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

Engaging with Humility

Kiah Combs is our Graduate Assistant at the McCarthy Center who is achieving a master of Arts degree in Organization and Leadership at USF this semester. Working with coordinating undergraduate participation in Engage San Francisco‘s literacy tutoring program in The Fillmore Western Addition and in Financial Literacy, we loved every single moment of working with her…

Power in Community, Power to Community

Olivia Brown ’25, a Critical Diversity Studies and Public Relations student, has also been an Engage Literacy Tutor for three years. She works with today’s youth in our city’s Booker T. Washington Youth Community Service Center and has built strong relationships over time. Read how her experience has helped the next generation embrace who they…

Seeing the Leo T. McCarthy Award’s Impact

Our 2024 McCarthy Award for Public Service celebration honoring Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi in November was an evening filled with the center’s friends, donors, stakeholders, and students! Fifteen McCarthy Center students who served as ambassadors, helped our guests to see the success that they support. Hear from some of our students as they reflect on…

Meet our 2025 USF in DC Fellows!

We are pleased to introduce the spring cohort of eight students who will join us this semester for our USF in Washington, D.C. Fellows program. They come from multiple backgrounds, have diverse interests, and arrive with a common thread and dedication to public service. Currently, they’re applying their skills and determination to internships in the…

What We Do Now—Teach!

Rachel Beth Egenhoefer, Design Professor in the Art and Architecture department shares that on the morning of Election Day, she knew that the uncertainty and emotions surrounding the election results would feel like a wild roller coaster ride. During a time when there’s uncertainty in the world, she knows how to meet the moment. Eight…

Speaking Truth to Power at USF

Angeline Vuong is the Associate Director of Community Engagement and Public Service Programs offered at the McCarthy Center. Leading our USFVotes team, she understands that with this election season, voting is crucial more than ever before. Angeline describes how the value of being a civically-engaged campus is a core aspect of Jesuit education and show…

Presenting Your Best Self

Rabbi Stephen Pierce was the former chair of the Leo T. McCarthy Center. Beginning in his college days, he didn’t know exactly how to present his best self in a professional setting. In his new book, I Wish I’d Said That: A Guide for Writers, Speakers, and Healers, Pearce provides the tools he learned to the…

Navigating the Path to Common Good: The Power of Conversations

As Caitlin Kennedy took her place on the illuminated stage, the Leo T. McCarthy Center had chosen her as the student panelist for the Conversations for the Common Good event, an opportunity to engage and gain insights from the young elected officials shaping the region’s future. Sharing the stage with notable figures such as Assembly-member…