Martín-Baró Scholars Program

The Martín-Baró Scholars Program is a two-semester long, community-based residential learning program at the University of San Francisco. Now in its tenth year, the program integrates core requirements and elective units into a single, comprehensive curriculum that examines issues of citizenship, social justice, and diversity. Using the City of San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area as an experiential laboratory, students develop their abilities in observation, discussion, analysis, and writing through the multidimensional lens of the social sciences. Students will be proactive in improving the societal problems they examine throughout the year. While the Program satisfies some basic core requirements for freshman students, the educational goals reach far beyond attaining the minimum standards; the Program is designed to facilitate the creation of a learning community which learns not only from within, but also extends that learning into the larger world.

Engaging with Poverty

This year the central focus of the Martín-Baró Scholars Community is poverty. What is poverty? Who is affected by poverty? How does it contribute to other large social problems in San Francisco? In the U.S.? In the world? In what ways does education play a central role in reducing and ultimately eliminating poverty? These and many more questions will serve as the text for discussions,
excursions, service, and community events throughout the academic year.