Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good

Kudos to the 2025-2026 Holstein Award Winners

Each year, the Leo T. McCarthy Center is honored to present the Robert M. Holstein Memorial Scholarship to accomplished students who embody the deep commitment of the center’s mission of public service and the common good. This year’s recipients are no exception. Award winners Diego Zamalloa, Larry Wesley III, Sofia Fontana, Gabriella Fulton, and Natalie…

Lessons From the McCarthy Center

The McCarthy Center is always proud to see what our students do beyond the classroom, especially when using their values of service, public good, and social justice. We are pleased to spotlight alumna Sofia Andrade ’12 in this week’s blog post, where she shares her journey from USF to a career rooted in equity and…

Note from the Senior Director

Senior Director Derick Brown shares that he is stepping away from the center after five years. Derick has been an amazing leader for these past years and has contributed so much to not only the center but also to the students. We are so proud of him and excited for him to take this next…

Public Service Beyond the Label

Larry Wesley ’26 Politics major is very familiar with the center as a Public Service and Community Engagement minor, a 2025 spring semester USF in DC Fellow, and he is currently spending this summer in Sacramento as a McCarthy Fellow where serves as a intern at the Fair Elections Center. His time in D.C. was…

Politics at the Forefront

Communication Studies major Sofi Pardo ’27 is spending her summer as an intern for the California Democratic Party in Sacramento. This opportunity will allow her to experience politics at the forefront within the State Capitol. We asked Sofi a few questions to better understand her role as an intern and how she sees this experience…

Growing Within the McCarthy Center

Layla Ybarra-Harvey recently join the McCarthy Team! We are so excited too have her here and honored to her as our new Graduate Assistant. Layla was kind enough to share with us a little about her life and what brought her here! Welcome aboard Layla! Hi, Everyone! My name is Layla Ybarra-Harvey, and I am…

Back to the Hill

We are excited to spotlight Chisom Okorafor, who participated in our USF in DC Program in the fall of 2024. Her time in DC as a Politics major was special and a turning point in her education. The city has become her home away from home, this summer she returns as an intern for the…

Blue City Blues

(Reprinted from Globus Journal) San Francisco was quiet—unusual for this compact 7×7 square-mile city. There were no noisemakers, cheers, or fireworks. Watching televised election results in my mother’s SF apartment, with only my elder beagle, Sunday, by my side, I didn’t hear a peep of celebration following Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election. I wondered if the…