In March of 2026, President Harris announced the opportunity for all faculty, administrators, staff and students to apply for strategic initiative funding. The purpose of the program is to engage the USD campus community in the Lighting the Way to 2030 strategic plan and to harness their creativity, passion and expertise to advance the goals and objectives of the plan.
Fifty proposals were submitted, touching on all five of the goals in the plan. This impressive engagement from across the university, including all of the schools and the College, reflects the outstanding dedication and imagination of our community.
A thorough review process led to the following 20 proposals being selected as recipients of strategic initiative funding:
| Strategic Initiative | Project Lead(s) | Description | Primary Goal(s) |
| Architects of the Future: Cultivating Hope, Servingness and Inclusive Excellence | Reyes Quezada, SOLES and Lissette Martinez, Public Affairs | The Architects of the Future Speaker Series connects USD students with changemakers who are shaping the 21st century. Invited speakers will share their professional journeys to foster deep student engagement and illuminate future career paths. The initiative will also sponsor students and staff to participate in professional and educational opportunities that broaden their horizons while honoring the living legacy of the community leaders who paved the way. Open to the entire university community, this initiative demonstrates our commitment to being a Hispanic-Serving Institution by advancing student success through sustainable, campus-wide organizational change. | Thriving Students, Inclusive Excellence, Thriving Faculty and Staff |
| Building Restorative Communities | Justine Darling, Kroc School of Peace | The Center for Restorative Justice at the Kroc School of Peace Studies will convene six Restorative Collaboration Circles over two years, bringing together community organizations, educators, practitioners, faculty, staff and students to build partnerships, address shared challenges and connect community priorities with university resources through reciprocal learning. The initiative will culminate in a Restorative Justice Community Symposium that strengthens regional collaboration, elevates community voices and reinforces the University of San Diego’s leadership in restorative justice education, research and community engagement. | Thriving Students, Thriving Faculty and Staff, Anchor and Global Connections |
| Computational Reasoning in Introductory Curriculum Across the Liberal Arts | Eleanor Gillette, Chemistry and Biochemistry | Computational thinking is a problem-solving process where complex questions and their solutions are formulated in a systematic and algorithmic manner. Data and data analysis tools are increasingly accessible, so our students need the skills to thoughtfully approach the process of creating meaning from that data. This initiative will invite interested USD faculty across a range of disciplines to develop, test and deploy cutting-edge, engaging learning modules that highlight an aspect of computational thinking in lower division courses. | Thriving Students |
| Creative Pathways for Advancing Social Mobility | Jocelyne Olguin, Mulvaney Center | A two-year initiative to help students overcome systemic educational, economic and social barriers. This program addresses these challenges through three targeted pathways focused on doctoral degree access, post-graduate career and entrepreneurial exploration and culturally responsive wellness resources. | Thriving Students and Anchor and Global Connections |
| Cultivating Belonging: A Multicultural Farmers Market Initiative | Paula Cordeiro and Rachel Chapa Oporto, Kroc School of Peace | Bringing the vibrant Linda Vista Farmers Market to USD’s campus, this initiative hosts a once-per- semester multicultural farmers market featuring local food vendors, campus organizations and cultural performances. Strengthening ties between USD and the diverse Linda Vista community, elevating local multicultural businesses and cultivating spaces of belonging along the way. | Thriving Students, Inclusive Excellence, Anchor and Global Connections |
| Define Your Camino: A Second-Year Academic Pathway and Meaning-Making Initiative | Amanda Petersen, CAS Dean’s Office and Languages, Cultures and Literatures | The ability to narrate one’s academic journey is crucial for personally identifying the uniqueness of one’s USD experience and connecting to USD’s Mission and Values at every stage of life. “Define Your Camino” creates a framework for guiding students through processes of critical self-reflection that help them have agency over their academic story. Conceived as a possible means for defining USD’s second-year experience, the initiative creates an academic badge program (“Caminitos”) that helps students make meaning out of Core or elective courses, proposes a one-unit foundational course for said badge, and explores possibilities for the creation of a signature second year course on campus. | Thriving Students |
