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

Illuminating the Path to Youth Development

With her experience in education, program management, and international education development for the San Francisco Beacon Initiative, Jessica Zlotnicki joined our Community Partner Co-Educator (CPCE) Fellowship this past spring where she connected with community peers, shared her expertise, and built a deeper understanding of how to work with USF and our students. In this post,…

Mentoring The Next Generation

Koa Fong ’25 Finance major is dedicated to social justice, Chinese-American activism, and the Jesuit values of USF. She is a member of the USF Rising Youth Mentorship program, which demonstrates how our country’s education needs the help of young people to show the way. During the 2023-2024 year, Koa helped middle school and high…

Public Service Beyond the Classroom

Congrats to Aniah Francis,’22, this year’s awardee of the Leo T. McCarthy Award for Public Service! Aniah graduated last month with a BA in Politics and a minor in Public Service and Community Engagement. This award is presented to a senior who has promoted social justice through public service throughout her undergraduate career. Aniah was…

My Unexpected Journey

This week’s blog comes to us from the McCarthy Center’s new Americorps VISTA, Thea Karakalos! We’re excited for what her skill set and personal experience will bring to the position as she completes her Master of Arts in Higher Education and Student Affairs here at USF! My name is Thea Karakalos, and I am the…

Nurturing Literacy Tutors

Dresden Smith joined the McCarthy Center as an intern, and has come full circle in less than a year – taking on the role of Literacy Program Coordinator. She discusses this experience and her trabsition in this week’s blog. I’m very excited to take on the role of Literacy Program Coordinator for Engage San Francisco….

Our Fulbright Scholar Heads to Cali

Fernando Enciso-Márquez is celebrated by former students and staff before he heads off to Cali, Columbia for as a Fullbright Visiting Scholar. The McCarthy Center is thrilled to announce that our Assistant Director of Community-Engaged Learning, Fernando Enciso-Marquez, has been awarded a Fulbright visiting scholar fellowship through the U.S. State Department to partner with Javeriana University‘s Peace and…

The Paths of Esther Madríz Diversity Scholars

The Esther Madríz Diversity Scholars (EMDS) is a living-learning community that explores issues of diversity, inequality, social justice, and social change. Named after the late Esther Madríz, beloved USF professor of sociology who embodied the Ignatian ideals of education of the whole person as a means toward social justice, Esther Madríz Diversity Scholars examine and challenge these…

Our Civic Action Plan

In the current era of political vitriol, intolerance of diversity, misguided fear of the “other,” and civil unrest, higher education institutions must hold fast to the civic purpose of education and seek innovative ways to guide and support students to become “leaders who will fashion a more humane and just world.” We can no longer…