Alumni Awards

Join us during CelebrateUSF for an evening reception as we celebrate the incredible achievements of our 2024 award recipients on Friday, Oct. 18.

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Michael F. Monroe, a native of Alameda, California, is a proud University of San Francisco alumnus whose deep connection to the Bay Area shaped both his personal and professional life. After earning his Bachelor of Arts from USF in 1970, he served in the U.S. Naval Reserves from 1969 to 1972. Mike went on to become a partner and owner of Viking Supply Distribution, overseeing successful business operations across San Francisco, Oakland, and Dublin, California.

Deeply committed to his community, Mike has served on several boards, including the USF Alumni Association and the USF Regional Council, and has contributed to nonprofit organizations like Creativity Explored. Now retired, he enjoys travel, fly fishing, and spending time with his family. He and his wife, Eva, have two sons, Matthew and Christopher, and two grandchildren. His dedication to Parkinson's Disease programs, including Rock Steady Boxing, reflects his ongoing commitment to health and well-being.

Eva Alminiana Monroe is a dedicated civic and nonprofit leader who has made significant contributions to education, health, and horticulture in San Francisco. A University of San Francisco alumna, Eva has served as a trustee at the San Francisco Schools of the Sacred Heart and USF, where she championed diversity, individuality, and leadership, especially for women. As a founding member of Women in Leadership and Philanthropy at USF, Eva worked to elevate women to leadership roles, guiding institutions with a focus on future global citizens.

Her passion for horticulture and the environment has been evident in her roles as Chair and Board member of the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society and active participation in various garden clubs. In the health sector, Eva has supported ALS research and family care through her board work at the ALS San Francisco Chapter and UCSF’s Partners in Care Auxiliary. With 56 years of residency in San Francisco, Eva continues to engage with cultural and philanthropic organizations, all while enjoying her personal passions of travel, art, and floral design.

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In January 2023, Salvador D. Aceves was appointed President at Regis University. Previously, Dr. Aceves served as Regis’ Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and Professor of Accounting since May 2014. Prior to this appointment, in July 2011, he was appointed Associate Vice President for Academic Financial Planning in the Office of the Provost at Fordham University.

He was primarily responsible for the development of the academic financial plan encompassing operational, restricted, grant, and capital funds. Formerly, he was Vice Provost at the University of San Francisco (USF), serving as the University’s chief planning and budget officer, a role he held for six years. He also held a faculty position as Associate Professor of Accounting, teaching in both the School of Business and Management and the School of Law. He was the recipient of five teaching awards.

At USF, his office was the 2008 recipient of the Richard Goodman Strategic Planning Award, recognizing excellence in planning. He is a peer reviewer for both the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and the Higher Learning Commission. He served on the Board of the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries and is currently a member of the TIAA Inclusion and Diversity Council. He is a 2019 graduate of the Ignatian Colleagues Program. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Doctoral degree in Education with a focus on global business from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Science in Taxation from Golden Gate University. He began his career as a tax associate with Price Waterhouse and served for six years as tax manager for Citibank.

He has been married to Carol for 38 years whom he met in the fifth grade.

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Sheila P. Burke, MPA, RN, FAAN, is a highly accomplished health policy expert, educator, and civic leader with a career spanning over four decades. She currently serves as Chair of the Government Relations and Public Policy Group at Baker Donelson, where she provides strategic advice on federal policies and programs, particularly in healthcare. A faculty member at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, she teaches U.S. health policy and has co-directed public policy simulations, preparing graduate students for real-world decision-making challenges.

Burke's career also includes significant roles at the Smithsonian Institution, where she was Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer, overseeing a billion-dollar budget and the operations of several national museums. In addition to her leadership in public policy and education, she has served on numerous boards and advisory councils, contributing to advancements in healthcare, nonprofit governance, and academic institutions. Her contributions have earned her numerous awards, including election to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Nursing.