| Empowering Faculty-Student Mentorship in Undergraduate Research | Cawa Tran, Office of Undergraduate Research | This initiative strengthens USD’s summer undergraduate research programs by increasing compensation for faculty who mentor multiple student researchers. By ensuring faculty are equitably rewarded for this demanding, high-impact work, the project aims to attract and retain dedicated mentors, deepening the university’s commitment to student success and its standing among peer institutions for undergraduate research excellence. | Thriving Students and Thriving Faculty and Staff |
| Formalizing Environmental Stewardship Across the USD Experience | Julia Cantzler (Sociology) and Nichole Wissman (Management), Co-Directors of Environmental Integration Lab | The Environmental Integration Lab is embedding sustainability across the USD experience by expanding climate-focused courses and hands-on learning. Through a new “Campus as a Living Laboratory” model, students will partner with campus leaders to turn sustainability ideas into real- world projects. At the same time, the lab will help faculty across all disciplines integrate ecological literacy into their curriculum. | Thriving Students, Responsible Stewardship, Thriving Faculty and Staff |
| Human-AI Review to Enhance Cognitive Engagement During AI Use: A Human-Centered Learning Initiative at USD | Perla Meyes, Jacobs Institute for Innovation in Education | The Human-AI Review initiative will explore how students engage with artificial intelligence and how that engagement influences critical thinking, metacognition and durable learning. The findings will help develop and pilot a Human-AI Learning Framework that supports faculty in using AI in ways that preserve human agency, judgment and meaning while keeping students thinking, questioning and actively engaged in their own learning. | Thriving Students, Thriving Faculty and Staff, Anchor and Global Connections |
| Ignite Research Fund | Truc Ngo, Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs | The Ignite Research Fund is a catalytic seed funding initiative designed to bridge the gap between initial interdisciplinary inquiry and the securing of major external grants. By providing early-stage investment and creating a formal pipeline into the university’s Grant Development Program, the fund empowers faculty to pursue high-impact scholarship and supports the goal of increasing R&D expenditures by 30% by 2030. This program directly advances the Lighting the Way to 2030 strategic goal of fostering Thriving Faculty and Staff while enhancing the university’s national research reputation. | Thriving Faculty and Staff |
| Increasing Neuroinclusion at USD While Preparing Neurodiverse Students for the Workforce | Niki Elliott, SOLES | This two-pronged project builds coordinated capacity to better support neurodiverse students at USD by investing in both faculty/staff development and neuroinclusive, student-centered programming. Primary goals of the project include increasing faculty and staff use of neuroinclusive instructional and advising practices; improving mentor preparedness to support neurodiverse students in internship settings; and supporting neurodiverse students in developing self-awareness and strategies for success. | Thriving Students, Inclusive Excellence, Thriving Faculty and Staff |
| Intern@USD | Matt Yepez, Career Development Center | Intern@USD establishes a curated portfolio of on-campus summer internships by sourcing and vetting high-impact projects within USD departments. By proactively connecting departments with students, providing stipends, and offering career development support, this initiative transforms departmental needs into a structured pathway for students to build professional competencies, explore career interests, and develop the skills employers seek – directly helping our students thrive. | Thriving Students |
| Open Educational Resources (OER) Sprint: A Faculty Development and Course Transformation Initiative | Regina Gong, Copley Library | The Open Educational Resources (OER) Sprint is a faculty development initiative held during the January 2027 and 2028 intersessions. Each two-day sprint will bring together 15 multidisciplinary USD faculty who will explore and adopt OER in their courses. By advancing affordable, immediate access to course materials and student-centered teaching, the initiative promotes equity, student success, and a sustainable campus community of practice around open education and open pedagogy. | Thriving Students, Inclusive Excellence, Thriving Faculty and Staff |
