Inauguration Program

The University of San Francisco was founded in 1855 as a one-room schoolhouse, then named St. Ignatius Academy. Its history is interwoven with European immigration to the western United States, with the establishment of the Jesuit Order in California, and with the population growth of the state, and of San Francisco in particular, as a result of the Gold Rush.

On October 15, 1855, the school opened to its first class of three students. Enrollment gradually grew to 65 students by 1858. In 1859, Anthony Maraschi, S.J., the founding president of St. Ignatius Academy, incorporated the school under California state law, obtained a charter to issue college degrees, formed a board of trustees, and renamed the institution St. Ignatius College. Student enrollment, composed largely of first- and second- generation Irish and Italian immigrants, increased to 457 by 1862.

Further enrollment growth prompted St. Ignatius College to move in 1880 to the corner of Hayes Street and Van Ness Avenue, the current site of the Louse M. Davies Symphony Hall. The college began the school year there with 650 students, and received rave reviews in the local press. The institution occupied a full city block and was described as having “scientific laboratories and departments” as “thoroughly equipped as money can make them” and a library that contained “the cream of knowledge on all necessary subjects.” The attached church was called “magnificent” and could hold up to 4,000 people. In 1903, the college added a “splendid new gymnasium,” considered by many to be the best in the city.

The vibrant scholarship, campus culture, and athletic feats happening at the Van Ness campus came to an abrupt end on April 18, 1906. The earthquake that devastated the city and was followed by several days of fire brought the church and college, and most of San Francisco, to almost complete ruin. Both the city and the institution, however, quickly rebuilt. 

In September 1906, St. Ignatius Church and School reopened in temporary quarters known as the “shirt factory” on the southwest corner of Hayes and Shrader streets, currently a St. Mary’s Medical Center site. In 1927, St. Ignatius College moved into the new Liberal Arts Building, present-day Kalmanovitz Hall, near the corner of Fulton and Parker Streets. In 1930, at the request of several alumni groups, St. Ignatius College changed its name and formally became known as the University of San Francisco.

For 159 years, the University of San Francisco has served the citizens of San Francisco and enriched the lives of thousands of people. The institution has graduated students who went on to become leaders in government, education, religion, business, journalism, sports, the sciences, and the legal and the health-related professions. Among its alumni, the university counts three former San Francisco mayors, numerous current city officials, a former United States Senator, one current and three former California Supreme Court Justices, a former California Lieutenant Governor, two Pulitzer Prize winners, three Olympic medalists, several professional athletes, and the former president of Peru. USF has more than 100,000 alumni living in all 50 states, 6 U.S. territories, and 129 countries.

Today, the University of San Francisco enrolls more than 10,000 students in four schools and one college: The School of Law, founded in 1912; the College of Arts and Sciences, organized in 1925; the School of Management, which began in 1925 as the College of Commerce and Finance and was merged with the College of Professional Studies in 2009; the School of Education, which started as the Department of Education in 1947 and was upgraded to a school in 1972; and the School of Nursing and Health Professions, which began as the Department of Nursing in 1948 and became a school in 1954. USF is one of the most ethnically diverse universities in the nation. Among the fall 2025 student population, 7.4 percent of students self-identify as African American, 22.4 percent as Asian, 9.8 percent as international, 25 percent as Latinx, .15 percent as Native American, .23 percent as Pacific Islander, 24.8 percent as white, and 9.1 percent self-reporting as more than one ethnicity.  More than 60 percent of the overall student population are female.

The University of San Francisco’s mission is to prepare men and women to shape a multicultural world with generosity, compassion, and justice. The institution’s Vision, Mission, and Values Statement, approved by the Board of Trustees on September 11, 2001, after a year of formulation and campus-wide participation, captures the essence of this commitment in its opening paragraph: “The University of San Francisco will be internationally recognized as a premier Jesuit Catholic, urban university with a global perspective that educates leaders who will fashion a more humane and just world.” This mission permeates all aspects of the institution, including student learning and faculty development, curriculum design, program and degree offerings, alumni relations, and its various publications.

In 2005, the University of San Francisco celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding. The main USF campus currently occupies 55 acres near Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. In addition to the Hilltop campus, the university offers classes at Northern California branch campuses in Downtown San Francisco and Sacramento, at additional locations in Santa Rosa and San Jose, and in Southern California at the Orange County branch campus. The university also offers students a multitude of international experiences and study-abroad programs. 

The University of San Francisco has grown dramatically since its modest beginning in a single-room schoolhouse on Market Street. But its mission — one that stretches back in time, from the founding of the Society of Jesus by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1540 to the founding of St. Ignatius Academy in San Francisco in 1855 to today’s global presence — remains the same: to develop men and women ready and willing to change the world for the better.

