to these struggles?
A Jesuit education plants the seeds of engaged citizenship as a moral imperative. The moral uprightness of any community is judged by how they treat the most vulnerable members of that community. In Matthew 25, Jesus makes this the criteria by which we will each be judged.
THE GIFT OPPORTUNITY of
“We made a bequest to the School of Education because USF had a profound impact on my values, career, and sense of responsibility to others.” Sarah Khan MA ‘06 hopes to instill in future students the same values she learned at USF in the School of Education’s organization and leadership master’s program. “It made me think about my values. It changed the trajectory of my career, and it made me think about the kind of leader I wanted to be,” she says. As the daughter of a Pakistani immigrant, Sarah says the Jesuit experience at USF made her think about her own opportunities and how she could support first-generation students.
To support them, Sarah and her husband, Peter Caravalho, established a bequest to fund scholarships for School of Education students. Although they are in their 40s, the couple wanted to plan their legacy early in life. “We decided to start the process early in life because we wanted to take charge of everything we really worked hard for up to this point and didn’t want to leave it up to chance.”
Get started today. Contact Elizabeth Hill, Office of Gift Planning. Return the envelope | giftplanning.usfca.edu/bequest |
[email protected] | 415.422.4163
2130 Fulton Street San Francisco, CA 94117-1080 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
usfca.edu
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