Faculty & Staff Achievements

McCarthy Center Names New Senior Director

by Arvin Temkar, Office of Marketing Communications

Award-winning educator and service learning innovator David Donahue has been selected as the new senior director of USF’s Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good.

Donahue starts Aug. 1 and comes to USF from Mills College in Oakland where he currently serves as interim provost and associate vice provost. He has been recognized by Mills twice for excellence in teaching and has co-led a Carnegie Foundation-sponsored fellows program that promotes political engagement through service learning.

He has written widely on topics including service learning in higher education, human rights, diversity, and personal identity. Donahue holds a doctorate in education from Stanford University and a bachelor of arts in history from Brown University.

“Dr. Donahue is wonderfully qualified to carry forward the compelling vision of the Leo T. McCarthy and advance the center’s mission and programs,” said Serra Falk Goldman, chair of the McCarthy Center board of advisors, which supports the center’s mission to promote public service by providing academic programs, service learning opportunities, and events for students and faculty.  

"Thrilled" to lead

Donohue takes over from former McCarthy Center Director Corey Cook, who was recently named the inaugural dean of the School of Public Service at Boise State University. Cook, who was also an associate professor of politics at USF, served as director of the center for six years.

Donahue said he is “thrilled” to lead the McCarthy Center and to help prepare USF students for careers in public service.

“I can think of no job that better brings together my experience, my research, and my commitment to helping build a strong community,” he said.

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