• 1855-1862: Anthony Maraschi, S.J.
• 1862-1865: Nicolas Congiato, S.J.
• 1865-1866: Burchard Villiger, S.J.
• 1866-1869: Nicolas Congiato, S.J.
• 1869-1873: Joseph Bayma, S.J.
• 1873-1876: Aloysius Masnata, S.J.
• 1876-1880: John Pinasco, S.J.
• 1880-1883: Robert E. Kenna, S.J.
• 1883-1887: Joseph C. Sasia, S.J.
• 1887-1893: Henry Imoda, S.J.
• 1893-1896: Edward P. Allen, S.J.
• 1896-1908: John P. Frieden, S.J.
• 1908-1911: Joseph C. Sasia, S.J.
• 1911-1915: Albert F. Trivelli, S.J.
• 1915-1919: Patrick J. Foote, S.J.
• 1919-1925: Pius L. Moore, S.J.
• 1925-1932: Edward J. Whelan, S.J.
• 1932-1934: William I. Lonergan, S.J.
• 1934-1938: Harold E. Ring, S.J.
• 1938-1954: William J. Dunne, S.J.
• 1954-1963: John F.X. Connolly, S.J.
• 1963-1969: Charles W. Dullea, S.J.
• 1969-1972: Albert R. Jonsen, S.J.
• 1972-1976: William C. McInnes, S.J.
• 1977-1991: John Lo Schiavo, S.J.
• 1991-2000: John P. Schlegel, S.J.
• 2000-2014: Stephen A. Privett, S.J.
• 2014-2024: Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J.

The colorful attire worn by the graduates, the faculty, and officers of the University on the occasion of these Commencement Exercises has historic roots in medieval times. Dressed as they are in cap and gown, the graduates and their professors form part of a long tradition which dates back to Paris and Bologna, to Oxford and Cambridge in the days of their Catholic glory. The precise origins of the several parts of the academic garb are not easy to discover. However, since medieval students enjoyed the status of clerics during their university years, one is hardly far wrong in asserting that their attire found its inspiration in the clerical dress of medieval times. The gown seems to be an adaptation of the robe of friar or priest; the hood, of the monk's or friar's cowl; and the mortarboard cap of today, the end product of curious evolution, recalls the skull cap of days when tonsured heads needed protection against the drafts of medieval classrooms. Academic attire began to appear quite generally on United States campuses in the late 1890s. Since that time, its use has become universal for solemn university functions, and its pattern highly uniform.

The Gown

The gowns are three in number and styling. That of the bachelor is a yoked, closed-front garment, with long, pointed sleeves; that of the master is cut to be worn open front, its sleeves are long and closed, slit cut just above the elbow to allow the forearm to protrude; the gown of the doctor is also worn open and has full bell-shaped sleeves. Only the doctor's gown is trimmed-with velvet panels down the front and three velvet bars on each sleeve. Though black velvet is proper trimming for all doctor gowns, the color and material of the panels and sleeve bars is often varied in order to indicate the faculty which granted the wearer's degree; dark blue for Philosophy (phd); light blue for Education (edd); white for Arts and Letters (littd); gold-yellow for Science (scd); orange for Engineering (engd, dce); purple for Law (lld, dcl, jd, jud, jcd); green for Medicine (md); scarlet for Theology (std, dd).

The Hood

The hood at first seems to have been worn over the head and was attached to the gown. When the skull cap was introduced, the hood was retained, but detached and worn much as it is today. Each degree (bachelor, master, doctor) has a right to a hood, which varies in length and, in the case of the doctor's, also in pattern. The bachelor's hood is three feet long; the master's hood, three and one-half; the doctor's hood, four, with wide panels on either side. The color or colors with which the hood is lined are those of the college or university that granted the wearer's degree-for example, the University of San Francisco is known by the gold chevron on the field of Kelly green. The colored velvet binding or edging of the hood, in different widths for bachelor, master, doctor, is a key to the faculty granting the degree. The velvet colors include white for Arts, gold-yellow for Science, drab for Business, apricot for Nursing, light blue for Education, royal blue for Nonprofit Administration, peacock blue for Public Administration, scarlet for Theology, purple for Law, and so forth.

The Cap

The mortar board has become the universally accepted style in United States colleges and universities. Many European institutions still retain distinctive forms of academic headdress-for example, the University of London's tam-o-shanter cap. The doctor, following graduation, has the right to wear a gold tassel on the mortar board; black, however, is perfectly proper and perhaps more common.

• Stephanie Carlos, Assistant Dean, Student Affairs, School of Law
• Julie Chernoff, Senior Director, Special Events, Development
• Michael Duffy, Director, McGrath Institute for Jesuit Catholic Education, School of Education
• Shannon Gary, Vice President, Student Life
• Alana Harrington, Assistant to the Vice President, Operations
• Jennifer Joost, Senior Event Manager, Events and Conferences
• Patrick Lee, S.J., Rector, Loyola House Jesuit Community, Trustee
• Liza Locsin, Assistant to Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
• Anneliese Mauch, Interim Vice President, Marketing Communications
• Taryn Moore, Assistant Vice President, Engagement, Development
• Jacqueline Neesam, Executive Assistant to the President, Secretary of the Board
• Megan Nicely, Associate Professor, College of Arts and Sciences
• Megan O’Banion, Senior Associate Dean, School of Nursing and Health Professions
• Julie Orio, Vice President, Operations
• Kojo Ocran, President, Graduate Student Senate
• Kim Pham, Associate Director Enterprise Architecture, Educational Technology Services
• Sonja Martin Poole, Professor, School of Management
• Angélica Quiñónez, Director, University Ministry
• Stephanie Sears, Associate Dean, Social Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences
• Emiko Uohara, President, ASUSF Senate
• Will Vitagliano, Associate University Registrar, Director, Degree Audit & Graduation Center
• Kevin Wilson, Senior Associate University Registrar. Director Graduate Center
• Linda Wong, Assistant to the Vice Provost, Assistant Director for Budget, Planning, and Sponsored Projects
• Christine Young, Associate Professor, College of Arts and Sciences

Meet the Board of Trustees