(July 12, 2001 | San Francisco) - The University of San Francisco has been awarded a $1,000,000 grant by The James Irvine Foundation to implement a number of creative strategies to support USF's diversity plans as part of the Foundation's Campus Diversity Initiative. This is the third major grant awarded to USF by the Foundation. Earlier grants, including one for $650,000 in 1996, were also given for programs promoting diversity and multiculturalism. The newest grant will be used to facilitate two main areas: the Irvine Minority Faculty Scholars Program and the Martín-Baró Scholars Program.

The Irvine Minority Scholars Program began in 1993 as an effort to diversify the full-time faculty. By academic year 1999-2000, USF had hosted twelve Irvine Minority Scholars, and nine have accepted tenure-track positions. While at USF, each Irvine Minority Scholar teaches one class per semester, completes work on their dissertation, and serves as a resource and mentor to ethnic minority students. The grant will allow for the hiring of six Irvine Minority Scholars over the next three years.

The Martín-Baró Scholars Program is a new addition at USF. Through the program, USF hopes to enhance the level and quality of achievement and reduce attrition among traditional-age freshmen who are ethnic minority students. Students in the program will live, study, and perform community service together throughout their freshmen and sophomore years, but the bond created by the program will likely continue through graduation and beyond. The program is named for Ignacio Martín-Baró, S.J., one of seven martyred Jesuit priests in El Salvador in 1989, who wrote extensively about the need to integrate the perspectives and experiences of the marginalized in order to properly train future leaders.

"We are delighted and honored to continue our collaboration with the Irvine Foundation," said Gerardo Marín, Senior Associate Dean for Arts and Sciences and coordinator of the programs. "With this generous financial support, we will continue our effort to create the diverse university community that is central to our mission as a Jesuit and Catholic university."

Headquartered in San Francisco, The James Irvine Foundation is a private, nonprofit grantmaking foundation dedicated to enhancing the social, economic, and physical quality of life throughout California, and to enriching the State's intellectual and cultural environment. With assets of $1.5 billion, the Foundation makes grants of approximately $71 million annually for the people of California. For more information, contact Gary McDonald, Director of Media Relations at the University of San Francisco, at (415) 422-2699.