College of Arts and Sciences News

USF Sport Management alumna Tara August’s (‘04) journey from network television to preserving and amplifying the legacy of basketball legend and civil rights icon Bill Russell is a testament to the power of advocacy, education, and the pursuit of justice.

As a young paralegal just out of college, Jessie Peterson JD ’21 never would have predicted she’d take center stage the day San Francisco welcomed its first new mayor since 2018.

On March 27, USF celebrated Day of the Dons, an annual 24-hour fundraising event where the community comes together to support the university. This year’s theme, “Seeds of Impact: Growing a Legacy,” encouraged excitement and generosity to sprout across campus.
 

Nikaella Mariano, a BSN junior student, presented her poster at the ACNL Conference. The topic was “Revitalizing Rural Nursing Education,” which she has been researching since attending the AACN Student Policy Summit in 2024 with Dean Fry-Bowers.

USF’s men’s basketball team beat Utah Valley last night, 79-70, in a thrilling home game at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center, and the team advanced to the second round of postseason playoffs.

College or Arts and Sciences Adjunct Professor Henriette Cornet spoke with KTVU Fox 2 News about an SFMTA proposal to use some San Francisco parking lot rooftops as pickleball courts, noting that the idea "is new and refreshing", but more needs to be done to understand declining ridership.

According to his study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Asst. Professor Simon Scarpetta noted that iguanas traveled from North America to Fiji on rafts of vegetation over more than 5,000 miles. "You could imagine some kind of cyclone knocking over trees where there were a bunch of iguanas and maybe their eggs, and then they caught the ocean currents and rafted over."

Amina Essid ’27 remembers feeling a little confused on the first day of Engineering Project & Design II class as she arrived at Privett Plaza for an outdoor improv session with her classmates, all wearing rainbow sweatbands. The experience, though, helped her become more comfortable thinking on her feet.

In a powerful initiative, USF NSNA has spearheaded a donation drive to support families devastated by the recent fires in Los Angeles. 

For Dee Bustos ’25, the EMBA was more than academics — it was a journey of personal growth.