Our Team

Deborah L. Panter, JD

Associate Vice Provost for Educational Effectiveness
dpanter@usfca.edu, ext. 4588

Deborah Panter is the Associate Vice Provost for Educational Effectiveness at the University of San Francisco. She joined USF in June 2016.

Deborah comes to us from John F. Kennedy University, where she served in the same position and was responsible for leading JFKU through its self-study and reaffirmation of accreditation. She has bachelor's degrees in philosophy and economics from the University of California at Irvine and a JD from Golden Gate University School of Law. Deborah has been teaching in the BA Legal Studies programs at JFKU and St. Mary's College since 2003. She graduated from WSCUC Assessment Leadership Academy in 2015.

Deborah's team leads USF’s reaccreditation and assessment efforts on campus, including program review and yearly assessment of programs and courses; provides training and education on all aspects of assessment; prepares or assists in writing accreditation reports for USF’s professional schools and the University as a whole; assists the NCAP process, ensuring that assessment is built into programs from the beginning.

Melissa C. Thompson, MA

Associate Director of Research and Assessment
mcthompson3@usfca.edu, ext. 4349

Melissa Thompson joined USF in August of 2019. Prior to joining USF, Melissa was the Director of Compliance & Regulatory Affairs at Alliant International University where she worked to create a culture of compliance and instill best practices throughout the university.

Melissa’s work in assessment and accreditation began at Expression College, where she was the Manager of Compliance & Regulatory Affairs. There she led the college’s accreditation and assessment efforts helping the college secure initial accreditation as well as programmatic approvals and renewals of accreditation. She also led strategic planning and assessment efforts and conducted workshops on topics such as strategic planning; assessment methodologies and practices; data-based decision making; and leading through organizational change.

Melissa currently supports USF’s accreditation and assessment efforts on campus by working with programs to close the loop on the university’s program reviews and yearly program assessments. She also manages the university's survey program and projects related to accreditation. Melissa served as the president of USF's inaugural Staff Council, participated as a member of Strategic Planning Working Group #5, which focused on ensuring USF is an equitable and extraordinary place to work, and graduated from WSCUC Accreditation Leadership Academy in 2024. 

Melissa received a BA in Liberal Arts with an emphasis in English/Literature from the Evergreen State College, and a MA in Organization and Leadership from the University of San Francisco. Her graduate work examined the relationship between attribution theory, organizational change, and the leader, follower, situation dynamic.

Marisa C. McCarthy, MA

Associate Director of Curriculum Management
mcmccarthy2@usfca.edu, ext. 2091

Marisa C. McCarthy joined USF as the Project Manager in October 2017. Prior to joining USF, Marisa spent seven years working at Stanford University in the Office of the Provost and the Office of Community Standards. In the Office of Community Standards, Marisa served as an Assistant Dean of Students, managing the university’s judicial process. Marisa’s work in the Office of the Provost included helping to secure Stanford’s re-accreditation by WSCUC, supporting the Board of Trustees Committee on Academic Policy, Planning and Management, and staffing both the Provost’s Task Force and Advisory Group on Sexual Assault Policies and Practices.

Marisa currently manages the University's Curriculum Management process, overseeing all curriculum change proposals, the Curricular Change Calendar and the runway for new programs and program closures, in addition to running USF's curriculum management program, Curriculog. Marisa previously supported USF’s accreditation and assessment efforts on campus, including organizing the 2019 WSCUC site visit.

Marisa organizes the University Assessment Committee's ongoing Series on Addressing Bias and Racism in Assessment. She also serves on the Bias Education Response Team (BERT), the REPS (Response Education Prevention Support) Advisory Board, and will be an investigator for the Title IX Office for the 2023-2024 Academic Year. 

Marisa received a BA in English from Boston College, and an MA in Policy, Organization and Leadership Studies, with a focus on Higher Education, from the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. Her graduate work examined sexual violence and higher education. Marisa is a San Francisco native and a graduate of St. Ignatius College Preparatory and San Francisco Day School.

Katie F. Hoffman, MFA

Project Manager
khoffman@usfca.edu, ext. 6296

Katie Hoffman joined the OAAS team in April of 2019 after working for five years as a Program Assistant with the Tracy Seeley Center for Teaching Excellence. Katie enjoyed working with USF faculty to design workshops and programming dedicated to improving teaching and learning through researched-based practices and community-sourced expertise. As a project manager with OAAS, Katie's goal is to work closely with USF faculty and staff to promote two campus cultures of collaboration and support: one in the field of assessment and one in the field of compliance with state and federal regulations.

Katie has a passion for teaching and she has worked with learners of various backgrounds and ages, from tutoring elementary and middle school students in San Francisco's public schools, to substitute-teaching at a college preparatory girls’ school, to teaching the reading and writing of poetry and fiction to undergraduate and continuing education students. Katie received a BA in English from USF, and an MFA in writing from the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. 

Katie ensures USF's compliance with federal and state regulations for distance education by overseeing USF's state authorizations and data reporting. Katie supports USF’s assessment efforts on campus by working with programs to close the loop on the university’s program reviews through the annual tracking of progress on program review action plans, as well as through the production of the University Assessment Committee's biannual newsletter, In the Loop.