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Hannah Mora works at the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation as Senior Manager of the Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the world’s largest annual humanitarian award presented to nonprofit organizations judged to have made extraordinary contributions toward alleviating human suffering. Prior to joining the Foundation, Hannah worked at the Downtown Women’s Center, a nonprofit dedicated to serving the unique needs of homeless and very low-income women on Skid Row in Los Angeles, and before that at Sanctuary for Families, New York’s leading service provider and advocate for survivors of domestic violence, sex trafficking, and related forms of gender violence. 

She graduated from New York University with a Master of Science degree in global affairs, and from University of San Francisco with a Bachelor of Arts degree in theology and religious studies. Hannah also served as a volunteer coordinator through the Jesuit Volunteer Corps at St. Francis Center, a Los Angeles nonprofit that provides relief and support to homeless and low income individuals and families. In 2021, she co-founded Powerful Children Colombia, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting Colombian-led efforts that enable all children to embrace their individual power and potential. 

She currently serves as President of the University of San Francisco Alumni Board and chairs the Southern California Alumni Chapter.

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Tom Hoshiyama was born in 1943 and interned at Topaz in Utah during World War II. In 1948, his family returned from Utah, and he grew up as the eldest of five children born to Teruo and Fumiye (Takeuchi) Hoshiyama. He attended Raphael Weill, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington High School. Active in the local Japanese community, he was involved with the Japanese Presbyterian Church, the YMCA, Troop 58, the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), and basketball.

He served in the U.S. Army Reserves for six years, attaining the rank of Sergeant and playing basketball for the reserves at Fort Polk and Fort Ord.

He later attended SF City College and General Motors School, and began a career in the insurance industry in 1964. After 60 years, he remains active in the business.

His hobbies include collecting stamps, lighters, neckties, old vinyl LPs, books, motorcycles, and cars. He is an avid fan of USF’s basketball teams, Spirit Squad, band, and all things related to USF.

Looking ahead, he is focused on staying healthy, and with God’s will, hopes to see his great-grandchildren.

A favorite guiding principle is: “If you do something good, enjoy it, repeat it, and allow it to become a way of life.” – Daily Reflections, Buddhist Wisdom

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Gaylene Hoshiyama was born in 1943 in a World War II internment camp in Rohwer, Arkansas. Raised in Stockton, California, she is the eldest of four children born to Yutaka and Midori Hagio. She attended Daniel Webster, Edison and Stagg High Schools, and Stockton College. An active member of the Buddhist Church, she was crowned Buddhist Queen in 1961 and played all-star basketball for the Stockton Busy Bees.

She moved to San Francisco to attend SF State and worked as an executive secretary at Bankers Mortgage (Transamerica). In 1965, she met Tom Hoshiyama and they married on May 29, 1966.

Together, they raised two children, Stephane (born in 1968) and Tommy (born in 1975). As a proud grandmother, she has three grandsons: Mark (22), Michael (19), and Robby (18).

Her hobbies include photography, collecting postcards, gardening her roses, playing piano, and cheering on USF's men and women’s basketball teams, as well as the USF Spirit Squad and Band. After raising her children, she assisted Tom by working at Plaza Insurance, Sales, Inc.

She looks forward to staying healthy and perhaps one day greeting great-grandchildren.

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Elizabeth Zitrin, a California attorney, is past President of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. She has pioneered collaborations between the death penalty abolition movement in the US and the international abolition community, convening the World Coalition’s first General Assembly held in the United States.

She has endowed the Elizabeth Zitrin Justice Fellowship at her alma mater, Northeastern University School of Law, and has made significant contributions to justice-enhancing institutions including the University of San Francisco Racial Justice Clinic, the UK’s Death Penalty Project, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, and organizations on whose Boards she serves, including Witness to Innocence, the Northern California Innocence reject, the Southern Center for Human Rights and Sister Helen Prejean’s Ministry Against the Death Penalty.

Ms. Zitrin holds a B.A. from Oberlin College and a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.