USF’s School of Management Celebrates 100 Years

“For me, personally, the School of Management has really changed the direction of my life,” said Carlos Zapata MSFA ’15.

“It came at a point where I was struggling with my career, and I was struggling financially because of the career situation,” he said. “I decided the course of action for a better future was through education.”

Today, Zapata is a senior staff member at Twist Bioscience in South San Francisco, where he oversees environmental, social, and governance projects. He is also an adjunct professor at the School of Management and father of two USF graduates, Carlos ’20 MSOD ’21, who majored in business and Spanish, and Alexander ’21 MFA ’23, who majored in English and Spanish. Jaime Zapata ’19, his wife, earned a BS in management.

“Our entire family, the four of us, have quite deep connections to USF,” Zapata said.

The College of Commerce and Finance was founded in the fall of 1925 at USF. It is the predecessor of today’s School of Management (SOM). The first courses were in bookkeeping and accounting, to prepare men to enter the business and financial sectors in San Francisco.

Women were admitted in 1927 as students in the evening division, 37 years before the university’s undergraduate programs became coeducational.

On the eve of World War II, the College of Commerce and Finance was renamed the College of Business Administration. After the war ended, enrollment skyrocketed in the business school, with many students attending under the G.I. Bill of Rights.

Over the years, one constant has been true at SOM. Students learn to navigate change in the business world while relying on USF’s Jesuit values for guidance, said Johnathan Cromwell, associate professor of entrepreneurship and innovation.

At the same time, he said, students benefit every day from the entrepreneurship and innovation they witness in San Francisco, a place where autonomous cars navigate the streets, and the AI and biotech industries are building a foundation of startups.

“We get to see it up close and personal, and we get to see it long before other schools or regions see it,” Cromwell said.

With San Francisco’s focus on innovation and the future, Cromwell said USF and the SOM are positioned well for the next century.

“San Francisco is the city of the future, which can make us the university of the future,” Cromwell said.

Today, the SOM is a community of more than 1,400 undergraduate and graduate students, something Angel Tran ’27 says she appreciates as a business administration undergraduate. “USF has always been a welcoming and supportive environment, and I’m excited to see where my remaining years will lead,” Tran said.

As the school heads into its next hundred years, Dean Otgo Erhemjamts said faculty will continue to encourage students to embrace change, take risks, learn from failure, and challenge the status quo.

“This centennial year is not only a time to honor our past achievements, but also to look forward with optimism and ambition,” said Erhemjamts. “We are committed to developing compassionate, adaptable, resilient, and strong future leaders.”