| STEAM Youth and Community Conference | Perla Myers, Jacobs Institute and Odesma Dalrymple, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering | The STEAM Youth and Community Conference is a free, accessible, community-centered event that brings together youth, families, educators, universities and community organizations for hands-on, intergenerational STEAM learning, exploration and discovery. Strategic Initiative funding is helping strengthen and sustain the conference as a shared culminating experience for summer and community-based STEAM programs across San Diego County and beyond, providing young people with a public forum to showcase what they have created, demonstrate what they have learned and share their knowledge with others. Through intentional attention to linguistic diversity, disability access and multiple ways of engaging, the conference creates a welcoming space for families and communities while connecting young people to a broader STEAM community and future learning opportunities. | Anchor and Global Connections |
| The Matayu’um Community Garden: A Resource for Learning, Stewardship and Wellbeing | Michael Mayer, Biology | The garden beds behind the Matayu’um Crossroads will be adapted to offer all members of the USD community the opportunity to learn about gardening, grow produce for the USD or Linda Vista communities or simply enjoy the physical, emotional and spiritual benefits of nurturing plant growth. Classes, clubs, community outreach organizations or informal campus groups will reserve garden space and be supplied with the tools and assistance needed to conduct their project. We envision many opportunities for novel collaborations among the academic, wellness and service activities of our campus. | Thriving Students, Responsible Stewardship, Anchor and Global Connections |
| Toreros Go Global | Mya Johnson, Athletics | University of San Diego Athletics’ Toreros Go Global is a service-learning initiative that provides student-athletes with opportunities to engage in meaningful community service and cultural immersion in Jamaica. Through international experiences, student-athletes work alongside communities, develop a deeper understanding of global perspectives and connect their service to their personal and leadership development. The program empowers Toreros to lead with purpose, expand their worldview and bring the lessons of global citizenship back to their teams, campus and communities. | Thriving Students and Anchor and Global Connections |
| Soft Plastics Recycling at USD | Stacey Truver, University Marketing and Communications | In partnership with local non-profit Plastic Beach, USD will begin diverting soft plastic waste that is not currently recyclable in San Diego by providing collection points and education. In doing so, we aim to be a leader among top universities caring for our common home and fostering community engagement through our efforts to address this significant environmental problem. All are welcome and encouraged to participate. | Responsible Stewardship, Anchor and Global Connections |
| Sports Industry Management Program Development | Justine Farrell, Knauss School of Business | This strategic grant will support the development of a robust, interdisciplinary academic sports program that brings together expertise from across the University of San Diego to prepare students for careers in the rapidly evolving sports industry. Through innovative coursework, experiential learning, industry mentorship and strategic partnerships with USD Athletics and regional sports organizations, the program will create a premier pathway for students interested in sports business and leadership. | Thriving Students and Anchor and Global Connections |
| USD: Arts Anchor on the Pacific Rim | Farrah Karapetian, Art, Architecture and Art History | USD’s research infrastructure will anchor and cohere San Diego’s cultural institutions and Pacific diaspora communities during the research and development phase of the Getty Foundation’s Pacific Standard Time (PST) 2030 initiative, the theme of which is artistic and cultural exchanges between Southern California and the Pacific Rim. | Thriving Students, Inclusive Excellence,Thriving Faculty and Staff, Anchor and Global Connections |
| USD Bike Hub: Expanding Access, Sustainability, and Mobility | Karsten Hakes and Noah Leary Ceder, and Andres Arriaga, Outdoor Adventures | Outdoor Adventures’ biking initiative empowers students to explore beyond campus while embracing eco-friendly micro-mobility for their daily travel. By providing on-campus bicycles and dedicated repair services, we ensure reliable, accessible transportation for the entire university. Together, we are building the essential infrastructure and a vibrant community to champion long- term sustainable transit. | Thriving Students, Responsible Stewardship, Inclusive Excellence |
| University of San Diego Dialogue Collective | Jake Wild Crea, Kroc School of Peace and Byron Howlett, Student Affairs | University of San Diego's Dialogue Collective responds to President Harris' call to foster a “culture of encounter” and advances the Lighting the Way strategic plan by equipping every student with the dialogue skills needed to thrive on campus and be effective Changemakers. By 2030, our goal is for every student to participate in at least one meaningful dialogue experience during their time at USD. | Thriving Students, Inclusive Excellence, Thriving Faculty and Staff, Anchor and Global Connections |