Frequently Asked Questions

ICARE online training and in-person conversation are intended to integrate our newest Dons into the USF community and deepen our collective understanding of the terms “Cura personalis” and “Cura apostolica”. Both concepts require us to deepen our  understanding of ourselves and others. If we believe in caring for the whole person and care for the community, then we must do the work to explore concepts and realities that impact all of us.

In 2017, the Associated Students of USF (ASUSF) formalized a request from various University community members to add an online inclusion training to new student orientation. This is an effort to create community language and a baseline to key concepts that impact all USF students. ICARE introduces students to the foundational social justice concepts of social identity, privilege, and oppression. ICARE helps students to further understand socialization through social identity, privilege, and oppression. ICARE also equips students with the knowledge and skills to respond to microaggressions, as well as encourages students to develop a personal commitment to social justice.

Our tagline is “Change the World from Here,” and the 'here' is, as one would expect, multi-layered and manifold. Beyond the geographic places I just named, the essential 'here' of USF is the hospitable space that opens within the heart of each member of this diverse community, as we meet each other with respect, curiosity and awe.

As well, the 'here' of USF is that space between persons who experience the “unity in diversity” of our Jesuit educational project – from our many places of origin, we bring aspects of our cultures into constructive encounters and edifying conversations that afford us multiple opportunities to find common ground and an “overlapping consensus,” to use the phrase made famous by the Philosopher John Rawls.

And because of our Catholic Jesuit tradition, we can elevate that common ground to a higher ground, one that lifts up all peoples and communities because of their inalienable dignity and worth and because of our belief in the ubiquity of God's Spirit, who dwells in every human heart and who animates every human culture.

Four foundational spiritual insights of St. Ignatius continue to animate our work. “Seeking and finding God in all things,” which leads us to engage all of reality with reverence, awe and excitement. “Care for the whole person” (cura personalis) and “care for the work” (cura apostolica) encourage us to a focused attentiveness to all that we do, what Ignatius calls contemplation even in action. 

The Inauguration of Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J.

as the Twenty-Eighth President of the University of San Francisco

Presidential Address

by Rev. Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J.

Please visit the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Students to take the course. Create an account using your USF email address as username@dons.usfca.edu and click "Forgot Password” and follow the instructions.  

Students who fail to complete the course by their deadline will be charged a $100 late fine.

Yes. All submissions are kept confidential as a way to encourage open and honest answers.  They will be used to develop the in-person workshop that occurs during Orientation Weekend. 

Data is used to measure learning outcomes, student satisfaction, and prevalence of social norms. Because similar questions are asked from course to course, we are able to see any major shifts in student attitudes and behaviors. To measure knowledge retention, the course is able to track the number of questions answered correctly on the first try to see which areas of the program need to be addressed again or perhaps in a different way.

You can read the protocol or report an incident to the USF Bias Education and Resource Team (BERT), a University-wide team that works to gather information about bias incidents and to support those individuals who have witnessed, or themselves become a target of, an act of bias.