superfans cards on display in a binder
DECEMBER 2025

Features

Meet USF's New President

Salvador D. Aceves ’83, EdD ’95, USF’s new president and first lay president, was born in San Francisco, educated at USF, and has served as a professor and an administrator at USF. Now he’s back — and looking forward.

Salvador D. Aceves

Dons Die-Hards

You don't have to be crazy to be a fan, but it helps.

dons die hards cards on display

My Cousin*, The Pope

When I saw my last name on the gravestone of Pope Leo XIV’s grandparents, I did some digging.

collage of Pope Leo XIV with the words New Pope Has Creole Roots in New Orleans

Features From Past Issues

In her career, Vanessa Barba has advocated for domestic workers, restaurant workers, and garment workers. “But I always find myself going back to domestic workers because they need help the most,” she says.

May 19, 2021

What do you do when you’re 19 and in jail on a felony conviction? Antonio Reza resolved to go to college — and then law school.

May 19, 2021

When Alyssa Nakken became the first woman to work as a full-time coach in Major League Baseball, the league directed its 30 teams to create locker-room space for women.

May 19, 2021

Aptitude and ambition have placed Brenna Malloy in the director’s chair. But she’d be the first to tell you that aptitude and ambition are not enough.

May 19, 2021

A NASA weather scientist needs help predicting superstorms? Brad Kenstler can help with that. A football coach wants to know the probability of this wide receiver making that catch? Kenstler can do that, too.

May 19, 2021

Ebraheem Alghafees entered USF thinking he’d major in physics and engineering and pursue a career as an engineer. But after learning he had stage two Hodgkin’s lymphoma the summer after his first year, he decided life was too short for a path he felt pressured into by his parents.

May 19, 2021

Next time you enjoy a slice of salmon, thank Paul Cook.

May 19, 2021

Before the world had ever heard of COVID-19, Sarah Ives was working to fight it.

May 19, 2021

While earning a master’s degree in computer science at USF, Tian Rong Liew had an idea to build a network for coders — software engineers, data scientists, developers, data analysts — to connect, share their knowledge, and find jobs.

May 19, 2021

Diana Guardado makes magic for a living. A production coordinator at Pixar, she’s worked on films including Coco, Incredibles 2, and Soul. And now, in a side project, she’s co-producing a short animated film called Washed.

May 19, 2021